Big Ten Honors 2023-24

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Ignatius L Hoops

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2023-24 Big Ten Women’s Basketball Honors Announced

2023-24 Big Ten Women’s Basketball Honors Announced
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ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference announced its 2023-24 women’s basketball all-conference teams and individual award recipients Tuesday live on the Big Ten Network’s “B1G Today” show.

For the third consecutive season, Iowa senior Caitlin Clark was voted Big Ten Player of the Year by both the conference coaches and a select panel of Big Ten media members. She is the first back-to-back-to-back recipient of the honor since Ohio State’s Jantel Lavender was chosen in 2008 (coaches only), 2009 and 2010. This marks the sixth time in seven seasons and 10th time overall that an Iowa student-athlete has been tabbed as the Big Ten Player of the Year.

Nebraska forward Natalie Potts was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year by the conference’s coaches, while Purdue forward Mary Ashley Stevenson garnered Big Ten Freshman of the Year from the media panel. Ohio State’s graduate student guard Celeste Taylor earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year laurels from the coaches, while Wisconsin’s sophomore forward Serah Williams received Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year recognition in the media vote. Ohio State’s Kevin McGuff was named Big Ten Coach of the Year and Michigan State sophomore guard Theryn Hallock was voted the Big Ten’s Sixth Player of the Year.

Clark is once again included on every watch list for major national player of the year awards and was recently selected as a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award as the nation’s top point guard, an honor she has received the last two years. The West Des Moines, Iowa native is the NCAA’s all-time leading scoring in college basketball history with 3,685 points. She has broken the NCAA record for three-pointers made in a single season (162) and became the first Big Ten women’s basketball player to record over 500 three-pointers in a career (509). Clark has etched her name in various categories in the Big Ten Conference record book. She is the Big Ten’s and Iowa’s all-time assist leader and currently has 1,058 for her career, just the sixth player in NCAA women’s basketball history to reach 1,000 assists. Clark owns the top spot as the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer and claimed the conference record for career field goals made. She is the first Division I player to record 3,600+ points, 1,000+ assists and 850+ rebounds in a career and the all-time leading scorer in the state of Iowa in Division I college basketball history.

Potts is just the third Husker to be chosen as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, joining Alexis Markowski (2022) and Jessica Shepard (2016). Coming from O’Fallon, Mo., Potts was an eight-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week this season, which tied for the third-most in conference history. She concluded the regular season averaging 10.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.

Stevenson is the fourth Boilermaker to be tabbed as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, the first since her current head coach Katie Gearlds took home the honor in 2004. Hailing from New York City, Stevenson garnered Big Ten Freshman of the Week recognition twice this season and averaged 9.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

Taylor is the fourth Buckeye to earn the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year laurel and first since Amber Stokes in 2012. The Valley Stream, N.Y. native is featured on the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List and leads the Big Ten with 2.24 steals per game. Taylor has started every game to help Ohio State in topping the Big Ten in scoring defense (66.1 ppg) while ranking second in field goal percentage defense (.423) and fourth in blocked shots (3.5 bpg).

Williams is the first Badger since Tamara Moore in 2001 to be named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. The Brooklyn, N.Y. native tallied 2.85 blocks and 11.3 rebounds per game to stand sixth and seventh, respectively, in the NCAA’s national rankings. Williams closed the regular season with her 15th straight double-double, which tied Megan Gustafson’s Big Ten record for consecutive double-doubles set during the 2018-19 season, and is on the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List.

McGuff secured his first Big Ten Coach of the Year award after leading the Buckeyes to a 25-4 overall record and 16-2 mark in the Big Ten. Under his leadership, Ohio State has been ranked in the top 25 nationally every week this season, including three weeks at No. 2 in the Associated Press (AP) poll for the highest ranking in program history. Ohio State also earned the No. 2 national seed in the latest NCAA regular season top-16 seed reveal. McGuff is on the late season watch list for the Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year award.

Hallock joins Kalisha Keane (2010) as the only Spartans to claim Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year honors. A resident of Grand Rapids, Mich., she appeared in all 29 games for Michigan State this season, averaging 7.4 points and 2.1 assists per game.

Clark and graduate student forward Mackenzie Holmes were unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selections by both the coaches and media, while Ohio State graduate student guard Jacy Sheldon was a unanimous first-team choice by the coaches. In addition, Potts, Stevenson and Minnesota guard/forward Grace Grocholski were unanimously voted to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team by the coaches.

The Big Ten also recognized 14 Sportsmanship Award recipients in the sport of women’s basketball on Tuesday, one from each conference school. The students chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These students must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.

The complete All-Big Ten teams, as well as a list of other honorees can be found here.
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Ignatius L Hoops said:
Sara Scalia was first team All Big Ten on both coaches and media polls
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Good for her, she worked hard as I believe she wasn’t that highly recruited or am I wrong? Still wished she hadn’t left the Gophers and went to a conference rival. Still have to respect what she was able to accomplish.


Congratulations to the 3 Gophers, was surprised that Braun didn’t make the second team even with her injury. Was surprised that Battle made HM but happy for her, maybe this is a confidence boost for post season. Not surprised Grace made all Freshman team, was probably in the running for freshman of the year before the season meltdown.
 

Katogopher said:
Good for her, she worked hard as I believe she wasn’t that highly recruited or am I wrong? Still wished she hadn’t left the Gophers and went to a conference rival. Still have to respect what she was able to accomplish.


Congratulations to the 3 Gophers, was surprised that Braun didn’t make the second team even with her injury. Was surprised that Battle made HM but happy for her, maybe this is a confidence boost for post season. Not surprised Grace made all Freshman team, was probably in the running for freshman of the year before the season meltdown.
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Battle was 3rd in the conference in total assists and assists per game..
 



Congrats to all! Nice to see Battle get some appreciation!
 

Katogopher said:
Good for her, she worked hard as I believe she wasn’t that highly recruited or am I wrong? Still wished she hadn’t left the Gophers and went to a conference rival. Still have to respect what she was able to accomplish.


Congratulations to the 3 Gophers, was surprised that Braun didn’t make the second team even with her injury. Was surprised that Battle made HM but happy for her, maybe this is a confidence boost for post season. Not surprised Grace made all Freshman team, was probably in the running for freshman of the year before the season meltdown.
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I may be completely off base with this, but I’m not completely surprised by Battle being named HM All-Big Ten. I think she was having a very solid season, prior to the Mara Braun injury. Coach P had pretty much calmed down Battle’s habit of trying to make spectacular plays (remember, all young ballplayers believe “I can make ANY shot, pass, steal” in the moment, even when it seems like a very long shot to those of us observing or who’ve gone through that “thinking we’re bulletproof” phase of life), and gotten her to play a pretty solid point guard. I remember Coach P also mentioning on several occasions that we want Amaya to look for her own offense as well. At that point of the season, Battle was taking about 8-10 shots per game, which seemed about right.

Then Braun went down. The bad turnovers & forced shots by Battle returned and our team suffered. Again, strictly my opinion, but I think a big part of the problem is that Battle felt, as the player with the ball in her hands the most, that she HAD to make a GREAT play instead of just playing with-in herself. It’s as if she was thinking “We lost our player who could make great plays. I now have to step in and be that great player making great plays”. I think we all know that great plays don’t come from a player being cautious and worried about a mistake. But I think Battle got into a rut of trying to force great plays, believing that she was not only capable, but it was required for the Gophers to have a chance to win. She kinda stopped just taking what the game gave her, tried to force opportunities and stopped playing with-in herself. I think most coaches have experienced that issue with ultra competitive, young players. It’s kinda difficult to get them out of that mode, right? Thin line between play with-in yourself, but be aggressive and play with confidence.

Hopefully with Braun back, the experience of seeing what happens when you try to do too much, and with some more talent around her, Battle can get back to being a really good point guard who CAN make a great play, but doesn’t try to FORCE a great play. I think there will always be a little bit of that in her game, but I still feel good about her work ethic and Coach P’s abilities to get her back to what we need her to be.
 

Chico Gopher said:
I may be completely off base with this, but I’m not completely surprised by Battle being named HM All-Big Ten. I think she was having a very solid season, prior to the Mara Braun injury. Coach P had pretty much calmed down Battle’s habit of trying to make spectacular plays (remember, all young ballplayers believe “I can make ANY shot, pass, steal” in the moment, even when it seems like a very long shot to those of us observing or who’ve gone through that “thinking we’re bulletproof” phase of life), and gotten her to play a pretty solid point guard. I remember Coach P also mentioning on several occasions that we want Amaya to look for her own offense as well. At that point of the season, Battle was taking about 8-10 shots per game, which seemed about right.

Then Braun went down. The bad turnovers & forced shots by Battle returned and our team suffered. Again, strictly my opinion, but I think a big part of the problem is that Battle felt, as the player with the ball in her hands the most, that she HAD to make a GREAT play instead of just playing with-in herself. It’s as if she was thinking “We lost our player who could make great plays. I now have to step in and be that great player making great plays”. I think we all know that great plays don’t come from a player being cautious and worried about a mistake. But I think Battle got into a rut of trying to force great plays, believing that she was not only capable, but it was required for the Gophers to have a chance to win. She kinda stopped just taking what the game gave her, tried to force opportunities and stopped playing with-in herself. I think most coaches have experienced that issue with ultra competitive, young players. It’s kinda difficult to get them out of that mode, right? Thin line between play with-in yourself, but be aggressive and play with confidence.

Hopefully with Braun back, the experience of seeing what happens when you try to do too much, and with some more talent around her, Battle can get back to being a really good point guard who CAN make a great play, but doesn’t try to FORCE a great play. I think there will always be a little bit of that in her game, but I still feel good about her work ethic and Coach P’s abilities to get her back to what we need her to be.
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Wells said, if she can develop a confident 3 point shot she will be outstanding. Lack of having point guards and others who can shoot from outside, besides GG and Heyer, was devastating for our ability to generate good scoring chances and loosening up the inside defense.
 



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