Player Breakdown | NCAA WBB Top Freshman Scorers in Depth
How The Nation's Top Scorers Are Getting It Done
Alright, first things first, a disclaimer - Notice the title of this piece is “NCAA WBB Top Freshman Scorers” and not “NCAA WBB Best Freshman” - I felt it was important to mention that because the word “best” is so subjective… I might think that the “best” player is someone who impacts the team in all aspects of the game, whereas you may consider the “best” player to be the top scorer. Someone else may even make the argument that the “best” player sets up their teammates and makes everyone else around them better regardless of stats…
So you see what I mean right? You can never make everyone happy so let’s just go with top scorers (PPG) because if we’re being honest, the numbers don’t lie!
Anyway, let’s get into it!
1) Caitlin Clark - Iowa (26.9 PPG, 99 3FGM)
What Makes Her Elite - COURT VISION & RANGE
Let’s be real, whether it’s early or late in the shot clock, Caitlin Clark is exactly who Iowa wants with the ball in her hands to make something happen. She is the NCAAs leading scorer as a FRESHMAN! Her patented crossover (which you will see on display again below) allows her to create forward momentum as she raises up into her shot from DEEP. *Major key (Clip 2)* - watch how she hangs the ball on the crossover until her back (right foot) hits the ground underneath her hips to spring into her shot. By bringing the ball to her shooting hand instead of reaching for the ball on the left side of her body, her gather is smooth and she is able to flow into her shot in rhythm and on balance.
Clark’s passing ability is almost, if not, even more impressive than her knack for scoring the ball. When teams are so concerned with a specific player scoring, they will often end up over helping, intentionally or not, from just about anywhere with the goal of forcing a contested shot and daring another player to beat them. Iowa is so dangerous because they DO have another player that can beat you, and that’s Clark’s right hand woman in Junior post player, Monika Czinano. She is shooting nearly 70% from the field and with passes like these (two shown above) the duo is practically unstoppable. When help defenders step up or get caught ball watching, Clark is already one step ahead delivering a perfectly lofted post feed or bullet pass to Czinano for an easy two points.
If you’re like me and can’t get enough of Caitlin Clark’s game, a full video breakdown will be coming soon on my YouTube Channel
2) Paige Bueckers - UCONN (19.7 PPG, 6.1 APG)
What Makes Her Elite - OFF BALL MOVEMENT & GETTING TO HER SPOTS
Paige Bueckers is just DIFFERENT! The majority of leading scorers, whether we are talking men’s or women's basketball are typically ball dominant guards or back to the basket post players… I am confident in saying that she is the best off the ball guard I have seen all year in Women’s College Basketball. Her ability to put herself in a position to score without the ball is special. Not many players can or even want to have to work as hard as she does to actually get open and score within the confines of the team’s offense. UConn runs their classic chin actions with a TON of elbow entries and Bueckers has seemed to master the pass & chase or also referred to as “get” action in only her first season. Most teams scouting report probably says to deny her the ball once she gives it up, but she punishes over aggressive defenders by setting them up with hard cuts to the rim.
In this last clip you see her get to her sweet spot, also referred to as a “kill box” - an area on the floor where a player is most comfortable. Again we see the elbow entry, pass and chase action - this time her defender sags off after the pass to Nelson-Ododa so no need to back cut, instead she receives the flip back pass and gets to her signature two dribble pull up and elevates over not one, but two defenders. The confidence she plays with rubs off on her teammates and she always looks like she’s having the time of her life when she’s on the basketball court. More on her in a future YouTube deep dive!
3) Charlisse Leger-Walker - Washington State (18.9 PPG, Avg. 20+ Points in 12 games)
What Makes Her Elite - BASKETBALL IQ & VERSATILITY
The player I am most excited to watch in the NCAA tournament is one you may not have heard of just yet… Well her name is Charlisse Leger - Walker! Because Washington State plays in the PAC-12 conference, which refuses to put their games on ESPN streaming apps and they play so late at night for anyone on the east coast, you may not have had the opportunity to check out Washington State this year, so I’ll fill you in! They head into the NCAA Tournament as a 9 seed facing off against South Florida (8 seed) and I have a good feeling they will be moving on to the second round to face the #1 seed in NC state!
This clip doesn’t seem like anything special from first glance, but any other X’s and O’s nerd like me will understand why this play demonstrates a high level of basketball IQ. Starting with a flat (ish) ball screen in the middle of the floor, she’s under control, baits the switch on the hedge by dragging out her dribble, then re-attacks back towards where the initial screen took place. When a switch occurs, in this case an aggressive switch to prevent an off the dribble 3 (she’s good at those), the new on ball defender will often unintentionally shade to the ball side shoulder of the offensive player in order to prevent being late & forced to open her hips on an aggressive drive at the point of the switch. Sometimes it’s more subtle then others but in this clip above you can see the post defender jump to the right side of Leger-Walker’s body creating that lane for a drive back towards the middle of the floor… So one way to beat an aggressive switch is to drive the ball hard back towards where the original screen came from before the switching defender can get square to the ball.
Another example of Charlisse Leger-Walker’s high IQ and versatility is shown here through her flawless execution on this zipper screen (ball dribbled to wing, player receives screen on ball side block to cut up the lane line). The defense probably scouted this play prior to the game and assumed she was going to run the normal zipper cut straight up the lane line to receive the pass. High IQ players are able to “adjust to the adjustment” in the wise words of ESPN commentator and former Coach Fran Fraschilla. So when her defender tries to cheat the screen and jump to the middle of the floor, she pops right out to the wing for a wide open 3 pointer. Her ability to read the play in front of her as it’s happening separates her from the large majority of college basketball players.
4) Ioanna Krimili - San Francisco (18.6 PPG, 86 3FGM)
What Makes Her Elite - ABILITY TO GET HER SHOT OFF
I’m going to let you watch all 3 of these clips before I get started because they all represent the same thing - A DEADEYE SHOOTER!
Any coach who has a player that can be relied upon to consistently knock down a catch & shoot 3 has an automatic advantage on the offensive side of the ball… Imagine you had one player that could consistently knock down a pull up 3 off a ball screen, a transition 3 from NBA range and even an on the move 3 sprinting off of a down screen with a defender closing out hard. Well, Molly Goodeunbour, head coach of the San Francisco Don’s Women’s basketball program indeed has just that in Freshman phenom Ioanna Krimili. There’s not much else to say, she’s an unbelievable shooter (47% on the year) who can get her shot off in a variety of ways as seen above, creating scouting report headaches for opposing coaches. Let’s just watch these clips again and appreciate how effortless she makes these shots look.
5) Diamond Johnson - Rutgers (17.9 PPG, FG% 50)
What Makes Her Elite - QUICKNESS ON BOTH ENDS OF THE FLOOR
Diamond Johnson at only 5’5… *I repeat 5’5! She’s a Big 10 Conference standout in just her first year of college basketball and one of the primary reasons Rutgers finished 3rd in their league and is headed to the NCAA tournament as a 6 seed facing off against BYU in round 1. Unlike the other freshmen we have covered thus far, Johnson’s speed is what separates her from the rest of the pack…Both of these clips represent her ability to sniff out passes and turn steals into points, quickly. This has been a staple all season long for Rutgers as they are averaging 16 fast break points per game (ranks in the 98th percentile for all of D1) as a result of turning their opponents over 25% of the time. Let’s not think for a second that Diamond can only get to the rim…Check out her shot chart (CBB Analytics), need I say more?
Red is good, the darker the shade - the better. I’ve looked at a lot of shot charts this season and very few are as pretty as this. Nearly 60% on corner 3s, and over 60% around the rim. Pick your poison, BYU.