The top 10 Big Ten women’s college basketball freshmen, ranked

November 27, 2024

After the 2023-24 Big Ten season, there was a group of departing seniors that featured players who received attention across the sport and played. WNBA With the starting lineup acquired, the team wondered who would play key roles.

With three and a half weeks left in the NCAA women's hoops season, each team in the current 18-team conference is relying on freshmen.

Here, we introduce the top 10 freshmen in the 2024 class who will play across the country.

10. Lana McCarthy |Purdue Boilermakers

24-25 Statistics: 11.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 0.8 assists

In the offseason, head coach Katie Geers lost Big Ten Rookie of the Year forward Mary Ashley Stevenson to the transfer portal to play at Stanford. It didn't take long for Geers to find someone else to watch the paint. She brought in Lana McCarthy, a 6-foot-4 forward who brought in more points and rebounds than her previous starting forward.

McCarthy is physical and needs help defending against most teams. It will be interesting to see how she plays against Nebraska's Alexis Murkowski and UCLA's Lauren Betts, but for now McCarthy is the Boilermakers' outlet on the perimeter.

9. Kaylee Heckel | USC Trojans

24-25 Statistics: 9.0 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.0 assists

Guard Kaylee Heckel started this season on the bench in place of head coach Lindsey Gottlieb, but was pushed into the starting lineup due to the possibility of a long-term injury for the freshman on this list. It is.

Haeckel will need time to adjust to the added responsibility, but the guard is a two-way player who can force steals defensively and find space to move offensively. Haeckel has teammates like JuJu Watkins and Kiki Iliafen, so if she improves her passing, she could become a more complete guard for the Trojans.

8 – Britt Prince | Nebraska Cornhuskers

24-25 Statistics: 14.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists

Britt Prince already had big shoes to fill with Australia's Jazz Shelley graduating at the end of the 23-24 season, but sophomore Natalie Potts suffered a season-ending ACL injury against North Alabama. As he collapsed from the damage, his sneaker size jumped.

So far, there are signs that Prince is ready for the challenge. In the first game after Potts' injury, Prince scored a career-high 20 points early and added six rebounds. The guard is a mid-range shooter, but at 5-foot-11, she also moves into the paint and uses the speed of a high school track star to outwit defenses.

Hall of Fame Series: Michigan vs. South Carolina

7 – Mila Holloway | Michigan Wolverines

24-25 Statistics: 10.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists

Ann Arbor, Michigan is basically the freshman capital of the world this season.

The Wolverines have three great first-year players who could return Michigan to the top conversation in the conference for the first time since forward Naz Hillmon left in 2022.

Leading that group from point guard is Mila Holloway. In six games this season, the guard has recorded at least four assists in all but one game, the second-most assists per game by a freshman and seventh-most in the entire Big Ten. .

Holloway passes first, but finds open space on the court to shoot, but he only shoots 33.3% from the floor. Fortunately, the Wolverines have other players who are scoring, and some are adding to their scoring.

6 – Olivia Olson | Michigan Wolverines

24-25 Statistics: 15.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists

The University of Michigan lost five of its six leading scorers from last season, with some graduating and others leaving the program. The addition of Olivia Olson has already filled the scoring holes for all but one player.

Olson is head coach Kim Barnes Arico's Wolverines' leading scorer behind the arc, making 10.3 two-point attempts per game and making six. The guard does it with mid-range shooting and shoots like former Big Ten guard Grace Berger. indiana hoosiers.

Deep shooting won't dominate the game, but Olson won't have to with Jordan Hobbs and another talented Michigan freshman.

NCAA Basketball: Big Ten Conference Basketball Media Days

5 – Kiyomi McMiller | Rutgers Scarlet Knights

24-25 Statistics: 17.0 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists

For the team to win, it needs to score points, and guard Kiyomi McMiller does that in droves.

Playing next to standout junior Destiny Adams, McMiller will have space to shoot and can take shots from all three levels. McMiller's ball handling gives her room to move, allowing her to stop short and hit the midrange basket or go to the rim.

rutgers They need to catch up in the conference, having finished 11th or worse in the conference the past three seasons, but McMiller and Adams could help the Scarlet Knights move up in the standings.

In his third season under coach Kokes Washington, McMiller and the Scarlet Knights won their first four games of the season for the first time in his short tenure.

4 – Elina Arnissalo | UCLA Bruins

24-25 Statistics: 12.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 6.8 assists

Guard Elina Aarnisaro, who was scouted from Finland, has the potential to score and could be a big scorer. At the 2024 U20 EuroBasket, Al Nissalo competed against the continent's best youth players and finished third in the tournament with 18.2 points per game.

Coming to UCLA, the Bruins' three leading scorers return and Arnizaro is one of the best passers in the conference. The freshman is second in the Big Ten with 6.8 assists per game and still ranks second on the roster with 12.6 points per game behind Northwestern's Caroline Lau.

Even the bright lights of Los Angeles aren't too bright. Earl Nizalo had 13 points and four assists in Sunday's win over then-No. 1 South Carolina, which is currently held by Earl Nizalo and the Bruins.

College Basketball: November 12 Women - CSUN at USC

3 – Kennedy Smith | USC Trojans

24-25 Statistics: 10.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists

If you look strictly at the stats, there are plenty of freshmen who will outperform USC guard Kennedy Smith, but stats alone don't tell the whole story.

Smith, who was named Miss Basketball California for the 23-24 season, joins former in-state opponent Watkins on one of the strongest rosters in the country. What makes Smith so dangerous is her play on both sides of the court.

Although not as prolific a scorer as Watkins, Smith is still a prolific scorer offensively, moving into the paint and hitting the basket. Defensively, Coach Gottlieb called Smith the best defensive freshman he has ever recruited. Smith ranks fourth in the conference in defensive rating, averaging 64.0 points per 100 possessions.

Unfortunately for fans of the Trojans and great basketball, Smith will be sidelined for an undetermined amount of time due to undisclosed surgery. The absence of security guards was obvious. notre dame fighting irish They arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday and delivered a blowout victory over the Trojans as the University of Southern California struggled to adjust in its first game without its starting freshman.

2 – Sword of Cyra | Michigan Wolverines

24-25 Statistics: 18.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists

Ranking Big Ten freshmen gets harder as the conference's top talent makes the list. Michigan guard Sila Swords was better than advertised. As the youngest member of Canada's national team for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Swords brought that experience to bear on the first night of the season against the top teams in the country.

Against the South Carolina Gamecocks, Swords led the Wolverines with 27 points and 12 rebounds in a game that many expected to be a loss for head coach Dawn Staley's team. Instead, the Swords hit a deep 3-pointer in the last minute to bring the game to a single possession.

In the end, South Carolina won, but Michigan's team, which had three freshmen as starters, drew attention. Sword's impressive play continued after the early loss, averaging 17 points, seven rebounds, and four assists over the next five games. The sword fires across the arc, sweeping around the basket and attacking the opponent's defense.

Cleveland State University v Ohio State University

1 – Jaroni Cambridge | ohio

24-25 Statistics: 17.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists

When you look at the top freshmen in the conference, what the best players do better than the rest is how calm they are on the court. For some, it will take time, but for players like Swords and Jaloni Cambridge, it's already in abundance.

Cambridge debuted with a 31-point performance, the best freshman debut in program history, along with six rebounds, six assists and five steals.

The guard is probably the fastest player in the Big Ten, if not the nation. Cambridge, like fifth-year senior Jaycee Sheldon, who is currently in the WNBA, is playing in head coach Kevin McGough's havoc-inducing press. Even after switching to Cambridge, the defensive momentum has not diminished.

Offensively, there was a moment of poise when Ohio State won a close game against the Belmont Bruins. Cambridge started the game with one win out of nine, a far cry from their debut 85.7 per cent, but that didn't matter in the final moments.

McGough gave Cambridge the key to giving the final offensive impetus, and the freshman had an exit to Coty McMahon, but instead took it himself. This gave Ohio State the win, and they forced a foul on the next defensive possession, preventing Belmont from even getting a shot.

Be sure to watch it on TV when Ohio State and Michigan play on January 8th.