INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – The return of collegiate basketball means the return of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association handing out its women’s five-member Ann Meyers Drysdale national players of the week, its Tamika Catchings freshman award, and noting its National Team of the Week.
Deliberation occurs elsewhere for the weekly USBWA men’s honors.
Here on the women’s side, while last season saw major growth, there is a notion these next six months might even be greater.
Last season saw an increase of the Ann Meyers Drysdale weekly honorees from one to five, and expectations continue to easily find worthy recipients each week from within mid-major and power programs.
The USBWA women’s awards, organized under Mel Greenberg, the USBWA Vice President for women’s basketball, are drawn from weekly conference honors as well as at-large additions. Nominations are welcome as each seven-day period rolls along to make sure no one is inadvertently overlooked.
There is no restriction within a week on the number of national honors received within a conference, especially the way realignment has affected membership size.
A year ago, opening week saw landmark performances and these past seven days have been no different.
For the period through Sunday, Nov. 10, the first five Ann Meyers Drysdale national women’s honorees of the season are Rutgers guard/forward Destiny Adams, Oklahoma center Raegan Beers, UCLA center Lauren Betts, Norfolk State guard Diamond Johnson, and Notre Dame guard Olivia Miles.
The initial Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week is Michigan guard Syla Swords and Oregon is the USBWA National Team of the Week.
Adams, a 6-3 senior guard from Manchester, N.J., and transfer from North Carolina last season, led Rutgers to a 3-0 start at home over Manhattan, Cornell, and NJIT, totaling 80 points, 45 rebounds, six blocks, five steals, and five assists. She was 25-for-33 from the line. On Sunday she executed a huge double-double scoring a personal best 36 points and grabbing 22 rebounds. It’s the first 30-plus points and 20-plus rebounds performance in a regular season game in 12 seasons by a Scarlet Knight – the points also tying a Jersey Mike’s Arena record. The points came after scoring 30 with 15 boards the earlier game against Cornell, just the third back-to back 30-plus games in program history and first since all-time star Sue Wicks achieved it in 1988. The three-game performance earned Adams her first Big Ten Player of the Week award on Monday and first by a Rutgers player in four seasons.
Beers, a 6-4 junior center from Littleton, Colo., made an immediate impact with No. 9 Oklahoma following her transfer from Oregon State after last season, joining the Sooners as they moved from the Big 12 to the SEC. In the winning 76-44 season and home opener over Southern she had 21 points and 14 rebounds. Having earned AP third team All-America honors last spring, Beers then against visiting Virginia on Saturday night in Norman scored 26 with 14 rebounds in an 95-52 rout of the Cavaliers. She was named the SEC's Player of the Week.
Betts, a 6-7 junior center from Centennial, Colo. who helped power No. 5 UCLA when she transferred from then-Pac-12 rival Stanford last year, had game highs with 18 points, 13 rebounds, and also had five assists in leading the Bruins to an opening day 66-59 win over then-No. 17 Louisville in Paris in the second game of the AFLAC Oui-Play doubleheader. Back in the states on Sunday, she was even better with a career-high 31 points in Pauley Pavilion adding nine boards, two assists, three blocks and a steal in an 81-63 win over Colgate to launch the home slate.
Johnson, a 5-5 graduate point guard from Philadelphia, Pa., was voted the MEAC Newcomer of the Year after transferring from NC State for last season. She led the Spartans to a 3-0 start last week beating William & Mary and Longwood before the big stunner Sunday when Norfolk State won 57-54 at Missouri. In that game she had 17 points, four assists and a pair of steals to give the visitors their first win over an SEC program and first win over a Power 4 program since the 1979-80 season. Immediately before the win at Missouri, the first meeting between the two schools, she poured 32 points in a home win over Longwood, with five rebounds and three assists.
At No. 6 Notre Dame, it’s been a celebratory return to action for Olivia Miles, the 5-10 junior guard from Phillipsburg, N.J., in terms of eligibility who hadn’t played since March 2023, because of a torn ACL. In her first game in the Irish opening win she scored 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dealt 10 assists for her fourth career triple double. That’s a program record and second in ACC history. Furthermore, before her in the last 25 years no men’s or women’s collegiate player or pro in the NBA or WNBA has returned from a missed season due to injury and registered a 20-point triple-double in their first game back. On Saturday in a lopsided win at Purdue, Miles had 17 points, five boards, two assists and a steal. She was 7-for-15 from the floor and wowed with a 55-foot shot at the end of the third quarter, the first made shot from half court or beyond by an ND player since Arike Ogunbowale in March 2018. On Monday Miles picked up her third career ACC Player of the Week award.
Though Michigan was unable to catch top-ranked South Carolina, the defending NCAA champion, in a season opener for both teams in Las Vegas, that the decided underdog Wolverines stayed close to the 68-62 finish had people talking about the play of Swords, a 6-0 Canadian guard from Sudbury, Ont., who had 27 points and 12 rebounds. On Friday, coach Kim Barnes Arico’s group got on the winning side in their home opener in Ann Arbor, beating Lehigh 86-55 and in this one Swords followed up with 20 points, shooting 8-for-15 from the field, including 3-for-8 from deep, along with six boards and five assists. The two-game performance on Monday earned Swords Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Though the last days a year ago of the Pac-12 in women’s basketball was a power-packed operation, one team missing from the mix was Oregon, which had not seen better times since the triple-double act from Sabrina Ionescu at the end of the last decade. But the Ducks under Kelly Graves appear to be off to a revival as one of the four from the west now in the Big Ten. With North Carolina transfer Deja Kelly now in the fold, the Ducks have zipped to a 3-0 start winning 93-63 over Cal Baptist of the WAC, followed by 76-58 over Nevada with Kelly scoring 21 points. But late Sunday night came the big one at home in which the Ducks took a big lead, lost it and then prevailed in the closing half-minute to upset then-No. 12 Baylor, 76-74. Kelly scored 20 in that one. Their reward on Monday was a return to the AP women’s poll at No. 25 and from USBWA, Oregon is the season’s first women’s national team of the week.
Since the 1987-88 season, the USBWA has named a women’s National Player of the Year. For the 2012-13 season, the national and weekly player award became named for Hall of Famer and former UCLA All-American Ann Meyers Drysdale while the national and weekly freshman award is being given in the name of former Tennessee all-American Tamika Catchings, which was applied at the start of the 2019-20 season.
At the conclusion of the regular season, the USBWA will name finalists for both individual awards, which is voted on by the entire membership of the USBWA.
The winners of the 2025 Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Year and Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Year will be announced and presented at the USBWA’s annual awards event on site at the NCAA Women's Final Four in Tampa.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected a women's All-America team since the 1996-97 season. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Malcolm Moran at 814-574-1485.
2024-25 USBWA Women's Weekly Honors
• Week ending Nov. 10: Destiny Adams, Rutgers; Raegan Beers, Oklahoma; Lauren Betts, UCLA; Diamond Johnson, Norfolk State; Olivia Miles, Notre Dame (National); Syla Swords, Michigan (Freshman); Oregon (Team).