My 2025-26 Big Ten women’s basketball awards ballot

The Big Ten 2025-26 season took another step on Tuesday when the conference announced season honors. It is an annual tradition to honor the individual accolades of its stars, and this year, there was not too much separating some of the biggest races of the year. Even so, the UCLA Bruins, who went undefeated in the Big Ten this season, cleaned up most of the awards of the year.

For the second season in a row, the Big Ten lets Land-Grant Holy Land get a say in the vote. To promote transparency, here are the selections I made and the rationale behind my decisions.

Player of the Year: Jaloni Cambridge – Ohio State Buckeyes

I did not grapple too much with who I would choose throughout the season. The season is busy enough that the focus turns into the next game over, looking at an entire season. When it was time to look at the bodies of work and choose the best player in the conference, it was point guard Jaloni Cambridge, and it was not necessarily close.

When choosing the best player, I think about what a team looks like without that player. In other words, how much does that athlete impact the team? Take center Big Ten Player of the Year Lauren Betts off the UCLA Bruins, and they have Kiki Rice (unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection), All-Big Ten Second Team selections Gabriela Jacquez, Gianna Kneepkens, and All-Freshman Team center Sienna Betts. Those players would go to most teams and be their best player. Kneepkens was just that last year for the Utah Utes on her way to an All-Big 12 First Team selection.

This is not a slight against the ability of Betts. The center showed three times in her career against Ohio State alone that it is tough to match up against her.

For Jaloni Cambridge and the Buckeyes, it is a different story. Without the sophomore, the Buckeyes are not close to their top-five finish this season. Cambridge is a pain in most coaches’ sides, as evidenced by the fact that if you go back and watch press conferences of opposing coaches.

At 5-foot-7, Cambridge scores inside in bunches, finds her teammates, and more. She uses speed to overcome a height disadvantage and makes plays that are sometimes unstoppable. If the Bruins were not undefeated this season, it might be a different story in the running of this award.

Coach of the Year: Dawn Plitzuweit – Minnesota Golden Gophers

For Coach of the Year, I think of what the leader overcame to propel their team. Minnesota’s Dawn Plitzuweit was a clear choice. In coach’s third season with the Golden Gophers, she turned an 8-10 team into a top-four side in this week’s Big Ten Tournament.

Along the way, Plitzuweit turned her team into a defensive force. The Gophers are second in the conference in scoring defense, with 57.86 points allowed per game, and offensively lead the conference with only 10.6 turnovers per game. The ability to hold onto the ball shows discipline.

For this award, voters rank three coaches, and I also selected Jan Jensen from Iowa and Brenda Frese from Maryland. Jensen for Iowa’s climb as a contender in the conference and Frese because of the work she did keeping Maryland relevant despite all the injuries that plagued the Terps this season.

UCLA head coach Cori Close won the award, but not from any vote from Land-Grant Holy Land, which is purely a basketball decision. It is not connected in any way to media procedures.

Freshman of the Year: Jazzy Davidson – USC Trojans

Some folks had a tough time choosing between USC Trojan guard Jazzy Davidson and forward Cearah Parchment of the Illinois Fighting Illini. I am not one of those people.

Davidson leads the Trojans in nearly every statistical category and had the impossible job of leading the team on the court after National Player of the Year JuJu Watkins went down late last season with a 25-26 season-ending knee injury.

The freshman can play inside and shoot with efficiency from outside. Davidson averaged 17.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.1 blocks, and 2.0 steals per game. Those are not freshman numbers, which explains why Davidson also won spots on the All-Big Ten First Team.

When Watkins comes back next season, the duo of her and Davidson should give players and coaches nightmares from now until they graduate.

Defensive Player of the Year: Kennedy Cambridge – Ohio State Buckeyes

I am a Penn State graduate. I only say that to help alleviate any thoughts running through your head about me being a homer or biased. While I am close to a Homer Simpson, I look at Ohio State women’s basketball as an unbiased observer, only here to report on the happenings of the team for the finer folks in the fan community.

Kennedy Cambridge’s loss to Lauren Betts for Defensive Player of the Year is tough for a lot of Buckeye fans to take. That is for good reason because Kennedy Cambridge is a game-changer. Any mistakes by an opponent turn into an opportunity for Cambridge to go for the ball, and often she gets it.

The conference leader in steals at 4.0 per game, with 120 total takeaways, is a candidate for National Defensive Player of the Year and likely took away some votes from Betts. At least one.

Sixth Player of the Year: Angela Dugalic – UCLA Bruins

Last season, I tried to put Angela Dugalic on one of the All-Conference teams, but her name was not given by the program as a candidate. Not every player is eligible for every award, but this year Dugalic was available as a sixth player, and it is hard to argue with her results.

Dugalic’s all-around game makes UCLA’s depth that much stronger. The forward had a career season scoring too, with 9.0 points, plus 5.1 rebounds; good, consistent production from the graduate senior. She was also second on the Bruins with an 81.8 defensive rating, which is partially a team stat, but it shows what Dugalic can do without the ball in her hands.

Defensive Team

Kennedy Cambridge: Guard – Ohio State
Brooke Quarles Daniels: Guard – Michigan
Lauren Betts: Center – UCLA
Jazzy Davidson: Guard – USC
Kiki Rice: Guard – UCLA
Tori McKinney: Guard – Minnesota
Oluchi Okananwa: Guard – Maryland
Avery Howell: Guard – Washington

Betts and Cambridge are 100 percent locks for this award, hands down. My selections were guard-heavy, but it is hard to dispute the play of Maryland’s Oluchi Okananwa, Minnesota’s Tori McKinney, and Michigan’s Brooke Quarles Daniels.

Of those three, the play of Okananwa was a big reason why Maryland was in the top half of the conference standings. The guard moved from Duke to Maryland to play for Frese and alongside guard Kaylene Smikle. Then Maryland lost Smikle for the season. Okananwa quickly adjusted and brought pace. Seeing her play twice certainly helped, but even so, she is underrated in the Big Ten.

Freshman Team

Jazzy Davidson: Guard – USC
Cearah Parchment: Forward – Illinois
Addi Mack: Guard – Maryland
Brynn McGaughy: Forward – Washington
Kylee Kitts: Forward – Ohio State
Destiny Jackson: Guard – Illinois
Neveah Caffey: Guard – Indiana
Journey Houston: Guard/Forward – Iowa

For the Freshman and Defensive teams, voters rank their top eight players for the honor, with the top name also going towards Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards. Parchment was second for me behind Davidson. The forward is part of what could be a contender in the Big Ten for the next couple of seasons, with sophomore Berry Wallace leading the Illini.

Placing Kitts was tough when comparing potential against reality. That injury set Kitts back, and since the Jan. 19 shoulder knock, Kitts has not gotten back to her early-season form. If this award were given on how well the freshman will be in the future, she is up there with Parchment.

All-Big Ten Teams

Choosing the All-Big Ten teams is the toughest part of selecting award winners. Choosing 25 players and ranking them in order of the quality of their seasons is a lot of mental gymnastics; also, there is guilt. Names went on the list, got removed from the list, and then added again. Once I selected the top-25, I moved a lot of names around.

I do not think I got it perfect, but here are my picks, followed by a few finer points:

Jaloni Cambridge: Guard – Ohio State
Lauren Betts: Center – UCLA
Kiki Rice: Guard – UCLA
Olivia Olson: Guard – Michigan
Oluchi Okananwa: Guard – Maryland
Shay Ciezki: Guard – Indiana
Amaya Battle: Guard – Minnesota
Jazzy Davidson: Guard – USC
Hannah Stuelke: Forward – Iowa
Ava Heiden: Center – Iowa
Tori McKinney: Guard – Minnesota
Kennedy Cambridge: Guard – Ohio State
Avery Howell: Guard – Washington
Gianna Kneepkens: Guard – UCLA
Kiyomi McMiller: Guard – Penn State
Syla Swords: Guard – Michigan
Berry Wallace: Forward – Illinois
Gabriela Jaquez: Guard – UCLA
Saylor Poffenbarger: Guard/Forward – Maryland
Britt Prince: Guard – Nebraska
Grace VanSlooten: Forward – Michigan State
Kennedy Blair: Guard – Michigan State
Ehis Etute: Forward – Oregon
Sayvia Sellers: Guard – Washington
Destiny Howell: Guard – Wisconsin

Some of the toughest decisions went down to team performance, which is why some players are off the list. I had the duo from Northwestern in so many spots, but I think that the ability to lift a team up goes a long way. With that said, Sayvia Sellers is too low. That is the biggest mistake I made.
Kiyomi McMiller got a lot of credit for lifting a rough Penn State side from winless to nearly making it into the Big Ten Tournament in the final days. Plus, scoring over 30 points in six consecutive games is Caitlin Clark’s level of carrying a team on your shoulders.
Hannah Stuelke was on the edge of my then top-20 list last season, and ultimately fell off. This season, the play of both her and center Ava Heiden propelled the Hawkeyes to their place as a top-3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. I see a lot of Heiden above Stuelke, the senior’s presence, rebounding, and ability to pull in defenders gave Heiden the space she needed to excel. That is why I have Stuelke above Heiden.
I probably should swap Syla Swords and Shay Ciezki, but the “carrying a team” metric was high on the Indiana senior.

Click here for the entire list of winners from the 2025-26 Big Ten honors.

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