This year’s freshman class was one of the most accomplished in recent memory, even before playing a single collegiate game. Entering the 2024-25 season, these freshmen included a 2024 Olympian and the leading scorer on the 2023 U-19 World Cup gold medalist squad. Throughout the season, another first-year went on to set the SEC record — as well as a national freshman record — for points in a game.
Yet, in a testament to the depth of this group, none of those players earned ’s Freshman of the Year award. That honor, by unanimous vote, goes to UConn’s Sarah Strong.
The star forward finished the regular season averaging 16.1 points and 7.9 rebounds for the Big East champs while leading the country, not just freshmen, in total win shares. She is one of only three first-year players in the last 15 years to average at least 16 points, seven rebounds, and three assists per game.
Despite entering the season as the presumptive sidekick to former national Player of the Year Paige Bueckers, Strong managed to outshine her veteran teammate in a few high-profile matchups. Strong had 21 points and eight rebounds in an absolute drubbing of Louisville during the inaugural Women’s Champions Classic. She had 29 points, nine rebounds and four assists in another rout over Iowa State in the Basketball Hall of Fame showcase. She absolutely dominated Creighton, the Huskies’ toughest conference competitor, in both meetings to the tune of 48 total points and 21 rebounds as UConn went undefeated in the Big East.
All of those offensive exploits belie the fact that Strong was arguably more impactful on defense. With her quick hands and knack for positioning, Strong makes life difficult for everyone on opposing teams, not just her frontcourt matchups. It is a common sight to see Strong poking the ball away on the perimeter for a transition score.
The Huskies have been privy to many generational freshmen, and Strong stacks up among the best. Coach Geno Auriemma likened Strong’s performance in her first season to a combination of Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart and Paige Bueckers, and said that Strong is merely scratching the surface of what she can become.
“I wish that people could see how much more there is to Sarah’s game than what she’s showing,” Auriemma said on The Athletic Women’s Basketball Show. “That’s one big difference between her and Maya. Maya came in and even though we had Tina (Charles) and Renee (Montgomery), she thought, I’m the best player in America, and tried to prove it every single day.”
“I’m trying to instill in her more of a Maya mentality because the average person has not seen half of what Sarah Strong has the capability of doing,” Auriemma added. “I’m hoping that as we get closer to tournament time, I can drag that out of her.”
In second place for freshman of the year, also unanimously by ’s five experts, is Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes, one of the country’s most prodigious scorers at 23.3 points per game. It’s hard to pick a singular offensive highlight from Blakes’ freshman campaign between her 53 points against Florida, 55 in overtime against Auburn and her game-winning putback against in-state rival Tennessee. Perhaps this is the sort of production we should expect out of freshmen going forward, as JuJu Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo were also top-10 scorers last season.
Blakes has only gotten better as the season has gone on, giving the Commodores hope of challenging in the SEC in the near future. Coach Shea Ralph, who was on the sideline as an assistant in Connecticut for many of those iconic freshman seasons, now gets to coach a program-changer of her own in Blakes.
South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards rounds out the top three, the latest in a long line of Gamecocks’ frontcourt greats. Despite coming off the bench, Edwards leads South Carolina in scoring and has been a stabilizing presence in her first season. She is smooth in the post and runs the floor hard, always playing the game at her own tempo. It’s fun to imagine the battles Strong and Edwards will continue to have throughout their college careers, especially once Edwards enters the starting lineup.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
South Carolina Gamecocks, Vanderbilt Commodores, Connecticut Huskies, Women’s College Basketball
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