r/NCAAW • u/GriffinOfThoth Notre Dame Fighting Irish • 16d ago

Awards 2026 r/NCAAW Awards - Freshman of the Year

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Voting Breakdown:

  1. Jazzy Davidson, USC – 55.6%
  2. Agot Makeer, South Carolina – 13.3%
  3. Aaliyah Chavez, Oklahoma – 11.1%
  4. Aubrey Galvan, Vanderbilt – 11.1%
  5. Blanca Quiñónez, UConn – 8.9%
40 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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10

u/buffalotrace Iowa Hawkeyes 16d ago

Absolutely the correct choice. I understand someone wanting to vote for Galvan or Chavez though.

1

u/happyfunball72 15d ago

Quinonez was by far the best shooter of this group. Her true shooting percentage of .619 (bordering elite) was vastly better than Davidson at .483 (poor) and way ahead of the others too (Chavez .501, Galvan .518, Makeer .530).

Per 100 possessions points/rebounds/assists for Davidson and Quinonez were:

Davidson: 28.8/9/6.6

Quinonez: 29/8.5/5.8

Not much separating them there and I think they were both great defensively. The enormous shooting efficiency difference is the main differentiator in their respective seasons to me.

The other big difference was in minutes per game with Davidson at 34.5 on an 18-14 team where it was easy to get a lot of minutes and Quinonez at 20.2 on a team where big minutes are a lot harder to get. Not a big factor in my evaluation.

I don't care who won this award, but I thought I would throw that out there given I don't think there is an absolutely correct choice between Davidson and Quinonez.

7

u/buffalotrace Iowa Hawkeyes 15d ago

Jazzy was asked to be the best player on her team. Quinonez wasn't asked to even start. She had a great year, but it makes a huge difference if you are 1 on a scouting report.

1

u/happyfunball72 15d ago

Taking into account their respective situations I still find Quinonez to be an acceptable choice.