Top 25 college basketball
The heartbeat of the Colorado women’s basketball team has been once again recognized among the best players in the Pac-12 Conference.
On Tuesday, senior point guard Jaylyn Sherrod was named first-team All-pac-12 in a vote by coaches, while also landing on the All-defensive team.
Sherrod was one of five players honored for the 18th-ranked Buffs. Junior center Aaronette Vonleh also earned first-team allconference, while senior forward Quay Miller and senior guard Frida Formann both received honorable mention. Junior guard Kindyll Wetta received honorable mention for the alldefensive team.
For Sherrod, this is the second consecutive year she’s landed on the 15-player All-pac-12 first team and the third time she’s been included on the five-player All-defensive team.
This season, she is averaging 12.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game for the Buffs. Off the court, she was named the Pac-12 scholar-athlete of the year on Monday.
Vonleh is on the first team for the first time, but this is the second year she’s received recognition. She was all-conference honorable mention last year, while also sharing the most improved player award.
Vonleh is averaging a team-high 14.3 points this season, along with 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.
Miller was first-team last year and the sixth player of the year in 2022. This season, she is averaging 9.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
Formann received honorable mention for the second year in a row. She is averaging 12.6 points, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals and is one of the leading 3-point shooters in the conference (71for-171, .415).
Wetta was recognized for her defense again. She earned All-defensive team and All-freshman honors in 2022. This year, she is averaging 5.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.8 steals.
Regular season champion Stanford cleaned up on some awards Tuesday. Cameron Brink was named the player of the year and defensive player of the year, while Kiki Iriafen was named the most improved player. Cardinal coach Tara Vanderveer was named coach of the year for the 18th time in her career.
USC’S Juju Watkins was named the freshman of the year and Oregon State’s Timea Gardiner the sixth player of the year.
Along with Sherrod and Vonleh, Brink, Gardiner, Iriafen and Watkins were named to the All-pac-12 first team. The others on the first team: Oregon State’s Raegan Beers and Talia von Oelhoffen; UCLA’S Lauren Betts, Charisma Osborne and Kiki Rice; USC’S Mckenzie Forbes; Washington State’s Charlisse Legerwalker; Utah’s Alissa Pili; and Arizona’s Helena Pueyo.
The Pac-12 awards voted on by media will be announced Wednesday.
Fueled
Miller hasn’t forgotten last year’s Pac-12 tournament. In fact, she has used that experience to help her get through tough times this year.
Although Miller had a great season in 2022-23, she struggled during the Buffs’ two games at the Pac-12 tournament. She went a combined 0-for-16 from the floor, scored just two points (on free throws), pulled down 11 rebounds and had nine turnovers.
“That’s something that resonates with me just because of something that my dad had said to me,” Miller said. “Obviously I played bad but I felt like I needed to go through that to be the player I am today. I think that it just speaks to the way I’m handling my role this season compared to my role last season and just being whatever my team needs me to be and being the best Quay that I can be.”
When the Buffs got to the NCAA Tournament a couple weeks later, Miller was her usual self, posting back-to-back double-doubles in the team’s last two games.
Miller’s had great moments at this tournament, too, including helping Washington to an upset of CU in 2021. She had 11 points and five steals in that game and 19 points and seven rebounds the next night against UCLA.
Notable
The Buffs know that their chances of hosting games in the NCAA Tournament are on the line this week, but Miller said, “I think that everybody’s focus is just on Oregon right now and not anything that we can do in the future.” … CU’S Maddie Nolan has played in four Big Ten tournaments with Michigan, but this will be her first Pac-12 tourney. “Vegas is such a cool place and for it to be the last year of the Pac-12 and for the Pac-12 to be as strong as it is, I think it’s really exciting going in knowing that really anyone could win this tournament,” she said. … Nolan was 9-for-11 (.818) from 3-point range this past weekend and she’s 21for-31 (.677) over the past eight games.