Brink an AP All-America first-team pick
Cameron Brink was named to the Associated Press’ women’s basketball All-America first team Wednesday, the latest in her run of honors since the end of Stanford’s regular season.
Brink, the Pac-12 Player and Defensive Player of the Year, on Tuesday was named a firstteam All-American by both the Sporting News and U.S. Basketball Writers Association and as a finalist for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. She was selected a first-team All-American by ESPN and the Athletic earlier this month.
Joining Brink on the AP first team is Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark, Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers and freshmen JuJu Watkins of Southern Cal and Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame.
Brink, a senior who averages 17.8 points per game, became the eighth AP first-teamer in Stanford history. Most recently, Haley Jones was named to the team in 2022.
Chiney Ogwumike in 2014, Nneka Ogwumike in 2012 and Nicole Powell in 2004 had been the only consensus first-team All-Americans in Stanford history.
This season, Brink ranks third in the nation with 12 rebounds per game and leads all players in win shares per 40 minutes (.435) and total rebound percentage (24.7). Her defensive rating of 69.6 is second.
She is also the only player in the country averaging at least 17 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks per game this season. Brink is in the middle of one of the most efficient seasons by a major conference player since 2002-03 and leads the nation with a player efficiency rating of 46.62.
Brink, who has one season of eligibility remaining, will enter the WNBA draft following the NCAA Tournament, which for Stanford begins Friday night at Maples Pavillion against Norfolk State. Among active players, her 406 career blocked shots are tops in the nation and she recently became the 17th Division I player with 400 career blocks.
Brink was an AP third-team All-American in 2022 and a second teamer in 2023, becoming the fifth Stanford player to pick up three nods and the first to be named to all three teams.
Stanford junior forward Kiki Iriafen, who is third in the Pac-12 in scoring (18.6 points per game) and rebounds (11 per game) and is one of three players in the country averaging at least 18 points and 11 rebounds per game, was named an All-America honorable mention.
There are six major conference players in the country averaging at least 17 points and 11 rebounds per game, and Stanford is the only school with two in Brink and Iriafen. Since 19992000, no school has had two players average at least 17 points and 11 rebounds for an entire season.