Player of the Year race: Is Maddy Siegrist rising to level of Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese?

What do you value in a National Player of the Year? Is it the gaudiest stats? The production against strong competition? The moves on the court? The ability to make others better? The way one carries teammates on their back? The one a team can’t be without?

There are so many ways to qualify an award that has no qualifications. And that’s why National Player of the Year awards, or MVPs, or what have you, are so ripe with heated and often angry debate. There is only one award to give out, and in the case of women’s college basketball, more than 2,000 players who could theoretically win it.

There are three players who have taken over the bulk of the conversation this season, and while all are incredibly talented, they fill very different qualifications a voter may consider.

South Carolina’s 6-foot-5 center Aliyah Boston: Ability to make others better

Iowa’s 6-foot point guard Caitlin Clark: Carries team on her back

LSU’s 6-3 forward Angel Reese: Gaudiest stats

Every player has her own “con” to go with the pro they provide. Boston’s pure statistics are down because of the talent around her, the defenses on her and that she’s played fewer minutes in those easier nonconference contests. Clark’s team has the most losses of the group. And Reese hasn’t matched up with barely any high-quality competition, let alone has her team played strong teams in either eye test or NET rating.

I am not a voter. But after watching Boston and Reese in Sunday’s highly anticipated battle of unbeatens, I don’t think Reese should win the award over either Boston or Clark given her lack of equivalent competition and how she performed against the limited number of better ones. And there’s a fourth contender who should be talked about in Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist, whose numbers are in line with the headline trio.

Angel Reese’s complicated NPOY case

Reese’s stats are among the best in the country and her skill set is strong. Her 23.2 ppg rank fifth and 15.3 rpg second. She can power through for her own putbacks, get to her spot and show up defensively. Reese notched a double-double in every game heading into No. 1 South Carolina’s house, where it was snapped. She set the program record for rebounds in a game (28) and is the only Division I player with multiple 20-20 games.

The question becomes, how many other players could say all that when playing the competition LSU has played? Surely if South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley was leaving her starters in for full games against low competition, Boston could. And that’s not Reese’s fault, nor is it something to blame head coach Kim Mulkey for after she explained the schedule was set before they drew in a strong group of transfers. No one is taking away how great of a player Reese is and will become in her future seasons at LSU. There is time to show the talent against proper competition, and she’ll be all the better for it.

The Tigers (23-1, 11-1 SEC, NET 3) didn’t play an AP Top 25 team until Arkansas in December, and that team quickly fell out. Their nonconference schedule included one team (Oregon State, NET 55) from the power six conferences. And the SEC schedule isn’t stacked with only South Carolina, LSU and Tennessee (NET 19) in the top 20 of NET. It is ranked fifth in strength of schedule (and strength of future schedule) by Massey Ratings, leaving it behind everyone except the Big East.

Against both Tennessee and South Carolina, the two strongest teams on the schedule, Reese looked frustrated and largely lacked her game-long dominance because the post players were bigger, stronger and more talented than nearly any she’d faced prior. Against the Gamecocks, she had a season-low rebounds (four) and shooting clip (33.3%, 5-of-15) and neared a season-low points (16). Her three worst games were South Carolina, Tennessee (5-of-14, 18 points), Kentucky (5-of-14, 26 points largely off free throws) and Alabama (4-of-11, 14 points).

That could be more a note on experience both physically and mentally facing good competition regularly, particularly since Reese played for Maryland in the tough Big Ten before the transfer. In fewer minutes last season with the Terps, but a higher usage rate, Reese averaged 17.7 ppg — 0.95 points per play — and 10.6 rpg. Her numbers this season are increases of 31%, 44% and 10%, respectively, and she ranks second in win shares (13.3), via Her Hoop Stats.

I don’t think padding stats against inferior talent is what makes a Player of the Year. Boston, Clark and Siegrist are stronger candidates in my list of qualifications.

Aliyah Boston’s ability to improve players around her

Boston, whose Gamecocks are 25-0 (12-0 SEC, NET 1), is the easiest comparison in the conversation because she’s also in the SEC. Her numbers aren’t as gaudy at 13.4 ppg and 9.9 rpg, though her points per play of 1.13 is the highest of the three favorites. She ranks fifth in win shares (9.5). The play around her, and South Carolina’s deep bench, have impacted the numbers she put up last season. One of her best games was Kentucky (9-of-11 for 21 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, four blocks) and Alabama (8-of-10, 16p, 12r, 4a) as game comparisons to Reese.

South Carolina’s strength of schedule is rating multitudes higher than LSU because it scheduled UConn (NET 2), Stanford (NET 4) and UCLA (NET 27) on the road. Boston had a season-high 26-point, 11-rebound double-double against UConn and a 14-point, 13-rebound one against Stanford.

It could be argued Boston is the most valuable to South Carolina, because the attention on her opens up her teammates for stronger stats. Talent wise, she’s widely believed by scouts to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft in April. Her ability to find her shot down low, or find the open player through those doubles, is easy to see. And she shows up against good competition. Having won it already certainly helps.

Caitlin Clark’s gaudy stats, team MVP status

Clark has played in a tougher conference for Iowa (20-5, 12-2 Big Ten, NET 8) with gaudy stat-packing numbers of 27.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg and 8.3 apg. The Big Ten has nine teams in the top-50 NET rankings (and five in the top 16), which the selection committee uses primarily to determine seeding, and it’s the highest-scoring conference in Division I.

She’s reached 40 points two times and each was against an AP-ranked conference foe. Her three triple-doubles lead the nation and she’s on constant watch for them, including a 25-point, seven-rebound, six-assist day against UConn in November with Azzi Fudd in the Huskies’ lineup. She is third in win shares (10.9).

Arguments for Reese largely focus on how invaluable she is for LSU (though Alexis Morris might have put a hole in that on Sunday). Clark is arguably even more valuable for Iowa. Monika Czinano is the most efficient in the nation in the post, but it is Clark who is getting her the ball. The junior point guard assists on a nation-best 47.1% of the team’s baskets.

Clark’s ability to hit from deep is fun to watch, but also extends the defense to help her get Czinano open. She’s also been stronger on her drives in the paint and is attempting more free throws than either year prior.

Maddy Siegrist, the forgotten NPOY contender

There’s a fourth candidate who should be heavily debated with the trio: Siegrist. The 6-2 senior forward is averaging near a double-double with 29.1 ppg (first in D-I) and 9.4 rpg.

Her 1.17 points per play eclipses Boston and her high usage rate (37.6%) is on par with Clark. Her 53.6% on field goals is similar to Reese, but her game goes out to the 3-point line where she’s 41% on an average of nearly two makes per game. Her 57.5 effective field-goal percentage beats everyone else on the above NPOY list except Boston (59.2%).

The Big East strength of schedule ranks sixth and Villanova as a program is ranked 50th — right around LSU’s statistical SOS. The Wildcats (22-4, 13-2) are 11th in NET and played Princeton (NET 50), Baylor (NET 24), South Florida (NET 32) and Iowa State (NET 15) in non-conference games.

Siegrist, the reigning Big East Player of the Year, had 32 points and 12 rebounds against Iowa State. Her two worst shooting nights were against UConn (9-of-23), where she still scored 25 with eight rebounds, and Baylor (8-of-24), but still with 22 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Against Seton Hall on Saturday, she posted a career-high 50 points to become the leading scorer in Big East conference games history.

The one all of the above Player of the Year contenders are chasing is Siegrist, whose 13.8 win share mark leads the nation. If we’re talking scoring, she leads the nation in points (and points per 40 minutes) as well as field goals made (and field goals per 40). Her turnover rate is 5.9% to rank fifth, blowing everyone else out of the contest (Boston’s is 11.5% at 238th overall). And that’s with the highest usage rate of the four players on this list (besting Clark’s 36.6%, Reese’s 29.2%, and Boston’s 21%).

If Reese is in the conversation for Player of the Year — which is fine if one views the award as largely statistically based — then Siegrist should absolutely be a high contender for what she’s done this season. The strength of schedule and performance all considered, she’s actually a stronger candidate than Reese in the eyes of at least this viewer.