The Associated Press announced its national players of the week in men’s and women’s basketball for Week 18 of the season. On the men’s basketball side:
The 6-foot-9 freshman became the second player to earn AP national player of the week honors twice this season after helping the top-ranked Blue Devils close out the ACC regular-season crown last week. Boozer started off with 26 points on 8-of-10 shooting with nine rebounds and six assists in a rout of N.C. State, then had 26 points, 15 boards and five assists in a win over North Carolina.
Boozer, who is expected to be among the top three picks in the upcoming NBA draft, also was the national player of the week on Dec. 9, joining Brayden Burries of Arizona as the only two-time winners this season. Boozer also has been the runner-up for the award on two occasions and an honorable mention pick two other weeks.
Runner-up
Camren Hunter, Central Arkansas. The 6-3 senior averaged 34.3 points over three games over three days in the Atlantic Sun tourney last week. He started with 31 points in a win over Bellarmine, then had 23 points and eight rebounds a day later in a win over Florida Gulf Coast. He closed with eight 3-pointers and 49 points in a 98-93 loss to Queens in the championship game.
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Honorable mention
Hannes Steinbach, Washington; Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt; Kanon Catchings, Georgia.
Keep an eye on
Jaiden Glover-Toscano, St. Joseph’s. The sophomore had 23 points and nine rebounds in a win over Davidson, then had 15 points and five boards in a win over La Salle. That clinched St. Joseph’s the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament this week.
And on the women’s side:
The junior wing led No. 3 Texas to its first Southeastern Conference Tournament championship. In the title game win over South Carolina, Booker had 18 points, going 8 of 15 from the field. She added four rebounds and two assists. She averaged 19.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists in the tournament.
Runner-up
Jordan Harrison, No. 12 West Virginia. She led the Mountaineers to the Big 12 Tournament championship, earning Most Outstanding Player honors. Harrison had 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals in title game win over TCU. Harrison averaged 15.3 points, 3.3 steals and 3.3 assists in the tournament while hitting all 14 of her foul shots.
Honorable mention
Hannah Hidalgo, No. 22 Notre Dame; Tania Mair, No. 8 Duke; Kiki Rice, No. 2 UCLA; Sarah Strong, No. 1 UConn.
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Keep an eye on
Fairfield junior guard Jillian Huerter averaged 12.7 points, 3.7 3-pointers and 2.3 rebounds to help the Stags win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for the third consecutive year. She was named MVP of the tournament.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
