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On Wednesday, Sarah Strong was named USBWA National Player of the Year — her first such national honor.
She is the eighth Husky to win the USBWA’s Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (not to be confused with the award of the same name that goes to the nation’s best shooting guard), joining Rebecca Lobo (1995), Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2003), Maya Moore (2009, 2011), Tina Charles (2010), Breanna Stewart (2014-16) and Paige Bueckers (2021). Strong is the 16th National Player of the Year overall in program history and just the third sophomore to win one behind Moore and Stewart.
This season, Strong leads UConn in points (18.4), rebounds (7.5), steals (3.3) and blocks (1.6) while averaging just 26.4 minutes per game. Nationally, she’s first in Win Shares (11.06), Defensive Win Shares (4.8), defensive rating (65.3) and player efficiency (46.4). She’s reached double-figures in every game while shooting .600/.419/.850.
Strong has already brought home plenty of hardware this year — with more likely to come. She was named both an AP and USBWA First Team All-American, Big East Player of the Year, Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player and Big East Defensive Player of the Year. She’s on the Wooden Award National Ballot and is a finalist for the Naismith Trophy and Katrina McClain Award.
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