How Dana Evans Stacks Up Against Other National Player of the Year Candidates

The Louisville senior guard has a very real chance to be named as women's college basketball's top player.

(Photo of Dana Evans: Scott Utterback/Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville women's basketball guard Dana Evans has not seen her collegiate career come to an end yet, but it already has a storied one.

Last season as a junior, the 5-foot-6 guard was named the ACC Player of the Year, and was one of 10 WBCA All-Americans - joining Angel McCoughtry and Asia Durr as the only ones in program history.

As you can imagine, she drew plenty of preseason recognition before her senior campaign even began. She was named to the Naismith Trophy & Drysdale Award watch lists, the ACC Preseason Player of the Year, and one of the five AP Preseason All-Americans.

So far through the 2020-21 season, she has backed up that lofty praise on the court. Her 20.2 points per game tops the Atlantic Coast Conference, her assist/turnover ratio of 1.95 is fifth, and her 39.8% three-point shooting percentage is seventh.

Outside of winning a national championship, the only real award, trophy or accolade for her to earn is to win either the John R. Wooden Award or Naismith Trophy, which goes to the nation's top men's and women college basketball players.

The Gary, Ind. native has a very real shot at taking home home this very prestigious honor, but it won't be easy, as she is going up against many worthy candidates for the title of "best player in women's college basketball".

To get a sense of the competition she is up against, here are the stat lines for all 20 players that were named to the Wooden Award Women's Late Season Top 20 Watch List, including Evans:

*Stats accurate through Feb. 5, 2021*

*Mobile users can scroll left & right on the table*

Name	School	PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	3PT%	BPG	SPG
Aliyah Boston	South Carolina	13.7	11.3	1.6	49.5%	26.9%	2.9	1.2
Paige Bueckers	UConn	20.4	5.1	5.7	57.3%	59.6%	0.2	2.3
Charli Collier	Texas	22.0	12.8	0.5	50.6%	25.0%	1.0	0.6
Zia Cooke	South Carolina	16.2	2.7	2.2	41.9%	42.4%	0.1	0.9
Elissa Cunane	NC State	16.2	7.4	1.1	59.8%	50.0%	1.2	0.6
Rennia Davis	Tennessee	14.5	8.9	2.9	47.8%	22.0%	0.5	0.9
Chelsea Dungee	Arkansas	22.4	4.1	1.4	43.0%	37.5%	0.3	1.4
Dana Evans	Louisville	20.2	2.8	4.2	45.6%	39.8%	0.1	1.5
Arella Guirantes	Rutgers	22.5	7.1	5.4	39.4%	38.6%	2.4	3.1
Naz Hillmon	Michigan	26.3	12.3	1.8	63.6%	0.0%	0.8	0.7
Rhyne Howard	Kentucky	19.7	7.1	3.7	44.2%	34.7%	0.7	1.8
Rickea Jackson	Mississippi State	15.8	4.5	1.9	41.4%	33.3%	0.5	0.6
Ashley Joens	Iowa State	31.5	8.8	0.8	53.9%	40.9%	1.0	1.0
Haley Jones	Stanford	14.8	8.3	3.4	55.7%	16.7%	1.1	0.8
Natasha Mack	Oklahoma State	19.0	12.3	1.9	52.1%	0.0%	4.2	2.2
Aari McDonald	Arizona	18.5	5.5	4.9	41.1%	31.9%	0.0	2.7
Olivia Nelson-Ododa	UConn	13.5	7.1	2.3	61.7%	27.3%	1.8	0.6
Michaela Onyenwere	UCLA	17.1	8.8	2.4	40.5%	25.0%	0.3	0.6
NaLyssa Smith	Baylor	17.6	10.1	1.3	50.3%	0.0%	0.9	1.1
Kiana Williams	Stanford	13.4	1.9	2.6	38.8%	33.0%	0.1	1.6

Five players are averaging double-doubles, an additional five are shooting over 55.0% from the field, and several stats are flat out ridiculous - such as UConn's Paige Bueckers shooting nearly 60.0% from three or Iowa State's Ashley Joens averaging over 30 points per game (albeit in just four games). But with roughly a month left in the regular season, Evans has just as much of a shot as anyone else does.

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