Kalani Brown, Baylor
Brown has helped Baylor to a 18-1 record so far this season and the No. 1 ranking in the USA TODAY NCAA Division I Top 25 Coaches’ Poll. She is averaging 7.3 rebounds per game and 15.4 points per game with a .618 field-goal percentage. Entering this season, her .649 career field-goal percentage is the highest in Lady Bear history.
As a junior, Brown led Baylor in scoring and rebounding. She scored more points and had more rebounds than any other Big 12 player. She twice scored over 30 points and had 19 20-point games. She was named a WBCA Coaches’ All-American and was unanimously voted Big 12 Player of the Year and to the All-Big 12 first team.
In the Big 12 Conference Tournament, she led Baylor to its ninth Big 12 Championship and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.
Caliya Robinson, Georgia
Robinson is averaging 13.7 points per game and 7.9 rebounds per game along with 46 blocked shots this season for the Bulldogs. Entering this season, she was fourth in Georgia history with 218 career blocks and is one of just five players for the school to record 200 or more blocks. As a freshman, she was named to the SEC All-Freshman team and earned SEC Freshman of the Week three times. In her sophomore year, she was an SEC All-Defensive Team selection and earned espnW National Player of the Week honors.
In the 2017-18 season, as a junior, Robinson was again chosen for the SEC All-Defensive Team and was second team All-SEC. She earned a Coaches’ All-America honorable mention from the WBCA. She was one of five finalists for the Katrina McClain Award, which recognizes the top power forward in the country, and made the Naismith Trophy Watch List for National Player of the Year.
The weekly Wade Watch Spotlight recognizes players on this season’s Wade Watch list of candidates for the Wade Trophy, the sport’s oldest and most prestigious national player of the year award, which the WBCA presents each year to the best player in college women’s basketball.