Dawn Staley, Aliyah Boston pick up top national honors from Naismith
.jpg "South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley celebrates beating Maryland at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina on Monday, March 27, 2023.")
South Carolina’s Dawn Staley and Aliyah Boston picked up a pair of major national awards on Wednesday.
Staley was named Naismith’s National Coach of the Year, with Boston picking up National Defensive Player of the Year honors. Both won the honors in 2022 as well, making the 2023 honors “the first-ever instance where the Naismith Awards have recognized consecutive winners of two different awards from the same school,” according to a news release.
It’s Staley’s second national coaching honor this season. She was named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s National Coach of the Year last week.
Staley, through a statement from Naismith, said the recognition is “an honor for our whole coaching staff. The hours they put in to help our team don’t go unnoticed, and we couldn’t be in this position without their continued commitment to our program. I also want to thank our team, who makes our jobs a little easier by their commitment to the hard work and sacrifice it takes for us to be in the position of being undefeated and in the Final Four. Their respect for our sport, our program and each other has been rock solid from day one, and I thank them for that.”
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark was named Naismith’s National Player of the Year. Other finalists were Boston, Virginia Tech’s Elizabeth Kitley and Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist.
Coach of the Year finalists were Staley, Virginia Tech’s Kenny Brooks, Indiana’s Teri Moren and Utah’s Lynne Roberts.
Defensive Player of the Year finalists were Boston, South Carolina’s Brea Beal, Stanford’s Cameron Brink and Duke’s Celeste Taylor.
“I’m very thankful to God for winning the 2023 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award, it’s such a blessing,” Boston said through a statement. “I’m also incredibly grateful for my teammates and my coaches, they were the ones that put me in a position to win this award and I’m very appreciative of all that they do.”
The Associated Press will name its Coach of the Year and Player of the Year on Thursday afternoon.
South Carolina (36-0) and Iowa (30-6) face off Friday night in the NCAA Tournament Final Four.
This story was originally published March 29, 2023 at 4:54 PM.