Monday, March 2 saw a slew of SEC honors and awards. The Vanderbilt Commodores took the lion’s share of the big pieces of pie as the program earned the league’s Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, and Freshman of the Year, but the national end-of-season award race is far from over.
Each year, NCAA colleges collectively nominate and vote for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Freshman of the Year. The award carries significant weight and was won by Sarah Strong in 2025 and JuJu Watkins in 2024; Ta’Niya Latson (2023), Aneesah Morrow (2022), and Paige Bueckers (2021) round out the five most recent recipients.
The SEC is one of the toughest basketball conferences and has produced a strong freshman class this season. There are plenty of possibilities for WBCA Freshman of the Year, but, ultimately, three strong contenders.
Vanderbilt Commodores: Aubrey Galvan
Galvan is having the kind of freshman season at Vanderbilt that first-year athletes dream of: not only was she crowned SEC Freshman of the Year, but her teammate Mikayala Blakes was named SEC Player of the Year and Shea Ralph was chosen as SEC Coach of the Year. Vanderbilt hoists a 27-3 record (including 13 league wins — the record for the most SEC wins in a single season). The Commodores are having a tremendous season, and Galvan is a big part of the reason why.
Ralph has had no shortage of praise when asked about her freshman guard. While speaking to reporters Tuesday — the day she, Blakes, and Galvan received their awards — Ralph said that when it comes to her very talented backcourt, “This is just the beginning. It’s just the beginning.”
“I think it’s really, really cool to see their growth. It’s cool to watch their joy and to experience it,” Ralph continued. “They’re really great basketball players. They’re even better humans.”
Galvan was also characteristically relaxed about the award, and about what might lie ahead. “Even being considered for that award is something … it means a lot, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, my coaches, and everything,” she said. “So I give them a lot of credit.”
Of the upcoming SEC tournament, which will be her first, Galvan shrugged and noted, “It’s just a basketball game … you can’t make things any bigger than they really are.”
That attitude has carried Galvan through a season that saw her rise from basketball obscurity to being on the receiving end of weekly, if not daily, headlines praising everything from her interactions with Blakes to her signature no-look passing. With her SEC nod, Galvan is leading the pack — and she has put in the performance to back that up.
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Texas Longhorns: Aaliyah Crump
Crump joined the Longhorns to plenty of fanfare and excitement back in 2024, when she was No. 5 on ESPN’s top 100 list. Crump had already achieved a lot at both the state (she hails from Minnesota) and international level (she was part of Team USA’s U16 National Team that earned a gold medal at the 2023 FIBA Americas Championship in Merida, Mexico).
Crump was gaining plenty of attention as a freshman before things ground to a half: she was forced to the sidelines with a foot injury only five games into the season.
The unexpected injury was “definitely hard,” she told The IX Sports. “You know, I was on a high. I was playing really well with my teammates. I just have a really great coaching staff and teammates around me who really poured into me and allowed me to just feel really confident in my game, and so I feel like I was definitely at one of the most confident times of my career.”
Her comeback was slow and steady, and she worked closely with assistant coach Blair Schaefer. As she explained, part of what helped Crump get through the initial disappointment was her desire to be back on the court with her teammates.
“We talked with her throughout the process, and, obviously, her well-being was the number one priority for us,” Schaefer said. “And at the end of the day, she just kept saying, ‘I want to be a part of winning, I want I want to help this team.'”
Schaefer continued, “She knows that she can help this team. She knows that we were missing her a lot, and at the end of the day, nothing is ever promised in in life, whether it’s this season [or] next season.”
The pair navigated Crump’s injury recovery together week by week, and she returned to the court on January 18. “I felt really great on the court. Honestly, you know, I thought going back into my first game after being injured, it was going to be a little rocky, but I’m just glad that I got extra work in,” Crump said.
“Obviously, like with Blair, like I said, and my teammates are on me, like Maddie [Madison Booker]. I shoot with her a lot, and so she was just excited to see me back on the court and all my teammates were cheering really loud for me. So I think it honestly made it easier. You know, there was obviously some nerves coming back in for the first time in a while, but I think it went really well.”
Crump will join the Longhorns when the team plays in the final quarterfinals match in the SEC tournament on Friday, March 6, an opportunity to showcase her comeback on her largest stage — to date.
Oklahoma Sooners: Aaliyah Chavez
Chavez signed with Oklahoma after an intense recruitment process that saw her consider playing for LSU, South Carolina, Texas, UCLA, and Texas Tech. She’s been an enormously exciting addition for the Sooners, and is a big part of the program’s longterm plans.
Though she didn’t snag SEC Freshman of the Year, Chavez was named to the All-SEC Second Team, an honor that supports the effort she’s put on the court this season. In fact, Chavez was the only freshman in the league to be named to an All-SEC team.
Chavez’s growth has been in understanding when she’s needed and why, Coach Jennie Baranczyk told reporters following the Sooners’ 84-78 win over Missouri on March 1. “I think the biggest growth for her is understanding when we need it, how we need it,” she explained. “So whether its play calling or even understanding where to get the ball in motion — things she can do — sometimes she’s got to be on the outside,” where she can create her own shots. But other times, Chavez has learned she’s got “to be able to get inside and be a really good passer on the interior to create for other people.”
Chavez, who averaged 18.4 points, 3.8 rebonds, and 4.2 assists for the Sooners pre-tournament, has plenty of time to continue that growth, and there’s little doubt she’ll do anything but that.
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