For the second straight season, the Big Ten women’s basketball tournament will be held at Target Center in Minneapolis. For the first time ever, it is sold out. The event, from Wednesday to Sunday, will feature some of the best players in the country, including presumptive national player of the year Caitlin Clark. Here are 10 players to watch:
Caitlin Clark
Iowa - 6-0 - Sr - guard
About the only thing left for Clark to do is win a national title, having won both Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to last spring’s NCAA title game. the Final Four. She is the leading scorer in major colleges, ever, having passed Kelsey Plum, Lynette Woodard and Pete Maravich down the stretch of the regular season. Clark leads the nation in scoring (32.2 points per game) and assists (8.7) and enters the tournament with 17 career triple-doubles. Iowa has never lost a game when that happens.
Mackenzie Holmes
Indiana - 6-3 - Sr - forward
She limped off the court in Sunday’s regular season finale, leaving uncertainty for the Hoosiers. She came back this season for her extra year of eligibility and finished behind Clark in the Big Ten in scoring, was first in the Big Ten with a field goal percentage over .650 and 10th in the conference in rebounding. She is one of the most efficient inside scorers in the conference, the perfect complement to an outside scoring attack led by Sara Scalia.
Jacy Sheldon
Ohio State - 5-10 - Sr - guard
Sheldon is the engine that runs the Ohio State machine. Doing a little of everything, Sheldon is third in the Big Ten in scoring at about 18 points per game and in the top 10 in three-point shooting percentage. More importantly, she is the leader of a balanced Buckeyes team that snared the top seed in the Big Ten Conference tournament and spearheads one of the best defenses in the conference, finishing in the top five in steals.
Sara Scalia
Indiana - 5-10 - Sr - guard