National Player of the Year? Rhyne Howard’s campaign is fueled by All-America snub.
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2020-21 College Basketball Preview
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As a high school senior at Tennessee’s Bradley Central High School, basketball star Rhyne Howard had her heart set on being named a McDonald’s All-American.
Yet when the 2018 McDonald’s All-Americans were announced, Howard was not chosen — while three other Tennessee high school players were.
In the aftermath of that disappointment, “I know Rhyne felt like she had a point to prove,” says Rhvonja Avery, Howard’s mother.
So in the first three games following the McDonald’s All-American snub, Howard went for 41, 38 and 39 points.
“When Rhyne feels like she’s been slighted, she doesn’t do a whole lot of talking, she doesn’t make a whole lot of predictions” says Jason Reuter, the Bradley Central girls’ hoops coach. “But she has this inner compass, ‘OK, if you don’t think I’m worthy, I’m going to show you.’ That McDonald’s thing set her off.”
Howard, now the Kentucky Wildcats women’s hoops star, will enter her junior season this winter as one of the favorites to succeed the graduated Oregon star Sabrina Ionescu as National Player of the Year.
In April, ESPN writer Graham Hayes listed the 6-foot-2 Howard — the reigning SEC Player of the Year — as THE favorite to be chosen as the nation’s top player in 2020-21.
Yet in a case of hoops deja vu, Howard’s campaign to be recognized as women’s college basketball’s premier player is being fueled by another awards affront.
Last year, after Howard averaged 23.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.3 steals while leading Kentucky to a 22-8 record, she was named First Team All-America by The Associated Press, the United States Basketball Writers Association and the Wooden Award.
Inexplicably, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association left Howard off its 10-player All-America team.
“She continues to get snubbed on awards,” says Avery, “and that continues to motivate her.”
A WNBA summer
After the coronavirus pandemic prematurely ended her sophomore season and sent students home from the UK campus, Howard ended up in a fortuitous position.
Back home in Cleveland, Tenn., Howard had access to a gym at a time when not all college players did.
With former AAU and now UK teammates Treasure Hunt and Jazmine Massengill about 35 miles away in Chattanooga, Howard also had other high-level players with whom to work out.
“We knew that the summer was going to be a big time to get ahead of the competition or maintain and stay in shape because a lot of people didn’t have access to a gym,” Howard said.
Through an AAU coach, Howard, Hunt and Massengill got word that a group of WNBA players in Atlanta were looking to get back in basketball shape by scrimmaging before that league resumed its season in a coronavirus-containment bubble in Florida.
That’s how the trio of UK players came to be playing pickup against familiar WNBA names such as Tiffany Hayes, Courtney Williams and others this summer.
Playing against the pros left Howard feeling confident. “It was fun,” she said. “And I did good, too.”
National Player of the Year?
Kentucky Coach Matthew Mitchell, before announcing his retirement this past week, was emphatic about what the standard for Howard is in 2020-21.
“I think the most important thing for us as a (coaching) staff is to constantly remind Rhyne of the goal she has set for herself — she wants to be the best player in the country,” Mitchell said. “There are a lot of people who want to be that but Rhyne is one of the few people that want to do it and actually has a chance to do that.”
Entering her junior season, Howard has done all she could to put herself at the forefront of the discussion for women’s college basketball’s top individual honors.
As a UK freshman in 2018-19, Howard swept every major National Freshman of the Year honor.
Last year as a sophomore, she was named top player in the SEC and earned First Team recognition on most of the prominent All-America teams.
“I think Rhyne Howard has a great chance to be National Player of the Year if she continues to play like she did last season,” said Carolyn Peck, the ESPN women’s college hoops analyst.
Howard’s bid to earn her sport’s highest individual honor is likely tied to Kentucky’s level of team success. ESPN’s Hayes wrote in April that “Players of the Year historically come from teams near the top of the polls.”
Is Kentucky, buoyed by the eligibility of transfer post players Olivia Owens (Maryland) and Dre’una Edwards (Utah) plus the arrival of McDonald’s All-American Hunt, good enough to contend for the 2021 Final Four?
“I think they have the potential to be,” says Peck, a former head coach at Purdue and Florida.
In her pursuit of becoming UK’s first women’s college basketball National Player of the Year, Howard will have motivation beyond leading Kentucky to its first Final Four.
The WBCA saw to that.
“For them to leave me off (of their All-America team), I was hurt a little bit,” Howard said. “It is definitely a huge motivator for me.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 8:29 AM.
