Cameron Brink wins Pac-12 Player of the Year

March 5, 2024, 11:14 p.m.

Adding to a long list of career accolades, senior forward Cameron Brink has cemented herself in the history books with one more: Pac-12 Player of the Year.

On Tuesday, the Pac-12 announced its slate of all-conference honors and awards, with Brink headlining the news. The selection follows her strongest regular season campaign as a Cardinal, where her 17.9 points per game and 12.0 rebounds per game ranked fourth and second in the Pac-12, respectively. 

In addition to Pac-12 Player of the Year, the projected No. 2 overall pick in this year’s WNBA Draft earned her third consecutive Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award. Brink’s 100 blocked shots far outpaced the crowd, with teammate-turned-UCLA-rival Lauren Betts ranking second in the Pac-12 with 54 blocks.

The 6-foot-4 forward joins elite company with these honors, becoming just the third player in conference history to win both the Pac-12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season.

Joining Brink on the list of major conference awards were teammate Kiki Iriafen and head coach Tara VanDerveer.

Iriafen, a junior forward, was named the Pac-12 Most Improved Player of the Year thanks to a team-leading 18.5 points per game, up from 6.7 points per game just a year ago. The 6-foot-3 scoring weapon started all 30 of Stanford’s games this season, while also contributing 10.9 rebounds per game and shooting 54.5% from the field. 

On the sidelines, VanDerveer claimed her 18th Pac-12 Coach of the Year award, capping off what has already been a historic year for the all-time winningest coach in women’s college basketball. Following three straight Pac-12 regular season titles and No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, the Cardinal came into this season with tempered expectations and began the year ranked No. 15 overall. VanDerveer made sure her squad quickly squandered any doubt of their continued success, beginning the season 15-1, with three top-20 victories. Instead of regressing, the Cardinal found themselves atop the Pac-12 once again, earning the program its fourth consecutive Pac-12 regular season title.

Graduate student guard and sharpshooter Hannah Jump, as well as sophomore guard Talana Lepolo were also recognized on Tuesday, both being selected All-Pac-12 honorable mention. Freshmen forwards Nunu Agara and Courtney Ogden also represented Stanford, both being named All-Freshman honorable mention.

With history behind them, the decorated Cardinal squad is not done yet. In the final Pac-12 Tournament ever, Stanford comes in as the top seed eager to write themselves in the history books yet again, this time to avenge an early exit last year.

The Cardinal are set to kick off postseason play on Thursday, taking on the winner of No. 8 California and No. 9 Washington State in Las Vegas at 2:30 p.m. PT.

Zach Zafran was the Vol. 262 managing editor for the sports section. Now a senior staff writer, he has previous experience reporting and writing with SFGATE. You can find Zach around campus wearing swim trunks no matter the weather. Follow him on Twitter at @ZachZafran and contact him at sports 'at' stanforddaily.com.

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