Lindsey Harding is the best player on the nation's best team. Tennessee's Candace Parker is the best player in the country.
The best player in the nation deserves to be named the National Player of the Year. The logic speaks for itself, and a precedent has been set. The last two years, LSU's Seimone Augustus won the Wooden Award and neither year were the Tigers the top team in the land. On the men's side in 2005, Utha's Andrew Bogut garnered the award despite the fact that his team was a mere No. 6 seed.
The player of the year award honors an individual's performance over the course of a season, not a team's.
That said, Candace Parker is not exactly toiling in the doldrums of college basketball. Parker is the do-it-all player for the second-ranked team in the nation, averaging 20.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.8 blocks, 2.4 assists and 2.0 steals per game. The redshirt sophomore is one of the game's most athletic and versatile players, and she has averaged nearly a double-double while playing in the toughest conference in the country.
Parker has led the Volunteers to a 27-2 record and an almost certain No. 1 seed without the support that Harding enjoys. While Harding is surrounded by All-America candidates Alison Bales and Abby Waner, Parker has led Tennessee to a perfect SEC record with only one other player averaging double-figure scoring.
At the end of the regular season, Harding ranks just 12th in the ACC in scoring. Parker ranks 12th nationally, and amazingly, she has been efficient in shouldering her team's scoring burden-she shoots nearly 53 percent from the floor.
The SEC Player of the Year also has a larger impact in that many people see her as the future of the sport. She has brought a whole new level of athleticsm to the women's game-in only her second year, she is the all-time leader in dunks on the women's side with six.
Parker presents one of the most challenging matchups in the game, both because of her explosive scoring ability-she has three games of 30 points or more-and the fact that she plays multiple positions for her team. The Volunteers' leading rebounder often brings the ball up the floor as well.
While Harding is certainly talented, a defense can approach the prospect of guarding her just as it would any other effective point. The task of guarding Parker is unlike anything else a team will see all season and usually takes an entire defense's focus.
"She is a great player," said fellow National Player of the Year candidate and LSU center Sylvia Fowles. "She's like three in one. She can post someone up, take someone off the block or drive to the basket."
There is no question that Harding is the MVP of the No. 1 and undefeated Blue Devils. But Candace Parker's individual performance throughout the season leaves no doubt that she is the National Player of the Year.
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