Dana Evans has been named an All-American in multiple years by multiple organizations, has twice been dubbed her conference’s bestas the ACC Player of the Year, and for the last two years has led Louisville, a top-10 team, in scoring, assists, free-throw percentage, and 3-pointers.
She is slated to finish her career as Louisville’s career leader in free-throw percentage, and in the top 10 in scoring, assists, and3-pointers made.
The senior guard will further have a chance to add to her lengthy legacy when the Cardinals play in the Elite Eight tonight — they face No. 1 Stanford at 9 p.m. on ESPN.
Herterrific career and season has landed her among the top candidates for national player of the year awards, and as a 5-foot-6 candidate for such honors, Evansis in rare company.
The short list
Basketball is, of course, typically dominated by taller players. The WNBA has only had one player listed under 6-foot win the MVP, and that was more than 20 years ago.
There are a number of major player of the year awards in women’s college basketball — the Wade Trophy, the Naismith, the Wooden Award and the AP Player of the Year among them — and, similarly, they are often won by taller players.
Should Dana Evans, who is a strong candidate for those awards, win one, she would tie for the second-shortest player to ever take home such hardware.
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Despite a recent shooting slump, Evans averaged 19.9 points (shooting 89% from the free-throw line) and 3.9 assists per game entering Tuesday night’s Elite Eight game.
“She’s so competitive, and she’s fast, and explosive, and she can change pace. And she can shoot it,” television analyst Debbie Antonelli said of Evans. “Her size doesn’t matter.”
5-foot-11 UConn point guard phenom Paige Bueckers is one of the frontrunners for these awards, as well, and she was already named the season’s best player by ESPN.
Sometimes, one player dominates a season such that they win each national player of the year award — like Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu last year. But this could be a season when the awards are split, and Bueckers isn’t necessarily a lock for the others.
“I think it’s the most wide open for player of the year and national champion that I can remember,” Antonelli said.
As a freshman, Bueckers is ineligible for the Wade Trophy, and Evans is a finalist for the award for the second-straight yearalongside Kentucky's Rhyne Howard, Michigan's Naz Hillmon and Baylor's NaLyssa Smith, each of whom is 6-foot-2.
“I think (Evans) isin that small group of probably two or three people that are frontrunners for it,” ESPN’s Mechelle Voepel said.
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This will be the 44th year of the Wade Trophy, and should Evans win, she would become the second-shortest player to do so. Kamie Ethridge, a 5-foot-5 point guard for Texas, won it in 1986, and to this day, remains the only player to win it without scoring 1,000 career points. Ethridge averaged just 5.2 points per game the year she won it, but remains the school’s career leader in assists.
In the Naismith’s 38-year history, Virginia point guard Dawn Staley — now a successful coach at South Carolina — is the only 5-foot-6 winner, taking home the honor in 1991 and 1992. Evans is one of four finalists for that accolade, which will be announced Saturday, the same day as the Wade.
In 26 years of the AP Player of the Year, there has been one winner, Jennifer Rizzoti of UConn, who was 5-foot-6. The rest have been taller than Evans.
As for the Wooden Award, first given out in 2004, no winner has ever been shorter than 5-foot-8. Evans is among five finalists for that honor, which will be given out after the NCAA Tournament concludes.
'She has the fearlessness'
There are others, too. Fast-paced, exciting 5-foot-6 Ivory Latta of North Carolina was named ESPN.com’s Player of the Year in 2006, and ESPN’s Voepel, who has covered women’s basketball for decades, thought of 5-foot-6 WNBA legend Becky Hammon when naming terrific players of shorter stature.
Hammon wasn’t named player of the year, but was an All-American at Colorado State, although that didn’t lead to her being one of the 36 players selected in the 1999 WNBA Draft. She would still, however, go on to become a six-time WNBA All-Star and is now an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA.
“She would go into this tangle of arms, and I would be like, I don’t even know how she’ll get the ball off,” Voepel remembers of Hammon, “and she would. She was so good at that.”
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UConn’s point guard last year was Crystal Dangerfield, who, at 5-foot-5, slipped into the second round of the 2020 WNBA Draft. She entered the league tied as the shortest player on a roster, but earned a significant role with the Minnesota Lynx, leading the team with 16.2 points and 3.6 assists and winning the 2020 WNBA Rookie of the Year award.
Although many elite guards in college and the pros approach 6-foot in height, Evans, nor backcourt partners Hailey Van Lith and Mykasa Robinson, are taller than 5-foot-7.
Still, Evans is able to excel because of her ability to shoot from deep, get her shot off quickly, and penetrate. Voepel called her diversified skillset "unpredictable," making it hard for defenders to key in on one area.
Plus, Evans, the small guard, has solidified a reputation for being unafraid to rise to the occasion in big moments on big stages.
“She definitely has the fearlessness,” Voepel said. “It’s sort of a cliché that the little player has to be fearless, but they really do.”
Hayes Gardner can be reached athgardner@gannett.com;Twitter: @HayesGardner.
