Aaliyah Chavez, the nation's No. 1 recruit and Oklahoma signee out of Monterey High School, is next up in women's hoops.
In March, she was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year, an award reserved for only the best names in the sport. She joined the elite company of some of the biggest stars in women's basketball like Paige Bueckers, JuJu Watkins, Breanna Stewart, Nneka Ogwumike, Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie.
Chavez is out in Los Angeles this week with Gatorade to celebrate her National Player of the Year award which culminates in a trip to Wednesday night's ESPYs. When she won the award a few months ago, she admitted to Sports Illustrated she's not much of an awards person, but this one was special.
She was Texas's Gatorade Player of the Year in each of the past two years. The state-based honor went elsewhere in Chavez's freshman and sophomore years, which brought motivation to bring home the honor as a junior. Then, she capped off her senior season with the national honor.
On the floor, Chavez is a do-it-all guard who can score at all three levels, make plays for her teammates, rebound and defend. She has averaged 30 or more points per game in each of her past three high-school seasons, including 37.8 points as a junior and 34.9 as a senior, per MaxPreps. She's poised to make an immediate splash across college basketball once she begins her first year with the Sooners this upcoming season.
She met up with SI once again while in California this week with Gatorade (her favorite flavor is lime cucumber, by the way) and shared the hoopers she enjoys watching the most.
"Top three, I'd have to put Caitlin Clark, Steph Curry and Paige Bueckers," she said. Chavez is an elite shooter in her own right. She won the McDonald's All-American three-point competition this year and possesses the range of the stars she mentioned.
As for the elite company she joined herself by becoming the Gatorade National Players of the Year, she knows this is only the start.
"It's amazing, I mean just all the great players that have won it. So it's big, big shoes to fill for sure. I mean, I got to step up my game now."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Aaliyah Chavez, Nation's Top Recruit, Reveals Her Two Favorite WNBA Players to Watch.