Candace Parker Calls Out Problem With AP Women’s Basketball All-Time First-Team
On October 16, the Associated Press (AP) released its list of the five greatest women's college basketball players of all time, which were put into a first-team.
Among the players listed on this first-team were former Iowa Hawkeyes superstar Caitlin Clark (who holds the NCAA record for career points scored), USC Trojans legend Cheryl Miller (who won two NCAA national championships and was a three-time Naismith Player of the Year), three-time NCAA champion Diana Taurasi (who played for Geno Auriemma at UConn), four-time NCAA champion Breanna Stewart (who also played at UConn), and Candace Parker, who won two NCAA championships at the University of Tennessee.
This was surely an extremely difficult list to make, if only because whittling down the women's college basketball GOATs to five is a nearly impossible task. And while AP got a lot of praise from women's basketball fans for their rankings (specifically their inclusion of Clark, therefore quelling the narrative that a player needs an NCAA national championship to be on this tier), others surely felt like their preferred pick was unfairly left out.
Candace Parker Believes One Player is Missing in the AP Women's College Basketball First-Team
On the AP's second-team was Sue Bird, Dawn Staley, Chamique Holdsclaw, Maya Moore, and Lusia Harris.
While Candace Parker appreciated her inclusion on the AP first-team list, she clearly thinks the voters overlooked Holdsclaw, which she made clear during an October 22 episode of her Post Moves podcast.
"Completely humbled to be on this list," Parker said before praising all the other members on the team. "I would like to say... I would give up my spot on the first team for Chamique Holdsclaw."
She then added, "Chamique Holdsclaw is the reason why college basketball... three championships in a row!? She was the first to do that. She is a leading scorer at the University of Tennessee, dominated college, was like the [Michael] Jordan of college.
2️⃣3️⃣ more days until our @jerseymikes Naismith Girls’ HS POY Watch List is released!
— Naismith Awards (@NaismithTrophy) October 20, 2025
Did you know our 1995 Girls' HS Player of the Year, Chamique Holdsclaw, led Christ the King High School to four straight state championships?
Holdsclaw went on to star at @LadyVol_Hoops ,… pic.twitter.com/V2jX7b56yy
"I'm being honest: Chamique Holdsclaw not being on this first team hurt my soul, my heart," she added. "When you cut me, I bleed orange. I know this list is really difficult, because there are a lot of great players that are left off this list, but could probably be on the first team.
"But man, to not have Chamique Holdsclaw, this is college... I'll take myself off. I'm second-team now... I don't want to be on first-team if Chamique Holdsclaw is not on it. If she's not on first-team, cause, I'm telling you, Chamique is a problem. She is a problem."
While this praise for Holdsclaw is warranted, it's a good thing that Parker can't actually take herself off of AP's first-team list because she is more than deserving.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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