Who should be SEC POTY: Mikaylah Williams or Madison Booker?

As the calendar prepares to flip to March and with all eyes on the conference tournaments and subsequent NCAA Tournament, it’s easy to get lost in the narratives. It’s easy to just go with the popular choice and turn our attention to the brackets, but if you’ve been paying attention, there’s an awesome battle for the SEC Player of the Year going on right now between two sophomore sensations.

Texas’ Madison Booker and LSU’s Mikaylah Williams have become the go-to players for their teams this year, even amongst older players on their sides. Booker won Big 12 Player of the Year last year but now with Texas in the SEC, she has new competition.

Here, we’re going to be comparing the stats, the games, and the advanced metrics of Booker and Williams for everyone to see before voting on this award. Both are deserving of the award, but I believe there is a clear winner with one game left in the regular season. Let’s get into it.

*All of the numbers below are ONLY from the 15 SEC games both have played in. Advanced numbers courtesy HerHoopStats.com.

Standard SEC per game stats

	Madison Booker	Mikaylah Williams
Points	15.1	18
Rebounds	7.2	4.1
Assists	2.9	3.4
Steals	1.7	.9
Blocks	.5	.3
2-Point %	40	50.3
3-Point %	33.3	39.2

The counting numbers set the baseline for what we’re discussing today and on the surface, it’s easy to make the case for Williams. Not only is she scoring more, but she’s been significantly more efficient both from two and three in conference play. From the field Booker is at 39.7% to Williams’ 46.5%. The scoring is not close. Williams also has the edge in passing and just watching the two, she is a meaningfully better passer and playmaker with the ball.

Booker is a better rebounder, there’s no debate there and she has more steals as a long wing defender who is aggressive in Texas’ system. Defensively, Booker has the edge, but Williams is no slouch this year, especially on the ball.

I even looked up the numbers of these two players against the top half of the SEC. In eight games, Booker averages 16.1 points, on 38.2 percent shooting. In seven games, Williams averages 20.9 points on 45.8 percent shooting.

Advanced stats

	Madison Booker	Mikaylah Williams
Usage %	25.9	23.7
eFG %	41.1	53.2
PER	20.1	21.6
Points Per Play	.81	.97
Rebound %	11.9	6.2
Assist/TO	1.19	1.31
Steal %	2.5	1.3

Booker has the ball in her hands more than Williams, but she’s just not efficient. Meanwhile, Williams’ efficiency is elite, averaging nearly one point per play, and if you look at point per shot attempts, Williams is at 1.13 to Booker’s .93. There’s nothing on the offensive end Booker does better than Williams.

If you’re building a case for Booker it’s because of her defense and rebounding. As we talked about above, she is a much better rebounder than Williams, which is important, and comes up with more steals, but ultimately I don’t believe it to be enough to counter the difference in offensive production.

On-court value

The final numbers I will include here are the Net Ratings with these two players on the court in SEC play, which measures margin per 100 possessions.

As a team, Texas is a ridiculous +19.8 in conference play per 100 possessions. With Booker on the court it elevates to +21.6, a modest increase. 

Overall, LSU is +10.7 per 100 possessions through 15 games, but with Williams on the court, LSU is a +19.8. That’s a massive 9.1 point increase, by far the best on LSU’s roster. Aneesah Morrow is a +14.6 and Flau’Jae Johnson is at just +13.2 in comparison.

Meanwhile, for Texas, there is one player who absolutely dominates when on the court and it’s not Booker. It’s senior forward Taylor Jones. If you’ve watched Texas this year, it’s no surprise that she’s great, but her net rating numbers are unbelievable. Jones is a +49 per 100 possessions when on the court, playing just 23.7 minutes per game.

Taylor Jones has been significantly more valuable than Booker in conference play when she’s on the court, with a 33 PER and vastly superior numbers per 40 minutes, the only thing Booker has done better is play 10 more minutes per game, which is the reason she’s in this conversation instead of Jones. 

The argument of having Booker over Williams because Texas has a better record is one opinion to have, but it’s not even clear she’s the best player on the team. You would essentially be giving the award to Texas over LSU and not Booker over Williams.

Final thoughts on SEC POTY debate

Entering the season, this award was a three-way tie between Booker, Johnson and Morrow, and I genuinely don’t think people have given nearly enough thought to Mikaylah Williams. LSU fans know that she’s been LSU’s best player for two months now and by far the most consistent force Kim Mulkey has this year. 

Texas will end the regular season tied with South Carolina at 15-1 and co-champs of the regular season, if voters want to reward that, then so be it, but none of them can say that Booker has been a better player than Williams in SEC play this year. I don’t believe it is close on the offensive end. The defense and rebounding certainly lean towards Booker, but she also has two of the best defensive players for their positions alongside her in Taylor Jones and Rori Harmon.

Williams’ catalog of clutch moments, incredible playmaking highlights, and times when she has willed this LSU team (Thursday night being another example) needs to be brought to the spotlight, because the fact it seems she’s not even in this conversation is alarming.

I would absolutely have Georgia Amoore in this conversation as well, as the conductor of an elite offense at Kentucky and averaging nearly 21 points and seven assists, albeit not on super efficient numbers and without the defense/rebounding impact of these two wings. I may even have Amoore over Booker on my hypothetical ballot. 

It’s a fascinating discussion because there is not one no-brainer candidate this year. There’s no Aaliyah Boston or Angel Reese. It’s great for women’s basketball as a whole and the SEC that we are having this debate. The SEC Tournament next week is going to be awesome as the conference has established itself as the best conference in America in 2025 and exceeded all expectations.

With that being the case, let’s all make sure to do our research before voting on this prestigious award.