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Tennessee Lady Vols individual player awards for 2017-2018 season

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 21: Tennessee Volunteers fans hold up a cardboard photo of women's basketball coach Pat Summitt during the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 21, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Connecticut 60-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 21: Tennessee Volunteers fans hold up a cardboard photo of women's basketball coach Pat Summitt during the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 21, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Connecticut 60-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images /

Most Valuable Player – Mercedes Russell/Jaime Nared

We had to name both Mercedes Russell and Jaime Nared as co-MVPs for this year. There was no other way around it when you consider the value that each provided. When the Tennessee Lady Vols lost Diamond DeShields last year, we knew they’d be the two most important players on this year’s team.

And although they were not as great as they could have been, they carried the team in different ways. Russell was the dominant presence down low, averaging over 15 points and 9 rebounds a game. For parts of the year, she was a double-double machine.

She should have been even more valuable, but for some reason Holly Warlick didn’t find it necessary to feed her the rock down low as much as possible. Either way, she was still a force and had a very productive career on Rocky Top from an individual standpoint.

Nared, meanwhile, was the player the entire offense ran through. She had to take on an added role with DeShields gone, and it produced mixed results. However, when her three-point shot wasn’t falling, which happened at the end of the year, she found other ways to score and get to the basket.

As a result, the team depended on her scoring and her ability to distribute the ball. She averaged over 16 points and 7 rebounds. If Nared’s three-point shot was falling, and if Warlick had used Russell more, this could have been a national title team. Nonetheless, they were still the two best players on the Tennessee Lady Vols in their own ways, so we award them co-MVP honors.