Maddy Siegrist’s story is one of dominance in a slightly disrespected Big East conference that isn’t quite considered one of the Power 5s. But look at all the Power 5 players she went ahead of in the draft by getting selected at No. 3 by the Dallas Wings. The Big East had a strong season in 2022-23 and Siegrist’s Villanova Wildcats making a run to the Sweet Sixteen certainly helped her cause.
Let’s talk about her dominance. Siegrist averaged 18.8 points as a freshman, 22.8 as a sophomore, 25.3 as a junior and 29.2 as a senior. Her 2,896 career points lead the Big East all-time. She also nearly averaged a double-double each season in college with 8.9 rebounds per game as a freshman, 9.8 as a sophomore and 9.2 as a junior and senior.
Siegrist was similarly dominant in high school, averaging 32.7 points and 13.1 rebounds per game as a senior at Our Lady of Lourdes in Poughkeepsie, New York. She was named All-State twice and Poughkeepsie Journal Player of the Year twice. Yet, she wasn’t ranked in the ESPN Hoop Gurlz Top 100 coming out of high school in 2018.
She quickly proved those rankings wrong. After sitting out the 2018-19 season with a broken ankle, she scored 41 points on Dec. 21, 2019 to mark a Villanova freshman record. She went on to win Big East Rookie of the Week 10 times, tying the all-time record. The Wildcats finished 18-13 (11-7 Big East) in 2019-20, the 32nd and final season of head coach Harry Perretta’s career at Villanova.
The Cats would find team success again during Siegrist’s sophomore year, going 17-7 (9-5 Big East) under first-year head coach Denise Dillon. They would miss the NCAA Tournament, but reached the WNIT quarterfinals. Siegrist finished in the final five in the race for the Katrina McClain Award, which is the award for the best power forward in the country. She also made it to 1,000 career points faster than anyone in Villanova WBB history and topped the Big East in both scoring and rebounding. Only two other players had ever done the latter.
As a junior, Siegrist truly became one of the best players in the country. She won her first of two Big East Player of the Year awards and earned her first AP All-American nod as a Third Team member. She was also second in the entire nation in scoring. Led by her 25 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks, Villanova defeated BYU 61-57 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
As a senior, Siegrist was a First Team AP All-American and led the country in scoring. Villanova, a No. 11 seed in 2021-22, earned a No. 4 seed in the Big Dance for its second-highest seeding ever (No. 2 in 2003). The Wildcats didn’t suffer a letdown either, defeating Cleveland State in the first round and a dangerous Cinderella in FGCU in the second round. Siegrist scored 35 and 31 points, respectively, in those games and added 31 in the Wildcats’ Sweet Sixteen loss to Miami for an incredible tournament run.
To know how much Villanova means to Siegrist, you can look and see her commitment announcement still pinned to the top of her Twitter page. And she has been active on Twitter recently, so it’s not like she just forgot to change the pin.
Siegrist climbed up mock drafts in the weeks leading up to the draft until she was all the way at No. 3. Now she has a real chance to be an impact player in the WNBA.
