Who was the best player in women's college basketball for the 2004-05 season?

If someone asked you that right now (not last week or the week before), what would you say? Would you still take Seimone Augustus over Sophia Young?

Here are their numbers for the entire year.

Young: 18.4 ppg, 53% FG, 9.3 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.9 spg, 0.7 bpg.
Augustus: 20.1 ppg, 55% FG, 4.6 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.4 spg, 0.5 blg.

Augustus had better scoring numbers; Young had better numbers in every other category. Young was a better defender. And while Augustus played poorly in the most important game of her season, Young led her team all the way to a national championship.

It was a close race this year amoung several players. But Sophia Young separated herself from the pack down the stretch. She was as good as anyone all year long, and she was the best in March.

(You could say the same thing about Sean May on the men's side.)

The folks who give the awards want publicity. Most of them give out the hardware on Final Four weekend to maximize exposure. That means that they have to vote before the season ends.

It's understandable, but it's still unfortunate.

I suppose you can still make a case for Augustus (or someone else) over Young. But shouldn't we at least wait to see the biggest games of the year before deciding?