A'ja Wilson insists Aliyah Boston should be college basketball's National Player of the Year — and not just because she's a Gamecock

• WNBA superstar A'ja Wilson is picking Aliyah Boston as her NCAA National Player of the Year.
• The Las Vegas Aces forward says "no one's doing it the way" the South Carolina Gamecocks center is.

If A'ja Wilson had a vote for National Player of the Year, she knows who she'd pick.

The Las Vegas Aces superstar, 2020 WNBA MVP, and former South Carolina Gamecocks standout is adamant that Aliyah Boston deserves college basketball's top individual prize at the end of the 2021-2022 season.

"So many people are saying, 'Oh, she's in the conversation' — No, she is the conversation," Wilson told Insider. "And I'm not just saying that because she's a Gamecock."

Boston — the 6-foot-5 center who dominates the post for Dawn Staley's top-ranked squad — has had an incredible run throughout her third year in Columbia. Averaging 16.8 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game this season, the St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, native is the best player on the best team in the nation.

As of the beginning of March, Boston leads the nation with a 35.3 player efficiency rating and 12.6 win shares for the one-loss Gamecocks. Her stats only improve with the competition she faces, as both her points and rebounding averages saw a significant boost in the 11 games South Carolina has played against ranked opponents.

Simply put: "no one's doing it the way that she's doing it."

"She's on the number one team and she's putting up numbers that are incredible," Wilson said from MTN DEW and RUFFLES' "The Block" at the NBA All-Star Game. "... Numbers don't lie, stats don't lie, film definitely doesn't lie. So if you're really into basketball and you understand the sport, then you see why she's the National Player of the Year on all platforms."

Wilson — who was named the 2018 National Player of the Year herself — noted that Boston's achievements are made all the more impressive by the fact that "she's handling it with class."

"From a person that's been in that situation, I know it's tough," Wilson said. "I know it's hard. There's so much outside noise."

"That, to me, is so special," she added.

Fresh off of earning Southeastern Conference Player of the Year honors, Boston will lead the Gamecocks into the SEC Tournament with hopes of winning it all for the third consecutive year. The heavy favorites will take on the eighth-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks on Friday at 1 p.m. ET to kick off the postseason.