Really ESPN!

[mysticmajor]

Right before your quote the article did say, "...Connecticut's Breanna Stewart is widely regarded as the best women's college player in all the land." I can accept that. The award giver, in the second sentence of their own announcement of the award, is acknowledging that their player of the year is not the best player and stating who really is the best player. Of course this makes no sense, but that's not one of the requirements. Congrats to Jewell.

My problem with ESPN is the little digs in each of these articles and many of the headlines on ESPNW. To people used to reading marketing hype, the bias is clear. As professional writers, I'm sure these guys are very aware of the slights. It is uncalled for. Why infer that Stewart was all preseason hype. Why say widely regarded as .... but, obviously not by the writer. And the dig about adjusting to new roles. No mention of triple team beat downs. ESPN has lost its collective mind in attempts to create drama. I am disgusted with the pettiness of the network and the pettiness of WCBB.

 

[ABachelor6CR]

This award is meaningless. What matters is who is holding the trophy after the Championship game.

 

[Intpseeker]

Congrats to Loyd. She's a very nice player.

 

[HuskiesU]

I feel bad for teams Stewie will face next season

 

[Blueballer]

That's not the prize Stewie really wants anyway

 

[mhshuskies]

Congrats to Loyd. She's a very nice player.

But not the best.

 

[DobbsRover2]

But not the best.

But maybe they should give out awards for very nice players. Why should the best players get all the awards? That's just selfish.

 

[EricLA]

In all the interviews I've seen with UCONN players, it's clear that they ARE aware of records, awards, etc. In general they don't publicly chase season ending individual awards, but when I see quotes from KML talking about how "breaking Dee's 3-point record means so much" to her and Kiah talk about being mentioned in the same sentence as Rebecca Lobo, it's clear the players have a sense of history and individual accomplishments, even if they don't publicly chase those as "stated goals".

Maybe Stewie will feel slighted if she doesn't win any of the NPOY awards. Maybe that will motivate her more. Maybe she really IS only focused on winning the NC 4 times in her UCONN career. And maybe we as fans are much more excited about the individual awards than the players are. BUT I do think the players know exactly who wins what awards as the season winds down and I do wonder what their inside voices tell them because they generally don't talk much about it (unless they win and are asked to make a quote)...

 

[meyers7]

Put aside your NFB bias and the pick is reasonable. LLoyd's stats are arguably better, and they were put up against a much tougher schedule. I don't think that there is any question that LLoyd is more important to her team.

Congrats to her.

First it's Loyd (they used the other l at the end of Jewell). Second, granted Loyd may be more important to her team, however that doesn't mean she is the best player. You're confusing criteria.

I personally don't have a problem with the pick. Don't really care, it's not a major award. It's ESPNW.

 

[DobbsRover2]

And in fact, the PG is the player who often means the most to her team since she's running the show. Despite the contention before that ND was just Loyd and Turner and no other good players, the Irish have a player who has more assists than MoJeff, along with a nice 2.1 a/to average, though not at MoJeff's standard. Now I think it would be a hanging offense if any UConn fan said that MoJeff was not a good player, so the idea of how important a player is to a team and how good the players including Lindsay Allen are on that team are does leave a lot of room for interpretation and error.

Love the note on the switching of the "l"s. Wonder if that's the reason for the spelling. In Old Welsh the initial "l" got pronounced like a "k", so Lloyd sounds like Kloyd. Not sure if Jewell would be Jewelk.

 

[JellyBean]

This award is meaningless. What matters is who is holding the trophy after the Championship game.

I am not going to say that the award is meaningless. But I do agree with you on, what matters the most is, who is holding the NCAA Championship trophy after the Championship game. I wish to say to Notre Dame's Jewell Loyd, congrats on your award. Great honor.

I know some people don't use these little things to motivate themselves to play better. But I am hoping and wishing that our girls come out and play with an extra chip on their shoulder during the NCAA tournament. Play Smart. Play Together. Play Hard!!

Let's go, UConn!!!

 

[Huskies Rule]

In all the interviews I've seen with UCONN players, it's clear that they ARE aware of records, awards, etc. In general they don't publicly chase season ending individual awards, but when I see quotes from KML talking about how "breaking Dee's 3-point record means so much" to her and Kiah talk about being mentioned in the same sentence as Rebecca Lobo, it's clear the players have a sense of history and individual accomplishments, even if they don't publicly chase those as "stated goals".

And maybe we as fans are much more excited about the individual awards than the players are. BUT I do think the players know exactly who wins what awards.....

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes they are, E, But- The individual record KML was so excited about was a UCONN record, set by perhaps UConn's and WBB's greatest ever! Kiah referenced breaking a personal record set by the UCONN player responsible for setting UConn's course to become the greatest program in WCBB history. As they should, Kaleena and Kiah display ultimate respect and excitement about breaking records achieved by icons of UConn's dynastic program. As far as the ESPN W. crap- I prefer the ONLY award given each year that is NOT subject to the vagaries of bias, stupidity or favoritism - the National Championship. (Heck, I bet our other kids feel worse for Stewie than Stewie does.)

 

[ballhawk]

Does it really matter? If Lloyd wins all the POY awards who cares? She is at worst the second best player. So let's focus on the only thing that matters- the NC.

 

[toadfoot]

As far as I'm concerned giving the ESPN W award to Loyd only diminishes the award, not the player who should have won it. It appears the fan voting, 72-28 for Stewie at last check, is in agreement with most Boneyarder's.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Stewart has not had a huge year and that leaves the awards--already subjective by nature--very much up in the air. If one wants to go purely on stats then Ogwumike should've swept the awards last year, but she didn't. Again, perception and subjective interpretation. Stewart will be seen as the favorite for every award going into next year since it's her final season. If she has a big year she'll likely take them all.

 

[Tonyc]

Let me make another point. If Stewie had played with Lloyd at ND Stewie would've been POY and Lloyd would've been on a level like MoJeff and KML. Think about it.

 

[OldAlum]

I, too, think Stewie should have won. But I do dislike all the "this is a bogus award" statements when she didn't.
Loyd is an excellent player and it is not exactly criminal that she won this award. I may disagree, but I wish more fans were gracious about it. Explain why you think they chose incorrectly, disagree, but don't go the sour grapes route of "Well, we didn't want that award anyway..." Granted, it is not one of the top awards, but I think fans would have been happy if Stewie had won and not mentioned the limits of this award. Just sounds petty to spend time putting down the award when she didn't win.

 

[Intpseeker]

Does it really matter? If Lloyd wins all the POY awards who cares? She is at worst the second best player. So let's focus on the only thing that matters- the NC.

+1

 

[DataNerd]

Regardless of who "deserves" the award, it's a no-lose situation for UConn. If Stewie and team don't care about individual awards, then no impact. If any of them do care -- and I suspect her teammates care more than Stewie -- then they'll be that much more motivated at The Dance to show who should have been selected. If they face the Irish again, then watch out.

For what it's worth, I view "deserve" this way: If the championship is on the line, and you get to choose only one player to go for the win (defensively or offensively), then who do you pick? From that perspective IMHO it's a no-brainer: Stewie.