AAC Awards

[stamfordhusky]

I disagree. The honor is for AAC play, not OOC play.

That's not correct. Each coach decides how much weight to give to OOC play.

 

[JoePgh]

For comparison...

Anna Makurat​	Elena Ttsineke​
25.6 mpg	26.6 mpg
7.8 ppg	12.4 ppg
3.9 rpg	2.0 rpg
2.9 apg	1.2 apg
53 TO	71 TO
44 STL	16 STL
9 BLK	7 BLK
40.6% 3PT - 54/133	32% 3PT - 39/122
42.9% FG - 82/191	39% FG - 108/277
81.8% FT - 9/11	87.5% FT - 56/64

It's interesting and somewhat surprising that the USF player had 50% more 2-point field goal attempts than Anna, and took six times as many free throws. That suggests that her offensive game is closer to the basket than Anna's, i.e., not built around her 3-point shot to the degree that Anna's is. Since (according to Megan Culmo) USF gets 40% of its points from beyond the arc, Elena must be responsible for a huge portion of the other 60% of her team's scoring.

So one might argue that she is more integral to her team's success than Anna is. Plus, they probably feel that they can't give all the awards to UConn players.

 

[oldude]

I spoke about conference awards last year. While AA and national awards are often influenced by publicity & promotion, conference awards are much more of a collaborative process between conference coaches. It typically starts with a conference call between all the coaches where they can talk about their players and ask questions about other teams players.

Some awards are obvious. Megan was going to win AAC POY hands down. Others come down to a coach’s recommendation, or even an understanding between coaches.

From UConn’s standpoint, here is my speculation about some of the Huskies:

• Anna was clearly going to be on the all-freshman team, but I doubt that Geno pushed her as the FOY for one reason. As good as Anna has played recently, Geno wants a lot more from her, so he wants her to be challenged, not complacent.
• Some people have questioned Christyn being 1st team. She could just as easily been replaced by Liv on the 1st team. Here I think Geno wanted to accomplish a couple things. I suspect he pushed Christyn as a reward for her great defensive effort and rebounding all year, as well as the desire for her to enter the Big Dance with a confident mindset.
• As for Liv, is their any doubt that she is the best post in the AAC? But just as with Anna, Geno sees enormous potential for Liv, so here again he wants her challenged and not complacent.

There are certainly other factors involved, but imo, the honors that UConn’s players earned are exactly the honors that Geno thought they deserved.

 

[tchalla1]

I disagree. The honor is for AAC play, not OOC play. Christyn had some of her very best games in conference. In addition, Christyn has had a great season on the defensive side and she is probably the best rebounding guard in the AAC.

I can't in any way dispute your factual data, but I guess my critique goes more to the eye test of this season: when CW's coaches countless times are saying that she's under-performing, in a tailspin, in an abysmal shooting slump, and by her own admission in the worse stretch of her career, and the continual question is posed: how do we get CW out of her slump, and yet still she makes first team All-AAC, how can you possibly put these two things together and feel alright about it? Wow, it's no wonder that this league gets no respect...

 

[JoePgh]

I can't in any way dispute your factual data, but I guess my critique goes more to the eye test of this season: when CW's coaches countless times are saying that she's under-performing, in a tailspin, in an abysmal shooting slump, and by her own admission in the worse stretch of her career, and the continual question is posed: how do we get CW out of her slump, and yet still she makes first team All-AAC, how can you possibly put these two things together and feel alright about it? Wow, it's no wonder that this league gets no respect...

Two points:

1. Geno and the coaches have said consistently that Christyn is in a SHOOTING slump, but they have not criticized any other dimension of her play. Again, there is a distinction between shooting well and playing well.

2. I don't understand what this whole discussion has to do with the AAC as a league, unless you mean that it doesn't have any guards like Sabrina or Tyasha Harris to challenge Christyn for the award. In fact, not many leagues do.

 

[meyers7]

Not to rain on anyone's parade or anything, and congrats to all our awardees, but if CW's play this year warrants first-team all-AAC honors, then it is surely a woefully inept conference and certainly time to get the heck out. Truthfully, this is embarrassing....

Not sure what you're talking about???? She was the second leading scorer on the undefeated team in the conference. She avg 15.1 ppg shooting 47%/38%. Those are pretty decent numbers in any conference.

 

[cbraarj]

Unfortunately for Anna, November and December count, too.

Only 1 conference game then. So why does it count? It's only conference games.

 

[Dokey]

Congrats to Elena but if this were a draft, who would you take—Anna or Elena? Yeah, me too.

 

[cbraarj]

That is not correct. Each coach decides his/her own criteria. There is no mandate as to how much weight to give to OOC games.

They don't use OOC STATS for the league and pretty sure coaches know that.

 

[tchalla1]

Not sure what you're talking about???? She was the second leading scorer on the undefeated team in the conference. She avg 15.1 ppg shooting 47%/38%. Those are pretty decent numbers in any conference.

What I'm talking about is that this has to be the worst WBB conference in the land for CW, given all her struggles, inconsistent and inept play, to make first team all-conference... If this is satisfactory for you, by all means embrace it, but it is not for me... She's had a marginal, mediocre sub par season and IMO that doesn't equate to being a first-team all conference player...

 

[stamfordhusky]

I spoke about conference awards last year. While AA and national awards are often influenced by publicity & promotion, conference awards are much more of a collaborative process between conference coaches. It typically starts with a conference call between all the coaches where they can talk about their players and ask questions about other teams players.

Source for this? That is not how it is done in most conferences, although I don't know for sure about the AAC.

 

[stamfordhusky]

They don't use OOC STATS for the league and pretty sure coaches no that.

You are wrong. The coachds are given NO criteria. It is up to them to decide what makes someone an all-league player. And they don't use any stats, in-conference or out-of-conference to decide.

 

[oldude]

What I'm talking about is that this has to be the worst WBB conference in the land for CW, given all her struggles, inconsistent and inept play, to make first team all-conference... If this is satisfactory for you, by all means embrace it, but it is not for me... She's had a marginal, mediocre sub par season and IMO that doesn't equate to being a first-team all conference player...

Your initial point was critical of the conference relative to Christyn earning 1st team honors. While I disagreed with that opinion, I can respect your position. It is in fact unlikely that Christyn would have been 1st team all-conference in the Pac12, SEC, etc.

But after being challenged on your initial position, you double down with a bitter personal critique of a wonderful young lady describing her as “inept”, “marginal”, and “mediocre.” Such comments are terribly inaccurate, completely unnecessary and remove all credibility from your initial argument.

I respectfully ask you to remember that you are commenting about a young person, who has done nothing to harm you, on a public forum, that she, her friends or her family can all view.

 

[oldude]

Source for this? That is not how it is done in most conferences, although I don't know for sure about the AAC.

Personal experience.

What is your source that most conferences don’t discuss all-conference teams?

 

[oldude]

Scoring is a factor, but it is certainly not a requirement that you be the top scorer in the league. With UConn typically being such a balanced scoring team, the Huskies have had several conference POY’s as well as NPOY’s that were not particularly high scorers relative to their competitors. Stewie won several NPOY’s, and there were probably 20-30 players in the country with higher ppg averages.

 

[stamfordhusky]

Personal experience.

What is your source that most conferences don’t discuss all-conference teams?

Personal experience, SID's from various conferences, plus various articles talking about the nominating process for all-league teams - where each team puts forth names to be added to the ballot that the coaches use to vote. But no big conference call.

Some leagues have publicly-available bylaws, and each goes through a similar process of nomination of players who then go onto a ballot used by the coaches.

 

[oldude]

That’s why Geno gave Crystal the keys to the Ferrari.

 

[MilfordHusky]

+ Breanna Stewart

I couldn't recall about Stewie. Who from the class of 2016 beat her out? Jewell?

 

[meyers7]

What I'm talking about is that this has to be the worst WBB conference in the land for CW, given all her struggles, inconsistent and inept play, to make first team all-conference... If this is satisfactory for you, by all means embrace it, but it is not for me... She's had a marginal, mediocre sub par season and IMO that doesn't equate to being a first-team all conference player...

Once again, you consider 15.1 ppg shooting 47%/38%. is inept? That's pretty silly.

And the AAC the worst conference in the land??? Worse than America East, Big South, Northeast, MEAC? Really? That's even sillier.

 

[UConnCat]

I couldn't recall about Stewie. Who from the class of 2016 beat her out? Jewell?

Yes, Jewell.

 

[tchalla1]

Your initial point was critical of the conference relative to Christyn earning 1st team honors. While I disagreed with that opinion, I can respect your position. It is in fact unlikely that Christyn would have been 1st team all-conference in the Pac12, SEC, etc.

But after being challenged on your initial position, you double down with a bitter personal critique of a wonderful young lady describing her as “inept”, “marginal”, and “mediocre.” Such comments are terribly inaccurate, completely unnecessary and remove all credibility from your initial argument.

I respectfully ask you to remember that you are commenting about a young person, who has done nothing to harm you, on a public forum, that she, her friends or her family can all view.

You are bending and twisting my critique to the point of distortion --I made no mention to CW herself and her character--she is a fine, affable young woman; I spoke only to her play, and a fair critique of her play because she herself has been disappointed by it and has said as much.... If calling her play mediocre or sub par--the same words used by the Hartford Courant--rises to a "bitter personal critique" then I think most everyone out here is guilty of that. So If you want to ride a tall white horse of virtue, fine, but please don't try and use my words to mount it. Thank you.

 

[Centerstream]

What I'm talking about is that this has to be the worst WBB conference in the land for CW, given all her struggles, inconsistent and inept play, to make first team all-conference... If this is satisfactory for you, by all means embrace it, but it is not for me... She's had a marginal, mediocre sub par season and IMO that doesn't equate to being a first-team all conference player...

And you are entitled to your opinion because that is all that it is.
But it doesn't make it right, except maybe in your own mind, which is fine.

 

[tchalla1]

Once again, you consider 15.1 ppg shooting 47%/38%. is inept? That's pretty silly.

And the AAC the worst conference in the land??? Worse than America East, Big South, Northeast, MEAC? Really? That's even sillier.

The American East, Big South and MEAC? That's where you find your comparable worth for the AAC? Now that's really laughable. Only a complete fool would think this is where suitable equanimity lies.