AP All-America Team Announced

[Husky pride]

As Geno has said in the past, UConn players ( more so than others) are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to awards. They play team basketball and spread the points around, they miss out on a lot of minutes being taken-out during blowouts and often are competing against one another for a given award (in that giving too much to UConn players is often frowned upon).
As Geno has stated, if you come to UConn looking for individual awards rather than NC you’ll often end-up being disappointed ....and he cautions recruits accordingly. It’s in some ways , sad, in that if you look at overall performance on the court and not strictly point totals , how can you deny Gabby? Or Kia? Let alone Phesssa or Crystal? More times than not they’re the more “complete” contributors/players in WCBB!!! It’s too bad, we ourselves, don’t take that into consideration in regard to the “Huskies of Honor” but instead strictly hold to letting an outside AA designation influence us in that regard.

 

[bbballfan23]

Her shooting percentage is solid for a high-volume shooter. She is at 45.3% on 596 FGA. Kelsey Mitchell was 44.8% on 643 FGA. Durr is 44.6% on 527 FGA.

But you were talking about how overrated she was in the A&M game thread and she ended up with 27 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast. So maybe your dislike isn't purely rational.

Realistically, ND is 32-3 against the #1 SOS. *Someone* is going to get the All-America hype, so it falls on Ogunbowale as the leading scorer. Maybe she is overrated, but Mabrey and Young are probably underrated, so it's a wash. Think of that as the Notre Dame "spot" if it helps.

And if you really think no one on ND belongs on the All-American team this year, then McGraw must be the Coach of the Year for sure...

She scored 27 on 23 shots HAHAHA. Give any of our girls 23 shots and they get 40. Give me quality over quantity. That being said I understand she should be on the list but 3rd Team is more deserving.

 

[Vowelguy]

Cross matching this against the 2014 HS rankings (my composite):

NO 2014 HS RANK
Tashia Brown, Western Kentucky; Tinara Moore, Central Michigan;

HS 2013
3rd - Lexie Brown
HM - Natalie Butler, Loryn Goodwin, Teana Muldrow, Imani Wright

HS 2015->
1st Team - Lou, Ionescu, Durr
2nd Team - Kelani Brown, Megan Gustafson, Ogunbowale
3rd Team Pheesa, McCowan
HM - Chennedy Carter, Lauren Cox, Sophie Cunningham, Bridget Carleton, Ruthy Hebard

 

[Rixxx]

It is sad to see that Mercedes Russell did not achieve an HM. What could have been at Oregon......

 

[Kevin G]

Gabby > Vivians

 

[Orangutan]

She scored 27 on 23 shots HAHAHA. Give any of our girls 23 shots and they get 40. Give me quality over quantity. That being said I understand she should be on the list but 3rd Team is more deserving.

40 on 23 shots? So 20/23? Even if you are shooting only 3s you still need to go 14/23 (61%) to get 40.

10/23 = 43.4%, not great but only a shade under her percentage on the season.

Fun fact: Do you know whose career WNBA shooting percentage is exactly 43.4% (per Basketball Reference)? Diana Taurasi!

 

[ricky]

I'm taking Gabby as the # 2 pick in the draft.

 

[Oldbones]

Wasn't even close between Durr and Ogunbuwale. Interesting.

Even though Arike had much better numbers than "that player on Louisville."

 

[Dillon77]

Her shooting percentage is solid for a high-volume shooter. She is at 45.3% on 596 FGA. Kelsey Mitchell was 44.8% on 643 FGA. Durr is 44.6% on 527 FGA.

But you were talking about how overrated she was in the A&M game thread and she ended up with 27 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast. So maybe your dislike isn't purely rational.

Realistically, ND is 32-3 against the #1 SOS. *Someone* is going to get the All-America hype, so it falls on Ogunbowale as the leading scorer. Maybe she is overrated, but Mabrey and Young are probably underrated, so it's a wash. Think of that as the Notre Dame "spot" if it helps.

And if you really think no one on ND belongs on the All-American team this year, then McGraw must be the Coach of the Year for sure...

Definitely agree. I am surprised Mabrey did not make Honorable mention. While her season average numbers may be an issue, she comes out for the biggest games.

And Arike averages 5.5. rebounds per game and had accumulated 101 assists (versus 3.1 rebounds and 86 for Durr). This is not to make a one to one comparison with Durr but more to show the overall value that Arike is bringing to an Irish team that plays three guards. And remember, Arike is 5'8" getting those bounds and driving that lane.

I've seriously got to wonder who or what the AP voters were looking at to have one slot for the Irish, vis a vis multiple choices for most other top teams. Maybe Mabrey, Jackie Young and Jess Shepard cancelled each other out. Or maybe the voters just think Muffet took her Gryffindor wand out and make it all happen.

I usually don't get too bent out of shape on these type of things but I've got to wonder how two Oklahoma State players make honorable mention over a Mabrey or Young.

Personally, I think Mabrey has been killing it since she's gotten more used to her role as a "lead" guard, both as a leader and a scorer. Just speak to Gary Blair and Kelly Graves on whom they were worried about/are worrying about.

Lastly, the honorable mentions may say more to me about the voters than whom they're voting on....Geesh.

 

[bbballfan23]

40 on 23 shots? So 20/23? Even if you are shooting only 3s you still need to go 14/23 (61%) to get 40.

10/23 = 43.4%, not great but only a shade under her percentage on the season.

Fun fact: Do you know whose career WNBA shooting percentage is exactly 43.4% (per Basketball Reference)? Diana Taurasi!

Yes, our girls shoot those things called FT’s & if you’re that aggressive putting up shots odds are you will get an additional 6-8 points from the line.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Monique Billings didn't even get HM? Along w/ none of the ND players being named HM that seems like the biggest omission to me.

 

[Lynx23]

There’s still the WBCA team to be announced. But I really believe she wins DPOY but doesn’t make that team. However, has UConn ever had a defensive player of the year that wasn’t on the WBCA team? To me, that’s elite company and deserves a spot on the wall with or without the AA honor.

The announcement said this about Kia....

"Meanwhile, Nurse is one of the most underrated factors in the Huskies’ success despite only making honorable mention. She is the team’s top perimeter defender and routinely locks down the opposing team’s top guard. Nurse is also a prolific shooter, hitting 44.4 percent of her three pointers. In November, she broke the school record by hitting 13-consecutive threes over a three game span."

 

[Orangutan]

Yes, our girls shoot those things called FT’s & if you’re that aggressive putting up shots odds are you will get an additional 6-8 points from the line.

Ogunbowale has a free throw rate of 26.3%. UConn's starters have rates of 23.6%, 25.3%, 26.7%, 25.9%, and 11.6%. So Arike shoots those things called FT just as much as UConn players do.

The median free throw rate of UConn's starters is 25.3. .253 x 23 = 5.8. So let's give the hypothetical player 6 FTAs and say she drains them all. You still need 34 points on 23 shots. So 17/23 on 2 pt. attempts (74%) or 12/23 on only 3 pt. attempts (52%). Possible but implausible.

 

[CBus13]

Yes, our girls shoot those things called FT’s & if you’re that aggressive putting up shots odds are you will get an additional 6-8 points from the line.

This is no way to diminish what Katie Lou does because she's a fantastic player, but in her last game against Duke, she was 5/12 which is 41% which is lower than Arike's percentage in the game that you are laughing about so heavily. Lou was also 1/2 from the FT line. So she only got 1 additional point and finished the night with 15pts.

Some games one player has to shoot more to make more depending on the team needs and to simply scoff at the amount of shots taken without taking into consideration the FG% is ridiculous.

They are both high talent players who have different roles for their teams. Lou doesn't need to shoot as much because the UConn offense doesn't rely on one single person, Notre Dame is low on options and is very guard oriented so Mabrey and Ogunbowale are going to have higher FGA than a typical UConn player.

 

[bags27]

Her shooting percentage is solid for a high-volume shooter. She is at 45.3% on 596 FGA. Kelsey Mitchell was 44.8% on 643 FGA. Durr is 44.6% on 527 FGA.

But you were talking about how overrated she was in the A&M game thread and she ended up with 27 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast. So maybe your dislike isn't purely rational.

Realistically, ND is 32-3 against the #1 SOS. *Someone* is going to get the All-America hype, so it falls on Ogunbowale as the leading scorer. Maybe she is overrated, but Mabrey and Young are probably underrated, so it's a wash. Think of that as the Notre Dame "spot" if it helps.

And if you really think no one on ND belongs on the All-American team this year, then McGraw must be the Coach of the Year for sure...

I'd have Ogunbowale on my team any day, but not Mitchell. Ogunbowale is a team player and takes coaching.

I continue to think that Sabrina is setting herself up to be NPOY in 2019 and 2020. I haven't seen a talent like that since Maya nor a pure guard like that since D. Sabrina will soon be the best player in the world, pro or amateur (whatever that is).

 

[Vowelguy]

It is sad to see that Mercedes Russell did not achieve an HM. What could have been at Oregon.

Btw, her #2 school was Louisville.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Btw, her #2 school was Louisville.

While I was disappointed she left the West Coast, neither OSU or UO was in nearly the position they are now when Russell was finishing her HS career. Although it was a year later fairly similar for Nared.

 

[Rixxx]

Still, if MR would have gotten her foot issues corrected at OR, a la TN, I believe her career would have turned out differently. I believe she still has a chance in the WNBA.

 

[DefenseBB]

AA is for sizzle; Kia is the steak. very sad.

Let me see if I can possibly brighten yours and other Kia loyalists day on this. From what I know on this- the Defensive POY makes the WBCA 10 person team and the candidates come from each of the conferences DPOY winners. That means Kia who won the American is completing against:
Big12 Lauren Cox
Big 10 Ar’rianna Harris Purdue
ACC Lexie Brown
PAC 12 Jordin Canada
SEC co-winners Wilson and McCowan.
Interesting that 3 are guards and 3 are centers.
Don’t recall that many guards winning DPOY before.

 

[maccca3232]

Congrats to the Core Four!!! Well Deserved. Interesting how close the voting was between Aja and Lou... 2 first place votes and 4 points. Interesting given the "pre-ordained" situation going on.

Well actually I think it shows the opposite.

Which of these players deserves to be on the 1st team ahead of Lou? (ordered by most 1st team votes received).

• K. Brown (13)
• Williams (8)
• Gustafson (7)
• Mitchell (7)
• Ogunbowale (1)
• Collier (1)
• McCowan (1)

I know some will say Gabby deserves 1st team but not over Lou. There are 2 panelists out there who think one of the players listed above are more deserving of being on the 1st team than her.

 

[Lynx23]

As Geno has said in the past, UConn players ( more so than others) are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to awards. They play team basketball and spread the points around, they miss out on a lot of minutes being taken-out during blowouts and often are competing against one another for a given award (in that giving too much to UConn players is often frowned upon).
As Geno has stated, if you come to UConn looking for individual awards rather than NC you’ll often end-up being disappointed ....and he cautions recruits accordingly. It’s in some ways , sad, in that if you look at overall performance on the court and not strictly point totals , how can you deny Gabby? Or Kia? Let alone Phesssa or Crystal? More times than not they’re the more “complete” contributors/players in WCBB!!! It’s too bad, we ourselves, don’t take that into consideration in regard to the “Huskies of Honor” but instead strictly hold to letting an outside AA designation influence us in that regard.

You hit that nail squarely on the head! It would open up a can of worms for sure but, like it or not, the responsibility for Wall selection is directly being abrogated to an external committee. But if 1st Team AA is the criteria for the Wall and always has been, then so be it. I guess what bugs me the most is that Kia has been very consistent all year along for the most part. Her defensive play for sure. Her offense stats started to drop when she took over the PG spot from Crystal while Crystal was sidelined, and she has continued to fill in this role as needed. This wasn't the case for any other player. And then some players get "hot" two-thirds into the season and she suddenly becomes an after-thought. Who said life is fair?

 

[bbballfan23]

Let me see if I can possibly brighten yours and other Kia loyalists day on this. From what I know on this- the Defensive POY makes the WBCA 10 person team and the candidates come from each of the conferences DPOY winners. That means Kia who won the American is completing against:
Big12 Lauren Cox
Big 10 Ar’rianna Harris Purdue
ACC Lexie Brown
PAC 12 Jordin Canada
SEC co-winners Wilson and McCowan.
Interesting that 3 are guards and 3 are centers.
Don’t recall that many guards winning DPOY before.

This actually isn’t true. There’s been 2 winners of DPOY since 2010 I believe that weren’t on the AA team.

 

[bbballfan23]

You hit that nail squarely on the head! It would open up a can of worms for sure but, like it or not, the responsibility for Wall selection is directly being abrogated to an external committee. But if 1st Team AA is the criteria for the Wall and always has been, then so be it. I guess what bugs me the most is that Kia has been very consistent all year along for the most part. Her defensive play for sure. Her offense stats started to drop when she took over the PG spot from Crystal while Crystal was sidelined, and she has continued to fill in this role as needed. This wasn't the case for any other player. And then some players get "hot" two-thirds into the season and she suddenly becomes an after-thought. Who said life is fair?

So you’re saying Kia should be an AA over Pheesa or Gabby??

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Sooooooo happy Megan Gustafson made it. She had an AA year and deserved it.

Also....

Soooooooooo disappointed Kia Nurse didnt make it

 

[CocoHusky]

While I was disappointed she left the West Coast, neither OSU or UO was in nearly the position they are now when Russell was finishing her HS career. Although it was a year later fairly similar for Nared.

That's technically true but very short sighted. Mercedes was class of 2013. By the 2014-15 which would have been here sophmore year Oregon State would win the regular season Pac 12 Championship. For the next seasons two season Oregon State would win either the regular season and/or the Pac 12 tournament championship and played in the FF against UCONN in 2016. Oregon of course made it to sweet 16 last year and are on the verge of making the FF this year. At either school Mercedes could have developed along the lines of Ruth Hamblin, Marie Gulich, or Ruth Hebard.