AP Awards

[Zarathustra]

Reese, Holmes, Amoore, Pili, Booker, Sheldon, Fair, and Beers.

I'm not an Angel fan. And we can correct some "misconceptions" when UCONN
plays SYRACUSE (D. Fair) and Ohio State University (J. Sheldon). Excellent
motivation for Paige, Aaliyah, and the whole HUSKY TEAM. GO UCONN.

 

[nwhoopfan]

If we're just basing this on stats, Yvonne Ejim and Kiki Iriafen have every bit as much of a beef as Edwards does.

 

[Zarathustra]

How often has a team outside the top 8 placed two players on AP 1st through 3rd teams (not counting HM)? Has that ever happened?

Would you consider Virginia Tech (a # 4 seed, i.e. 13 - 16 ranking? in some people's view) . As noted, E. Kitley is
second team and G. Amoore in on the AP third team). So, the effect is the committee considered the Virginia Tech duo
better than the # 3 seeded team = UCONN. This, hopefully, will be clarified on the "hardcourt floor
of reality" in the next two weeks. GO UCONN! NOTE: SYRACUSE, D. Fair, OHIO STATE, J. Sheldon, and
Virginia Tech are ALL in the Portland Region and potential UCONN opponents.

 

[oldude]

The cold reality is that these AA awards are greatly influenced by team success, and rightly or wrongly voters are reluctant to spare a second vote for a borderline top 10 team.

Since I have the choice how to spend my energy, I'll choose to focus it on celebrating Paige's 1st team award. She had a remarkable season, and after all she's been through the last two years, this is quite the triumphant return.

Aaliyah has also had a magnificent season, and I'm sure she's smart and mature enough to know that her accomplishments on the court are not the slightest bit diminished by whether some outside entity puts her name on a list.

Your point is spot on. When UConn was beating everyone and winning national championships, the Huskies dominated AA teams. Back in 2016, did UConn really deserve 3x1st team AA’s on the WBCA AA team? Maybe not, but when you go 38-0 and beat everyone you play by double digits, it’s hard to argue that Stewie, Mo & Tuck were not deserving of 1st team honors.

 

[Jackalope]

I don't think the WNBA general managers will care about any AP awards when they select Aaliyah among the top five picks in the WNBA draft. I am pretty sure if she drops to #7 Cheryl Reeve will draft her. She seems to have done well with her UCONN draft choices in the past!

 

[DallasDomer]

Would you consider Virginia Tech (a # 4 seed, i.e. 13 - 16 ranking? in some people's view) . As noted, E. Kitley is
second team and G. Amoore in on the AP third team). So, the effect is the committee considered the Virginia Tech duo
better than the # 3 seeded team = UCONN. This, hopefully, will be clarified on the "hardcourt floor
of reality" in the next two weeks. GO UCONN! NOTE: SYRACUSE, D. Fair, OHIO STATE, J. Sheldon, and
Virginia Tech are ALL in the Portland Region and potential UCONN opponents.

You can't look at it that way because ND a #2 only got Hidalgo and last years honorable mention Citron was ignored along with Westbeld who ate Kitley alive. I don't understand how they vote but I think they get enamoured by some players and lose sight of others. Pretty flawed system.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

I would have put AE on the team but wouldn't say any of those listed are undeserving or totally out of place.

Not sure if this is the norm or if the AP just goes for the five players they wish but it appears they tried to keep a balance of frontcourt and backcourt players on each team. There are some terrific frontcourt players this year with AE being one of them for sure but she likely got lost in the shuffle.

 

[Rowdy831]

Awards are tough. You have the popularity aspect, the politics and then the skill. If I were starting a team or wanting to improve my team AE would be my choice as a power forward and I can't really think of a close second. Problem with UConn is Geno chose to play her out of position the whole season and she is not as good in the post as the ones that were selected ahead of her mostly because of her size compared to them.

 

[FormerCTrez]

Awards are tough. You have the popularity aspect, the politics and then the skill. If I were starting a team or wanting to improve my team AE would be my choice as a power forward and I can't really think of a close second. Problem with UConn is Geno chose to play her out of position the whole season and she is not as good in the post as the ones that were selected ahead of her mostly because of her size compared to them.

I totally understand your opinion, but I don’t think Geno had a choice here. He has/had to work with the healthy players available. And that he’s done remarkably well.
Kudos to Aaliyah Edwards for being a teammate who not only accepts the challenges facing her team, but one who works diligently against all odds. She does have her short-comings, but there‘s still the feeling of her being overlooked, or bypassed for individual awards many times. However, she’s the kind of student-athletes UConn recruits — team before self.
Go Huskies! Go UConn!!

 

[Zarathustra]

You can't look at it that way because ND a #2 only got Hidalgo and last years honorable mention Citron was ignored along with Westbeld who ate Kitley alive. I don't understand how they vote but I think they get enamoured by some players and lose sight of others. Pretty flawed system.

Another flawed system... like Boeing! Could life be flawed?? To paraphrase Immanuel Kant (1784): " Out of the crooked timber
of humanity... no straight thing was ever made." The translation is attributed to Isaiah Berlin (1909 -1997).

 

[sun]

Watkins from first team. She shot only 40% 0.75 assist/turnover ratio and I can't forget games when she shot 18% and kept shooting.

Watkins was the 2nd highest scorer in the nation averaging 27 ppg, only behind Caitlin Clark with 31.9 ppg.
Look at the big picture & not focus on her sparse negatives which all players have.
Juju was more productive than Paige who was ranked #12 in scoring at 21.3 ppg.

 

[Cuango]

Awards are tough. You have the popularity aspect, the politics and then the skill. If I were starting a team or wanting to improve my team AE would be my choice as a power forward and I can't really think of a close second. Problem with UConn is Geno chose to play her out of position the whole season and she is not as good in the post as the ones that were selected ahead of her mostly because of her size compared to them.

Chose? How about “had”!

 

[Cuango]

Watkins was the 2nd highest scorer in the nation averaging 27 ppg, only behind Caitlin Clark with 31.9 ppg.
Look at the big picture & not focus on her sparse negatives which all players have.
Juju was more productive than Paige who was ranked #12 in scoring at 21.3 ppg.

I’d have to see that on paper.

Watkins was the 2nd highest scorer in the nation averaging 27 ppg, only behind Caitlin Clark with 31.9 ppg.
Look at the big picture & not focus on her sparse negatives which all players have.
Juju was more productive than Paige who was ranked #12 in scoring at 21.3 ppg.

Watkins scored more (aprox 5 pts) rebounded more (by 2) They were about even in Other areas but Paige shot 54% & 42% to Watkins 42% & 33%. Watkins also played 3+ minutes more than Paige. I’m not sure Watkins was more productive. Sure she scored five more points and two more boards but needed way more shots to do so and played more minutes. I guess it depends on whether you value efficiency or volume. I’ll take Paige!

 

[bballnut90]

How often has a team outside the top 8 placed two players on AP 1st through 3rd teams (not counting HM)? Has that ever happened?

Washington in 2017 had Plum on 1st team, Osahor on 2nd and they were a 3 seed. Plum had a record breaking season, Osahor was incredibly good that year too. Washington was heavily reliant on those 2 though, as they only had 2 double digit scorers that season

Regardless though, you're 100% correct that team success usually trumps individual player talent in these types of awards.

 

[sun]

I’d have to see that on paper.

Watkins scored more (aprox 5 pts) rebounded more (by 2) They were about even in Other areas but Paige shot 54% & 42% to Watkins 42% & 33%. Watkins also played 3+ minutes more than Paige. I’m not sure Watkins was more productive. Sure she scored five more points and two more boards but needed way more shots to do so and played more minutes. I guess it depends on whether you value efficiency or volume. I’ll take Paige!

Except DallasDomer posted to dump Juju for Edwards when Edwards was even less productive than Paige.
It wasn't about Paige vs. Juju being named All-Americans, but about Juju being dumped for Edwards.
I think that most would agree that both Juju & Paige were more deserving than Edwards.
They're both all around players while Edwards is more of an insider player/ specialist.
Also, it;s points that win games & not shooting percentages,

 

[jabstep]

What a travesty! Aaliyah should have been second team! She should be there over both Cardoso and Reese! For Pete’s sake! Reese can’t hit a jump shot to save her life And Cardoso only averaged 14 ppg!

The WNBA will expose Reese. She is a fantastic rebounder but only scores on bunnies and bunnie putbacks and her underhand scoop shot. That will be much harder to consistently do in the WNBA. She has no outside shot. Last year they had Morris who is much better than the Hailey Van Lith and their bench hit a lot of threes. Aaliyah will be drafted higher than her and will be a much better player because she has improved every year.

 

[Cuango]

Except DallasDomer posted to dump Juju for Edwards when Edwards was even less productive than Paige.
It wasn't about Paige vs. Juju being named All-Americans, but about Juju being dumped for Edwards.
I think that most would agree that both Juju & Paige were more deserving than Edwards.
They're both all around players while Edwards is more of an insider player/ specialist.
Also, it;s points that win games & not shooting percentages,

That’s true, but Paige’s efficiency shows that she always, always has another gear that she can go to as well as her ability to control the game while making her teammates better!