AP has no love for Napheesa

[SVCBeercats]

The Associated Press 2018-19 preseason All-America women's basketball team, with school, height, year and votes from a 31-member national media panel (key 2017-18 statistics in parentheses):

• Asia Durr, Louisville, 5-10, senior, 29 votes (18.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.3 apg, 41.5 3pt fg pct, 84.8 ft pct, 1.0 steals)
• Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon, 5-11, junior, 29 votes (19.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 7.8 apg, 43.8 3pt fg pct, 80.5 ft pct, 1.7 steals, 35.6 minutes)
• Katie Lou Samuelson, UConn, 6-3, senior, 28 votes (17.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.8 apg, 53.0 fg pct, 47.5 3pt fg pct, 83.5 ft pct, 1.2 steals)
• Arike Ogunbowale, Notre Dame, 5-8, senior, 24 votes (20.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.4 steals)
• Kalani Brown, Baylor, 6-7, senior, 18 votes (20.0 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 64.2 fg pct, 1.5 blocks)

Others receiving votes: Teaira McCowan, Mississippi State, 12; Megan Gustafson, Iowa, 10; Napheesa Collier, UConn, 4; Chennedy Carter, Texas A&M, 1

 

[WiseOne]

If she received votes then there is love for Pheesa! However we knoooooooooow she deserves more but who cares? Bulletin board material for her to prove them wrong! No worries just fuel to add to her fire!!

 

[RockyMTblue2]

She makes it look too easy.



It's a fact.

 

[Charliebball]

how do you have an All-American team with four guards and a center? Apparently forwards aren't allowed on this team.............

 

[bballnut90]

how do you have an All-American team with four guards and a center? Apparently forwards aren't allowed on this team...

It's the 5 best players, not a C/F/F/G/G format.

Hard to argue with any of those choices...three returning first teamers, three returning 2nd teamers, plus Collier and McCowan who were 3rd team last year. I thought McCowan would've made preseason 1st team considering her dominant tournament run, but I'm sure she'll use it as fuel for this season too.

 

[Txhoopsalot]

how do you have an All-American team with four guards and a center? Apparently forwards aren't allowed on this team...

I see Samuelson as a small forward and can almost see those five players on the floor together.

 

[Charliebball]

how do you have an All-American team with four guards and a center? Apparently forwards aren't allowed on this team...

I figured that must be the case but not taking position into account seems a bit strange............is that the way they do it with the men too?

 

[Shorty Dee]

They have love for Napheesa, just not the love we have for Napheesa. It's ok..they will eat their votes . I believe Napheesa will have the season of her life.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Arike is capitalizing on 2 big shots. I would have McCowan on the team over her. I would also have Lou even with or ahead of Durr and possibly Ionescu. I don't understand Lou as the #3 vote getter, even if by a small margin.

 

[bballnut90]

Arike is capitalizing on 2 big shots. I would have McCowan on the team over her. I would also have Lou even with or ahead of Durr and possibly Ionescu. I don't understand Lou as the #3 vote getter, even if by a small margin.

KLS would be my #1...she was likely runner up to A'ja in POY voting last year and was #2 on the AP team for votes/points behind Wilson.

I'd put McCowan on there over Durr, Ogunbowale or Brown. Not sure how you leave her off after she just dominated the NCAA tournament, averaging 21/18 in the 6 tournament games.

Also don't understand the hype for Durr, especially over Arike. Ogunbowale does a lot more on the court than Durr and while their numbers are very similar, Arike edges her out in most categories. It'd be one thing if they were splitting awards/preseason honors, but Durr seems to be consistently viewed as the better player which I just don't understand. I'm guessing a lot of it stems from the beat down Louisville put on ND last year where Durr badly outplayed Ogunbowale, but if I had to pick who is the better player and who is going to have a better season, it'd be Arike.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Arike is capitalizing on 2 big shots. I would have McCowan on the team over her. I would also have Lou even with or ahead of Durr and possibly Ionescu. I don't understand Lou as the #3 vote getter, even if by a small margin.

Most of the world a couple of thousand years ago weren't crazy about the Romans either.

 

[donalddoowop]

Arike is capitalizing on 2 big shots. I would have McCowan on the team over her. I would also have Lou even with or ahead of Durr and possibly Ionescu. I don't understand Lou as the #3 vote getter, even if by a small margin.

I believe you are right. If sh had missed either one of those shots she would not be rated as high as she is. She was not consistently good last season; effective, but not consistently. As for KLS, she plays for UConn and any time the press has an excuse to rank players higher than a UConn player they will. I think some are tired of seeing so many UConn players ranked as high as they usually are. Just saying.

 

[BroadwayVa]

She makes it look too easy.



It's a fact.

That was my thought: She makes everything look too easy! Some USA coach/trainer said she is a robot her mechanics are repeatable. She is NO ROBOT, would I be sooo deeply enamored of a Robot? Last year with Geno playing Napheesa and replaced by Z could have hurt her image.
We , her humble servants, believe all things should come to Napheesa (Precious) and she is Precious to m.

 

[kenja]

Arike is capitalizing on 2 big shots. I would have McCowan on the team over her. I would also have Lou even with or ahead of Durr and possibly Ionescu. I don't understand Lou as the #3 vote getter, even if by a small margin.

She had the 5th highest scoring average in NCAA tournament history. And made every all-region team. That is indeed some mileage out of 2 shots.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Most of the world a couple of thousand years ago weren't crazy about the Romans either.

The Romans as nearly all ancient government s were not benign ruler. Or maybe you had to be crazy to love the Romans (when occupied by them). The world rarely loves the powerful, the undefeated, or the rich. What is odd about the last one; most people want to be rich. It is so much better than the other option. Poor Geno, Rich, and rich in players, undefeated, powerful teams--poor Geno!! Unfortunately, his top player tend to pay a price, but a bright light will always show through the night (Napheesa is very bright)

 

[donalddoowop]

She had the 5th highest scoring average in NCAA tournament history. And made every all-region team. That is indeed some mileage out of 2 shots.

How many shots did she take to get that high average?

 

[MilfordHusky]

How many shots did she take to get that high average?

That's my point. Arike can be spectacular, but she can also shoot her team out of games. She's not as consistent as she could be. I wonder how her shot attempt total over 6 games compares with the record.

 

[msugrad00]

Ro Johnson from Mississippi State could have easily been Arike in the Final Four. She hit that huge 3 pointer basically at the buzzer to send the Louisville game into OT where MSU won and in the National Championship game versus Notre Dame she hit a three that put us up 5 with less than 2 minutes remaining in the game that should have sealed the deal but for whatever reason Vic had his senior point guard on the bench and the backup made a mistake and left the Notre Dame guard wide open for a three which cut that 5 point lead back down to two immediately and we all know what Arike did after that. I still say to this day if I were Morgan William I would have a hard time speaking to Vic for the rest of my life after he sat her for the ENTIRE 4th quarter of the national championship game two years ago versus South Carolina and sat her for MOST of the 4th quarter in last year's national championship game versus Notre Dame....I would have a hard time talking him ever again for the rest of my life.

 

[tower1]

Arike is capitalizing on 2 big shots. I would have McCowan on the team over her. I would also have Lou even with or ahead of Durr and possibly Ionescu. I don't understand Lou as the #3 vote getter, even if by a small margin.

The voters hate Uconn. They are tired of Uconn getting all the votes

 

[DaddyChoc]

Arike is good... didn't Geno recruit her as well or did he back off?

 

[Orangutan]

how do you have an All-American team with four guards and a center? Apparently forwards aren't allowed on this team...

Honestly, it's perfectly functional team. Ionescu at the point, Durr and Ogunbowale on the wings. Lou as a stretch 4. And Brown patrolling the paint.

What position would you say Lou was in the starting lineup last year? I would have thought it was the "3" aka small forward.

 

[Charliebball]

Honestly, it's perfectly functional team. Ionescu at the point, Durr and Ogunbowale on the wings. Lou as a stretch 4. And Brown patrolling the paint.

What position would you say Lou was in the starting lineup last year? I would have thought it was the "3" aka small forward.

I guess it depends on who else was in the line up at the time............you know UConn is the king/queen of positionless basketball............was Gabby really a center? KLS spends so much of the time on the perimeter she could be a two guard or a small forward........that team could score a hell of a lot of points but they're a bit undersized even with the 6'3" KLS...........as Geno has often said, rebounding is not really her thing.....

 

[Orangutan]

Also don't understand the hype for Durr, especially over Arike. Ogunbowale does a lot more on the court than Durr and while their numbers are very similar, Arike edges her out in most categories. It'd be one thing if they were splitting awards/preseason honors, but Durr seems to be consistently viewed as the better player which I just don't understand. I'm guessing a lot of it stems from the beat down Louisville put on ND last year where Durr badly outplayed Ogunbowale, but if I had to pick who is the better player and who is going to have a better season, it'd be Arike.

Can't say I get it either.

Here's the advanced stats on both for last season, screenshotted from natstat.com/wbb:

Pts/40 and usage almost identical. Better EFG and TS% for Durr due to better 3 pt and FT percentages. But higher free throw rate, better rebounding, slightly more assists and fewer turnovers for Arike. I think Durr has a better rep as a defender but Ogunbowale actually gets more steals.

At the end of the day, they're both getting around 24 pts/40 on around 28% usage. But it seems to me that Ogunbowale is more frequently criticized for how often she shoots.

 

[Fightin Choke]

Arike is good... didn't Geno recruit her as well or did he back off?

Geno was definitely recruiting Arike. He was angry when he found out (through social media, not personal phone call) that Arike had eliminated UConn when paring her list to a final 5. His response (by tweet) angered many people so it was a bit of a controversy. Can you imagine that class if Arike had chosen UConn? The class already included Lou, Pheesa and DeJanae. That would have completed the USA 3x3 team.

 

[hugefan]

That is totally untrue. Geno’s comments were in reference to her treatment of his good buddy Doug Bruno. She didn’t have the decency to call him after he had travelled overseas to watch her. Nothing to do with Uconn whatsoever.