Christyn Williams DESERVES to be a wooden nominee this year!

[TeamFirst!]

Owuso is a junior. My mistake.

 

[TeamFirst!]

I said you were right ok? I’m a “doggie” I always have an itch. You are telling avid long time fans that they don’t appreciate a player? Miss me with that BS!

You DON'T. She is in the conversation. The first thing you guys did was crap all over it.

 

[Mdoggie]

You DON'T. She is in the conversation. The first thing you guys did was crap all over it.

She is in this forum conversation. Wooden award not. Stop yelling and have a drink. You’re uptight

 

[The deacon]

You guys don't appreciate what you've got. She's certainly in the conversation. I tried to give her some recognition. How would you feel if you were Christyn? She plays her heart out every game and gets grief constantly. And the shiny new objects of Paige, Azzi and Caroline get all the attention. She gets a lack of appreciation regularly even though she's putting up great numbers and playing great defense. She deserves to be in the conversation.

I nearly always agree with your posts, TeamFirst, but those who cite Christyn's four-year history of inconsistency, including this season, could just as easily have been hinting what I believe to be tendency to drift through some games. Call it whatever you want, but I'm pretty sure she falls short of 'playing her heart out every game.' A player with her talent would have a lot more to show for it if she did.

Unquestionably she can be remarkably aggressive and hustle like crazy, but just not as consistently as I'd bet Geno would prefer. I'll also opine that she does not regularly play 'great defense,' even though she's too often been tagged as a 'lockdown defender.' Again, sometimes...

As for Christyn's 'great numbers,' I'd say 14.6 PPG, 3.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game are a tad shy of 'great.' She's an important contributor, but not one of the best players in the country.

I'm certainly not insulting you, TeamFirst, nor am I castigating Christyn for her performance. I just don't think the she is one of the best players in the country. I appreciate your effort, having spent a goodly share of my career in journalism doing much of that sort of research.

 

[Mdoggie]

First time I’ve ever sided with a demon.

 

[TeamFirst!]

Do you know how many turnovers Haley Jones has this year? 57 or 14 more than anyone on our team. She's shooting 41% compared to Cw's .445%. Jones is shooting 16% from the 3 point line. CW is scoring 2 points more per game than Jones. I'm not saying CW is better as I think Jones is a great player but they are in the conversation and you could go down that list and see other examples.

 

[Mdoggie]

I’m drained.

 

[TeamFirst!]

Thanks for the comments Deacon and Cbus13. It provides some perspective. To add to that, I think CW is a player who needs the driving lanes open and when the other teams are packing it in, as they have been doing, that's a huge problem for her. Her biggest weakness is her jumpshot but I do think her defense has been solid overall and I really think she has been trying hard. She's scoring more than anyone else not named Paige. I think the expectation level here is off the charts. They went to the final 4 the last 3 years in a row and CW was a big part of that.

 

[The deacon]

Do you know how many turnovers Haley Jones has this year? 57 or 14 more than anyone on our team. She's shooting 41% compared to Cw's .445%. Jones is shooting 16% from the 3 point line. CW is scoring 2 points more per game than Jones. I'm not saying CW is better as I think Jones is a great player but they are in the conversation and you could go down that list and see other examples.

You're welcome, TeamFirst.

Who knows, maybe if I'd have done that study I'd agree with you, I just find it odd to think a player who so often disappears for such long stretches of big games could possibly be one of the nation's best... maybe I overrate the general caliber of basketball players in the NCAA?

Me, too, Mdoggie. time for this old guy to head to bed. Have a good night everyone.

 

[Mdoggie]

12 years in a row.

 

[pvdoggy]

If you look at the list of nominees, Christyn Williams has performed at a higher level than at least 4-5 of these nominees. Scoring, Shooting percentage, Defense, Overall game. She's not just one of our top scorers. She's also our shutdown guard defender. She doesn't get NEARLY the credit she deserves. She warrants being recognized appropriately.

Top teams pack women's Wooden Award Top 20

Maryland, South Carolina and Stanford each put two players on Monday's Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 list.

www.espn.com

Maybe a better way to look at it is some of the players you mentioned should not have been on this list either. To me, there is no reason why you have to have 20 players on the best players list, sort of like there is no reason why there has to be a certain number of A in a class.

 

[msf22b]

I've seen Haley Jones turn the ball lover multiple times and I've seen Caitlin do it also (is she on the list, I don't pay attention)?
But they also are winning games for their teams with their leadership and fine play, skill and grit.

We, who have been watching Christyn's play this season...and most of last..know that they are not observing a national, prizewinning talent.

And if the numbers you have carefully accumulated tend to prove otherwise; then this is an off year for woman's basketball performance or, just remember Potter Stewart's famous 1964 adage
"I know it when I see it."

 

[Plebe]

I was just thinking that we needed more folks around here who are willing to pick a hill and die on it.

Right or wrong, I admire the zeal.

 

[hard2please]

she plays great some games, good in others, and then disappears in others. consistency and reliability make a player great. when geno had the play for the last shot against depaul, whom did he call on? the freshman.

 

[Cecil9]

Why do some of you just itch to insult? I spent the time to look at the numbers for every player on that list. Did any of you do that? I tried to complement and appreciate Christyn. And what do I get? Insults. Uninformed insults. Christyn is a senior about to be a 1st round draft pick probably and many of you want her to be Larry Bird every night. I wonder how Christyn sees this? She deserves better fans.

And you don't know a damm thing about me really. You have no idea.

I like Christyn's play, she is one of the best with getting to the basket and scoring I've seen---with either hand. Some of those close in shots while being guarded have made me wonder how did she do that. And she has been a consistent starting player, so it's obvious that Geno likes the way she plays.
I've also seen her receive well-deserved recognition here.
It seems that you are mostly concerned that she hasn't been getting national awards or nominations. Those decisions aren't made on a message board.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Hayley Jones has not had the kind of year I expected. Still, she's averaging over 8 rebounds a game at the point forward position and more than an assist more per game than CW. Those probably give her a slight edge despite the terrible shooting.

 

[bballnut90]

Nice player, but not having a top 20 season. Numbers aren't there and she hasn't played well against the stronger teams on the schedule. There isn't a prime candidate for UCONN to be on the list with Bueckers out. Just the way the cookie crumbles this year.

I dont agree with several finalists (namely Howard, Owusu, Jones, Osborne), but there are several more deserving players who also didn't make the cut including Khayla Pointer, Olivia Miles, Madi Williams, Emily Engstler, Jacy Sheldon and Shaylee Gonzales. The oversight of the first 3 listed (Pointer, Miles, and Williams) is particularly egregious. All should be strongly considered for the 10 player WBCA team but will likely be overlooked due to lack of hype or coverage.

 

[CocoHusky]

I also appreciate independent "thinking". I just didn't see any evidence of thinking part of that equation in this entire thread.

 

[TeamFirst!]

Nice player, but not having a top 20 season. Numbers aren't there and she hasn't played well against the stronger teams on the schedule. There isn't a prime candidate for UCONN to be on the list with Bueckers out. Just the way the cookie crumbles this year.

I dont agree with several finalists (namely Howard, Owusu, Jones, Osborne), but there are several more deserving players who also didn't make the cut including Khayla Pointer, Olivia Miles, Madi Williams, Emily Engstler, Jacy Sheldon and Shaylee Gonzales. The oversight of the first 3 listed (Pointer, Miles, and Williams) is particularly egregious. All should be strongly considered for the 10 player WBCA team but will likely be overlooked due to lack of hype or coverage.

Many others. Aijha Blackwell of Missiouri. 16.9 PPG, .501 shooting. 13.1 rebounds a game as a guard.

 

[Jingo]

ONO is a sure lottery pick .. waaay ahead of many of those on the Wooden list .. numbers don't tell the story, eh?

 

[CocoHusky]

Maybe a better way to look at it is some of the players you mentioned should not have been on this list either. To me, there is no reason why you have to have 20 players on the best players list, sort of like there is no reason why there has to be a certain number of A in a class.

There are many very good reasons to have 20 players (even more if i had my way) on this list. This is WCBB-a sport that badly needs the publicity. While being a Wooden finalist would be considered an insignificant distinction to a UCONN WBB player, for just about every other school that recognition might be the biggest accomplishment for a player or team for an entire season -maybe several seasons. It's also important because these accomplishments go into the players Bio's and also into the \ coaches and assistant coaches resumes.

 

[TeamFirst!]

It's not an insignificant distinction for any Uconn WBB player. It's a significant distinction for any college player. I tried to give CW the credit she deserves for being in that conversation. That's all.

 

[CocoHusky]

It's not an insignificant distinction for any Uconn WBB player. It's a significant distinction for any college player. I tried to give CW the credit she deserves for being in that conversation. That's all.

 

[DeeHusky]

You can’t just compare stats to other players and try to nominate a player for awards based on that. For example folks try to compare Boston’s stats to ONO’s stats and say Boston only scores ppg and ONO scores… sometimes we just gotta be honest with ourselves and let go of the bias. They are just simply not even close when it comes to who’s the best player. And that’s okay. Diana Taurasi won the player of the year averaging 15 points I think; it’s not just about the stats. It’s about the eye test, win shares, being a leader, stepping up in crunch time, making the big play, going and get a big bucket, being the initiator. Christyn doesn’t do those things. Ducharme should never be the player we look to make big plays when we have a Wooden award worthy senior on our team. Christyn is very important to this team, but she’s not a NPOY candidate.