So the data is unimportant and no uconn player would care at all about being recognized as one of the the finalist for a national basketball award. And I'm the ignorant one. Got it. I make a living studying metrics. The data is very significant. Professional athletes are paid based on metrics. Businesses are created and managed based on metrics. But some of you are grasping at straws literally saying the data is not very important. Saying a 21 year old athlete whose financial future is largely going to be based on metrics will find such an award unimportant. How does one debate this level of ignorance? Rhyne Howard of Kentucky is projected to be one of the top 2 or 3 picks in the WNBA but her team has a losing record. I guess that means every GM in the WNBA is a dummy then LOL. Imagine that. They look at the boxscore folks. They look at the data and their overall eval is definitely impacted by the data.
I'm sure that being recognized as one of the top players in CBB right now would be very important to any of our players. And I'm also sure that CW should be at least in the conversation. If she isn't selected it isn't as if they don't like her or are biased. It is probably that she was one of many in that conversation.
Being a top draft pick and being a wooden award winner/finalist are two different things. These players aren't going to put the award on their resumes when hoping to make it into the WNBA. I also can't tell if you're now arguing that Williams should win the award or if just being considered is enough? To be clear, no UConn fans compiled the Wooden List. I don't think anyone who roots for UConn is wishing Christyn didn't play for UConn. I remember her freshman year when she had her breakout game against Notre Dame scoring 28 points vs the reigning national champions. She was instant offense. The Boneyard was buzzing. The bummer is she hasn't had many games like that since. I think she shines the brightest when she isn't the primary offensive threat.
Megan Gustafson won multiple National Player of the Year awards in 2019 (Wooden winner was some sophomore named Sabrina Ionescu). She was then selected by the Dallas Wings in the second round with the 17th pick. Later that season she was cut. She eventually found her way to the Mystics but hasn't played a consistent amount of minutes to really be a high level WNBA player. That year she averaged 27.8 ppg on 69.6% with 13.4 rebounds.
Nina Davis from Baylor was a Wooden award finalist for two seasons ('15 and '16) and was the Big12 player of the year in 2015. That season she scored 21.1 ppgs on 58.4% shooting and added 8.3 rebounds a game. Her senior year she averaged 13 ppg on 56.3% shooting with 5.6 rebounds. By this season, Kalani Brown was a sophomore and Lauren Cox was a freshmen, so her usage dropped. She did not make a finalist list that season and went undrafted. The stats don't matter for Davis when it comes to the WNBA because she was a 5'11" forward with minimal perimeter skill. The recognition of the "Finalist" didn't help her.
Also, while I think Rhyne Howard's senior season, from a team perspective, has been a bust (and Junior season really) and she doesn't demand the ball like a true star, she is still averaging 20.4 ppgs (43.5%) and 7.6 rebounds and 2.7 steals. She's also averaged all that for her entire UK Career for the most part. But Howard from an individual player stand point seems very smooth on the ball and she's a big guard who can seemingly score at will while being UK's primary scorer. Teams know Howard is the go-to and so their defensive plans center around slowing her down. I don't think she should be considered just based on her teams record but it's an individual award and she's a talented player, who leads Williams in those above stats minus shooting %.
I've watched almost every NC State game that's been on TV for the past two years and I'm still waiting to be impressed by Cunane as everyone else is. Even her game the other day against GT, she was like 0-10 in the first half. She struggles against bigger and strong posts it seems. Mock drafts have her going 6th or 7th. Her stats aren't gaudy 13.2 (50.9%) 7.6 rebounds but her team is leading the ACC and has been in the national conversation since her sophomore season.
I think you keep using the pressure of her being a UConn and the expectations being unfair to her and that's what's preventing her from getting the attention she deserves, but I have to imagine if she wasn't playing for UConn we wouldn't be having this discussion. Williams hasn't even won a Big East Player of the Week award yet. So she's hasn't been able to do herself any favors in the resume booster. UConn doesn't always need a Wooden finalist, granted, if Bueckers wasn't injured it would be her. Williams may end up being like a Kiah Stokes. Good at what she does but always living more to be desired based on potential. Stokes was never a Wooden finalist but was drafted 11th in the first round. She is now in her 6th season and signed a 1 year contract for 115,000 with the Aces.
But ONO could have used your zest when people thought Dorka MIGHT and eventually did transfer to UConn. But I almost feel like ONO deserves to be on the Wooden list before Williams. ONO has stepped up big time this season. She leads the team in the following categories: Assists (4.1), FG% (58.3%), Rebounds (8.2), Steals (1.5), and Blocks (1.9). I believe she's also the only player to play every day this season. But she only averages 10ppg so she gets overlooked from an awards standpoint.
Owusu and Williams numbers are very similar actually.
Owusu 14.2 ppg, 3.3 rbs, 4 assists, 1.1 steals, 2.4 TO
Williams 14.6 ppg, 3.5 rbs, 2.6 assists, 1.4 steals, 2.1 TO
They average about the same FGA (12.3 and 12.6) and Williams makes ~45% of her shots while Owusu makes ~40% when it comes to 3pg% Williams averages 32.2% (4.1 3FGA) and Owusu averages 42.2% (1.2 3FGA). Williams FT% is 67% and Owusu's is 83%. Owusu also has the benefit of playing for a Team USA over the summer.
You tried to do something nice for Christyn, spent several hours on it & this is the best you could do?