Dawn Staley Award Winner

[jonson]

"The Dawn Staley Award

is given to the most outstanding collegiate guard in the country; a player who exemplifies the skills that Dawn possessed during her career (ball handling, scoring, her ability to distribute the basketball and her will to win)."

I'm not one who has been singing Ionescu's praise, nor do I think she's the greatest thing since sliced bread. But I do think she's been the best player in college basketball this season, and therefore the best guard. Looking at the criteria that the award posted, copied above, she clearly had a better year than Ty Harris, unless the nebulous "will to win" is weighted more than the other three put together. This is taking nothing away from Ty, who had a great year in her own right.

I don't think it's possible to have a stronger "will to win" than Ionescu.

 

[domerduck]

Stats wise Ionescu is head and shoulders over everyone. I’m very appreciative of her triple doubles and the history she made this year with 2k,1k, and 1k. So yes I do think she did have a better season than Ty, but I also think what Ty did can’t be ignored. Became schools all time assist leader and led her team to a 32-1 record and #1 ranked team. Ionescu will likely clean up the rest of the awards anyway so I definitely think Ty deserved this one.

The only reason your team was ranked #1 was because they lost 1 game and everyone else with 2 losses or more expected there would be an NCAA tourney which was supposed to decide things. Great that you beat UConn at your home court by 18 with your 18K fans rooting your team on. Sabrina and the Ducks beat that same UConn team a week earlier by the same amount in Storrs where 10K fans were rooting against them. Staley didn't let her team with senior guard Ty Harris play Team USA while Sabrina and the Ducks figured out how to beat them by 7 with Sabrina's scoring 30 against WNBA players. Of course that game didn't count.

I truly wish the National Championship had been settled on the court like its been the last 50 years. But to use the rankings vote as a rationale why Harris should win an award is ridiculous. To me this is an embarassment to SC and Dawn Staley that her player got this award. Rhyne Howard (SEC POY and 1st team AA) was even more deserving than Harris, but Sabrina should have won this if anyone wants the Dawn Staley award to mean anything in the future. It's hard to respect Dawn Staley for letting this happen.

 

[HuskyNan]

I hope this thread doesn’t turn into a South Carolina vs Oregon thread. That will get it locked immediately

 

[MSGRET]

I hope this thread doesn’t turn into a South Carolina vs Oregon thread. That will get it locked immediately

You could move it to the General side of the BY.

 

[MSGRET]

People are overlooking the obvious. Sabrina was too tall to win this award. Just look at the past winners
Asia Durr, Kelsey Mitchell, Kelsey Plum,.

Both are 5' 10"

 

[HuskyNan]

You could move it to the General side of the BY.

It’s the off-season so rules relax somewhat.

Me, I’m disappointed Crystal wasn’t nominated. I thought Sabrina deserved the award and I thought Crystal deserved to be nominated

 

[Yorkeez4]

This award is from the Phoenix Club out of Philadelphia - Dawn’s home town. Given that, I would say it is not surprising that it was awarded to one of Dawn’s players. IMO it does diminish how it is viewed going forward. No way Sabrina is not the best pg this year.

 

[Mdoggie]

Lock it up! Lock it up! Lock it up! Lol

 

[JonathanXIV]

Stats wise Ionescu is head and shoulders over everyone. I’m very appreciative of her triple doubles and the history she made this year with 2k,1k, and 1k. So yes I do think she did have a better season than Ty, but I also think what Ty did can’t be ignored. Became schools all time assist leader and led her team to a 32-1 record and #1 ranked team. Ionescu will likely clean up the rest of the awards anyway so I definitely think Ty deserved this one.

So the analysis is Ty had a good season, but Sabrina had a better one, and since Sabrina will win all the other rewards Ty “deserves” this one. Look, I don’t really care one way or the other, and emotionally I get it, but the logic really doesn’t hold up.

 

[PacoSwede]

This award is from the Phoenix Club out of Philadelphia - Dawn’s home town. Given that, I would say it is not surprising that it was awarded to one of Dawn’s players. IMO it does diminish how it is viewed going forward. No way Sabrina is not the best pg this year.

it does.

that's OK. but kind of sad.

and they certainly know that.

and it's pathetic that they don't care, because they have knowingly stolen some of the prestige of the award, for winners, past and future.

and yeah, of course sabrina ain't gonna be fazed by this absurdity

so now the Dawn Staley Award is just something meaningless we can ignore, or maybe joke about, in the future.

 

[shiverz45]

How many triple doubles did she have as the PG? Who had the highest Assists per game average? Not Harris, they both had a 3 to 1 average.
Sabrina Tyasha

PPG 17.5 12.1
APG 9.1 5.7
RPG 8.6 3.5
T/O PG 2.9 1.9
SPG 1.6 1.6

Both had the same Assist to Turn Over average of 3, everything else Sabrina cleans her clock and both are the same height.

When Sabrina faces legit teams outside the Pac 12 (Baylor, Louisville, and UConn) most times, she is average at best. When Ty face those type of teams she has her best games because that is when her team truly needs her to step up. Sabrina had a team of experience All Americans that were suppose to run through everyone they played. They finished the season with 2 losses. Ty took a team of Freshmen to #1 ranking with only 1 loss. Somebody once said that stats were for losers. But I will throw this one out. Sabrina also plays 6 to 7 minutes on average more game time than Ty. With all that being said, I am not saying Ty is a better player than Sabrina. I just wanted to show that intangibles may have weighed in to the decision.

One more thing I would like to point out. I think Oregon is a more efficient shooting team than SC. So Ty loses a lot of assist because of easy missed shots. However, SC leads the nation in offensive rebounding and block shots.

I would have love to meet Oregon in the tournament. From what I've seen in the past with our length, size, and speed we would have shut down Sabrina, pound the paint, and get out run. We would be an upgrade over the Louisville team that beat them by 10.

 

[dogged1]

Except maybe DT

 

[WestCoast]

How many triple doubles did she have as the PG? Who had the highest Assists per game average?

Sabrina

PPG---17.5
APG----9.1
RPG--- 8.6
T/O----2.9
SPG----1.6

Tyasha

PPG---12.1
APG----5.7
RPG----3.5
T/O----1.9
SPG----1.6

Both had the same Assist to Turn Over average of 3, everything else Sabrina cleans her clock and both are the same height.

Isn't shooting percentage considered a "guard skill" anymore? Harris shot 42% from the field. Ionescu shot over 50% from the field. Staley shot 46% from the field during her college career.

I understand the leadership that Harris provided for a young team this year. However, she had a number of brutal shooting games this season that really didn't matter to those games' outcomes because of how good her team was.

 

[MSGRET]

When Sabrina faces legit teams outside the Pac 12 (Baylor, Louisville, and UConn) most times, she is average at best. When Ty face those type of teams she has her best games because that is when her team truly needs her to step up. Sabrina had a team of experience All Americans that were suppose to run through everyone they played. They finished the season with 2 losses. Ty took a team of Freshmen to #1 ranking with only 1 loss. Somebody once said that stats were for losers. But I will throw this one out. Sabrina also plays 6 to 7 minutes on average more game time than Ty. With all that being said, I am not saying Ty is a better player than Sabrina. I just wanted to show that intangibles may have weighed in to the decision.

One more thing I would like to point out. I think Oregon is a more efficient shooting team than SC. So Ty loses a lot of assist because of easy missed shots. However, SC leads the nation in offensive rebounding and block shots.

I would have love to meet Oregon in the tournament. From what I've seen in the past with our length, size, and speed we would have shut down Sabrina, pound the paint, and get out run. We would be an upgrade over the Louisville team that beat them by 10.

PURE BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[shiverz45]

Isn't shooting percentage considered a "guard skill" anymore? Harris shot 42% from the field. Ionescu shot over 50% from the field. Staley shot 46% from the field during her college career.

I understand the leadership that Harris provided for a young team this year. However, she had a number of brutal shooting games this season that really didn't matter to those games' outcomes because of how good her team was.

We don't have great shooting from our guards. They can be streaky at times both ways. However we have the best offensive rebounding team in the country and we force teams to shoot well below their average. Our best jump shooter and 3 point shooter is our forward (Herbert-Harrigan) who shoots 50% from the field and 44% behind the 3 point line. Ty Harris shoots about 39% from 3 which is good.

 

[domerduck]

I did a little more research on this award considering now two SC players have got it. It's been given out 8 times. I have them listed below and how the WNBA thought of the player by their draft number.

2012-2013 Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame, Sr, WNBA 3rd overall
2013-2014 Odyssey Sims, Baylor, Sr, WNBA 3rd overall
2014-2015 Tiffany Mitchell, SCarolina, Jr, WNBA, 9th overall
2015-2016 Moriah Jefferson, UConn, Sr, WNBA, 2nd overall
2016-2017 Kelsey Plum, UW, Sr, WNBA, 1st overall
2017-2018 Kelsey Mitchell, OSU, Sr, WNBA 2nd overall
2018-2019 Asia Durr, L'ville, Sr, WNBA 2nd overall
2019-2020 Tyasha Harris, SCarolina, Sr, WNBA ?? (projecte 6-8)

It's hard to argue that the 6 non SC choices weren't the best, but it is easy to argue that they had better choices than the South Carolina player. Tiffany Mitchell was the only jr chosen and she won over unanimous AA Jewell Loyd who was also #1 WNBA pick that year as well as UConn's KML who was #3 WNBA pick that year. Moriah Jefferson won the Lieberman award that year. Tiffany was SEC POY so was a worthy candidate but the other 3 certainly were considered better guards than her by the WNBA. Then when she was drafted the following year (when Moriah won) 4 guards were taken over her: #2 Jefferson, #4 Banham, #7 Copper, and #8 Williams.

I could accept there was no bias with the Mitchell choice since she was at least a first team AA that year. The Harris choice is completely embarrassing considering it's named after her coach and she ranks below Sabrina, Rhyne Howard, Chennedy Carter, Aari McDonald, and Dana Evans who are all more worthy candidates and above her on AA teams. I am sure she will not be the top guard taken this coming WNBA draft. I am truly disappointed our coach of our USA team has her name on an award with such bias.

 

[Jingo]

Obviously, these awards have no connection with reality, eh?

 

[sivad40]

After a little research, these awards should be essentially meaningless since no one knows how to properly categorize players. Look at the finalists:

PG:
Rhyne Howard
Ty Harris
Sabrina Ionescu
Cheney Carter

SG:
Kathleen Doyle
Dana Evans
Cheney Carter
Aari McDonald
Haley Gorecki


Who the heck decides these finalists? Why is Howard in contention for PG role and Doyle/Evans up for SG? And why is Carter on there twice? And why did two shooting guards who are not distributors (Mitchell/Durr) win the PG award previously? This is so sloppy.

Was Sabrina the PG for Oregon or the SG?

 

[domerduck]

We don't have great shooting from our guards. They can be streaky at times both ways. However we have the best offensive rebounding team in the country and we force teams to shoot well below their average. Our best jump shooter and 3 point shooter is our forward (Herbert-Harrigan) who shoots 50% from the field and 44% behind the 3 point line. Ty Harris shoots about 39% from 3 which is good.

It's not surprising you get a lot of offensive rebounds if your guards miss a lot of shots.

 

[shiverz45]

PURE BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those are facts and opinions. What is BS? Ty had 19 points, 11assist, 0 turnovers against UConn. Sabrina had 9 points, 9 assist, 4 turnover. In the final 4 Sabrina struggled shooting the ball against Didi Richards. Ty had her way with Didi Richards in the Virgin islands. 20 points and 7 assist.

 

[MSGRET]

Was Sabrina the PG for Oregon or the SG?

Point guard

 

[domerduck]

Was Sabrina the PG for Oregon or the SG?

Graves seems to play two point guards which seems to work. Previous three years it was Sabrina and Maite Cazorla. This year it was Sabrina and Minyon Moore. Sabrina led the team in assists every year.

 

[MSGRET]

Those are facts and opinions. What is BS? Ty had 19 points, 11assist, 0 turnovers against UConn. Sabrina had 9 points, 9 assist, 4 turnover. In the final 4 Sabrina struggled shooting the ball against Didi Richards. Ty had her way with Didi Richards in the Virgin islands. 20 points and 7 assist.

Betcha I could do the same with Ty. Again, a unanimous POY and 1st Team AA who is the PG for her team and she loses to a player that did not make the 1st or 2nd team AA. It doesn't wash and disrespects the game. Dawn has to approve the selection and she should have said no to this nomination. Shows that she puts her team above others, both SC selections were not the best PG's in the nation when it was awarded. Guess I got to add another one to ignore.