EOY predictions

[nwhoopfan]

I have to hand it to @jdote33 as I didn't know who Katie Dinnebier was but after looking at her stats, they are freakin awesome and she deserves attention. Her efficiency is in the top 5 and her win shares are in the top 8. Pretty impressive for a 5'8" not rated player coming out of HS.

I've been hyping her all year, have you been ignoring me?

 

[DefenseBB]

For the FOY, I have been tracking the players since late December and below are the top 8 players with efficiency, WinShares and a few other key stats including their HG ranking. The stats are pretty clear that both Strong and Blakes are the top 2 freshman. Enjoy

 

[FanInNC]

The bolded part is flawed thinking, IMO. Niele Ivey isn't my choice for COY anymore (Wes is), but she did have a solid case until last week. In the preseason, there were legit concerns about Notre Dame's ability to (1) stay healthy, (2) navigate the ACC without a true big (people forget that Kylee Watson did not play a minute for them this season due to an ACL suffered during the 2024 ACC Tourney), and (3) integrate Olivia Miles back into the fold after she missed all of 2023-24 with an ACL injury suffered in February 2023. She was able to address these concerns and produce a successful season through her coaching (managing rotations, minutes, and expectations). No, it's not what it could have been and maybe not what it should have been. However, they were a double overtime loss from being the 1 seed (and her likely winning the award).

And we're not going to pretend that NC State is somehow bereft of talent. Let's not do that, please. Wes is a good coach that has exceptional talent. None of the teams that I cheer for in the conference have a Saniya Rivers/Aziaha James/Zoe Brooks trio on the perimeter.


No, not a chance. They (UNC) were picked to finish 6th in the conference and finished 5th. They are who we thought they'd be.

The two coaches who should warrant consideration (not necessarily win the award) along with Wes would be the coaches who led teams that had the highest differential from preseason prediction to actual production. Those coaches would be Charmin Smith (from preseason 14 to 7th place) and Megan Duffy (from preseason 12 to 8th place). Charmin's team was essentially an afterthought by ACC voters despite being senior/grad-laden (and their success in postseason last year) while Megan took "Kenny Brooks' leftovers" and turned Carleigh Wenzel (from 3 ppg in ACC play in 2024 to 16 ppg in ACC play in 2025) and Carys Baker (from 2 ppg in ACC play in 2024 to 15 ppg on 51/49/81 shooting splits in ACC play in 2025) into ACC stars.

All very fair points. I didn’t mean to make it seem like Wes had zero talent to work with, clearly not the case.

 

[FanInNC]

Ok, so you take umbrage with my choice of Ivey for ACC COY, got it. I still think she did a great job and am still thinking she wins it. I may be wrong but I will take solace that this has highly irritated you.

I’m glad I could provide such solace

 

[Stagnant]

SEC awards are out. I think Brooks got robbed for coach of the year.

 

[DefenseBB]

SEC just announce their awards: I was wrong thinking first year coach Brooks would win COY, instead it was 1st year Texas team but old SEC coach Vic....
Booker/Schaefer/Blakes

MSN

9 Member 1st team?

 

[Geew1992]

Sec awards

USA TODAY Sports Network 2025 All-SEC women's basketball awards, coach and player of the year

Aneesah Morrow was a popular pick for the USA TODAY Sports Network's All-SEC awards. See who won SEC Coach and Player of the Year.

www.knoxnews.com

I'm so confused. What SEC awards are these?

 

[FanInNC]

9 member 1st team and 8 member second team?

8 member all freshman team.

6 player all defensive team.

Weird structure.

 

[DefenseBB]

I'm so confused. What SEC awards are these?

The conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, Big East) all announce their year-end conference awards the day before the tournament starts.

2025 SEC women's basketball awards announced - Southeastern Conference

The Southeastern Conference announced its 2025 women’s basketball postseason awards Tuesday.

www.secsports.com

 

[Stagnant]

Here are the big 10 awards:

Freshman of the year is the most interesting. Olson and Cambridge are co-freshman of the year in the coaches vote. But Cambridge wins the media version of the award.

 

[WBBTakeover]

SEC awards are out. I think Brooks got robbed for coach of the year.

He didn't get robbed. It was never going to go to him (which was the right call). Despite stacking his roster with his VT transfers, he wasn't able to guide the team to a victory over a team ranked above them (struck out against South Carolina, Texas, and LSU). He had the resources--just didn't get the job done.

Khamil Pierre, despite being Top 5 in ppg and rpg for in-conference games--is somehow not worthy of All-SEC. If anyone got robbed, it was her.

Also, three LSU players on the first team--yet no SEC championship. Hmm...

 

[bballnut90]

How Khamil Pierre was left off All-SEC is crazy to me:
20.8ppg, 9.6 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 50.7% FG. She 100% should be at least 2nd team over Fulwiley, Pao Pao, Jordan, Verhulst and Scott. Honestly she should be on 1st team though. I thought she'd be a lock.

 

[Geew1992]

How Khamil Pierre was left off All-SEC is crazy to me:
20.8ppg, 9.6 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 50.7% FG. She 100% should be at least 2nd team over Fulwiley, Pao Pao, Jordan, Verhulst and Scott.

Twitter it so angry that Khamil was left off.

 

[bballnut90]

SEC awards are out. I think Brooks got robbed for coach of the year.

I thought Vic deserved it, they went 15-1 and finishing the year #1 in the country despite losing a starter in the middle of conference play (Aaliyah Moore) and another player who likely would've started if healthy (Laila Phelia).

 

[bballnut90]

Twitter it so angry that Khamil was left off.

They should be. She's 4th in the conference in scoring, 3rd in rebounds, 2nd in steals and shoots over 50% from the floor for a team that's #8 out of 18 and has wins over Alabama/Tennessee. I'm not sure I've ever seen a player with a better season who hasn't made an All Conference team.

9 member 1st team and 8 member second team?

8 member all freshman team.

6 player all defensive team.

Weird structure.

With 18 teams, just do a clean 10 person 1st team, 10 person 2nd team, maybe a 5 person HM. There's enough talent in these massive conferences for more credit to go around. Texas getting just 1 player recognized on 1st/2nd team despite winning the conference and being #1 in the country doesn't seem right. Players like Rori Harmon and Taylor Jones deserve recognition.

 

[JstVisiting]

I know this drum has been beaten on this thread already...but just to reiterate ND was preseason 5th in one poll and 6th in the other. They were preseason 1st in the conference with 70 of 78 possible 1st place votes. ND had 2 players on the "New Comer Watchlist" out of 5. They had the preseason player of the year in the conference. Preseason defensive player of the year in the conference. And they featured 3 players on the preseason All Conference team (3 of the top 6 vote getters in fact Citron, Hidalgo and Miles).

In addition to all of this they also returned the highest vote receiving 2nd team All Conference performer from last year (Westbeld) AND brought in a first team All Conference player from Pitt (King).

Their entire starting line up is filled with former All Conference players. That's insane! All 5 spots! I'm not sure why Ivey should win COY considering the talent she has on her team and the fact she didn't outright win the conference this year. The only argument I can see is if you are saying she recruited that team and amassed that talent and the award isn't about coaching during the season but rather roster construction and team building as well as coaching. Then I could see it, but I'd think it would also always go to the league's best team (which...still wasn't the Irish).

I think you could make an argument for Charmin Smith of Cal. The Bears were projected 14th in the league and finished 12-6 in 7th place. She very much outperformed expectations and teetered around the back end of the top 25 most of the season when I don't think anyone really had them as a tournament team going into the year. I think Courtney Banghart has an argument that could be made, although I certainly won't be making it! I'll be disappointed if Wes Moore doesn't get it though. State was preseason 2nd in the conference and 9th overall and that was with the assumption Caitlyn Weimar would be healthy and starting all season long. She played 0 minutes. If the projections would have known that, I'd imagine State would have been more like in the 4-5 range in the conference projections and 20ish overall.

I just don't think you can make the argument that Ivey maximized her talent with the way they faltered at the end.

I think even on “but they recruited the talent!”, you have to compare it to program baseline.

Ie, if whoever follows Geno wins the BE by one game with the tenth best roster in America, they’re really not getting bonus points for roster building. The Notre Dame team has more talent on paper than everyone else in the conference, but it’s not a “WOW! How did she ever build that roster?!” assemblage for Notre Dame.

 

[Bone Dog]

I agree with others that Wes should be COY. I know Wesbeld missed the first half of the season, but ND is loaded with future pros and got a stud transfer double double machine in King.

I like Wes this season, and Niele seems to have faltered a bit down the stretch. But picking up King in the portal was a stroke of genius. I give her a ton of credit for seeing what King had to offer before other coaches did and going all out after her.

 

[LETTERL]

I like Wes this season, and Niele seems to have faltered a bit down the stretch. But picking up King in the portal was a stroke of genius. I give her a ton of credit for seeing what King had to offer before other coaches did and going all out after her.

She didn't miss many shots against NC State. A definite golden nugget from the transfer portal.

 

[FanInNC]

I like Wes this season, and Niele seems to have faltered a bit down the stretch. But picking up King in the portal was a stroke of genius. I give her a ton of credit for seeing what King had to offer before other coaches did and going all out after her.

Im not sure what her recruitment looked like and who all was after her. She was first team all conference last year in the ACC so it's not like she was some diamond in the rough. The whole conference had a very good idea of who she was and what she could do. She was an excellent add for coach Ivey.

 

[Stagnant]

We have our first shocker! For me anyway. I didn’t expect her to take it.