ESPN AA Team, NPOY, FOY, COY

[oldude]

ESPN just announced their 2024-25 AA Team as follows:

1st Team
Paige
Hidalgo
Betts
Morrow
Watkins

2nd Team
Sarah
Miles
Booker
Blakes
Latson

COY - Close
FOY - Sarah
NPOY - Watkins

 

[Blakeon18]

Just for the record: inclusion on the first team here...much less the second...
does not qualify you to be on the UConn honor board. Is it Naismith first team....
10 players that does?

Having said that Sarah's appearance on the second team...top 10...and her FOY award...are quite something.
Let's see LOTS more Sarah-stuff in the next 6 games.

 

[Centerstream]

Can't argue with their picks...too much.
I think of JuJu as maybe the National Scorer of the Year but Paige is the better all around Player.
Close as COY...don't know. I would like to know their rationale.

 

[Bone Dog]

Can't argue with their picks...too much.
I think of JuJu as maybe the National Scorer of the Year but Paige is the better all around Player.
Close as COY...don't know. I would like to know their rationale.

I wonder about Close, too. If I were picking — which I’m not — I’d have given some serious thought to Kim Caldwell just for righting the ship at Tennessee. Or maybe to Shea for steadily building a solid program. And I’d consider Lawson and Banghart.

Or is this just about which coaches recruit the best? If that’s all it is, I think Gottlieb would have to come in ahead of Close. I mean, Smith, Heckel, Howell and Samuels have turned out as well as any group of 4 freshmen in the country, and Gottlieb has managed to get each of them important minutes.

Or is there someone here who thinks only NC winning coaches qualify?

 

[Centerstream]

Just for the record: inclusion on the first team here...much less the second...
does not qualify you to be on the UConn honor board. Is it Naismith first team....
10 players that does?

I believe the Huskies of Honor qualifications are:
For women's basketball, the criteria for induction are:
1. Being named to the 10-member WBCA (Women's Basketball Coaches Association) All-America first team.
2. Earning a bachelor's degree.

 

[Centerstream]

Can't argue with their picks...too much.
I think of JuJu as maybe the National Scorer of the Year but Paige is the better all around Player.
Close as COY...don't know. I would like to know their rationale.

I forgot to add: CONGRATULATIONS to Paige and Sarah!!!!!

 

[Bald Husky]

Caldwell, come on. Once the teams caught up to the crazy line changes the team has tanked. The jury is still out on her, since she has not displayed any in game adjustments to change the trajectory of the game. Possibly good future, but not even close to COY consideration this year.

 

[visitingcock]

I wonder about Close, too. If I were picking — which I’m not — I’d have given some serious thought to Kim Caldwell just for righting the ship at Tennessee. Or maybe to Shea for steadily building a solid program. And I’d consider Lawson and Banghart.

Or is this just about which coaches recruit the best? If that’s all it is, I think Gottlieb would have to come in ahead of Close. I mean, Smith, Heckel, Howell and Samuels have turned out as well as any group of 4 freshmen in the country, and Gottlieb has managed to get each of them important minutes.

Or is there someone here who thinks only NC winning coaches qualify?

Coach?

Mark Campbell

 

[BBallF]

Just for the record: inclusion on the first team here...much less the second...
does not qualify you to be on the UConn honor board. Is it Naismith first team....
10 players that does?

Having said that Sarah's appearance on the second team...top 10...and her FOY award...are quite something.
Let's see LOTS more Sarah-stuff in the next 6 games.

My understanding is that the Huskies of Honor requires a First Team AP or a First Team WBCA, the latter of which has 10 players. Sounds like Sarah may be WBCA this year. Deserves it.

 

[EricLA]

Congrats to Paige and Sarah, and the rest of the players/coach who were honored. Honestly, I have no problem with POY going to Watkins or Hidalgo as opposed to Paige, even tho I think Paige is a better leader, decision maker, and takes better shots. It's kind of subjective at this point, and at least some of it is based on hype or perception.

We all know Paige would rather have the NC trophy than any individual accolades anyway...

 

[meyers7]

I believe the Huskies of Honor qualifications are:
For women's basketball, the criteria for induction are:
1. Being named to the 10-member WBCA (Women's Basketball Coaches Association) All-America first team.
2. Earning a bachelor's degree.

The UCONN Media lists WBCA, AP and USBWA AA's. So I would assume being 1st team any of them would work.

Now granted if you are 1st team AP or USBWA, you're probably gonna be 1st Team WBCA. I don't think we've ever had anyone not.

 

[bballnut90]

Caldwell, come on. Once the teams caught up to the crazy line changes the team has tanked. The jury is still out on her, since she has not displayed any in game adjustments to change the trajectory of the game. Possibly good future, but not even close to COY consideration this year.

I think she'd be a contender if they didn't plummet at the end of the season, but I don't think she's at all a candidate right now. They were blown out by Kentucky, lost at home to bottom dweller Georgia and got beat again by Vandy in the SEC Tournament.

I'd say any of Close/Schaefer/Gottlieb would be my top picks. Mark Campbell also deserves recognition. If you want to throw a bone to coaches who've overachieved, Kara Lawson, Kim Barnes Arico and Shea Ralph deserve recognition. I'll also throw a shoutout to Scott Rueck who somehow has Oregon State back in the tournament despite losing their top 6 players to the portal.

 

[Centerstream]

My understanding is that the Huskies of Honor requires a First Team AP or a First Team WBCA, the latter of which has 10 players. Sounds like Sarah may be WBCA this year. Deserves it.

The UCONN Media lists WBCA, AP and USBWA AA's. So I would assume being 1st team any of them would work.

Now granted if you are 1st team AP or USBWA, you're probably gonna be 1st Team WBCA. I don't think we've ever had anyone not.

Sadly I did a google search for "UConn women's basketball Huskies of Honor" and this was a result.
It also returned a Sports Illustrated story on Paige receiving her award on Senior Day. It stated the same criteria but named Carl Adamec as the source. So...

 

[Plebe]

Caldwell, come on. Once the teams caught up to the crazy line changes the team has tanked. The jury is still out on her, since she has not displayed any in game adjustments to change the trajectory of the game. Possibly good future, but not even close to COY consideration this year.

Glad someone else said it.

My response to seeing Caldwell's name in this thread:

 

[BRS24]

So, of course I saved the ESPN pre- and mid-season projections. There were 6 journalists from ESPN who voted in these first two polls.

 

[Bone Dog]

I guess I'm trying to look bigger picture with Caldwell. Yes, her team faltered a bit at the end. But midseason they impressed a lot of folks given how low expectations were. She inherited a program in disarray and seems to be well on the way to rebuilding it, if her recruits for next season are any indication. My take is that she did better than expected and may have Tennessee on an upward trajectory.

 

[Boreifs]

I believe the Huskies of Honor qualifications are:
For women's basketball, the criteria for induction are:
1. Being named to the 10-member WBCA (Women's Basketball Coaches Association) All-America first team.
2. Earning a bachelor's degree.

Which is why Megan Walker is not on the wall

 

[Puppy Love]

I believe the Huskies of Honor qualifications are:
For women's basketball, the criteria for induction are:
1. Being named to the 10-member WBCA (Women's Basketball Coaches Association) All-America first team.
2. Earning a bachelor's degree.

Megan Walker named WBCA All-American

Walker becomes the latest player to join the Huskies of Honor.

www.theuconnblog.com

Does anyone know if the degree requirement was added later? Curious, because Rene Montgomery was inducted while she was still playing and probably hadn’t graduated.

 

[packwrap]

Yes, her team faltered a bit at the end. But midseason they impressed a lot of folks given how low expectations were. She inherited a program in disarray and seems to be well on the way to rebuilding it, if her recruits for next season are any indication. My take is that she did better than expected

I followed Tenn this year, quite like Caldwell, and had fun with the chaos. It was interesting to track the math to see how her scheme worked out. She has now also shown she can attract recruits. With better shooters coming in, their plan may work better next year.

To be fair though, the team really was not much better, however, than previous year.

Last year: 20-13 overall, 10-6 SEC, made ncaa
This year: 22-9 overall, 8-8 SEC, made ncaa

I thought Brooks at Kentucky and Campbell at TCU achieved bigger turnarounds.

Funny now, Coach Rueck at Oregon St managed to get his team to ncaa after losing 10 players to transfer with end of PAC. That's solid coaching.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Megan Walker named WBCA All-American

Walker becomes the latest player to join the Huskies of Honor.

www.theuconnblog.com

Does anyone know if the degree requirement was added later? Curious, because Rene Montgomery was inducted while she was still playing and probably hadn’t graduated.

For players who are on schedule to graduate, induction on Senior Night has happened. Megan left after 3 years, without her degree. Paige earned her degree last year, which is unusual.

 

[meyers7]

Sadly I did a google search for "UConn women's basketball Huskies of Honor" and this was a result.
It also returned a Sports Illustrated story on Paige receiving her award on Senior Day. It stated the same criteria but named Carl Adamec as the source. So...

Yeah, I've seen that written before. BUT, I would still expect them to honor USBWA and AP IF it ever happened that they ended up on one of them and not WBCA. But, I don't think it will ever happen that way. Especially now USBWA has gone to a 5 man 1st team/5 man 2nd team instead of the 10 man 1st team.

As for NPOY, the Media Guide lists Wooden, Naismith, Wade, AP and USBWA.

 

[HuskyNan]

Which is why Megan Walker is not on the wall

I’m pretty sure players aren’t even allowed on campus by Geno unless they’ve graduated

 

[MSSportsGuy]

The teams look fine. I would put Campbell as COY over anyone given what TCU has done even with portal additions.

FOY would be Blakes over Strong for me but Sarah has plenty of reasons to be chosen and would have been my #2 on the list.