ESPN AA Team, NPOY, FOY, COY

[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.

 

[oldude]

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

I assume you’re joking. UConn is a public university…..

 

[oldude]

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.

Blake is a big time scorer. But if you watch Sarah a lot, you can not be more impressed with everything she does on the court to help her team win. Sarah will likely be named FOY. But she should also get serious consideration for NDPOY as well. Whether it’s blocks, steals or tips, Sarah gets her hands on the ball as much as anyone I have seen play, with the possible exception of Hidalgo.

 

[mudcat]

Coach?

Mark Campbell

I know he won't even be considered, but I think Scott Rueck did a wonderful job this year - consider what they had left, who he recruited, and the difference between Oregon State at the beginning of the season and Oregon State now.

 

[mudcat]

I wrote my note before I read all the others recognizing the job Scott Rueck did this year. It seems what he did is recognized as a superlative job by most on this board (even though they'll probably be out in the first weekend).

 

[maple]

Cori Close as COTY?

They're entitled to their opinion, I guess.

 

[BRS24]

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

Geno made this very clear in 2004 when DT was drafted. The WNBA draft was right after the NCAA finals, and she hadn't completed her degree reqs at that time.

 

[Rowdy831]

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?

If you have the best team you win the award as a coach. COY to me is the toughest one because it is based more on your recruiting than your xs and os.

 

[Rowdy831]

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.

She would have won the Big East

 

[Rowdy831]

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.

They lost a lot of talent and Caldwell had to put a roster together with players most teams weren't going after. I thought they looked a lot better than recent teams but had very little star power and I do think she needs to slow down on the subs if she wants top talent.

 

[Jonathan14]

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'm also pretty okay with their picks and am not surprised that Juju was POY. Also a little iffy on Close as COY, though I like ESPN's pick better than The Athletic's. Their COY was Niele Ivey, who I think is a good coach in general but hasn't had her strongest season, especially when compared to other coaches who have overachieved with lower expectations going into the season.

 

[Plebe]

I wrote my note before I read all the others recognizing the job Scott Rueck did this year. It seems what he did is recognized as a superlative job by most on this board (even though they'll probably be out in the first weekend).

I'm a big fan of Rueck's, and I went on record early in the season saying they'd be a tough out in the WCC tournament. However this is a very down year for the WCC as a whole. The entire conference is outside the NET top 100 except for Portland at 85. Having said that, if he wins a game in the NCAA tournament, he gets my NCOY vote.

 

[Plebe]

They lost a lot of talent and Caldwell had to put a roster together with players most teams weren't going after. I thought they looked a lot better than recent teams but had very little star power and I do think she needs to slow down on the subs if she wants top talent.

I'm just curious because I'm not extremely knowledgeable of all that happened in the offseason: Who were the players that were not wanted by other teams?

• Their best player was Cooper, who transferred in 2023 and stayed through the coaching change. Same with #2 scorer Spear.
  
  
• Their other top performers were new transfers Spearman, Whitehorn, and Spencer. The latter two were major pieces of their teams last year. Spearman was perhaps less featured at Miami but still considered a strong talent. Were any of these three not getting offers out of the portal? I have a hard time believing that.
  
  
• Looking at their other rotation players, at least three were already on the roster last year, and surely Latham from Syracuse drew interest from other programs, unless there's something I don't know.

I give Caldwell credit for recruiting well from the portal and getting her roster to buy in to her coaching style. But I'm curious to know which of her players were the leftovers that other programs didn't want.