ESPNW's Top 10 Freshman. No Love for Anna or Aubrey

[CTtoSanDiego]

there are a lot of good players on this list, but I think Anna deserved a spot. Aubrey was too inconsistent. I expect big things from both next year. Some of the players on the list benefited from not having any or very many other good players on their teams, so their scoring stats, for instance, were higher.

Ranking the top 10 freshmen in women's college basketball

We'll have to wait a year for them to make their NCAA tournament debuts, but these freshmen stood out this season and should star in 2020-21.

www.espn.com

 

[DEpup]

I hear you but the bar for anyone with a UConn jersey is high. I think if Anna had started out more consistent and was a starter like at the end of the season she would be on the list. I didn't verify each person but it looks like all of them were starters so that seems to be a biased unstated criteria...

 

[EricLA]

To add to what @DEpup said, Anna's numbers just weren't high enough. End of season awards are heavily weighted towards scoring and PPG numbers. On a team where Anna was the 5th scoring option early on when on the court, she just wasn't going to put up the numbers needed to be on that list.

I don't disagree that she's probably better than some of the players on that list, but without he PPG numbers in her back pocket, she never was going to be honored that way. She'll have to settle for being honored by UCONN fans everywhere!!

#PolishPower

 

[bballnut90]

there are a lot of good players on this list, but I think Anna deserved a spot. Aubrey was too inconsistent. I expect big things from both next year. Some of the players on the list benefited from not having any or very many other good players on their teams, so their scoring stats, for instance, were higher.

Ranking the top 10 freshmen in women's college basketball

We'll have to wait a year for them to make their NCAA tournament debuts, but these freshmen stood out this season and should star in 2020-21.

www.espn.com

Makurat finished strong but this class was really really good and 7.9 ppg isnt going to make a top 10 list this year. Other standout freshmen were Jordan Horston, Elizabeth Kitley and Sam Brunelle. Plus Anaya Peoples/Haley Jones who missed big chunks of the season.

 

[Steelerone]

Looking at the overall picture there have been very few freshmen who have made an immediate and strong impact on the teams since day one of Geno's coaching tenure. That is not to say they have not been outstanding players during their career. In order to be chosen for anything of the year one of the first things they use for their criteria is the amount of minutes played. When you compare Ana or Aubrey they just don't fit into that category. I don't think it a stretch to say that if they had played anywhere near a starters minutes one or both of them could have made that list.

 

[chrissaran]

The players on the list deserved the honor, but Anna didn't have to put up those types of numbers because of the surrounding talent.

 

[Dokey]

I think Geno looks at this list and says “we hit gold.”

 

[HGN]

ESPNW may not have any love for our freshmen. But we Boneyarders surely do. ESPN. May not know what we have but we certainly do. And the rest of the basketball world will know too next year.

 

[Mdoggie]

No worries.

 

[Goatmeat]

Seems a bit P5 heavy, which is typical of espn since they do have a lot of skin in the game with respect to promotion of their own tv networks. I remember recently (a year or two back) there was a preview article on women’s cbb for the season and UConn wasn’t even mentioned - it was all
p5.

 

[kat0189]

Wouldn't expect her to make the list as she is at a mid major UCSB but Ila Lane (father is Juwan Howard) had a noteworthy frosh campaign averaging 15.3 ppg and 13 rpg. She only had 1 power 5/BCS offer as far as I know but really broke out in her college debut.

 

[ucbart]

UCONN freshman rarely make a list like this, but I will say: I bet Aubrey and Anna are on several lists later in their careers.

 

[willtalk]

I don't really see anything wrong with this list. Nor was there any great injustice committed. If so it is to a player that we have not really heard much about. There are plenty of players every year who are passed over that UConn fans have never heard of. Fans tend to be focused more on their own team and that is natural. However, when it comes to injustices to their team or players they need to consider that fact and not just assume that the rest of the world sees things through their eyes. It is not an insult to not make a ten-player freshman list. There were some really excellent freshman performances this season. Much more than I ever remembered ever happening before.

What probably throws people off is that many of those players on the list were not acknowledged in high school and just exploded in college. Fans on this board tend to give high school rankings much more credence than they often deserve. Allissa Pili was one example. She got no recognition nationally in high school, but once she got to college she put Angel Jackson a 6'5" McDonald AA on the bench. McDonald looked as good as Boston in the McD and Jordan games.

Pili is a total freak. She was the only Freshman on the All Pac 12 team. If she was one of those mentioned as only having stats because other players on her team were not that good, well it can work both ways. When no one else is a threat the other teams target you and she got those stats playing in the Pac 12. I am not usually a fan of tweeners but she reminded me of Danielle Adams. except that she is even harder to stop on the block. She is one of the players that most of you have probably never even heard about let alone seen play. Like Heberd she was a multiple Alaska Gatorade player of the year. Maybe they should start paying more attention to those players from Alaska.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

I just don't understand the disrespect South Carolina gets. Only two freshmen in the top-five? Their entire class should've been ranked and Dawn should file an official protest.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I like Anna and Aubrey in the longer run. They will be very good by the time they are seniors.