Gustafson named AP Player of the Year

[DaBball]

All you say is true. But between Mulkey and Geno, Geno took 3 experienced players added two with little or no Div 1 experience. A team many in Nov could not believe would reach the Sweet 16--why? NO bench. The impossibility of 5 kids , 2 underclassmen playing 40 minutes each every OOC game then with significant injury to one Senior who could achieve the sweet 16? Elite 8 an impossiblilty. Yet Geno, some how , some way, is headed towards the FF--IMPOSSIBLE. AND HE ISN'T COACH OF THE YEAR--IMPOSSIBLE.

Yes, but he added two #1 recruits. Pretty sure three #1 recruits on a roster is unheard of (outside of Storrs). He brings two more 5-star recruits off the bench. The talent and 5-stars are in abundance, but they don’t all develop well. I haven’t seen a big jump in Coomb’s game (she has always been very athletic) and Gordon never really improved. I don’t think anyone thought the elite 8 was impossible, though.

 

[PacoBlaze]

How many minutes did she play? Yes, to be Player not scorer, she needs to play against REAL players. I enjoyed watching her play but she just isn't a Precious or KLS. She's like Tamika Williams and as Geno said--anyone can score 40 points shoot 2 ft from the basket.
Honestly, I didn't see much defense from Gustafson. Had she played against Uconn she'd have learned how hard Defense is played and how hard it is to stop a top duo. All your quips won't change she was chosen for scoring not playing a total game as a PLAYER.

I do believe that Megan had a fair number of blocks but I have no idea of her totals. It was mentioned during one of Iowa's Tourney games.
BTW - I do think that Phee is the NPOY and every other POY but alas. At least the AP Voters are following ESPNW's lead .

 

[DaBball]

Hey, I'm a homey what can I say. This is after all the Uconn WBB site, I don't deny her her award if it was scorer of the year. As a tailspin Tommy she got lots of press and more recently. How far up in the draft will she go?

Not that high, because she is only 6’3” and it isn’t like she is a freak athlete.

 

[bballnut90]

Well deserved. She hard a remarkable year and led her team to a historic season. Hope this puts any notion of predetermined POY voting to rest.

 

[Fore!]

MG is a very deserving NPOY winner. Congrats!

 

[bballnut90]

Also, Mulkey is AP COY:

Mulkey AP COY

Congrats to Kim. She did a heck of a job this year and has her program well positioned to win its 3rd title. Lots of great candidates this year including Walz, Schaefer, and Butler.

 

[stamfordhusky]

Fwiw, the Big 12 was the 3rd best conference in the nation this year - barely missing out on #2 (Massey and others). And Iowa had the 12th strongest SOS, about the same as UConn.

 

[Britt87]

My take: Ionescu, she, IMHO, is the cream of the crop. No other player this year even close!

I agree with this! I love Napheesa but she has another all American in the starting lineup with her, who if not for injury and inconsistency, could have been a finalist for these same awards and was last season. Gustafson, Durr, Ionescu, and Mcowan didn't/don't have the same caliber of players on their teams that Baylor, Uconn, and ND do.

With that being said, Ionescu has been the best player all year and in this tournament.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I could not agree more. What irks me is the TERM---POY. Infers an all around player. My assumption, because she was NCAA top scorer , that is why she got POY. That is hard to swallow--looking at Precious and KLS. Geno not Coach of the Year, Impossible.

I think Collier is the best player on the team and one of the top 5 in the country but I'm also willing to acknowledge that there are other great players in WCBB. Of course, I lost my NFB tinted glasses years ago.

If you seriously think that Gustafson didn't deserve this award you should look at her season stats. When you finish that you should look at Collier's. Gustafson had better numbers in every meaningful category including blocks and rebounds (no defense???).

 

[BigBird]

I could not agree more. What irks me is the TERM---POY. Infers an all around player. My assumption, because she was NCAA top scorer , that is why she got POY. That is hard to swallow--looking at Precious and KLS. Geno not Coach of the Year, Impossible.

BV, you’ve been trying to suggest (it seems) that Megan doesn’t have a strong, all-round game. Have you seen her play? She rebounds, blocks shots, passes the ball, rallies her team, and has a sweet array of shots near the hoop or in the paint. She is a strong and fearless post. I love Phee and the Huskies, but there’s nothing wrong with the voters picking Megan.

 

[osu87]

Congratulations to Megan she single-handedly brought Iowa basketball back to some relevancy

 

[MilfordHusky]

Congrats to Megan! I don't think she's the best player, but she had the best production/season.

 

[Jingo]

When Iowa won the Big Ten tournament title and Oregon lost the PAC 12 tournament, I knew they would pick Gustafson for POY, besides the fact she had a monster 45 points in the title game. Also luv the fact that she came from a tineensy town and "made it" in the BIG time. Gr8 story! Megan did it all while being constantly double&triple teamed! Well deserved honour!
Paige B has a similar game to runnerup Sabrina I, eh?

 

[enigmatic]

Yes people are bound to have their own opinions of who shouldve got what but forget all this bashing though. Congratulations for a well deserved honor Megan!! I wish you the best and success at the next level.

 

[Jmsdawg]

I won't argue any part of that. 45 points against Md was exceptional. That said:
I too saw that Hoosiers recently. As a basketball nut 1950 my era that filled many emotional holes in my psyche. My take was Jimmy was Collier. The one who always (nearly) was called on to score 30 points and defend some top players (never saw Jimmy play defense). Emotionally, like Hoosiers, this team has filled all the holes my emotional self that needed filling. To me they out Hoosiers --Hoosiers. Say what anyone may say: 5 kids no bench save one, long exceptional minutes. Only five against many. Even Hoosiers didn't stay with only 5 for long, soon they had a bench of sorts--that was never true of Geno's team this year.

You know I always dreamed Jimmy was me. Just a dream because I was a footballer never could make my HS team, tried every year but in my dreams I was Jimmy!

 

[Bigboote]

PLUS, she was also the leading scorer in the country last year, but all the awards were destined for A’ja Wilson.

PLUS, she scored over a 1000 pts in the season, which has only been accomplished by three other players: Kelsey Plum, Jackie Stiles, and Odyssey Sims. It’s the first such accomplishment by a post player.

PLUS she was 1 or 2 in the nation in FG% and top ten in rebounding.

 

[donalddoowop]

She played about 1 more MPG than Napheesa. Real players? Jessica Shepard, Lauren Cox, Kalani Brown, Brianna Turner, Shakira Austin, etc. If those aren’t “real players,” who qualifies as a “real player”? She also had more blocks than Napheesa, so I’m not sure how she didn’t play defense.

Both players are obviously amazing talents. I’m going to say Napheesa has the brighter future (just my opinion), but Napheesa came to UConn to win chanpionships, not individual awards. Megan had the better stats, Napheesa has the better team.

I have no problem with her winning Player of the Year. However, defense is not measured by the number of blocked shots. She was three inches taller than Collier. Defense is based on how well you can stay in front of the player you are defending and how good you are at keeping them from doing what they are trying to do. A tall player or one with long arms can block shots. Gustafson may well have played good defense but it was not based solely on the number of shots she blocked. I think she deserves the award but so did Ionescu.

 

[southofnorth]

How many minutes did she play? Yes, to be Player not scorer, she needs to play against REAL players. I enjoyed watching her play but she just isn't a Precious or KLS. She's like Tamika Williams and as Geno said--anyone can score 40 points shoot 2 ft from the basket.
Honestly, I didn't see much defense from Gustafson. Had she played against Uconn she'd have learned how hard Defense is played and how hard it is to stop a top duo. All your quips won't change she was chosen for scoring not playing a total game as a PLAYER.

Please don’t take away from this incredible young lady because Collier or Samuelson was not the winner of this award. Megan proved she can shoot from about 15 feet out (watch Maryland and Michigan State replays for evidence on that) and she did defend as well as any UConn player this year. She is not a shutdown defensive player, but she played solid post defense (watch the Baylor game where she kept Brown to 14 points; less than Brown scored against UConn) and obviously couldn’t play as physical as some players could—mainly because she needed to stay out of foul trouble. Teams played Gustafson more physically than most refs should allow and double or triple teamed her at times. Despite that, she still lead the nation in scoring and field goal percentage. The only thing she could have done better would be to up her assist numbers (which she might have been able to do if she was not scoring option #1,2, & 3 for Iowa). Gustafson lead Iowa to a Big 10 tournament championship and then lead Iowa to the Elite 8. She is a team player and always talked about how her team made it possible for her to have eye popping numbers. As much as we all love Collier and Samuelson, having the award go to Gustafson is just as good and she deserves it for all she has done for her program this year.

 

[southofnorth]

I could not agree more. What irks me is the TERM---POY. Infers an all around player. My assumption, because she was NCAA top scorer , that is why she got POY. That is hard to swallow--looking at Precious and KLS. Geno not Coach of the Year, Impossible.

What makes an “all around player”? Megan showed up to every game, scored at a high clip like her team needed her to and asked her to (at a high percentage even against top ranked teams), rebounded well enough to be in the top 10 nationally, and played solid defense for someone whose team couldn’t have her in fouls trouble if they wanted to win. She didn’t shoot the 3 and didn’t pile up a bunch of assists, but that’s pretty typical of someone playing at center (I think we UConn fans have been spoiled with Gabby Williams playing the center the last few years). Point is only Breanna Stewart-esque players would win the award if this went to only “all around players” in the way that I interpret that phrase.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Also, Mulkey is AP COY:

Mulkey AP COY

Just how hard is it to coach a team to #1 in the nation when it has two 6'4" players who are amazing playing next to each other?

Come on!!

 

[bbsamjj]

Megan Gustafson:
--Led the country in PPG
--Led the country in FG % at 70% (Despite often times being double and triple teamed)
--3rd in the country in RPG
--Led the country in doubles doubles (tying an NCAA all-time record)
--Led Iowa to the B10 Tourney title, and their first Elite 8 since CVS was their coach in the early 1990s
--Put up 26pts and 10 rebounds against ND, 27pts and 13 rebounds in the Sweet 16 against NC State, 23 pts and 9 rebounds against Baylor in the Elite 8, and 45pts and 10 rebounds in the B10 championship against MD

Folks can prefer other players for sure, but for anyone to say she's not 100% deserving is not looking objectively at her season.

As for Coach of the Year, Baylor began the year #4 in the nation in preseason, got to #1 and hasn't looked back. (Also interesting stat--they apparently attempt the fewest 3-pointers of ANY team in the nation). Kim Mulkey has done a very good job (though I agree with the person who said Wes Moore was incredibly deserving).

 

[Dillon77]

Megan Gustafson:
--Led the country in PPG
--Led the country in FG % at 70% (Despite often times being double and triple teamed)
--3rd in the country in RPG
--Led the country in doubles doubles (tying an NCAA all-time record)
--Led Iowa to the B10 Tourney title, and their first Elite 8 since CVS was their coach in the early 1990s
--Put up 26pts and 10 rebounds against ND, 27pts and 13 rebounds in the Sweet 16 against NC State, 23 pts and 9 rebounds against Baylor in the Elite 8, and 45pts and 10 rebounds in the B10 championship against MD

I'll also add that she was selected to the All-Defensive Team in the B1G, so her efforts in that area were also recognized for distinction.
Big Ten Women's Basketball Honors Announced On BTN

Heartiest congratulations to Megan for this recognition and to all those who also earned votes. They're all fine players who have/will be further recognized and will hopefully go on to next steps professionally.

 

[Ozimoto]

Well deserved. I have no problem with her winning this award at all.

 

[terif831]

There's a case to be made for all of the finalists - otherwise, they wouldn't be on the "short list." The fact that the voters picked Megan doesn't take anything away from the accomplishments of any of them.

Well done, Megan. Congratulations.

 

[river rat]

She had 2 great years.. She deserves it. Stop saying negative stuff about her. We have had our share in the past. Very glad none of the awards went to AO