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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
