Kelsey Plum!!!!!!

[VidNick]

In her WNBA rookie year, Stiles was 9th in the league in scoring (14.9 ppg) and 6th in 3 point fg %. As a comparison. Maya Moore averaged 13.2 ppg in her rookie year. Stiles is now an assistant coach at her alma mater Missouri State.

 

[Bayareahusky]

Great player and i love to watch her.... Congratulations Kelsey

 

[emjay]

Kelsey Plum indeed! Amazing!

What an incredible game for Plum, Washington and their fans.

I was at Walmart today and Jackie Stiles was the clerk in checkout line #8!

Well, if that is the case, I hope that you wished her well and let her know that you, at least, know her name.

As a relatively new fan of WCBB and the WNBA, I'm familiar with Jackie Stiles' name and her accomplishments - so she's clearly become a part of women's basketball lore. Kelsey Plum has become a part of it too. There's a great Seattle Times interview with Stiles about Plum that I think is worth sharing (and pardon me if it's already been shared). My favourite passage:

"'I had fun playing professional basketball and that’s a dream come true, but I would trade every contract to go back and play another four years of college basketball,' Stiles said. 'I just want her to enjoy every second of this journey that she has left.'"

 

[emjay]

Oops, forgot to link the article! Here it is:

Jackie Stiles rooting for Washington star Kelsey Plum to break Stiles’ NCAA scoring record

 

[RogueDave]

Good for Kelsey...Way to go!

 

[MSSportsGuy]

She deserves NPOY. The game is more than scoring, but Plum has earned this. When she plays she works her tail off. Washington isn't the greatest team but could be dangerous in the tournament.

 

[Plebe]

Nope. There's more to being a great basketball player than just scoring points. Where is Jackie Stiles today? Where do people rank her? You almost never hear her name mentioned when talking about the all-time greats.

Stiles' pro career was derailed by injuries. That plus the fact that she played for a mid-major — and got virtually no television exposure until the Final Four that she singlehandedly carried an otherwise pedestrian team to — also has the effect of marginalizing her from the discussion.

 

[Plebe]

I was at Walmart today and Jackie Stiles was the clerk in checkout line #8!

Was this an attempt at a sense of humor? If so, I hope I'm misunderstanding the joke.

 

[triaddukefan]

I was at Walmart today and Jackie Stiles was the clerk in checkout line #8!

So you worked as a bag boy on checkout line #8 yesterday? Cool

 

[Plebe]

So you worked as a bag boy on checkout line #8 yesterday? Cool

Now that's what I call a sense of humor.

 

[triaddukefan]

Now that's what I call a sense of humor.

Jackie Stiles was a heck of a college player. I remember guys at work were talking about her and her scoring abilities back in the day. And that's saying alot.... 1) most people don't care too much or know much about Wcbb.. And 2) she did it at an realitively
little known school.

I guess UConn focused people or people who didn't follow Wcbb before 2001 don't really understand how good of a player she was. SWMState's run to the final four was magical. Unfortunately they took out the #1 seeded blue devils in the sweet 16 that year.

 

[iri10]

I guess UConn focused people or people who didn't follow Wcbb before 2001 don't really understand how good of a player she was. SWMState's run to the final four was magical. Unfortunately they took out the #1 seeded blue devils in the sweet 16 that year.

Some viewing entertainment for those not familiar with Stiles...

SWMS vs. Duke
SWMS vs. Washington

 

[triaddukefan]

Some viewing entertainment for those not familiar with Stiles...

SWMS vs. Duke
SWMS vs. Washington

You really didn't have to put that link to the Duke game up did you?

 

[bballnut90]

Mitchell was well ahead of Plum's pace thru her first two seasons. This year Mitchell is scoring less than Plum did as a Jr. And I have a really hard time seeing Mitchell do during her Sr. year what Plum has done. It could be close, but I think Mitchell will come up a little short.

Should be pretty close. If Washington plays 3 games in PAC 12/3 in NCAA and Plum scores 30-35/game, she'll be right around 3600 for her career.

Mitchell is at 2453 with likely 6-7 games left this season. If she plays 7 games and averages 23/game, it'll put her at 2614 going into her senior year. She'd need close to 1000 points to break Plum's record, which means she'd need to average 27-28+ Ppg if she plays 35-37 games next year. Right now it seems unlikely but that isn't a stretch by any means. No one thought Plum would be averaging 30+ with incredible efficiency like she has.

Plus I'm sure there'll be a lot of hoopla about her potentially catching Plum which could mean Mitchell takes more shots than she has this season knowing the record is a possibility.

At any rate, huge congrats to Kelsey. She is having one of the most remarkable seasons I've ever seen.

 

[DaddyChoc]

She has most points. So I was asking about best players. Taurasi, Maya, Parker, Holdsclaw, Miller, and Stewart. Is she in that elite company as a player?

if she doesn't have one of these... she's not even in the discussion

 

[DefenseBB]

if she doesn't have one of these... she's not even in the discussion

What? So then Larry Bird, Clyde Drexel, Elvin Hayes, Elena Delle Donne are all second tier players in the college ranks because they couldn't bring their "pedestrian"^ teams to a title like the aforementioned list of players who had significantly more talent AND better coaching than they did? Sorry but many on this board thread have become myopic on assessing great talent if not in a UConn uniform. We are better than that.

^footnote to Plebe on this phrase as I thought it accurately captures the average talent on these lower profile schools.

HoopsFan21 I hope you take heed to allow others their opinion without being directly contradictory. That's why it's called an opinion...not a fact.

 

[nwhoopfan]

What? So then Larry Bird, Clyde Drexel, Elvin Hayes, Elena Delle Donne are all second tier players in the college ranks because they couldn't bring their "pedestrian"^ teams to a title like the aforementioned list of players who had significantly more talent AND better coaching than they did? Sorry but many on this board thread have become myopic on assessing great talent if not in a UConn uniform. We are better than that.

Well stated. Taurasi elevated 2 teams to National Championships that weren't overflowing with talent, but most of UConn's Titles went to teams that were stocked. Winning a Championship is usually a sign of a very good team rather than individual greatness of one player.

 

[Replicant]

She has most points. So I was asking about best players. Taurasi, Maya, Parker, Holdsclaw, Miller, and Stewart. Is she in that elite company as a player?

Taking nothing away from Ms. Plum's accomplishment, which is something to marvel at...but my answer would be no.

Is there any doubt that anyone of the all-time greats you listed couldn't have scored/averaged 30+ points a game during their careers if they'd taken 40-50% of their respective teams' FGAs? Is there any doubt that any of the all-time greats you listed would trade one of their NCAA titles for an individual scoring award?

Washington's offense is all Plum, all the time. And it starts with her bringing the ball up as PG and then deciding whether to make a play or distribute the ball.

She took 28 of the team's 59 FGA's (47%) in her 57 point record breaking performance. The total assists for the team was 6 for the entire game and Plum had ZERO assists (as a guard no less)! The rest of the 10 players on the team (that all saw minutes in the game) combined for 27 points.

 

[LO TRADER]

Taking nothing away from Ms. Plum's accomplishment, which is something to marvel at...but my answer would be no.

Is there any doubt that anyone of the all-time greats you listed couldn't have scored/averaged 30+ points a game during their careers if they'd taken 40-50% of their respective teams' FGAs? Is there any doubt that any of the all-time greats you listed would trade one of their NCAA titles for an individual scoring award?

Washington's offense is all Plum, all the time. And it starts with her bringing the ball up as PG and then deciding whether to make a play or distribute the ball.

She took 28 of the team's 59 FGA's (47%) in her 57 point record breaking performance. The total assists for the team was 6 for the entire game and Plum had ZERO assists (as a guard no less)! The rest of the 10 players on the team (that all saw minutes in the game) combined for 27 points.

Plum takes more shots than anyone on UW's team, but she is not the only scoring threat. Osafor is also a scoring/assist threat all season.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Replicant, did you watch last night's game, or any UW games this season? Their offense is built largely on getting 3 point shots. Osahor, Romeo, Corral and McDonald all take plenty of 3's in addition to Plum. Also Osahor is averaging over 15 points a game. Much of Plum's game is driving and dishing to teammates for those 3's. And Osahor runs the offense almost as much as Plum does. Plum is averaging about 5 assists/game. She had zero last night because her teammates missed every single shot when she dished it to them. I rewatched it late last night, she easily could've had 5 or 6 assists or more if her teammates could've knocked down some shots. They didn't. Osahor was playing well last night, but got in foul trouble and barely played in the 2nd half. W/ Osahor basically not available after halftime and nobody else scoring, Plum had to take the team on her shoulders, and she did. I think you probably looked at a box score and made assumptions, but a box score doesn't come close to telling the whole story of a game.

 

[Plebe]

What? So then Larry Bird, Clyde Drexel, Elvin Hayes, Elena Delle Donne are all second tier players in the college ranks because they couldn't bring their "pedestrian"^ teams to a title like the aforementioned list of players who had significantly more talent AND better coaching than they did? Sorry but many on this board thread have become myopic on assessing great talent if not in a UConn uniform. We are better than that.

^footnote to Plebe on this phrase as I thought it accurately captures the average talent on these lower profile schools.

HoopsFan21 I hope you take heed to allow others their opinion without being directly contradictory. That's why it's called an opinion...not a fact.

We can add Lisa Leslie to this list. And Hakeem Olajuwon. And Dawn Staley. And many others.

 

[ochoopsfan]

Taking nothing away from Ms. Plum's accomplishment, which is something to marvel at...but my answer would be no.

Is there any doubt that anyone of the all-time greats you listed couldn't have scored/averaged 30+ points a game during their careers if they'd taken 40-50% of their respective teams' FGAs? FAKE NEWS Is there any doubt that any of the all-time greats you listed would trade one of their NCAA titles for an individual scoring award?

Washington's offense is all Plum, all the time. FAKE NEWS And it starts with her bringing the ball up as PG and then deciding whether to make a play or distribute the ball.

She took 28 of the team's 59 FGA's (47%) in her 57 point record breaking performance. The total assists for the team was 6 for the entire game and Plum had ZERO assists (as a guard no less)! The rest of the 10 players on the team (that all saw minutes in the game) combined for 27 points.

Plum has 618 Field Goal attempts of 1929 Field Goal attempts for the entire team. That works out to 32% not 40-50%(Fake News). Yes she took more shots yesterday but not the most this season. I believe she has about 15 games of over 20 shots per game. She also has 161 rebounds and 148 assists.

You also mentioned that Washington's offense is all Plum. FAKE NEWS UW averages 85ppg (same as UConn) and Plum averages 30ppg. which means she scores 35% of the teams points. Her 148 assists averages out to 4.8 a game. Gabby Williams averages 5.1 assists a game and has many more options on UConn to pass to, then Plum.

 

[Chong-Master]

Does everyone feel that Plum would definitely be the #1 pick in the WNBA Draft?

 

[Plebe]

Does everyone feel that Plum would definitely be the #1 pick in the WNBA Draft?

Not necessarily, but I'd say definitely top 3.
A couple of the players who might go ahead of her would need to declare early.

 

[ochoopsfan]

Does everyone feel that Plum would definitely be the #1 pick in the WNBA Draft?

I dont follow the W a lot, but whoever drafts first, normally the worst team(unless pick was a trade) do they have better guards than Plum has the potential to be?