Napheesa Snubbed for Wooden Award

[Jim R]

Unfortunately for Napheesa her game is not flashy enough. She just does her job .. devastatingly well.

The fact of the matter is that this team has three players who deserve national recognition and they all will not get what they deserve. Gabby may be the team's MVP although her offensive game is not elite. However, she just does so many little things very well. Just imagine where this team would be without her. Who would guard the other team's center and bump and grind under the basket? She sees the court better than anyone (other than Dangerfield) and makes great passes. She is a terror on defense and leads the team in steals. Samuelson is capable of dominating the game and may have the best all-around offensive game in the country. She can take a team's heart with her long threes and deceptive moves to the basket. When she gets hot, forget it.

That leaves us with little ol' Napheesa who is the most efficient all-around player in the country. The team always seems a little off kilter when she goes to the bench. They don't score as well (of course not, she is the second leading and most efficient scorer) they don't rebound as well (of course not she leads the team in rebounds), they don't protect the hoop as well (well .. she does lead the team in blocks). If you don't look closely you will not see her amazing hands (she catches everything), her great skill at boxing out (for a slim player she holds people on her hip and back to create space amazingly well), her great anticipation and ability to read the ball in the air and off the rim, her array of little moves that gets her a clear shot at the basket. She runs the floor better than any player on the team. None of that shows up on the stat sheet, you have to watch the game. Frankly, even if you only look at the stat sheet your jaw should drop (19.5/8.7 on 68% shooting). How many in the country can beat that stat line? I know this is heresy, but her stats are ever so slightly better than Stewie's sophomore year when she won AP player of the year! Some may think what she does is easy because most of her shots are within 8 feet of the hoop. But as the old saying goes: "If it was easy, everyone would do it."

So who do you leave off if you are only going to pick two? Samuelson will always make it because she leads in scoring (the first thing all voters look at) and her shots sometimes take your breath away and make highlight reels. So Gabby and Napheesa will always be a little bit of a pick'em.

Excellent points - But, think you hit the nail on the head, "her game is not flashy enough" - BINGO! While we always fall in love with shooters (re Debbie Antonelli), and yes, Lou's shots do, at times, "take your breath away", and Gabby, is, as Jay Bilas points out, the best all around ATHLETE, in men's or women's basketball, but Napheesa's stats make the case for UCONN's best basketball player on both ends of the court. We forget about turnovers, something Pheesa does much less than the other two. Additionally, against our ranked opponents, Pheesa's led us in scoring, not Lou. Based upon facts, and not flash, if we've got two Wooden Award nominees, Pheesa certainly deserves to be one of them.

 

[mbr33ct]

Attached spreadsheet was compiled using stats from NCAA, as of this morning Feb-10-2017, for Forwards (F) and Centers (C). Sorting the 9 stats categories and giving a color values for 1st (Yellow), 2nd (Green) and 3rd (Blue) rank in each category, Collier is top 3 (from these 11 players) in 6 of the 9 stats. I included Centers (C), Jones and Coates.

The stats point out, if Erica McCall, A'ja Wilson, Brianna Turner and Nia Coffey are on this list, to name a few....Collier definitely belongs here.

Note: to keep within the 550 pixel width size, I removed extra columns. Showing % and Averages only of the 9 categories.

 

[DishNSwish]

Tuck used to get omitted all the time too if I recall, until her senior year.

 

[DaddyChoc]

'pheesa a sophomore, they not gonna be nice!

 

[Bajan Best]

Here's my Comparison Chart for just the foward's on Wooden's List
(Collier vs. other Non UCONN Players)
Still trying to find out how A'ja Wilson and Brianna Turner made this list at all....

 

[Phil]

Unfortunately for Napheesa her game is not flashy enough.

I think there's something to this.

On at least two occasions easier this year, I have registered in my mind that Gabby or Lou or Saniya or Nurse are having a great game and I wondered to myself, I wonder how Pheese is doing, I think she's scored, but I don;t have a firm recollection, then I glance at the box score and realize she is the leading scorer.

don't know how she did it so quietly, and it doesn't happen any more, because I make a point to watch her more closely, but maybe she isn't registering on the radar of some others.