NCAA D1 Player of the Year Poll

[Plebe]

Have you noticed Lou's Stop and Pop--or catch and shoot?/ Lou presents to Uconn a player who knows the game, the defenses, does the picking needed, she does all those little things that never show up in the stats and with that fill up the stats with 3's made, points, assists, and a few rebound and steals---no Lou does not mean more to Uconn than Plum to Wash--so Lou's number will never be as large as STARS on other teams--rarely does a Uconn kid fill up the record books--Geno's method is to spread the wealth--when he has no choice, like when Maya played she filled the books--Geno wants all 5 working the game winning processes, thus no one player fills the stat sheets.
If Katie lou played for another coach in the USF game she would not have been stopped at 40--as hot as she was--60 and beyond was possible--but Geno thinks of the next game, or past record setters..

Lou is averaging over 20 points a game. There are a lot of "stars on other teams" — including All-Americans — who average less.

 

[Kaizen]

None, is my guess.

Have you ever seen Katie Lou games?
None, is my guess.

 

[UcMiami]

The only problem i have with plum is what are her numbers against top 10 teams? We know they are affraid to play the best team in wcbb, but how do you think she would do against the best defense that uconn brings to games?

She has done very well maintaining high numbers in the league which has the highest RPI - yeah, like most west coast teams their OOC was packed with west coast mid-major teams and they only made one trip early to the Midwest. But maybe the Pac12 is saying, well UConn was obviously afraid to make a west coast swing this year and taste the Pac12!
Against the best defensive teams I am sure she has struggled some because her team is very limited - stop Plum and Osahor and they have no chance to beat a good team, but even with everyone knowing that, including the mediocre teams, she is still putting up silly numbers, just as EDD at Delaware - you can know you have to stop her, and she still goes off. And while she may have padded her averages a little in a few blow-outs, her scoring has been strong throughout all four quarters, and to some extent the coach needs her on the floor because the team is dead in the water when she isn't on the floor.

The other comparison is to the UConn players - when a team focuses their defense on Lou they are pretty effective at holding her to 15 points, but then Napheesa goes off for 39, and when they focus on Napheesa and Lou, Gabby hits them with 24, or Kia goes off for 33, or Chong buries them with a dagger three, or Dangerfield hits for 19. That is what makes UConn so deadly and what makes players like EDD and Plum so exceptional - EDD did it alone, Plum has a very good sidekick, but neither of them have five starters that relieve the defensive pressure on any one player.

 

[Kaizen]

Oregon St., Stanford and UCLA all spent time in the top 10 this year. UW played all of those teams. Plum torched UCLA twice and Stanford once, the only team she struggled somewhat against was Oregon St.

Tell me how UW can lose 5 games if they touched UCLA, Stanford?
UW lost to UCLA 79-90 and Stanford 68-72 are Plum's touched game?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Plum scored 44 against Stanford, I think 39 and 37 against UCLA, and OSU held her to 22 or something. UW went 1-3 in those games because her teammates couldn't hit shots.

I've noticed several posters on this board are into moving targets or totally changing the conversation. First it was "well she didn't play any top 10 teams." Wrong. Well how did she do against those teams. She did just fine. Well, but they lost some of those games. Yes they did, but that certainly wasn't Plum's fault. She did all she could do. How else are you going to deflect or reroute the conversation now?

 

[Buzzyboy]

With me if it's even close I go with the senior. Lou has 2 more years and a championship under her belt. College ball is where women get their hour in the sun. Let's let Plum enjoy hers.

I so disagree. It is supposed to be for the best player in the country and their class distinction should have absolutely nothing to do with it. What if, based on your logic, KLS was everyone's favorite with Plum considered the second best but Plum was given the award and then KLS sustained a career ending injury early next year. She would have been deprived of that prestigious award because of "she'll get her turn" logic from people like yourself. That's totally wrong because the award isn't for the best senior player in the country, it's for the best player in the country.

 

[JordyG]

I so disagree. It is supposed to be for the best player in the country and their class distinction should have absolutely nothing to do with it. What if, based on your logic, KLS was everyone's favorite with Plum considered the second best but Plum was given the award and then KLS sustained a career ending injury early next year. She would have been deprived of that prestigious award because of "she'll get her turn" logic from people like yourself. That's totally wrong because the award isn't for the best senior player in the country, it's for the best player in the country.

See my second post.

 

[JordyG]

Plum scored 44 against Stanford, I think 39 and 37 against UCLA, and OSU held her to 22 or something. UW went 1-3 in those games because her teammates couldn't hit shots.

I've noticed several posters on this board are into moving targets or totally changing the conversation. First it was "well she didn't play any top 10 teams." Wrong. Well how did she do against those teams. She did just fine. Well, but they lost some of those games. Yes they did, but that certainly wasn't Plum's fault. She did all she could do. How else are you going to deflect or reroute the conversation now?

It's not rerouting. It's called moving the goal posts. Plum is my NPOY and my consensus #1 WNBA pick. That said I'd rather SA choose a big or large 2 guard than Plum. Or DD for that matter.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Plum scored 44 against Stanford, I think 39 and 37 against UCLA, and OSU held her to 22 or something. UW went 1-3 in those games because her teammates couldn't hit shots.

I've noticed several posters on this board are into moving targets or totally changing the conversation. First it was "well she didn't play any top 10 teams." Wrong. Well how did she do against those teams. She did just fine. Well, but they lost some of those games. Yes they did, but that certainly wasn't Plum's fault. She did all she could do. How else are you going to deflect or reroute the conversation now?

Isn't it possible that instead of getting her teammates involved and allowing them better opportunities to score, she tried to win these games by herself and actually COST her team the wins. I'm not sure that happened but I'm being the devils advocate. Your thoughts are purely speculative and maybe her team would be better if she WASN'T scoring at the level she was. If she's not allowing her teammates to get involved to the extent that they are getting better, maybe she's actually a detriment to the team. Everyone here knows that Samuelson could be scoring appreciably more than she does if she shot more but she's working WITHIN the team formula that has made UConn the envy of women's basketball.

 

[Buzzyboy]

I think a couple things weigh in Wilson's favor. First, she's unarguably the best player on a top-4 team, something the other top-4 teams don't really have. The other is that she's a returning All-American, and there's always a strong grandfathering tendency among voters.

What that says is that voters aren't doing their jobs. They are supposed to have a blank sheet and only vote on what's transpired this year. If someone was an All-American last year and had a BAD year, would they still get consideration?

 

[Plebe]

What that says is that voters aren't doing their jobs. They are supposed to have a blank sheet and only vote on what's transpired this year. If someone was an All-American last year and had a BAD year, would they still get consideration?

Of course not. I'm just saying it's one factor that weighs in her favor. Nina Davis was an All-American the past two years. I wouldn't say she's having a "bad" year by any stretch, but her numbers are down enough from her All-American years (with much better players surrounding her now than was the case in her sophomore year) that she hasn't been making the midseason POY watchlists and she only made Second Team All-Big 12.

 

[1-of-the-6]

Have you ever seen Katie Lou games?
None, is my guess.

All of them this season. Every one. Via ESPN3 when they're not on somewhere else. Not every minute at the end of the blowouts, but she's not on the court by that time anyway.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Well I said if it's even close. For me it's not. Without Plum Washington, to me, is a mediocre team that would fail to make the NCAA's. Without KLS UConn is still very good although not a championship contender, but they get to go to Dallas. As Uc's post above clearly indicates with the numbers of her offensive skills and efficiency, Plum means more to that Washington team.

Now you're penalizing KLS because she has better teammates. So now, you judge the player of the year by the best player playing with lousy teammates? That might be a little bit off but it sure sounds like your point. I guess Breanna probably didn't deserve her player of the year awards because I'm sure UConn would have done pretty fine without her. If she wasn't there, it isn't like they'd only have 4 players on the court. UConn would have had a good player playing in her stead. So, shame on people voting for Breanna last year!

 

[1-of-the-6]

Man. This is ridiculous. Here's the deal. If you haven't seen Plum and Washington play at least a half dozen times this season you don't get to have an opinion on her or her team. You just don't. Not with me. And if you can't understand why, there's no saving you.

 

[UcMiami]

And just by the way - for a little professional UConn evaluation - Sue Bird is a huge fan of Plum and her game, and I bet she is lobbying her GM to figure out a way to bring her to Seattle!

 

[Plebe]

Man. This is ridiculous. Here's the deal. If you haven't seen Plum and Washington play at least a half dozen times this season you don't get to have an opinion on her or her team. You just don't. Not with me. And if you can't understand why, there's no saving you.

Here's the thing, though. Some people tend to see only what they want to see. They could watch her play 20 games and it won't matter.
It's hard to perceive anything objectively with homer glasses stapled to one's head.

 

[Coach]

I still don't get all the hype for Wilson. She's barely on my 2nd team AA, not anywhere close to discussion for NPOY. A prime example of a player who has all kinds of "hype and publicity", but has not performed nearly well enough if you really drill down into the results required for elite consideration.

Players off the top of my head who have played better and have better stats:

Kelsey Plum
KLS
Collier
Alexis Peterson
Kristin Anigwe
Tori Jankowska
Nia Coffey
Brionna Jones
Brittany Sykes
Taniya Page
Katija Laska
Asia Durr
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough
Lexi Brown

Wilson is not even in the top 50 in the nation in scoring average. I get it's not all about scoring, but if you look at the list of above players and their respective rebounds, or assists, or steals, etc etc, all of them have combined stats better than Wilson's. She was averaging close to 16 PPG for most of the year. I think she upped that and has come on strong lately, but let's face it - 17.7 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 59% FG%. Put those numbers on any other "lesser named" player and people would be like "All American? Umm No"...

Gabby is averaging 5.3 assist a game along with 86 steals and 45 blocks this season.

Are you taking into account that Gabby is arguably the best defensive player this year. She can defend 1-5 in the paint and perimeter. Rebecca Lobo just mentioned her as the best defensive play in the country. She's scoring and rebounding against 6-5 A'ja Wilson and 6-4 Coates from SC, 6-5 Lang from Texas . . .

You should re-watch the UCONN/ Notre Dame or South Carolina games where Gabby DOMINATED. Great players on your list but I doubt they would be able to accomplish what Gabby does. So if a lesser named player can do all these things against top 10 teams and talent, then I would say she's an "All American".

 

[Buckaroobanzai]

Man. This is ridiculous. Here's the deal. If you haven't seen Plum and Washington play at least a half dozen times this season you don't get to have an opinion on her or her team. You just don't. Not with me. And if you can't understand why, there's no saving you.

Absolutely right on. Having watched KP in several games this year, I concur that she is a magnificent offensive talent. She has scored more points than any women's college basketball player and, at least in the games I watched, scored essentially at will even though she was consistently face guarded. In my view (and I have seen KLS play most of her games @ Uconn), the decision is a no brainer: KP is the player of the year!

 

[JordyG]

Now you're penalizing KLS because she has better teammates. So now, you judge the player of the year by the best player playing with lousy teammates? That might be a little bit off but it sure sounds like your point. I guess Breanna probably didn't deserve her player of the year awards because I'm sure UConn would have done pretty fine without her. If she wasn't there, it isn't like they'd only have 4 players on the court. UConn would have had a good player playing in her stead. So, shame on people voting for Breanna last year!

Man, I love UConn. But some of you homers are just not satisfied unless every Husky wins every award every year. Then of course you'd criticize the presenters speech or the size or shape of the trophy.

 

[JordyG]

And just by the way - for a little professional UConn evaluation - Sue Bird is a huge fan of Plum and her game, and I bet she is lobbying her GM to figure out a way to bring her to Seattle!

To me Seattle is a far, far better fit than SA.

 

[Coach]

To me Seattle is a far, far better fit than SA.

I'm not sure. What are you going to do with Jewell Loyd?

 

[DefenseBB]

Do you really think Plum is a better PLAYER than Katie Lou?/ Scorer, maybe, not Player. The award isn't for Scorer of the Year-

YES, absolutely!!! Right now, this season, Plum is better than KLS. More points, more assists, more rebounds, more steals and means more to her team!

To JordyGs comments that Broadway has issues with, KLS has more upside and will be a better pro. KLS is my favorite player and she is just as much as deserving of all the accolades she is getting as Napheesa, Plum or Gabby. So if a tie exists between Plum and KLS, give it to Plum as the Senior.

These are all opinions on the site so mine is no more relevant than anyone else's given the logical support I present as long as a differeing opinion offers the same support of their view. In other words-don't just say my player is better! Show evidence. So my challenge to you is how is Plum less deserving given what I gave?

 

[Kaizen]

LOL, suddenly people claim how they love UConn and not allow anyone here says Katie Lou is NPOY.

And a BYer joined 6 years ago with less than 100 posts suddenly showed up and said choice Katie Lou is "the decision is a no brainer" ...

 

[JordyG]

I'm not sure. What are you going to do with Jewell Loyd?

Sad to say, but I don't think Jewel is the answer for that team. I like her game but frankly I think Plum's accuracy, movement and efficiency is a better fit for Seattle. I also personally think Plum's game is nicer all around. Coach, the girl is nice.

 

[JordyG]

LOL, suddenly people claim how they love UConn and not allow anyone here says Katie Lou is NPOY.

And a BYer joined 6 years ago with less than 100 posts said choice Katie Lou is "the decision is a no brainer" ...

Kaiz, I love ya. But I don't even think Lou, at this time, is the best player on the team. Pheese gets my vote. Some would say (rightfully) that Gabby is. But I also think as DefenseBB said, that Lou's upside is greater than Plum's. So is Pheese and Gabby's.