Official COY predictions

[Vowelguy]

I see POY and FOY thread, but not COY (or TOY).

COACHES

BgE -- Will Win: Geno || My pick: Denise Dillon
ACC -- Will Win: Kara Lawson || My pick: Felicia Legette-Jack or Shawn Poppe
B1G -- Will win: Cori Close || My pick: loaded category! Jan Jensen (or Cori or KBA or Dawn P)
B12 -- Will win: Gerlich || My pick: Gerlich (or WV)
SEC -- Will win: Shea || My pick: Shea

There is no official Transfer category (but if there were a non-freshman newcomer award):
BgE -- ?
ACC -- ?
B1G -- G Kneepkens or A Howell?
B12 -- Olivia Miles
SEC -- Cotie McMahon

 

[GamecockFam]

I see POY and FOY thread, but not COY (or TOY).

COACHES

BgE -- Will Win: Geno || My pick: Denise Dillon
ACC -- Will Win: Kara Lawson || My pick: Felicia Legette-Jack (or Walz)
B1G -- Will win: Cori Close || My pick: loaded category! KBA (or Jen Jensen or Dawn P)
B12 -- Will win: Gerlich || My pick: Gerlich (or WV)
SEC -- Will win: Shea || My pick: Shea

There is no official Transfer category (but if there were a non-freshman newcomer award):
BgE -- ?
ACC -- ?
B1G -- G Kneepkens or A Howell?
B12 -- Olivia Miles
SEC -- Cotie McMahon

I don't know if Shea Ralph will win but she is probably one of two potential candidates (Dawn Staley being the other). I think it all depends on the gap between South Carolina and the rest of the SEC at the end of the regular season. If South Carolina has one loss and the #2 team has 4+ losses, I would find it hard to choose anyone else but Staley.

 

[triaddukefan]

I shudder to think what will happen in the Piedmont Triad if Coach Lawson doesn't win the ACC Coach of the Year 😠😡

 

[WBBTakeover]

I shudder to think what will happen in the Piedmont Triad if Coach Lawson doesn't win the ACC Coach of the Year 😠😡

If Duke doesn't go at least 17-1, it may very well happen.

Jeff Walz's team is likely to finish 17-1, and I don't really see him as being all that deserving of it, either.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I shudder to think what will happen in the Piedmont Triad if Coach Lawson doesn't win the ACC Coach of the Year 😠😡

This dire warning about an entire area would probably just be isolated to your household I think.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Just to note that at least one of the conferences has or had a "newcomer of the year" which covers the transfers, I don't remember which conference.

 

[OldCard]

Just curios why Walz wouldn't be deservnig of COY? His team was pre-season picked to finish fourth and, most likely, will not have a single player selected on the ACC first team.

To be clear, if Duke finishes 18-0, Lawson should be the unanimous pick.

 

[TheFarmFan]

Not Kate Paye. Not that anyone was asking..

 

[GoChips20]

Not Kate Paye. Not that anyone was asking..

I’m curious your thoughts on how a coach who spent so many years under one of the greatest ever is off to such a rough start

 

[nwhoopfan]

I’m curious your thoughts on how a coach who spent so many years under one of the greatest ever is off to such a rough start

In women's hoops, has anyone successfully followed up a coaching legend yet? There haven't been that many truly legendary coaches, but it seems like the transition is pretty rough across the board so far when a long time, highly successful coach calls it a career.

Coaching under someone doesn't mean you have the same qualities/abilities, no matter how long you spend with them. I mean Warlick spent 17 years as an assistant at Tennessee, and we see how that worked out.

 

[Puppy Love]

Not Kate Paye. Not that anyone was asking..

And definitely not Kim Caldwell.

 

[triaddukefan]

This dire warning about an entire area would probably just be isolated to your household I think.

While not quite Sherman marching through Georgia, the amount of pillows, plastic silverware, and empty water bottles being recklessly thrown around the house would be a sight to behold.

 

[nwhoopfan]

While not quite Sherman marching through Georgia, the amount of pillows, plastic silverware, and empty water bottles being recklessly thrown around the house would be a sight to behold.

I was picturing the meme of Jack Nicholson throwing plates around in The Shining, sounds like you'd keep it to less breakable items.


I kinda don't think you need to worry about it, COY is gonna go your way.

 

[packwrap]

I’m curious your thoughts on how a coach who spent so many years under one of the greatest ever is off to such a rough start

Not excuses but...

Cupboard a bit bare with transfers of Betts and Iriafen.

Tough place to transfer to. Basically need to be on conference all academic team to move, so not much portal 'in' action. Even grad transfer in is hard as most grad programs have <5% admittance.

Somfai has worked out well, and more help next year, so 26/27 a better read and assuming it continues 27/28 should again see Stanford with 5-8 top players.

 

[Jonathan14]

In women's hoops, has anyone successfully followed up a coaching legend yet?

Not sure if Lisa Bluder is officially a “coaching legend”—I’d say she qualifies and our friends in Iowa would probably agree—but Jan Jensen is off to a mighty good start carrying on Bluder’s legacy in her first two seasons.

 

[Bobcat73]

Not excuses but...

Cupboard a bit bare with transfers of Betts and Iriafen.

Tough place to transfer to. Basically need to be on conference all academic team to move, so not much portal 'in' action. Even grad transfer in is hard as most grad programs have <5% admittance.

Somfai has worked out well, and more help next year, so 26/27 a better read and assuming it continues 27/28 should again see Stanford with 5-8 top players.

There is a big misconception out there that the academic standards for getting into Stanford, the Ivies, etc, apply to athletes. They do not. If one is a recruited athlete, especially in a major sport, the standards are lowered considerably. Granted, there are many athletes who do not want to go to one of the elite academic universities because of the academic and workload requirements.But that’s different from suggesting that they have academic credentials equivalent to the general student body. It’s not even close.
I used to laugh when Dukie Vitale used to sing the praises of the Duke basketball players, calling them all “brilliant.”

 

[WBBTakeover]

Not excuses but...

Cupboard a bit bare with transfers of Betts and Iriafen.

Tough place to transfer to. Basically need to be on conference all academic team to move, so not much portal 'in' action. Even grad transfer in is hard as most grad programs have <5% admittance.

Somfai has worked out well, and more help next year, so 26/27 a better read and assuming it continues 27/28 should again see Stanford with 5-8 top players.

I gotta push back here just a little.

Yes, the Betts and Iriafen transfers hurt. However, only the Iriafen transfer is significant here because she actually became a superstar athlete with them and left them (in 2024) right before they were set to join the ACC. They knew that Betts wasn't going to play for them in the ACC (she transferred out in 2023).

Also, and this is a huge point, Stanford's cupboard isn't bare. They have TONS of high school All-Americans (Swain, Eschmeyer, Somfai, and Ogden are McDonald's AAs while Clardy, Agara, and Umeh are Jordan Brand Classic AAs). Three of their leading scorers (Agara, Ogden, and Clardy) are juniors, with one of them being an All-ACC performer. Swain and Somfai are impact freshmen. All five of those players that I just named could play for and perhaps start for just about every ACC team because they are ACC-caliber players. Sure, they've had some injuries to key players. But they have enough talent to overcome these injuries (enough to not get blown out by Georgia Tech and to not lose to Miami). Yet--here they are with six ACC wins mere days from March.

For comparison's sake, Virginia Tech has ZERO HS All-Americans. They have ZERO All-ACC performers. They have 11 ACC wins.

This is largely an extraordinarily poor coaching job by Kate Paye. I think that Tara could've, at worst, had this team at nine ACC wins and on the right side of the bubble at this point in the season.

 

[azfan]

Molly Miller

Last year

11-22
3-15 in conference

This year (so far)

22-7
9-7 in conference

Only 2 returning players

Those numbers don't come close to capturing the turnaround. Attendance, season ticket holders, energy in the building, defense points allowed, offense points scored, the entire vibe is 180

 

[packwrap]

There is a big misconception out there that the academic standards for getting into Stanford, the Ivies, etc, apply to athletes. They do not. If one is a recruited athlete, especially in a major sport, the standards are lowered considerably. Granted, there are many athletes who do not want to go to one of the elite academic universities because of the academic and workload requirements.But that’s different from suggesting that they have academic credentials equivalent to the general student body. It’s not even close.
I used to laugh when Dukie Vitale used to sing the praises of the Duke basketball players, calling them all “brilliant.”

Completely agree. They can make pretty big exceptions for incoming freshmen, but at least on the women's side even the freshmen have to at least be able to pretend to be academic students.

Transferring in is tougher than freshman admittance and getting into a grad school the toughest. Andrew Luck in his 'Sports GM' mode may try to improve this situation if priority is put on WBB.

I'm not really hugely defending Paye. I'm pretty sure she will get year 3, and we'll see how things go with her 2nd recruiting class. Only saying they would have looked pretty good last year with Iriafen and Betts, and this year with Somfai and Betts.

Of the top recruits that have strong academics and families interested in same, Stanford will always recruit well as the highest rated D1 college offering full athletic scholarships. Paye will certainly keep getting good classes.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Not sure if Lisa Bluder is officially a “coaching legend”—I’d say she qualifies and our friends in Iowa would probably agree—but Jan Jensen is off to a mighty good start carrying on Bluder’s legacy in her first two seasons.

Good call, she is off to a strong start. IIRC about halfway thru last year there were some questions about how it was working out, but then things started to click, and this year has continued the good vibes.

 

[Vowelguy]

Not sure if Lisa Bluder is officially a “coaching legend”—I’d say she qualifies and our friends in Iowa would probably agree—but Jan Jensen is off to a mighty good start carrying on Bluder’s legacy in her first two seasons.

Bluder doesnt have the name recognition, but she did win almost 900 games and is 12th all-time among all coaches, and 9th if you limit to coaches who spent most of their career in D1.

 

[Vowelguy]

And definitely not Kim Caldwell.

Oh I dunno, there might be a few New Englanders who vote for her. 😜

 

[DRR25]

There is a big misconception out there that the academic standards for getting into Stanford, the Ivies, etc, apply to athletes. They do not. If one is a recruited athlete, especially in a major sport, the standards are lowered considerably. Granted, there are many athletes who do not want to go to one of the elite academic universities because of the academic and workload requirements.But that’s different from suggesting that they have academic credentials equivalent to the general student body. It’s not even close.
I used to laugh when Dukie Vitale used to sing the praises of the Duke basketball players, calling them all “brilliant.”

Any proof that "standards are lowered considerably" for athletes? Stanford, for example, says otherwise which may or may not be the case, but I don't know that you generalize that Stanford and the Ivies lower standards considerably without data/proof.

 

[Vowelguy]

Any proof that "standards are lowered considerably" for athletes? Stanford, for example, says otherwise which may or may not be the case, but I don't know that you generalize that Stanford and the Ivies lower standards considerably without data/proof.

The Ivyies used to have a formula, not sure if they still do and not sure if it applied to FB or all sports, but it was something like if the average student SAT score was X, then the average athlete SAT score had to be .95 * X, or something like that.
Details are probably off, but the point being that there was explicit acknowledge that standards could be lower, but not much tremendously lower, for athletes.

 

[WBBTakeover]

There is a big misconception out there that the academic standards for getting into Stanford, the Ivies, etc, apply to athletes. They do not. If one is a recruited athlete, especially in a major sport, the standards are lowered considerably. Granted, there are many athletes who do not want to go to one of the elite academic universities because of the academic and workload requirements.But that’s different from suggesting that they have academic credentials equivalent to the general student body. It’s not even close.
I used to laugh when Dukie Vitale used to sing the praises of the Duke basketball players, calling them all “brilliant.”

Stanford doesn't lower its admissions standards for athletes. Not sure if that'll continue with Andrew Luck as the GM and with the significant infusion of cash that the athletic department just received from an alum. There's a lot of pressure for Stanford Football to be competitive in the ACC, and they'll have to find a way to get more talented athletes in position to clear admissions hurdles. If that's successful in football, it's only a matter of time before other programs (including women's basketball) take advantage.

The Ivies, as far as I know, don't lower standards for athletes. Instead, athletes receive more "points" towards their admissions score. It's similar to a boost that a student would receive for being a legacy candidate.