Player of the year? | The Boneyard
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Player of the year?

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As the season winds down Sarah Strong has hit a rough patch. And there is not much to prove until the NCAA Tournament gets going.
Is Sarah still a front runner for POY? Looking at the other contenders, Blakes at Vanderbilt is having a magical season, Vandy is top four in the national polls. She seems like the most likely winner at this point. Can it change? Does Geno really care enough to push Sarah's minutes. Doubtful.
 
IMHO I think Sarah would need to have a host of games where she scores close to 10 PPG. I think she has enough hype and momentum to carry her to the NPOY award(s), but I know she's been under the weather. I hope she rests up and gets healthy for the NCAA's.

The thing about Sarah is that every announcer who calls a game marvels at all the things she can do. It's not just scoring - it's blocks, steals, rebounds, assists, passing, etc. She's such an elite player on so many levels that comparing her to someone else who may score more, but lacks Sarah's other incredible stats/gifts/skills, weighs in her favor...
 
I particularly agree with EricSD's (The god of time and ages? Geez! Who knew? Not too modest, ay? 😀) Anyway, the last paragraph is right on. Announcers always marvel at Sarah's versatility. She is truly a multi-dimensional talent. Comparing her to someone who might have better shooting stats is the familiar apples and kumquats comparison. Ask Geno. Sarah is one of a kind as soon as he saw her and I think for over 40 years looking for and coaching basketball talent he would know.
 
Bedford fan said:
As the season winds down Sarah Strong has hit a rough patch. And there is not much to prove until the NCAA Tournament gets going.
Is Sarah still a front runner for POY? Looking at the other contenders, Blakes at Vanderbilt is having a magical season, Vandy is top four in the national polls. She seems like the most likely winner at this point. Can it change? Does Geno really care enough to push Sarah's minutes. Doubtful.
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Blakes at Vanderbilt does score a lot of points and voters will like that. She also has an advantage over Sarah...she draws lots of fouls and scores many of her points from the foul line. She's had many games with double digit FT attempts.
They also won't look at points per 40 minutes and we know Sarah seldom plays into the 4th quarter, so she has a lot less FG attempts per game.
Sarah is also a better rebounder, right? Shot blocker?
 
I believe Sarah Strong will be POY as UConn is undefeated and she is the best player, on the best team. Blakes will give her a run for her money just like she did in the Freshman of the Year race and may nab an award or two. I don't think it will be unanimous.
 
Bedford fan said:
As the season winds down Sarah Strong has hit a rough patch. And there is not much to prove until the NCAA Tournament gets going.
Is Sarah still a front runner for POY? Looking at the other contenders, Blakes at Vanderbilt is having a magical season, Vandy is top four in the national polls. She seems like the most likely winner at this point. Can it change? Does Geno really care enough to push Sarah's minutes. Doubtful.
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Couldn't disagree more. Sarah's "rough patch" is highly exaggerated amongst UCONN fans. Please cite what we call a rough patch and compare that to others?

Let's compare the advanced stats -- SS has a higher PER, higher TS, higher EFG%, higher OREb%, DREB%, TRB%, higher assist%, higher Win share, higher Def Win Share, higher OBPM, DPM, Total BPM, higher ORating, and DRating.

With all this you say Blakes "is most likely winning?" Her main calling card is that she takes more shots. The advanced stats show it’s not close.

It shouldn’t be close.
 
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Blakes is a marvelous scorer and having a great year but Sara does everything well..great rebounder terrific defender and a great facilitator..oh and yes she can score and near a 60/40/90 which is unheard of..I agree it shouldnt be close
 
I could see the NPOY awards being split between Strong and Blakes this year. Possibly even Fudd. The Wade (WBCA) award has "sometimes" in the past been given to a Sr over a younger player.

Examples....2021 Bueckers swept every other award except the Wade (Naylyssa Smith)
2025 Watkins swept every other award except the Wade (Bueckers)
Back in 2008, they gave the Wade to Wiggins, while Parker swept everything else.

"everything else" is the Naismith, Wooden, AP and USBWA .
 
I watched a few Vandy games over the weekend and was quite struck by the easy whistle Blakes tends to get. She is undoubtedly a great player. But a lot of those free throws come on plays where she “goes low” to evade a defender — it’s an effective move — and the extravagant position she ends up in seems to trick officials into assuming a foul. Sometimes there is one, often there isn’t. I think refereeing tends to favor players like that, the ones who drive to create contact and end up on the floor. I suspect the PoY voters will not ding her for it.
 
I’ve not a clue as to what voters look for but what I see as th big differences between Blakes and Strong is Strong’s numbers in other categories, other than peg. If you look at minutes played vs peg it’s pretty close and when taking in those othe sats - assists, TOs, FG%, 3PT%, defense, rebounds and for me Strong operates within the framework of a team offense while Shea has to showcase Blakes for them to win.
 
You see it in the NBA one in a while, a player does not win MVP at first, for one reason, they'll then have to win it every year.
IMO Sarah doesn't need it right now and Blakes is worthy of the award. Knock on wood- Sarah could be like Stewie, a mad collector of awards.
 
I hope they both nab a couple of POY awards since both have been incredible and each is deserving.

If you have to pick only one I think Strong is the choice for this season. Great all around numbers (leads UCONN in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) and 60/40/90 splits on the undefeated team is a feat that I don't think anyone has come close to accomplishing before.

What Blakes has accomplished for Vanderbilt is downright remarkable though. She has incredible numbers too (she's a lot more than just a scorer) and Vanderbilt has massively overachieved all year.
 
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From stats.ncaa.com, a comparison of national rankings

I really wish the NCAA used a darker font

IMG_4851.jpeg


IMG_4850.jpeg
 
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meyers7 said:
I could see the NPOY awards being split between Strong and Blakes this year. Possibly even Fudd. The Wade (WBCA) award has "sometimes" in the past been given to a Sr over a younger player.

Examples....2021 Bueckers swept every other award except the Wade (Naylyssa Smith)
2025 Watkins swept every other award except the Wade (Bueckers)
Back in 2008, they gave the Wade to Wiggins, while Parker swept everything else.

"everything else" is the Naismith, Wooden, AP and USBWA .
Expand ...
I think most feel Paige would've won the Wade in 2021 but freshmen weren't eligible.

Historically Wade has had some unusual picks where the voting was otherwise largely a consensus (ex. last year Paige getting it over Juju, 2008 giving it to Wiggins over Parker, 2014 choosing Sims over Stewart, Edwina Brown randomly winning it in 2000 and MANY head-scratching picks in the 90s).

Regarding this year, I don't think Fudd is a POY candidate, it looks like a 2 woman race at this point though Strong appears to be the frontrunner.
 
meyers7 said:
Examples....2021 Bueckers swept every other award except the Wade (Naylyssa Smith)
Expand ...
In 2021 freshmen were not eligible for the Wade Trophy, so Bueckers could not win it. I suspect the organization running the Wade was embarrassed; the rule was subsequently changed and freshmen are now eligible for the Wade.
 
meyers7 said:
I could see the NPOY awards being split between Strong and Blakes this year. Possibly even Fudd. The Wade (WBCA) award has "sometimes" in the past been given to a Sr over a younger player.

Examples....2021 Bueckers swept every other award except the Wade (Naylyssa Smith)
2025 Watkins swept every other award except the Wade (Bueckers)
Back in 2008, they gave the Wade to Wiggins, while Parker swept everything else.

"everything else" is the Naismith, Wooden, AP and USBWA .
Expand ...
I agree with you here, I think Azzi Fudd snatches the Wade Trophy. This award differs from the rest and recognizes the best player on AND off the court, who embodies the spirit of Margaret Wade. They take into account leadership and positive role model both on and off the court. With her basketball camps, community engagement and involvement - I think she's the top candidate for this one.

She's the most popular women's college player and her impact on and off the court should nab her this one.
 
fomalhaut said:
In 2021 freshmen were not eligible for the Wade Trophy, so Bueckers could not win it. I suspect the organization running the Wade was embarrassed; the rule was subsequently changed and freshmen are now eligible for the Wade.
Expand ...

Funny how that random rule was in place for decades. Didn't Christ The King have a similar rule where freshmen couldn't play varsity basketball or am I mixing that up with a different program? They produced 3 future Hall of Famers in Chamique Holdsclaw, Sue Bird and Tina Charles plus multiple NBA players.
 
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So @HuskyNan who would you vote for as your top 3?

Mine would be Sarah, Blakes, Miles with 4th being Hidalgo....

As a reminder, the POY is voted on after the conference tournaments but before the NCAAT. Sarah has 5 more games to remind people of who she is.
 
DefenseBB said:
So @HuskyNan who would you vote for as your top 3?

Mine would be Sarah, Blakes, Miles with 4th being Hidalgo....

As a reminder, the POY is voted on after the conference tournaments but before the NCAAT. Sarah has 5 more games to remind people of who she is.
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Most NPOY’s are voted on before the tournament. One exception is the Wade Trophy, voted on by the WBCA after the 2nd weekend of the Big Dance. Paige won that last season after dropping 30+, 40 and 30+ in the round of 32, the Sweet 16 and the Elite 8 respectively.
 
Uconn never leads the country in individual numbers like points per game or rebounds per game or assists per game or steals per game and their top ten in those categories are woeful compared to NCAA records, because while Uconn has had great individual players they play a team oriented game. And yet of the major NPOY awards a Uconn player has won 62 of them since Lobo swept them in 1995 (Honda, Wooden, Naismith, Wade, AP, and WSBA) and none of them were a scoring champ. So ...
While points certainly get people's attention the voters seem to take a closer look at the players than just that.

Sarah followed by Blakes by the numbers:
Games: 28 vs 28
Minutes: 748 vs 988 (+32.1% more minutes for Blakes)
Points: 533 vs 744 (+ 39.6% for Blakes)
Points/min: .713 vs .753
Points/gm: 19.0 vs 26.6
Rebounds: 211 vs 106 (-49.8 for Blakes)
Assists: 117 vs 128 (+9.4 for Blakes)
Turnovers: 52 vs 79 (+51.9 for Blakes)
A/TO: 2.25 vs 1.62
Steals: 90 vs 82 (-8.9 for Blakes)
St/TO 1.7 vs 1.0
Blocks: 46 vs 7 (-84.8 for Blakes)
FG %: 60.0 vs 46.1
3pt % 40.6 vs 34.1
FT % 89.2 vs 85.2
Sh Efficiency .66 vs .53
Sc Efficiency 1.444 vs 1.383

It is obvious that Blakes plays more minutes and she averages more points per minute played than Sarah. It is also obvious that every other stat favors Sarah on a per minute basis and except for a slight edge in total assists on a per game basis. And the efficient numbers not just in shooting, but in every other number also favor Sarah.

Blakes takes 29.4% of Vandy's total shot attempts on the year, and is also taking 41.5% of their FT attempts which probably means her actual shot/ft usage is closer to 32+%. Sarah takes 18.7% of Uconn's shots and 17.5% of their FT attempts. So her scoring usage is about half of Blake's but she is significantly more efficient.
 
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