Preseason All Americans

[easttexastrash]

It's tough to say who had the better game without considering the attention they got from the opponent. Turner had a great second half after being a non-factor for the first 20 minutes. And a lot of her second half success was due to the fact that she wasn't a focus of UConn's defense, in much the same way that Tuck was treated by Notre Dame in the game in South Bend . Notre Dame's defense was geared to limiting Stewart while UConn's was focussed on Loyd.

Those are the thoughts that I expressed in my post. Stewart gets a lot more defensive attention than Turner. Since Turner was a non-factor in the first have she did not get much defensive attention in the second half.

 

[triaddukefan]

Another player being overlooked in this thread is Rachel Theriot (sp) of Nebraska. She missed alot of the season with a injury.... but she was having a fine year before then.

I don't think we are that far apart. You say 3rd Team, I say 2nd. I think Triad is right Powers got the short end of the stick opposite of what Morgan got last year. Morgan got too many other good/great players on your team to get AA consideration. Powers got good player putting up great numbers on a poor team. I saw 4 of her games on B10 network last year-she does everything for that team. There aren't 15 better players in WCBB IMO.

Kinda different situation..... but Hamby of WF fell into the great player-terrible team the past 2 years.. There werent 15 better players players than Hamby last season...... but WF was a bottom feeder.. and Hamby only made the Honorable Mention list.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Morgan Tuck will be a first team AA this coming season unless one of UConn's incoming freshmen blow the country away.

 

[triaddukefan]

Morgan Tuck will be a first team AA this coming season unless one of UConn's incoming freshmen blow the country away.

They wont put 3 players from the same school on a 5 member first team

 

[Kaizen]

Kia Nurse should be in the Third Team or HM.... I watch several UConn's replays and agree that why Geno will start her in 2014-2015 session.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Morgan Tuck will be a first team AA this coming season unless one of UConn's incoming freshmen blow the country away.

On a 10-person team, I agree.

Regarding your caveat, both Lou and Napheesa may blow the country away.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Regarding the OP, there are a few players I would move around. I agree that Jewell and Amanda leaving "early," changes things a lot. Last season's AP team consisted of them, Stewie, Tiffany Mitchell, and Nina Davis. I look for Stewie, Tiffany, and Nina to repeat. None of them was a fluke last year, and they should improve.

I think that Diamond will get a lot of pub, but Tennessee has to win 30 games before the NCAA tourney and she has to shoot 45% and 35% or better to get my vote. Being uber athletic and jacking up a ton of shots won't do it.

Players I would move up include Brianna Turner, who could be THE megastar at ND; Courtney Williams of USF, who is almost unguardable; and Alexis Jones, if healthy.

Kelsey Mitchell will get recognition if she scores over 20 ppg and makes over 100 treys again. Her shooting percentages should determine which team--1st, 2nd, or 3rd.

One thing that has been alluded to is the impact of newbies. Will someone make a big leap from last year to become an impact performer? Maybe Lindsay Allen. Maybe Alexis Jones (who sat out). Maybe one of the UCLA players. I think we could have multiple players fitting this category: Kia Nurse, Gabby Williams, Natalie Butler, Katie Lou Samuelson, and Napheesa Collier. Lou is a scoring machine, and Napheesa does everything and outwork the opponent. As folks have noted, many teams get better next year, but I'm still liking the stellar recruiting class from 2012 and their supporting cast, many of whom will be AAs in time.

 

[easttexastrash]

I may be wrong, but I think that Beatrice Mompremier may be a surprise in the conversation. She is big, super athletic and can finish equally well with each hand around the basket. It may take a few games like it did with Nina Davis to convince Kim that she should start, but I think she will be in the starting lineup by mid-season.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

They wont put 3 players from the same school on a 5 member first team

True. But I was thinking 10. But I do believe she will have a 5 member AA team season, but the way these things work weigh heavily in favor of Stewie and the BumbleBee!

 

[Huskies Rule]

Pretty good analysis except about Briana Turner: "She was arguably the best frontcourt player on the floor in the title game". That is a ridiculous statement!

I couldn't agree with you more, mhshuskies. Stewie was clearly hampered by her badly rolled ankle that she injured in the first half. It was retaped twice, and it clearly affected her mobility and the ability to cut and pivot.
That enabled Turner to get several little putbacks that a healthy Stewie would have otherwise made her eat. Note that Turner did absolutely nothing in the first half against a healthy Stewie. The halftime delay only exacerbated the pain and swelling, which is why Stewie limited herself to just rebounding and blocking shots, what her team needed from her, and knowing that making sharp offensive moves could end her championship game for good. [To her credit, Stewie never made excuses for her lack of 2nd half offense- and the fact that she took so few shots in the final 20 minutes tells you it was all about the ankle and nothing about Turner's defense on her. A healthy Stewie for 40 minutes and Turner has a 2nd half as totally non-productive as her first half. Stewie is a warrior.]

 

[Tonyc]

Well with and outside shot and a trey I would say Tuck should be a 1st team AA. Turner and Wilson wont come close to Tuck and Nina is terrific but wont have the deep shot that Tuck has. However the voters may not give UConn 3 first team AAs . NPOY will be between Stewie and MoJeff and both will be first team AAs.

 

[rvwsleep]

I may be wrong, but I think that Beatrice Mompremier may be a surprise in the conversation. She is big, super athletic and can finish equally well with each hand around the basket. It may take a few games like it did with Nina Davis to convince Kim that she should start, but I think she will be in the starting lineup by mid-season.

Mompremier will be playing more minutes per game at the end of the season than Brown will. She is much more athletic than Brown is and will be more effective against top rated teams.

 

[bballnut90]

Stewart gets a lot more defensive attention than Turner, who is pretty much free to float around on offense. Turner had 6 more points than Stewart but Stewart had 5 more rebounds, however, Stewart had 4 blocks to Turner's 1, Turner had 2 turnovers to Stewart's 1, Stewart had 2 steals to Turner's 1. Neither really took too many shots, thus their relatively low scoring.

Based on those stats I see no argument for Turner being the better player that night. Stewart had much larger impact on defense than Turner, which often goes unappreciated because you cannot put a specific stat on it, but her defensive presence often did not allow ND to execute its offense as they wanted.

Turner bottled up Stewart all night. Before she rolled her ankle, Stewart only had 4 points. After her ankle turned, she had 4 again. I don't think ankle effected Stewart as drastically as some here are implying. Turner did an outstanding job on Stewart and helped negate her ability to beat you from both inside and outside. In the 2nd half, Turner single handily kept Notre Dame in the game with 14 points. When she subbed out for 2 minutes, UCONN when on a mini run to ice the game. She came back, but Notre Dame was deflated. You can make an argument either way, but 14 points, 10 rebounds, 7-9 shooting and lock down defense on the nation's most versatile offensive threat earns her my vote as having the best night of any frontcourt player.

 

[hoophuskee]

It's tough to say who had the better game without considering the attention they got from the opponent. Turner had a great second half after being a non-factor for the first 20 minutes. And a lot of her second half success was due to the fact that she wasn't a focus of UConn's defense, in much the same way that Tuck was treated by Notre Dame in the game in South Bend . Notre Dame's defense was geared to limiting Stewart while UConn's was focussed on Loyd.

The thing is- I don't recall seeing Stewie being guarded with all that much attention other than Turner or Reimer. And ND did have a ton of success on the backboards which should have been contained better by Stewie and Tuck. A player can get 12 rebounds but if the team is getting hammered on the glass it doesn't mean the player with 12 boards was terrific. Where was the player when the other team was getting off so many shots or getting some other offensive rebounds?

 

[bballnut90]

I couldn't agree with you more, mhshuskies. Stewie was clearly hampered by her badly rolled ankle that she injured in the first half. It was retaped twice, and it clearly affected her mobility and the ability to cut and pivot.
That enabled Turner to get several little putbacks that a healthy Stewie would have otherwise made her eat. Note that Turner did absolutely nothing in the first half against a healthy Stewie. The halftime delay only exacerbated the pain and swelling, which is why Stewie limited herself to just rebounding and blocking shots, what her team needed from her, and knowing that making sharp offensive moves could end her championship game for good. [To her credit, Stewie never made excuses for her lack of 2nd half offense- and the fact that she took so few shots in the final 20 minutes tells you it was all about the ankle and nothing about Turner's defense on her. A healthy Stewie for 40 minutes and Turner has a 2nd half as totally non-productive as her first half. Stewie is a warrior.]

Turner was timid offensively in the first half, see quotes she stated about the 2nd half turn around:
“I think I wasn’t aggressive enough. I was really timid in the first half,” Turner said.

“I don’t know, just being in the locker room at halftime, reflecting on my first half, I wasn’t happy with my performance,” Turner said. “So I just came out in the second half determined to rebound and get the shots I usually get.”

I think this had more to do with anything than Stewart. Stewart was phenomenal defensively all night, it was Notre Dame looking for Turner, and Turner actively looking for opportunities that escalated her 2nd half turn around rather than Stewart's ankle. Also worth noting is that Stewart wasn't lighting it up before she rolled her ankle. She had 4 points before the ankle and 4 points after. Also, not that she would use it as an excuse, but I can't recall ever seeing a statement from Stewart saying that her ankle affected.

 

[hoophuskee]

Turner bottled up Stewart all night. Before she rolled her ankle, Stewart only had 4 points. After her ankle turned, she had 4 again. I don't think ankle effected Stewart as drastically as some here are implying. Turner did an outstanding job on Stewart and helped negate her ability to beat you from both inside and outside. In the 2nd half, Turner single handily kept Notre Dame in the game with 14 points. When she subbed out for 2 minutes, UCONN when on a mini run to ice the game. She came back, but Notre Dame was deflated. You can make an argument either way, but 14 points, 10 rebounds, 7-9 shooting and lock down defense on the nation's most versatile offensive threat earns her my vote as having the best night of any frontcourt player.

I have to go to dispute some of your comments about Stewart. But one point - instead of your comment stating about the 4 pts before and after. One could say she had 6 points by end of half-time in 1st half and her ankle stiffened for 2nd half. Six points for a player that averages about 16 a game - not bad seeing hwo the pace fo the game was slow.

 

[bballnut90]

bballnut did not say Turner was better than Stewart. She meant/said again that overall Turner was arguably the best of (Stewie Tuck and Reimer.) of the bigs on the floor for that given evening. I agree with that. Though imo Stewie was hurt with her ankle. I thought her athleticism took a huge hit despite the rebounds she pulled down.

I think the one major question in the top 5 is Tiffany Mitchell.

I don't think Tuck will get the respect considering if another team wins 30/31 games leading into NCAA's. I see Stewie, MoJeff, And DD as a lock. Nina as close ot a lock as possible. I'm still stunned how she does it.

So if any other team such as USC, ND, FSU, MD or Ohio State - to name a few wins 30/31 games and have en elite performer, Tuck may not get the respect she deserves.

Courtney Williams from USF-- would love to see their ooc schedule this year. I think she is terrific. Hopefully, they have scheduled in OOC a winnable game or two vs a high-tier team where she could show her stuff.

I could definitely see Mitchell dropping to 2nd or 3rd team next year, as Wilson/Coates should improve their offensive output. That said, she is the 2x SEC Player of the Year, something neither Candace Parker nor Sylvia Fowles even accomplished, so she has a lot going for her and will surely be on whatever "3 to see" list there is next season.

With so many really good players on top teams next year, I can't see the likes of Courtney Williams of USF being a 1st team candidate unless she puts up big numbers against UCONN or other quality competition.

 

[bballnut90]

I have to go to dispute some of your comments about Stewart. But one point - instead of your comment stating about the 4 pts before and after. One could say she had 6 points by end of half-time in 1st half and her ankle stiffened for 2nd half. Six points for a player that averages about 16 a game - not bad seeing hwo the pace fo the game was slow.

She averaged 18 points per game, not 16. She also was averaging 21 ppg in the tournament and in her 3 previous games she put up 31 points, 23 points, and 25 points. 6 points in the first half is not at all on pace to continue that trend. Further more, it wasn't as slow of a game as you make it out to be. When you look at the Maryland game vs. Notre Dame game, there were more shots attempted, more turnovers and more rebounds in the Notre Dame game, all of which indicate it was a more up and down game than the Maryland matchup. And against Maryland, Stewart had 25 points, took 13 shots and went 9-10 from the line. What was the difference between the two? In my opinion, Turner's defense.

 

[bballnut90]

I watched several of Powers' games last year. I like her a lot. I also understand the injury situation at MSU. She definitely earned the HM awards last season. With more support in the upcoming season maybe she'll shoot more efficiently and commit fewer turnovers (154). I just don't consider her as one of the 10 best players in America right now. We'll see what the upcoming season brings.

Powers is phenomenal and probably should have been in the HM list, along with players like Mavunga, Niya Johnson, Kia Nurse, Brionna Jones and Walker-Kimbrough. I agree, there probably aren't 10 players in the nation who can do what Powers does, but MSU was so bad last year and badly underperformed. I know this has nothing to do with Powers, but if your team is a bottom dweller in an average conference, you aren't going to get the accolades at the end of the year than a good player on a stronger team will. Does anybody here think Powers should be on a preseason team over a player like Tuck? Outside of FG percentage, Powers has immensely better statistics in many areas than Tuck, but most here would agree that Tuck will likely be an All-American next year, where Powers has an uphill battle due to MSU's lack of success.

 

[Huskies Rule]

Also, not that she would use it as an excuse, but I can't recall ever seeing a statement from Stewart saying that her ankle affected.

Really? This is from Mechelle Voepel's report on the Championship game:

Voepel: "Still, considering she painfully rolled her ankle with about eight minutes left in the first half -- yet still missed just one minute of game action -- this effort will still go down in the Stewart chronicles as memorable. She showed toughness and resolve on a night when she faced a physical hurdle that could have affected her."

Stewie: "It did hurt, and I haven't seen it. I'm sure it looked gross," Stewart said of the video of the ankle turn. "But it's the national championship game. My team is counting on me. I got taped as quickly as I could and got back in the game. I'm sure it will hurt tomorrow, but the season's over now."

- Those are the courageous words of a kid who played through great pain, for her team. You are the best, Stewie.

 

[johnnyc]

It is not necessary that Stewart have the leadership role in order for UConn to win. Tuck and/or Jefferson could also easily fill that role.

 

[Alydar]

What I'm reading a player needs to be considered is:

to put up outstanding scoring numbers, so they should be the go-to player on their team. Forget worrying about doing all the little things that win games. Just score and rebound.

to play in a P5 conference where they get exposure.

not have other great players on their team since there's a per team limit


That's why I dislike individual awards in team sports. The only all-american team I am interested in is the one that gets the trophy next year in Indianapolis.

 

[hoophuskee]

She averaged 18 points per game, not 16. She also was averaging 21 ppg in the tournament and in her 3 previous games she put up 31 points, 23 points, and 25 points. 6 points in the first half is not at all on pace to continue that trend. Further more, it wasn't as slow of a game as you make it out to be. When you look at the Maryland game vs. Notre Dame game, there were more shots attempted, more turnovers and more rebounds in the Notre Dame game, all of which indicate it was a more up and down game than the Maryland matchup. And against Maryland, Stewart had 25 points, took 13 shots and went 9-10 from the line. What was the difference between the two? In my opinion, Turner's defense.

Okay regarding the 18 points point taken - I thought she average just 16 it was actually 17.6 . So Turner bottled her up the whole game?

She had 4 points before she got hurt and there were 8 minutes left in the half. In that time -- there were 22 possession by UCONN - 5 were fastbreak opportuntities of which one Stewie scored. The others were either scored conversions or missed turnovers so for those there is no value in determining who is guarding who. Of the other 17 possessions UCONN had -- 10 Turner guarded her, 5 Remier did and two Huffman guarded her. Seventeen possessions and you want to give all the credit to Turner? Or can we say it was ND's defense? In the 2nd half numbers are similar.

Stewie scored 15 points vs ND last game but was 3-12 from the floor. Nine for 10 from the ft line. So it's your opinion that Reimer's defense, the defenses that Muffett threw, Hoffman's defense and Cable's were irrelevant vs Turner's? And /or you think a defense can legitimately hold a healthy Stewart - the NPOY-- to just two points in the 2nd half of a title game? You think it is reasonable that a 6'4 or 6'5 player with her size and length in the 2nd half can only get off two shots because of the defense of 1 freshman player?

David from Dish n Swishin - had posted on here that Stewie dominated pros months before the USA Trials. So we're supposed to believe a freshman forced a 6'4 or 6'5 player who was as you mention was extremely hot leading into the finals -- all of a sudden she can only get off two shots in the 2nd half because the freshman bottled her up ?

You mean for example at the 5:51 mark when MoJeff starts driving from top of the key and Turner is guarding Stewie doesn't even help to defend but we're to ignore that this super defender just "missed" the help yet played near perfect defense every other minute (she would have had to be near perfect - in order to hold the NPOY to 2 shots)? No help defense off of Stewie yet UCONN certainly helped off of Turner, didn't they? There was no gimmick defense on Turner also- was there? Such as when Doris states during the game that ND was leaving Nurse open and MoJeff somewhat open -- and even sometimes they went into gimmick defenses such as triangle and two (On Stewie NOT on Turner) and you have Cable or Huffman also guarding her -- but it's all about "that the freshman bottled up Stewie?" And not the familiarity with ND vs UCONN in that for example we've already seen Stewie go 3-12 in a prior game? Nah- I'm not buying your analysis.

IMO ND's team defense geared to stop her- not just 1 player. And unlike Turner getting the ball from their guards penetration, Steiw wasn't because just as we saw with the gimmicks, leaving Nurse wide open, the open layup by MoJeff - they were all in as a TEAM to to stop Stewie - not just 1 player. ND sacrificed their team defense in order to let anyone else but Stewie (and tried to stop Lewis) beat them. That's why you saw the gimmick defenses. That's why they left Nurse wide open. Why they left MoJeff partially open. Why Turner let MoJeff get to the basket with absolutely no help off of Stewie. And most importantly - why you saw just two shots from Stewie the entire 2nd half is that she was hurt. It didn't matter if Turner, or Reimer or Cable was guarding her. She was hurt - and just as unable to get off a shot vs those two than she could vs. Turner.

 

[hoophuskee]

Really? This is from Mechelle Voepel's report on the Championship game:

Voepel: "Still, considering she painfully rolled her ankle with about eight minutes left in the first half -- yet still missed just one minute of game action -- this effort will still go down in the Stewart chronicles as memorable. She showed toughness and resolve on a night when she faced a physical hurdle that could have affected her."

Stewie: "It did hurt, and I haven't seen it. I'm sure it looked gross," Stewart said of the video of the ankle turn. "But it's the national championship game. My team is counting on me. I got taped as quickly as I could and got back in the game. I'm sure it will hurt tomorrow, but the season's over now."

- Those are the courageous words of a kid who played through great pain, for her team. You are the best, Stewie.

For a kid to admit she was hurting imo that says a lot. IMO it was obvious she was no longer as aggressive. The 2 shots in entire 2nd half should tell the story.

 

[CocoHusky]

For a kid to admit she was hurting imo that says a lot. IMO it was obvious she was no longer as aggressive. The 2 shots in entire 2nd half should tell the story.

Maybe not. In the Game at ND earlier in the year Stewie only took 4 shots in the second half. One of which was an attempted tip in.