In a recent post, it was suggested that not every player on UConn's Wall of Honor deserves to be there. The exact quote was "I wish the criteria for WOH was a 5-person AA team, not the wussy 10-player WBCA team. WOH is overpopulated with players who weren't 'real' first-team AA's and didn't lead their teams to NCs." This got me thinking, who should be removed from the WOH? How do we reduce this "overpopulation?
Let's go through the names on the Wall and see if we can tackle this overpopulation, making what, according to at least one commentator, are some badly needed edits and corrections.
Kerry Bascom - Never won a national championship. Lost in only Final Four appearance. Scoring record eclipsed by a number of Huskies, including a player with a crutch. Besides how many Boneyarders saw her play? She's off the wall.
Nykesha Sales - Only one National Championship. Scoring record eclipsed by other Huskies (and needed some help from Villanova to do it). Only an All American twice. She can be removed from the Wall.
Svetlana Abrosimova - Only one National Championship. Big East player of the year only once. Pretended not to understand English when asked to play defense. Should be removed from the Wall.
Shea Ralph - Only one National Championship. All American only once. Only averaged 13.1 points/game. Injury prone. Doesn't belong on the Wall.
Swin Cash - All American only once. Averaged less than 12 points/game. Not even the best player in her graduating class. Off the Wall.
Renee Montgomery - Averaged 13.3 points/game. Won Frances Pomeroy Award for Best Player Under 5'8" (Is this even a thing?), effectively eliminating over half of the competition from consideration. Wouldn't have won any National Championships without Maya. Shouldn't be on the Wall.
Stefanie Dolson - Averaged 13.6 points/game in her best season. Never won national player of the year. Was not a very good jumper. Should be removed from the Wall.
Bria Hartley - Never won national player of the year. Averaged 13.0 points a game for her career. Assist/turnover ration of less than 2-1. Doesn't belong on the Wall.
Kaleen Mosqueda-Lewis - Made less than 400 3pt shots, with a percentage of under 45%. Career record for 3pt shots already surpassed. Should be off the Wall.
Morgan Tuck - Less than 1300 career points. Averaged 11.3 points/game. Not the best player in her graduating class. Definitely not Wall material.
Gabby Williams - Averaged 10.6 points/game for her career. Did not win National Championship her final two seasons. Only made 1 3pt shot in her career. Remove her from the Wall.
Kara Wolters - Only 130 assists in for her career. Won a single National Championship. Less than 1000 career rebounds. Should be removed from the Wall.
Jennifer Rizzotti - Averaged 11.1 points for her career. Assist/turnover ration of less than 2-1. One measly National Championship and one measly player of the year award. Wore knee pads. Not Wall material.
Tina Charles - Less than 200 career assists. Lost 6 games during her career. Only All American twice. Wonder how she got on the Wall in the first place, time to go.
Rebecca Lobo - More turnovers than assists. Only All American twice, and only one National Championship. Spends a lot of time with Tennessee grad Kara Lawson. Besides, isn't the Basketball Hall of Fame enough? Take her down from the Wall.
Sue Bird - Career scoring average of 11.7 points/game. All American just once. Never won consecutive National Championships. How she got on the Wall I'll never know. Down.
Moriah Jefferson - Averaged less than 10 points a game for her career. Less than 25 career blocked shots. According to her coach, looked like an eighth grader. Remove her from the Wall.
Maya Moore - Only was national player of the year three times. Lost 4 career games. Did not average 20 points a game for her career. Did not win National Championship as a senior. Place on Wall indicative of "everyone gets a trophy" mentality. Time for her to come down.
Diana Taurasi - Only averaged 15.0 points/game for her career, with assist/turnover ratio of less than 2-1. Won national player of the year just twice. Played poorly in Final Four as a freshman. Not. Wall. Material. Take her number down.
Breanna Stewart - Not UConn's all-time leading scorer. Made less than 36% of her 3pt shots. Played only 12 minutes against Baylor as a freshman. Only two undefeated seasons. In the words of Reagan, "tear down [Breanna's number from] this wall."
Chris Dailey - Seriously? She's never been a head coach. And even though her job is to keep Geno from getting technicals, he still manages to get them. Doesn't belong on Wall at all.
Geno Auriemma - Probably biggest mystery of them all. Can't recruit. Can't win overtime games. Hasn't won a National Championship in two years. Lost two straight games sometime in the 90's. Take him down from the Wall to avoid the embarrassment to both him and the program.
This exercise has been clarifying. Now that it's been pointed out that UConn's Wall of Honor is overpopulated, this review has revealed to me just how overpopulated it is. Bluntly, there is not a deserving name on the Wall. Hopefully this egregious oversight will be corrected immediately and by the time UConn has it's next home game all the numbers on the Wall will be removed and replaced with a banner that says "This space reserved for a deserving players and coaches. (If that day ever comes.)"
