Sabrina Ionescu POY

[Drumguy]

I've been watching WBB since my daughters starting playing sports mid 90's. I remember ND's 1st Final 4 team with Beth Morgan (now Cunningham). I do know Stiles and watched her play. She scored a lot of points in a pretty mediocre league, but was relentless her senior year when she became the 1st female player to score 1,000 points in a season. Stiles and her team were in the same Final 4 as ND, my alma mater, when we won our first National Championship in 2001. They lost to Purdue in the semis while we beat a loaded UConn team with Taurasi and Bird and several future WNBA players (Ralph, Abrisomova, Schumacher, Cash, Ashja Jones, and Tamika Williams) by 15, the worst loss Geno ever had in a Final 4. ND's Ruth Riley ended being the MVP for the tourney when we beat Purdue as she was unstoppable.

Stiles and Ruth split the national POY awards that year. I always felt Stiles was not as in the same category as Ruth, but they shared the limelight. Stiles was drafted by the Portland Fire in the state I live while Ruth was drafted one spot lower. So I followed Stiles career, but she didn't last long in the WNBA. On the other hand, Ruth had a long career and anchored a WNBA championship with fellow ND alum (Bill Lambier) coaching her team.

Stiles could score but you are correct she's not Taurasi, but she's also not even close to Sabrina. Rebecca Lobo has mentioned several times how Sabrina has a lot of similarities as D.T. We will see how Sabrina does in the WNBA and Team USA, but I am sure both careers will be a lot more productive than Stiles even if they don't match Taurasi's. She will be a great # 1 pick by the Liberty.

One article you might find interesting on Sabrina from The Hartford paper compared her to three UConn greats: Taurasi, Moore, & Stewart. Here is an excerpt: From the 2003-04 days of “We have Diana and you don’t,” through the days of Maya and Stewie, with so many other players of impact sprinkled into the equation, Auriemma has almost always had the player with unmatched ability to change a game, even the sport. The generational talent, this time around, is on the other team.

Another excerpt: “In the last four years, she’s probably redefined what is possible for a point guard,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. Is there higher praise than talk of a player redefining her position from the coach of so many players who redefined their positions?

This article was written before Sabrina lead the Ducks to provide the worst beating ever over a UConn team at Storrs. I truly believe her "unfinished business" would have lead to a National Championship if they had been given a chance to finish the season.

Mike Anthony: Sabrina Ionescu gives Oregon what Geno Auriemma and UConn had in Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart

Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu is capable of more than anyone in college basketball and we’re reminded of that one triple-double at a time, watching from afar the type of player we’ve o…

www.courant.com

ok, I'm willing to concede - you've obviously done your homework and I'm much too much a UConn homer. I don't think it would have been a sure thing about the championship though. UConn was a big threat as were about 3 other teams. If there was a sure thing recently I would have thought Bayler with Griner could not lose but the refs let Louisville maul her and they lost.

 

[willtalk]

ok, I'm willing to concede - you've obviously done your homework and I'm much too much a UConn homer. I don't think it would have been a sure thing about the championship though. UConn was a big threat as were about 3 other teams. If there was a sure thing recently I would have thought Bayler with Griner could not lose but the refs let Louisville maul her and they lost.

No NCAA championship is a sure thing. The best team does not always win. Things happen in a one and out format. Yes, you are a big UConn homer. There were certainly other teams that were a threat to Oregon, but UConn was not one of them. Running on all cylinders and beating the cr#p out of the teams in the AAC is not a standard that necessarily transfers over to the top teams. Basically Uconn only faced 3 top teams and were beaten soundly by all of them. They never faced any teams in the top fifteen or even top twenty except DePaul who was the perfect matchup for them. It is frankly unknown how well they would do against that second-tier level of teams because they never played anyone at that level. What needs to be remembered is that the level of teams you play will also dictate how easy it is to operate on all cylinders. It is certainly easier to do so against lesser than it is against top teams. That's what a good team does. They won't let you do your thing.

Except for Baylor, SC, and Oregon, UConn had much better players than all the teams they played against. There are plenty of other teams that can easily match up talent-wise with this year's UConn. They just haven't had to play them, so how well they would do is pure conjecture. They would have had to play some of these teams before even getting to Baylor, SC or Oregon. Some of those teams, along with having similar talent, also might possess a matchup advantage. UConn did not possess enough of a talent edge that they could have coasted to the final four without some favorable matchups. You might rationally say that UConn was in the second tier of teams, but not that they were undoubtedly the fourth- or fifth best team as many UConn fans seem to need to believe.

It is possible to be a strong fan of a team while still maintaining a degree of objectivity.

Oh by the way. Griner never learned how to create space for herself while in college and that is one reason they lost. She played too upright which made it easy to put bodys against her and restrict her movement. The other was they caught Schimmel in one of her few hot streaks. It was a game that exemplified the effect of Timing and matchups.