Sarah Strong - Her March to Mt Rushmore | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Sarah Strong - Her March to Mt Rushmore

JSB60 said:
Mine in order is Stewie, Diana, Sue Bird, and Maya. If Sarah gets another natty, she replaces Maya.
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Right now I would say Paige instead of Sue with Sarah having the potential to replace Paige, but she has a ways to go.
 
Limiting Connecticut to only four greatest players is like trying to pick the four best Beatle songs.
 
GoChips20 said:
People really shouldn’t use Stewie’s 4 straight Final Four MOPs to disqualify Strong’s legacy potential yet either because she should’ve won that award. 24/15/5/5 on 10-15 shooting is one of the best individual title game performances I can remember. I thought that was shocking when I heard it after the game ended
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Not to mention in 2015 it 100% should’ve gone to Moriah Jefferson, which Breanna acknowledged when she received the award. Strong’s freshman Final Four statistically matches up favorably to any of Stewart’s Final Four appearances.
 
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bballnut90 said:
Not to mention in 2015 it 100% should’ve gone to Moriah Jefferson, which Breanna acknowledged when she received the award. Strong’s freshman Final Four statistically matches up favorably to any of Stewart’s Final Four appearances.
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Most Outstanding Player is for the two games of the Final Four; Breanna Stewart had a monster game in the semifinals, and a quieter offensive game in the final, but still 15 rebounds and four (more) blocks. You can make as as good a case for Morgan Tuck as you can for Jefferson (12 points and 7 assists in the final, after a semifinal game comparable to Stewart's).
 
fomalhaut said:
Most Outstanding Player is for the two games of the Final Four; Breanna Stewart had a monster game in the semifinals, and a quieter offensive game in the final, but still 15 rebounds and four (more) blocks. You can make as as good a case for Morgan Tuck as you can for Jefferson (12 points and 7 assists in the final, after a semifinal game comparable to Stewart's).
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I think most in hindsight would've given it to Jefferson over Stewart. Her defense on Loyd was the difference in the hard fought championship game and she produced well in both games offensively. Most of the narrative after that Final Four was that Jefferson probably deserved to win. Stewart even said so in her acceptance speech.
 
You go to Uconn to win championships.Paige only has 1and she was 3rd best player behind Azzi an SS in the final 4 the one she did win
 
I don't know about mountains or the Seven Wonders of the World, but I've recently revised my personal choices for UConn's all-time starting five.

  • Diana
  • Maya
  • Stewie
  • Paige (replacing the I-once-thought-irreplacable Sue, because Paige was all-around better in college on both O and D)
  • Sarah Strong (beating out Tina, Rebecca, Napheesa and Nykesha, because of her nonpareil combi-strengths in all aspects of O and D and because she will give my team 3pt shooters at all positions, multipositionally)

They all have elite, omniskilled "it".
 
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Skeets said:
Just a personal opinion. I'm sure arguments could be made either way, but Sue is on the Mt., she's on the bubble.
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Well what are you're arguments for? Because compared to others, she really doesn't fit all that well.

I've never seen/heard/read anyone ever putting her on Mt Rushmore unless they are adding in post UCONN career. (which is a different discussion altogether) You can have that opinion, I'm just curious why?
 
JSB60 said:
Mine in order is Stewie, Diana, Sue Bird, and Maya. If Sarah gets another natty, she replaces Maya.
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Sorry but I thk we all should consider Sarah for being on the mountain after her UConn career is over. Imo if anyone is replaced it'll be one of my many favs....Suzanne Brigit Bird.
 
meyers7 said:
Well what are you're arguments for? Because compared to others, she really doesn't fit all that well.

I've never seen/heard/read anyone ever putting her on Mt Rushmore unless they are adding in post UCONN career. (which is a different discussion altogether) You can have that opinion, I'm just curious why?
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Not my opinion. I was respecting someone else's opinion. In post #32 I said Paige instead of Sue with Sarah potentially eclipsing Paige before she's done. The other 3 we more or less agree on.

FYI, I accidentally left out an "if". I meant to say IF Sue is on the Mt., She's on the bubble. Sorry if this caused confusion.
 
browns said:
You go to Uconn to win championships.Paige only has 1and she was 3rd best player behind Azzi an SS in the final 4 the one she did win
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Interesting take. So which of the others, substituted for Bueckers, wins her freshman or junior year? As for the final four, those players played that way in large part because of Bueckers who, as Geno was fond of saying, was not selfish enough. A lot of what she did and does on the court does not show up n the box score.
I would trade a healthy Bueckers for Stewie (of course) and probably DT. Not familiar enough with MM. Maybe Strong when she is finished, but not yet. Nobody else.
 
EricSD said:
I think Paige is incredibly deserving, but by the time Sarah is done, her numbers will be better in just about every way imaginable. But I will still believe Paige is deserving so our Mt Rushmore will need 5. Or we will need to call it something else. Maybe the "7 wonders of the basketball world"? That would give room for those 5 plus 2 more...
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People are really giving this a thumb's down ?! Good lord

Paige is 100% deserving as it is, but then keep in mind she lost a large part of one year to injury and an entire second season. And virtually every team she was on was diminished by significant injuries - including last season when multiple players were working their way back to full health during the season
 
Bone Dog said:
We all love Sarah. But just a reminder that Paige is 3rd on the all time UConn scoring list with 30 fewer games played. Extrapolate for that discrepancy and she's probably the all time leader, or at least in a virtual tie with Maya. Figure in all the other intangibles Paige brought to her years in Storrs and I'd say If Maya belongs up there, so does Paige. The great ones each defined an era, and Paige absolutely did that.
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She would be. In the same number of games as Maya Moore, Paige would have 3,053 points to Maya's 3,036

By the same token, in the same 147 games as Diana, she'd have more assists, as well - 670 to Diana's 648
 
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darrell said:
To be fair, Sarah won a title and was by far the most dominant player in the Final Four.
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All due respect, but that is not the same as being deemed the best player in the entire country over the entire season.
 
DRBackup said:
People are really giving this a thumb's down ?! Good lord

Paige is 100% deserving as it is, but then keep in mind she lost a large part of one year to injury and an entire second season. And virtually every team she was on was diminished by significant injuries - including last season when multiple players were working their way back to full health during the season
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Thanks LOL. Only Zanzsman gave it a thumbs down. No idea why but OK. And you are right - Paige really only played 29 games in her first season, and 17 the next season, missing the entire following year due to her injuries. She played 115 college games whereas a player like Sarah will likely play 140-150.

For reference, Diana played 144. Maya played 154. Stewie played 152.
 
DRBackup said:
People are really giving this a thumb's down ?! Good lord

Paige is 100% deserving as it is, but then keep in mind she lost a large part of one year to injury and an entire second season. And virtually every team she was on was diminished by significant injuries - including last season when multiple players were working their way back to full health during the season
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And for me, availability is very important for Mt Rushmore. Along with stats, titles, awards. That's kind of what happened with Bird. She missed most of that Fr year....so only got really 3 years.

It doesn't matter how good you are (or what you "would" have done) if you can't play ( don't actually do it.)
 
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At present, ZERO women's basketball players (of any team) have career per-game averages that meet or exceed those of Sarah Strong in Points, Rebounds, Assists, Blocks and Steals.

There are 7 players (including Maya) that meet the criteria if Sarah's averages are rounded down to the nearest whole number.

1769718912362.png

courtesy of https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/.
 
While Mt. Rushmore only includes 4 presidents...I think it is more than fair to have 5 players when doing a 'Mt Rushmore' designation for basketball.

As I see it...at present...

there are 4 UConn players that are 'locks':
  • Paige Bueckers
  • Maya Moore
  • Breana Stewart
  • Diana Taurasi
these are the 5 'strongest' candidates for the 5th spot:
  • Svetlana Abrasimova
  • Sue Bird
  • Tina Charles
  • Napheesa Collier
  • Gabby Williams
Sarah Strong is on pace to be the 5th 'lock'.

Locks statistically defined as:

2,000+ points
500+ rebounds
400+ assists
100+ blocks
100+ steals
 
EricSD said:
Thanks LOL. Only Zanzsman gave it a thumbs down. No idea why but OK. And you are right - Paige really only played 29 games in her first season, and 17 the next season, missing the entire following year due to her injuries. She played 115 college games whereas a player like Sarah will likely play 140-150.

For reference, Diana played 144. Maya played 154. Stewie played 152.
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Thumbs down for 5 players MT Rushmore
 
maple said:
We might have enough room if we make it the UConn Congress. 😂
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Hardly, since the " Congress" never accomplishes anything. Oh, and when considering accomplishments keep in mind the level of competition each player faced. The Big East was a whole lot tougher conference at one time. Not sure how the numbers of those players who played in the AAC and recent Big East hold up against those who played in the old Big East. Just another thing to consider if you're gonna talk stats.
 
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Sarah is still writing her story and though she makes such a good case, her story is still being written. She shouldn't even be in these convos yet, primacy vs recency has a strong hold on this topic (excuse my pun)

Maya
Diana
Stewart

are there and you can shuffle whomever else you'd like based on whatever criteria you have there but those 3 are the titans that are etched in stone imo.
 
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