Sarah Strong Maya Moore stat comparison through 56 games

[CL82]

I love how the people drilled down on the data in the original post. Well done everyone.

FWIW, I think it's tough to compare players across eras. My intention in the original post wasn't to create a ranking between Sarah and Maya. Instead, I wanted to point out that Sarah is playing basketball at a level of one of the greatest players ever to play the game. Sometimes it's hard to appreciate that when it's happening, but that's what we're watching right now.

 

[Skeets]

It's scary how spoiled we are. What would this forum be like if we never had Geno and CD? Would we be a perpetual 12-18 team with 100 people in the stands? Instead, we have, with a bunch of obvious exceptions, the most talented players in the past 30 years.

HuskyNan would have a much easier job keeping the 3 or 4 people who would bother posting in line.

 

[jazz]

In Maya’s freshman season, there were 6 Big East teams in the preseason rankings (DePaul wasn’t in the BE then). In addition, UConn played then #4 Stanford, #11 Duke, and #4 North Carolina during the regular season.

2007–08 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

View attachment 115842

ok but didn't uconn beat the heck out of these teams most of the time. I know ND gave them a couple good games and maybe rutgers. .

 

[jazz]

That’s a good question that forced me to go back and review which of the 16 or so different universities that, at various times, constituted the OBE & NBE were affiliated with the conference when Maya played from 2007-2011.

During those years ND, Louisville, Rutgers, Syracuse, Cincinnati & WV were all basketball playing members of the BE in addition to UConn & the Catholic 7. Through Maya’s years, UConn made it to 4 FF’s. ND made it twice & Rutgers once. Just 2 years after Maya graduated, the BE had 3/4 of the FF: UConn, ND & Louisville.

Games against teams like Rutgers, Villanova & WV were typically low scoring, physical battles that often came down to the wire. Going back to that 2013 season, UConn lost 3 times to ND by a couple of points before finally beating them in the national semifinal game.

there were two really good teams so im not sure it was brutally tough. but it had better overall teams but I think we still beat the living hell out of most of them.

 

[oldude]

there were two really good teams so im not sure it was brutally tough. but it had better overall teams but I think we still beat the living hell out of most of them.

Again, during those years UConn, ND, Rutgers & Louisville, to name a few, were all nationally ranked as well as making it to the FF. You are correct that UConn “beat most of them”, but many of the games were single-digit wins. The Rutgers games, particularly in NJ, were absolute wars, and Harry Peretta’s Villanova teams were almost always competitive.

The BE had finally become what Dave Gavitt had envisioned: a dominant men’s & women’s basketball conference covering all the major Eastern media markets. Unfortunately, within a few years, the football schools left the conference for greener pastures.

 

[HuskyNan]

ok but didn't uconn beat the heck out of these teams most of the time. I know ND gave them a couple good games and maybe rutgers. .

Rutgers beat them that year

I think it’s a common Boneyard mistake to judge how good a team is by how well they play against UConn. Look at the 2025 Final Four - were UCLA and South Carolina bad teams? If you were only looking at the score you might think so but that’s far from the truth

 

[browns]

Comparing stats is fun but when I watch Sara play she looks like the smoothest player I've seem since Maya..Everything just looks so easy for her just like Maya

 

[Bone Dog]

Comparing stats is fun but when I watch Sara play she looks like the smoothest player I've seem since Maya..Everything just looks so easy for her just like Maya

I second that emotion.

 

[CL82]

The BE had finally become what Dave Gavitt had envisioned: a dominant men’s & women’s basketball conference covering all the major Eastern media markets.

I doubt Dave Gavitt gave any thought whatsoever to women's basketball. At the time it was a little more than a club sport. Remember the NCAA did not have women's basketball championships until 1981. (Historical fun fact the first NCAA women's basketball sports championship game was field hockey and happened right here at the University of Connecticut. We won.)

Woman's college basketball owes a huge debt of gratitude to Geno, Chris, Rebecca, Lobo, Jen Rizzotti and the rest of the charismatic 1995 team that it is now considered a "revenue sport" at all. If it doesn't happen here, maybe it happened somewhere else, but the 1995 team definitely was an inflection point for the game.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are an awful lot of other people and teams who contributed to that process, including very recently, Caitlin Clark, but the 1995 team was special in a lot of ways. That in the fact that it was approximate to the ESPN headquarters in Bristol, and thus easy to broadcast created, a paradigm shift in which women's basketball became more visible and as a consequence more profitable.

Unfortunately, within a few years, the football schools left the conference for greener pastures

Actually, it was the basketball only schools that left the conference in 2013. The conference ended up "selling" those exiting teams the big east name in what was, in my opinion, a colossal marketing failure, and the scale of the "new coke" debacle.

 

[Gael]

There is no way to compare players from different eras. Different teammates, different roles, different competition, different everything. I don't know why people even try.

In my lifetime, fans of every sport have always engaged in discussions, debates and arguments about NOW vs. THEN. It's one of the most common sports subjects to discuss in sports discussions.

Of course players from different eras can be compared. They can be compared with statistics of ever-increasing complexity, which appeal to many fans but not to others.

More importantly, for geezers like me, players of different eras can be compared from memory. I absolutely "know" the answer to questions like "could Wilt Chamberlain play in today's NBA" and "could Ted Williams hit today's pitchers." It's easy-peasy to compare today's WCBB players to those of a mere 18 years ago.

Of course, my comparative answers about THEN may be different from those of some other geezer fan, but so may be our comparative answers to questions about NOW. That's all sports, folks!

 

[jazz]

Rutgers beat them that year

I think it’s a common Boneyard mistake to judge how good a team is by how well they play against UConn. Look at the 2025 Final Four - were UCLA and South Carolina bad teams? If you were only looking at the score you might think so but that’s far from the truth

yes but you have conveniently left out that uconn beat the stuffing out of them a month later by 20 and then again a month after that by ten. This loss to Rutgers was more an aberration than any sort of claim that the big east during these 4 years was 'brutally tough'.

It certainly wasn't too tough for uconn since they went 78-2 over that time, including post season against BE competition. They not only beat unranked BE teams by 30-50 points, but the ranked ones too by 20 plus points. There was only two games in Maya's first three seasons where the game was decided by single digits. That means the other 56 times, Uconn won by double digits. So, I don't think the BE was brutally tough for Uconn to beat handily.

In Maya's SR year, Uconn went 20-1 against BE opponents, with the lone loss being against ND in the final 4 where ND scored 46 in the second half. Uconn had already beaten ND 3 times that year, once by double digits and another time by 9 points.

So my only point was that the BE was not brutally tough for Uconn to beat like a drum for 4 years. I never said there was not any good teams during this time, just that it was not brutally tough. The league may have been tougher then than it is now but 'brutally tough'? Now others can disagree and I will respectfully disagree as well.

As far as your question about SC and UCLA being bad teams, I don't think this very silly question deserves a reply.

 

[jazz]

In my lifetime, fans of every sport have always engaged in discussions, debates and arguments about NOW vs. THEN. It's one of the most common sports subjects to discuss in sports discussions.

Of course players from different eras can be compared. They can be compared with statistics of ever-increasing complexity, which appeal to many fans but not to others.

More importantly, for geezers like me, players of different eras can be compared from memory. I absolutely "know" the answer to questions like "could Wilt Chamberlain play in today's NBA" and "could Ted Williams hit today's pitchers." It's easy-peasy to compare today's WCBB players to those of a mere 18 years ago.

Of course, my comparative answers about THEN may be different from those of some other geezer fan, but so may be our comparative answers to questions about NOW. That's all sports, folks!

Do you think players are better now than they were during Maya's time? I think it may be about the same, maybe a little better now. I'd be curious to know what others think as well.

 

[jazz]

Again, during those years UConn, ND, Rutgers & Louisville, to name a few, were all nationally ranked as well as making it to the FF. You are correct that UConn “beat most of them”, but many of the games were single-digit wins. The Rutgers games, particularly in NJ, were absolute wars, and Harry Peretta’s Villanova teams were almost always competitive.

The BE had finally become what Dave Gavitt had envisioned: a dominant men’s & women’s basketball conference covering all the major Eastern media markets. Unfortunately, within a few years, the football schools left the conference for greener pastures.

very few were by double digits actually. Only 2 in Maya's first 3 years and 5 in her senior year. Uconn beat the heck out of everybody, ranked and not ranked almost always by double digits.

 

[jazz]

Maya took 20% of the team's FGAs (506/2435).
Sarah took 18% of the team's FGAs (464/2513).

Maya took 26% of the team's 3FGAs (170/670) (made 42%)
Sarah took 17% of the teams 3FGAs (152/899) (made 39%)

Maya's FTM/FTA = 55/74
Sarah's FTM/FTA = 54/73

Scary how similar their production was/is. They both make/made everything look so easy. I have to give a slight edge to SS since she leads in most statistical categories and is a bit more efficient at scoring than MM, which in itself is hard to believe.

 

[Skeets]

Do you think players are better now than they were during Maya's time? I think it may be about the same, maybe a little better now. I'd be curious to know what others think as well.

I think players might be a little better than during Maya's time, but if you go back further, say the 1980s, WCBB is an order of magnitude better now.

 

[oldude]

very few were by double digits actually. Only 2 in Maya's first 3 years and 5 in her senior year. Uconn beat the heck out of everybody, ranked and not ranked almost always by double digits.

Point taken. Out of curiosity, I checked mpg for Maya & Sarah during their first 2 years at UConn. Maya averaged 29.5 & 31 mpg. Sarah averaged 28.5 & 26.5 so far this season.

While their freshman mpg are very similar. There is a 20% difference so far as sophomores. Obviously, that additional PT would allow Maya to put up bigger numbers than Sarah. We’ll see how it plays out for the remainder of this season.

 

[CL82]

Do you think players are better now than they were during Maya's time? I think it may be about the same, maybe a little better now. I'd be curious to know what others think as well.

I don't know that I ever thought about it. As a whole, I would guess better due to better strength and conditioning and higher competition, but as noted above, it's really tough to compare across eras

 

[jazz]

Point taken. Out of curiosity, I checked mpg for Maya & Sarah during their first 2 years at UConn. Maya averaged 29.5 & 31 mpg. Sarah averaged 28.5 & 26.5 so far this season.

While their freshman mpg are very similar. There is a 20% difference so far as sophomores. Obviously, that additional PT would allow Maya to put up bigger numbers than Sarah. We’ll see how it plays out for the remainder of this season.

To be honest, I thought there were a few closer games during these years, but I think there must have been a lot of hype with regard to ND and Rutgers, in particular, and Louisville to a lesser extent. However, when the dust settled, uconn almost always won handily.

Also, it's really cool that we have another 2.5 years to enjoy SS and continue debates on who is better in uconn history. At the end of the day, I just hopes she brings home the championship 4 times.

 

[HuskyNan]

yes but you have conveniently left out that uconn beat the stuffing out of them a month later by 20 and then again a month after that by ten. This loss to Rutgers was more an aberration than any sort of claim that the big east during these 4 years was 'brutally tough'.

It certainly wasn't too tough for uconn since they went 78-2 over that time, including post season against BE competition. They not only beat unranked BE teams by 30-50 points, but the ranked ones too by 20 plus points. There was only two games in Maya's first three seasons where the game was decided by single digits. That means the other 56 times, Uconn won by double digits. So, I don't think the BE was brutally tough for Uconn to beat handily.

In Maya's SR year, Uconn went 20-1 against BE opponents, with the lone loss being against ND in the final 4 where ND scored 46 in the second half. Uconn had already beaten ND 3 times that year, once by double digits and another time by 9 points.

So my only point was that the BE was not brutally tough for Uconn to beat like a drum for 4 years. I never said there was not any good teams during this time, just that it was not brutally tough. The league may have been tougher then than it is now but 'brutally tough'? Now others can disagree and I will respectfully disagree as well.

As far as your question about SC and UCLA being bad teams, I don't think this very silly question deserves a reply.

Rutgers was ranked #3 in the 2007-08 preseason after losing to Tennessee in the 2007 National Championship. Rutgers made the championship game because it was an excellent team. In 2007-08 Rutgers beat #6 LSU, #20 George Washington, twice, #5 Maryland, #10 Cal, #19 Louisville, #1 UConn, and #15 Notre Dame. In addition, they had a regular season 1 point loss to #3 Tennessee in Knoxville when the game clock mysteriously added a few extra seconds that the LVs used to score the winning bucket at the buzzer. (all ranking postseason finals) They finished the season ranked #7 after losing to UConn in the Elite Eight. The fact that UConn beat Rutgers twice that season is a testament to their greatness, not because RU wasn’t a good team @KnightBridgeAZ

Your lack of knowledge of Big East history doesn’t change the fact that the conference was one of the best in the country at that time