Should UConn's Paige Bueckers win national player of the year?

[j66kicker]

Dan Marino never won a super bowl so is never in the best quarterback ever discussion. Like it or not to be the best you have to win titles...not saying its right.

IMO it is right. Pretty simple - if Dan Marino was one of the "best quarterbacks ever" then he would have won a super bowl.

 

[MD#12Fan]

Yesterday I read that voting begins Mar 22 and concludes April 3, the day before the NCAA Championship game. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
With these candidates, not sure why you would turn your vote in early. Including PB, I think you have to wait and see what players do "in big spots". (a Maddog term)
Worth talking about: What is the definition of the award. Personally, I like these big awards to go to iconic players, players that are destined for professional stardom. Look at the men's list starting in 1969- Alcindor, Maravich, Carr, Walton, David Thompson, Scott May, Marques Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Sampson, Ewing. Most of these are heroic, legendary players. Lionel Simmons from LaSalle and Jimmer Fredette from BYU not as much. I never like to see winners like Megan Gustafson. I'm not sure she even made her pro team. Maybe that doesn't mean anything, maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree.

 

[CocoHusky]

When does voting happen - End of regular season, conference tournament, national tournament?

End of regular season.

 

[CocoHusky]

Regardless of the answer, it's mind-boggling that a respected writer even asks that question. I agree with Mechelle that, as I've said for a while, this is a year in which multiple players win different NPOY awards.

Mechelle's list mentions players who likely will make 5-player and especially 10-player All-American lists. In terms of NPOY awards, I see only 4 candidates, and 2 of them are at the top. I think Paige and Dana Evans may split some awards. I think they are the top 2 players. I can see Clark and Hillmon possibly winning an award. I honestly think no one else deserves any of the NPOY awards, though there are some excellent players who are deserving of 1st team All-American recognition.

If Paige's numbers has been stronger in her last 4 games, she might have been the clear winner. Let's see what she does in the BET.

BET game play and NCAA do not figure into POY awards or even All-Conference awards.

 

[Gurleyman]

The trouble with saying there may be a split is that the committees don’t compare notes and say - you give it to Paige, we’ll give it to Dana. They vote independently.

What‘s unfortunate, and I guess not surprising, is that in the Twitter responses to this story the knives are coming out. Paige is very much not liked already outside of Storrs. God forbid she have a bad day in the tournament - I might stay off Twitter for a few weeks.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

IMO it is right. Pretty simple - if Dan Marino was one of the "best quarterbacks ever" then he would have won a super bowl.

Here, we diverge - one player, even the QB in football, simply cannot "make" a championship. I believe the ability to lead teams to championships IS a factor in evaluating great players, but, since only one team wins a championship in each sport each year, the team record and ability to "make the playoffs" and all that are also factors. So are the coaches they play for, in the pros the composition of the team around them, etc. etc.

I'm not, by the way, ranking Marino great or not. I do agree that he would never be the "greatest" because of the championship issue.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

The trouble with saying there may be a split is that the committees don’t compare notes and say - you give it to Paige, we’ll give it to Dana. They vote independently.

What‘s unfortunate, and I guess not surprising, is that in the Twitter responses to this story the knives are coming out. Paige is very much not liked already outside of Storrs. God forbid she have a bad day in the tournament - I might stay off Twitter for a few weeks.

As a non-UConn fan I don't watch most of your games, but in the ones I saw Paige was the best player on the court. And smooth.

In my opinion she is a viable candidate for NPOY and also national Freshman awards. She would get my vote.

What is wrong with people? I can understand not thinking she should be NPOY (although the main reason I could imagine would only be that she is a freshman), but disrespecting someone who looks to be the next great player in our game??? Ridiculous. Paige, along with Clark, Johnson at Rutgers and a few others around the country and the great talent continuing to come in, sure has things looking good for the future of Women's Basketball.

 

[ucbart]

The trouble with saying there may be a split is that the committees don’t compare notes and say - you give it to Paige, we’ll give it to Dana. They vote independently.

What‘s unfortunate, and I guess not surprising, is that in the Twitter responses to this story the knives are coming out. Paige is very much not liked already outside of Storrs. God forbid she have a bad day in the tournament - I might stay off Twitter for a few weeks.

I deleted Twitter because of the SC fans. The ones on here are great, the ones on twitter are disgusting.

 

[Gurleyman]

As a non-UConn fan I don't watch most of your games, but in the ones I saw Paige was the best player on the court. And smooth.

In my opinion she is a viable candidate for NPOY and also national Freshman awards. She would get my vote.

What is wrong with people? I can understand not thinking she should be NPOY (although the main reason I could imagine would only be that she is a freshman), but disrespecting someone who looks to be the next great player in our game??? Ridiculous. Paige, along with Clark, Johnson at Rutgers and a few others around the country and the great talent continuing to come in, sure has things looking good for the future of Women's Basketball.

It starts with built in anti-UConn sentiment. People think she’s overrated because she goes to UConn and everyone is over-publicizing her (there’s also that one other factor that we probably don’t want to get into lest the moderators go on high alert, but she’s derisively called something that rhymes with “tight curl” a lot).

If pretty much any other player in basketball history averaged 20 and 6 for the No. 1 team in the nation (with over 50 pct shooting and a 2.5 assist to turnover ratio), they’d be universally considered in the top handful of candidates with no backlash. But everyone wants so badly for her to fail and be overrated that they won’t take evidence to the contrary. If UT fans want to say she’s overrated because she was 3-14, ok, I can maybe live with that (small sample size notwithstanding), but even SC fans who literally watched her torch them into oblivion in crunch time think she’s getting undue attention.

 

[jcoton56]

I am very happy that she is not being ruled out because she is a freshman. I feel more confident that she will be an All American.

 

[Centerstream]

Great point (re, BY members being primarily UConn fans)... but I believe @Lorcan was noting that the ESPN article didn't even mention Hilman as one of the top candidates.

As for the article... I am both surprised and impressed that Mechelle Voepel has Paige as the top candidate... not because she doesn't deserve it, but because she is a Freshman. This is a wide open competition...anyone's guess. We should also feel confident that the "Voters" will see this ranking by Mechelle...and while it's only her "opinion"...it might figure in to each of the voter's thoughts and decision on for whom to vote. Of course I am pulling for the kid from Minnesota!

I'm disappointed that Naz Hillmon doesn't even get a mention in this conversation. She's had a heck of a year.

I apologize @Lorcan , I didn't realize you were posting about the contents of the article.

 

[DefenseBB]

You and me both! Of course a few on this board don't care very much for Mechelle. I just hope those contrarians read this article.

Yeah and when you read the article how come Mechelle doesn't list all the other candidate flaws the way she listed Paige's concerns? Give an equal counterargument for everyone, not just Paige.

Count me in the camp of still not caring very much or Michelle with an "e"....

 

[jumpstart]

If I had a vote...Paige would be player of the year. She has single handed turned UCONN into 'the' major team this year. I thought she could not live up to her billing...but she surpassed it. To me it's a no brainer.

 

[CocoHusky]

Yeah and when you read the article how come Mechelle doesn't list all the other candidate flaws the way she listed Paige's concerns? Give an equal counterargument for everyone, not just Paige.

Count me in the camp of still not caring very much or Michelle with an "e"....

Well I'm tempted to give you a least partial credit for reading the article. Full credit would have been appropriate if you drew a direct connection between the question posed in the title of the article:
Should UConn's Paige Bueckers win national player of the year?"
and this very crisp well supported thesis statement:
"Bueckers has made a compelling case to make awards history."

Can you imagine the BY outrage if the title of the article read: Should Louisville's Dana Evans win national player of the year?"

 

[Vowelguy]

The article just proves how antiUConn ESPN is.

 

[Gurleyman]

The article just proves how antiUConn ESPN is.

Sort of crazy to do a six paragraph Bueckers analysis, mention counter points, and not ever even bring up the SC game other than to lump it in with the other two sec games.

 

[bluedevil]

Regardless of the answer, it's mind-boggling that a respected writer even asks that question. I agree with Mechelle that, as I've said for a while, this is a year in which multiple players win different NPOY awards.

Mechelle's list mentions players who likely will make 5-player and especially 10-player All-American lists. In terms of NPOY awards, I see only 4 candidates, and 2 of them are at the top. I think Paige and Dana Evans may split some awards. I think they are the top 2 players. I can see Clark and Hillmon possibly winning an award. I honestly think no one else deserves any of the NPOY awards, though there are some excellent players who are deserving of 1st team All-American recognition.

If Paige's numbers has been stronger in her last 4 games, she might have been the clear winner. Let's see what she does in the BET.

I would like her to be MVP of the final 4....the other players u mention can win the other awards.

 

[WBBSUperFan]

No - Clark isn’t getting the shaft. The lowest ranked player to ever win the Naismith award was Kelsey Plum for No. 12 Washington, when she averaged over 30 as a senior and set the NCAA scoring record. Cheryl Miller is the only other player to win it outside the top 10 - when she repeated for No. 11 USC in 1985.

Clark plays for a unranked team (No. 32 or so if you count the ARV teams) and is in seventh place in the Big 10.

Actually only 6 have ever won it in 40 years from outside the top six, including Plum, Gustafson (8) and Wilson (7) in a recent three-year span.

thank you. i’m so over people thinking Clark is getting robbed. she is a great volume shooter, but that is really it at this point. Her decision making is very freshman like and it really hasn’t gotten better over the season. today is a perfect example, yes scored 32, but fouled out with 3 minutes left and claimed she did t know how many fouls she had. not to mention it was the most obvious foul ever. She plays no defense. i actual think Iowa would be a better team if she didn’t run the point. the offense consists of either her going one or one or her dumping it into the post on the 1st pass of the offense. there no flow and the other players in her team can actual shoot. if they were more balanced and they played any defense they might win more games

 

[Gurleyman]

thank you. i’m so over people thinking Clark is getting robbed. she is a great volume shooter, but that is really it at this point. Her decision making is very freshman like and it really hasn’t gotten better over the season. today is a perfect example, yes scored 32, but fouled out with 3 minutes left and claimed she did t know how many fouls she had. not to mention it was the most obvious foul ever. She plays no defense. i actual think Iowa would be a better team if she didn’t run the point. the offense consists of either her going one or one or her dumping it into the post on the 1st pass of the offense. there no flow and the other players in her team can actual shoot. if they were more balanced and they played any defense they might win more games

She’s had an outstanding year and i certainly wouldn’t argue if she ends up a second team AA. Maybe even sneaking on the first team, since the Rhyne Howards and Aari McDonalds of the world haven’t come up big, and maybe opened the door for Clark to make it with her numbers. But NPOY is supposed to be a high bar - you need individual and team success. Historically, that means you better be in the top 10 (or be Kelsey Plum and just outside the top 10). There isn’t anything Clark has done that makes this year different. Iowa is 14-8, unranked, in seventh place in their league, and ranks dead last in the country in team defense (336 out of 336j. UConn is No. 5 in defense - Iowa actually gives up 30 ppg more.

Not sure I want to see them in our 8-9 game, though. They can spread the floor with shooters (their other three point shooters shoot a very high percentage too) and if they go 16-25 on threes, they could shoot us out no matter how much we score against their Swiss cheese at the other end. The Butler game gave me a little pause in that regard.

 

[bluedevil]

thank you. i’m so over people thinking Clark is getting robbed. she is a great volume shooter, but that is really it at this point. Her decision making is very freshman like and it really hasn’t gotten better over the season. today is a perfect example, yes scored 32, but fouled out with 3 minutes left and claimed she did t know how many fouls she had. not to mention it was the most obvious foul ever. She plays no defense. i actual think Iowa would be a better team if she didn’t run the point. the offense consists of either her going one or one or her dumping it into the post on the 1st pass of the offense. there no flow and the other players in her team can actual shoot. if they were more balanced and they played any defense they might win more games

So great players help their teams win a lot more...I'm good with that..

 

[Go/huskies]

Good article, Paige gets my vote for POY, but Voepel should’ve made sure she had all her facts right.

Paris Named AP Player of the Year - University of Oklahoma

CLEVELAND -- Courtney Paris' young career has been characterized by the astonishing total of school, conference and NCAA records she has accumulated. So it came

soonersports.com

 

[MilfordHusky]

Good article, Paige gets my vote for POY, but Voepel should’ve made sure she had all her facts right.

Paris Named AP Player of the Year - University of Oklahoma

CLEVELAND -- Courtney Paris' young career has been characterized by the astonishing total of school, conference and NCAA records she has accumulated. So it came

soonersports.com

Paris and Maya were the only AP 4-time 1st team All-Americans. Will we have another one?

 

[bballnut90]

It's an odd year all around. Given the circumstances we've had I'd select Paige over anyone else right now. Stinks that we've only seem a lot of the candidates in 1-2 significant games. Seeing her go head to head vs Evans and Baylor wouldve given a clearer picture IMO.


I dont think she should win due to lack of team success, but Clark's numbers are just phenomenal. They're a small step behind Plum's insane senior season at Washington and Clark is only a freshman. If she can maintain her scoring average, she is well positioned to break Plum's all time scoring record even with this shortened season.

 

[bballnut90]

Paris and Maya were the only AP 4-time 1st team All-Americans. Will we have another one?

If Paige stays all 4 years then likely yes. Clark i think stands a great shot too, especially with her improved play as the season has continued.