The omission of Morgan Tuck and the selection of A'ja Wilson to the AT AA team is complete and utter political BS. Dumb AP, dumb and wrong.
Here are this season's averages for the two players:
- Morgan: 35 starts, 25 minutes pg, 14 points pg, 5.5 rebounds pg, 3 assists pg
- Wilson: 1 start, 20 minutes pg, 13 points pg, 6.5 rebounds pg, <1 assist pg
*Not a truly equitable but an interesting comparison; their performances going head-to-head on Feb.9:
- Morgan: 35 minutes, 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
- Wilson: 22 minutes, 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
*Here's how each did in what I consider the 2 other most important games of their year:
- Morgan v. ND: 25 pts, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals
- Morgan v. Dayton (Elite 8): 23 pts, 8 rebounds, 3 assists
- Wilson v. Tenn (SEC Championship): 11 pts, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks
- Wilson v. FSU (Elite 8): 10 pts, 2 rebounds, 1 assist
A few observations:
1. Coming off the bench, with limited minutes played, Wilson is inarguably very productive. But these are NOT All America-worthy numbers. Not by any measure. AA status should be determined (along with the intangibles of leadership, etc.) by actual game numbers, NOT an extrapolation of what those numbers might be. Wilson played less, on average, than 20 minutes per game. HALF A GAME !!! If extrapolating numbers is legit for selecting AA's (and it isn't) then I'll play the game and nominate Kiah Stokes with the following "stats" :
-Kiah's actual numbers: 18 minutes pg, 4.5 pts pg, 6.95 rebounds pg, 4 blocks pg, or very roughly extrapolating into starters numbers....
Kiah might have had....36 minutes pg, 9 points pg, 14 rebounds pg, 8 blocks pg- And those numbers would be worthy of AA consideration.
* While this is admittedly non-scientific and silly, it seems to reflect just what the AP did in selecting Wilson to any All-America team. Wilson's actual game numbers are solid but not uber impressive.
* Sadly, Wilson was selected based on all the pre-season hype, being every ratings service's #1 HS recruit, and being Dawn Staley's greatest get. She did not deserve this award based on her performance. Heck, both teammates Welch and Coates had better numbers and did more to help SC win than Wilson did. Morgan Tuck, on the other hand, was a leader and did everything for the best team in the nation
BY EVERY MEASURE, MORGAN TUCK IS AN ALL-AMERICAN. That simply cannot be disputed.