Strong wins the Wade and Azzi is on the wall!! | The Boneyard

Strong wins the Wade and Azzi is on the wall!!

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Hayven

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Congrats to Sarah!!
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I feel great for Azzi given all that she had to overcome with injuries.

I kind of feel bad for Azzi in that last year Paige soaked up an awful lot of attention in this year Sarah did, both deservedly so. Granted both are "once in a generation" players, but I think we would be talking about Azzi the same way. She is a phenomenal athlete who has worked unbelievably hard at her game.

Now, at Connecticut the culture isn't about individual accolades, rather it's about team success, but, when you stop and think about the extraordinary talent, we have on the roster it really boggles the mind. It's amazing to me that the coaches can so consistently identify it and convince the players that Storrs, CT is the best place for them to develop their game. It also speaks volumes about the character of the players that they are willingly share the spotlight. It's unbelievable the culture that Geno and Chris have created and maintained.
 
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oldude said:
There’s a debate about that. Now there’s no debate. She’s on the wall, hopefully right after UConn wins #13 and returns to Storrs for a celebration with the students at Gampel.
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Don't think there is a debate - any of the main All-American teams does it - it is just the WBCA 10 person first team is easier to get onto than the 5 player first teams so it is the one most often cited, and the only one some players make. I think I remember one year a player made a 5 person team, but not the 10 person WBCA team - don't remember who or whether it was even a Uconn player, but it did stand out.
 
There is no award that Sarah and Azzi would earn that they didn't earn.and all the future awards that they will win. AZZI IS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF GRIT AND DETERMINATION TO PLAY AND WIN AWARDS AFTER ALL HER INJURIES ANS SET BACKS DURING HER CAREER!
 
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They are two of the best in the country and if they both play like they are capable no team can stay close. Sarah winning player of the year playing roughly 2/3 of a game per night is quite remarkable. To me she was the best by quite a margin and very deserving.
 
CL82 said:
I feel great for Azzi given all that she had to overcome with injuries.

I kind of feel bad for Azzi in that last year Paige soaked up an awful lot of attention in this year Sarah did, both deservedly so. Granted both are "once in a generation" players, but I think we would be talking about Azzi the same way. She is a phenomenal athlete who has worked unbelievably hard at her game.

Now, at Connecticut the culture isn't about individual accolades, rather it's about team success, but, when you stop and think about the extraordinary talent, we have on the roster it really boggles the mind. It's amazing to me that the coaches can so consistently identify it and convince the players that Storrs, CT is the best place for them to develop their game. It also speaks volumes about the character of the players that they are willingly share the spotlight. It's unbelievable the culture that Geno and Chris have created and maintained.
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Azzi was the MOP of the Final Four last year when even a casual observer could recognize that Sarah Strong was the reason we won the National Championship. That's not a dig at Azzi. Sarah scored 24 in the Final and owned the paint in both games. She established her reputation on the big stage that she is a generational talent.

I like and support Azzi as much as anyone, but don't feel sorry for her that she has had to dance in the shadow of Paige and Sarah. Everyone else has had to.
 
ucmiami2 said:
Don't think there is a debate - any of the main All-American teams does it - it is just the WBCA 10 person first team is easier to get onto than the 5 player first teams so it is the one most often cited, and the only one some players make. I think I remember one year a player made a 5 person team, but not the 10 person WBCA team - don't remember who or whether it was even a Uconn player, but it did stand out.
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ucmiami, good memory. The records show that making one of these two First Teams but not the other does, indeed, happen every once in a while - probably more often than most fans would guess.

Here's that happenstance going back to 1994-95 (the first year of AP WBB All-American teams. The WBCA has been producing their 10-person AA teams since 1975):

Making the AP First Team but not making WBCA First Team. Happened eight times in the past 30 years:
2020 - Rhyne Howard, Kentucky
2017 - Briana Jones, Maryland
2016 - Rachel Banham, Minnesota
2011 - Jeanette Pohlen, Stanford
2000 - Ruth Riley, Notre Dame
1999 - Dominique Canty, Alabama
1996 - Latasha Byears, DePaul
1996 - Kara Wolters, UConn
Bold font indicates this is the only time they made any AP AA team during their college careers.

(Additionally, there have been 42 occurrences of AP Second Team players not making the WCBA First Team. The most recent are TaNiya Latson (LSU) and Olivia Miles (Notre Dame) last year.)

Here's the flip-side of this dynamic - making the 10 player WCBA First Team, but not making ANY of the AP AA Teams that year (i.e., not making First Team, Second Team or Third Team). As one can see, it happened 13 times in the past 30 years:
2024 - Aaliyah Edwards, UConn
2017 - Kalani Brown, Baylor
2016 - Courtney Williams, South Florida
2012 - Bria Hartley, UConn
2012 - Glory Johnson, Tennessee
2004 - Janel McCarville, Minnesota
2003 - Iciss Tillis, Duke
2000 - LaToya Thomas, Mississippi St
1999 - Kelly Miller, Georgia
1998 - Allison Feaster, Harvard
1998 - Chasity Melvin, NC State
1997 - Tajama Abraham, George Washington
1995 - Stacey Lovelace, Purdue
Italicized font indicates that they never made any other WCBA or AP AA team during their college careers.

Good stuff. Congrats to all First Team AAs!
 
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