The interesting thing with Bird losing that freshman year is that freshman year stats are typically the worst year in a player's four year career. No doubt in my mind that Sue would own the assist record had she gotten her full four years, but I suspect her shooting percentages and A/TO would have suffered had she played as a freshman more than she did.
What tips the balance for me is Moriah's efficiency - A/TO and overall scoring efficiency (points per shot taken) is significantly better than Sue's and her defensive prowess was superior as well. Sue's intangibles may have been better - her leadership and ability to control flow and pacing, but those are qualities that especially when looking at players in different decades are difficult to assess.
Intlzncster (what is that moniker anyway?!) - that 2003 championship and the 70 game streak that they completed was pretty special, the repeat in 2004 more expected. In many ways 2003 paralleled this past season with young players outperforming all expectations. But Moore, Battle, Conlon, and Morgan Valley were all academic juniors and the core leadership on that team welcoming in a pretty special freshman class that included a #1 ranked player in Strother and the closest we have come to a reincarnation of Jamelle in Turner. While Moore and Battle never starred in the WNBA they both had nice and fairly long WNBA careers so they were not chopped liver. Maria was a really good college player as well and her performances in the NCAAs was pretty special for a too slow, too short player. And Crockett remains one of my favorite players ever - the tool in the tool box that only ever worked when it was really needed, but when it was, it was brilliantly and just what was needed. If you want to point to the single most important play, her rebound of a DT foul shot miss is probably it. Just as Moore playing on a torn ACL in the second half was also essential.
