Top 5 players (NCAA D1 women) in each position?

[Ozzie1986]

Who are your top 5 PG's, SG's, SF's, PF's and C's in this current college season?

 

[wire chief]

Our team...now I'm finished.

 

[dtbtbtb]

I don't know about top 5 for every position but Danger is one of the top 3 PG's if not top (J. Canada?), Kia is one of the top SG's (with Durr and K. Mitchel probably the top 2), KLS is the top SF, Collier and Gabby are in the top 5 of PF and Z is probably top 3 in C (with Wilson number 1).
it's a bit tricky as in reality the UConn kids are playing multiple positions

 

[triaddukefan]

I havent watched enough basketball this year to fill out 20 slots..... but in terms of PG's..... I definitely have Lexie Brown in the top 5. No biased opinion here.

 

[CocoHusky]

 

[Plebe]

I think it's difficult to choose by category, because women's basketball is following the trend in the men's game toward "positionless" basketball.

The new positional awards introduced this year (Hoophall Awards) give us something to work from, but some of their designations puzzle me. Gustafson and Anigwe are on the watch list for power forwards, not centers. And Kia Nurse is on the point guard watch list, although she's been primarily a shooting guard with Dangerfield now starting.

But I'll start with my top 5 point guards *from schools other than UConn* (in alphabetical order):
Lexie Brown, Duke
Kelsey Mitchell, Ohio State
Loryn Goodwin, Oklahoma State
Chennedy Carter, Texas A&M
Jordin Canada, UCLA
Honorable mention: Tyasha Harris, South Carolina; Emily Clemens, Western Illinois; Tiana Mangakahia, Syracuse

My top 5 shooting guards *from schools other than UConn* (in alphabetical order):
Asia Durr, Louisville
Victoria Vivians, Mississippi State
Arike Ogunbowale, Notre Dame
Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon (could be either PG or SG; she and Cazorla are interchangeable in the two roles).
Tyler Scaife, Rutgers
Honorable mention: Allazia Blockton, Marquette; Kitija Laksa, South Florida

I'm not including McPhee or Tynice Martin because they've been injured for most or all of the season so far.

I'll do the other three positions a little later.

 

[CocoHusky]

I havent watched enough basketball this year to fill out 20 slots..... but in terms of PG's..... I definitely have Lexie Brown in the top 5. No biased opinion here.

Hmmm... 5 players X 5 positions would be how many slots?

 

[triaddukefan]

Hmmm... 5 players X 5 positions would be how many slots?

Uh...Well what I was thinking was that the Connecticut starters would take up 5 slots... so that would leave 20 remaining slots ...

Yeah... thats what I was thinking

 

[Plebe]

My picks for SF, PF, and C (again, from schools other than UConn and in alphabetical order):

Small forward:
Kaila Charles, Maryland
Sophie Cunningham, Missouri
Jackie Young, Notre Dame
Ariel Atkins, Texas
Teana Muldrow, West Virginia

Power forward:
Lauren Cox, Baylor
Jessica Lindstrom, Green Bay
Megan Gustafson, Iowa
Myisha Hines-Allen, Louisville
Jaime Nared, Tennessee

Center:
Kalani Brown, Baylor
Kristine Anigwe, Cal
Teaira McCowan, Mississippi State
A'ja Wilson, South Carolina
Mercedes Russell, Tennessee
Honorable mention: Ruthy Hebard, Oregon; Monique Billings, UCLA; Jessica Shepard, Notre Dame

 

[stwainfan]

I'll try point guard first.
Brooke McCarty
Sabrina Ionescu
Kelsey Mitchell
Jordon Canada
Evina Westbrook
I will do shooting guard.
Asia Durr
Victoria Vivians
Kia Nurse
Arike Ogunbowale
Chennedy Carter
I'll drop more later.

 

[Plebe]

I'll try point guard first.
Brooke McCarty
Sabrina Ionescu
Kelsey Mitchell
Jordon Canada
Evina Westbrook
I will do more later.

Uh, Westbrook?
Maybe among the top 5 point guards in the SEC.

 

[triaddukefan]

I'll try point guard first.
Brooke McCarty
Sabrina Ionescu
Kelsey Mitchell
Jordon Canada
Evina Westbrook
I will do more later.

You gonna put Westbrook over Lexie Brown?

 

[stwainfan]

Uh, Westbrook?
Maybe among the top 5 point guards in the SEC.

Hey I like her court vision. I think she is going to be real good.

 

[Plebe]

Hey I like her court vision. I think she is going to be real good.

I like my court vision too, but I'm not putting myself in the list.

 

[stwainfan]

I like my court vision too, but I'm not putting myself in the list.

Ok I'm going by potential on that pick I made.

 

[Plebe]

Ok I'm going by potential on that pick I made.

Okay, just to be clear and fair, I think she has tremendous potential as well and she's already been a major part of Tennessee's success thus far.

I think she has the potential to be all-SEC this season. (The SEC outside of South Carolina, Mississippi State, Tennessee, and Carter/Cunningham is pretty weak.) But to put her in the top 5 in the country at this time is just not based in reality.

 

[stwainfan]

Small forward.
Katie Lou Samulson
M. Hines-allen
Jamie Nared
Gabby Williams

 

[JS]

Ok I'm going by potential on that pick I made.

Whew. That's a relief.

I was afraid you were going by pro-Tennessee bias.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Who are your top 5 PG's, SG's, SF's, PF's and C's in this current college season?

PG                     SG                 SF
J Canada UCLA          K Mitchell OSU     L Samuelson
C Dangerfield UCONN    A Ogunbowale ND    T Muldrow WVa
M William Miss St      K Nurse UCONN      N Collier UCONN
S Ionescu Oregon       T Scaife Rutgers   G Williams UCONN
T Mangahahia Syracuse  V Vivians Miss St  K Laksa USF

PF                   C
A Wilson SCU         K Brown Baylor
L Cox Baylor         N Butler GM
M Gustafson Iowa     T McCowan Miss St
M Billings UCLA      A Stevens UCONN
S Mavunga OSU        M Russell Tenn

Top 5 Players
PG Jordan Canada
SG Kelsey Mitchell
SF Lou Samuelson
PF A'ja Wilson
C  Teaira McCowan

Let's do this again say mid-February.

 

[stwainfan]

Power forward
N. Collier
Lauren Cox
Megan Gustafson
Monique Billings
Stephanie Having a

Center
A'JA Wilson
Mercedes Russell
Kalani Brown
Tierra McCown
Ruthy Hebard

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

PG
J. Canada, UCLA
C. Dangerfield, UCONN (will be #1 by season's end)
B. McCarty, TX
L. Brown, Duke
M. William, TX A&M

SG
K. Nurse, UCONN (PG)
A. Durr, L'ville
S. Ionescu, Oregon (PG)
A. Ogunbowale, ND
T. Scaife, Rutgers

SF
K. L. Samuelson, UCONN (SG)
G. Williams, UCONN (PF) (when KLS moves to SG Gabby is #1 SF)
J. Nared, TN
A. Howard, TX A&M
M. Hines-Allen

PF
N. Collier, UCONN (SF)
M. Billings, UCLA
S. Mavunga, theOSU
L. Cox, Baylor
M. Gustafson, IA

C
A. Stevens, UCONN (PF)
T. McCowan, MissSt
A. Wilson, SoCar
K. Anigwe, Calif
N. Butler, GMason (tied)
K. Brown, Baylor (tied)

 

[hoophuskee]

Too many positions are blurred and do you mean as of this moment or expectations by end of season? But here is a shot as of this moment:

pg: 1- Canada - UCLA, 2- Ionescu - Oregon, 3- Aj Alix - Florida St, 4- McCarty Texas, 5- Dangerfield - UCONN

sg--1- Mitchell- Ohio st, 2- Nurse - UCONN, 3- Durr- Louisville, 4-Ogunbawle- ND, 5- Scaiffe - Rutgers

sf-- 1- Katie Lou - UCONN, 2- Atkins - Texas, 3- Vivians - Miss State, 4- Sophie Cunningham - Missouri, 5- Laksa South Florida

pf- 1 A'ja Wilson - USC, 2- Megan Gustafson - Iowa, 3- Collier - UCONN, 4- Hines - Louisville, 5- Hebard - Oregon

c--- 1- Kalani Brown - Baylor, 2- Tierra McCowan - Miss State, 3- Azura Stevens - UCONN, 4- Mercedes Russell - Tennessee, 5- Mavunga Ohio State
-------------

Top ten that deserve 1st team a/a as of this moment starting with guards with a grouping of 4, then group 2 wings and 4 frontcourt:

Guards-- 1 Mitchell, 2- Nurse, 3- Durr, 4- Canada

Wings- 1- Katie Lou, 2- Atkins

Frontcourt- 1- Wilson, 2- Kalani Brown, 3- Tierra McCowan -- 4 undecided between Gustafson and Stevens. Up until last game I would have had Stevens. Stevens might have even been ahead of McCowan.

 

[bballnut90]

If we're going on who is having the best seasons, I'd vote:

PG:
S. Ionescua, Oregon
C. Dangerfield, UCONN
J. Canada, UCLA
B. McCarty, TX
L. Brown, Duke

SG
K. Mitchell, Ohio State
A. Durr, Louisville
A. Ogunbowale, ND
C. Carter, Texas A&M
K. Nurse, UCONN

SF
KL Samuelson, UCONN
J. Nared, Tennessee
V. Vivians, Mississippi State
A. Atkins, Texas
J. Young, Notre Dame

PF
N. Collier, UCONN
A. Wilson, SoCar
M. Gustafson, IA
S. Mavunga, OSU
T. Muldrow, West Virginia

C
T. McCowan, MissSt
A. Stevens, UCONN
M. Russell, Tenn
K. Anigwe, Calif
K. Brown, Baylor

Lots of really good standouts so far this year.


What's interesting is that I could see a number of UCONN players not making an AA team this year because their numbers are more spread out across 6 players rather than having 3 standouts like last season. UCONN players' individual stats should continue to improve while the rest of the competition will get worse as they dive into conference play....but if I made 5 man teams today, for UCONN I'd probably put them as:

Samuelson-1st team...she looks like the team's top player this year
Collier-3rd team....shooting numbers are down but she's has strong numbers
Stevens-3rd team....very comparable numbers to Collier
Nurse-HM...she's shooting well but she doesn't have good all around numbers right now. If she keeps up her play and other players like Vivians, Durr, McCowan, Muldrow, Gustafson, etc. drop in production, she could make a team.
Dangerfield-HM....another one who could move up to 2nd or 3rd team. I don't think 12.6 points and 5.2 assists makes an AA team at this juncture.
Williams-HM....I think Williams could have a big 2nd half of the year and make her way onto 1st or 2nd team. I still think her and Wilson are the most impactful players in the nation when they're at their best.

 

[hoophuskee]

If we're going on who is having the best seasons, I'd vote:

PG:
S. Ionescua, Oregon
C. Dangerfield, UCONN
J. Canada, UCLA
B. McCarty, TX
L. Brown, Duke

SG
K. Mitchell, Ohio State
A. Durr, Louisville
A. Ogunbowale, ND
C. Carter, Texas A&M
K. Nurse, UCONN

SF
KL Samuelson, UCONN
J. Nared, Tennessee
V. Vivians, Mississippi State
A. Atkins, Texas
J. Young, Notre Dame

PF
N. Collier, UCONN
A. Wilson, SoCar
M. Gustafson, IA
S. Mavunga, OSU
T. Muldrow, West Virginia

C
T. McCowan, MissSt
A. Stevens, UCONN
M. Russell, Tenn
K. Anigwe, Calif
K. Brown, Baylor

Lots of really good standouts so far this year.


What's interesting is that I could see a number of UCONN players not making an AA team this year because their numbers are more spread out across 6 players rather than having 3 standouts like last season. UCONN players' individual stats should continue to improve while the rest of the competition will get worse as they dive into conference play....but if I made 5 man teams today, for UCONN I'd probably put them as:

Samuelson-1st team...she looks like the team's top player this year
Collier-3rd team....shooting numbers are down but she's has strong numbers
Stevens-3rd team....very comparable numbers to Collier
Nurse-HM...she's shooting well but she doesn't have good all around numbers right now. If she keeps up her play and other players like Vivians, Durr, McCowan, Muldrow, Gustafson, etc. drop in production, she could make a team.
Dangerfield-HM....another one who could move up to 2nd or 3rd team. I don't think 12.6 points and 5.2 assists makes an AA team at this juncture.
Williams-HM....I think Williams could have a big 2nd half of the year and make her way onto 1st or 2nd team. I still think her and Wilson are the most impactful players in the nation when they're at their best.

What good all-around numbers does Durr have? She takes a lot of 3's. They have the 70th ranked schedule. UCONN has the 1st. Other than 3pt shooting what good all-around numbers does Durr have? Nurse helped stabilize the game in 2nd half in which Oklahoma cut lead to 7 and I think they had ball to cut 5 - though not sure. Nurse has a terrific all-around game.

And when you say "Nurse is shooting well," putting it that way is similar to what we recently heard on UCONN Husky ALL ACCESS in which Chris Daily was mentioning someone congratulated her for having a "nice season." She told the person-- NO 36-1 is "NOT JUST A NICE SEASON."
Kia Nurse is not just shooting the ball "well." Her shooting ISN"T JUST "WELL." It's HISTORICALLY GREAT considering she is averaging 16.4 - 2nd highest scorer on the number 1 UNDEFEATED team in the country with the number 1 toughest schedule.

I don't exepct Nurse will keep it up. But she has been great this year. Ogunbwole over Nurse right now is laughable imo. You have a player in Ogwho doesn't shoot that well from 3- who was 8-25 vs UCONN while Nurse was solid. Og doesn't shoot that well or pass as well and didn't play as well in head-to-head yet she is ahead of Nurse at this moment? IMO that's just laughable. I'm sorry but efficiency counts. Often we look at fg%. With guards that take a lot of 3's you look at efg% or some other variant.

And big numbers are a myth. Morgan Tuck got top ten all-american while averaging just 13.7 ppg and 5.7 rebounds. Why? Because in big games she didn't have "Ogunbowale moments" going 8-25. In summary, going undefeated and playing a great schedule counts over players such as Gustafson.

 

[DefenseBB]

View attachment 27157

Coco- great effort and insight here as I can see the thought process/logic on almost all of the rankings except Natalie. Virtually everyone here respects Natalie and virtually everyone here knows McCowan would eat her lunch and leave her in the dust. Yes, Nat is having a great year however it is against Tier 2 competition, I just think you were a tad overzealous in your Nat love and a bit light in your Crystal Dangerfield love...other than that, I am with you.