Two more WBB All-America teams announced

[pap49cba]

Ogwumike was joined on the USBWA All-America Team by Elena Delle Donne (Delaware), Skylar Diggins (Notre Dame), Chelsea Gray (Duke), Brittney Griner (Baylor), Shenise Johnson (Miami), A'dia Mathies (Kentucky), Samantha Prahalis (Ohio State), Odyssey Sims (Baylor) and Alyssa Thomas (Maryland).

The John R. Wooden Award All-America Team consisted of Ogwumike, Delle Donne, Diggins, Griner and Wisconsin-Green Bay's Julie Wojta.

 

[sarals24]

I am impressed to see Wojta on the Wooden list. WTF is up with Prahalis getting so much love? Good lord. Just like Lavender last year, I am so unimpressed by OSU's "stars". If they were stars they would get farther in the tourney, IMO.

Hayes and Hartley get no love. I would take them over any of those gaurds.

 

[EricLA]

I am impressed to see Wojta on the Wooden list. WTF is up with Prahalis getting so much love? Good lord. Just like Lavender last year, I am so unimpressed by OSU's "stars". If they were stars they would get farther in the tourney, IMO.

Hayes and Hartley get no love. I would take them over any of those gaurds.

you are totally correct, of course, but it's about putting up the big numbers. Prahalis and Hill are pretty much all the scoring that OSU had this year. the next leading scorer on the team is stokes at 7.5 PPG. in fact, i'd argue that Hill had the better year than Prahalis. more PPG, less MPG, more RPG, prahalis only had more APG. OSU is going to be in a world of hurt next year.

at any rate, without a real superstar this year, UCONN was totally built on team ball. as Geno, and the players have said, there is no Maya, Tina or Renee. Tiff is very good and a top 10 kid in her class, but she's not a dominating force game in and game out. i really like this team a lot.

 

[Kibitzer]

Six players on the USBWA team get to watch Novosel, Hayes and Hartley on TV this weekend from the TV in their dorm. A couple of them should pay attention and learn something.

My view is that Hill was OSU's best player; that an injustice was done to Glory Johnson; that voters may have been reluctant to include both Novosel and Diggins so they went with Skylar; and that voters split their votes between Hayes and Hartley, which hurt both their chances.

 

[Timeout]

I am impressed to see Wojta on the Wooden list. WTF is up with Prahalis getting so much love? Good lord. Just like Lavender last year, I am so unimpressed by OSU's "stars". If they were stars they would get farther in the tourney, IMO.

Hayes and Hartley get no love. I would take them over any of those gaurds.

I got a lot of love for Hayes and Hartley.

 

[Jonathan Husky]

Ogwumike was joined on the USBWA All-America Team by Elena Delle Donne (Delaware), Skylar Diggins (Notre Dame), Chelsea Gray (Duke), Brittney Griner (Baylor), Shenise Johnson (Miami), A'dia Mathies (Kentucky), Samantha Prahalis (Ohio State), Odyssey Sims (Baylor) and Alyssa Thomas (Maryland).

The John R. Wooden Award All-America Team consisted of Ogwumike, Delle Donne, Diggins, Griner and Wisconsin-Green Bay's Julie Wojta.

Prahalis is one of the most overrated guards in the country. Natalie Novosel, Tiffany Hayes, Bria Hartley, Julie Wofta, Taylor Hill and a number of other guards dominate her. Four years of hype for Prahalis and not much success for Ohio State.

 

[speedoo]

Prahalis is one of the most overrated guards in the country. Natalie Novosel, Tiffany Hayes, Bria Hartley, Julie Wofta, Taylor Hill and a number of other guards dominate her. Four years of hype for Prahalis and not much success for Ohio State.

Exactly right.. And she is likely to have a very unsuccesful and short WNBA career, unlike the other players you mentioned.

 

[Icebear]

Prahalis is one of the most overrated guards in the country. Natalie Novosel, Tiffany Hayes, Bria Hartley, Julie Wofta, Taylor Hill and a number of other guards dominate her. Four years of hype for Prahalis and not much success for Ohio State.

Taylor Hill was by far the more important player for OSU this year.

 

[itsasport]

I was finally able to see EDD play a game. She has fantastic offensive skills and played some defense against much smaller players, none of whom were anywhere near All-American level in skills. She was slow and was rather ungainly when she dribbled. A couple of times she looked like she was going to fall down. The commentator repeatedly noted that she was "gassed." (There might well be medical issues involved which she is bravely fighting through.)

At crunch-time, at the end of the game, none of her shots were going in. She gave her best, but, her coach should have taken her out for a few minutes, combined with some time-outs, to give her a blow. Geno even took Kelly out once when he saw that she was about to collapse.

After watching Tiffany's last game, broken bone and all, who would you rather have on your team, Tiff or EDD? If Tiffany had played at Delaware, her stats would have eclipsed EDD's in every catagory (remember her game against Holy Cross? That would have been typical in Delaware's league.)

I would like to see EDD play against a top tier team with other first string AA's before putting her at that level. Actually, she did play against a top college team once- her one scrimmage in summer school at Uconn. I think it was a great shock to her how hard she was going to have to work to play at that level. EDD would have been a terrific addition to Uconn (we would probably be sporting another national championship banner)- but, she would have never been the best player, not even this year.

EDD's high school and college coaches did her a great disservice by insisting that she play entire games, concentrating on offense and being allowed to practically ignore defense.

How many first string AA's have their been who have not been great offensive and defensive players- as demonstrated in important games against other AA's.

 

[Kibitzer]

Exactly right.. And she is likely to have a very unsuccesful and short WNBA career, unlike the other players you mentioned.

I think her WNBA career will last about as long as a "New York minute."

For those of you who reside in the vast wilderness west of the Hudson River, a NY minute is best defined as the time that elapses between the traffic light turning green and the (NY) driver behind you honking his horn.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Chelsea Gray is developing into a very good player, but I didn't think that she had a first-team AA year. She's not even the best player on the team. Williams is their key.

 

[MilfordHusky]

The coach was overlooked. The players were overlooked. We must be winning on luck. Geno's been lucky over 800 times.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Prediction: On the 2014 1st AA team (10 players): Mosqueda-Lewis, Hartley, and Stewart. Second team: Dolson and Jefferson.

 

[HuskyNan]

I am impressed to see Wojta on the Wooden list. WTF is up with Prahalis getting so much love? Good lord. Just like Lavender last year, I am so unimpressed by OSU's "stars". If they were stars they would get farther in the tourney, IMO.

A few years ago, OK State's point guard Andrea Riley made several AA lists, not because they won the Big 12 (they didn't) or because they went far in the NCAAs (lost in 2nd round) but because she averaged a gaudy 26.7 points a game. I wonder if any of the voters noticed that she needed 833 shots (!) to make those points, 326 more shots than the next highest shooter on her team. Riley shot 35.5% overall, 29.8% from beyond the arc. BTW, Riley was on the 2nd team with Griner, Appel, N. Ogwumike and Middle Tenn's Alysha Clark.

 

[willtalk]

Chelsea Gray is developing into a very good player, but I didn't think that she had a first-team AA year. She's not even the best player on the team. Williams is their key.

Perhaps not statistically. While every player has their strengths, some strengths are more easily recognizable than others. Chelsea's greatest assets are her BBIQ, an ability to see plays before the happen, and to see and deliver pinpoint passes to open players over the entire floor. In this way she is able to get the entire team involved in the offense at any given moment. How do you think an offense that sucked last year that lost it's only three double digit scorers was transformed into one that had five in double digits with a sixth at 9.4 a game. Passing and sharing the ball can become as contagious as ball hogging.

While Williams had a major impact in the transformation of the offense, it was not as much as some want to give her credit for. She draws double teams which opens up shots for others. She is an excellent passer which helps to facillitate ball movement. But she is still a freshman who is adjusting to the speed and size of the posts she face's in college. It is harder for posts than any other position. She is not as efficiant as she will be next year. The sophomore season being the one where the greatest improvement shows. She still has a big upside left. As an example she was tied for fourth in fg% among the Duke players with major shot attempts. As good as she was this year next year should be her real breakout year.

On a team like Duke, which has a lot of players capable of scoring, those players need to be allowed touches and shots in order to produce balanced scoring and to maximize team potential. This is Grays game: getting everyone involved. On her high school team even though they had two Mc D AA they still had balenced scoring. I believe this is what the USBWA recognized and was acknowledging. I was frankly surprised that they did. Not that she didn't deserve it but that a media group had the ability to recognize something that was intangible.

 

[bruinbball]

A few years ago, OK State's point guard Andrea Riley made several AA lists, not because they won the Big 12 (they didn't) or because they went far in the NCAAs (lost in 2nd round) but because she averaged a gaudy 26.7 points a game. I wonder if any of the voters noticed that she needed 833 shots (!) to make those points, 326 more shots than the next highest shooter on her team. Riley shot 35.5% overall, 29.8% from beyond the arc. BTW, Riley was on the 2nd team with Griner, Appel, N. Ogwumike and Middle Tenn's Alysha Clark.

So, you're telling me with her D, high A/TO ratio, and good rebounding skills that Kelly just isn't shooting enough to make All-American. All she needs is 25 or so attempts per game??