It is hard at this distance to really evaluate Sue as a college player because we are 15 years into her pro and international career where she has been spectacular and the impressions bleed together. And I certainly agree that PG is the least stat driven position on the floor and stats aren't everything to begin with. But evaluating 'leadership' and 'building a team' is pretty hard and typically the way you do it is looking at results and while Sue and Moriah were both surrounded by spectacular players the team results for Sue in the 3 last years were: 2 NCs, 107-4, Moriah: 3 NCs 116-1.From an outsider's perspective, I am not sure how you can not go with Bird at No. 1. Stats don't always tell the whole story and to me, the point guard position is one of influence and building a team. No one did it better than Sue. Plus, as many have pointed out, her alpha dog mentality is what gives her the edge over almost any point guard out there, UConn or not.
This is not a knock on Jefferson; she is a fantastic player as evidenced by her contributions to UConn. But Sue (like Taurasi), was a generational player and if you ask any WNBA GM's who they would choose after her senior year, I guarantee all would choose Bird.
If there had not been a Stewart, Jefferson may well have been a 2-3 time NPOY herself.It is hard at this distance to really evaluate Sue as a college player because we are 15 years into her pro and international career where she has been spectacular and the impressions bleed together. And I certainly agree that PG is the least stat driven position on the floor and stats aren't everything to begin with. But evaluating 'leadership' and 'building a team' is pretty hard and typically the way you do it is looking at results and while Sue and Moriah were both surrounded by spectacular players the team results for Sue in the 3 last years were: 2 NCs, 107-4, Moriah: 3 NCs 116-1.
As for GMs - there was one GM in Moriah's draft who said depending on team needs some teams might choose Moriah ahead of Stewart (another 'generational player'.)
Here are those four ranked, versus each other, by those stats:Interesting, but ... Sue played only 118 games in her career due to her knee injury as a freshman (8 games.) If you drop out freshman year for each:View attachment 30943
I'm not smart enough to pick who of this great group is the best, 2nd best, etc... But there are only 4 names listed who have career stats that place in the top five for assists, the top 15 in steals and top 35 in scoring. I think we can all agree that great point guards tend to score points, pass out assists and get steals...Here are those four ranked, versus each other, by those stats:
Points
1. Renee Montgomery (1,990 pts)
2. Jen Rizzotti (1,540 pts)
3. Moriah Jefferson (1,532 pts)
4. Sue Bird (1,378 pts)
Assists
1. Moriah Jefferson (659 assists)
2. Jen Rizzotti (637 assists)
3. Renee Montgomery (632)
4. Sue Bird (585)
Steals
1. Moriah Jefferson (353 steals)
2. Jen Rizzotti (349)
3. Renee Montgomery (266)
4. Sue Bird (243)
Moriah ranks 1st twice and 3rd once... Jen is 2nd three times... Renne gets a 1st and 3rd twice.... Sue Bird finished 4th all three times... very interesting, but probably not conclusive for many fans.
Go Huskies..!!
MJ’s defense could shut down pgs, see SD. Penetrator extraordinaire, good 3point shooter, lightning quick on break, assist machine, game changing finishes in big games and the heart of a warrior. Give me MJ. I love Sue, I watched Sue, she’s the greatest of the great, get it straight, she’s great. But give me MJ.From an outsider's perspective, I am not sure how you can not go with Bird at No. 1. Stats don't always tell the whole story and to me, the point guard position is one of influence and building a team. No one did it better than Sue. Plus, as many have pointed out, her alpha dog mentality is what gives her the edge over almost any point guard out there, UConn or not.
This is not a knock on Jefferson; she is a fantastic player as evidenced by her contributions to UConn. But Sue (like Taurasi), was a generational player and if you ask any WNBA GM's who they would choose after her senior year, I guarantee all would choose Bird.


I didn't vote. I'll break the tie for you...Well it's been a week and the results are in. We'll move on to the SG's here shortly. We still couldn't come up with a starting PG.
1. Sue Bird/Moriah Jefferson tie (123 pts)
3. Jen Rizzotti (103)
4.Renee Montgomery (90)
5. Maria Conlon (60)
6. Rita Williams (54)
7. Ketia Swanier (37)
8. Bria Hartley (36) (we'll have to see how she does in her real position)
9. Saniya Chong (35)
10. Kennitra Johnson (21)
Well there you have it. Scientific fact.![]()
I liked the order you listed with the exception of the fact that I would have put Maria Conlon ahead of Saniya Chong and I would have had Rita Williams ahead of both of them, behind Jennifer Rizzotti. Well done!Sooo, here's something to do in the Off season. We'll go through and rank the players by position. This is their UCONN career. (under consideration, those that have graduated or have already made the wall) I was going to do a poll, but it doesn't really work for ranking. (it would work for "best" - but I want to go a little deeper - you wouldn't get too many arguments for best 2/3/4/5, but who's 2nd, 3rd, etc. now there might be some conversations). There might be some arguments about who is what, but that'll give us some more discussion anyway.
Just list them 1-10. I'll compile the results (assign points 10-1). We'll start with the PG's. The 1's. Here's a list to start with (wall players listed first, then others I thought should be considered), if you feel someone else should be in there, add them to your list. I'll give this a couple of days and then move on to the other positions.
Sue Bird
Moriah Jefferson
Renee Montgomery
Jen Rizzotti
Saniya Chong
Maria Conlon
Lorin Dixon
Kennitra Johnson (KJ)
Ketia Swanier
Rita Williams
Have at it.
Well that order was just alphabetical. Wall players first.I liked the order you listed with the exception of the fact that I would have put Maria Conlon ahead of Saniya Chong and I would have had Rita Williams ahead of both of them, behind Jennifer Rizzotti. Well done!
OMG, I can't believe.....ohI go with Moriah over Sue at first but with an asterisk because Moriah played with great players like Stewie and Morgan, while Sue didn't have that compliment of great players with her.![]()
I go with Moriah over Sue at first but with an asterisk because Moriah played with great players like Stewie and Morgan, while Sue didn't have that compliment of great players with her.![]()
Someone needs a sarcasm alert...reno tony- - - -In 2000-2001, Sue's junior year, Shea Ralph and Svet Abrosinova were seniors and Swin Cash, Ashja Jones, Tamika Williams, were juniors, and DT was a freshman!
In 2001-2002, they were undefeated and beat OKLA in the Finals with those now seniors and DT as a sophomore!
A pretty good group to rival, Stewie, MoJeff, and Morgan, IMHO!
You are 100% correct. Blue is my sarcasm color, just having a little fun during the off-season.reno tony- - - -In 2000-2001, Sue's junior year, Shea Ralph and Svet Abrosinova were seniors and Swin Cash, Ashja Jones, Tamika Williams, were juniors, and DT was a freshman!
In 2001-2002, they were undefeated and beat OKLA in the Finals with those now seniors and DT as a sophomore!
A pretty good group to rival, Stewie, MoJeff, and Morgan, IMHO!