Was there an all-tournament team?

[pap49cba]

Missed the game so I'm curious.

 

[UcMiami]

Yes - Epoupa FRA, Weisner CAN, Talbot AUS, Ndour ESP, Stewart USA with Stewart getting MVP. Hard to argue against any, but a surprise that Canada got a player on. One nice aspect was that it appeared that most teams were still in town for the final and in the audience. Always a little disappointing when teams lose in WCBB tournaments and then disappear.

 

[HGN]

Is there a All-Tournament 2nd Team?

 

[pap49cba]

Tuck should have made the team.

 

[Phil]

Is there a All-Tournament 2nd Team?

No, unless it is secret.

 

[Kibitzer]

Purely a coincidence that there was one player each from five different teams. Why don't they now give some hokey sixth (wo)man award to a player from China, then some sportsmanship awards or honorable mentions to the players from Japan, Mali, Senegal, etc., so everybody gets to take something home.

 

[pap49cba]

Sorry, but Canada finished what? 7th?

 

[UcMiami]

Sorry - but there were some really phenomenal players on the other teams - and ones that put up much larger numbers because they were the best player on their team by a wide margin. While Tuck had a great all around tournament, her shooting % was too low, her rebounding was half of what the leading rebounders were doing in the tournament, etc.
Look at the FIBA stats page:
NDour - 17.9 ppg on 57.1%, and 9.4 RPG
Talbot - 13.2 PPG at 54.8% and 7.8 RPG and 5.3 APG
Weisner - 17 PPG at 54.5% and 6.4 RPG and 2.8 APG
Epoupa - 11.7 PPG at 42.7 and 5.9 RPG and 4.0 APG

Tuck came in at
13.1 at 47.2 and 4.7 and 2.0

This was voted by all the coaches and I actually think they came up with a pretty good team. Weisner was the surprise, but she was also the obvious go to player for Canada and the focus of defenses and she still put up great numbers.

 

[HGN]

UcMiami , I agree with you after looking at the stats............ The players from the other teams and Nations deserved to be honored...But in the end , we (USA) got what we came for (Gold Medal).

 

[iri10]

That Olivia Epoupa is possibly even shorter than Moriah Jefferson, yet averaged 5.9 rebounds to go with her 12 points? Pretty beastly. Lots of talent out there that doesn't touch the NCAA college system - that girl is good.

 

[Kibitzer]

The cited stats do not take into full account the total opposition. A team that flamed out early (Canada?) and didn't get to the final round faced mostly very weak opponents. Putting up big number vs. Mali or Senegal is one thing; doing that against the USA or even other finalists is another.

Sort of like an NBA player padding his stats during "garbage time" at the end of a blowout.

 

[Icebear]

Sorry - but there were some really phenomenal players on the other teams - and ones that put up much larger numbers because they were the best player on their team by a wide margin. While Tuck had a great all around tournament, her shooting % was too low, her rebounding was half of what the leading rebounders were doing in the tournament, etc.
Look at the FIBA stats page:
NDour - 17.9 ppg on 57.1%, and 9.4 RPG
Talbot - 13.2 PPG at 54.8% and 7.8 RPG and 5.3 APG
Weisner - 17 PPG at 54.5% and 6.4 RPG and 2.8 APG
Epoupa - 11.7 PPG at 42.7 and 5.9 RPG and 4.0 APG

Tuck came in at
13.1 at 47.2 and 4.7 and 2.0

This was voted by all the coaches and I actually think they came up with a pretty good team. Weisner was the surprise, but she was also the obvious go to player for Canada and the focus of defenses and she still put up great numbers.

And how did their minutes played compare.

 

[UcMiami]

The cited stats do not take into full account the total opposition. A team that flamed out early (Canada?) and didn't get to the final round faced mostly very weak opponents. Putting up big number vs. Mali or Senegal is one thing; doing that against the USA or even other finalists is another.

Sort of like an NBA player padding his stats during "garbage time" at the end of a blowout.

I do agree with that, but then ... most of the USA players padded their stats before the last two games as well - for example Tuck in the last two games shot:
6 - 21 for 28.6% and had 5.5 RPG and 0.5 APG so her shooting percentage certainly took a hit as well as her assists, but her RPG actually went up. But there is no really fair way to compare players on different teams and 28.6% shooting in the last two games was really poor. Stewart by contrast maintained her 50% shooting (improved her 3 point shooting to 60%) and upped her rebound from 6.2 RPG for the tournament to 8.5 RPG. And I would say that the whole of the USA team benefitted stats wise from Stewart's presence in terms of drawing defensive attention.

Listen - this wasn't meant to be a knock on Tuck or anyone else on the USA team, and I was very surprised when a Canadian player was awarded a spot on the team, but then I looked up her stats and understood why she got attention. And the non-common opponents for CAN and USA were: Senegal/Mali (pretty much of a wash), Spain, Brazil, and USA for Canada and Australia, France (2nd game), and Canada for USA - final standings combined rank 11 for Canada, combined rank 12 for USA so even though they bombed out of the winners bracket, when you consider they had to play USA and we only had to play Canada when we squared off together, I think the schedules were pretty comparable.

Lots of stats and 'other lies' here - I basically agree that Weisner was a surprise choice, but I sort of like the fact that the coaches looked beyond the obvious 'final four' teams. I would have had a problem with a selection from teams that didn't get into the single elimination phase, but once there, the competition was pretty solid on both the winners and losers sides.

 

[Phil]

Well-done UcMiami

 

[Kibitzer]

Might we add how lucky the USA players were, in a sense, because they didn't have to try to score against the best defensive team in the tournament: The USA!

Once again we are reminded: "There are liars, damned liars, and statisticians."

 

[baggerbob]

As Kelly said at the final four on Breanna being MVP of National Championship Game " And she deserves it. And kind of, again I'm glad she's on our side. I wouldn't want to be playing against her." Good thing Stewie doesn't have to play against herself.

 

[UcMiami]

And how did their minutes played compare.

I agree on the minutes issue in terms of totals, but in terms of shooting percentage it doesn't matter. And one could say that the players who had to play 30+ minutes per game for 9 games had to pace themselves some and probably wore down a bit as the tournament went along. There is a certain advantage to knowing you can play absolutely flat out when on the floor because there is an very good player on the bench ready to spell you when you need a blow.

 

[Icebear]

I agree on the minutes issue in terms of totals, but in terms of shooting percentage it doesn't matter. And one could say that the players who had to play 30+ minutes per game for 9 games had to pace themselves some and probably wore down a bit as the tournament went along. There is a certain advantage to knowing you can play absolutely flat out when on the floor because there is an very good player on the bench ready to spell you when you need a blow.

I am not worried about shooting percentage for posts. That is greatly impacted by the amount of body contact allowed and US players are at a disadvantage to that in international ball since interior contact on shots seems to result in more trips to the line in US college ball. As to fatigue I agree with Geno when he says these 16-19 year old kids if they get tired they probably shouldn't be playing. Many of these kids would play for 4+ on a normal non game day, playing for 35 minutes in a game shouldn't be wearing the out.

 

[UcMiami]

Ice - I agree on the 9 games in 13 days in terms of recovery time between games for 19 and under kids, but 40 minutes of 24 second shot clock high level full court basketball - you see a lot of kids getting winded, and shots being left short as the legs build up fatigue. There was a reason in the last two games that Meiers sat Stewie with a few minutes left in the first Q and 3 Q especially - to give her a blow that included the quarter break. I don't care what age - athletes running the 400 meters run at a different pace then those running the 1000 meters.

 

[Icebear]

It may have been more in the coaches head than reality or that the kid needed a chance to gain a quick blow or a commitment to get other kids time.

I remember playing ball in the hot summer sun for hours. Then playing more in the Branford Q house again in the evening or playing a baseball or softball game as a catcher. 24 hours is sufficient time to clear the toxins of 35 minutes of basketball. Three+ hour leg of the Tour not so much.

 

[UcMiami]

Padre - I would not want to question your athletic skills and intensity, but ... I do think college and international play tend to be at a higher level on both scores than most pick-up games we may have played. And as I remember it we didn't play 20 minutes halves but first to 15 or 21 or 12, and then we all took a few minutes break. And I at least played more half court than full court on the blacktop of my youth. Uconn is a very well conditioned team and has been able to run a lot of teams off the court over the years, but even with them, Geno has limited the amount of defensive pressure he applies when he has had a short bench because he can't afford to exhaust his starters. Kentucky's 40 minutes of hell depended on a long bench and frequent substitutions to keep players fresh.

 

[Icebear]

Yes, but Geno pushes those same kids for two hours more and straight in practice 5 days a week in practice on court plus additional work on their own.Playing games 10 days in a row is considerably easier than heavy training. I, also, would not compare the work of playing U19 games to a UCONN NCAA or Big East tournament game. Most of what I saw was play moved along with the 24 second clock but dependent on significant individualism and plenty of standing around.

I just don't see a maximum 40 minutes of game time being a terrible athletic burden on a group of teens. Short term oxygen debt, sure, but that is relieved quickly for young healthy conditioned athletes.