Which women's college basketball programs produce the best players at each position? Per ESPN

[CTtoSanDiego]

This is a fun one. ESPN uses a formula to determine which schools have produced the group of players for each position. They rank the top 5 schools at each position. Spoiler alert: UConn wins 4 of the 5... and is third for the other spot. The positions are Playmaker, Sharpshooter, Wing, Interior Scorer and Post Defender. You Boneyarders can probably make a good guess at which one we weren't first. After all, there are only two real possibilities.

Position U: Which programs produce the best women's hoops players at each position?

As the 2020 WNBA draft approaches, ESPN looked at the schools that have produced the best players at each position. UConn fared well.

www.espn.com

 

[UcMiami]

I think they had to fudge it a bit not to give Uconn first place in all the categories - left off Napheesa, Kara, Rebecca, Tamika, Swin, Asjha, Stef, Gabby, etc. for the interior scorers. Rebecca and Kara were both NPOY, Tamika still holds the record for shooting percentage, just a plethora of phenomenal players produced over the years at Uconn.

 

[DEpup]

Wow! ESPN not trashing or minimizing UConn. I guess they are trying to make up for only showing UConn losing the last few weeks....

 

[EricLA]

Fun lists. Not only was UCONN on all 5 lists, but #1 on 4 out of the 5. That makes sense as UCONN is far and away the best program in the history of the game, and has produced the most and best pro players by far.

We are so blessed to have had so many greats come through our program, and the future looks super bright with who we have and who we have coming in....

 

[j66kicker]

Wow! ESPN not trashing or minimizing UConn. I guess they are trying to make up for only showing UConn losing the last few weeks....

No, they didn't make us #1 in all 5 categories because they hate us.

 

[MilfordHusky]

It's nice to see KML and Kiah Stokes get mentions. They were among the best at their specialties.

 

[nwhoopfan]

They mention a few players by name in each category, but there isn't an extended breakdown of which players were included in their decision making process. Seems lacking.

Notre Dame only made the list in 2 categories. Interesting, considering they've probably been the second best program in the country the last decade or so.

Stanford got shortchanged in the interior scorers department. They mention the O sisters, but they also had Brooke Smith, Appel, Alanna Smith (not a wing, I have no idea why they listed her there), McCall, Pedersen. That's quite a collection, should be higher than 5th.

 

[triaddukefan]

Not sure how ND was rated higher in terms of post defenders than Duke... but whatever.

 

[triaddukefan]

Probably methodology: they only counted contributions from All-Americans, which Duke has not produced many of recently:



So that's four All-American honors for Duke during the entirety of the 2010s.

Chante Black, Elizabeth Williams, and Allison Bales have about 1,000 blocks combined. Not too shabby in my book. Not sure about their defensive rebounding numbers.

 

[EdSaid]

Who said "If this was easy, everyone would do it?"

GA

He got the best players and he coached them up a lot.

 

[triaddukefan]

Again, most of those blocks wouldn't count in their methodology because Black made the list in only one year, Williams only in one year, and Bales in one year. Any blocks registered outside their senior seasons didn't count. I'm not arguing that their methodology is right, just that that explains why Duke's output wasn't higher.

From the article:

With that in mind, ESPN Stats & Information devised a formula that included All-America citations, WNBA draft picks and career stats from the 1999-2000 through 2018-19 college seasons to find out which schools have had the best players in women's basketball at five modern position types.

So basically...Duke not being in that top 5 list is a bunch of ESPN

Bales, Black, and Williams were all first round draft pics. Just looked it up... Bales finished with 434 career blocks, Williams had 426, and Black had 261. That list doesnt include players like former WNBA player Krystal Thomas who had 196 blocks while at Duke. Oderah Chidom had 153 blocks... drafted.. but never played in the WNBA. Kendall Cooper had 119 blocks...... even often injured Amber Henson probably had 100 blocks in her career.

 

[triaddukefan]

Good call. And wow, in that case, I really have no idea. That seems very, very strange!

this is how stupid that list was. Just take the 2014-15 season. Duke had Williams, Henson, Chidom, Cooper, and Stevens on the roster. Thats 5 deep in terms of rim protection. Good gosh Michelle Viplel

 

[CTtoSanDiego]

For all those complaining.... ESPN had a methodology... whether it was a good one or not is up for debate... Voepel did not have a say, she was simply reporting.... The biggest complaints seem to be post defense, which was a combination of defensive rebounds and blocked shots (and I assume also included the general stuff like AA and WNBA draft position). So Duke fans (among others) can complain all you want, but unless you have real stats to back it up, then shut up... LOL.. just kidding).

 

[cferraro04]

What a great recruiting tool.

 

[chrissaran]

Who cares that Tameka Catchings and Candace Parker were MVPs in the WNBA. This is about college.

 

[lebronfan23]

Don’t show Dawn this.

 

[triaddukefan]

For all those complaining.... ESPN had a methodology... whether it was a good one or not is up for debate... Voepel did not have a say, she was simply reporting.... The biggest complaints seem to be post defense, which was a combination of defensive rebounds and blocked shots (and I assume also included the general stuff like AA and WNBA draft position). So Duke fans (among others) can complain all you want, but unless you have real stats to back it up, then shut up... LOL.. just kidding).

I did have real stats to back it up. But anyway.... I'll take it up with my neighbor's dog...... I'm sure he will agree with me that the list is horse manure.

 

[DefenseBB]

this is how stupid that list was. Just take the 2014-15 season. Duke had Williams, Henson, Chidom, Cooper, and Stevens on the roster. Thats 5 deep in terms of rim protection. Good gosh Michelle Viplel

To the victor go the spoils and in 2014-15, the Blue Devils were a resounding 23-11 and qualified for a Sweet 16 appearance. Not sure that is worthy of "elite rim protection" ranking regardless of how deep you feel they were. All fairness here, Duke hasn't been to a final 4 since 2003 and while yes, JPM did get 4 consecutive Elite 8 appearances 2010-13, that would qualify your argument for a Top 8 program status vs. ESPN showing Top 5. So not sure I see any logic to place your Dukies within the Top 5 in any of the categories. Virtually all these teams listed achieved National notoriety of Final Fours and Title games or Titles...
Triad-"Can you get Duke in ESPN Top 5 categories, BYers? For old times sake?"
BYers- "Can't do it Sally er Triad..." .

 

[triaddukefan]

To the victor go the spoils and in 2014-15, the Blue Devils were a resounding 23-11 and qualified for a Sweet 16 appearance. Not sure that is worthy of "elite rim protection" ranking regardless of how deep you feel they were. All fairness here, Duke hasn't been to a final 4 since 2003 and while yes, JPM did get 4 consecutive Elite 8 appearances 2010-13, that would qualify your argument for a Top 8 program status vs. ESPN showing Top 5. So not sure I see any logic to place your Dukies within the Top 5 in any of the categories. Virtually all these teams listed achieved National notoriety of Final Fours and Title games or Titles...
Triad-"Can you get Duke in ESPN Top 5 categories, BYers? For old times sake?"
BYers- "Can't do it Sally er Triad..." .

Ohio State at #2? I don't remember them doing much damage in the tournament.

ND has put what... 2-3 post players in the WNBA in the past 20 years?