Who should be SEC Player of the Year? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Who should be SEC Player of the Year?

Who should be SEC Player of the Year?

  • Joyce Edwards (South Carolina)

  • Mikayla Blakes (Vanderbilt)

  • Madison Booker (Texas)

  • Cotie McMahon (Ole Miss)

  • Other (please list)

Results are only viewable after voting.
nwhoopfan said:
I think Blakes made a pretty decent case for herself tonight. Another 30+ game for her, a big win over Texas, and believe it or not Vandy is currently in 2nd place, 1/2 game behind South Carolina. I'm not sure who has a more compelling resume than her.
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Vandy may well end up with both the POY as well as the FOY. Galvin is one of the most dynamic and fearless freshmen in the country, and that includes Chavez.
 
oldude said:
Vandy may well end up with both the POY as well as the FOY. Galvin is one of the most dynamic and fearless freshmen in the country, and that includes Chavez.
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At this point, I'll say
99% chance of POY
85% chance of COY
49% chance of FOY -- Chavez is the bigger name, led the SC win, and voters may be reluctant to do a Vandy sweep
 
Vowelguy said:
At this point, I'll say
99% chance of POY
85% chance of COY
49% chance of FOY -- Chavez is the bigger name, led the SC win, and voters may be reluctant to do a Vandy sweep
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Let’s talk head to head: OK vs Vandy

Chavez 7/19 (0/11 from 3) 14 pts
Galvin 10/15 (3/5 from 3 &7/8 FT) 30 pts

I know who I would vote for.
 
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oldude said:
Let’s talk head to head: OK vs Vandy

Chavez 7/19 (0/11 from 3) 14 pts
Galvin 10/15 (3/5 from 3 &7/8 FT) 30 pts

I know who I would vote for.
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Agree with this. I was wrong about OK last year....and now this year.

Beers was going to be the strawberries on the group of shooters, then Chavez was going to be the whipped cream on the sundae. Neither version has delivered.

Galvan and Blakes do more with a lesser group of surrounding players. This duo fun now, but think they have 2 more upcoming seasons together.
 
packwrap said:
Agree with this. I was wrong about OK last year....and now this year.

Beers was going to be the strawberries on the group of shooters, then Chavez was going to be the whipped cream on the sundae. Neither version has delivered.

Galvan and Blakes do more with a lesser group of surrounding players. This duo fun now, but think they have 2 more upcoming seasons together.
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Vanderbilt now with four top 10 wins - realize it’s a product of their SEC schedule timing, but does anyone in the country have more?

With UConn undefeated, Texas’ win over UCLA is the most valuable victory in the country this season, but Vandy is a 1 seed if Texas loses again
 
GoChips20 said:
Vanderbilt now with four top 10 wins - realize it’s a product of their SEC schedule timing, but does anyone in the country have more?

With UConn undefeated, Texas’ win over UCLA is the most valuable victory in the country this season, but Vandy is a 1 seed if Texas loses again
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If they’d lost by 3 instead of 30 in Columbia, they’d likely be one right now.
 
GoChips20 said:
Vanderbilt now with four top 10 wins - realize it’s a product of their SEC schedule timing, but does anyone in the country have more?

With UConn undefeated, Texas’ win over UCLA is the most valuable victory in the country this season, but Vandy is a 1 seed if Texas loses again
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Vandy should be one now (nobody has a better collection of conference wins)--but their noncon, outside of Michigan, was pathetic.
 
Alright I'm fully on the Blakes train. In SEC play she's averaging:
29.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 2.1 steals on 46/36/89 shooting splits. She's on a Caitlin Clark-like bender right now (4 straight 30+ point games including 3 wins over ranked teams) and her numbers are consistently better when playing tougher competition.
 
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bballnut90 said:
Alright I'm fully on the Blakes train. In SEC play she's averaging:
29.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 2.1 steals on 46/36/89 shooting splits. She's on a Caitlin Clark-like bender right now (4 straight 30+ point games including 3 wins over ranked teams) and her numbers are consistently better while playing the tougher competition on her schedule.
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She’s making the NPOY race interesting. Strong is the most complete player in the country, dominates the eye test and advanced stats, and would go first in a draft.

Blakes is the best pure scorer and is leading her team well beyond expectations with that unstoppable, unguardable momentum Clark had.

Comes down to whether POY means “best overall player” or “best body of work and impact” to each voter.

I’d stick with Strong right now but think it’ll be a competitive vote. Shea Ralph for COY either way.
 
GoChips20 said:
She’s making the NPOY race interesting. Strong is the most complete player in the country, dominates the eye test and advanced stats, and would go first in a draft.

Blakes is the best pure scorer and is leading her team well beyond expectations with that unstoppable, unguardable momentum Clark had.

Comes down to whether POY means “best overall player” or “best body of work and impact” to each voter.

I’d stick with Strong right now but think it’ll be a competitive vote. Shea Ralph for COY either way.
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Agreed. Reminds me a lot of the 2021-22 season when Boston was the presumed favorite all year for similar reasons mentioned above but Clark made a strong push during conference play elevating an underdog team. Boston ultimately swept the awards (and deservedly so) but Clark's excellence reignited an otherwise straightforward POY race.
 
GoChips20 said:
Vanderbilt now with four top 10 wins - realize it’s a product of their SEC schedule timing, but does anyone in the country have more?

With UConn undefeated, Texas’ win over UCLA is the most valuable victory in the country this season, but Vandy is a 1 seed if Texas loses again
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I think they're tied for #1 in that category with Texas. Other notables:

Texas has wins over current #2 UCLA, #3 South Carolina, #6 LSU, #10 Oklahoma, #12 Baylor, #14 Ole Miss, #18 Kentucky and #21 North Carolina.

South Carolina has wins over current #4 Texas, #5 Vanderbilt, #9 Louisville and #11 Duke.

UCLA has wins over current #7 Michigan, #8 Ohio State, #10 Oklahoma, #11 Duke, #13 Michigan State, #15 Iowa, #20 Maryland, #21 North Carolina and #22 Tennessee.

UCONN has wins over current #7 Michigan, #8 Ohio State, #9 Louisville, #15 Iowa and #22 Tennessee



If LSU beats South Carolina this weekend I think they officially enter the #1 seed conversation too. They currently have wins over #4 Texas, #10 Oklahoma and #11 Duke.
 
bballnut90 said:
Agreed. Reminds me a lot of the 2021-22 season when Boston was the presumed favorite all year for similar reasons mentioned above but Clark made a strong push during conference play elevating an underdog team. Boston ultimately swept the awards (and deservedly so) but Clark's excellence reignited an otherwise straightforward POY race.
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And put a Clark in place to take the awards the next (her junior season ). Clarks junior and senior seasons blew up tv ratings especially on FOX and the BTN and Big Ten attendance.

it will be interesting to see what Blake’s influence will be on the ESPN/ABC networks.

The regular season finale between Vandy Tennessee on ESPN could be interesting for viewership

 
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bballnut90 said:
I think they're tied for #1 in that category with Texas. Other notables:

Texas has wins over current #2 UCLA, #3 South Carolina, #6 LSU, #10 Oklahoma, #12 Baylor, #14 Ole Miss, #18 Kentucky and #21 North Carolina.

South Carolina has wins over current #4 Texas, #5 Vanderbilt, #9 Louisville and #11 Duke.

UCLA has wins over current #7 Michigan, #8 Ohio State, #10 Oklahoma, #11 Duke, #13 Michigan State, #15 Iowa, #20 Maryland, #21 North Carolina and #22 Tennessee.

UCONN has wins over current #7 Michigan, #8 Ohio State, #9 Louisville, #15 Iowa and #22 Tennessee



If LSU beats South Carolina this weekend I think they officially enter the #1 seed conversation too. They currently have wins over #4 Texas, #10 Oklahoma and #11 Duke.
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Worth noting that SC, Texas, Vandy, and LSU are likely to be the 3rd through 6th overall seeds in some order regardless, which would place two pairs in two regions unless the same conference avoidance rule extends all the way to Elite Eight, which I don’t think does.
 
GoChips20 said:
Worth noting that SC, Texas, Vandy, and LSU are likely to be the 3rd through 6th overall seeds in some order regardless, which would place two pairs in two regions unless the same conference avoidance rule extends all the way to Elite Eight, which I don’t think does.
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In Charlie Crème’s latest bracketology, updated this morning, he has Vandy as a #1 with TX as the #2 in the same region, with LSU a #2 in UCLA’s region, along with SC & UConn as the other #1’s.
 
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bballnut90 said:
Alright I'm fully on the Blakes train. In SEC play she's averaging:
29.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 2.1 steals on 46/36/89 shooting splits. She's on a Caitlin Clark-like bender right now (4 straight 30+ point games including 3 wins over ranked teams) and her numbers are consistently better when playing tougher competition.
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Same! No disrespect to Booker or Edwards, but she has been on a tear.
 
GoChips20 said:
…unless the same conference avoidance rule extends all the way to Elite Eight, which I don’t think does.
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The conference avoidance rule should apply more strictly at the top than the middle, and this one thing the men’s rules and committee generally handle better than the women’s.

A conference’s #1 and 2 teams sharing a region is a much bigger deal than #2 and 6.

I’ve seen projections of UConn-Michigan rematch and Carolina-SEC. Both could be avoided by simply flipping the 2s, and the men’s side would never ignore such an easy fix.
 
bballnut90 said:
South Carolina has wins over current #4 Texas, #5 Vanderbilt, #9 Louisville and #11 Duke.

UCLA has wins over … #22 Tennessee.

UCONN has wins … #22 Tennessee
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Too bad we don’t play Tennessee. We could get a nice look at a common opponent.
 
I seem to recall some talk last year about how Chavez’s HS ranking fell because of strength of competition concerns. I wonder if that’s what we’re seeing the consequences of now. It is indeed possible (even likely) that voters will be distracted by the superficial stats — 18.2 pts 3 rebounds 4 assists — and miss the rest of the picture, 3 TOs 37% shooting and absurd usage rate. When I’ve watched recent games, I sometimes wonder if Baranczyk doesn’t occasionally wish she could sit Chavez in favor of Vann or Verhulst at PG. If they’re paying Chavez a sack of NIL cash, she may feel reluctant to do it. It’s not like either of those two are better passers. But they might actually pass a bit more frequently.

Here’s the absurdest stat, FG attempts. Chavez has 400 while Beers and Verhulst are around 260 each and Williams and Vann are around 240. That’s 400 out of a total of 1750 by the team’s least effective shooter.
 
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Bone Dog said:
I seem to recall some talk last year about how Chavez’s HS ranking fell because of strength of competition concerns. I wonder if that’s what we’re seeing the consequences of now. It is indeed possible (even likely) that voters will be distracted by the superficial stats — 18.2 pts 3 rebounds 4 assists — and miss the rest of the picture, 3 TOs 37% shooting and absurd usage rate. When I’ve watched recent games, I sometimes wonder if Baranczyk doesn’t occasionally wish she could sit Chavez in favor of Vann or Verhulst at PG. If they’re paying Chavez a sack of NIL cash, she may feel reluctant to do it. It’s not like either of those two are better passers. But they might actually pass a bit more frequently.

Here’s the absurdest stat, FG attempts. Chavez has 400 while Beers and Verhulst are around 260 each and Williams and Vann are around 240. That’s 400 out of a total of 1750 by the team’s least effective shooter.
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The chemistry for Oklahoma seems off this year. This year's team has much more individual talent than last year but yet they are underachieving. While Chavez did have a phenomenal game vs. SC (and especially in OT), she has underperformed in all the advanced statistical categories. For the SEC Freshman of the Year category, I have her behind Galvan and even with ZaKiyah Johnson and just slightly ahead of Grace Know.

Seems to me Jennie B gave the keys to the kingdom to Chavez without any constraints, so she better hope the team starts to click.

From a POY perspective, Edwards is the best player on the best team but I think her contributions get discounted due to Dawn and the expectations of SC being a dominant team regardless of the players. From an Efficiency scoring and Win Shares perspective, Edwards is 2nd behind Blakes and neck and neck with Booker and clearly ahead of Beers and Clara Strack. The narrative on Booker doing it all for Texas puts her ahead of Joyce (not entirely fair but...).
 
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Z Johnson of LSU won't win any awards, but she is quietly their key player this year as a freshman.

Even though she came in as a guard, and is on the roster as a guard, she has played every minute this season at the #4.

Mulkey convinced her to do this to help the team, and to get playing time as a frosh.

She gives LSU a 4 player post rotation, and this means Mikayla Williams no longer must be available at the #4.

A nice player to follow, glad @DefenseBB mentioned her.
 
I don't think a guard playing forward gives you a four post rotation, but I do think she should make SEC freshman team. Not sure about AA.
 
Gamecockfan77 said:
I don't think a guard playing forward gives you a four post rotation, but I do think she should make SEC freshman team. Not sure about AA.
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Definitely not All-American, probably not even close to Betts, Edwards, Strong, Beers, Crooks etc.

4 post rotation? Mulkey using Koval, Joyner, Knox and Z Johnson as her 4 front court players, even changing up who starts each game. Z Johnson playing 0 minutes at guard this year.

I use term post for all front court players, not just traditional centers. Perhaps a better phrasing is a '4 player front court rotation'.
 
packwrap said:
Z Johnson of LSU won't win any awards, but she is quietly their key player this year as a freshman.

Even though she came in as a guard, and is on the roster as a guard, she has played every minute this season at the #4.

Mulkey convinced her to do this to help the team, and to get playing time as a frosh.

She gives LSU a 4 player post rotation, and this means Mikayla Williams no longer must be available at the #4.

A nice player to follow, glad @DefenseBB mentioned her.
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Mulkey better get some actual bigs and let Zakiyah go back to the wing if not she may have a hard time keeping her
 
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