Women's college basketball midseason All-American team: Who joins Strong?

[BRS24]

Women's college basketball midseason All-American team: Who joins Strong?

Halfway through the women’s college basketball season, Sarah Strong looks like the best player. She leads USA TODAY Sports’ midseason All-Americans.

www.usatoday.com

A little more than halfway through the women’s college basketball season, UConn’s Sarah Strong looks like the best player in the nation.​

​

Strong was the lone unanimous choice to our USA TODAY Sports midseason All-American team with about two months to go until Selection Sunday. The Huskies (17-0) continue to hold down the top spot in the USA TODAY Sports women's college coaches poll. UConn, the defending national champion, has won 34 straight dating back to last season.​

IMHO, and I know it's based on points and rebounds, however I don't agree with Audi Crooks selection. We'll see what transpires over the next month or so, however, that defense vs Cinci was .. eyeopening. Betts should get the nod here.

 

[Bigboote]

Before looking at their picks, I picked my own.

Sarah Strong
Hannah Hidalgo
Lauren Betts

I couldn't clearly come up with another two, so for a six-player team, I came up with:

Mikayla Blakes
Madison Booker
Olivia Miles

I don't think Betts is clearly better than these three, but I wanted a true big, and would take Betts over Crooks any day. Thought about Edwards or Okot from South Carolina, too. Maybe I'm just wowed by the glitz of LaLaLand.

 

[EricSD]

Agree with their list and love that Maggie Doogan is getting some love. Also love that Crooks is on the 1st team over Betts. Neither plays much away from the basket, but Crooks' numbers are so eye popping it's hard to leave her off any team.

I'm very glad they have Azzi on the 2nd team. I worry as the season progresses that "to know her is to love her"... meaning her stats are relatively modest, but if you watch her, you can see she's deserving. I hope the voters feel that way by the end of the season.

 

[bballnut90]

Women's college basketball midseason All-American team: Who joins Strong?

Halfway through the women’s college basketball season, Sarah Strong looks like the best player. She leads USA TODAY Sports’ midseason All-Americans.

www.usatoday.com

A little more than halfway through the women’s college basketball season, UConn’s Sarah Strong looks like the best player in the nation.​

​

Strong was the lone unanimous choice to our USA TODAY Sports midseason All-American team with about two months to go until Selection Sunday. The Huskies (17-0) continue to hold down the top spot in the USA TODAY Sports women's college coaches poll. UConn, the defending national champion, has won 34 straight dating back to last season.​

IMHO, and I know it's based on points and rebounds, however I don't agree with Audi Crooks selection. We'll see what transpires over the next month or so, however, that defense vs Cinci was .. eyeopening. Betts should get the nod here.

I think Crooks’ stock is dropping as Iowa State has struggled as of late. I’d put Edwards on 1st team as a lock right now—I can’t recall any other time a player on the #2 team who averages an efficient 20+ a game doesn’t make 1st team.

 

[visitingcock]

Gonna be a lot of sophs on the two-deep AA team with soph guards from Big Ten teams as possibilities depending on who emerges as UCLA’s top challenger and 2seed.

Gonna be some first rounders of this coming draft who don’t make it

 

[GetReal2day]

My only change would be Betts over Crooks due to Betts plays defense and it doesn't even look like Crooks tries at it.

 

[my2cents]

Fudd is way better than Blakes, and Crooks? Gimme a break, She doesn't even play defense for petes sakes.

 

[visitingcock]

Fudd is way better than Blakes, and Crooks? Gimme a break, She doesn't even play defense for petes sakes.

Neither does Crooks.

 

[my2cents]

Neither does Crooks.

was about Crooks, sorry for the confusion.

 

[ShmiCO]

This article calls Sarah a junior. 🙃 Simple research failure, or wishful thinking on behalf of other teams?

 

[Dillon77]

I think Crooks’ stock is dropping as Iowa State has struggled as of late. I’d put Edwards on 1st team as a lock right now—I can’t recall any other time a player on the #2 team who averages an efficient 20+ a game doesn’t make 1st team.

Addy Brown has missed the last two games for Iowa State and most articles think she'll be out for an indefinite time period due to a lower body injury. Brown is the glue of that Iowa State team, averaging 13 points and 9 rebounds per game. Without her around, teams are sagging on Crooks even more than they had before

 

[browns]

I had Betts over Crooks too especially after Iowa State losing the last 4 games

 

[Dugway]

It is possible that for Azzi's stock to rise, she will need some assistance from the coaching staff. And between them (as well as Azzi) I am not certain that they feel it is all that important in comparison to possible injuries that might be sustained.

However, on one of these upcoming games where Azzi is shooting lights out, rather than playing her only 24 minutes, Geno could leave her in with the intention of having her hang 64 on some poor DePaul team or the likes .... something that is just eye popping. "Sorry Doug for beating up your old team like that. People didn't think that my shooting guard was worthy of All American First, so we had to run up the score on your kids. Maybe you can help me patch up my relationship with Jill?"

 

[bballnut90]

Fudd is way better than Blakes, and Crooks? Gimme a break, She doesn't even play defense for petes sakes.

Fudd is a better 3pt shooter than Blakes, aside from that stats very heavily favor Blakes. More important than stats is that Blakes has taken the #19 preseason team to a top 5 ranking and undefeated season so far. She absolutely deserves her spot on 1st team.

 

[Stronga12]

Azzi's advanced impact metrics (RAPM, BPM etc.) are better across the board in comparison to Blakes and Booker. She's a superior defender and much more efficient. But most people look at raw P/R/A totals and that's where their understanding of basketball ends.

 

[FanSince17]

I had Betts over Crooks too especially after Iowa State losing the last 4 games

Me too. How about neither? AA is serious stuff. WCBB is serious stuff. The best players in the country are guards and forwards. So be it!

 

[FanSince17]

Azzi's advanced impact metrics (RAPM, BPM etc.) are better across the board in comparison to Blakes and Booker. She's a superior defender and much more efficient. But most people look at raw P/R/A totals and that's where their understanding of basketball ends.

Of course. I hope Geno reads this: “the only person that can hold Michael Jordan down is Dean Smith, his coach”. Something like that. Azzi has to get more looks. I’ve said 15-18 a game, like Booker or the Vandy guard. Then, talk numbers. I think he knows this but at the same time I think he’s reluctant to slow the offense down. Question for BYers: is the team better with Azzi getting more shots? Duh. People struggling with that, rewatch last year’s championship game. Geez

 

[NycUcWbbFan]

Fudd is a better 3pt shooter than Blakes, aside from that stats very heavily favor Blakes. More important than stats is that Blakes has taken the #19 preseason team to a top 5 ranking and undefeated season so far. She absolutely deserves her spot on 1st team.

Not sure about that. Azzi’s USG is only 23.4% in MIN% of 68.6% (27 minutes) and she has sterling stats (see Pic 1 for Torvik (sorted by BPM)) not buttressed by FTs, through 17 games.

• Azzi’s RAPM is another datapoint (see Pic 2).

Let’s see at regular season’s end after Vanderbilt goes through the SEC gauntlet.

I’d swap Hannah or Mikayla out in the first team for Azzi, who is a potential #1 pick.

• I don’t think Audi Crooks is first team material.

 

[bballnut90]

Not sure about that. Azzi’s USG is only 23.4% in MIN% of 68.6% (27 minutes) and she has sterling stats (see Pic 1 for Torvik (sorted by BPM)) not buttressed by FTs, through 17 games.

• Azzi’s RAPM is another datapoint (see Pic 2).

Let’s see at regular season’s end after Vanderbilt goes through the SEC gauntlet.

I’d swap Hannah or Mikayla out in the first team for Azzi, who is a potential #1 pick.

• I don’t think Audi Crooks is first team material.

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Isn't RAPM basically a measurement of how well a team plays when someone is on the court vs. when they're off of it? I'm not an expert on advanced stats but for UCONN games they're usually blowing teams out the first 3 quarters and then empty the bench in the 4th where they often coast and play opposing teams equally rather than extend the lead since the game is long over. I'll give Fudd credit for being part of the blow out unit and a major force for UCONN but from games I've seen, in the first 3 quarters UCONN's quality of play doesn't take a noticeable dip when she goes to the bench for a break. It's more when both her and Strong head to the bench after the game is completely over. At any rate, Fudd's a great player. Blakes is too-she just carried Vandy to a hard fought road win with 38 points and 7 assists tonight.

 

[NycUcWbbFan]

Isn't RAPM basically a measurement of how well a team plays when someone is on the court vs. when they're off of it? I'm not an expert on advanced stats but for UCONN games they're usually blowing teams out the first 3 quarters and then empty the bench in the 4th where they often coast and play opposing teams equally rather than extend the lead since the game is long over. I'll give Fudd credit for being part of the blow out unit and a major force for UCONN but from games I've seen, in the first 3 quarters UCONN's quality of play doesn't take a noticeable dip when she goes to the bench for a break. It's more when both her and Strong head to the bench after the game is completely over. At any rate, Fudd's a great player. Blakes is too-she just carried Vandy to a hard fought road win with 38 points and 7 assists tonight.

Analytically, RAPM is one of the better Advanced Analytics measures.

• It measures the isolated impact of a player when inserted into a rotation/ possession;
• players with the biggest RAPM are the ones that can break a game open (say Steph Curry).

The details of a RAPM calculation are here.

• the math is straightforward (similar to Massey’s but with the necessary wrinkle of ridge regression) and entails splicing game data into rotations;
• your description is not at all relevant to what RAPM is.

RAPM does normalize player comparisons. It boils everything a player does to impact a rotation.

• So a player like Blakes can win a game if you play her a lot over 40 minutes.
• Azzi can win a game in 3 minutes.

 

[Bone Dog]

So a player like Blakes can win a game if you play her a lot over 40 minutes.

Azzi can win a game in 3 minutes

This is a succinct statement of the reality and we’ve seen it so many times. Last season, some of the signature wins in the tournament were built on Azzi’s scoring eruptions. The UCLA game is a perfect example of this, when she scored 19 in the first half and none in the second. The defense shifted to deal with her which allowed Sarah and Paige to take over. It’s not inconsistency on her part, it’s structural. It’s how Geno builds the rotation around her and Sarah.