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| Who Would Win Player of the Year today? |
| Paige Bueckers, UConn |
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14% |
[ 5 ] |
| Nia Cooke, South Carolina |
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2% |
[ 1 ] |
| Elissa Cunane, NC State |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Dana Evans, Louisville |
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8% |
[ 3 ] |
| Rhyne Howard, Kentucky |
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29% |
[ 10 ] |
| Haley Jones, Stanford |
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20% |
[ 7 ] |
| Aari McDonald, Arizona |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Michaela Onyenwere, UCLA |
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11% |
[ 4 ] |
| Ashley Owusu, Maryland |
|
2% |
[ 1 ] |
| NaLyssa Smith, Baylor |
|
0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Someone Else |
|
8% |
[ 3 ] |
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| Total Votes : 34 |
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| Author |
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SDHoops
Joined: 09 Nov 2007
Posts: 1072
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 Posted: 01/12/21 12:09 pm ::: |
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| I'm surprised that Cunane doesn't get any love from NC State! I love her game...correct me if I'm wrong, but she's one of the key cogs who's brought the Pack back to national relevancy in the past few years?!
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PUmatty
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 15499
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: 01/12/21 12:13 pm ::: |
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| At this point, I find it hard to vote for anyone other than Naz Hillman. Top 10 in points and rebounds in the country for undefeated major conference team? That's very hard to argue against.
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mzonefan
Joined: 15 Oct 2005
Posts: 3686
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
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| Posted: 01/12/21 7:09 pm ::: |
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| PUmatty wrote: |
| At this point, I find it hard to vote for anyone other than Naz Hillman. Top 10 in points and rebounds in the country for undefeated major conference team? That's very hard to argue against. |
Thank you! I don’t watch enough outside of the B1G to make a qualified comparison nationally, but she’s pretty darned special. Each year her game grows tremendously. This year she’s improved her free throw shooting by 10% and added more range.
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Conway Gamecock
Joined: 23 Jan 2015
Posts: 1080
Location: Here
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| Posted: 01/13/21 8:48 pm ::: |
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| myrtle wrote: |
| Howee wrote: |
I haven't been following SC too closely, but....isn't Boston in that mix, yet? And is Haley Jones Stanford's best? |
IMO Boston really hasn't performed up to last year's standards yet.
I think Jones is our best, but she will be hampered in terms of national honors because of the way Stanford plays - they play very unselfish ball, which is good for w/l, but not for personal glory. |
Boston seems to be ramping up her effort as the season moves along. Would be nice if the team can go on a run of games and not have any major interruptions, but we'll see.
In the first 4 games, Boston shot 17-40 (.425) and averaged 10.5 pts, 8.5 rebs, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. In the next 5 games, she's shot 33-65 (.508) and averaged 16.0 pts, 12.4 rebs, 2.0 steals and 3.4 blocks in those games.
In the 9 games she's played thus far she's surpassing her averages from last year in all categories with exception of FG % and FT %, and she's improved substantially in both categories over the last 5 gms (9-12 - .750 - at the FT line), so we'll see if those trends continue....
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ucbart
Joined: 21 Nov 2004
Posts: 1815
Location: New York
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| Posted: 01/14/21 7:04 am ::: |
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| Conway Gamecock wrote: |
| myrtle wrote: |
| Howee wrote: |
I haven't been following SC too closely, but....isn't Boston in that mix, yet? And is Haley Jones Stanford's best? |
IMO Boston really hasn't performed up to last year's standards yet.
I think Jones is our best, but she will be hampered in terms of national honors because of the way Stanford plays - they play very unselfish ball, which is good for w/l, but not for personal glory. |
Boston seems to be ramping up her effort as the season moves along. Would be nice if the team can go on a run of games and not have any major interruptions, but we'll see.
In the first 4 games, Boston shot 17-40 (.425) and averaged 10.5 pts, 8.5 rebs, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. In the next 5 games, she's shot 33-65 (.508) and averaged 16.0 pts, 12.4 rebs, 2.0 steals and 3.4 blocks in those games.
In the 9 games she's played thus far she's surpassing her averages from last year in all categories with exception of FG % and FT %, and she's improved substantially in both categories over the last 5 gms (9-12 - .750 - at the FT line), so we'll see if those trends continue.... |
While I'm no SC fan, I do appreciate their superb and obnoxious amount of talent. I think what might be lost on some people is that alllllllll these players are so young. Boston was just a great player on the team last year with two seniors that had a ton of experience and won a NC. All she had to do was show up, Harris and HH took care of the rest. Not only is Boston young and playing during Covid, but the SC guards are also young.
Not to turn this into a UCONN thing, but we also lost a senior PG, but Crystal was a quiet leader and is just not an alpha, whereas Paige Bueckers is. You could just tell from the opening tip of the season that this is her team, much like Sabrina in 2017. I specifically remember hearing Kara Lawson talk about the 2017 young Ducks and that it was evident that Sabrina was the alpha.
I promise, I'm coming back to SC now, ha! is Henderson or Cooke an alpha type leader?
Sorry for that rollercoaster, don't want to be seen as a hi-jacker of threads. It's early and my coffee hasn't kicked in yet
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ucbart
Joined: 21 Nov 2004
Posts: 1815
Location: New York
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| Posted: 01/14/21 7:22 am ::: |
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| PUmatty wrote: |
| At this point, I find it hard to vote for anyone other than Naz Hillman. Top 10 in points and rebounds in the country for undefeated major conference team? That's very hard to argue against. |
Not that this should be a deciding factor, but when is the last time a POY came from a team outside the top 10 that wasn't Kelsey Plum? I do not think she should've won National POY that season, FWIW-but she was chasing the NCAA scoring record and she was a senior guard, coming off a trip to the FF.
I think that's what could hurt all the B1G candidates for individual awards. The media focuses on the top teams in WBB because they think that's where ratings will come from. Is it fair? No. Is it reality? Yes.
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PUmatty
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 15499
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: 01/14/21 10:23 am ::: |
Reply |
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| ucbart wrote: |
| PUmatty wrote: |
| At this point, I find it hard to vote for anyone other than Naz Hillman. Top 10 in points and rebounds in the country for undefeated major conference team? That's very hard to argue against. |
Not that this should be a deciding factor, but when is the last time a POY came from a team outside the top 10 that wasn't Kelsey Plum? I do not think she should've won National POY that season, FWIW-but she was chasing the NCAA scoring record and she was a senior guard, coming off a trip to the FF.
I think that's what could hurt all the B1G candidates for individual awards. The media focuses on the top teams in WBB because they think that's where ratings will come from. Is it fair? No. Is it reality? Yes. |
You're right. I don't think Hillman will win, but I do think it is where my vote would go now.
If Michigan starts losing games, I might change my mind. If they don't, they'll keep climbing the rankings on her back and it will work itself out.
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Conway Gamecock
Joined: 23 Jan 2015
Posts: 1080
Location: Here
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| Posted: 01/19/21 12:32 am ::: |
Reply |
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| ucbart wrote: |
| Conway Gamecock wrote: |
| myrtle wrote: |
| Howee wrote: |
I haven't been following SC too closely, but....isn't Boston in that mix, yet? And is Haley Jones Stanford's best? |
IMO Boston really hasn't performed up to last year's standards yet.
I think Jones is our best, but she will be hampered in terms of national honors because of the way Stanford plays - they play very unselfish ball, which is good for w/l, but not for personal glory. |
Boston seems to be ramping up her effort as the season moves along. Would be nice if the team can go on a run of games and not have any major interruptions, but we'll see.
In the first 4 games, Boston shot 17-40 (.425) and averaged 10.5 pts, 8.5 rebs, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. In the next 5 games, she's shot 33-65 (.508) and averaged 16.0 pts, 12.4 rebs, 2.0 steals and 3.4 blocks in those games.
In the 9 games she's played thus far she's surpassing her averages from last year in all categories with exception of FG % and FT %, and she's improved substantially in both categories over the last 5 gms (9-12 - .750 - at the FT line), so we'll see if those trends continue.... |
While I'm no SC fan, I do appreciate their superb and obnoxious amount of talent. I think what might be lost on some people is that alllllllll these players are so young. Boston was just a great player on the team last year with two seniors that had a ton of experience and won a NC. All she had to do was show up, Harris and HH took care of the rest. Not only is Boston young and playing during Covid, but the SC guards are also young.
Not to turn this into a UCONN thing, but we also lost a senior PG, but Crystal was a quiet leader and is just not an alpha, whereas Paige Bueckers is. You could just tell from the opening tip of the season that this is her team, much like Sabrina in 2017. I specifically remember hearing Kara Lawson talk about the 2017 young Ducks and that it was evident that Sabrina was the alpha.
I promise, I'm coming back to SC now, ha! is Henderson or Cooke an alpha type leader?
Sorry for that rollercoaster, don't want to be seen as a hi-jacker of threads. It's early and my coffee hasn't kicked in yet |
Actually I feel that BOTH Henderson AND Cooke are alpha leaders, but they do it from different angles. Cooke is NOT a Ty Harris type alpha: Harris was right off the bat as a freshman a player that deferred to other stars on the team - like Wilson, Alaina Coates, Kaela Davis, and Alisha Gray. She hung back and maintained player separations on the floor, led the others with passes, played defense and then picked and chose her own shots when she could.
As a result, throughout Harris' career at USC, she was a strong consistent ball handler (owns the program career record for assists), an above-solid defender, and a career scorer of around 11 ppg. Her best scoring year was last year as a senior, and she only scored around 12 ppg then.
Zia (NOT "Nia" as listed above) is more of an attack the lane and score points player. She will most likely never have really strong numbers in assists. She showed her alpha nature last season as a freshman - she played more minutes than any other freshman (including Boston) and only 2nd to Harris, took more shots from the field, more 3-pt shots, and more free throws than any other Gamecock. She's a bit up and down in her efficiencies, but will be a top shooter and play-maker for the team as long as she's in the program.
Henderson is more of a Harris type alpha, but even better when it comes to offense. She was designated from the start as Ty's heir apparent at PG, and she's learned well: in her first season as the established PG1, she's averaging 6.0 assists per game through 11 gms thus far - Ty only had 1 season where she averaged 6+ apg. In SEC play through 5 gms, Henderson has 36 assists (7.2 apg) and only 14 turnovers. In the 5 SEC games played thus far, Henderson set her career game high of 9 assists (Florida), tied it again (Vanderbilt) and then reset it at 10 assists (Arkansas).
Both Cooke and Henderson are fast guards, but Henderson being the smaller of the two is the fastest - almost Cuevas-Moore lightning quick, but in more control of herself. She is not as good of a defender that Harris was - she doesn't gather near as many steals per game - but she is surprisingly a stellar rebounder, with the innate sense for the carom that most forwards have, and she gets to the ball before anyone else can.
In the 5 SEC games thus far, Henderson is averaging 14.0 ppg, 7.2 apg, and 6.4 rpg. For the season (11 gms), she's at 13.2 ppg, 6.0 apg, and 5.8 rpg. She shoots at a better FG % and 3-pt FG % than Harris typically did, and is right on her heels at the FT line (79%).
So after all that, I would say that both Cooke and Henderson are alpha type leaders for the Gamecocks - they just do it in different fashion.....
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SDHoops
Joined: 09 Nov 2007
Posts: 1072
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| Posted: 01/19/21 12:00 pm ::: |
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| Has a player ever won POTY while sitting out two games for discipline and one for injury? In the W, missing such amount of games would disqualify a player regardless of reason. Jones from Stanford.....now numero uno?
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WNBA 09
Joined: 26 Jun 2009
Posts: 10103
Location: Dallas , Texas
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| Posted: 01/20/21 10:23 am ::: |
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| SDHoops wrote: |
| Has a player ever won POTY while sitting out two games for discipline and one for injury? In the W, missing such amount of games would disqualify a player regardless of reason. Jones from Stanford.....now numero uno? |
Jones also would be my #1 at this point , but i believe the max a player can miss is 4. IN a covid year that may be even smaller !!
_________________
3-Time WNBA Champion-3-Time National Champion-4-Time Olympic Champion....And Yes DT "We Got Confeti" lol
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CamrnCrz1974
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
Posts: 18266
Location: Phoenix
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| Posted: 01/20/21 11:08 am ::: |
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| PUmatty wrote: |
| At this point, I find it hard to vote for anyone other than Naz Hillman. Top 10 in points and rebounds in the country for undefeated major conference team? That's very hard to argue against. |
Thank you for mentioning her name, Matty. It made me look back at her previous games and will pay greater attention to her and Michigan going forward.
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PickledGinger
Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Posts: 793
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| Posted: 01/21/21 5:05 pm ::: |
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| Naz Hillmon just put up 50 POINTS and 16 rebounds against Ohio State. They lost by 4 (her teammates shot 10-40 from the field) but she hit 20 of her 30 shots and 10 of her 14 free throws. Crazy impressive despite the loss.
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PUmatty
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 15499
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: 01/24/21 12:29 pm ::: |
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| And now Hillman won't play for at least two weeks. She won't be able to build on that performance and start getting the national attention she deserves.
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