Anigwe Named Pac-12 Defensive Player of The Year

I am biased but I think KA had a more impressive year than Ionesxu, not taking away or discounting Ionescu achievements. But Ionescu had more help and didn't face the defenses thrown at KA. Yes-different positions and all, but that is my view

ncbears said:

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I am biased but I think KA had a more impressive year than Ionesxu, not taking away or discounting Ionescu achievements. But Ionescu had more help and didn't face the defenses thrown at KA. Yes-different positions and all, but that is my view

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I'm biased, too, and I think Anigwe and Ionescu should have been named co-Players of the Year.

BearBint said:

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ncbears said:

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I am biased but I think KA had a more impressive year than Ionesxu, not taking away or discounting Ionescu achievements. But Ionescu had more help and didn't face the defenses thrown at KA. Yes-different positions and all, but that is my view

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I'm biased, too, and I think Anigwe and Ionescu should have been named co-Players of the Year.

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Totally agree about the co-players sharing but in any sport things seems to tilt to the teams near the top. If records were reversed it would be opposite. It is not just a womens basketball thing with team win-loss records involved. So it sounds like coaches vote on it and not the media.

Hits teammate


Storms off court

From a beaver board: http://bennyshouse.com/thread/11941/ucla-69-oregon-64
"Queen Sabrina stormed off the court and retreated under the grandstands with 11.4 seconds to go, her team down 5 and with posession. The game was by no means decided. What a terrible (but revealing) message for a star player to send to her teammates. At home, no less."

Maybe she'd have been a different person if she had come to Cal... but I tend to think not.

BearBint said:

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ncbears said:

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I am biased but I think KA had a more impressive year than Ionesxu, not taking away or discounting Ionescu achievements. But Ionescu had more help and didn't face the defenses thrown at KA. Yes-different positions and all, but that is my view

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I'm biased, too, and I think Anigwe and Ionescu should have been named co-Players of the Year.

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I agree. Different positions, different roles. They both did them as good as it gets.

R90 said:

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Hits teammate


Storms off court

From a beaver board: http://bennyshouse.com/thread/11941/ucla-69-oregon-64
"Queen Sabrina stormed off the court and retreated under the grandstands with 11.4 seconds to go, her team down 5 and with posession. The game was by no means decided. What a terrible (but revealing) message for a star player to send to her teammates. At home, no less."

Maybe she'd have been a different person if she had come to Cal... but I tend to think not.

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nice to see a player with fire.

wifeisafurd said:

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nice to see a player with fire.

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No doubt that "fire" is part of the reason most conference coaches voted for her. I don't think it would have gone over so well in Cal's culture. I prefer this kind of fire:

R90 said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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nice to see a player with fire.

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No doubt that "fire" is part of the reason most conference coaches voted for her. I don't think it would have gone over so well in Cal's culture. I prefer this kind of fire:

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We won't mention the suspensions and that end of the bench fits KA had when LG pulled her at times. KA and LG had their rough moments in case you forgot.

R90, thanks for providing that highlights video; I'll send it to a number of friends and family.

The conference is pretty consistent with POY in factoring team standings pretty heavily.

I wanted Ashley to win POY her senior year but it went to Appel despite Ash having better numbers and really carrying our team. But Stanford finished 1st and Appel was their star. Of course no doubt Appel was the better player, but Ashley really have a marvelous season and huge huge role.

But to our benefit, Reshanda Gray won it even though Jillian Alleyne had a stronger case based on individual stats. But Oregon didn't place well in the standings so it went to Gray.

One knock on Kristine's season is that she's "only" shooting 53% from the field (she was right at 57% each of her previous 3 seasons). Some of the elite posts expected to go ahead of her in the WNBA draft are shooting ridiculous %'s, like 60-65% or even around 70% for Hebard if I am not mistaken.

Congratulations, Kristine, for a well-deserved honor.

KA should have won but Oregon's record vs. Cal is the difference

But defense POY is a big award too

Congrats

Is Ionescu forgoing her senior year and entering the WNBA draft this year? If so and she is drafted #1 at least she will end up on one of the worse record teams. Hope she isn't on the same team as one of our other former Bears so I root against her team.

3Cats4CAL said:

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Is Ionescu forgoing her senior year and entering the WNBA draft this year? If so and she is drafted #1 at least she will end up on one of the worse record teams. Hope she isn't on the same team as one of our other former Bears so I root against her team.

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If she does declare and goes #1, it would be to the Las Vegas Aces, the latest WNBA franchise, who actually had a decent season last year: lots of close, exciting games, plus A'ja Wilson and Kayla McBride and a stack of other very skilled players. Ionescu would have to find her role in a much different setting, and I don't think Bill Laimbeer would let her get away with dumb behavior: https://aces.wnba.com

I also hope that (1) Kristine will end up on a team that helps develop her game even further and (2) the N.Y. Liberty's new owner--he also owns part of the Nets--finds a way to move the team back to a big arena (such as Barclay Center, where the Nets play) so lots of people can come watch Boyd again.

I am of course heavily biased, but SI had a very good year as a junior on a very good team, KA had an HISTORIC season as SENIOR on a team that would NOT be good without her. I don't think this should have been close: KA was the PAC 12 player of the year.

blungld said:

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I am of course heavily biased, but SI had a very good year as a junior on a very good team, KA had an HISTORIC season as SENIOR on a team that would NOT be good without her. I don't think this should have been close: KA was the PAC 12 player of the year.

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Well, I am more heavily biased than you are, blungld, so there. And my latest 2019 resolution is to see Cal beat Wazzu and Palo Alto this week. It's doable.

blungld said:

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I am of course heavily biased, but SI had a very good year as a junior on a very good team, KA had an HISTORIC season as SENIOR on a team that would NOT be good without her. I don't think this should have been close: KA was the PAC 12 player of the year.

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They under performed WITH her..Ionescu hands down is the best player in the league, if not the country.

blungld said:

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I am of course heavily biased, but SI had a very good year as a junior on a very good team, KA had an HISTORIC season as SENIOR on a team that would NOT be good without her. I don't think this should have been close: KA was the PAC 12 player of the year.

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Not sure if we are both just biased, but I agree with you

Alkiadt said:

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blungld said:

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I am of course heavily biased, but SI had a very good year as a junior on a very good team, KA had an HISTORIC season as SENIOR on a team that would NOT be good without her. I don't think this should have been close: KA was the PAC 12 player of the year.

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They under performed WITH her..Ionescu hands down is the best player in the league, if not the country.

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That's debatable, but not the point of the PAC 12 player of the year. It's not "who is the best player." KA had an absolutely unprecedented year. A double double in EVERY game. A 30/30 for the first time in almost 20 years. Many Cal and PAC 12 records. SI is great, but her year was not in this ballpark.

blungld said:

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Alkiadt said:

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blungld said:

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I am of course heavily biased, but SI had a very good year as a junior on a very good team, KA had an HISTORIC season as SENIOR on a team that would NOT be good without her. I don't think this should have been close: KA was the PAC 12 player of the year.

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They under performed WITH her..Ionescu hands down is the best player in the league, if not the country.

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That's debatable, but not the point of the PAC 12 player of the year. It's not "who is the best player." KA had an absolutely unprecedented year. A double double in EVERY game. A 30/30 for the first time in almost 20 years. Many Cal and PAC 12 records. SI is great, but her year was not in this ballpark.

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Not debatable IMO.
Ionescu is the MOST VALUABLE player, because she makes her team win. And she does the things that don't show up in the box score too. To me, she is a female version of Jason Kidd, with great vision and skills, and plays the game much like Kidd. She has the NCAA record for most career tripe doubles...male or female.
KA has an overall losing Pac 12 record in her career (30-46...very disappointing in my opinion). She makes no one better around her. I also feel that repeatedly going inside to KA left others standing around and watching. When Cal was any good this year, others had opportunities. That wasn't very often.
The object is to win.
Sounds like you may have SI jealousy. Unfortunately, she was never going to come play for LG.
Finally, I'll be very surprised if SI does not win National POY honors.

I think both will have good WNBA careers, and given that there's a significant chance of a WNBA work stoppage prior to the 2020 season, it may push Sabrina to declare for the draft this year (along with Jackie Young and some others, possibly).

As for New York, the Liberty are committed to playing in Westchester again this year, and it's unclear if it makes financial sense for them to play in an arena like Barclay's. To make that work, they would need significant financial concessions from Barclay's, and it's unclear if Barclay's is willing to do that.

Also note that Tina Charles has yet to re-sign with the Liberty this year, and could conceivably sit out the season (as Maya Moore is doing), which would not only give her some rest but give the players more leverage in the CBA negotiations.

Female professional basketball players used to make most of their money playing overseas, while the WNBA was more of a prestige league and a way to challenge themselves during the international offseason.

Any idea if WNBA salaries have begun to catch up?

Alkiadt said:

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Sounds like you may have SI jealousy.

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Why make it personal? That's a pretty childish accusation. But no, what I have is admiration and awe for KA.

I think your analysis of the two players is correct, SI is a Kidd. If I was drafting a team, she would be my first pick, but I stand by my opinion that the PAC 12 POY is not about who is the best player or MVP or who will be a better pro, it should be who was the player OF THE YEAR. I think KA had the best year of any player and it was historic. Her "making her team or teammates better" is an analysis for different issues: pro potential, breakdown of team success and failure, etc.

You have a different criteria for the award. Okay. I disagree.

blungld said:

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Alkiadt said:

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Sounds like you may have SI jealousy.

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Why make it personal? That's a pretty childish accusation. But no, what I have is admiration and awe for KA.

I think your analysis of the two players is correct, SI is a Kidd. If I was drafting a team, she would be my first pick, but I stand by my opinion that the PAC 12 POY is not about who is the best player or MVP or who will be a better pro, it should be who was the player OF THE YEAR. I think KA had the best year of any player and it was historic. Her "making her team or teammates better" is an analysis for different issues: pro potential, breakdown of team success and failure, etc.

You have a different criteria for the award. Okay. I disagree.

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Remember it was the Pac-12 coaches voted on this. What is was their criteria?

GOLDEN said:

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blungld said:

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Alkiadt said:

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Sounds like you may have SI jealousy.

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Why make it personal? That's a pretty childish accusation. But no, what I have is admiration and awe for KA.

I think your analysis of the two players is correct, SI is a Kidd. If I was drafting a team, she would be my first pick, but I stand by my opinion that the PAC 12 POY is not about who is the best player or MVP or who will be a better pro, it should be who was the player OF THE YEAR. I think KA had the best year of any player and it was historic. Her "making her team or teammates better" is an analysis for different issues: pro potential, breakdown of team success and failure, etc.

You have a different criteria for the award. Okay. I disagree.

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Remember it was the Pac-12 coaches voted on this. What is was their criteria?

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When is the last time that a PAC12 Player of the Year came from a team that underperformed against the pre-season PAC-12 coaches poll? Probably never.

So, if Oregon was picked to win the championship by the coaches, why was Kelly Graves the Coach of the Year?

SFCALBear72 said:

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So, if Oregon was picked to win the championship by the coaches, why was Kelly Graves the Coach of the Year?

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Delivering consistent results over a long season is never easy. I might have gone with Cori Close. But when you win a championship in a tough league, you deserve the recognition.

R90 said:

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Female professional basketball players used to make most of their money playing overseas, while the WNBA was more of a prestige league and a way to challenge themselves during the international offseason.

Any idea if WNBA salaries have begun to catch up?

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Rookies make around $50,000, the max is $110,000 or so, meaning overseas is still where the money is.

Look for a work stoppage in 2020 in the WNBA as the players try to squeeze more money out of the owners. There's a lot of debate as to just how much, if any, money the owners lose each year, and since accounting is an arcane art, there's no real way to determine the answer.

annarborbear said:

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SFCALBear72 said:

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So, if Oregon was picked to win the championship by the coaches, why was Kelly Graves the Coach of the Year?

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Delivering consistent results over a long season is never easy. I might have gone with Cori Close. But when you win a championship in a tough league, you deserve the recognition.

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Media voted Cori Close as Coach of the Year. Utah coach also deserved consideration.

Oregon was picked to finish first with all their "stellar" talent and they did so. How does that merit Coach of the Year honors? Ridiculous.

Maybe they also gave him some credit for recruiting the talent.

"Media voted Cori Close as Coach of the Year. Utah coach also deserved consideration."

Do you have a link, SFCALBear72?

I was also impressed by Barnes. Perhaps the Pac-12 needs a Most Improved COY.

BearBint said:

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"Media voted Cori Close as Coach of the Year. Utah coach also deserved consideration."

Do you have a link, SFCALBear72?

I was also impressed by Barnes. Perhaps the Pac-12 needs a Most Improved COY.

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Here you go, BearBint:


https://pac-12.com/article/2019/03/06/2018-19-pac-12-womens-basketball-media-awards-announced