At this time of the year it is seemingly a daily occurrence for either Geno Auriemma or his players to receive some sort of national award or be among the list of finalists for such an award. It just so happens that all of this is the case today.
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association announced that Auriemma has been named the women's Division I coach of the year for the seventh time after leading his team to another undefeated regular season even after the graduation of All-Americans Moriah Jefferson, Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck.
Also, Napheesa Collier joins Washington's Kelsey Plum, Ohio State's Kelsey Mitchell and A'ja Wilson of South Carolina as finalists for the Wade Trophy, the top individual award bestowed to a women's basketball player. Collier, Katie Lou Samuelson and Gabby Williams were also named to the WBCA's all-region team making them eligible to be selected to the WBCA All-American team which is the criteria required to be part of the Huskies of Honor.
Collier is averaging 20.2 points per game (shooting 69.3 percent from the field), she leads the Huskies in rebounding (8.9 per game) and has a team-best 68 blocked shots.
Samuelson is the team leader in scoring (20.9 points per game), her 114 3-pointers is seven shy of Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis' single-season program record. She also has 111 assists and 50 steals.
Williams is averaging 13.7 points per game, leads the Huskies with 179 rebounds and 93 steals and is second on the team in rebounding and blocked shots.
In case anybody is wondering why Kia Nurse is not on this list, the way the WBCA does things, there is a limit of three players per team who can receive all-region honors. That is why Asjha Jones is not up on the Huskies of Honor even though she had the kind of senior year that normally ends with All-American recognition. Nurse is certainly one of the best 40 players in women's college basketball but only three Huskies can make this list.
Gabby leads the team in Assists. Gabby has kick started UConn in several games this season. Gabby starred in nationally televised top 10 matchups.
ReplyDeleteBut after UConn has 3 All-Americans last season, not confident voters will select Collier, KLS, and Gabby.
Nurse is certainly 1 of the top 40 players in WCBB division 1. But not 1 of the top 10 players in America.
There are a lot of players not in UConn uniforms who are deserving of All-American, including UCLA's Jordin Canada, who had a double-double against UConn.