OOC Season - Fan Voted Awards

[ZagDad84]

O'k Lady Zag fans, now that we have completed the OOC games for the 2020-2021 Season, I though it might be interesting to see who the fans think shined during the OOC season and compare it to end of the Season.

The only rule to this poll is that you can only vote for one (1) player, no less, no more, no hanging chads and no lawsuits against the award winners. You are welcome and encouraged to discuss multiple players on the awards, but you can only vote for one.

Without further ado, here are the OOC award categories:

1. Freshman player of the OOC Season
2. Newcomer of the OCC Season (can be a freshman or transfer)
3. Backcourt Player of the OOC Season (Guard or Wing)
4. Frontcourt Player of the OOC Season (Wing, Forward or Post)
5. Most Improved Player of the OOC Season
6. Individual Performance of the OOC Season
7. MVP of the OOC Season

Nope, not going to go first. Want to see some participation from others on this board.

For those who may be a little more number driven, here is the link for this year's individual statistics to date: https://gozags.com/sports/womens-basketball/stats
The link brings up the "Team" statistics, Click on the "Individual" tab to get to the individual tab to get to the player statistics.

If no interest, I will go back to the fire and the hot chocolate.

Let's here from you,

ZagDad

[SkipZag]

Okay here we go.... only if you throw in marshmallows with the hot chocolate.

1. have to go with LS... is playing without concern.
2. CW has been solid...
3. I’m going with K-14. Has shot well and ball choices getting there.
4. Tough call but I think MK has become a very good third Post... no let down from the starters.
5. I’m saying AV because she seems to be working very hard to get better.
6. JW has been solid from the start.
7. LW has impacted the team with her play. Really enjoy her moves for open shots.

Have to admit that my comments are from watching only a few games... but must say, they will get better.

Christmas break and then... game on!

Go Zags!!

[ZagDad84]

Okay here we go.... only if you throw in marshmallows with the hot chocolate.

You go with the miniature ones or the large marshmallows?

Thanks Skip, while it may not look like it, I really do get tired of talking to myself at times.

With so little participation (lots of reads, almost no posts) from the members (particularly this year), I have been thinking of taking a break and just reading for a while and leave the posting to ZAB. I support all local and women's sports as well as many male sports, so I read a lot of sports articles and if I think they would be of interest to the board, I post them. While it does not take much time to post, when you get hundreds of reads and no posts, it is really hard to want to keep wasting my time. The number of posters in any given week rarely exceeds ten and half of those only post once a week or less.

My wish for Christmas, is to have some of those non-posters start posting. Even if it is a simple "I don't give a rat's butt", at least it is something. It says something about the Women's side of this board when the largest discussion on this side of the board in years, maybe ever, was concerning the pandemic.

I have been lucky enough to have had the ability to watch each of the first seven games, sometimes more than once. As Skip has said before, just looking at the stats does not always tell the whole story so here are my selections with my very normal jaded eye.

Freshman player of the OOC Season - Since MW has not played much so far this year, this award has to be between LS and YE. Earlier in the year this would have been a slam dunk for LS. In the last couple of games, YE has come out and outplayed LS during her time on the court but that may likely have been do to the quality (or lack thereof) of the competition. LS has proven to be able to step in right away and give CW, K-11 and K-14 a break with not very much fall off. Award goes to Lily Scanlon but watch out for YE during the league season, she is an up and comer.

Newcomer of the OCC Season - I don't think there is much dissent on CW@ as the winner here. AOC has too small a data set for consideration at this time and the freshman do not measure up to the stats CW has put up so far. CW has played the 2nd most minutes on the team, is shooting a pedestrian 38.3% overall, but is shooting 42.9% from 3 and 90.0% from the charity stripe. She averages 8.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.0 apg and 1 spg and has an assist to turnover ratio above 1. Cierra Walker is my Newcomer of the OCC Season award winner.

Backcourt Player of the OOC Season - I can't give the award to a substitute player, they just don't play enough minutes and may not play against the frontline opposition. K-11, CW and JT have all had their moments, at times, during this shortened OOC season. CW has been a steadying, constant influence over the entire team. Unfortunately, as far as this award is concerned, to date she really has not stood up and took over a game. Nothing wrong with that at all, just not very award worthy, at least for this award at this time. K-11 scores less than CW, shoots a lower percentage across the board than CW (50% from the free throw line) and gathers fewer rebounds than CW. While K-11 has more than three times as many assists as CW, she also has more than twice as many turnovers. No, I can't give the award to K-11 at this time. This leaves JT, who is the leading scorer on the team (14.6 ppg) while shooting a sizzling 48.7% overall and 87% from the charity stripe. While her long range shooting has dropped off this year, she still is shooting a not too bad 33.3%. JT is only behind the Wirth twins in rebounds while throwing in 4 steals and an assist to turnover ratio of 1.7. Jill Townsend is my Backcourt Player of the OOC Season.

Frontcourt Player of the OOC Season - JT won my Backcourt player of the OOC Season so I am going to disqualify her from this award even though not only is she well qualified, statistically it could be argued that she deserves this award as well. Thus, IMO opinion the award comes down to one of the Wirth sisters. JW would be the popular choice and she does score, shoot (overall) and rebound slightly better than LW. She also has slightly more assists, steals and blocks than her sister. My problem, I just can't give any award to somebody who shoots 48.0% from the free throw line unless her name is Shaq. No excuse for shooting this poorly from the free throw line. We have to count on you during crunch time and at 48% we just can't do it. I am sure her free throw shooting percentage will go up during the league season but as this award is for the OOC season, the award for Frontcourt Player of the OOC Season goes to LeeAnne Wirth.

Most Improved Player of the OOC Season - IMO lots of good choices for this award. I have seen significant improvement in the games of K-14, AV, LW and MK and any would be worthy of the award. I don't think AV has played enough minutes to qualify for the award. Perhaps more PT will show an even greater improvement as the year goes on. Last year K-14 was more of a replacement for Katie, than as a point guard. This year K-14 has shown significant improvement at the point and has frequently proven to be a capable point guard. Great improvement, but not enough to be my award winner. I have been seriously impressed with the tenacity of LW on both sides of the ball, but particularly on the offensive side of the ball. For someone who rarely looked for their shot last year, LW has now proven to be an offensive weapon forcing the opposition to guard both forwards equally. However, MK who was always tenacious on defense but almost never looked for an offensive shot, her offensive game has ratcheted up from almost nothing to the best shooter on the team. She never puts the ball down and dribbles after an o-board (ala the Wirths on occasion) she goes right back up and puts the ball in the hoop. She almost always finishes through contact. My only issue is MK's 64.7% free throw shooting, but IMO, the Most Improved Player of the OOC Season goes to Melody Kempton.

Individual Performance of the OOC Season - There have been lots of very good performances so far in this limited OOC season. Lots of double-doubles, particularly by the Wirth twins. However, IMO there is one performance which stands out above all others, so far this year: JT's 29 points against South Dakota State stands out as the best performance by a single player so far this year. My award for best Individual Performance of the OOC Season goes to Jill Townsend for her 29 points against SDSU.

MVP of the OOC Season - An MVP means different things to different people. IMO, to be an MVP you have to be a starter or at least play starters minutes. Nobody on the Lady Zag bench has accumulated 90% of any of the starters minutes (MK is close), so to me the MVP of the OOC season must be selected from the one of the five starters. CW and K-11 are both solid, consistent players but have not extended their game above their statistical averages when the game was on the line. This separates them from JT, JW and LW. I think a reasonable argument could be made for any of the remaining 3 players for MVP. JW has no problem putting the team on her back and leading the team. However, like in the frontcourt award discussion, I simply cannot give an award to somebody shooting 48% from the charity stripe, thus JW is disqualified. LW meets all of the qualifications for MVP, but while she has had solid and above average games, she has not shown the desire to put the team on her back and push the team to victory. JT, who for the last several years has been a vocal leader of the team. She has ice in her veins and not only is willing to take the gaming winning shot but wants the pressure to take the last shot. JT steps up her game when needed, but she will easily defer to her teammates when they are in the groove. Jill Townsend is a true team leader and is my MVP of the OOC season.

Agree, Disagree, let's hear your thoughts.

ZagDad

[SkipZag]

ZD... been thinking about your comment on lack of posting... unfortunately I think there is still a little disconnect from the team due to not being able to attend the games. Like I said, I have only been able to catch a few...

Hopefully with the WCC starting next MONDAY, and hopefully with a good stream, there will be more folks who can watch the game and get back to the following of GU WBB. (First four games in eight days) Monday Wednesday Saturday Monday
Noticed that the games in LA are still at TBA... so keep an eye out.

Finally... like your picks. Note on JT... had a couple of great games but had a couple where she struggled (for her). That’s why she wasn’t on my list. I guess I was judging her against herself.

Oh... big marshmallows

Go Zags!!

[tummydoc]

ZD, I'll chime in so you get a break from listening to the echos of your voice in the empty halls. Agree with Skip that lack of attendance makes bonding with individual players more difficult. I think a bigger issue is the number of pay per view games, and the number of weekday afternoon games OOC which further limit viewership.

From my limited sampling CW has lived up to the hype and been solid. Clearly newcomer of the year and possibly player of the OOC. Ive probably only seen 3 minutes of AV on the court, but a vast improvement over last season when she seemed a liability. Thanks for posting stats, hadn't noticed that some of our players were so dismal from the charity stripe. That's gonna bite us tournament time if it doesn't improve.

[Zaglaw]

1. Freshman player of the OOC SeasonLS
2. Newcomer of the OCC Season (can be a freshman or transfer)CW
3. Backcourt Player of the OOC Season (Guard or Wing)JT
4. Frontcourt Player of the OOC Season (Wing, Forward or Post)JW
5. Most Improved Player of the OOC SeasonAV
6. Individual Performance of the OOC SeasonJW
7. MVP of the OOC Season JT

[ZagDad84]

Thanks for your participation, Skip, TummyDoc and Zaglaw.

ZagDad