As it has been done for men, I want to start my discussion about the league awards. Maybe I’m a bit biased here, but I will go for 3 Columbia, and who I think are the 5 best players in the IL. If only two, I guess Collins will drop to 2nd team in favor of Almqvist.
PoY: Turner, Harvard
CoY: Griffith, Columbia
DPoY: Egger, Yale / Almqvist, Penn
RoY: Collins, Penn
First Team:
Turner, Harvard
Weiss, Columbia
Henderson, Columbia
Chea, Princeton
Collins, Columbia
Second Team:
Almqvist, Penn
Egger, Yale
Belker, Princeton
Arnolie, Brown
Page, Darmouth
Honorable Mention:
Rodriguez, Harvard
Collins, Penn
Parker-Hall, Cornell
I agree the distribution in terms of teams is weird, as Harvard probably deserves more and Columbia was not as dominant as this makes it look, but this is how I see it in terms of players
If one looks at players with a PER > 15, who played >25 m per game and scored 10+ points game, the rankings change … but the names basically remain the same … within these names are 1st team, 2nd team and HM.
With 9 Rookie of the Week awards, Katie Collins has been the most dominant freshman over the season … here are all the freshman with a win share over 1 and a PER over 15
Very interesting stats. It’s true that DPoY is where I had a lot of doubts. I went for rebounds because it’s what IL usually goes for, but its true that probably a Harvard player would be a really good fit for this recognition given their season. Glenn-Bello or Anderson might be good canditates. Maybe even Turner deserves to be both PoY and DPoY. I do think though that DEF RTG is biased towards steals. Weiss being 8th is very odd. She is not a good defender. Megan knows this very well because she usually subs her when there is an important defensive possession. In terms of Columbia, I think the best defenders are Avlijas, Page and Henderson in that order, and DEF RTG doesn’t reflect that, so I wouldn’t completely trust it.
RoY I don’t think there is even doubt that Collins will win it. Same with PoY.
About first team, I think they usually take way more things into account than PPG, specially APG and RPG. That is why I have both Henderson and Collins on 1st Team. Also because they basically run the entire Columbia offense and they are the reason this team is so good.
DOPY is a hard one for me as well. Egger at Yale has the rebounds and scoring to win, but the Yale team record and NET ranking are so poor, its hard for me to think Defense.
No one has won POY and DPOY - so odds are against Turner for the sweep. Stipanovich won ROY and DPOY on a Championship Penn team where Baron was POY
What I do not have a good stat source, but the coaches may just know, was there a defender who constantly held their assignment below their season averages.
As for looking beyond PPG - here are the 23-24 results
1st Team
Abbey Hsu (Columbia)
Kaitlyn Chen (Princeton)
Kyla Jones (Brown)
Harmoni Turner (Harvard)
Jordan Obi (Penn)
2nd Team
Cecilia Collins (Columbia)
Kitty Henderson (Columbia)
Stina Almqvist (Penn)
Ellie Mitchell (Princeton)
Madison St. Rose (Princeton)
As for going beyond PPG - here is everyone who had 10+ PPG, 3+ RPG, 1+ APG - now the RPB and APG may be so low, that if you play enough to score 10+ PPG, you are bound to get 1 assist and grab a few rebounds
If that is the case, the only change I see possible is an Almqvist Collins swap. But Collins has been more impactful than Almqvist, that is why I have her as 1st team
Almqvist has better numbers, and is
Penn’s MVP. Not sure what you mean by
impactful.
I would consider Tall for Honorable mention.
She has been coming on lately.
The difference comes from the fact that Almqvist plays basically the full 40 min and gets most of the shots at Penn, while Collins has better competition in her team, and she is not the focus of Columbia’s gameplay.
And by impact I mean that Collins is one of the main reasons Columbia has won IL (she & Henderson run Columbia’s attack), has way higher Win Shares, and is a way more efficient player than Almqvist (the PER difference is quite large)
Most of us agree that Chea is a first teamer. Be sure to tune in to PBS on March 24 to watch a documentary about her development as a person and player. Her family came to California from Cambodia. She played at Flintridge Prep, following her teammate, Kaitlyn Chen, to Princeton. Carla, keep that SoCal pipeline running!!!
I definitely overlooked Tall, she might get 2nd team or honors. But I don’t see Glenn-Bello here. She is too inconsistent. And I don’t think Rodriguez season is good enough to go above honorable mention, but I might be wrong about this one.
But I like your overall selection. It shows really well the difference between the top 3 teams and the rest of the league, which has been quite abismal this season.
That pipeline is crazy! And Princeton’s sophomore class is insane too. Columbia is getting a really good incoming class, but I fear that having Weiss might not be enough to fight against you guys, at least next year.
Columbia lost Abby Hsu and got better. Griffith building a dynasty that will be competitive for a long time.
If St. Rose comes back Tigers will be in the thick of it.
Agree! I hope Avlijas somehow finds out how to get back to the player she was in Europe. Imagine the same player but with all those mid-range shots going in.
I expect the incoming class to also play a big role. I wouldn’t be surprised if after a few games we start having at least a freshman in the starting 5
Hope you are right. Hope the League gets better across the board. Thus year’s 3 way race has been a lot of fun. I suspect Penn will show up in Providence ready to play.
