sophia young

[Peaceplease]

she has my vote for big 12 poy............now i wish i had recorded the lsu-baylor game..............i would like to see how she was stopped or if she just stopped herself........had a bad game whatever.........or maybe she had a great game but could not beat them by herself..........

anyway, glad baylor won the ncaa title last year............

[35TangoTango]

I was thinking the same thing after the game today. Sophia richly and rightly deserves player of the year, and if that's at least in part aknowledgement of her whole career, then so be it.

[schooner2]

I would have to agree too. Sophia really deserves it. Even after watching her so many times, her athleticism and ability to go up and over people at times is amazing.

[sybarite]

I'm sorry. I am a huge Sophia Young fan. But, Sophia may have had the best game of her career, and she only outscored Courtney 36-31 and was outrebounded 19-14. This came despite the fact that Courtney only was permitted to play 31 minutes to Sophia's 45.

Courtney has taken a good team and made them undefeated in conference play. Sophia, as good as she is, has had four conference losses, two of which were to OU and Courtney.

Sophia is one of the best five players in the nation. Courtney is, quite simply, the best.

[Skerfan]

I'm sorry. I am a huge Sophia Young fan. But, Sophia may have had the best game of her career, and she only outscored Courtney 36-31 and was outrebounded 19-14. This came despite the fact that Courtney only was permitted to play 31 minutes to Sophia's 45.

Courtney has taken a good team and made them undefeated in conference play. Sophia, as good as she is, has had four conference losses, two of which were to OU and Courtney.

Sophia is one of the best five players in the nation. Courtney is, quite simply, the best.

Sophia is absolutely one of the best players out there, but I'd have to agree that Courtney is a better player especially when you consider her age, experience and what she means to her team.

The thread, though, raises an interesting question - what players deserve post season Big 12 Honors. Here's my list - man it's a toughie

Player of the Year: Courtney Paris (OU)

Freshman of the Year: Courtney Paris (OU) (runner up: Kelsey Griffin NU)

1st Team All Big 12 (Based on best players not by position): Courtney Paris (OU), Sophia Young (BU), LaToya Bond (MU), Lyndsey Meddars (ISU), LaToya Davis (TTU)

2nd Team All Big 12 (Best players not by positon): Jackie McFarland (CU), Kelsey Griffin (NU), Crystal Kemp (KU), A'Quonesia Franklin (TAMU), Kiera Hardy (NU) (she's not playing well right now, but is still among the leaders in scoring, assists, steals, 3 pt. field goals made, and assist to turnover ratio - it's hard to ignore that).

All Freshman Team: Courtney Paris (OU), Kelsey Griffin (NU), Shalee Lehning (KSU), JoAnn Hamlin (KSU), Heather Ezell (ISU).

[Jimi]

I have no arguments with your frosh selections Skerfan but it is an indication of her value to the team that the only player to have started every game this year for Kansas State is Freshman Marlies Gipson. She is one of those Megan Mahoney types who contributes in all kinds of ways including many that do not show up in the stats. I am very happy with our Freshman Class.

[Jimi]

And since I am in a Sophia Young thread I am very happy to complement her play. She is a credit to the B-12 and she is a long way from done making her statement at Baylor. The Kansas State Wildcats may not be as thrilled as I am with the prospect, but we get to see both SY & CP3 yet this year. :)

[walkaway]

Well, not being so very familiar with the North, I'll still say that All-Frosh team is lighter than it should be with Southron sisters.

I don't expect anybody other than me's going to find LaVonda Henderson indispensable for an all-freshman squad, but I hate to see the :ksu: newcomers and the other Paris twin so handily dismissed. Also, there's that strawberry blonde at Baylor.

[Scamp]

she has my vote for big 12 poy............now i wish i had recorded the lsu-baylor game..............i would like to see how she was stopped or if she just stopped herself........had a bad game whatever.........or maybe she had a great game but could not beat them by herself..........

anyway, glad baylor won the ncaa title last year............What happened to Sophia at LSU? Two words: Sylvia Fowles.

As for comparing Sophia Young and Courtney Paris, I'm not sure that isn't almost apples and oranges. I see Sophia as a 4, who is having to play the 5 as well this season. Courtney is a natural born 5.

Sophia had 36 points, Courtney 31; Sophia had 14 rebounds, Courtney 19. Unfortunately, Sophia had to play all 45 minutes, while Courtney was out there just 31. If only Abi could/would (?) play more. http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaw/boxscore?gid=200602120444

[FriendofCy]

Certainly not to diminish Courtney, but right now, I think Sophia is the more complete player. CP's offense is somewhat one-dimensional - get me the ball on the block, and I'll turn around and put it in, and do it with great efficiency. Sophia has that 10-12 foot jump shot, and can also create her own shot off the dribble from outside of the lane. She's got some pretty nifty post moves of her own, too.

I'm certainly not saying that by the time Courtney is done she will be the best the Big 12 - probably the country - has ever seen. But she is still a freshman, and she is still improving. There are things she can add to her game IMO that will make her completely unstoppable by the time she is a senior.

Long story short, I give the POY nod to Sophia, with Courtney a close second.

[BenEClone]

I was "working" so saw only bits and pieces of the OU-BU game. Based on what little I've seen over the season, I'd likely favor Young for POY, but, the season isn't over yet. CP does what a wide body post does; the Big12 just hasn't had one. As teams become more accustomed to CP's limitations, other teams will compete. She does have good moves and I like the way she hooks the defender with her off arm/elbow on her move to the basket - not all officials will let her do that. I'm most impressed by two other aspects of the game - the rest of the Sooner team and with the Baylor team. I did not expect BU to be competitive in this game. The rest of the Sooner team can hold their own pretty well without CP.

[Peaceplease]

What happened to Sophia at LSU? Two words: Sylvia Fowles.


]

thanks for the response scamp.......i had the lsu-baylor game on but did not watch that much..........the way sophia was shooting against ou, i cannot see her being stopped from the front without fouling....she did not exactly fall away when she shot, but maybe a little and she ELEVATED......i did record yesterday's game and will go back and watch it again.....

[35TangoTango]

As a long-time Biq 12 watcher, there's another factor in my mind:

Sophia did not get POY last year because Kendra Wecker was a senior who did not get POY the year previously because Nichole Ohlde was a senior.

Sophia is due. She just broke the all-time double-double record, and will most probably break the scoring record.

Plenty of time for Courtney - this is Sophia's year and she deserved it.

[swok34]

The voters are funny, not ha ha funny: I'll ask you all the question that was asked of me:

When Sophia was a freshmen, she led the Big XII in rebounding. How did she not get the FOY, but rather it was split between Chelsi Welsh and Erin Grant?

This is the coaches vote, and they don't always vote the way you think they will.

[Bball Girl]

When Sophia was a freshmen, she led the Big XII in rebounding. How did she not get the FOY, but rather it was split between Chelsi Welsh and Erin Grant?

Frankly, I didn't quite get why Chelsi got it - but Erin led the Big 12 in assists and was pretty high with NCAA assists as well

[swok34]

My point in the matter is this:

VOTES GET SPLIT

It's not one person making a decision. It's 12 and I'm not certain anyone knows what factors into who they choose, except them. Only that they are not allowed to vote for their own players.

[Bball Girl]

So Sheri voted for Erin and Marsha voted for Chelsi :)

Yep they do and we don't have a media vote, only a coaches vote. It would be interesting to have both.

[swok34]

So Sheri voted for Erin and Marsha voted for Chelsi :)

Yep they do and we don't have a media vote, only a coaches vote. It would be interesting to have both.

Don't individual newspapers (KC Star and Dallas Morning News are two that come to mind) do their own lists? And typically, don't those make more sense than how the coaches vote comes out?

I didn't realize that they didn't do a media preseason poll this season until Brian Brinkley said something about it on one of Sherri's radio shows. Wonder why? Haven't they always polled the media in the past?

[Bball Girl]

Don't individual newspapers (KC Star and Dallas Morning News are two that come to mind) do their own lists? And typically, don't those make more sense than how the coaches vote comes out?

I didn't realize that they didn't do a media preseason poll this season until Brian Brinkley said something about it on one of Sherri's radio shows. Wonder why? Haven't they always polled the media in the past?

Yes I think the KCS and DMN do their own votes because I've disagreed strongly with Mechelle a couple of times :). I don't remember if there has been a pre-season media poll - I just remember the ones from the individual newspapers.

More sense - I don't know. Just different maybe.

[spooky]

As a long-time Biq 12 watcher, there's another factor in my mind:

Sophia did not get POY last year because Kendra Wecker was a senior who did not get POY the year previously because Nichole Ohlde was a senior.

Sophia is due. She just broke the all-time double-double record, and will most probably break the scoring record.

Plenty of time for Courtney - this is Sophia's year and she deserved it.

Very good point. I'm generally not in favor of basing a yearly award on anything other than that year's performance. It's happened alot, but mainly in things like the Major League Baseball all-star game, where many times an aging superstar having an average or even subpar year gets voted onto the team at the expense of a young player who was having an awesome year. In that case, prior performance should have no impact on the decision.

But in a situation like this, where both players have had amazing seasons, and are equally qualified to be POY, I have no problem at all breaking the tie based on "lifetime achievement" if you will. And I swear I'm not just saying this based on homer status - any voter who would have used the same criteria last year to pick Kendra over Sophia or anyone else was completely justified as well.

But as has been pointed out, this is a coaches' vote, so all bets are off.

[Skerfan]

I don't expect anybody other than me's going to find LaVonda Henderson indispensable for an all-freshman squad, but I hate to see the :ksu: newcomers and the other Paris twin so handily dismissed. Also, there's that strawberry blonde at Baylor.

They weren't -- because the conference is so loaded with frosh talent, it was really hard for me to make my picks. I felt C Paris and K Griffin were pretty clear picks. But after that I had to go to the stats and look for those freshman who were among the statistical leaders in the conference.