WBB 2024-25 A-10 Awards

[Section 204and5]

If the schedule is the same as last year, tomorrow the A-10 awards should be announced. Looking to confirm that, I stumbled across the following article:

A10 Talk's 2024-2025 WBB Awards

Another Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball regular season is in the books and that means it is time for another edition of the A10 Talk Women’s Basketball Awards. These awards are not the official ones awarded by the conference coaches, but rather voted on by a panel which extensively covers the...

www.a10talk.com

This article has Doogan and Ullstrom on the first team and Budnik as third team. No other awards are listed for the Spiders.

It also has Doogan behind both Ziegler (St. Joe's) and McConnell (Duquesne) as Player of the Year. My personal take:
1. Team results matter. Ziegler played on a team - although good - that under-performed expectations. Preseason St. Joe's was picked second and ended up as the fourth seed. McConnell played for a team seeded ninth.
2. To me it's between Ziegler and Doogan. If you look at individual stats, each has an advantage depending upon which stat you look at. The statistical differences are pretty minor even where one has an advantage over the other. One big difference however is usage. Ziegler played the the third most mpg in the league while Doogan didn't even make the top 25 for minutes played (only Spider who did - Ullstrom). So between putting up similar numbers in about seven fewer minutes per game and better team results, I think Doogan should be POY.

I also think Sweeney should be third team, but I am biased.

 

[spiderstudent17]

Agree that Sweeney should be 3rd team. Even though she didn't have the stats like last year, Budnik still had a tremendous impact this year and think she should be 2nd team. Doogan should absolutely be player of the year. Worst case be co-POY with Ziegler. She had just as good results on a better team that had better players too. McConnell had better stats because she was Duquesne's clear best player. Our team has 3 or 4 other players who should be on an all-conference team.

 

[VegasSpider]

This is all absurd, lol (not your comments, but the recap). I've written about this previously, but Doogan is CLEAR POY, and it's not close. I think Ullstrom deserves first team as well. Roussell COY and Sweeney most improved. I don't think Katie or Addie should be left off either... but i can understand why they wouldn't get the attention they deserve given a pure statistical look.... but I think Addie should be 2nd team and Katie 3rd.... and I don't think it should be completely unreasonable based on our results and the level of talent from our starting lineup that they're all recognized in some way. I also think Katie and Alyssa should get some consideration for first team all-defense.... but again perhaps this is too microscopic in terms of looking at their contribution to our team and not the league as a whole.

I've seen some pretty insane things in my years following college basketball in general... and specifically women's basketball because unfortunately, the women's basketball pundits tend to be the ones that need to find a niche to be experts about but don't tend to be adequately knowledgeable. Certainly, there are some really good ones out there, so please understand i'm generalizing. That being said (and I like her quite a bit) but McConnell being ahead of Maggie on anyone's A-10 POY list should relegate whoever created the list to literally NEVER writing a single article on basketball of any kind at any point.... EVER again. I'm just saying.

 

[VegasSpider]

And FWIW, im in agreement that Ally should be third team+, but i'm more (too) focused on making sure they all get recognized in some way.... and she should be a landslide winner for most improved.... just considering her total playing time last year.... to the starting PG on the conference's best team and her level of play.

I said it, i think... about ten games in.... but we absoultely wouldn't have had the year that we had (in spite of the amazing contributions elsewhere) without her improvement this year.... and Roussell said specifically this in a pre-game presser around the same time. She's been absolutely tremendous the entire year.

It's a further testament to Faith's improvement over the course of the season and getting back to the level that she was at previously.... that Roussell has leaned on her in end of game situations based on her experience more the last month... and her poise has really helped us close out games in the odd moment when Ally has struggled even a little bit.... which hasn't been much.

 

[GKiller]

McConnell is a great player but probably gets elevated by her last name a bit here

 

[VegasSpider]

McConnell is a great player but probably gets elevated by her last name a bit here

Yeah, I'm sure that's true.... also... and being a 76ers fan, i'm a big fan of TJ as well.... and I like her quite a bit... as I already mentioned... so no shade being thrown her away at all. Again, all of that said, this just isn't an apples to apples comparison with her and Maggie.

 

[SFspidur]

McConnell leads the conference in scoring, assists, and steals, and is 9th in rebounding. I can see the tendency to want to give it to her. But she didn't elevate her team the way Doogan and Ziegler did. She's simply the star of a very average team.

I agree that I don't think the fact she only plays 29 minutes a game gets enough attention. Our style of play and the other pieces we have means she doesn't always have to be the one player we go to. But given the minutes she does play, she absolutely fills up the stat sheet in almost every category and makes everyone around her better.

 

[Section 204and5]

I did a little more digging through the stats. No Spider was in the top 25 in terms of minutes played if only conference games are considered. McConnell and Ziegler were 2-3 in minutes per game by this standard - and the difference between McConnell and Doogan is closer to 9 mpg. And Richmond played 31 games versus 29 for St. Joe's and Duquesne. I'm not completely sure that means much but thought it was worth noting.

 

[SFspidur]

Doogan wins POY!

Roussell COY, Doogan and Ullstrom on 1st team, Budnik 2nd team.

Budnik and Doogan All-Academic.

Richmond's Doogan, Roussell Earn #A10WBB Player & Coach of the Year Honors; McConnell, McKayle, Snead & Suárez Tabbed for End of Season Awards

After leading Richmond to their second-straight regular season A-10 title and a current 16-game winning streak, Spiders junior forward Maggie Doogan secured distinction as the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Player of the Year, while her coach Aaron Roussell was voted on by his peers as the...

atlantic10.com

 

[spiderstudent17]

Congratulations and well deserved! Give Roussell and staff the raise they deserve.

 

[Section 204and5]

I didn't think Roussell would win COY since he won it last year, but is there a better coach in the conference? I don't think so.

 

[wr70beh]

SO proud of this team. Watching this team from 6 years ago when it was broken down to where it is now is nothing short of remarkable. Looking forward to this weekend.

 

[Eight Legger]

"But who would we hire who would be any better than Shafer?"