KLS named 2018 Wade Trophy finalist

[Mister2]

The 4 finalists announced by WBCA today are (I couldn't find the official press release anywhere):

KLS
Ionescu
Mitchell
Wilson

Slightly surprised by Mitchell on the list.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

There is a release on Oregon Ducks website ... confirms the same 4 finalists.

 

[f1f1ferrari]

Ionescu, Mitchell, Samuelson, Wilson finalists for 2018 Wade Trophy

 

[Wbbfan1]

There's four members of the WBCA All American Team. You'd expect them to make the team regardless if they were Finalist for the Wade Award.

 

[MilfordHusky]

There's four members of the WBCA All American Team. You'd expect them to make the team regardless if they were Finalist for the Wade Award.

Yep.

 

[Bascomfan]

KLS all the way !!

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Mitchell absolutely does not deserve it. She just throws up junk shot after junk shot. And her team suffers as a result.

KLS might not get the award, but she should. Not only has she put up excellent individual stats, but she is the consummate team performer, leading her team to yet another undefeated regular season.

None of the others have accomplished that.

 

[HoopsFan21]

The Wade Trophy belongs on Katie Lou's mantle. It just won't look as good anywhere else.

 

[Bronx23]

It seems to me the choice of Mitchell is the continuation of the ever lasting infatuation with scoring. Surely Mitchell is a great scorer likely to end up 2nd all time. The continued devaluation of defense is indicated by Gabby not being included on the list. Clearly if one is included then the other should be.
Wilson is an excellent player who is essential to the success her team has and still has. But with six losses (two or three she didn't play in) and not yet ever having a good let alone big game against U Conn speaks volumes. She did play a big role in the conference championship win against MS, and she surely deserves credit for that. In my mind it shows how McGowan is while, improved and improving, still primarily a big very strong inside presence with limited skills(not that she's on or belongs on this list).
Ionescu is just fabulous. She I believe is already approaching being one of the great all time guards (I would call her a point guard) to ever play in the women's game. I just had the thought that she's in some ways a cross between DT & SB. I love watching her play and her intensity. She can still improve more defensively but that is just looking for an area to grow in.
That's brings me to KLS who as I've said quite a few times before is becoming the fourth best U Conn player. While I doubt she can get that much closer to the holy trinity of DT, MM & Stewie, one shouldn't count that out. One of the BY'ers recently posted (sorry can't remember the name for attribution) that he can't think of another player in U Conn history that's improved as much during their time here as she has. I believe she barely outshines Ionescu with her amazing shooting, superb passing, pressure defense and diving here and there for loose balls, improved and improving rebounding. Ironically both Ionescu and KLS are on incredibly talented teams, who both would fall back somewhat but would still be quite good without them.
I give it to KLS maybe because she's evolved a bit more than Ionescu in their college years as she's a junior and Ionescu a sophomore. KLS emotional and modeling leadership has become phenomenal as evidenced by the manner in which Geno speaks about her and what we can see during games. I am amazed and astounded by her ability to never be about herself, even at her hardest times when she couldn't play. Joyfully she cheers on her teammates when she can't play. She always deflects praise and compliments to her teammates and coaches. Also her ever lasting desire to improve and then to see strong evidence of that is impressive.
KLS deserves the Wade award as she has been the best all around player in the country and on the best team in the country. Ionescu is a close second. I would put Wilson third and Gabby fourth.
Bronx23

 

[Fairfield Fan]

It seems to me the choice of Mitchell is the continuation of the ever lasting infatuation with scoring. Surely Mitchell is a great scorer likely to end up 2nd all time. The continued devaluation of defense is indicated by Gabby not being included on the list. Clearly if one is included then the other should be.
Wilson is an excellent player who is essential to the success her team has and still has. But with six losses (two or three she didn't play in) and not yet ever having a good let alone big game against U Conn speaks volumes. She did play a big role in the conference championship win against MS, and she surely deserves credit for that. In my mind it shows how McGowan is while, improved and improving, still primarily a big very strong inside presence with limited skills(not that she's on or belongs on this list).
Ionescu is just fabulous. She I believe is already approaching being one of the great all time guards (I would call her a point guard) to ever play in the women's game. I just had the thought that she's in some ways a cross between DT & SB. I love watching her play and her intensity. She can still improve more defensively but that is just looking for an area to grow in.
That's brings me to KLS who as I've said quite a few times before is becoming the fourth best U Conn player. While I doubt she can get that much closer to the holy trinity of DT, MM & Stewie, one shouldn't count that out. One of the BY'ers recently posted (sorry can't remember the name for attribution) that he can't think of another player in U Conn history that's improved as much during their time here as she has. I believe she barely outshines Ionescu with her amazing shooting, superb passing, pressure defense and diving here and there for loose balls, improved and improving rebounding. Ironically both Ionescu and KLS are on incredibly talented teams, who both would fall back somewhat but would still be quite good without them.
I give it to KLS maybe because she's evolved a bit more than Ionescu in their college years as she's a junior and Ionescu a sophomore. KLS emotional and modeling leadership has become phenomenal as evidenced by the manner in which Geno speaks about her and what we can see during games. I am amazed and astounded by her ability to never be about herself, even at her hardest times when she couldn't play. Joyfully she cheers on her teammates when she can't play. She always deflects praise and compliments to her teammates and coaches. Also her ever lasting desire to improve and then to see strong evidence of that is impressive.
KLS deserves the Wade award as she has been the best all around player in the country and on the best team in the country. Ionescu is a close second. I would put Wilson third and Gabby fourth.
Bronx23

That poster was Fairfield Fan. Thanks for the mention.

 

[CocoHusky]

Mitchell absolutely does not deserve it. She just throws up junk shot after junk shot. And her team suffers as a result.
KLS might not get the award, but she should. Not only has she put up excellent individual stats, but she is the consummate team performer, leading her team to yet another undefeated regular season.
None of the others have accomplished that.

KLS is having a great season and worthy of this award. The other players including Kelsey Mitchell are also worthy of consideration. The Wade trophy has been around for more than a minute now, 40 years to be exact and has always been overwhelming based on individual offensive stats vs. team accomplishments like having an undefeated season. Of the 39 past winners only 2 (Maya & Stewie) have won the award while having undefeated regular seasons. 4 different schools (UCONN '14, ND '14, Princeton '15 and Texas'85) have had undefeated regular season and not have a player who won the Wade.

 

[bags27]

Lou, of course, has (in the words of Michael Jordan) a great supporting cast. But Ionescu takes over a game and wills her team to win far more than Wilson. Since she's only a sophomore with even greater promise the next two years, I don't think she gets the Wade this year, but she's potentially the best pure guard since D.

 

[Bascomfan]

Lou, of course, has (in the words of Michael Jordan) a great supporting cast. But Ionescu takes over a game and wills her team to win far more than Wilson. Since she's only a sophomore with even greater promise the next two years, I don't think she gets the Wade this year, but she's potentially the best pure guard since D.

Azura will be strongly considered next year

 

[Charliebball]

Lou, of course, has (in the words of Michael Jordan) a great supporting cast. But Ionescu takes over a game and wills her team to win far more than Wilson. Since she's only a sophomore with even greater promise the next two years, I don't think she gets the Wade this year, but she's potentially the best pure guard since D.

I'm no great fan of Wilson but I must say that the many games I watched her play this season she was the heart and soul of that SC team.........she was always asking for the ball to make a play, always talking to the other players, always applauding when they made a good play and reassuring them when they did not............I don't believe she is the most skilled player but I give her credit for trying to be a leader

 

[Shades]

Wilson has the least help from her teammates and still has lifted her team to a #2 seed in the tourney. She’s the MVP of the league.

 

[Bronx23]

That poster was Fairfield Fan. Thanks for the mention.

Thanks Fairfield Fan for the original comment and the reminder.
I concur completely with your statement about KLS.
Bronx23

 

[Bronx23]

Wilson has the least help from her teammates and still has lifted her team to a #2 seed in the tourney. She’s the MVP of the league.

All very true! Her league!
A NPOY must step up in the big moments and not have another weak performance.
I still want to see KLS take over a game in a big important, close game but she contributes in so many ways she still has my vote, which of course is rather meaningless!
Bronx23

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Azura will be strongly considered next year

Went back to previous years' top HS players on prospectsnation.com. For the most part, the top-ranked kids were also the best kids in WCBB. But not always. Azure was only ranked #61 in her class. Victoria Vivians was ranked #41 (?). So Z is way out-performing her ranking.

Of course, Gabby was only ranked #10 or so. But that was due to her serious knee injury and her inability to play her senior year.

Would be great if Z became a first team AA next year!

 

[augustaTC]

Azura will be strongly considered next year

Love the effort & strides Z has made, but unless Lou and Ionescu are somehow out of the picture, and Z continues to improve her game at the same pace, I just don't see it.

 

[Mister2]

There's four members of the WBCA All American Team. You'd expect them to make the team regardless if they were Finalist for the Wade Award.

Correct me if I'm wrong, I think among the 5 major NPOY awards the Wade Trophy is the only one that has an explicit requirement that the award winner must be on some AA team (in this case the WBCA AA team). In effect, the WBCA has created a hierarchy of 3 categories of best players of the year:

Cat. 1: 10-player AA team (this is the requirement for Huskies of Honor)
Cat. 2: 4 finalists from the AA team
Cat. 3: winner from the finalists

 

[Bronx23]

Love the effort & strides Z has made, but unless Lou and Ionescu are somehow out of the picture, and Z continues to improve her game at the same pace, I just don't see it.

Z has improved tremendously and will only continue that improvement. I agree that unless she has a truly monster season KLS or Ionescu are next years NPOY.
What I can tell you, pretty much for certain, that KLS and Z will both make each other better even if they are competing for this honor. And we haven't even mentioned Pheesa, who is tremendous in her own right. CD also might be by then the 2nd best point guard in the nation, only to Ionescu.
That's going to be some team with MW, CW, Ono, Barouly, and further development from the other younger players, and that's not counting Ezi.
Can't wait but they have a bit of business to take care of first.
Bronx23

 

[inthisopinion]

KLS is the top player in the nation and she has a good chance to win this version of the POY. These people put more on team success than any of the other POY voters and her all-around great team play may get her over the top. However, she still might have to deliver a one of a kind performance or two in the tourney. A great sweet 16 game may be the thing that could change minds early enough because most of the voters may have already made their choice.