Big Ten WBB: post non-conference awards update
Let's check in on how my preseason predictions are doing!
Note: Hi! Hope you’re all doing well this holiday season. While I may still publish stuff here every so often, you’ll be able to find all of my Wisconsin WBB coverage over at Badger Notes this season. I’ve been writing about football, volleyball, and hoops over there for a few months and I’d love for you all to join me. Have a Happy New Year!
If you purchased my Big Ten WBB Presesason Guide you’d have had this update in your inbox two days ago. Time is money, money is power, power is pizza. Just think about that, ok?
B1G Awards
POTY (preseason): Caitlin Clark, Iowa
POTY (post non-conf): Caitlin Clark, Iowa
Not too much to say about this one. Clark is having another great season and is easily the best player in the conference again. She is leading the Big Ten in scoring by more than 10 points per game. She is leading the Big Ten in assists by more than one per game. She is also averaging 7.4 rebounds per game, which doesn’t lead the conference, but is still quite good.
Does she still turn the ball over too much? Yes, but when you take into account how often she has the ball in her hands and is tasked with initiating the offense…her turnover numbers actually aren’t that outrageous. Is her defense a strength? No, of course not, but she isn’t a traffic cone anymore either.
It pains me to write any of this, but Clark has improved her overall game again this year and I will just have to continue praying harder on her downfall since what I’m doing now clearly isn’t working.
DPOY (preseason): Leilani Kapinus, Penn State
DPOY (post non-conf): Leilani Kapinus, Penn State
This one is tough, but I still think that Kapinus has been the best all-around defender in the league this year. She is fourth in the conference in both steal percentage and block percentage while none of the other players that join her in the top-five of those two categories place in the top-10 of the other one (if that makes sense).
Julia Ayrault and Serah Williams have been outstanding as rim protectors while Ronnie Porter and Taylor Thierry (among multiple other OSU players) have been swiping the ball at an impressive rate, but Kapinus is doing both at a high level. As a team, Penn State is second in the conference in both blocks and steals per game which is thanks in large part to the play of Kapinus. The Nittany Lions struggle to stop other teams from scoring, but that’s because Kapinus can’t cover more than one player at a time.
A special shoutout is due to the Minnesota Golden Gophers who look like an entirely different team on defense this year. They are leading the Big Ten in points per game allowed (54.5) a year after finishing 0.1 points per game out of last place in the conference (73.6 ppg). Dawn Plitzuweit has those girls defending their asses off and, quite frankly, you love to see it.
FOTY (preseason): Riley Nelson, Maryland
FOTY (post non-conf): Grace Grocholski, Minnesota; Natalie Potts, Nebraska
There have been some excellent freshmen performances in the Big Ten this year. I’ve been really impressed with Wisconsin’s D’Yanis Jimenez (who would be a close third in this award if I were ranking my choices) so far and both Purdue and Rutgers have a pair of freshmen contributors that are playing above their age. However, Grocholski and Potts have stood out as the best.
Both have started 12 games and are contributing across the board for their teams. Let’s take a quick look at their stats:
Grocholski: 31.0 mpg; 10.7 ppg (42.9% FG, 36.8% 3P, 71.4% FT), 4.8 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.1 spg, 0.3 bpg, 0.9 turnovers per game
Potts: 22.8 mpg; 10.8 pg (65.0% FG, 31.6% 3P, 80.0% FT), 5.6 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.8 bpg, 1.6 turnovers per game
The other impressive thing about these two is that they are doing all this on fairly low usage. Neither is the first option on offense for their respective team, but when they get the chance to do some damage…they do some damage. Potts has an outrageous 68.8% eFG% and is scoring 1.43 points per shot attempt (Grocholski is at 56.2% and 1.15 respectively which are also really good numbers) while Grocholski has a miniscule 9.0% turnover rate and a 2.55 assist/turnover ratio (Potts is a big so her assist numbers aren’t great and she only turns it over a respectable 17.3% of her possessions).
My preseason pick of Riley Nelson was clearly a bad one, but she isn’t a total loss cause or anything. She just hasn’t gotten a ton of playing time (15.5 mpg) on a Maryland team that goes nine deep. Nelson needs to be better on the glass and get more aggressive taking the ball to the tin during conference play or else she might fall out of the rotation entirely.
Top transfer (preseason): Ashley Owusu, Penn State
Top transfer (post non-conf): Destiny Adams, Rutgers
So, uh, Owusu hasn’t played a minute for Penn State yet this season. She is routinely listed as “questionable” on the injury report but no injury has been reported. Many think that since she transferred again (second time) before the season she was waiting on the NCAA transfer rule to go through the legal system before suiting up. With the ruling in limbo, meaning that a player COULD play even after transferring twice, perhaps we’ll see her in the lineup again. But for now…this was a bad pick.
But, we aren’t here to talk about players that haven’t played yet! I’ve got three incoming transfers that I’d like to highlight as having big effects on their new teams: Darian White (Nebraska), Jakia Brown-Turner (Maryland), and Destiny Adams (Rutgers). While Adams has had the largest impact, White (9.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 4.1 apg, 1.2 spg) and Brown-Turner (10.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.1 spg) both deserve mentions here.
Adams, a New Jersey native who returned home after two years at UNC, has started all 14 games for the Scarlet Knights this year. She is the second-leading scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker for Rutgers while being tied for the most steals per game. She ranks 26th in the Big Ten in scoring, 7th in rebounding (5th in offensive rebounding), 6th in steals, and 8th in blocks. She has scored in double-figures 10 times (career-high 27 points vs. Seton Hall) and has three double-doubles (career-high 17 rebounds vs. Monmouth in the season-opener).
She has been the perfect complement to Chyna Cornwell in the post as the two of them Hoover up rebounds at an astounding rate: the team is 34th in the country in offensive rebounding rate and 74th in total rebounding rate. While their 6-8 record isn’t great, they’re already halfway to last season’s win total and are playing considerably better on both sides of the court, thanks in no small part to Adams.
COTY (preseason): Kevin McGuff, Ohio State
COTY (post non-conf): Robyn Fralick, Michigan State; Dawn Plitzuweit, Minnesota
I don’t think McGuff has done anything to LOSE this award per se (his team is 10-2 and ranked No. 17 in the nation) but the Buckeyes have stumbled in a pair of high profile matchups against Southern Cal and UCLA and haven’t quite hit top gear yet. You can always throw Lisa Bluder in the mix as one of the top coaches in the conference or Teri Moren too, but isn’t that kind of boring when those two teams are just doing what they were predicted to do?
Fralick and Plitzuweit are both first year coaches who have come out of the gates scorching hot with their respective teams. Fralick has Michigan State sitting at 10-2 and the Spartans have already scored over 100 four separate times and over 90 three more times. Plitzuweit has turned the Gophers into a defensive outfit to be proud of and has the Gophers at 11-1 with a win at Kentucky and a conference victory over Purdue.
Now, neither team has played a difficult schedule (with Minnesota’s 11-of-12 games being at home so far being particularly poor) but they’re both winning all of the games they’re supposed to win and the two new coaches have shifted the vibes considerably. I don’t think either of these coaches will end up winning the award at the end of the season, but they do deserve the recognition right now.
Marisa Moseley (Wisconsin) and Carolyn Kieger (PSU) should also be mentioned as they both have their teams punching above their weight.
All-B1G 1st Team (preseason):
Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana
Caitlin Clark, Iowa
Shyanne Sellers, Maryland
Alexis Markowski, Nebraska
Jaz Shelley, Nebraska
Cotie McMahon, Ohio State
Jacy Sheldon, Ohio State
Makenn Marisa, Penn State
Ashley Owusu, Penn State
Kaylene Smikle, Rutgers
All-B1G 1st Team (post non-conf):
Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana
Caitlin Clark, Iowa
Shyanne Sellers, Maryland
Moira Joiner, Michigan State*
Mara Braun, Minnesota*
Alexis Markowski, Nebraska
Jacy Sheldon, Ohio State
Makenn Marisa, Penn State
Kaylene Smikle, Rutgers
Serah Williams, Wisconsin*
Jaz Shelley, Cotie McMahon, and Ashley Owusu fall off the first team at this point of the season, although I’d have Shelley and McMahon on the second team. Mara Braun and Serah Williams jump from the preseason second team to the post non-conference first team while Moira Joiner, in her fifth season at MSU, rocketed on to the first team with her magnificent non-con performance.
If there were a “most improved” award, Joiner would assuredly win it. She is scoring 16.8 ppg on shooting splits of 51.4/44.9/87.0, giving her a real chance of joining the 50/40/90 club, while pulling down 5.3 rebounds, and dishing out 1.8 assists per game. She is doing this on just barely above average usage and, as you probably could’ve guessed by her shooting numbers, with incredible efficiency (1.20 points per possession, 99th percentile; 63.7% eFG, 97th percentile).