Mid season Awards

[SteelSD]

At the just over halfway point here is my voted for the season end awards:

1st Team:
POY: Grace Larkins, USD
DPOY: Brooklyn Meyer, SDSU
Paige Meyer, SDSU
Jordan Jones, DU
Taleyah Jones, ORU
Alayna Contreras, KC

2nd Team:
Jalei Ogelsby, ORU
Emani Bennett, KC
Amber Scalia, STU
Kiera Pemberton, UND
Avery Koenen, NDSU

Honorable Mention:
Haleigh Timmer, SDSU
Grace Cave, OU
Abbie Draper, NDSU
Jade Hill, STU
Ruthie Udoumoh, ORU

Rookie/Newcomer Team:
ROY: Jocie Schiller, UND
Katie Vasecka, SDSU
Emilee Fox, SDSU
Marisa Frost, NDSU
Tyla Heard, ORU

All Defensive Team:
DPOY: Brooklyn Meyer, SDSU
Ruthie Udoumoh, ORU
Fatima Ibrahim, UND
Avery Koenen, NDSU
Grace Larkins, USD

Coach of the Year: Aaron Johnston, SDSU
6th Woman of the Year: Jalei Ogelsby, ORU

What stands out to me is that the talent at the top of this league is really up from a few years ago. There were a number of good players who left but there have been a few stud freshman and some returning players who have really elevated their games. The 2nd team was really hard to figure and you could certainly argue about a few players from the HM listing moving up. It is interesting that outside Ja Harvey from Omaha there really haven't been transfer players who have factored in to their teams success. It would appear that the portal doesn't seem to be helping the SL, at least on the women's side.

Feel free to disagree with my choices, it's an interesting debate.

[peavy]

AJ basically said that Paige has needed to adjust her playstyle each year depending on the active roster. Her value to the team is not debatable, but I'm not sure if we'll see her on first team given her reduced output (points) this year.

[SteelSD]

AJ basically said that Paige has needed to adjust her playstyle each year depending on the active roster. Her value to the team is not debatable, but I'm not sure if we'll see her on first team given her reduced output (points) this year.

That could very well be true. However I am assuming that other league coaches understand the straw that stirs the drink that is the SDSU juggernaut is Paige and that her contributions go beyond scoring. But you could be right that they drop her to 2nd team. She was my final choice of the first team as the other 5 members seem like locks to me. Frankly there are a few slots on this that will still hinge on how the rest of the season plays out.

[peavy]

For anyone interested Summit League stats site - you can toggle between overall and conference only

I forgot that the Summit League has been sharing conference only ones in social media. Mesa Byom being #2 to Walker Demeres in FTs from a week ago comes to mind. Mesa is now leading .889 24/27 , Tamia Ugassa .880 22/25. If you look at overall, Mesa isn't on the list (presumably not enough attempts). Something to consider when just looking at the stats.

[Jacked_Up]

I'd vote for Katie V. as the sixth woman of the year and, at the least, honorable mention on the all-conference team. She's made big contributions, and they're getting bigger as the season progreses.

[SteelSD]

I'd vote for Katie V. as the sixth woman of the year and, at the least, honorable mention on the all-conference team. She's made big contributions, and they're getting bigger as the season progreses.

I really love how KV has progressed as the season as gone on but Jalei O. is a borderline 1st team player as the ORU 6th player. She is the defending 6th POY and is having an even better season this year as she's 5/6 in scoring. So as much as I love KV's game and the season she is having she still doesn't beat out JO for this award in my book. Now you could argue that KV is the ROY over Jocie Schiller and I think that is a better debate than for the 6th POY. Katie could certainly go on a tear and the end of the season and claim that title but right now I lean towards Jocie.

And let's be clear that I'm not knocking Katie's game in my awards "guess." Frankly Katie is a future POY type talent.

[LetsGoRabbits]

there is really no comparison between Olgesby and Vasecka. KV is great and likely only gets better, but at this moment Olgesby could be as hign as 3rd or 4th in POY voting. I think compared to Schiller if most coaches could have one and ONLY one of the two they would choose KV, but she is not going to have the same opportunity as Schiller this year

this has ALWAYS been the deal for the awesome players who put team goals over individual goals and choose to be Jackrabbits. hard to get all the individual recognition they likely could get in another place when they play smaller minutes and put up less stats for the sake of team success

[peavy]

Katie is shooting 51/44.8/55.8 insane talent. Her conference line is 11ppg 3.4 rebounds/game, 1.56 assists on 53/48/75
Get the free throws under control and the the dreams of seeing her with a 50-40-90 line become a reality

I'll edit this in a second with the stats

[98Jackfarmer]

If you equalize the minutes between KV and JS, KV leads her in most categories. KV is ahead in PPG by 1.9, Rebounds by 1.9, assists by .14, she has19 fewer TO's and 5 blocks to 0. She trails in steals by 8. This is conference only. The back half of the season will be interesting for sure for her.