In an effort to promote the game of basketball and recognize the best players in the nation, the Basketball Hall of Fame created awards for the men’s All-America Team in 2015. These awards covered 5 different positions and were named after 5 of the best players to ever step onto the court: the Bob Cousy Point Guard Of The Year, the Jerry West Shooting Guard Of The Year, the Julius Erving Small Forward Of The Year, the Karl Malone Power Forward Of The Year, and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Of The Year. This year the Hall of Fame announced a partnership with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) to present awards celebrating 5 of the best women to ever play the game: the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard Of The Year, the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Of The Year, the Cheryl Miller Small Forward Of The Year, the Katrina McClain Power Forward Of The Year, and the Lisa Leslie Center Of The Year. The watch list for the women’s awards were announced earlier this month (see below for some of the favorites) and the winners will be revealed in April. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Greg Procino, the Basketball Hall of Fame’s Vice President of Basketball Operations, about these awesome awards.
Why did the Hall of Fame decide to create these awards? The Hall of Fame is an institution that recognizes the entire game of basketball at all levels around the world. We are active in the college space on both the men’s and women’s side, including our own awards program. Based on the success of the men’s program that was launched a few years ago we decided to expand the women’s program this year. We know there is an overload of awards on both sides but we wanted to spread the most awareness and provide ourselves with a little separation in terms of recognition. We have partnered with ESPN and the WBCA to create a platform at the Women’s Final 4, which will give us the best shot to be very relevant.
How did you identify which 5 Hall of Fame women would be participating? We wanted a diverse/inclusive representation to cover the growth of the women’s game over time and thought it was best to not focus on just 1 single generation. The idea was floated internally more than a year ago since we represent the entire game of basketball. Part of the creation was built off of the men’s version but it was more a result of representing the entire Hall of Fame. We did not consider any current players because eligibility for the Hall of Fame was 1 of our criteria. We view this as a legacy opportunity for the 5 Hall of Famers who we did select and we wanted to highlight their accomplishments for a newer generation of basketball fans. Nancy Lieberman (at ODU) and Annie Meyers Drysdale (at UCLA) were 2 of the pioneers of women’s basketball. They were visible players on different sides of the country and we felt they were most reflective of the game over time. Nancy’s award has been in existence for almost 2 decades and we thought they were both good choices at their respective positions, even though there were a lot of viable candidates.
How has the Hall’s coverage of the women’s game changed over time? The women’s game is still growing but we have always been an all-inclusive place. The more relevant the WNBA becomes with its own star players, the more that will ultimately spread to the Hall. However, we have always had an enshrinement voting committee for the women’s game.
How do the awards evolve during the course off the season? The watch lists were released a few weeks ago and will be narrowed to 10 candidates and then again to 5 candidates in the months ahead. We expect everyone to be present to receive their awards during the Friday coverage at the Final 4 in Columbus, OH, and we will formally do the hand-off during the off-day that weekend. Players can play their way onto and off of the list so just because your favorite player is not on the 1st watch list does not mean that she will be excluded from winning the award in the spring. Year 1 for us will be foundational for us so that we can maximize the visibility of these awards well into the future.
Last season Washington’s Kelsey Plum won the Wade Trophy (as national player of the year) before becoming the 1st overall pick in the WNBA Draft by San Antonio Stars: how does the Wade Trophy fit into the equation with the 5 positional awards? It will still be managed by the WBCA but the partnership means that ESPN will announce our award winners on Final 4 weekend. Based on the history of the men’s award my guess is that the Wade Trophy winner will also win a positional award, but the voting processes are 2 separate paths.
Nancy Lieberman Point Guard Award (19th year)
Watch list includes: Kelsey Mitchell from Ohio State (8th player ever to be a 3-time preseason All-American), Lexie Brown from Duke (set ACC record by making 56 consecutive FTs), Morgan William from Mississippi State (made buzzer-beater to end UConn’s record streak in Final 4)
Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award (inaugural year)
Watch list includes: Katie Lou Samuelson from UConn (set D-1 women’s record by making 10-10 threes in a win over South Florida), Victoria Vivians from Mississippi State (All-American)
Cheryl Miller Small Forward Award (inaugural year)
Watch list includes: Gabby Williams from UConn (2017 WBCA national DPOY), Shakayla Thomas from Florida State (ACC POY)
Katrina McClain Power Forward Award (inaugural year)
Watch list includes: Napheesa Collier from UConn (AAC preseason POY), Kristine Anigwe from California (All-American)
Lisa Leslie Center Award (inaugural year)
Watch list includes: A’ja Wilson from South Carolina (NCAA tourney MOP), Kalani Brown from Baylor (set school record with 67.9 FG%), Azura Stevens from UConn (sat out last year after transferring from Duke)
News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Wednesday, Nov 29th
NEWS AND NOTES
-Louisville v Purdue was a rock fight last night without a lot of offensive flow, but it was an exciting rock fight that seesawed back and forth and saw Purdue picking up the win at home. Louisville was in the game, and has to be encouraged to a degree that they didn’t play well but still had a chance to win it, but to date all they’ve done is win home buy games.
-Xavier got a nice win against a pretty good Baylor team in the night’s only top 25 match up.
-South Dakota State had a 20 point second half lead against Ole Miss that they blew, but they still held on to pick up a huge win in overtime and improve to 7-2 on the year with one of the losses being at Kansas. They should finish with a very bloated record, and who knows? Maybe they’ll land on (or even inside) the bubble.
-Iowa stinks.
-Will the real Saint Louis team please show up? We’re not sure if it is the team that defeated Virginia Tech at Madison Square Garden or the team with back-to-back home losses to Detroit and Western Michigan.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-PENN AT VILLANOVA (Big Five). Nova is unbeaten on the year and playing like they could be a #1 seed. Penn, while more impressive than we thought they’d be so far, is way overmatched in this one.
-MERCER AT TENNESSEE. It’s a buy game, but Mercer is off to an impressive 5-2 start and could be one of the better teams in the SoCon this year. Tennessee already has some good wins on their resume.
-AUBURN AT DAYTON. Despite a tumultuous offseason, Auburn has just one loss, but really needs some notable wins. Dayton is rebuilding, but it’s still a tough place to win on the road at.
-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT SIENA. You get the sense that the Bonnies need to start winning games and that their margin for error is becoming more and more narrow. This would be somewhat damaging if they’re not able to pull it off.
-BUCKNELL AT SAINT JOSEPH’S. We expected a big year from Bucknell, which could still happen. They’ve won three in a row since starting off 0-4, but anything short of winning out may not be enough to get them into the NCAAs without the auto bid. This is the kind of game they would certainly need to be able to win.
-VERMONT AT RICHMOND. We really like this Vermont team. They’ve won five in a row since narrowly losing the opener at Kentucky and have another winnable road game tonight.
-COLGATE AT ALBANY. Albany is coming off their first loss of the season, but they still appear to be a strong team and could possibly play their way into the conversation if they keep winning at the clip they have been.
-NC STATE AT PENN STATE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). We like both these teams and have been impressed with what each of them has done so far. This game is two teams coming in with some decent wins already and a lot of momentum who are looking to build on that momentum.
-CLEMSON AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Both of these teams come in with good records, but they need good wins on their resume as well. Ohio State let one slip away against Butler in their last game and are looking to rebound.
-MICHIGAN AT NORTH CAROLINA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). This appears to be a huge mismatch, although Michigan does have just one loss it’s their first true road game and by far their toughest opponent so far. UNC, with the exception of their last game, played well in the PK-80 and is looking to build on that.
-LOUISIANA TECH AT ALABAMA. Alabama is coming off of a loss, but it was a valiant effort considering that they had to finish the game with just three players. LA Tech has looked good this year and comes in unbeaten. This is a chance for them to pick up a signature win and make a case to the selection committee that they belong in the discussion.
-UNLV AT NORTHERN IOWA (Mtn West/MVC Challenge). This could be the game of the day, as UNI has a pair of good wins and their only losses were to North Carolina and a competitive showing against Villanova. UNLV comes in unbeaten. These are two good teams (at least so far) who are looking for the kind of win that would impress the selection committee.
-EASTERN KENTUCKY AT WESTERN KENTUCKY. Western Kentucky picked up some good wins in the Battle 4 Atlantis and if they keep playing at that level they could find themselves inside the bubble.
-BELMONT AT TCU. Belmont is coming off a disappointing and damaging loss to Lipscomb, and that followed a loss at the buzzer at Providence. If they want to prove their relevance to the committee they need to pick up a win like this and avoid bad losses the rest of the way. TCU is unbeaten and has cracked the rankings. They’ve undergone a drastic improvement since Jamie Dixon took over.
-WYOMING AT DENVER (Front Range). Wyoming has just one loss on the year, and that came against Cincinnati. They can pick up their second true road win of the season tonight, and do it against a Front Range rival.
-MIAMI FL AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Everyone is dogging Minney because of how their game ended against Alabama. They were outplayed by just three players. What people are forgetting is that they’ve won at Providence, they had a double digit lead against Alabama when Bama was playing with five players, and they’re unbeaten on the year. This is a VERY good Minney team, and while Miami is good as well, this is their first opponent that’s not a cupcake. Both teams are ranked and it’s a chance at an early season quality win.
-BOSTON COLLEGE AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Both teams come in 5-2, and a much improved BC team could add a nice road win to their profile if they can pull this off.
-DUKE AT INDIANA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Despite this being a true road game for Duke, I don’t foresee it as being much of a challenge. They’ve knocked off two top ten teams on neutral floors already, so they’ve certainly put together the best resume in the country so far.
-ILLINOIS STATE AT NEVADA (Mtn West/MVC Challenge). Nevada is a perfect 6-0 with two really good wins on their resume already. It’s ridiculous that they’re not in the top 25, and they shouldn’t have too much trouble tonight against a solid Illinois State team.
BUY GAMES
-Columbia @ UConn
-Rider @ Providence – could be a potential upset special here
-UT Martin @ LSU
-New Orleans @ Houston
-Alcorn State @ Tulane – Tulane can improve to 6-1
-Long Beach @ Arizona
-Oral Roberts @ Kansas State
-Austin Peay @ Oklahoma State
-Florida A&M @ Texas
-Rice @ UT Arlington – not a buy game, but UTA has just one loss, and it was at the buzzer to Alabama
-Incarnate Word @ Gonzaga
-Chicago State @ Marquette
-Cal State Bakersfield @ UCLA