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All 12 teams in the Pac-12 now have eight games on their records, although both Utah and Colorado have only actually played seven and Arizona State has only played six. Both the Utes and the Buffaloes were credited with a conference win when the Sun Devils were unable to field enough healthy players two weeks ago. With almost half of the conference season in the books, who are the standouts in the league and who should take the awards if the vote was held today?
Player of the Year
It’s almost a given that the Pac-12 Player of the Year will come from the Stanford Cardinal. It would be a surprise if either Haley Jones or Cameron Brink doesn’t win the award, with Jones being the frontrunner.
Both players are averaging 15.9 points per game in conference play and shooting over 40 percent from the field. The teammates rank sixth and seventh in the league in points per game and have actually improved their per-game scoring in conference play.
Jones averages a double-double in league competition with 12.3 rebounds per game to go with her scoring. Add in the 3.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.9 blocks per game against Pac-12 competition, and it’s really difficult to argue against Jones getting the nod.
This year, it should be unanimous. Last season, the coaches gave Jones the honor while the media awarded it to Brink.
That doesn’t mean that there isn’t another viable candidate. Utah’s Alissa Pili also stands out among the league’s players. The conference’s 2020 Freshman of the Year has had a great season, bouncing back from an underwhelming year at USC last season.
She is second in the league with 20.1 points per game overall and 20.9 points per game in Pac-12 play. In both cases she trails only Washington State’s Charlisse Leger-Walker, who has only played in four of her team’s eight conference games due to personal issues back in her native New Zealand. Pili also has an argument over Leger-Walker because her team is tied for second in the league’s standings.
Freshman of the Year
The league brought in 11 McDonald’s All-Americans this season, and many of them are having huge impacts on their teams. This is always a tough award to vote for because to be Freshman of the Year or even make the All-Freshman team, the stars have to align just right. Not only does the player have to be very good, but she also has to land in the perfect situation where she gets to play a lot. Getting to play a lot on a good team? Well, that’s even better.
While the choice here isn’t on the best team in the league, she’s having the biggest impact. Oregon’s Grace VanSlooten accounts for 14.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks per game.
Her points per game lead all freshmen in the league. Her rebounds are third among the rookies. The assists are sixth for first-year players and tops among freshmen who don’t play the guard position. Fifth is held by former teammate Jennah Isai, who played just 10 games for Oregon before transferring to BYU. VanSlooten is also fourth among freshmen in steals and first in blocks.
While Oregon State’s Raegan Beers has a solid argument for the award, as well, it’s tough to look past the fact that VanSlooten is top-five among freshmen in just about every statistical category and leads in two of them. Also, VanSlooten’s team is seventh in the league standings. The Beavers are below .500 and tied for eighth.
Defensive Player of the Year
This award is generally determined by a player’s blocks and steals. While those stats are far from the only things that make a great defender, they usually determine who wins simply because voters don’t see enough of the players or don’t consider things like position defense. As unfortunate as that is, it’s not a fight that will be won today, so the options here will be based primarily on those stats with some consideration given to personal fouls. A player who cannot defend without fouling is unlikely to be the best defender.
The top three options here are reigning winner Brink of Stanford, USC’s Rayah Marshall and Arizona’s Helena Pueyo. In all likelihood, Brink will win the award because her accomplishments have received the most media attention of the three. It might not be the best way to determine a winner but pretending that press and having more of your games on national TV does not matter in these awards is naive. She might not be the best option, though.
Brink leads the league in blocks per game with 3.4. She accounts for 0.6 steals per game and 2.3 fouls. The fouls are an improvement for the Cardinal forward, who struggled with fouls in her first two years on the Farm with 2.8 fouls per game each season. Her steals are ranked 76th in the Pac-12.
Marshall is second in the league with 3.1 blocks per game while also being No. 9 with 1.8 steals per game. She accounts for a few more fouls, though, with 2.4 per game. In conference play, she gets three blocks per game, keeping her in second place, but her steals fall to 1.5 and land her in 17th.
Pueyo is first in the league with 2.6 steals per game. She’s even better in Pac-12 play, picking her opponents’ pockets three times per contest. She’s top-20 in blocks per game with 0.8 overall (17th) and 0.9 in Pac-12 competition (16th). Despite being the best in steals and a good shot blocker for a 6-foot guard, she accounts for fewer fouls than either of her major competitors for the award, getting whistled 1.6 times in conference play and 1.7 times overall. Pueyo does this while guarding every position from the one to the four.
The rankings?
1. Marshall, who is top 10 in both major defensive stat categories.
2. Pueyo, who is the most versatile of the three and is top 20 in both major defensive categories. She is also the one least likely to end up in foul trouble.
3. Brink, who is ranked only nominally better than Marshall in blocks but much lower in steals while committing almost as many fouls.
Sixth Player of the Year
Arizona’s Pueyo is tied with Wildcat starters Cate Reese and Shaina Pellington for the team high with 26.2 minutes per game, but minus four spot starts, she makes her contributions off the bench. She is the epitome of versatility, fulfilling roles ranging from Arizona’s backup point guard through the four position.
Pueyo leads the league in steals with 2.6 per game—0.3 above Jaylyn Sherrod, who starts for Colorado—and is top 20 in blocks per game. Her assist-to-turnover ratio is 2.9, tied with league-leading Ines Vieira of Utah. Vieira gets the nod as the league leader because she has nine more total assists than Pueyo.
She’s not a big scorer for Arizona, preferring to play defense and set up her teammates. However, when she takes shots, she has a high rate of success.
Pueyo shoots 57.3 percent from the floor while primarily playing one of the guard positions. From three-point range, she hits 37.9 percent of her shots and is a superb 91.7 percent shooter from the line.
Most Improved Player of the Year
Utah’s Pili announced herself during the 2019-20 season with a Freshman of the Year campaign when she played for Southern California. She accounted for 16.1 points, eight rebounds, 1.3 assists, one steal and 0.9 blocks per game. The next two seasons were each a step backwards due to injury and, according to her current coach, a tendency not to work as hard as she should have.
After transferring to Utah in the offseason, head coach Lynne Roberts has repeatedly stated that Pili is working harder than ever. It shows on the court.
While she has not recovered the rebounding numbers she had as a freshman, grabbing 5.7 this season, her scoring has improved from 7.8 points per game last year at USC to 20.1 per contest this season. She’s shooting 61.9 percent from the floor after hitting just 33.1 percent of her shots as a junior. Her steals have gone from 0.8 to 1.2 per game. Her blocks have increased from 0.3 to one.
Coach of the Year
Roberts lost a lot after last season. Utah saw two of its leaders use their fifth season to play closer to home, with Dru Gylten landing at South Dakota State and Brynna Maxwell going to Gonzaga. The Utes didn’t skip a beat.
They are tied for second in the conference standings one year after playing in the Pac-12 championship game. They are one of the top-scoring teams in the country and have improved on defense.
This award often goes to the coach with the best record, but considering where Utah is this year, what they lost and the fact that she does not regularly have highly ranked recruiting classes, Roberts should get the nod.
All-Conference Team
The Pac-12 doesn’t have first, second and third all-conference teams. Instead, 15 players are honored as All-Pac-12 without differentiating them. The top vote-getter on the team is awarded the Player of the Year award. With that in mind, if the vote was today, this is how it should look:
1. Jones, Stanford
2. Brink, Stanford
3. Pili, Utah
4. Endyia Rogers, Oregon
5. Charisma Osborne, UCLA
6. Esmery Martinez, Arizona
7. Talia von Oelhoffen, Oregon State
8. Quay Miller, Colorado
9. Marshall, USC
10. Leger-Walker, Washington State
11. Kadi Sissoko, USC
12. Gianna Kneepkens, Utah
13. Pellington, Arizona
14. VanSlooten, Oregon
15. Beers, Oregon State
All-Freshman Team
There are freshmen around the league who could make this team any other year. This year, though, a few freshmen have been able to start for their teams and are making big impacts. That puts a lot of players who are good enough to make an All-Freshman team on the outside looking in. The top five:
1. VanSlooten, Oregon
2. Beers, Oregon State
3. Kiki Rice, UCLA
4. Talana Lepolo, Stanford
5. Chance Gray, Oregon
All-Defensive Team
The top three on this list were discussed when determining Defensive Player of the Year, but who should the other two honorees be? Within the same parameters—voters are likely going to be most concerned about blocks and steals while overlooking fouls and position defense—it is not difficult to complete the list.
Sherrod is second overall with 2.3 steals per game and third in conference play with two. She is more foul-prone than Pueyo, who leads in steals per game both overall and in Pac-12 competition. She is also negligible when it comes to blocks, accounting for just 0.1 per game. However, as a guard with high steal numbers, she’s worthy of the honor.
Sophomore Tara Wallack plays alongside Bella Murekatete at Washington State. Murekatete has always been a solid shot-blocker, but that is not keeping Wallack from getting her share. In fact, she is blocking more shots than her teammate this season.
Wallack has blocked 1.5 shots per game over the course of the entire season, but she’s been even better in Pac-12 play. When it really matters, she has upped her game to two blocks per contest. She has also improved her steals per game from 0.7 to 0.9.
Final vote?
1. Marshall, USC
2. Pueyo, Arizona
3. Brink, Stanford
4. Wallack, Washington State
5. Sherrod, Colorado
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.