WBB: Ashley Joens record watch
- Thread starter mred
- Start date
For whatever reason, Ashley's free throw attempts have been going down the last two years. As a sophomore she was 187 of 232 attempts. As junior it was 181 of 205 attempts and this past year it was 150 of 176 attempts. That's 54 fewer trips to the line this past year than her sophomore year and 37 fewer points. Change in her game? Change in how fouls are called for her?
It is a change in her game AND the lack of calls by officials. The former started about mid season as she worked to prepare her game for the next level. More outside work and when she drove she was looking to dish when she got double teamed. Was a very nice evolution to her game.
31 regular season games + 3-4 Big 12 tourney games + 6-7 NCAA tourney games = 40-42 total games to reach 915 points. Piece of cake.
And I would submit for discussion that part of the reason for the change in her game - the pull up jumper - is the lack of calls for the exact same situations under the basket that were called fouls during her sophomore year.
I mean total points are total points, but it should be noted how many seasons it took.
Another piece of the equation is the shortened Covid season in 2020-21. Also Griner played so many post season games the number of games will be closer than you would expect.
It was not shortened by that much. Ashley still played in 28 games in 20-21 which is 1 less than she did in 19-20. She has played in 126 career games and Griner 135 at Baylor so we are talking about 9 total games here and both probably missed a few somewhere over 4 years too due to injury or sickness, and in Griner's case got suspended 2 games for punching at a TT player that broke her nose. Kelce Bolte and Heather Ezell hold the record for most games played at ISU at 135, Welle played 132 who Ashley broke her scoring record this season by comparison.
A lot of records are going to be set or broke in the coming years as players use their COVID year. I think the spirit of the extra year was in the right place but unless you were in a conference and sport that canceled all or a fair chunk of their season most of these players are getting a lot more games than most would. I understand that postseason basketball was canceled in 2020 and basically non-conference FB games that fall along with bowl games that had limited or no fans in attendance. I don't have a good alternative to offer, just seems weird that we are going to see some records fall and set so high they may never be broken again because of the extra year.
I agree that COVID years certainly throw a wrench in the works as far as records go. But college football has been messing up records for some time now. As recently as 1969 football teams could have no more than 10 games count toward a players stats. Everyone played a 10 game season and bowl stats didn't count. In 1970 they went to an 11 game season. In 2002 they started counting bowl stats in a player's stats. In 2006 they allowed a 12 game season. Compare that 10 games to the 15 games a player could have now between 12 game regular season, conference championship and two playoff games. And that is without adding a COVID year.
Not to mention the addition of freshman eligibility in the early 70s. 3-year records became 4-year records.
That's why per-game records should be used more in cross-era comparisons.
Do we really doubt that Baylor and Texas will have plenty of access to a consistent supply of quality players?
Joens should end up with a dozen or so more games than Griner's 148. Joens is at 126 and might end up with 160 or so. Joens is already only a game short of Top 10 for ISU:
Coach Fen said during an interview the changes were in part due to an effort to make her more pro ready.
Throw in a road game @ Hawaii and you could play 16 games in a season.
I think the Cheryl Miller Award should be announced sometime during the games tonight (maybe between games), she is one of the five finalist - will be exciting to see if Ashley can repeat as the winner.
Wow! Congratulations Ashley, it's always neat to be recognized! And a chance at a 3-peat?
