Tag: national player of the year

Two former Badger centers ranked in top 25 since 2000 by ChatGPT

College Basketball Report asked AI software ChatGPT who the best centers have been since 2000, which listed two Badgers in the top 25.

It’s wild the world has come to this point, but College Basketball Report asked AI software ChatGPT who the best centers have been since 2000, and it listed two Badgers in the top 25.

According to the software, two big men from the 2010’s made a big enough impact for Wisconsin. Frank Kaminsky came in at No. 9 while Ethan Happ sneaked in at 21.

Starting with Kaminsky, this ranking comes as no surprise. The seven-footer led the Badger to back-to-back Final Four appearances in 2014 and 2015, including a trip to the championship in 2015.

Kaminsky holds the Wisconsin record for the most points in a single season, producing 732 points in 2014-2015. His 43 points against North Dakota on Nov. 19, 2013 is a school record. He also finished with 153 career blocks, which was the program record until Happ passed him in 2019.

The 2014-2015 campaign earned him National College Player of the Year and Big Ten Player of the Year. After four seasons with Wisconsin, Kaminsky capitalized on his great senior, being selected ninth overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2015 NBA draft.

Happ’s career didn’t include as many legendary moments as Kaminsky’s did, but the 6-foot-10 center from Milan, Illinois, left his mark in Madison.

Starting all 139 games over his four-year career with the Badgers, Happ finished with 2,130 points (third all-time), 1,217 rebounds (program record), 154 blocks (second all-time) and 217 steals (second all-time).

Happ’s highest scoring campaign came in 2017-2018, when he compiled 590 points, which is the 10th highest scoring season in Badger history. The following season, he snatched 10.1 rebounds per game, coming down with 342 boards (second most in program history).

His 52 double-doubles and two triple-doubles are the most in Badger men’s basketball history.

Happ did not get selected in the 2019 NBA draft and now plays overseas for Rio Breogán of the Spanish Liga ACB.

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3 Oklahoma Sooners top 10 finalists for USA Softball’s National Player of the Year

Jordy Bahl, Jayda Coleman, and Tiare Jennings were named finalists for USA Softball’s National Player of the Year award.

Three Sooners were named as finalists for the USA Softball Player of the Year Award. [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag], [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag], and [autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag] lead the way for the Oklahoma Sooners, who had the highest number of players make the cut for the prestigious award.

UCLA and Tennessee are the only other schools with multiple athletes represented with two athletes apiece.

Oklahoma’s softball dominance has been on display in the USA Softball National Player of the Year discussion. They’ve had at least two finalists for five straight years and three finalists each of the last two years.

A Sooner has won the award in four of the last 10 seasons, with [autotag]Jocelyn Alo[/autotag] winning back-to-back Player of the Year honors in 2021 and 2022.

It’s Bahl’s second time on the short list for Player of the Year honors. She’s been the headliner for Oklahoma’s pitching staff over the last two years, which leads the nation in team ERA. Bahl has a team-best six shutouts and has a combined nine shutouts on the year too. She also has one perfect game on the year and combined on two no-hitters. Only a sophomore, Bahl is on an incredible run to start her Oklahoma career.

It’s Coleman’s first time being up for the award as a junior. She has a team-high 13 home runs and leads the Sooners with a .454 batting average. She’s slugging .862 and has a .575 on-base percentage. Coleman’s top 10 in the nation in batting average, slugging, and on-base percentages.

This is Jennings’ second time to be named a finalist. She has 12 home runs and 10 doubles on the year. She also has a team-high 49 runs batted in. She’s batting .435 and holds a slugging percentage of .786 and an on-base percentage of .506.

The top three finalists will be revealed on May 17 and the winner will be announced before the Women’s College World Series starts on June 1st.

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Texas’ Ivan Melendez named Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Year

Texas first baseman Ivan Melendez has enjoyed one of the greatest seasons in program history.

Texas first baseman Ivan Melendez has enjoyed one of the greatest seasons in program history. Melendez is already starting to take home some hardware for his efforts this year.

Collegiate Baseball has named the “Hispanic Titanic” National Player of the Year following his monster season for the Longhorns. Melendez was named Big 12 Player of the Year and a first team All-American selection.

Melendez becomes the fourth Longhorn to win Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Year. Brooks Kieschnick (1993), Scott Bryant (1989) and Greg Swindell (1986) all have their number retired at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Melendez looks to be on his way to receiving the same honor.

The powerful slugger is hitting a whopping .406 with the nation’s best 29 home runs along with 87 RBI on the season. He has Texas ranked No. 9 in the country heading into the NCAA Tournament.

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Connor Noland named to Pitcher of the Year watchlist

Connor Noland has become a breath of fresh air for Arkansas, who had concerns with weekend pitching at the beginning of the season.

After the crushing news that projected Friday night starter, [autotag]Peyton Pallette[/autotag] would miss the 2022 season due to an injury to his UCL that would need Tommy John surgery to repair, Arkansas fans were scrambling to find an answer to the question of “who will take his place?”

For head coach [autotag]Dave Van Horn[/autotag], he has found the answer in [autotag]Connor Noland[/autotag].

Since starting 19 games as a freshman in 2019, Noland had only appeared in 12 games prior to the beginning of the 2022 season. But, that has not slowed down his journey to become one of the best pitchers in College Baseball. On Tuesday, Noland joined a significant list of athletes named to the National Pitcher of the Year Watchlist by the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

Noland is one of nine pitchers from the SEC to be named to this list, with Tennessee leading the way with four nominees.

In nine starts this season, Noland is 5-1 with a 2.82 ERA and 67 strikeouts. The senior has allowed just 17 earned runs and has issued 11 walks in 54.1 IP of work.

The next time that Arkansas fans can see Noland on the mound will be Friday evening in the series-opener with Texas A&M. First pitch is set for 7:30 p.m. CT at Blue Bell Park in College Station, Texas. The game will be nationally televised by SEC Network.

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Texas softball pitcher Miranda Elish named No. 2 player in the country

Texas softball pitcher Miranda Elish was off to a hot start in 2020. now she is ranked second in Softball America’s Top 100.

Last season, pitcher Miranda Elish was off to a hot start for the Texas softball team. The only thing that could apparently stop her and the rest of team was COVID-19. The Longhorns were 24-3 before the season was shut down due to the pandemic. The team blanked New Mexico 7-0, while Elish threw her second career perfect game.

Elish led the team in strikeouts with 96. She finished the year with a 11-3 record and an earned run average of 1.25. Her efforts earned National Player of the Year honors for the former Oregon transfer. Big things are expected from Elish in her return to the circle in the 2021 season.

According to Softball America’s Top 100 rankings, Elish comes in ranked  No. 2 in the country. Her ranking gives the Big 12 Conference its only player in top five in the country. In her second season in Austin, there’s certainly unfinished business. Oklahoma was viewed as the preseason favorite but given how last season went, Texas should be the top dog as the season approaches in 2021.

The Longhorns softball team finished ranked No. 3 in the country according to USA TODAY/Coaches poll at the end of the shortened season, despite the fact that Texas defeated the No. 1 UCLA and No. 2 Washington teams on back-to-back nights. With Elish leading the way, the sky is the limit for this team in 2021.

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Texas pitcher Miranda Elish named National Player of the Year

Texas pitcher Miranda Elish was named the National Player of the Year by Softball America on Wednesday.

Although it was a shortened season due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there’s several accolades that Texas softball should be proud of. Continue reading “Texas pitcher Miranda Elish named National Player of the Year”