https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/UCONN-WOMEN-Hayes-joins-Moore-as-first-team-11567245.php
UCONN WOMEN: Hayes joins Moore as first team All-Big East selection (video)
Jim Fuller, Register Staff
Published 12:00 am EST, Thursday, March 3, 2011
Connecticut's Maya Moore goes up for a one-hander as Seton Hal's Jazzmine Johnson tries to guard her in the second half of an NCAA women's college basketball game in Hartford, Conn., Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011. No. 1 Connecticut defeated Seton Hall 80-59. (AP Photo/Bob Child) less
Connecticut's Maya Moore goes up for a one-hander as Seton Hal's Jazzmine Johnson tries to guard her in the second half of an NCAA women's college basketball game in Hartford, Conn., Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011. No. ... more
STORRS -- There are foregone conclusions in the world of postseason award voting and then there is the slam dunk selection of Maya Moore as a first team Big East selection in the eyes of the Big East women's basketball coaches.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma met with the media for about an hour on Thursday, shortly after the All-Big East teams were announced, and he did not face one question pertaining to Moore joining former Rutgers star Cappie Pondexter star as the only players to make first team All-Big East for four straight seasons.
For the record, he was asked whether any of his coaching peers would cast a vote for somebody other than Moore for conference player of the year honors and his incredulous response was "anybody who's coaching and alive? I don't think so."
That was the extent of the inquiries on Moore.
However, the selections of junior guard Tiffany Hayes to the first team and freshman guard Bria Hartley to the second team were significantly more popular interview subjects.
With Hayes joining Moore as a first-team selection, UConn has had multiple first-team members in 10 of the last 17 seasons.
"It is a good feeling. I am glad to be out there and represent my team," said Hayes, who was second on the top-ranked in scoring with an average of 14.3 points per game.
Hayes' inconsistencies are well documented, but she did score in double figures in 12 of UConn's 16 conference games and she has 40 more assists than turnovers heading into postseason play so Hayes' selection as one of the Big East's best 11 players wasn't too much of a surprise.
"I thought it (her regular season) was up and down but somebody thought I had a good season," Hayes said. "I am grateful for that."
Hartley joins Moore, Tina Charles and Svetlana Abrosimova as the only UConn freshmen to make either first or second team All-Big East although it should be noted that the Big East used to name either five or six players to each all-conference team before bumping the list of honorees to 11 first teamers and 10 second-team picks beginning in the 2005-06 season.
"You never know what they are going to do with freshmen," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "Sometimes they treat them like regular players, sometimes they treat them like freshmen. I think Bria's had, if you are going to take 20 players in our league and say are there 20 players you would like to have on your team based on what they did this year and Bria Hartley is not one of them. I would say that would probably be hard to do. That is well deserved I think given what she was handed at the beginning of the season and what we were asking her to do."
Hartley and Stefanie Dolson were both unanimous selections to the All-Freshman team, not bad since they were part of the freshman class at UConn which was kicked out of the locker room in the days leading up to the Nov. 14 season opener against Holy Cross and not allowed to return on a permanent basis until early February because they were failing to live up to the standards the coaches set for players in the program.
"It was a wakeup call for all of us and then we realized that we were out of the locker room for two months, we said 'OK, we have to do something different.' We all have to figure it out together.
"It just tells you that you have to work for all this stuff to be here at Connecticut, certain things that you have to be worked hard (at) every day, stuff can't be given to us all the time, sometimes we have to work for it. I think it motivated all of us. We all said we have to improve, we have to get better. Stef definitely stepped up to the challenge, got a lot better."
Kelly Faris was an honorable mention All-Big East selection while former Hopkins star Lauren "Lady" Okafor, a forward/center at Providence, was named to the All- Freshman team.
DePaul's Taylor Pikes was named the winner of the Sixth Man Award, Notre Dame's Natalie Novosel was selected at the conference's Most Improved Player, Notre Dame's Devereaux Peters won the Defensive Player of the Year Award while the Sportsmanship Award was shared by DePaul's Sam Quigley and Cincinnati's Shelly Bellman.
The conference will announce its player of the year, rookie of the year, coach of the year and scholar-athlete of the year on Friday between sessions at the opening day of the Big East tournament.
Moore is a lock to join former UConn star Kerry Bascom and former Villanova great Shelly Pennefather as the only three-time Big East Player of the Year winner and could also win the Scholar-Athlete award while Auriemma and Hartley are the favorites for the coach and freshman honors.