Toronto Star 2008 Girls All Star Team

David Grossmann put up his all star team. All good players but will be very contraversal.

Leanna Osei-Eastern Commerce
Renelle Richmond- Thomson
Janice Bartley- D'Youville
Nicholle MacKenzie- Notre Dame
Whitney Ellenor- Pine Ridge

Though this is tough to choose, I know that many people will argue on behalf of Christine Hyde, Jill Stratton and Jenea Barrett. Personally, I believe that Christine Hyde was robbed. She definately deserved to make this team. Let the debate begin.

Not taking anyything away from the girls chosen, they are all incredibly talened (most notably Lee Anna Osei), but any all star list without Christine Hyde is a joke! Her omission totally discredits the validity of this team.

I agree. Here is my List of girls that were not chosen that would give that team a run for their money.

1. G - Shanice McKoy, Pope John Paul Gr.11
2. G - Adriana Allen, Pickering Gr.12
3. F - Jenae Barrett, Eastern Commerce Gr.12
4. F - Christine Hyde, Ascension Gr.12
5. F - Wumi Agunbiade, Dunbarton Gr.11

If a discussion arises from his selections, then he has done a great deal for girls' basketball. Remember he is the only one of the local news reporters who has done it. Let's not bash him for his efforts but let's praise those girls who should have been given consideration.
Jenea was the highest impact player in the province as far as I was concerned. There are only five spots and it must have been a tough decision with all the local talent we have.

Not bashing @ all, just having a discussion regarding this topic. That is what is great about this board is that we can express our opinions.
I'm not into bashing players or coaches.

My intention is not to bash anyone, not Grossman, nor the coaches who vote on this list, it is simply to question how such an amazing player did not make this team. She made it last year when her team was 7-5, yet this year in a 28-5 season that included a Regional Championship and an Ofsaa Bronze medal she doesn't.
How does a player, who in the most important time of the girls basketball season (championship week) get featured as an Athlete of the Week in the Toronto Star, but then doesn't get the nod for All Star??? Again not bashing, just trying to wrap my head around things.
I am fully aware of the incredible depth and talent in the GTA this season, and how difficult it must have been to select only 5 players, yet I still cannot believe Christine Hyde was not selected. I would also agree that the exclusion of Jenea Barrett is a glaring oversight.
I love seeing the attention that girls basketball gets in the Star, as I'm sure any fan of the game does, and appreciate all Grossman does for exposure in the girls game. I just feel it's the way these accolades are selected (top 10 rankings included) that should perhaps be revised.

I think the reasoning was that Grossman already gave janea and christine exposure and recognition as athletes of the week. He may have wanted to 'spread the wealth around".

I can address one of issues brought up above.

Jenea Barrett from Eastern Commerce was PROBABLY overlooked because David Grossman asked coaches to submit ONE NAME PER TEAM and no more. I'm not saying this approach was the best one to take or that Jenea does not deserve a spot, but this is most likely why Jenea was left off the list.

In the list I submitted, I had had two of the five players (Jenea and Whitney). I also submitted Christine, another player from d'Youville, and a York Region player. I guess you can only vote on players that you were exposed to, and I never got the chance to see Renelle or Nicholle play. Obviously, I'm not saying they didn't deserve a spot, I just didn't see them this season.

Are grades considered when selecting this All- Star team?

I don't understand the criteria for choosing this team. How can you limit the selection to one player per team? Leanna is the cog to the engine at Eastern Commerce but Jenea Barrett certainly derserved to be considered. That is really an unfair choice to be told to pick between Jenea or Leanna. It is because of this a player like Jenea losses out?
In terms of Christine Hyde, I just don't get it. Some great points have been made on here about her. I actually felt that she was a no brainer pick but obviously I was wrong.I actually felt that Leanna and Christine Hyde were my top two picks for player of the year. I don't feel that anybody is bashing the players here but I agree that opinions have to be made. I agree with only one thing about Grossman and that is he is pretty much the only media outlet in the GTA for sports. I still am not a fan of how he bases his criteria as he comes up with some strange proceedures. Again, I ask, how can you tell a voter to pick only one player per team? That doesn't make sense. I don't know exactly the stats of the two Eastern players but I am pretty confident that they are in the top echelon in comparing to anybody else. They are both huge reasons for the two consecutive OFSAA championships.The top ten is based on inaccurate team records and that has been a complaint of ours for a while.
With all that being said, I am proud that Rafida Ali from my school was picked for the East Region All-Stars. She has had to work extremely hard to get out of the shadow of her big sister Alena, who was a top five City all-star in 2005. She is a leader, has a great attitude and is the perfect team leader. Add this to her skills and it all adds up.

where did whitney ellenor come from????
and are osei and barrett back next year or one of them . .. was that taken into consideration. i cannot believe hyde did not get selected. ridiculous.

I am a little perplexed by your post Coach Imgrund. I agree with a lot you say on here and have defended you on here but I must bring something up. You stated that you picked a York Region player as a Toronto Star top five. I am not here to bash the players but there is not a York region player in the top 15 in the GTA. We had a post on here a little while back and not one person put a York region player on the first, second or third team. I also agree with that.
I would like to ask you what you based this pick on because it really doesn't make sense. I know that you say that you didn't see Nicholle or Renelle play but your team was in tournaments with both of these squads. As somebody that get's to send a pick, wouldn't you take a moment to look at these players. You just have to read the scores, the posts on here, and commentary by coaches that you and I both respect. Renelle and Leanna have been tournament MVP's on a few occasions here and that cannot be ignored. I will assume that the other D'Youville player you picked was Symone Murray and you chose Jenea over Leanna because you had to pick only one Eastern player. I can see those picks being legit because those two are major players and deserve some votes.That much is fair even though I think that being forced to pick only one player per team is a joke. I just don't understand why you would chose a player from your region. You can say that you have been exposed to the York region players all season long but you play in that league. I sense a bias vote on this one.I think you are great for the game of basketball and I have a ton of respect for you but I have to ask because it is really odd to me.
I want to make a point and state that Whitney Ellenor is a tremendous player and a great kid. She is on her way to Canisius on a basketball scholarship next season so that says a lot. I just think that she is getting a bit of grief due to the ommission of Christine Hyde and Janea Barrett. Obviously, Grossman didn't do this by himself(Or so I hope) so there must be a valid reason why coaches or voters chose to ignore Christine. I would really like to hear it because it definately will make no sense but I would like to hear it regardless.
Eagle 1 you must be fuming. You and I had it out last week and that is done and I certainly would like to hear what you have to say.
I know that you are gonna be a little peeved with me Coach Imgrund about this post but I had to ask. As you have said before, this is a public forum and I would expect you to ask me the same hard questions if I made my picks like you did.

I would like to know if all the first team all stars are grade 13? I know Leanna and Janea are and I think Nichole is as well. Five year players as I have said have a great advantage. How many others on Eastern were grade 13. No comment of any kind is implied. I am just interested.

Jenea I believe is in Grade 12(Fourth Year). It seems like she has been playing longer because she has been a starter in Senior since grade 9. Renelle Richmond is fifth year.

The only rational explanation a coach can have in not giving Hyde a vote is that they never saw her play. She is too good to not be on the team.

Re: GTA Girls ALL-STAR Team
by CoachBobTTT on Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:31 pm

1st Team

G - Leanna Osei (EC)
G - Janice Bartley (D'Y)
F - Christine Hyde (Asc)
F - Jenae Barrett (EC)
F - Nicole McKenzie (ND Ajax)

As you can see (above) these were my picks back in late October when "Realball" started a discussion about GTA Girls All-Star team. Leanna O by far, no question needs to be there based on her dominance throughout the season, even at the beginning when Jenea was not playing. Janice's D'Youville team were #1 until their loss to Eastern in the Centennial Tourney. It could have went either way between her and Symone Murray (D'Youville) as both earned 2 MVP Tournament awards each and a tournament All-Star. Difference might have been position played. Nicole (5yr. player) kept her team in contention the entire season and was able to return to OFFSA based not only on her individual talents but also team play. If you check the scores, she wasn't always the high scorer except in games that mattered. Eastern could not have accomplished what they did all season and especially at OFFSA without Jenea's presence. She is a dominant force all her own. Both her and Leanne were voted Co-MVP's at the Centennial Tourney based on not only their teams 20pt blow-out of D'Youville, but more importantly individual play on both ends of the court. Finally, Christine was snubbed, overlooked, disrespected... call it what you may. She too is in a class all her own. She can hurt you from the paint and also from the arc. She understands the game quite well and least we forget was a member of NEDA at one point. I watched her go to work against a strong D'Youville line-up in the second half of the Peel Championships to secure a victory. She deserves more credit than this.

I agree that there needs to be a better selection process as we can clearly see from the responses coming in. That being said, selections were made and I for one certainly do not want to take away from Whitney or Renelle's accomplishments. If you all take a look at the district All-Stars chosen, you will see most of the players in question chosen there.

As for who gets picked to be on the ALL-Star committee, one would think that people are chosen based on their knowledge of all players across the GTA.

WCB,
Thanks for helping me out on Jenea and I'm sorry Jenea for thinking you were not in Grade 12. My apologies. Any info about any other graduates at EC or grade 13 kids.

Thanks for calling me on it WCBasketball.

For starters, I disagree with your statement that there is not a York Region player in the top 15. I feel that people are not neglecting York Region players in the top 15 because of lack of exposure. I can think of two other York Region teams that have appeared in high-exposure tournaments this year. Personally, would you be able to say that you have had the chance to successfully evaluate the top players in York Region? My team PLAYS in York Region and I know, for a fact, there are some excellent York Region players I have not had the opportunity to watch.

To address your other concern, despite being in the same tournament, I didn't see Nicholle or Renelle play. I was asked on October 29th to send a pick in by October 31st. Had I been notified in September that I would be making a pick at the end of the season, I definitely would have checked out some of these other teams and players. As I stated though, I found out on October 29th - as it turns out, three days after the birth of my first child (a boy named Tristan!). Needless to say, although I felt I could still send in five excellent picks, that was a DISTANT second priority!!

Another thing I want to address is sending in a nomination for a player I never go to watch play. This is something I wasn't very comfortable with. With that being said, by venturing on to Hooptown quite frequently and talking to other coaches, I knew that Christine Hyde was a player who would be getting my vote - this despite NEVER having the chance to see her play. As you suggested, I went SOLELY by the "commentary by coaches that you and I both respect." Frankly, NOT submitting Christine's name was never an option. If I didn't submit that name despite not seeing her play, I would be ignorant, disrespectful, and would lack any credibility.

Like you assumed, the other D'Youville player I picked was Symone Murray. I doubt anyone would have an issue with that.

Also, I chose Jenea over Leanna because you had to pick only one Eastern player.

Finally, to address your biggest concern, I selected a player from my own region not only because I personal have seen this player play, but because I was asked by David Grossman as a York Region representative. Knowing that my own region was already underrepresented and strongly feeling that a player from our region was deserving of a top spot, I swung a vote that way. Had I done so at the expense of Christine Hyde, I would have felt bad.

Just to add on to that, AFTER firing off my e-mail, I did receive a follow-up question from David who asked who I felt was better of the following: McKenzie at Notre Dame, Richmond at Thomson, or Seto at Eastdale? To this, I responded McKenzie - once again, based NOT on seeing her play, but on the opinions of my fellow coaches and from discussions that I've been a part of here on Hooptown.

Since you asked, I was a little shocked that Christine was left out after the amazing season she had leading her team to a ROPSSAA championship and an OFSAA medal.

Last year, Christine was very reluctant to be "featured" in the star. In fact, she declined, but in the end, David made her the feature for the Girls All Star Team and Christine agreed to be part of it. At the time, Christine was going off to Texas Tech and was saying goodbye to high school ball. Christine decided to return for another year and, I think, David believed it would have looked silly to make her the feature again having done so a year earlier (when she was supposed to be leaving).

He also did a feature on her the week before so he didn't "ignore her" or her accomplishments this year. BUT I am sure most would agree, that Christine was definitely deserving to be part of the list (again).

Out of curiosity, were any of the other players 5th year?

P.S. Someone mentioned grades - Christine is a very strong student academically so that is not even a question to be considered.

I've had the chance to coach or coach against all these players (except Renelle Richmond) at some point during OBA's or in the summer.

The truth is these are all very solid picks. Should Christine Hyde be an all-star, yes. Should Jenea Barrett be an all-star, yes, but then it becomes a difficult question of who do you drop from the list? This is an up year for GTA basketball and the list could very easily have been Top 10 to include Jenea Barrett, Christine Hyde, Shanice McKoy, Symone Murray, and Adrianna Allen. And then you make the arguments for Wumi Agunbiade, Kendra Seto and others.

As you can see Toronto has a very talented crop of players at the high school level and every pick is absolutely a university player be it in Canada or NCAA. There is a lot of talent in Durham and a lot of talent in Peel. Somebody is going to get bumped. it might be easier, though, if the selection criteria were explained. if it is coaches voting then so be it, if it is voting plus some analysis then maybe there should be some analysis. I'm glad that we're at a point where we can discuss a number of qualified candidates rather than have consensus that would indicate there being only five good players in the GTA.

I believe you should take the five best regardless of what team they are on, if there on the same team so be it, it should not matter if two or three is coming from one team. Nicholle has been there thee years now, how come no one is complaining and saying give someone else a turn, because they know she deserves it, so if they come from the same team or if they recieve it consecutive years in a row they deserve to be there. I strongly believe Christine Hyde and Jenea Barrett should be on thats list. The talent is to great this year to leave well deserved players out.

http://thestar.blogs.com/schoolsports/2008/11/toronto-stars-top-five-female-basketball-players.html#comments

Xavier Rimrocker, that's you that responded, right?