Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

It’s championship week which means it’s awards week. The OUA end of season awards were just announced and we can now look back at some incredible seasons by the league’s best. Let’s look at the Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year recipients.

Madalyn is unstoppable

Madalyn Weinert won her second consecutive Player of the Year award. For a Brock Badgers team who finished 16-6 and reached the quarterfinals of the OUA playoffs, Madalyn was a very consistent 20 and 10 nightly, and beyond the stat sheet, what she did on the floor took your breath away.

Madalyn has everything you’d want in her toolbox at the guard spot. She has the pull up midrange jumper, she has the toughness to push through contact to the rim and she has the finesse to get off balance buckets and create passing lanes that wouldn’t be open for everyone. She is the level push for the Badgers through the good and the bad and going into every game she’s the one you can absolutely count on to get hers, no matter which way she has to get it.

Chase down blocks, ‘how did she get that to go’ finishes around the hoop, leadership on and off the floor, she has all the skills and this second consecutive award puts her in the air of some of the greatest, where she deserves to be.

Nehita is the best defender we have

Nehita Oko-Oboh won the Defensive Player of the Year award and all I have to say is turn on the tape. She led the league in rebounds per game and total blocks this year and her efficient footwork put her in the spot to do not just that but so much more on the defensive end.

It’s hard to find a post player with better awareness on the court than Nehita. She knows where to be when and she gets there more efficiently and effectively than anyone in the league. Her positioning for rebounds and blocks always sets her up to best benefit her team and her awareness of what’s going on and where she has to be one step ahead makes her an incredibly hard player to beat.

Her length and her vertical contest makes her hard to beat around the rim and her execution of all the small details makes her one of the most dependable and efficient players in the league. She is the defensive player of the year and a real joy to watch on the court.

The league has a great future in Brooke

The OUA Rookie of the Year this year is Queen’s guard Brooke Hussey. If you want to talk about rookies having to adjust to a new league and taking the step up in competition, I don’t think you got a single hint of that watching Brooke play this year.

Brooke’s command of the play right from the start as a rookie point guard was phenomenal. How she was able to read the floor and like a maestro move pieces around to get what she wanted, really put her in the air of some of the league’s best guards while just being a rookie. She could get to wherever she wanted on the floor and she had the poise to execute through the big moments Queen’s had this year in comeback wins and holding off opponents to keep their impressive season going.

No moment was too big for Brooke and no situation was too much to dive into as she showed leadership and a strong presence early in her career. The league is in good hands if they have guards like Brooke starting her career the way she did, and if this is how she was able to work in her first year, I can’t wait to see her second and third.