Congrats to Antoinette Miller and IImar’I Thomas for being selected as 2020 WBCA All-Region honorees. These two young women had a great season and deserve every award they claim
Per GoBearcats:
The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced Wednesday its recipients of all-region accolades with two members of the University of Cincinnati program being recognized as both Antoinette Miller and IImar’I Thomas have been selected as 2020 WBCA All-Region honorees. The Bearcats duo will now be among the 52 individuals considered for 2020 WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches’ All-America accolades, which will be announced April 2.
// HISTORIC SELECTIONS
The all-region honors earned by Miller and Thomas are not only the first of their careers, but also stand as just the second and third, respectively, in program history with the first belonging to Debbie Merrill in 2003. Both players played key roles in the Bearcats’ highly successful 2019-20 campaign in which UC advanced to its first conference tournament final in 17 years after finishing as the league runner-up in the regular season, its highest finish in the AAC.
// ELITE COMPANY
The 52 players selected for all-region honors represent 38 different programs with the Bearcats being one of just 10 teams nationally to have more than one all-region selection this year. The two accolades earned by UC placed them in the company of Florida State, Indiana, Louisville, Mississippi State, Oregon State and South Carolina with two each while UConn (4), Baylor (3) and Oregon (3) also had multiple selections. Additionally, UC and UConn were the only two programs from the American Athletic Conference to have a player earn all-region accolades this season.
// SEASON REVIEW: THOMAS
The 2019-20 season was big for Thomas as the junior joined the program’s 1,000-point club and ranked among the top scorers in the AAC all season. Thomas finished the year averaging 18.6 points per game and pulled down 7.8 rebounds while also averaging 2.1 assists and 1.1 blocks per contest. An AAC All-Conference Second Team selection in the preseason, Thomas’ play was noticed by all league coaches during the season as she was a unanimous selection to the AAC All-Conference First Team following the regular season. Thomas, a nine-time weekly award winner this year, including a three-time AAC Player of the Week, tallied eight double-doubles during the season and hit double figures in the scoring column in 24 of her 32 games played, including 12 games with 20 or more points scored, two of which saw her go for over 30. In the postseason, Thomas averaged 17.3 points and 5.7 rebounds to help UC take runner-up honors in the AAC Tournament where she was selected to the AAC All-Championship Team.
// SEASON REVIEW: MILLER
Miller’s senior season saw her continue to post improved numbers as the team’s floor general averaged 15.6 points per game while dishing out 4.4 assists per contest as well. The second of three Bearcats to reach 1,000 career points during the season, Miller entered and exited the season in similar fashion as she was named AAC All-Conference Second Team in both releases. A three-time selection to the AAC’s weekly Honor Roll during the season, Miller averaged over 34 minutes played in all three tournament games to help the Bearcats to a runner-up showing while making their first conference final appearance in 17 years. Miller tallied her first career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds against Ball State earlier in the season and nearly picked-up her second in the tournament opener with Memphis as she finished with 15 points and nine assists. All told, the senior scored in double figures in 20 of her 28 games played while scoring 20 or more in eight of those contests.
// THE PROCESS
The selection WBCA committee uses an equation to determine an equitable number of finalists from each region. The number of NCAA Division I institutions in each region is divided by the number of NCAA Division I institutions overall to determine a percentage for each region. This percentage is then multiplied by 52 (the total number of desired finalists) to get the number of finalists for each region. From there, the selection committee will select the 10-member WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches’ All-America team from these 52 candidates, which will be announced Thursday, April 2.
