Yesterday, @GopherWBB tweeted that Taiye Bello broke the all-time Gopher record for offensive rebounding by snagging 152 offensive rebounds during the 2018-19 season. This was 9 more than the previous record and 25 more than the now-third-place mark. See
https://twitter.com/GopherWBB/status/1113843168577970176
The statistics quoted below are from just before the Final Four games, so do not incude the last 3 playoff games.
Ty started out the season leading the NCAA Div I in rebounding - but factor into that the point that (besides Syracuse) we were playing mostly cupcake teams at the time. With the start of Big-Ten play fewer rebounds were available, so she gradually dropped down the charts on total rebounds (see below). But her forte is offensive rebounding, so she ended the season highly ranked in that category, which we look at first in terms of total offensive rebounds and then in terms of offensive rebounds per game (she ranked 4th in both), which is more relevant since it accounts for longer seasons by some teams.
Ranking in Total Offensive Rebounds during 2018/19 Season
Rank Offensive-Rebounds Name (Team)
#1 206 Teaira McCowan (Mississippi St.) 6’ 7”
#2 180 Kristine Anigwe (California) 6’ 4”
#3 174 Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah (Northwestern)
#4 152 Taiye Bello (Minnesota)
#5 148 Kayla Cooper-Williams (James Madison)
#6 145 Michaela Onyenwere (UCLA)
#7 145 Unique Thompson (Auburn)
#8 139 Zuri Sanders (Texas Tech) <-- [as noted elsewhere, Stollings inherited a rebounder]
#9 136 Bayley Plummer (Appalachian St.)
#10 136 Jessica Shepard (Notre Dame) <-- [in the Final Four]
Note that the season's offensive-rebounding leader, Teaira McCowan had 35% more offensive rebounds than Bello - however also note that she is 6' 7" as compared to Taiye's 6' 2" height. Teaira gets her rebounds via height, whereas Taiye gets her rebounds more via skill. Note also that other teams that have great offensive rebounders include Northwestern and James Madison (who both went far in the WNIT playoff), Marlene's Texas Tech, and Notre Dame (who is in the NCAA Final Four).
Below we'll summarize how well she did in terms offensive rebounds per game - in which she also ranked 4th in the NCAA.
Ranking in Offensive Rebounds per Game
Rank Offensive-Rebounds-per-Game Name (Team)
#1 5.722 Teaira McCowan (Mississippi St.)
#2 5.455 Kristine Anigwe (California)
#3 4.971 Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah (Northwestern)
#4 4.903 Taiye Bello (Minnesota)
#5 4.633 Zuri Sanders (Texas Tech)
#6 4.469 Unique Thompson (Auburn)
#7 4.400 Sydney Holloway (Bryant)
#8 4.367 Madison Hovren (Army West Point)
#9 4.353 Kayla Cooper-Williams (James Madison )
#10 4.323 Tierra McGowan (Morehead St.)
Taiye ranks 23rd in the NCAA in terms of Defensive Rebounds per Game. Below I've listed a sampling from the top 30 including the top five, any Big Ten players, any players in the Final Four this weekend, and (interestingly) several players from cream-puff non-conference teams that we played this year.
Ranking in Defensive Rebounds per Game
Rank Defensive-Rebounds-per-Game Name (Team)
#1 10.697 Kristine Anigwe (California)
#2 10.583 Megan Gustafson (Iowa)
#3 9.853 Regan Magarity (Virginia Tech)
#4 9.667 Reyna Frost (Central Mich.)
#5 9.500 Evelyn Adebayo (Murray St.)
#7 8.900 Chance Graham (Coppin St.)
#15 7.806 Teaira McCowan (Mississippi St.)
#17 7.568 Napheesa Collier (UConn)
#18 7.533 A'riana Gray (Xavier)
#23 7.355 Taiye Bello (Minnesota)
#30T 6.848 Shakira Austin (Maryland)
Finally, we list selected players among the top 23 NCAA rebounders in terms of Total Rebounds per Game. Taiye ranks 8th in the nation with respect to this metric at 12.258 rebounds per game. By comparison, Iowa's Megan Gustafson ranks 3rd at 13.361. Kristine Anigwe comes in 1st at 16.152 rebounds per game. Note that Taiye beats UConn's Final-Four-bound Napheesa Collier who comes in 23rd at 10.757.
Rank Rebounds-per-Game Name (Team)
#1 16.152 Kristine Anigwe (California)
#2 13.528 Teaira McCowan (Mississippi St.)
#3 13.361 Megan Gustafson (Iowa)
#4 13.303 Reyna Frost (Central Mich.)
#5 13.133 Madison Hovren (Army West Point)
#6 12.861 Bayley Plummer (Appalachian St. )
#7 12.794 Regan Magarity (Virginia Tech)
#8 12.258 Taiye Bello (Minnesota)
#10 11.467 A'riana Gray (Xavier)
#11T 11.400 Chance Graham (Coppin St.)
#16 11.229 Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah (Northwestern)
#23 10.757 Napheesa Collier (UConn)