For Iriafen? Granted Karlen is probably a better fit if Maddy is coming back because she could come off the bench or start. But Iriafen would put us closer to being on par with UConn.
them by 15 points on their court and we beat them the previous year. On 1/27 we did that without Miles and they had Paige and Edwards. Why do you want ND to get worse? Whether we get Iriafen, Karlen, neither, or both we will still be better than UConn again for the third straight year. The only reason UConn made the Final 4 this year was they were lucky to have a better draw than we had. I doubt they could have beaten Oregon State and definitely not South Carolina. If we had Duke or tOSU then Southern Cal we would have been in the Final 4 too taking on Iowa.
let's not aspire to become worse.
When did I say I want us to get worse? I'm not really sure how you came to that conclusion that a fan on this board wants the team to get worse. I just think UConn is getting deeper. They're bringing in Sarah Strong, and El Alfy and Fudd will be back. If they're also getting Beers that will be a tough matchup.
near the top. I'm not sure Paige was even back at 100 yet when we beat them.
Add in new and returning faces and it might be the return of the Soviet Union.
still hasn't played much like Olivia missed more than a year with her severe injury and surgery, so we don't know when or if she'll be back. Plus they are losing Edwards who was their best player against us when we beat them by 15. They also lose Muhl who was the only one stopping Hannah Finally Beers isn't confirmed yet much like our xfrs aren't yet. '
As for the comment sorry if I misjudged your intent, but your exact statement you said "But Iriafen would put us closer to being on par with UConn" I didn't think you wanted us to get worse which is why I made the casem since I thought we were clearly better than UConn being only "on par" with Uconn. So my calculation meant we somehow got worse than we were this year. If you think them adding who they added while losing Edwards and Muhl means they're now better than us and we need Iriafen to be just as good as them then I now understand your position even if I think otherwise. My wife also accuses me of reading things too literally so sorry I read your intent differently.
That's how I came to that conclusion. Sorry again.
Yes Hannah was near unstoppable against UConn, but I think defenses were starting to adjust to her in the tournament.
On the other hand no one has seen the combination of Olivia, Hannah and Soni yet. But the combination of Paige, Fudd and Strong I think would really challenge us.
I still think we're still another decent post player away. Kate will be great but she may have a bit of a learning curve as a true freshman and Maddy as we know isn't a pure post player, although I like her improvement in rebounding last season.
...after so much time away from high-level play. She's had a couple of serious injuries and it takes a time to get game back.
Strong looks to have a lot of Madison Booker in her. It will be very interesting to see how she fits in with this team of folks who like to have the ball in their hands.
Hannah was forced to be both a scorer and distributor last season on offense. Next year, she'll be able to concentrate on one role or the other and I think it will mostly be scoring (plus the iconic defense). Olivia Miles is top shelf.
And I think Soni can shut down/slow or at least mitigate Fudd or Bueckers(she .
Yes, Maddy's not a center. She's one of the best two-way forwards in college and UConn just lost theirs. Strong is a freshman, save as Koval.
Let's see.
considering coming to South Bend because she's sick of losing to UConn in the Big East.
Karlen only has one year left so I wouldn't expect her to spend it sitting behind Maddy. I don't think she will split time at the post like Iriafen could, and she won't have an extra year to start like Gardiner would. She's a great player and would be good pickup. I'm just surprised she is interested.
withe portal so active, coaches have tp adapt to that. S. Carolina seems to have found a solution to keeping quality players who do not start but get a lot of PT. I think that Ivey needs to move in that direction.
Sanaiya Rivers (NC State), Destiny Littlejohn (Southern Cal), Eniyah Russell (Kentucky), Elysa Wesolek (North Florida), and Talasia Cooper (Tennessee) left South Carolina the last two seasons.
Sahnya Jah has her name in the portal now. She is a somewhat different case because she had been suspended from the team for a condusct issue, but it's another case of a talented player leaving South Carolina.
to home in the Midwest. She's my favorite player on South Carolina. I wonder if she will even start in the next year.
team in the country in most way too early polls with a good chance at a Final 4 opportunity and possibly a National Championship. Does she really need to go to a team where you will be a starter and have guaranteed PT. She's got one year left and if ND wants her she would be smart to go. Even if she wants to play professionally, she has a lot of tape and PT. Showing she can be a team player with a team of great players maybe even more important for her pro prospects.
Liza, make a good choice and add an ND degree to your Marquette degree. We'd love to have you.
The same logic applies to Kiki I. An ND degree added to Stanford degree. All the alumni network of both schools. There is a long long life after pro basketball
that decision. Of course that was before NIL so there is now another factor in play and hopefully Niele is getting the right help with that.
Maybe I've grown a bit too jaded. All I can say is that if Niele can land top players without needing to promise lots of minutes, that bodes very well for us.
when she spells Kate.
One or two other thoughts come to mind: Let's see Niele has/will give call to Iriafen and/or Gardiner, but so have a lot of other top competitors. Karlen can play at a top level and she might not mind being the focus of attention.
Plus, the one-year stint tells me that Niele is working hard on procuring a four-year starter from the Class of 2025 at forward, such as Leah Macy, Grace Knox or Madison Francis.
The fact that Karlen is taking a tour tells me she's thought about it...plus there could be a specific grad program she's after at ND.
will join ND but you can't complain about not enough players and the complain when they try to get more.
The more good ones the merrier.
I agree with a lot of the points you're making, but I'm not worried about how we will match up with the smaller teams. I'm worried about the bigger teams that we'll run into in the tournament. Maddy at the 5 is good for a change of pace against those teams, but I'd be worried about it being the main plan. If Kate gets into foul trouble, we could be in trouble. As of right now, I think we'll be the favorites in the ACC based on our guards alone, but we have a real shot at the title if we can cover our weaknesses effectively, and post depth is likely our biggest weakness right now.
I'm hoping that Niele is selling players on a high tempo aggressive team that will sub a lot. In that case we'll want to go two deep at every position, which means we'll still be after a post player. If she's able to sell Karlen on that vision, knowing that she'll be a backup to a star player, hopefully that translates to other top players buying into the vision as well.
Such as Caitlyn Weimar, the 6'4" Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year from Boston U who averaged a double double?
I'm just throwing her out as a mid-major player who was an absolute star and stud for her team but might want to try P5 competition and chase a ring.
If Karlen comes aboard -- remember she's just visiting -- and Maddy is, indeed, here, that leaves ND with 8 able-bodied players. I'm sure Niele is looking for at least one more (preferably two in my book).
the chance of pursuing a national championship. Think of Anna DeWolfe.
Plus Koval will have several veterans to support her.
she would not have any effect on high school recruits from the class of 2025. (Note she had ten double doubles and hit ,357% from three, along with 82% free throws.)
I was hoping Geno would pursue Liza out of the portal but I can see her at ND. She’s a savvy, experienced player who can’t be intimidated in the post. I’m pretty sure she was unanimous All Big East 1st team and was a finalist for the Katrina McClain Award. She’s a good one.
One of the things I've liked about Karlen is her consistent development over the years and the fact that she played well against tough competition: UConn, Ole Miss.
Meaning very steady. Not flashy. True 6'2" and solid frame. Very smart player. Not as fast/athletic as a Maddy. Excellent mid-range jumper (not a 3 point shooter generally). Kind of a jack of all trades. I believe an excellent student so no issue there.
At Marquette she assumed the lead option on O but that really isn't her strength. Very much like DeWolfe, she'd be stepping "down" into a role by coming to ND from having been the lead option. And personality wise, like DeWolfe, she'd have no problem making that transition.
- Was not highly recruited but developed every year, so tip of the hat to Justine Waterman, the post coach at Marquette, and former coach Megan Duffy.
- Have thought a lot about the types of players that could come to ND and most need to realize they won't be "the straw that stirs the drink."
As Raoul noted, Anna DeWolfe knew that (surprise, we really, really needed her), and Karlen will be a perfect complementary player to a Maddy. And could probably play with Maddy if MW slides over to spell Kate Koval against a smaller team.
- Lastly, she can shoot the jumper.
Cross fingers and think good thoughts.
p.s. Still think Niele is going after some top-drawer names.
excellent addition, that could well make us just a bit better. (That might be the difference to making the final four and winning it all.).
A roster of six or seven is living life on the edge. Every once in awhile everything falls into place, but there are so many potential pitfalls.
Quality depth provides so many advantages.