the bench in the NCAA's and the 6-3 younger Sabally recruit is supposed to be better than Sabou, her older sister, who displaced Malory in the starting line-up this past year as a Freshman. They also still have 6'6" Giomi who was injured 2nd half of last year.
Mallory's decision is about playing time which was only going to get worst for her this coming year. As a Freshman she made 24 starts for the Ducks and started every NCAA Tourney game averaging 23,5 mpg as the Ducks were the only NCAA tourney team having 3 Freshman starters. She also was a starter at the beginning of this season until Sabou took her place and then also started when Lexi was hurt, making 19 total starts in 34 games prior to the NCAAs, avg 16.1 mpg. In the NCAA's she dropped to 10.7 while Oti Gildon increased her minutes to 14.3 as the 1st off the bench. Her production per minute was also down from the regular season while Oti improved her tourney production (just as she did the previous year during the big tourney wins against Duke & Maryland).
Still Mallory was a big contributor these past two seasons for the Ducks but she will need lots of playing time for her to keep developing if she wants to play in the WNBA, which it seems she does. At 6-5 and her talent she will definitely be a big contributer to BSU and certainly is a landing space that really doesn't compete against the ducks. I wish her well there.
As for next year Gildon as a senior will be big. Oti played with Sabrina, Ruthy, and Erin in the dominating 3 by 3 championship they had beating Arike's all star team as well as any other college teams assembled. (see ESPN article). This is her second year competing in the 3x3 as last year, teaming with Hebard, Justine Hall and Lexi Bando (who were both seniors this year) finished in second place in the same tournament. Oti steps it up in the big games as well as we saw in both sweet 16 games the past 2 years where she score 10.5 pts with 8 rebounds in just 23.5 minutes. She even had 4 steals against Maryland.
The wild card will be how good Nyara Sabally will be as well Ariizona POY Chavez and how they will fit into the team. Clearly Mallory's loss is the biggest of all the transfers, but there is still enough talent for the Ducks to win the PAC12 again and make a long run in the NCAAs. The starting 5 will be better with Boley replacing Bando and Gildon will lead 5 scholarship players coming off the bench who can all play. That's 3 more than ND's last NC championship team. I still am hoping for an ND/Oregon championship game.
I hadn't realized that Oti Gildon's minutes had risen that steadily.
Seems like they should be fine up front and "just" need Chavez to develop steadily over the course of the season in the backcourt.
Not at all concerned with the Duck's offense with Boley moving into the lineup. However, I'm interested to seeing how she's positioned in the defense...
From this link...Mallory's father is 6-foot-8 Dan McGwire, who was the Seattle Seahawks' first-round pick in 1991 (16th overall). He was the first quarterback drafted that year -- ahead of Brett Favre, who became an 11-time Pro Bowler.
..taking it all in. Not sure if it was the regionals or the home games, but the announcers identified him.
No great insights here: Don't recruit a seven person class. (and then bring in a transfer)
i7 recruits will not be is motus operandi as evidenced by the last two recruiting classes. The Ducks have had the biggest rise of all the top 10 teams in the last 3 years and it clearly was because of that class, led by Sabrina who as you all remember was late ad to that class after signing day, ND was certainly open to take her if she had chosen them. I also think Ruthy Hebard was below the radar as a talent playing in Alaska. Last year Sabally was also a surprise as to her talent.
I am also surprised Boley ended up going to Oregon, but clearly she understood how she could fit in. The 3x3 team shows that has worked out for her. I am sure she will start next year, at least in the beginning of the season. She will have to keep her game ahead of the 2 new recruits, just like any competitor. McGwire along with the other transfers ended up being behind all that talent and couldn't improve their game enught to beat them out,
My guess is Graves will settle down as he did at Gonzaga. Now he just as a nationwide and international pool of talent to pull from. Getting Europeans and Australians changes the dynamic for recruiting as the blue bloods including ND have basically won with North American talent.
Also sorry I was delayed in responding as I was travelling all day Friday.
I still can’t figure out Boley to Oregon. I liked her green sneakers. And her shooting.
I don't understand the obsession with her. She moved on, the team moved on, so why can't the fanbase move on as well?
Of that class, I think only 2 ended up staying until their senior year. Two left after one year (one transferred, the other stayed at ND, but left the team) and another left the team (but stayed at ND) after 2 years. A fourth left the team, but stayed at ND her senior year.
That's why when people talk about recruiting large classes, I get nervous.
transfers disrupt planning and cause imbalances. That 2001 entering class was an unusual mix with Batteast and Borton as the only two who played for four years and as you noted there were three others who eventually left the team, but graduated from ND.