In reply to: Follow-up Questions posted by dillon77
The Board recently has begun to wade into the waters of next year’s pool of players, both in recruiting, but more specifically what next year will bring to the court. It may be premature to judge next year’s team, but I don’t think it’s premature to be having these discussions, albeit with the understanding that, while we have some information, we really don’t know how these women will advance. I’m willing to share my thoughts, if only for stimulating speculation.
The projected starting 5, I see as Jackie Young, Mikayla Vaughn, Daniel Patterson, Jordan Nixon, and Katlyn Gilbert. Abby Prohaska may prove me wrong, and I believe that she could play more minutes than some starters if defense, more than offense is deemed a bigger problem.
I hate to say this, but the first order of business will be to lower expectations for this group compared to this year. Last year I repeatedly spoke out against lowering expectations or falling into the “next year will be our year” syndrome. Sure I got worried when Lili went down, but I knew (or thought I knew) the incredible talent of Jessica Shepard. But next year’s group doesn’t project as well.
By the numbers, this year’s starting 5 hold a average (high school recruiting) rating of 6.4. Next year's projected lineup will be 28.5. That’s a huge jump. Hold on, I know there’s more to basketball than high school ratings. Mississippi State has repeated shown that, and could again this year. If it was up to high school ratings, UConn would be running away with the race. I also know that Mikayla Vaughn is not a 67.5. No way! However, with the exception of Jackie (admittedly, a large exception), we will have top 20ish rated players, not top 10ish, and those will be very young.
Additionally, with the exception of Vaughn, there doesn’t appear to be an Arike or a Marina personality in the bunch who will just play with abandon. At this time I see next year's team as a major challenge for the coaching staff and for our high expectations.
..of both Tim and Baba.
Tim: I was multi-tasking waay too much yesterday afternoon after our game between watching other WBB games (Syracuse PG is fun! Jen Staiti of Georgia looks like --but does not quite play like -- Jess three years ago!), so I wasn't quite sure of the takeaway. Thanks for the fine tuning.
Baba, tip of the hat for the look into/from rankings, etc.
Since this in between-games time, a few thoughts:
- Hard to imagine being able to replace a lineup as stellar as this one. It took some twists of fate to get all of them on the same floor at once, so for me it's natural to not have the same amount of talent at hand.
- A lot of teams will be losing major components: UConn's KLS and Collier, MSU's McCowan and Howard, Louisville's Durr, Carter and Fuehring; and, Marquette's entire lineup of !,000+ pt scorers, to name a few.
So we're not alone...
- We've got Jackie back, thank our stars, who will be given free rein, much like Jewell was.
- Expect Mik Vaughn and Jordan Nixon to start, for sure. If all progresses, would also think Dani Patterson will be there, too. And Sam will be in some kind of rotation up front.
- The other guard? Might depend on who meshes best with the others. Could be Katlyn, could be Anaya. And Abby is going to get PT because she makes units stronger.
- Teams that will be good from the get go: Maryland, Oregon (if Ioncescu comes back). Teams that will get better as season goes on: Stanford (post-Smith), Baylor (Smith for Brown), UConn (if ONO improves). ACC possibilities: 'Cuse, NC State.
in the meantime, I want to see how our sophs and frosh continue to progress this season.
They might be a lot like Duke's class in men's basketball
It'll take awhile to mesh those disparate talents with one another and the returning players of note. Certainly not saying they can't do it, but it takes some time. Boston, however, is one steady customer and can help anybody. Just make sure she gets the ball on steady basis.
Stanford has the returning and incoming talent to do the same, once they're used to Smith not bailing them out.
And she will take her game to the next level (Arike and Marina level). Also counting on incoming freshmen to be ready (yeah I know) and they do have loftier ratings (Brunelle top 5 and Peoples top 25). Some freshmen are ready for college and I think playing on international teams probably helps