A reason why the National team coach should NOT be a coach from the college ranks.
This is an unfair advantage:
First Geno
Now Dawn Staley

other than Hatchell (formerly) at UNC and McCallie at Duke?

transferring (probably because basketball there is very Darwinian, i.e., survival of the fittest), but he has fielded excellent teams for the talent he has been able to accumulate. Until the past few years, he really hasn't been able to recruit top talent in the quantities needed to be consistently top 10 or better. Sure he got Angel McCoughtry, but she wasn't a big time recruit at the time (and he inherited her when he was hired as a head coach after being an assistant at Maryland). He developed her very nicely!

I really don't like the way Jeff works the refs (during and after games), and I don't like that the way his recruits transfer out so frequently, but there is no denying that he is an excellent coach. He motivates his players well and is a very good x's and o's guy. And he is an great recruiter. I think he initially over-recruited because that he was surprised that all these young women were signing, i.e., as he became more popular, he didn't become more discerning in his offers, and that led to large recruiting classes and subsequent transfers. But now he should readjust who he says "yes" to. And perhaps he has. In the present transfer-happy world of WCB, Jeff has had modest losses in his recent recruiting classes.

after (and I believe only because) MSU shocked UCONN. And with 2 transfers into her program that ended up both being high first round WNBA picks. But otherwise she doesn't have a lot to show for all the talent she rakes in. And she regularly gets blown out (at least it seems that way to me) by UCONN and other top programs

I see two main points being raised about Coach Dawn Staley:
- she does not win enough, particularly with what she has recently; and,
- she currently has an unfair advantage in recruiting due to being the U.S. National Team Coach.

On one hand, I get this: South Carolina does seem to get its fanny kicked on a regular basis by UConn; and, yes, they just pulled in one of the best recruiting classes as rated by agencies in recent memory.

Would like to peel another layer of the onion. Maybe there's another perspective.

Dawn Staley Does Not Win Enough

- At Temple, her first head coaching gig, Staley went 172-80 overall (68% winning percentage) and landed her team in the NCAA's the last five years.

- At South Carolina,The Gamecocks had only won a total of 20 games in the five years before her arrival.
- It took her three years to start winning and since then, she's been in the NCAA's 9 straight years.
- From Jan. 2014 to Nov. 2018, South Carolina had an 89-week-long run in the Top Ten rankings. According to the NCAA, that's the longest run outside of UConn and Notre Dame. They must be playing -- and defeating -- enough top-level teams to stay so highly ranked.
- Under Staley the program captured four SEC regular season championships, four SEC tournament titles, two Final Fours, one NCAA National Championship, six sweet sixteen appearances, the 2nd ranked recruiting class in 2014, the first ranked class in 2019, five SEC player of the year awards and three SEC freshman of the year awards.

- As for their record against specific teams:
-- Yes, UConn regularly pummels them. This looks like a case of one coach just having it on another.
-- Staley and Holly Warlick were -- to the best that I could find -- around .500 (I have 5-5 in the last 10 games). For all of Warlick's faults, she still had better than average teams until the last, say, two years. These two teams are usually athletic and played accordingly.
-- Staley had Vic Schaefer's number, having a 9-1 advantage before this season.
-- The most notable ND-South Carolina game came in the Final Four in the prior final four in Tampa. That as a nail-biting 66-65 ND win, largely due to some late-game heroics by Maddie Cable (on offense) and Hannah Huffman (on defense). No blowout there.

Do they lose some games on national television that don't put them in the best light? Sure...particularly those UConn games. But I think they also win more than their share of the ones that matter.

Does Being Coach Staley Have A Recruiting Advantage...

...by being the U.S. National Team coach?

Hmmm, maybe.

- I'm guessing this is an extension of the Geno A. platform. He created a virtuous circle of being in prime players' careers from college to pros to international career. Did it create an advantage? Well, for kids drawn to winning and who envisioned a long career, probably.

- Dawn just got going as U.S. Coach and I'm not sure so many players equate her in the same vein. Heck most of the 2019 recruits heading to S. Carolina were coach by Carla Berube, who is a Geno A. disciple. See how that worked out?

- I think it's premature to see if this kind of wave continues year in, year out for Staley. I think it's a bit of an anomaly and think it will create challenges meshing incoming and current talent.

Will certainly watch what the future brings, but it could create the most recent bugaboo for her as a college coach: transfers due to lack of playing time. There's only 200 minutes in a hoops game, regardless of how good the starters and subs are.

- BTW, I happen to agree with those who think college coaches should not be the HC of the U.S. National Team: I think the U.S. National Team coach should come from the pro ranks: Cheryl Reeve would've been a fine choice this time around.

2015 - no ESPN top 100 recruits
2016 - #28 Ty Harris, #33 Araion Bradshaw, #72 Mikiah Harrigan
2017 - #23 Elisia Grisset, #43 Bianca Jackson, #48 LaDazhia Williams
2018 - #6 Destanni Henderson, #47 Victoria Saxton.

That's not horrible but for a program that made the Final Four in 2015 and won the NC in 2017, it's below par.

After Gray and Davis left, they just didn't have the talent to be contenders the last couple years. Last year was A'ja just trying to do it by herself. This year, they didn't even have that.

When they did have the talent to contend from 2015 to 2017, they made two Final Fours and won one NC. You could knock them for underachieving in 2016 but ND also took an early exit that year. It happens.

I don't think it's a coincidence - and an unfair advantage. One Geno enjoyed for years.

Bring in a coach from other ranks besides college

She's been pulling in solid recruiting classes since she got Kelsey Bone to commit in the class of 2009.

Incoming freshmen:
Brunelle - #6 (down 2)
Peoples - #18 (up 3)

2020 commits:
Campbell - #21 (up 3)
Marshall - #35 (down 23, yikes!)

2020 targets:
Caitlin Clark - #4
Kylee Watson - #18
Deja Kelly - #20
Maddy Westbeld - #30

Positives:

- Watson went up 12 spots to 18. At one point, she'd been there and then fell back, only to come back up again.

- Westbeld flew up from #45 to 30.

- Madison Hayes went from #50 to 24, a jump of 26 places. Now we have not heard much about Hayes and ND in quite some time. Still, that's quite a jump and her being on the 3x3 winning team probably had a lot to do with it.

Negatives

- Marshall dropping from 12 to 35. Some have postured that some of this has to do with Nat's potential vs. actual performance, but I'll submit that her work on Christ the King was pretty darned impressive in helping to win a state title. When numerous other D1 talents were out with injuries, Marshall did what she had to do.

In any case, I'm still overjoyed that she's committed and will make a fine addition to this team. Would love to have Watson join her.


2021

- After some early write-ups, I have no idea if Westchester (NY) product Sonia Citron is on ND's radar, but she's gone from unranked to #20 in Hoopgurlz. Tall guard who can stroke it.

- Indy's Ari Wiggins went up from #23 to #18 and got some nice write-ups for her work at the Boo Williams tourney.

Update

- I've updated the HG rankings in the report (see above).

Seems a bit of a low-ball here.

I think her personal score (98) is the same as the top 23 in the class, but relative to her peers, I think she had a pretty damn good season:
- led her high school team to a second consecutive state title;
- played often and well in her national team duty; and,
- distinguished herself with excellent fundamentals and heady play in the all-star games that she appeared in.

Once again, Hoopgurlz is one person's take and who knows how much Dan Olson did/didn't see Anaya this season...at least he stopped the decline she's been on since committing to ND. It's another reason why I tend to mesh together a lot of the rankings and pay most attention to what the recruiting coach sees in the prospect.

ND has a winner in Anaya. Assume this is the final 2019 Hoopgurlz ranking. Now, Anaya can make her mark on the court in South Bend and beyond.

I pay little attention the recruiting services. It is what the coaches see
and feel about the player that gets my attention. If MM offers a recruit
a scholarship. She must be darn impressive. That is all I need to know.

SEG/Chief