just a paid vacation. Oregon's 2020 class has 5 ESPN 5 stars, similar to the class Graves got with Sabrina & Ruthie 4 years ago. The linked article lists the players and also pints out "The Ducks also remain in play for five-star guards Caitlin Clark (No. 4) and Hailey Van Lith (No. 8)." If Prince goes their way and sits out a year that definitely is a logjam even with All American seniors they are losing after this coming year.
I will say the Ducks make it fun for recruits when they come. I've visited the Marcus Mariota Performance center that Phil Knight funded which all sport recruits get to see. They have their medical staff there as well as custom training and rest facilities. This may be what Prince is looking for given her injury. Hopefully ND throws out all the stops during the visit as I know the Ducks always do when they get a recruit to visit. It's hard to get recruits from the South to fly all the way here.
men on the coaching staff. Geno, Graves and the dipshit at Louisville appear to be doing well.
which is actually similar to the most successful NCAA women's coaches ever (ala Pat Summit). Muffet is all business, intensely competitive, and doesn't let her players stay on the court after dumb mistakes or bad risk taking. Geno, Tara, and Mulkey, the only other active coaches with multiple NCAA championships, behave the exact same way when they coach. These 4 have clearly been the most effective still coaching over the last 20 years and there is no competition. If you extend to all the current winningest women's college coaches including almost all that have made Final 4s the last 20 years & still coaching college, they also have similar approach as Muffet. To me this includes Walz, Schaefer, Staley, Frese, Blair, McCallie, Coale, and Stringer who are all still coaching and have made final 4's this century which includes both male and female coaches. Their personality's are not all the same, but approach seem very similar even if their effectiveness and intensity does not match the top 4.
But there is a new style of women's college coach which I would call a "player's" coach who focus on development in practice and letting their team play during the games with pretty predictable subbing for rests. That style didn't exist in the women's game until recently as most coaches modeled their approach to the most successful women''s coach: Pat Summit. But in the last 5 years three of these type coaches have made it to the Final 4 and all happen to be men: Syracuse's Hillsman, Oregon State's Rueck, and most recently Oregon's Kelly Graves. I think they have attracted many of the newer players who want this type of coach. Still I am sure many find Muffet, Geno, Kim, and Tara's coaching approach well worth committing to their programs as so many continue to do.
So far none of these "player" type of coaches have won it all and the jury is still out how well it works, but they are starting to get top notch players most notably Ionescu. From what I see close-up this is helping both Oregon and OSU continue to attract top players to check out the programs. My hope is Muffet can start adjusting and let her players play more during the games. Her hook is very obvious and similar to behaviors I've seen Geno, Kim, and Tara continue to show during games. Mulkey with some of her injuries may have had to be more tolerant this past year and Muffet seemed to do that her championship season the previous year when she had few options.
Still I can't argue Muffet's success the past 20 years. My only thought whatever she does it would help if her players are having fun when they are playing during the games and the one's not playing are properly engaged, especially the most talented. We also all should remember its hard to win it all. I actually think having all women's coaches is an advantage for ND.
Those are my thoughts but if you differ you can certainly set me straight..
But I don’t think it was as great a move by MM as it’s being hyped up to be. In any case, next season will be tough to salvage at this point.
...if not more, than the Irish have.
- At UConn, the all three of the prospects that came in with Megan Walker are gone. And remember, Geno initially had one recruit in his 2019 class before landing a Polish player and two transfers.
- One reason why Graves has such a huge 2020 Class is because he's had numerous transfers. I think he's a solid coach, but I'm still really interested to see how they do post-Ionescu.
- And we all know Walz runs a churn machine in Louisville. Lots of recruits in and then the multi-recruit classes start having transfers here and there.
Can say the same for Maryland, S. Carolina, etc. Seems like a rapidly changing field...
Let's see how this visit goes with both Prince and the "major 2020 target."
Like others I don't see the allure of Oregon....
does Oregon continue to attract recruits with the talent they have. Do they have a roster limit - smh
..but it seems pretty "fast fingers" when it's been reported she's coming to ND on Thursday and Friday. What is later? The weekend?
As to "why Oregon?": Seems Ms. Prince is visiting all the 2019 Final Four teams, save Baylor, the one in-state team. When you look at the rosters, she probably knows a lot of the players (current or committed) from various all-star teams and/or national team trials/stints.
And gosh knows she's covering her bases geographically: one school each from the east, midwest and west.
and is trying to hand out 85 scholarships.