Thank you for this post!

I appreciate having the context all laid out. However, I’m not sure it tells the whole story.

Though Niele didn’t recruit them as HC, leaving out the departures of Gilbert, Prohaska, Peoples, and Brunelle after 2021-22 makes it look like Niele hasn’t lost any players. While she hasn’t lost many that she’s recruited as HC, she did lose a significant number there, making the 2022-23 class less of an impressive haul and more of a necessity. When looking at roster sizes:

2021-22
ND: 10 scholarship players
UConn: 12 scholarship players

2022-23
ND: 10 scholarship players (1 joined mid-season)
UConn: 13 scholarship players

2023-24
ND: 11 scholarship players (not counting Brown who is medically retired or Cernugel who is a former walk-on)
UConn: 14 scholarship players

And though the 2024-25 rosters are nowhere near finalized, here is where each team currently sits:

2024-25
ND: 9 scholarship players (with 1 freshman recruit)
UConn: 14 scholarship players (with 3 freshman recruits)

Despite injuries, UConn has been able to make the Final Four two of the last three years because of how much quality depth they have. Even with key injuries (and a lot of them), they’ve made runs. Niele thus far has been unable to secure a deep roster, and key injuries have kept our team from advancing past the Sweet 16 the past two seasons. We haven’t had the depth to overcome those injuries.

Perhaps Niele’s recruiting has had more quality than Geno’s for the past few seasons, but when looking at both quality AND quantity on the rosters, UConn has been better set up for success.

One other slight counterpoint: if you are going to put Prosper in the 2022-23 group that Niele brought in, then you should also move Miles to the 2020-21 group, which is not being used in your comparison. However, it may be more apt to move Prosper to the 2023-24 group since that was her original recruitment class.