I understand where you are coming from...but a lot of UCONN fans have extremely high expectations for your freshmen that are coming in...and yet, as you put it, "they're just freshmen." And I'd venture to say that most of the fans whose teams have pulled in big-time HS recruits have high expectations for their freshmen as well. Duke fans certainly do. ND fans certainly do. Not to mention USC, Louisville, Baylor, etc. So, y'all can have high expectations but no one else can?
Really? I'm curious why you say that - that UCONN fans have said we can have high expectations but no one y'all else can. In fact, 4 of UCONN's starters next year consist of a sophomore (Nurse), junior (Tuck) and 2 seniors (Jefferson/Stewart). My money's on RS sophomore Butler as the 5th starter... or Gabby Williams.
You have Russell, who was unimpressive as a freshman, had foot surgery as a sophomore, and hasn't contributed a meaningful minute in 2 years as a Tennessee player. In fact, aside from more minutes per game, her freshman stats weren't much better than Liz Sherwood's her 1st and only year at UCONN. Tucker's had it even worse - not playing meaningful minutes in about 3 years now. Cooper has been hot and cold, and while Tennessee fans fantasize she's one of the top 2-3 players in the class, the truth is she's probably more like Massengale than Durr. Oh, and your 3 best players in the NCAA's were Burdick, Massengale, and Graves, 2 of which graduated to go along with Harrison. So you basically lost 3 starters. Oh, and they were #'s 1,2 and 3 in scoring average for the team. Graves was 4th.
Your coming up sophomores were average at best - Nared, Middleton and Dunbar didn't light anything up. I would say easily that Nurse and Williams were both better individually than any of your kids, and I read comments early on by Tenn fans that Nared was a legit top 10 kid, Middleton outplayed every other guard ranked ahead of her over the summer and she might be the best guard in the class, and Dunbar was the best shooter Tenn. fans had seen in many years and would earn serious minutes.
I do get why Tenn fans are enthusiastic. Deshields is the best player you've seen in orange since Parker. But aside from her and Graves, you have solid but unspectacular players. Not a single kid shot over 35% from beyond the arc except for Dunbar who was 37%. You had 2 players who shot over 50% from the floor - Graves and Moore, and Graves was barely over - literally 50.4%. (in comparison UCONN had 6, and 2 of our kids were over 47%.
Graves is really good. Carter is good. Reynolds, Jones and Moore are solid. Dunbar and Middleton are role players. Russell is a question mark, and Deshields is a potential 1st team AA. And of the freshmen, Cooper has a chance to be good, but if she fancies herself a PG, she has a lot to learn about shooting less and passing more, and she won't start next year. Oh, and I don't see Jackson really having any more impact than Middleton did. Role player at best. But honestly, what you have is no better than about 4 or 5 other teams out there (UCONN, Baylor, Notre Dame , and SC) and given the chemistry challenges that will be fun for opposing fans to see, Tenn has way more questions than answers.
Now having said all of that, IMHO they are a top 5 or 6 team to start the season. They will have opportunities to make a statement as they face SC, a team who I really think will be better than Tenn this season. IMHO even UCONN fans who go on and on about how "good" Tenn could be this year are still caught up with the past, and with the HS ranking of kids you have. Preseason I have them at #5 behind UCONN, SC, Baylor, and ND. Not a bad place to be and congrats - they are a legit part of the National discussion for the first time in about 6 or 7 years...