But they had Tinkle and Kokenis, were blown out by UConn at home, lost to Cal at home, and almost lost to UCLA. The UCLA team that almost beat Stanford was a team of walking wounded. Walker and Dixon had problems moving on the court. I thought Brewer injured her ankle during the Pac 12 tournament, and Lemberger wasnt near 100%. Ruef had to play 21mpg last season after never having played more than 10mpg. I dont know if she can give you more than that on her feet. Freshman bigs McCall and Johnson are question marks until proven. I think the most important new player to Stanford is Karlie Samuelson, Hi IQ, great outside shooter, and can take the ball to the hoop. She is way underrated. Her speed for the college game is the only question. If she and her sister Bonnie play a lot it could help with having to defend their outside shooting.
Cal did lose some valuable players but still has a strong core in Brandon, Boyd, Gray, Jemeriigbe, and two transfers who have NCAA experience. They are also bringing in a Euro outside shooter who is very good. UCLA has a quick team but their inside game will have to improve but I think it can. Washington has two very good players in Davis and Walton and have added some new faces that will make them stronger. Not sure on McGuffs departure and the team coaching. Last year UW basically played 6 players for 30+ mpg, they wont have to do that this year.
Finally USC is my sleeper team. They only lost one player, a wing, get high ranked Jordan Adams healthy(she played 8 games last year), they have solid players at every position and a new coach that has to improve their game. USC took Cal to OT last year, at CAL, and USC was only 11-20. Plus, there might be some news coming out of USC in the next few weeks regarding an addition to their team. I will leave it at that for now.
