We can be good with the players that were available last year having similar roles this year. Normally you see some year to year improvement. But I don't think that comes close to replacing Aaliyah and Nika. I understand how much the fans appreciate what the four freshmen did for us last year.
Next year, however, may depend on how many of those players we can find an upgrade for. Azzi and Caroline were better in their first year than KK and Ashlynn for example. Allie and Morgan could possibly be better than them this year. With Sarah, Jana and say a portal big, there is far more competition for Ice upfront even with Aaliyah's departure.
KK, Ashlynn, Q and Ice will probably all be better, but that could be true, and they still might get significantly less time this year, and a couple of them could fall out of the rotation. What I am saying is that if that happens, we will probably be a truly great team, because somebody better knocked them out of their starting position or role in the rotation, and they become stars off the bench or great injury insurance.
With the current roster at 13, if you try to figure out who is 11, 12, or 13, you still come up with a player who could start at most programs. That could change and if we got say Beers, 11,12 and 13 become 12, 13, and 14. Being a much better team next year depends somewhat on even better options leapfrogging over some of last year's mainstays and moving some of them down the pecking order, so that every player Geno puts on the court against top opponents is very very good, and just pretty good gets you third string. Just the reality of building a great team IMO.