24-25 Preseason Rankings | Page 2 | The Boneyard

24-25 Preseason Rankings

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I really like Notre Dame's core, but not sure they are a true contender until they fix the front court.

I'm not sure Koval fixes it in 2024-2025.
 
I do think UConn has questions and it's tough to see how all the pieces fit. But I would rank them top 5. I'll wait until May or June to list them out but just thinking in terms of starting fives of some of the top teams, sc (Raven,Paopao,Breezy,Kitts,Watkins), tx(Rori,Holle,Booker,AMo,TJones) ucla(Kiki,Jones,GJaquez,Dugalic,Betts) Notre dame (Hidalgo,Miles,Citron,MWestbeld,KKoval) are all really good. Oregon State should they not be decimated by the portal will be really return 4 of 5 and although tvo was a key piece, they have like 3 returning freshman that could replace her.
 
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hoopsnloops32 said:
And my assessment of Aaliyah’s improvement level was correct.

Sure we made the final four but we weren’t a top 4 team at any point this season. Going into next season I have no idea how good or bad we’ll be which is why I think top 10 for them is crazy at this point. I wouldn’t argue with someone that left us out of the top 25 because idk who is starting outside of Paige.

All the things I said about Sarah’s recruitment was what was being reported. Hate the messenger sure but that’s what the word on the street was.
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I don’t understand the “idk who’s starting outside of Paige”. Would you not assume that KK and Shade would start… as they did for the last 3/4+ of this season. And if you think they might not start, wouldn’t it have to be bc someone else was healthy/better (ie, Fudd, Ducharme). I agree that there are lots of question marks, but that doesn’t preclude being able to project/guess how those might play out.
Personally, I’d project that they’ll be at least a top 10 team, and barring another year of major injuries - there’s no way they’re out of the top 25.
 
"To be the man, you have to beat the man." - Nature Boy Ric Flair. South Carolina is alone at the top on their very own tier. Below them on their own tier is UConn. Everyone else is below that. As it stands right now, there is no chance that the Gamecocks and UConn wont play in the championship game next year. Everyone else is playing for a spot in the Final Four.
 
ConnManFan said:
Below them on their own tier is UConn. Everyone else is below that. As it stands right now, there is no chance that the Gamecocks and UConn wont play in the championship game next year. Everyone else is playing for a spot in the Final Four.
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There are many teams that will be very good.
 
Updating grid (but not preseason ranks)

nc2425_0412.jpg
 
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hoopsnloops32 said:
I was right about most of that though. Even Paige took until March of 2024 to really step up. You may not like it but I was right.
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If UConn had a situation where all the recruits got lost on the way to Storrs, no transfers, walking wounded could not come back. They could still roll with KK at 1, Ash at 2, Q at 3, Paige at 4, Ice at 5 and 2 walk ons from the student section on the bench.

Even this little team would be fun and surprisingly good. Kk and Ash are real solid and Ice and Q with a season of full run would really improve. All the pieces fit right. Even this group would be a top 10 team with about 5 losses due growing pains.

Now this won't happen, but the Huskies have a lot of options next year with good health.
 
packwrap said:
If UConn had a situation where all the recruits got lost on the way to Storrs, no transfers, walking wounded could not come back. They could still roll with KK at 1, Ash at 2, Q at 3, Paige at 4, Ice at 5 and 2 walk ons from the student section on the bench.

Even this little team would be fun and surprisingly good. Kk and Ash are real solid and Ice and Q with a season of full run would really improve. All the pieces fit right. Even this group would be a top 10 team with about 5 losses due growing pains.

Now this won't happen, but the Huskies have a lot of options next year with good health.
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UConn was #11 for much of this year. Now you’re replacing Nika and Aaliyah with Q and Ice and they’re gonna be top 10?
lol, no
 
Vowelguy said:
UConn was #11 for much of this year. Now you’re replacing Nika and Aaliyah with Q and Ice and they’re gonna be top 10?
lol, no
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Aaliyah and Nika are easily the 2 most overrated players in Husky's history. It aint even close and the team will be better at both postions next year.
 
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Vowelguy said:
UConn was #11 for much of this year. Now you’re replacing Nika and Aaliyah with Q and Ice and they’re gonna be top 10?
lol, no
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I was just being provocative, given the many possible options next year, but I would be quite high on Q and Ice if they had a long run of being forced to play like the Kk/ash tandem. To me Q can be the next athlete in the line of Gabby & Aubrey and it appears she's still growing. She showed glimpses of everything: defense, rebounding, athleticism finishing, and shooting. Obviously lol she's not reluctant to shoot, but more importantly her form and release are great, and she's not hesitant as a scorer like Nika and Aubrey.
Similarly, Ice had some slow going this year, but she showed me enough that given continued playing time, she will be solid. She has the whole range for a big that Geno likes, good mobility, 3pt ability, and fine around the basket.

If this group ends up sitting behind Paige, Azzi, Aubrey, Sarah, Beers/Jana, that wouldn't surprise me (and it's good news on health for UConn), but it wouldn't change my opinion that they can be really good.
 
The problem with Nika and Aaliyah, this year, imo is they had no chemistry on the court with Paige. Neither could find her when she was open and they all gravitated to the same spots offensively. It’s not surprising to me that once Aaliyah went out in the Big East tournament Paige’s offense took off. In fact I think the USC game is the only game against a top team all season both Paige and Aaliyah had good games. Offensively I don’t think either will be missed that much. Regardless of who UConn picks up (or doesn’t) in the portal defense will be a very big question and one of the reasons I think they will be an impossible team to rank next season.I wouldn’t be able to argue with anyone who left them outside the top 25 nor would I be able to argue with someone ranking them top 10. Really could be anywhere in that range.
 
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.
 
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