#7 Baylor @ Texas - 3/01/21

[southie]

I'm not necessarily convinced that Charli Collier should be the #1 draft pick in the WNBA draft, but those "experts" will decide that.

As we discuss the post players in tonight's game, here's how I see them:

- Charli Collier is a stretch-four player, not a Center, at the pro level. Her ability to hit the 3-pointer, excellent free throw shooter, size to rebound well, and a mid-range shot are all there. She is not as naturally athletic (running, jumping, quickness) as Queen Egbo and NaLyssa Smith. IMO, Collier needs to play next to a true Center to really be successful as a professional.

- NaLyssa Smith runs the floor like a man; and, that's a compliment as she just glides up and down the court. Great strength, body control, and hops. Getting better with her shooting range. Have no idea what position she will play in the WNBA.

- Queen Egbo is the best natural rebounder; that's the main reason why I wanted her at Texas. She also has great hops. She does have great touch near the basket, but not as offensively polished 10 feet away from the basket. Her only position as a pro is at Center, IMO, but she is undersized.

 

[bballnut90]

I'm not necessarily convinced that Charli Collier should be the #1 draft pick in the WNBA draft, but those "experts" will decide that.

As we discuss the post players in tonight's game, here's how I see them:

- Charli Collier is a stretch-four player, not a Center, at the pro level. Her ability to hit the 3-pointer, excellent free throw shooter, size to rebound well, and a mid-range shot are all there. She is not as naturally athletic (running, jumping, quickness) as Queen Egbo and NaLyssa Smith. IMO, Collier needs to play next to a true Center to really be successful as a professional.

- NaLyssa Smith runs the floor like a man; and, that's a compliment as she just glides up and down the court. Great strength, body control, and hops. Getting better with her shooting range. Have no idea what position she will play in the WNBA.

- Queen Egbo is the best natural rebounder; that's the main reason why I wanted her at Texas. She also has great hops. She does have great touch near the basket, but not as offensively polished 10 feet away from the basket. Her only position as a pro is at Center, IMO, but she is undersized.

Collier I could see being a similar player to Azura Stevens. She seems more comfortable inside than Stevens and has good upside. She's not a great #1 pick but has the best set of tools in her tool box of any prospect.

Smith will be the best pro IMO if she develops a better perimeter game. She has a knack for finding the basket and has a good frame and size to be a wing. Undersized to be a 4 but her handles look improved and if she continues to improve her midrange and perimeter shot, she has all the tools to be great.

Egbo is a big question mark for me. She's a fantastic rim to rim post and can hit shots but I dont think she has good touch around the rim and doesn't have the highest basketball IQ. She's very foul prone and lacks the size and strength to defend WNBA centers. I thought she'd be a lot more developed by now after she made solid strides a year ago. I see her as a Brianna Turner type of player without Turner's great defense which doesn't translate to being a mainstay as a pro IMO. Still has another year or 2 before she makes the jump but she'll need to improve quite a bit to be a solid WNBA player.

 

[Baylor1994]

I feel like smith should be first team all American after today’s game! She has looked really good the latter half of the season! She started off slow but has come along great! Averaging 18 points, 9.3 rebounds, shooting 53 percent while being on a balanced team!

 

[southie]

I feel like smith should be first team all American after today’s game! She has looked really good the latter half of the season! She started off slow but has come along great! Averaging 18 points, 9.3 rebounds, shooting 53 percent while being on a balanced team!

And, against how many Top 25 teams did she amass those stats? That's what several posters say about Collier's stats.

 

[Shades]

 

[Dwilliams02]

And, against how many Top 25 teams did she amass those stats? That's what several posters say about Collier's stats.

Smith always puts up numbers against ranked teams. Too bad Baylor barely played any this year. But throughout her college career. Smith showed out more than Collier vs ranked teams

 

[willtalk]

Smith always puts up numbers against ranked teams. Too bad Baylor barely played any this year. But throughout her college career. Smith showed out more than Collier vs ranked teams

 

[willtalk]

I am not that sold on either Collier or Smith for success at the next level. Smith got those stats against ranked teams when she had Cox or Brown for the defense to focus on. She will have to play the wing in the Pro's and to do that she has to develop a 3pt shot. So far she is 3 for 22 at Baylor. She hit two in the game against Texas, but she seemed to be really at the top of her game in that one. Even though the announcer gave her credit for having a 3pt shot based on hitting two in that game, that is not enough for me. She needs to hit a lot more than 3 in three years to get credit for being able to hit 3's. Perhaps she has worked on her shot, but anyone can get hot for one game. The key is if she is able to consistently hit 3's which she has yet to show. But unlike Collier she still has one more year to improve her weaknesses.. I always say that no one is as good as their best game nor as bad as their worst.

 

[southie]

Smith always puts up numbers against ranked teams. Too bad Baylor barely played any this year. But throughout her college career. Smith showed out more than Collier vs ranked teams

"Always", huh? I doubt that is a true statement as every player has a bad game here and there, or gets into foul trouble.

 

[southie]

I am not that sold on either Collier or Smith for success at the next level. Smith got those stats against ranked teams when she had Cox or Brown for the defense to focus on. She will have to play the wing in the Pro's and to do that she has to develop a 3pt shot. So far she is 3 for 22 at Baylor. She hit two in the game against Texas, but she seemed to be really at the top of her game in that one. Even though the announcer gave her credit for having a 3pt shot based on hitting two in that game, that is not enough for me. She needs to hit a lot more than 3 in three years to get credit for being able to hit 3's. Perhaps she has worked on her shot, but anyone can get hot for one game. The key is if she is able to consistently hit 3's which she has yet to show. But unlike Collier she still has one more year to improve her weaknesses.. I always say that no one is as good as their best game nor as bad as their worst.

Agree with all of that. But, Mulkey couldn't help Nina Davis develop a consistent perimeter game which was going to be needed at the next level. So, not sold that NaLyssa is going to develop her consistent long-range shooting after next season at Baylor if she's not being allowed to use that skill set in college games very often.

Collier is a much better perimeter shooter than NaLyssa. She has several areas where she needs to improve to be a successful pro, but I don't think staying another year in college is going to necessarily help her improve in those areas.

 

[Dwilliams02]

"Always", huh? I doubt that is a true statement as every player has a bad game here and there, or gets into foul trouble.

I said against ranked teams. Every player has bad games of course, but I rarely seen Smith fold vs ranked teams. Collier is still a great player. Playing against Baylor's defense isn't an easy task for any star player

 

[Dwilliams02]

Collier in one year has made huge progress in her development. But her success vs good teams relies on her surrounding players. Texas isn't a great shooting team. An elite defensive team can stop her easily. I really think it's unfair to actually punish her for that. In the W. She may can really showcase her skillset.

 

[DefenseBB]

Smith always puts up numbers against ranked teams. Too bad Baylor barely played any this year. But throughout her college career. Smith showed out more than Collier vs ranked teams

So, for you, @willtalk and @southie -by going to Yahoo Sports Women's college basketball website, you can see a players stats and game log from the "teams" section which is sorted by conference and you can select ROSTER or STATS as both will get you to the player. Then you can select game log.

https://sports.yahoo.com/college-womens-basketball/teams/

For giggles, I checked out what Smith has done this year against "ranked" teams.
USF-Win 6 pt. 10 reb, 4 To, 2 steals
Arkansas-Loss 16 pts, 7 reb, 2 steals
WVU-Win 10 pts, 6 reb, 1 steal
That's 3 ranked teams with less than stellar results.
In the Iowa State loss she had 14pts, 10 reb.

Smith has been playing better since that Iowa State loss as the game log shows but sorry @Baylor1994 she is NOT a 1st Team All-American. She's on the periphery of the WBCA 10 member team with my opinion she's on the outside looking in. She is an honorable mention and should be the Big 12 POY.

 

[Baylor1994]

And, against how many Top 25 teams did she amass those stats? That's what several posters say about Collier's stats.

Smith is number 1 on Baylor’s opponents scouting report and she still puts up good numbers! Smith has been consistent against lots of ranked teams! I’d take smith on the first team over Boston!

 

[Baylor1994]

So, for you, @willtalk and @southie -by going to Yahoo Sports Women's college basketball website, you can seen a players stats and game log from the "teams" section which is sorted by conference and you can select ROSTER or STATS as both will get you to the player. Then you can select game log.

https://sports.yahoo.com/college-womens-basketball/teams/

For giggles, I checked out what Smith has done this year against "ranked" teams.
USF-Win 6 pt. 10 reb, 4 To, 2 steals
Arkansas-Loss 16 pts, 7 reb, 2 steals
WVU-Win 10 pts, 6 reb, 1 steal
That's 3 ranked teams with less than stellar results.
In the Iowa State loss she had 14pts, 10 reb.

Smith has been playing better since that Iowa State loss as the game log shows but sorry @Baylor1994 she is NOT a 1st Team All-American. She's on the periphery of the WBCA 10 member team with my opinion she's on the outside looking in. She is an honorable mention and should be the Big 12 POY.

That’s fine. As long as Baylor keeps winning that’s all that matters to me.

 

[Shades]

She will have to play the wing in the Pro's and to do that she has to develop a 3pt shot.

She’s big enough to play PF. Is Naz Hillmon going to be a wing?

But unlike Collier she still has one more year to improve her weaknesses.. I always say that no one is as good as their best game nor as bad as their worst.

They are both juniors. Collier has to declare to enter the draft early. It all depends on what’s important to Collier. Does she want to be a high pick and get started on her pro career early, or does she want to be a lower pick by waiting until next year. As far as improving her game under Schaefer, if anything she started out the season strong (which has little to do with Schaefer and more to do with her offseason training) and regressed during the season. I mean he definitely hasn’t done enough to get her the ball in the paint against better teams. Is guard play suddenly going to get better next year?

 

[willtalk]

She’s big enough to play PF. Is Naz Hillmon going to be a wing?

They are both juniors. Collier has to declare to enter the draft early. It all depends on what’s important to Collier. Does she want to be a high pick and get started on her pro career early, or does she want to be a lower pick by waiting until next year. As far as improving her game under Schaefer, if anything she started out the season strong (which has little to do with Schaefer and more to do with her offseason training) and regressed during the season. I mean he definitely hasn’t done enough to get her the ball in the paint against better teams. Is guard play suddenly going to get better next year?

Did not know she was still a Jr amongst all the talk of her being the # 1 pick. Of course everyone has the option of returning next year. While Smith might be big enough to play the 4 ( size wise) the question is if she is strong enough to score from the block. She is more comfortable and effective in open space than with body contact. Whe likes to use her quickness to hit open lanes for both scores and rebounds.
Putting her as a 4 puts her more into the catagory of a tweener and the questions that usually raises in respect to effectiveness at the next level.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Did not know she was still a Jr amongst all the talk of her being the # 1 pick. Of course everyone has the option of returning next year. While Smith might be big enough to play the 4 ( size wise) the question is if she is strong enough to score from the block. She is more comfortable and effective in open space than with body contact. Whe likes to use her quickness to hit open lanes for both scores and rebounds.
Putting her as a 4 puts her more into the catagory of a tweener and the questions that usually raises in respect to effectiveness at the next level.

If she can develop a more consistent 3 point shot, that would change things a lot with her future prospects at the next level but they don't ever really use her that way.

Texas game was the first game this year where I saw Smith put everything together, scoring from back to basket, hitting mid range and 3 point shots. Challenge now is to keep up that part of her game. She is a tweener where I feel she is more effective off the bounce (wing/guard) than she is as a banger down low although she is capable of scoring that way.

Nice to see Smith playing well lately, her play early this season wasn't pretty but she has been a much different player since the Iowa State game. Egbo also playing well makes Baylor a much different animal inside than they were earlier in the year. Smith and Egbo (when playing well) compliment each other a lot, it allows Smith to get into her zone rather than making her strictly back to the basket.

 

[southie]

She’s big enough to play PF. Is Naz Hillmon going to be a wing?

They are both juniors. Collier has to declare to enter the draft early. It all depends on what’s important to Collier. Does she want to be a high pick and get started on her pro career early, or does she want to be a lower pick by waiting until next year. As far as improving her game under Schaefer, if anything she started out the season strong (which has little to do with Schaefer and more to do with her offseason training) and regressed during the season. I mean he definitely hasn’t done enough to get her the ball in the paint against better teams. Is guard play suddenly going to get better next year?

Teams have packed it in the paint when playing against Texas. Yes, the guards have had trouble getting Collier the ball against zone defenses. But, I'd say the biggest issue has been that Collier has played most of the season without a true Center in the lineup alongside her; she's mainly had to play at the Center position alongside an undersized PF (5'9 Audrey Warren), and that is not the natural position for either of them.

Next season, Texas gains two elite freshmen guards. But, they have to prove it in college.