A Season Preview (Part Two) | The Boneyard

A Season Preview (Part Two)

MdStang

Greetings From Geezerville
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Schedule

Big East


Home and home games with all Big east opponents. Like last year, the toughest games will probably be with Villanova, Marquette, Seton Hall, Creighton and DePaul. Both Villanova and Marquette return most of their starters and Seton Hall is loaded with upper classmen. Players to watch: Siegrist, Park-Lane and Morrow. Can we run the table in the BE?

Out Of Conference

This may be the toughest OCC schedule in WCBB. Mostly front loaded with top 25 teams in November and December. One or two losses with the strength of this schedule would look pretty good for NCAA seeding.

November

Texas
(Home) – may be a top 5 team in the first poll. Super guard Rori Harmon returns and additions include transfers Sonya Morris and Taylor Jones.
NC State (Home) – return several key starters and added Mimi Collins and Saniya Rivers. Les Moore is one of the best coaches in WCBB.
Duke (Oregon) – Preseason tourney game. Kara Lawson brought in a bunch of transfers and adds highly ranked FR Shay Bollin and Ashlon Jackson.
Iowa (Oregon) – a probable second round matchup. All starters from last year return including Caitlin Clark. Could be a track meet.

December

Notre Dame
(Away) – Guards Miles, Citron and Mabrey return and Ebo transferred in from Texas to bolster the front court. Expect a sell out in South Bend.
Princeton (Home) – Ivy league champs and NCAA tourney team last year. Most of the starters return, led by PG Kaitlin Chen. Quality coach in Carla Berube.
Maryland (Away) – tall and talented guards in Miller and Sellers with quality transfers Meyers and Lavender. One of the best back courts in the nation. Look for an uptempo game.
Florida State (Home) – quality ACC opponent. Watch out for FR shooting guard Ta’niya Latson. She is a good one.

January

Tennessee
(Away) – another top 10 matchup. The Vols return Horston and Key and added transfer Rickea Jackson. A hot time at Old Rocky Top.

February

South Carolina
(Home) – deep and talented consensus #1 team in the nation and defending national champs. 4 of 5 starters return with the additions of RS FR Johnson and transfer Fletcher at guard. Watkins is a FR to watch. Will we be good enough in early February to challenge this powerhouse?

Coaching and Playing Style

Geno is back along with CD, Janelle and Morgan. If Geno can get this team to another Final Four without Paige he should be national coach of the year.

This is a talented team that can adapt to multiple styles of play but I hope Geno goes with the pressing, high energy style we saw at the end of last year. He typically is not a fan of zone defense but the last two years we have been quite effective using it. Mix it up with aggressive man defense (switching on screens and hard hedging when possible). Don’t look for any big changes in the half court motion offense. The personnel changes but the results don’t. We win a lot of games.

Season Outlook

We have the talent and coaching to be a top ten team nationally, win the BE Championship and make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, possibly to the Final Four. Player development and no more serious injuries are a must for maximum success.
 
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Lots to think about here. I'll just start with the Big East for now.

Who will DePaul bring back? My guess is the core of the team will be Morrow (the younger) Rogers Allen. The backcourt is the first question mark here. Collier brings experience but not great speed or passing skill. The 4 freshman guards may step up. Overall, a short team with no one over 6'1"

Who will carry the load for Villanova next to Siegrist? Olsen Mullin Orihel and Runyan? It's still a short team and their perimeter shooting after Siegrist is only so-so.

I've always admired Marquette and coach Duffy and expect a strong squad built around Karlen Marotta and King. It remains to be seen whether Okosun will be the anchor they need in the post. Even if she steps up this season, they will still be quite thin in the front court.

Creighton returns almost everyone, and they are a tight squad. They are short in the post, but a crisp high energy team that can score from the perimeter. They outplayed us on an off night in the first half last season (2/2/22) and then we took the game away form them in the second half with tough play from Liv Caroline and Christyn. That they got to the Elite 8 and were never really competitive with us says a lot to me. They are scrappy and resourceful. But also the relative weakness of other conferences was exposed by their run. The Big East deserves better representation in future tournaments
 
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No problem with the Big East. The games that will be tough matchups will be Notre Dame and Tennessee on their court. and of course South Carolina.
 

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