- Joined
- Oct 8, 2019
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- 573
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To be fair Utsby was not a top-100 recruit coming out of hs so she's actually over-achieved. But I would have liked to see her spend time developing her 3-pt shot rather than abandoning it altogether! Opposing teams don't have to worry about her when she's out there at all as a result.Completely fair. I love hearing ppls opinions. That's y I spend way too much time on this board jk. I've been thinking about recently, how important it is to have a great player. Im thinking of Arizona and Adia Barnes. Ari McDonald changed her life. I think she's a good coach and did a great job this season in some ways but does it take a wnba level talent to really go far in the tournament? Does it take consistently getting that level talent to become one of those programs? Mike Neighbors with Kelsey Plum is another example though I did like the Arkansas teams with Chelsea Dungee. I'm just not sure what Utsby and Kelly are? Like r they top 10 players in their conference, top 30 players in the country? If not then is it fair to have top 16 team level expectations on Banghart. And furthermore are there a lot of examples of elite coaches/power 5 programs that are perennially top 15 that don't have a future w player or prospect on their roster. Now the flip side is y haven't Kelly and utsby developed into that.
I think you DO need that top go-to player to have that kind of success. Witness the difference Watkins has made for USC this year. I have proposed for years that keeping that top talent HOME when recruiting is the springboard for a team to begin that process (there are many examples of this) and once your school "breaks through" then you can get players from other areas going forward as success is a magnet for talent. Geno once said something along the lines of " Sometimes I wonder if the only reason we win is because we have more all-americans than the other team does". He was being self-deprecating because he was being asked about being the greatest coach of all-time but there was also some truth to that comment. He still has some of the very best talent in the country but he no longer gets the #1 every year and teams like SC that have had better recruiting classes in recent years begins to show just how important it is to having that kind of continued success. If you have two - or four - or 16 great coaches -all factors being equal - nine out of ten times the team with the higher number of top players is going to win.
I also love hearing people's opinions on here. This board has a (mostly) great group of people with well thought out comments - as well as a good sense of humor and a penchant for devolving into conversations about food.