Slocum won the award as the best freshman in the nation. Even as a freshman, she was one of the best PGs in the country. Dangerfield was still learning last year. She’s a completely different player this year. When Geno says he looks for the future great PG for USA Basketball and sees Crystal at the top of the list, I trust his judgment.
Correct!!! Look at the leap that Dangerous made from last year to now. She'll be that much better next year, and THAT thought should scare the hell out of UConn's opponents next year. Slocum started for Maryland last year. Obviously she was not coached the same as Crystal was, and the environment was different. Example: Look at the way Azura is being coached now, and how she is being asked to do different things than she was for 2 years at Duke, and she's still adjusting to those changes at 21 years old.
Slocum
may have been a better player than Crystal. Because she started, and got a lot more playing time, that allowed her to develop and mature faster than Dangerfield did because Crystal was confined to getting 6th man minutes. Now Slocum is in limbo at Oregon State as she sits out the year to comply to the NCAA transfer rule, and Dangerfield has caught up, she may have passed her.
Most juniors are very comfortable in their 3rd year. There are no unknowns, no surprises. They know the system and the plays, and they make much better decisions at that point then they did as freshmen. They know they can play at that level, and they know exactly what their coach wants and expects from them. So it's just about imposing their will on their opponents, and continuing to hone their skills. There are some good to very good point guards right now in division one WCBB. I hesitate on using the adjective "great" here.
In my opinion, Jordan Canada is in the top 3 this year. Dangerfield is easily in the top 5 (and rising fast). Don't be surprised to see Crystal continue to mature and be perceived as one of the top 3 in division one.
I believe she has been put on the
Nancy Liberman watch list for this season has she not? Depending on the skill level of the players around them, pg's may be asked/expected to do different things on different teams. i.e,
Kelsey Mitchell does not have 4 "All-Americans" on the floor with her that Dangerfield does, so her coach (Kevin McGuff) is going to want/expect different things from her, than Geno does from Dangerous.
Crystal is on the floor with 4 other players who can easily score in double figures
every night, Mitchell is not. A good way to determine who the best pg's are is try and figure the order they would go in the WNBA draft if they were all eligible. Sometimes stats, or won/loss totals can be misleading and don't really reveal a player's true worth and ability. As we all know, many times a player will do things that don't show up in the box score or on a stat sheet, but they can be still the heart and soul of their team i.e, Alana Beard - Los Angeles Sparks. You couldn't pry her away from head coach Brian Agler with the jaws of life. He knows her value.
Either BOTH teams were red hot, or it was like an NBA All-Star game..........NOBODY played any defense. 
