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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 5039811, member: 12088"] I’m not sure SC will be better than last season, but they are still the presumptive #1 going into the season. It wouldn't surprise me if this turns out to be the case for the next couple years. Dawn has built a formidable program, one that could lose the freshies all in one season and come back better. That’s 4 out of 5 starters. I don’t know if any coach has done that and come back to win an NC. Dawn has figured out what the great coaches all know: how to get superstars to devote their talents to a team concept. That said, I think she may have over-recruited this team by getting Dauda in the portal. She already had a great frontcourt and I suspect it will be a bit clogged for the next couple years. Watkins Walker Kitts Tac and Edwards should have been enough going forward. I think she will finally have an impatient bench. Geno hasn’t made this mistake. He got Kaitlyn from the portal, and some feared that was one too many guards. But after the initial shock I think most folks see her as a positive addition. But Geno didn’t add another big through the portal, and I think he was right not to do so. The drumbeat on the BY may have been right to think we were one big away from dominating this season. But I feared that it might clog up recruiting and rotations for more than one year. He signed a five year extension and therefore is probably thinking in 5-year terms, as he always has. I really agree with [USER=9844]@oldhusky[/USER] about the trouble with predicting which HS bigs will flourish at the next level. His analysis seems just right. This almost always means it takes a year or more before they can reach their potential -- assuming they have genuine potential. Stewie and Boston and A'ja all grew significantly in their 4 years, but they were all already D1 ready coming out of HS. I'd be tempted to include Liv and Dorka in this list, though I'm pretty sure they wouldn't and have said so in interviews. In any event kids like this are exceptions, and the middle of the bell curve is populated by slow growing kids who aren't ready to start until their third year, if then. This means the recruitment rhythm is quite different for bigs and littles. KK and Ash could work their way onto a top-10 starting lineup as freshman. That's unusual. Geno has always had a knack for finding guards like them, and they weren't always heralded coming out of HS. Jewels in the rough who could handle the pressure of such a role as freshman. I'd venture to say that if they had to, this year's freshmen could do the same thing. Let's hope they don't have to. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach