ESPN 2021 class rankings | Page 6 | The Boneyard

ESPN 2021 class rankings

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I did not infer any ill intent from any of your posts - just a desire to discuss our team - which I appreciate. Nevertheless, I am a guest on a board dedicated to discussion of the THE dominant power in women's basketball. As such I need to remain somewhat humble in my fervor for my school.

We have a lot of talent, but not a dominating amount until the 201 class suits up. We have one very highly rated player from our 2018 and four VHRs in the top rated 2019 class. However, our 2020 class contained only one medium high rated player. When we add the 2021 class, we will have 9 VHR players. If we can add 2 or more VHRs for 2022, we will have a roster that has 10 VHRs for Boston's senior season. That is when I have great expectations. A dominating senior laden first string backed up by a powerful second string of sophomores. The 2022 frosh would be gravy.

I expect to add two SC players for 2022 in HG # 8 Talysia Cooper and HG #13 Ashlynn Watkins. We will have 4 open scholarships for that class. If we can can add at least one other top 10, like Betts, Barker, Patterson or Nnaji it will be a third great class. Add two of those? Get outta' here.

Maybe 50 point blowouts could (I just can't say "will") become something of a norm. Don't care. I just wanna' see us win. I do have an expectation (gulp) that our 2019 crew will bring us a championship. I even have hopes of 2! 3 is not in my field of vision. Y'all are still out there with similar talent. Would I like to see 3 or 4 straight? Sure, but that's an unrealistic desire as long as Geno is coaching.

No matter what the rankings and commits received and the eventual play there is no guarantee for a championship. I can recall the men's game - Phi Slamma Jamma losing to Jim Valvano's NC State Wolfpack. You can't guarantee championships. One injury - one awful night etc.

But what you can guarantee sometimes is that your season would be extremely dominant provided you have superstar players. And when you have multiple superstars-- you can guarantee that leading up to the Final Four that team is going to give you a quality of play you have never seen from your prior teams throughout the season before. OFC provided there are multiple superstars - and your other VHR's prove to be good players to assist them. That's all I'm saying.

You don't need a great bench to witness this extended great play either. For example you don't need a great backup for Boston. She is only going to get in trouble maximum 3 times her senior year provided the other positions are good.
 
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I keep coming back to this thread because of the title, forgetting that it's really the South Carolina vs. the World thread. ;)

As a UCONN fan - there are very few other teams I care about other than immediate rivals. The only other 2 teams I care to talk about are Stanford and Baylor. And there doesn't seem to be very many of those fans on here from what I see on this thread. At least the SC fans post. Otherwise it would be a dead thread.
 
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As a UCONN fan - there are very few other teams I care about other than immediate rivals. The only other 2 teams I care to talk about are Stanford and Baylor. And there doesn't seem to be very many of those fans on here from what I see on this thread. At least the SC fans post. Otherwise it would be a dead thread.

Love posting here and talking basketball. Not sure why we don’t have a board dedicated to women’s basketball since that’s our best school sport at the moment. Makes good talk when different fans of teams come together to empower these young women. Not sure if they read these boards but I’m sure they feel the love if they do..
 
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Stanford does have some nice recruiting classes. Need to put them together, but they have the coach to do it. Baylor seems to have taken a small step back.
It’s okay! Baylor is hoping for a strong 2022 and 2023 signing class! Baylor is looking to sign 4 players each from those classes!
 
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Love posting here and talking basketball. Not sure why we don’t have a board dedicated to women’s basketball since that’s our best school sport at the moment. Makes good talk when different fans of teams come together to empower these young women. Not sure if they read these boards but I’m sure they feel the love if they do..

FGF/Cockytalk has threads during the season and occasionally has some off season talk in a thread or two. I doubt we'll ever see a specialized forum there because it doesn't meet the rivals formula. There has been a recruiting thread in the past week or to that I have posted in. Of course, it gets buried in "fire Muschamp" threads. I have thought about asking the mods to pin that thread or at least a thread named "Off Season: Talk about Dawn's Team." I don't know what goes on in the pay boards.
 
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You don't need a great bench to witness this extended great play either. For example you don't need a great backup for Boston. She is only going to get in trouble maximum 3 times her senior year provided the other positions are good.

Addressing your last paragraph: (1) three games can be critical to a season; (2) a quality backup can provide rest periods before the critical last 5 minutes against a quality opponent (3) there is the "practice factor." It help development of skills and tenacity if you are practicing every day against someone whose talent is on/near yours.

I think this practice factor has always helped UConn in its periods of dominance. The starters practiced against players who would/could start for other contender teams. Probably 95%+ of the time, the starters were facing a practice player who was better than the game opponent they were goin to face that week
 
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Addressing your last paragraph: (1) three games can be critical to a season; (2) a quality backup can provide rest periods before the critical last 5 minutes against a quality opponent (3) there is the "practice factor." It help development of skills and tenacity if you are practicing every day against someone whose talent is on/near yours.

I think this practice factor has always helped UConn in its periods of dominance. The starters practiced against players who would/could start for other contender teams. Probably 95%+ of the time, the starters were facing a practice player who was better than the game opponent they were goin to face that week

1-- Yes 3 or 4 or 5 etc games can be critical to a season. It depends how great you are. The greater you are the less amount of games that are critical because you are "that good" it doesn't matter other than a few games. You're going to annihilate the others anyway. Because the other team has to defend you as well, they are more likely to get into foul trouble/and or wear down and as a result get stuck playing THEIR backups more.

And I was speaking of the entire season in which I think you watch every game. Leading up to those 3 games - what you are going to witness is something beyond special in terms of quality of play. And if you are blowing everyone out and playing a competitive schedule outside of those 3 games- it's highly unlikely that all 3 games will cost you because you don't have a deep bench. Maybe one or 2 might but not "all." UCONN is different - with them being in the AAC. Once USF's big star left- USF was mediocre one year and stunk after that. All the other teams in the AAC stunk. That's not the case in your conference.

2-- What is a "quality backup?" Is it the same as "deep bench?" It's a subjective term. Quality backups are also more likely to get whipped if they are competing against the superstar on the opposing team. I look at 15-16 (arguably UCONN's greatest team ever) when UCONN played SC. Stewart played 40 minutes, Tuck 33, MoJeff played 40, Kia Nurse played 39, Katie Lou and Gabby Williams played 22 and Collier played 4. That's basically 6 players. UCONN won the title in 14-15 too. And the 14-15 was also obscenely great. So how much did Katie Lou and Collier and Gabby help Stewart, Tuck and MoJeff?

In 13-14 (an undefeated team) - in which Baylor gave UConn their toughest game during the reg season - Mosqueda-Lewis played 34 minutes, Stewart 39, Dolson 32, MoJeff 38, Bria Hartley 37, Kiah Stokes 15, and Saniya Chong 3 and Brianna Banks 2. Basically a 6 player lineup.

In 09-10- another undefeated team arguably UCONN best ever or among top 5- UCONN's toughest game in finals vs Stanford - Maya Moore 37 minutes, Tina Charles 38, Caroline Doty 36, Kalana Greene 32, Tiffany Hayes 30, Kelly Faris 25. Kali McLaren 2. Basically a 6 player lineup. In 08-09 UCONN also won and went undefeated.

3-- The "practice factor" is subjective. OFC it helps but how much? And does the superstar elevate the bench/practice player? Or vice-versa? OFC both do to a degree but who elevates who more and by how much more? And if you have a great coach how much does it matter vs a mediocre coach for example? You must think Dawn is a super coach, right? How terrific must a bench player be? She can't coach the bench player up to give 5 decent minutes? So how do you determine that the practice player is of "enough quality?" UCONN having a walk-on as a top player coming off the bench is a problem they recently had. You have walk-ons playing critical minutes in big games too?

4-- When you have multiple superstars - they can go big minutes. I do understand freshmen bigs if you are super-reliant on that freshman center (overall freshmen in general) to be a superstar. As a frosh she would likely wear down. But the point is-- the non-frosh-superstar playing 35+ minutes will more-than-likely be superior to the bench player. The superstars just need adequate support. There is a reason why superstars are superstars. They outplay many many many others even if they are playing big minutes.
 
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Addressing your last paragraph: (1) three games can be critical to a season; (2) a quality backup can provide rest periods before the critical last 5 minutes against a quality opponent (3) there is the "practice factor." It help development of skills and tenacity if you are practicing every day against someone whose talent is on/near yours.

I think this practice factor has always helped UConn in its periods of dominance. The starters practiced against players who would/could start for other contender teams. Probably 95%+ of the time, the starters were facing a practice player who was better than the game opponent they were goin to face that week

Boston has a quality backup though.

Amihere, Sutton this season and soon to be Feagin and hopefully Watkins.

I agree that short benches are fine with great players.
 
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Boston has a quality backup though.

Amihere, Sutton this season and soon to be Feagin and hopefully Watkins.

I agree that short benches are fine with great players.

One of Amihere and Saxton likely starts though. I hope it’s Amihere but Dawn was just singing Victaria’s praises and how she gained 17 lbs and has consistently hit the open midrange for us through practice. It’s a good problem to have because I’ve heard Aliyah will show more of a perimeter game this year as well. I think our 4/5 players are interchangeable and are due for a very good year this year.
 
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One of Amihere and Saxton likely starts though. I hope it’s Amihere but Dawn was just singing Victaria’s praises and how she gained 17 lbs and has consistently hit the open midrange for us through practice. It’s a good problem to have because I’ve heard Aliyah will show more of a perimeter game this year as well. I think our 4/5 players are interchangeable and are due for a very good year this year.

Yeah but you can play those three at two spots and you've also got plenty of smaller options at 4.

Might be an issue vs bigger team but probably not.
 
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Yeah but you can play those three at two spots and you've also got plenty of smaller options at 4.

Might be an issue vs bigger team but probably not.

Agreed and don’t overlook Wesolek either. She hasn’t shown much her first two years but Dawn said she had to get stronger on defense to be a rotation player and recently she said she has. Dawn said E brings a lot of intangibles offensively that they need and she’s also a very good shooter and will help space the floor and I think E and Olivia will provide that along with Littleton.
 
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Yeah but you can play those three at two spots and you've also got plenty of smaller options at 4.

Might be an issue vs bigger team but probably not.
Definitely see Beal in the rotation at 4 at times, much like Allisha Gray. IDK about Wesolek. She's way too undersized, and doesn't have the athleticism to overcome that, to play down low. She needs to greatly improve her outside shot to play more of a stretch 4 or wing to convince me she can be a solid contributor of this program.
 
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Definitely see Beal in the rotation at 4 at times, much like Allisha Gray. IDK about Wesolek. She's way too undersized, and doesn't have the athleticism to overcome that, to play down low. She needs to greatly improve her outside shot to play more of a stretch 4 or wing to convince me she can be a solid contributor of this program.

Beal.

Grisette may be a guard in theory but she's strong enough to give forward minutes.

It's hard to see what team would get us in terrible foul trouble and wear us out because of it. Maybe Miss State.

I think it remains to be seen how good this S.C. team will be but I wouldn't think frontcourt depth will be terribly limiting so long as Amihere is better.
 
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Dan Olson‘s Collegiate Girls Basketball Report drops their recruiting class rankings, the first list after Fudd’s commitment posted at 11:28 on Twitter.

 

Plebe

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Dan Olson‘s Collegiate Girls Basketball Report drops their recruiting class rankings, the first list after Fudd’s commitment posted at 11:28 on Twitter.


How the heck is Tennessee ranked ahead of Texas when TX got the #6, #10 and #24 recruits compared to TN's #43, #45 and #62? That's some funky formula Olson is using.

<insert head-scratching emoji>
 
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How the heck is Tennessee ranked ahead of Texas when TX got the #6, #10 and #24 recruits compared to TN's #43, #45 and #62? That's some funky formula Olson is using.

<insert head-scratching emoji>
Olson is using his own rankings.
 
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Baylor [mentioned above] was never going to sign a large 2021 recruiting class. The Baylor “way” is to look at windows of 3-5 years of talent rather than focus on individual recruiting classes. A Top 10 player in one recruiting class might not be a Top 25 player in another class. Like many commentators, Baylor was not in love with the 2019 and 2021 recruiting classes [some talent but no sizable depth of talent]. Like many folks, the initial thought about 2020 was that it was a reasonably deep class but like other folks, Baylor’s thought about 2020 changed. Baylor targeted 2-3 top players in each of 2019 & 2021 and 4 top players in 2020 [signing 1 in 2019, 2 in 2020, and 1 in 2021]. Baylor never goes over 13 scholarship players [hit 13 only once] and almost always sticks to 11 or 12. Current thought is to save a slot each season for a high level transfer.
Baylor has offered 7 players in 2022 and 4 players in 2023 [so far] and is expecting to take at least 4 players per class. Safe to say, Baylor LOVES the talent in those two recruiting classes. Expecting Baylor’s near future recruiting to look like this: 2022–SG, SF, S4, 5 and 2023–PG, SG, SF, S4. The 2023 is “very close“ to being finalized. The 2022 class has the offers out and Baylor currently feels “really good“ about 3 of the 4 positions being targeted.
 
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It would seem to me that a more accurate way to rank recruiting would be a rolling 3-year ranking. As an example a school like University of Oregon recruited heavily in the 2020-21 class, and, very lightly in the 2021-22 class. And I believe Oregon will be a power team for a good long time.
 
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Baylor [mentioned above] was never going to sign a large 2021 recruiting class. The Baylor “way” is to look at windows of 3-5 years of talent rather than focus on individual recruiting classes. A Top 10 player in one recruiting class might not be a Top 25 player in another class. Like many commentators, Baylor was not in love with the 2019 and 2021 recruiting classes [some talent but no sizable depth of talent]. Like many folks, the initial thought about 2020 was that it was a reasonably deep class but like other folks, Baylor’s thought about 2020 changed. Baylor targeted 2-3 top players in each of 2019 & 2021 and 4 top players in 2020 [signing 1 in 2019, 2 in 2020, and 1 in 2021]. Baylor never goes over 13 scholarship players [hit 13 only once] and almost always sticks to 11 or 12. Current thought is to save a slot each season for a high level transfer.
Baylor has offered 7 players in 2022 and 4 players in 2023 [so far] and is expecting to take at least 4 players per class. Safe to say, Baylor LOVES the talent in those two recruiting classes. Expecting Baylor’s near future recruiting to look like this: 2022–SG, SF, S4, 5 and 2023–PG, SG, SF, S4. The 2023 is “very close“ to being finalized. The 2022 class has the offers out and Baylor currently feels “really good“ about 3 of the 4 positions being targeted.
Agreed. I know Baylor wants Lauren Betts in the 22 class. If they get her. I expect them to go after 3 more. Good observation
 
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Agreed and don’t overlook Wesolek either. She hasn’t shown much her first two years ...

I'm a SC fan, but this is ... some seriously wishful thinking. The better SC recruits, the less likely it is that Wesolek sees anything but mop up minutes. And I say that as a Charlestonian who would like to see her do big things.
 
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How the heck is Tennessee ranked ahead of Texas when TX got the #6, #10 and #24 recruits compared to TN's #43, #45 and #62? That's some funky formula Olson is using.

<insert head-scratching emoji>
I believe Olson either doing it or quantity scale or a top 100 scale. He previously had Tennessee's four recruits ranked than UNC three recruits until Kayla McPherson committed to UNC despite at the time 2 out of the 3 UNC recruits were ranked higher than all of Tennessee's recruits.
 

HuskylnSC

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I just looked at Blue Star and the UConn class is #1, #4, #7, #10.
 

HuskylnSC

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Dawn has been doing a great job recruiting. Other schools have done a great job recruiting and contended with UConn for a period. To me the major difference between UConn and the last two challenger schools is the proven ability to coach players up. If you look at the SC national championship, it was fueled by one outstanding recruit and two transfers. When Dawn is consistently putting several players a year into the W and the W coaches state that 'you know what you get with UConn players. They are pretty much plug and play.' Then SC can be assumed to be equal to UConn. Right now I think UConn fans had greater respect of the Lady Vols of the early 2000's and the ND teams of 2008-10ish than for SC today. Congratulations on 2 great years out of 4. Right now you can act like the cock of the walk, but in reality you still have a ways to go before you can claim to be the big dog.
 

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