ESPN preseason ranking

[CL82]

Moved us up one...

 

[maxw]

Can’t wait!

Undefeated season, here we come!

 

[GirlBoo1020]

2 seems high for us early in the season. Too many huge question marks, i think 8-12 feels like a more realistic range right now.

 

[Stagnant]

I would flip UConn and USC. I think USC has more players proven at the college level.

North Carolina is too high.

NC State may be better than we think they are again.

Creighton is too high. No Ronsiek and she wasn’t replaced with equal or better quality.

The rest is probably fine with me.

 

[Vowelguy]

This is NOT the ESPN preseason ranking. It is an update of Creme's Way-Too-Early ranking.

If ESPN does a ranking, it would likely be a joint exercise of Voepel, Lobo, etc

 

[Geew1992]

2 seems high for us early in the season. Too many huge question marks, i think 8-12 feels like a more realistic range right now.

8-12??? They made it to the final 4 last year, brought back a boat load and the #1 recruit... Are you serious?

 

[Alydar]

I think I may be nit-picking but as usual UConn's recruits' prospects are conditional while other teams' recruits are expected to contribute, without a doubt.

SCar:
Joyce Edwards, the 6-foot-3 No. 3 recruit in the country, leads another stellar freshmen class.

USC:

Gottlieb also secured the No. 1 recruiting class with three top-30 players, headlined by 6-1 wing Kennedy Smith.

UConn:

and Sarah Strong, if she can live up to the billing as the nation's top recruit.

Notice how only Strong needs to prove her worth. Smith is a given to contribute. Also notice how three top 30 recruits is great while UConn only has one I guess, even if their other two recruits are ranked higher than all of the USC recruits, including Kennedy Smith.

At least Charlie is consistent from year to year.

 

[GirlBoo1020]

8-12??? They made it to the final 4 last year, brought back a boat load and the #1 recruit... Are you serious?

They lost two starters though. And its unclear when any of the injured players will return. Right now the confirmed healthy roster is: Paige, Ashlyn, KK, Q, Ice, Katelyn, Jana, Sarah, Allie. Given how tough it is for posts to adjust to college ball its unclear how much of a n impact Jana/Sarah will be this season and how long it will take them to adjust to be productive. 8-12 seems generous for that roster.

 

[triaddukefan]

I would flip UConn and USC. I think USC has more players proven at the college level.

North Carolina is too high.

NC State may be better than we think they are again.

Creighton is too high. No Ronsiek and she wasn’t replaced with equal or better quality.

The rest is probably fine with me.

You are a new poster around here, but based on this quality post, you are a top contender for Rookie Poster of the Year.

 

[DefenseBB]

You are a new poster around here, but based on this quality post, you are a top contender for Rookie Poster of the Year.

Wait, is a "Duke fan" eligible to make a nomination or vote on this? You don't seem me commenting about the Duke fans on your board, oh come to think of it, do you even have a forum?

 

[yhun89]

I would flip UConn and USC. I think USC has more players proven at the college level.

North Carolina is too high.

NC State may be better than we think they are again.

Creighton is too high. No Ronsiek and she wasn’t replaced with equal or better quality.

The rest is probably fine with me.

We outcoached USC with 6 players. And now we have the #2 recruiting class and a coaching legend still with us and tons of healthy ones back.

I think we should still remain above them because we beat them with half a healthy roster.

 

[yhun89]

I think I may be nit-picking but as usual UConn's recruits' prospects are conditional while other teams' recruits are expected to contribute, without a doubt.

SCar:
Joyce Edwards, the 6-foot-3 No. 3 recruit in the country, leads another stellar freshmen class.

USC:


UConn:


Notice how only Strong needs to prove her worth. Smith is a given to contribute. Also notice how three top 30 recruits is great while UConn only has one I guess, even if their other two recruits are ranked higher than all of the USC recruits, including Kennedy Smith.

At least Charlie is consistent from year to year.

there was a silly article yesterday saying “USC beats out UCONN for Recruit Jazzy Davidson”

if anything, USC beat UCLA out. We hopped on her final list at last second.

The media is just like that sometimes. If we happen to offer a recruit who doesn’t pick us, we’re the only ones who lost out apparently. Not her other finalists. Same goes for our recruits sometimes.

I’d say this article isn’t really nitpicking at us as much as you think, but there are definitely some articles out there that do.

 

[oldude]

Don’t overthink this. Give Geno a talented, HEALTHY roster, lead by the best player in the country, and he will have the team in position to win a national championship in March….

 

[Plebe]

I think I may be nit-picking but as usual UConn's recruits' prospects are conditional while other teams' recruits are expected to contribute, without a doubt.

SCar:
Joyce Edwards, the 6-foot-3 No. 3 recruit in the country, leads another stellar freshmen class.

USC:


UConn:


Notice how only Strong needs to prove her worth. Smith is a given to contribute. Also notice how three top 30 recruits is great while UConn only has one I guess, even if their other two recruits are ranked higher than all of the USC recruits, including Kennedy Smith.

At least Charlie is consistent from year to year.

I see we're getting an early start on our cherished pastime of persecution complex nursing.

Not sure how "Smith is a given to contribute" is an accurate paraphrasing. She's merely identified factually as the headliner of the recruiting class.

For someone with such an obvious hateful vendetta against UConn, Charlie has a funny way of showing it by ranking UConn #2.

 

[Dugway]

They lost two starters though. And its unclear when any of the injured players will return. Right now the confirmed healthy roster is: Paige, Ashlyn, KK, Q, Ice, Katelyn, Jana, Sarah, Allie. Given how tough it is for posts to adjust to college ball its unclear how much of a n impact Jana/Sarah will be this season and how long it will take them to adjust to be productive. 8-12 seems generous for that roster.

Ya, but even if the first month is only Paige, Ashlyn, KK, Q, Ice, Katelyn, Jana, Sarah, & Allie as you have noted; name seven other programs who would have five better players than those listed?

Each and every team only gets to play five at a time; having fourteen players who are all Top Level is awesome, but we can only play five at a time. You listed nine for us on Day 1; given which nine players those are, they make for a pretty solid team! Morgan had a hamstring pull; is it really going to take six months for her to heal up a hamstring, or is she going to be good to go Day 1? And Ayanna is back full practices; seems that she should be good to go Day 1. Are we not really at, at least, eleven players on Day 1? And what about Caroline; she very well could be Day 1 ready.

I am of the opinion that the only player we can 100% conclude is not available on Day 1, is Aubrey. Given the strength of schedule early, and demand for her play against relatively soft teams, management may hold off on Azzi until Thanksgiving. But, if this was six years ago, she would have been considered 'ready to go' last month!

 

[DefenseBB]

To be a wing man for my esteemed colleague @CL82 who omitted the link, here it is.

Women's Way-Too-Early Top 25: South Carolina stays No. 1, Maryland makes it in

With just over a month left until the season begins, where the best teams fall in behind the Gamecocks -- including the Terrapins.

www.espn.com

It's an interesting list that certainly has questions. Talent alone is dictating the rankings but to me, Gottlieb and Close are still highly suspect on the x's and o's side of the coaching components as is Kara Lawson (despite a stint as a USA Olympic coach).

Not quite sure the new poster @GirlBoo1020 has a grasp of the sentiment here but yes, Azzi, Jana and Ayanna have all been cleared to practice, only Aubrey is still on the sidelines for now. I am confident that the starting group on Nov 3 will not be the same group on March 8 when the Big East Tournament second round begins at Mohegan. Yes @Alydar, UConn gets more scrutiny on EVERYTHING as they are UCONN so Charlies curious comments will continue. I do both caution and point out that last year UConn was #2 in the preseason poll (again note this is not the true preseason poll but Charlie's early bracket look) and we did make it to the final four after a very tumultuous season.

I have faith in Geno and CD but do reserve the right to occasionally critique them....

 

[yhun89]

To be a wing man for my esteemed colleague @CL82 who omitted the link, here it is.

Women's Way-Too-Early Top 25: South Carolina stays No. 1, Maryland makes it in

With just over a month left until the season begins, where the best teams fall in behind the Gamecocks -- including the Terrapins.

www.espn.com

It's an interesting list that certainly has questions. Talent alone is dictating the rankings but to me, Gottlieb and Close are still highly suspect on the x's and o's side of the coaching components as is Kara Lawson (despite a stint as a USA Olympic coach).

Coaching is just a big a factor as the roster, these rankings never reflect that. No matter how talented a roster is, the wrong coach will ruin it. Take Oregon 2 seasons ago. Had VanSlooten, Prince, PaoPao. Still sucked.

Lawson has a good roster. But her recent teams can’t balance O and D for the life of them. If they suck at one catergory, they excel in the other. There’s no in between. Take Duke vs UCONN last year. Elite defense, but couldn't make a shot to save their lives.

 

[Greg]

Moved us up one...
View attachment 103725

I jinxed them last year. I an not prognosticating this year.

 

[diggerfoot]

They lost two starters though. And its unclear when any of the injured players will return. Right now the confirmed healthy roster is: Paige, Ashlyn, KK, Q, Ice, Katelyn, Jana, Sarah, Allie. Given how tough it is for posts to adjust to college ball its unclear how much of a n impact Jana/Sarah will be this season and how long it will take them to adjust to be productive. 8-12 seems generous for that roster.

Ah, an opportunity for my first pizza bet of the season. Unfortunately, though my predictions have yet to fail, injuries keep derailing these bets.* Hopefully this year they will not.

With the caveat this time that UConn suffers no more than two injuries, and that Bueckers is not one of them, I will bet you a large pizza that UConn will never be ranked as low as 10 at any time this season. Actually, I’d be willing to go with 8, but since you think 8 - 12 is “generous for that roster” surely you are willing to accept the more pessimistic target.

Pizza is shared, loser pays, winner picks the toppings.

*I know that @oldude is still willing to concede our bet, maybe we get together this year?

 

[The deacon]

Wait, is a "Duke fan" eligible to make a nomination or vote on this? You don't seem me commenting about the Duke fans on your board, oh come to think of it, do you even have a forum?

With due respect, DefenseBB, a poster who signed on in 2011 and has more than 60,000 reactions and almost 20,000 posts seems to have the history to make such a statement, IMO. Whether it's Triad's only forum, I don't know.

Even though I'm a relatively new Boneyard poster at about three years, and I'm a Wake Forest guy, I have been a huge fan of UConn for many decades and this is my forum. I do also venture onto other forums, but this is my home.

I welcome comments and posts from anyone, no matter his or her school of origin/preference.

 

[GirlBoo1020]

Ya, but even if the first month is only Paige, Ashlyn, KK, Q, Ice, Katelyn, Jana, Sarah, & Allie as you have noted; name seven other programs who would have five better players than those listed?

Each and every team only gets to play five at a time; having fourteen players who are all Top Level is awesome, but we can only play five at a time. You listed nine for us on Day 1; given which nine players those are, they make for a pretty solid team! Morgan had a hamstring pull; is it really going to take six months for her to heal up a hamstring, or is she going to be good to go Day 1? And Ayanna is back full practices; seems that she should be good to go Day 1. Are we not really at, at least, eleven players on Day 1? And what about Caroline; she very well could be Day 1 ready.

I am of the opinion that the only player we can 100% conclude is not available on Day 1, is Aubrey. Given the strength of schedule early, and demand for her play against relatively soft teams, management may hold off on Azzi until Thanksgiving. But, if this was six years ago, she would have been considered 'ready to go' last month!

Yea i can think of more than 7. South Carolina, USC, UCLA, Texas, Notre Dame, NC State, LSU, Iowa State, Baylor, Oklahoma, Ohio State.

Right now we don't have 14 players. Right now we only have 8/9 confirmed as cleared to play. Morgan has been dealing an hamstring injury since last January and wasn't cleared to play in June so yes it might take more than 6 months for her to heal. Is Ayanna back to full practices? I haven't seen that reported anywhere. I don't have any reason to believe Ayanna, Carol, Azzi, Morgan or Aubrey will be ready day one so i am not assuming they are or will be.

 

[Alydar]

They lost two starters though. And its unclear when any of the injured players will return. Right now the confirmed healthy roster is: Paige, Ashlyn, KK, Q, Ice, Katelyn, Jana, Sarah, Allie. Given how tough it is for posts to adjust to college ball its unclear how much of a n impact Jana/Sarah will be this season and how long it will take them to adjust to be productive. 8-12 seems generous for that roster.

Aren't Miles and Harmon "unproven"? It's still unclear whether they will play too.

We are unsure of the status of Patterson, Fudd, Griffin & Cheli. I've seen videos of Patterson and Fudd in drills, running and jumping. Cheli had a hamstring issue in May. I have read nothing saying that Cheli is limited in any way. That gives UConn 10 players. Seven out of 8 eligible are McDAA's. A NPOY. Add in the Ivy League POY and the best coaches in the country. You remind me of the AP voters who had UConn at 14th 2 weeks before the end of the season. Last year was about as bad as it's ever been for UConn injuries and they made the final four. The front court cavalry has arrived along with what may be the best 1st year class since TASS. They lost one scorer and two defenders. That's one step back and four steps forward.

A "what can go wrong" scenario can be written for any team but it seems to me that only UConn gets that treatment from the MM.

 

[Alydar]

I see we're getting an early start on our cherished pastime of persecution complex nursing.

Not sure how "Smith is a given to contribute" is an accurate paraphrasing. She's merely identified factually as the headliner of the recruiting class.

For someone with such an obvious hateful vendetta against UConn, Charlie has a funny way of showing it by ranking UConn #2.

I admitted to nit-picking at the start of my post.

"Persecution complex"? "with such an obvious hateful vendetta against UConn"?

reductio ad absurdum my friend. Good job.

Last year ESPN's preseason writeup for UConn was about a half dozen questions. Looked at in isolation the questions were legit but all of the other 24 writeups may have been written by the SID of the schools. All daffodils and lollipops while a dark cloud hung over UConn's paragraph.

It's not hatred. Not even close. ESPN has done more for wcbb than any other sports media source. The ESPN+ games that they show gets me through the winter. I just dislike hucksterism.

 

[GirlBoo1020]

Aren't Miles and Harmon "unproven"? It's still unclear whether they will play too.

We are unsure of the status of Patterson, Fudd, Griffin & Cheli. I've seen videos of Patterson and Fudd in drills, running and jumping. Cheli had a hamstring issue in May. I have read nothing saying that Cheli is limited in any way. That gives UConn 10 players. Seven out of 8 eligible are McDAA's. A NPOY. Add in the Ivy League POY and the best coaches in the country. You remind me of the AP voters who had UConn at 14th 2 weeks before the end of the season. Last year was about as bad as it's ever been for UConn injuries and they made the final four. The front court cavalry has arrived along with what may be the best 1st year class since TASS. They lost one scorer and two defenders. That's one step back and four steps forward.

A "what can go wrong" scenario can be written for any team but it seems to me that only UConn gets that treatment from the MM.

Miles and Harmon are unproven but even with those questions for them, UConn still has more. Cheli has been dealing with a hamstring injury longer than just May. She has only ever been shown in rehab pictures never playing so I don’t think there is any reason to believe she’s good to go. Patterson and Fudd are doing drills but that doesn’t mean they are close to being cleared. Or will once the season starts.

 

[VAUConnFan]

I think I may be nit-picking but as usual UConn's recruits' prospects are conditional while other teams' recruits are expected to contribute, without a doubt.

SCar:
Joyce Edwards, the 6-foot-3 No. 3 recruit in the country, leads another stellar freshmen class.

USC:


UConn:


Notice how only Strong needs to prove her worth. Smith is a given to contribute. Also notice how three top 30 recruits is great while UConn only has one I guess, even if their other two recruits are ranked higher than all of the USC recruits, including Kennedy Smith.

At least Charlie is consistent from year to year.

UConn has had a plethora of #1 recruits, some of whom that did not meet the lofty expectation, but were still very good. Thus, the initial skepticism. It is unfair to expect so much from freshmen out of the gate, however, such is the present state of college basketball with last year's freshman class possibly raising unrealistic levels of expectation.

UConn is legitimately the second best team in the country - talent, coaching, tradition, and Paige Bueckers. They might stumble early as Strong develops, but come March, no program will want to be in UConn's region.