ESPN preseason ranking | The Boneyard

ESPN preseason ranking

CL82

CL82

James Breeding sucks
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Moved us up one...
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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.
 
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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.
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UConn:
and Sarah Strong, if she can live up to the billing as the nation's top recruit.
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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.
 
Geew1992 said:
8-12??? They made it to the final 4 last year, brought back a boat load and the #1 recruit... Are you serious?
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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.
 
Stagnant said:
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.
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You are a new poster around here, but based on this quality post, you are a top contender for Rookie Poster of the Year. :)
 
triaddukefan said:
You are a new poster around here, but based on this quality post, you are a top contender for Rookie Poster of the Year. :)
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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? :rolleyes:
 
Stagnant said:
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.
Expand ...
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.
 
Alydar said:
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.
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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.
 
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Alydar said:
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.
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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.
 
GirlBoo1020 said:
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.
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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!
 
To be a wing man for my esteemed colleague @CL82 who omitted the link, here it is.
www.espn.com

Women's NCAA basketball's Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2024-25

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 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....:cool:
 
DefenseBB said:
To be a wing man for my esteemed colleague @CL82 who omitted the link, here it is.
www.espn.com

Women's NCAA basketball's Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2024-25

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 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).
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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.
 
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DefenseBB said:
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? :rolleyes:
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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.
 
Dugway said:
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!
Expand ...
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.
 
GirlBoo1020 said:
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.
Expand ...
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.
 
Plebe said:
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.
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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.
 
Alydar said:
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.
Expand ...
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.
 
Alydar said:
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.
Expand ...
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.
 
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DefenseBB said:
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).
Expand ...
Coach Lawson also had a stint with the Boston Celtics.
 
Good discussion. I appreciate the sentiment, Geno with undoubtedly a top 5 player in the country and loads of talent usually means really special things for UConn. But the other day Sue Bird was talking to Juju Watkins about how they kinda have a super team at USC. I just think the landscape of wcbb with the transfer portal is so different. Kiki going to USC is just a move you wouldn't see though it's complicated with Tara retiring. I just think the way teams load up on experienced talent is just a bit different and makes it much harder to win a championship.

I think Geno put together a really good schedule that is a bit lighter to start the season. So I think if the team can win early they will build confidence. It will make the tough December more manageable.

I think they should be top 5 all year.
 
I think after South Carolina, the next 6 are pretty close and I wouldn't argue with whatever order they were in. Those top 7, however, are a separate tier, and I think there is a significant falloff after that. I would be surprised if the ultimate champion wasn't one of those 7.
 
GirlBoo1020 said:
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.
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Nor can we prove they are not ready.
 
Greg said:
I jinxed them last year. I an not prognosticating this year.
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I just finished making the Prognosticator's Predictions tally sheets for all of the games except game number 6 and you aren't prognosticating this year because you think you jinxed them last year?:( You didn't jinx them the NCAA wanted CC playing in the Finals so the refs had to find a way to get it done.;)
 
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