ESPN Too Early Rankings

[CocoHusky]

The only question with South Carolina is...how good they can really be. If you want to bury your head at the fact that they are loaded...well then...bury your head. I will stand by the "they lost nothing that they can't replace with better players" ! Period....That's a 5 star loaded team....with proven talent across the board. There are teams close to having as much talent.....but not quite there.

Not all question marks are related to talent. The specific question mark for South Carolina is related to youth and big game experience especially on the road. At least 4 of SC starting 5 next season will likely be playing in their first NCAA tournament. That was definitely not the case last year when the starting PG for South Carolina already had a NCAA Championship ring.

 

[jumpstart]

Not all question marks are related to talent. The specific question mark for South Carolina is related to youth and big game experience especially on the road. At least 4 of SC starting 5 next season will likely be playing in their first NCAA tournament. That was definitely not the case last year when the starting PG for South Carolina already had a NCAA Championship ring.

There are no real question marks. Youth...that is not a real issue this year...experience on the big stage is no issue this year. It doesn't mean they won't lose in the NCAA tournament but youth and experience won't be the reason. They will have two full seasons by the time the tournament rolls around. These girls blew away everyone in the SEC tournament so that freshmen youth didn't seem to matter. This will be a talented, experienced lineup all up and down the bench. To suggest otherwise is wrong. I think Stewie was just fine when she was a freshman....lol....This South Carolina team could be as good as the Stewie teams IMO....and that's saying a lot !

 

[CocoHusky]

There are no real question marks. Youth...that is not a real issue this year...experience on the big stage is no issue this year. It doesn't mean they won't lose in the NCAA tournament but youth and experience won't be the reason. They will have two full seasons by the time the tournament rolls around. These girls blew away everyone in the SEC tournament so that freshmen youth didn't seem to matter. This will be a talented, experienced lineup all up and down the bench. To suggest otherwise is wrong. I think Stewie was just fine when she was a freshman....lol....This South Carolina team could be as good as the Stewie teams IMO....and that's saying a lot !

That's a M--A--J---O-R stretch. Let's not get carried away here! Stewie's teams produced AA at EVERY position ( Dolson, KML, Hartley, Tuck, Jefferson, KLS, Collier, & Williams.) Those teams also included 3 players that were National Defensive Player(s) (Jefferson, Williams, & Nurse) of the year as wells as two players (Faris & Stokes) that could have easily have been NDPOY as well. If you don't by the question mark for SC as youth then I'd point you towards the shooting percentage among these players (Beal 41%, Cooke 38.8%, Henderson 42%,).

 

[Plebe]

I'm curious what other posters think about Iowa's prospects. Doyle was a huge loss, also the older Meyer. But they lost 3 starters the previous season, including all time program leading scorer Gustafson, and hardly missed a beat. Seems like they've established a winning culture there. Czanino had a nice season last year. Some of the projections for Top 25 teams seem to be counting on touted Fr. delivering. Have people forgotten Caitlin Clark is a Hawkeye? I could easily see her being one of the biggest impact Fr. in the country this season.

I wouldn't say they didn't miss a beat last year. They lost to Washington and Northern Iowa, and although they improved a lot in conference season and scored some good wins, they finished with a lopsided loss to Ohio State in the conference tournament. That's still a sizable step down from being the Big Ten champions and an Elite Eight team. They certainly exceeded expectations largely due to the surprising emergence of Czinano, who went from benchwarmer to all-conference performer, and Doyle had a stellar season.

With the huge void left by Doyle and Meyer's departure from the backcourt, a lot is resting on the shoulders of Clark to produce right away. We'll see.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

That's a M--A--J---O-R stretch. Let's not get carried away here! Stewie's teams produced AA at EVERY position ( Dolson, KML, Hartley, Tuck, Jefferson, KLS, Collier, & Williams.) Those teams also included 3 players that were National Defensive Player(s) (Jefferson, Williams, & Nurse) of the year as wells as two players (Faris & Stokes) that could have easily have been NDPOY as well. If you don't by the question mark for SC as youth then I'd point you towards the shooting percentage among these players (Beal 41%, Cooke 38.8%, Henderson 42%,).

1. Outside shooting.
2. Post depth
3. Backup pg.
4. Bench scoring.

These aren't going to stop South Carolina From winning a bunch of games, but they're title questions.

The goal is clearly to end a second straight season as the #1 team.

 

[bballnut90]

One thing to note, it's easy to get caught up in analyzing teams simply based on who they lose, who they return, and who they add....but what's often overlooked in preseason is how much specific players improve during an offseason or into a new year taking on a larger role. Especially jumping from freshmen to sophomores.

No, SC doesn't bring in any top recruits, but they have a very good freshman class with 4 players who very likely take on much larger roles this upcoming season and will be much improved.

If you look at previously loaded #1 classes, it's quite common to see a big surge in quality of play and production as players become sophomores:
2018 Baylor-endured 2 transfers, but Queen Egbo/Nalyssa Smith had big sophomore years
2017 Tennessee-Rennia Davis/Evina Westbrook had much improved sophomore years
2016 Maryland-Slocum transferred, but Charles/Watson/Jones improved big time from freshmen to sophs
2014 UCLA-Canada/Billings had huge production increases
2012 UCONN-Stewart/Jefferson were far better as sophs than freshmen

I think SC joins this grouping too, which is saying something since their crop of freshmen were outstanding. Obviously they'll miss the contributions from MHH and Harris, but a lot of the offensive opportunities they took are now going to go to Aliyah Boston. As good as Boston was as a frosh, she never had a game where she took more than 14 shots, and she only played 30+ minutes in 8 games last year. Now that she's a sophomore she probably plays longer minutes, demands the ball more, adds a couple more post moves and becomes a POY candidate.

 

[jumpstart]

That's a M--A--J---O-R stretch. Let's not get carried away here! Stewie's teams produced AA at EVERY position ( Dolson, KML, Hartley, Tuck, Jefferson, KLS, Collier, & Williams.) Those teams also included 3 players that were National Defensive Player(s) (Jefferson, Williams, & Nurse) of the year as wells as two players (Faris & Stokes) that could have easily have been NDPOY as well. If you don't by the question mark for SC as youth then I'd point you towards the shooting percentage among these players (Beal 41%, Cooke 38.8%, Henderson 42%,).

You obviously missed the word "could"....

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I saw some footage of L.Amihere on Twitter. She looks like she's in her best shape. Looks like she's fully recovered. I think if she makes that jump. SC will be even more dangerous. She's not your typical big. She has a shot. And can move. Plays defense. Has a higher upside than Kiki imo.

I agree; Laeticia will improve a great deal this season.

 

[jumpstart]

I agree; Laeticia will improve a great deal this season.

Yes...if Amihere plays to the level she is capable.....wow.....

 

[SCspur]

A lot of people forgot Amihere led Canada to its first podium finish in the U19 worlds as a 15 year old (!!!!). Nearly 4 years younger than her competition and peers Amihere also was named to the 5 player All Tournament team against players like Chennedy Carter, Ty Harris, Crystal Dangerfield, Bella Alarie all of whom are in the WNBA as well as international players Xu Han (China), Raisa Musina and Maria Vadeeva (Russia). I think she’s going to have a break out year and put a lot of people on notice...

 

[JDuro]

This is really Amihere's first real full participation in the off season program and training camp. Last year she was rehabbing and mostly limited to working with trainers on the sidelines while her teammates were on the court. Throw in that she missed out on almost all of her last 2 seasons of high school ball, there's little wonder why she looked lost her freshman season. Still, she did show some progression as the season went along and her 7 for 13 from three is very intriguing.

Love seeing her this summer in workouts and practices without that huge knee brace and no evidence of a sleeve on either knee. I expect that she will show vast improvement next season and I can't wait to watch her junior and senior seasons when I think she'll reach her full potential that had her ranked among the top 10 in high school.

 

[Alydar]

There are no real question marks. Youth...that is not a real issue this year...experience on the big stage is no issue this year. It doesn't mean they won't lose in the NCAA tournament but youth and experience won't be the reason. They will have two full seasons by the time the tournament rolls around. These girls blew away everyone in the SEC tournament so that freshmen youth didn't seem to matter. This will be a talented, experienced lineup all up and down the bench. To suggest otherwise is wrong. I think Stewie was just fine when she was a freshman....lol....This South Carolina team could be as good as the Stewie teams IMO....and that's saying a lot !

Were any of those SEC teams considered NC candidates? There's a huge gap between the semi-finalists in the SEC and the semifinalists in the NCAA's.

I agree that S Car was a major title contender but the fact remains that most of team has not played in even one NCAA tournament game, never mind a final four where the media attention and the immensity of the moment swamps freshmen in particular and inexperienced players in general. While there have been exceptions like Stewart, most freshmen, even Taurasi, and many others who later became AA's had mediocre or poor first NCAA's.

That's why I liked Oregon. Three AA seniors.

 

[jumpstart]

Were any of those SEC teams considered NC candidates? There's a huge gap between the semi-finalists in the SEC and the semifinalists in the NCAA's.

I agree that S Car was a major title contender but the fact remains that most of team has not played in even one NCAA tournament game, never mind a final four where the media attention and the immensity of the moment swamps freshmen in particular and inexperienced players in general. While there have been exceptions like Stewart, most freshmen, even Taurasi, and many others who later became AA's had mediocre or poor first NCAA's.

That's why I liked Oregon. Three AA seniors.

There were several that would have been in the tournament...so yes...it was an NCAA tournament type field. You seem to think that freshmen will not play well in the Tournament and that is just not true. Some won't play well and others will. You seem to think that all freshmen are the same and even Geno said these girls did not play like freshmen....get over it...geez...

 

[Alydar]

There were several that would have been in the tournament...so yes...it was an NCAA tournament type field. You seem to think that freshmen will not play well in the Tournament and that is just not true. Some won't play well and others will. You seem to think that all freshmen are the same and even Geno said these girls did not play like freshmen....get over it...geez...

You misread. The "semi-finalists of the NCAA's" I referred to are the final four teams, not teams that made it past the 1st round. And you miss-quote me. I didn't say that freshmen WILL not play well, I said that it's far more likely they have bad games than good games IN THE FINAL FOUR. (emphasis is so you see my exact wording). The SEC always gets a large number of teams in the NCAA's but very few get to the round of 16, and even fewer get to the FF. It's a tough conference but no where near the level you attribute to it.

 

[Plebe]

Perhaps @nwhoopfan could help me out, but maybe Gonzaga is a little underrated?

They have the Wirth twins, Jill Townsend, Melody Kempton, and the Truong twins back from a team that finished 13th last season. They add Cierra Walker and Abby O’Connor, both are eligible transfers who could be X-factors. Then they also have Kylee Griffen (a lot of Pac-12 schools wanted her in 2018) and a nice freshman class.

Wouldn’t be shocked to see them end the season top-15 again.

Just curious: Did you see somewhere that O'Connor has been ruled immediately eligible? Gonzaga's own announcement from April states that she'll have to sit out a year and will play in 2021-22.

 

[DaBball]

Just curious: Did you see somewhere that O'Connor has been ruled immediately eligible? Gonzaga's own announcement from April states that she'll have to sit out a year and will play in 2021-22.

Graham Hays' write-up on Gonzaga states "Loyola graduate transfer Abby O'Connor could quietly be one of the best additions in the country, providing much-needed 3-point range to replace Katie Campbell." but given that ESPN's transfer rankings listed O'Connor as a sit-out transfer and Gonzaga's official announcement states that she will sit out the 2020-21 season, it was like an error in Hays' end.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Every team has questions every year. Sometimes they are huge, other times they are quite minor.

Here’s one for us: Is that Bueckers kid any good? Just joking. She’s fabulous.

 

[visitingcock]

Were any of those SEC teams considered NC candidates? There's a huge gap between the semi-finalists in the SEC and the semifinalists in the NCAA's.

I agree that S Car was a major title contender but the fact remains that most of team has not played in even one NCAA tournament game, never mind a final four where the media attention and the immensity of the moment swamps freshmen in particular and inexperienced players in general. While there have been exceptions like Stewart, most freshmen, even Taurasi, and many others who later became AA's had mediocre or poor first NCAA's.

That's why I liked Oregon. Three AA seniors.

To answer your first question: No. But Maryland, Baylor and UCONN whom SCar beat were considered NC Candidates. The first was a road when when the frosh were true babies in the season's second game. The second was in a travel- tournament setting early in the season. (Of course, that same setting resulted in a loss to Top 25 Indiana.) The third was in front of a massive and rabid home crowd so it doesn't really speak to a tournament-type experience. However, that home factor would have been in play during the regionals in Greenville, SC - where they had just won the SEC tournament

Scar also had two excellent seniors who, unlike Oregon, had actual championship game experience.

Do I discount your arguments? No. They are strong. I'm just discussing - not "jousting."

As to this year, I do worry about the loss of those two senior leaders.

 

[eebmg]

NCAA.com Top 10 power rankings. UConn #2 (and it is all because of Paige)

Women's college basketball rankings: South Carolina leads preseason Power 10 for 2020-21

Here are the preseason Top 10 women's college basketball teams for 2020-21, ranked by NCAA.com's Autumn Johnson.

www.ncaa.com

Two words. Paige. Bueckers. The incoming freshman’s game is on another level in all areas as a facilitator and shooter.

 

[Alydar]

NCAA.com Top 10 power rankings. UConn #2 (and it is all because of Paige)

Women's college basketball rankings: South Carolina leads preseason Power 10 for 2020-21

Here are the preseason Top 10 women's college basketball teams for 2020-21, ranked by NCAA.com's Autumn Johnson.

www.ncaa.com

Two words. Paige. Bueckers. The incoming freshman’s game is on another level in all areas as a facilitator and shooter.

The usual suspects. (except for N Dame)
With so few OOC games this year the arguments over rankings this season should be lively