ESPN's Way Too Early Rankings -- UConn moves up!

[UConnCat]

Never? Do you recall UConn going undefeated playing in the former Big East, with the likes of ND and Rutgers, not to mention their out of conference schedule including Tennessee (when they were good)?

Back when UConn played in the Big East they won 90 consecutive games. The 90-game winning streak spanned 3 seasons -- 2008-2009, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 -- and UConn did not lose a conference game. For those 3 seasons combined, the Big East sent more teams to the NCAA tournament than any conference in the country. More than the SEC, more than the Big 12, more than the ACC and more than the PAC12. From the 2007-2008 season through the 2010-2011 season, UConn lost one regular season conference game (Rutgers in 2008). Again, during that stretch, the Big East sent more teams to the NCAA tournament than any conference in the country.

 

[oldude]

You see a different Chennedy than I. I have seen her get hot and nobody can guard her. The major flaw in her game IMO is she gets flustered too easy and when that occurs she is a detriment to the team. However, when she is on, it is pure basketball!

There is no doubt that Carter is an exceptional talent who can take over a game. If she gets a little flustered and perhaps starts pressing from time to time, that’s something that Gary Blair seems willing to live with. My concern about Carter is as a teammate. Does she make her teammates better? Do other really good players want to play on the same team with her? On that point, I think the jury is still out.

 

[bballnut90]

You see a different Chennedy than I. I have seen her get hot and nobody can guard her. The major flaw in her game IMO is she gets flustered too easy and when that occurs she is a detriment to the team. However, when she is on, it is pure basketball!

I agree. Problem is, she plays too much one on one style basketball rather than team oriented basketball. She has good teammates but doesn't utilize them enough. No one should average 20+ shots per game, especially in the SEC. Even EDD didn't average 20 shots per game playing for Delaware her senior season.

 

[CBus13]

• NC State up from 25 to 15 (what changed?).

I feel like NC State was ranked low initially, but since the first rankings one of their 2020 recruits, Elle Sutphin, reclassified and joined the currently freshmen class. She was a five star recruit according to ESPN. Not sure she's worthy cause of a ten position jump, but it gives them some more height.

 

[nwhoopfan]

If their highlight was losing by 10 to ND in a preseason tournament,

Their highlight was beating Oregon. Are you trying to be obtuse?

 

[DeeHusky]

Has Geno ever coached a team with a decided lack of height? I think the UConn fans are underestimating the impact their lack of height may have on the season. Especially if Westbrook doesn't get her waiver.

Ever since Stewie graduated til now. Also when Jessica Moore won two championships at 6’2.

 

[bballnut90]

Their highlight was beating Oregon. Are you trying to be obtuse?

No, I'm just responding to a thread where you nitpicked a comment I made and I'm trying to reiterate my point that Oregon State wasn't close to being at the level UCONN was a year ago. Oregon State finished the year playing its worst basketball and despite returning some talented players and having a great coach, I don't see zero argument for Creme to have ranked them ahead of UCONN in the preseason.

 

[LoTrader]

[ ]. Christyn is better than and played better than all of those you named in the tournament last year. I don’t think any of those girls are equally talented nor athletic as Williams especially Ty Harris and Taylor Mikesell.



There will NEVER, EVER be another DT. She doesn’t need to be DT, she will be herself. Her teammates will help her get to where she needs to go like ALL UConn teams do. Even DT needed help from Jessica Moore, Ashley Battle, Barbara Turner, Ann Stother, Maria Conlon. Dee carried a heavy load, but she did NOT win on her own.


One more thing, there will NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER be another Diana Lorena Taurasi. NEVER!

Have you watched Mikayla Pivec play basketball? Name me a better athlete than Mikayla Pivec at the guard position?

 

[LoTrader]

No, I'm just responding to a thread where you nitpicked a comment I made and I'm trying to reiterate my point that Oregon State wasn't close to being at the level UCONN was a year ago. Oregon State finished the year playing its worst basketball and despite returning some talented players and having a great coach, I don't see zero argument for Creme to have ranked them ahead of UCONN in the preseason.

Let's hope we can have OSU-UCONN settle this on the court in the NCAA Playoffs!

 

[DeeHusky]

Have you watched Mikayla Pivec play basketball? Name me a better athlete than Mikayla Pivec at the guard position?

Sabrina Ionescu, Christyn Williams, Crystal Dangerfield, Evina Westbrook, Chennedy Carter, Rhyne Howard...random names I can think of. Pivec is not athletic, she is more skill, toughness, and grit like a Marina Mabrey type player.

 

[nwhoopfan]

No, I'm just responding to a thread where you nitpicked a comment I made and I'm trying to reiterate my point that Oregon State wasn't close to being at the level UCONN was a year ago. Oregon State finished the year playing its worst basketball and despite returning some talented players and having a great coach, I don't see zero argument for Creme to have ranked them ahead of UCONN in the preseason.

Okay, we don't need to keep dragging this out. You're focused on comparing OSU and UConn, I've never even commented on that aspect. I just thought you weren't giving them enough credit for what they did last year.

 

[bballnut90]

Let's hope we can have OSU-UCONN settle this on the court in the NCAA Playoffs!

I'd love to see OSU upset UCONN. Despite my tone in this thread, I love Rueck as a coach and would love to see his program take the next step as establishing itself as a WBB powerhouse.

 

[UConnCat]

Let's hope we can have OSU-UCONN settle this on the court in the NCAA Playoffs!

Let's hope so. Hopefully your team will play better than they did in Albany last season. I was there and OSU was pretty awful.

 

[mbr33ct]

Let's hope we can have OSU-UCONN settle this on the court in the NCAA Playoffs!

They were one step shy of doing just that last year...if only Louisville didn't get in the way.

 

[oldude]

They were one step shy of doing just that last year...if only Louisville didn't get in the way.

After watching the battle between UConn & UCLA at the TUC, I hung around to check out the game between the Beavers & the Cardinals. Like most UConn fans who stayed around for the 2nd Sweet 16 game, I was cheering for OSU.

While I truly appreciate Scott Rueck’s coaching ability, particularly on the defensive side, he has yet to crack the offensive code that high scoring teams like Oregon, Baylor, ND & UConn live by in big games, and it really showed vs Louisville. Over the course of the game the OSU offense became stagnant, and ultimately fell into a pattern of throwing up contested shots from the arc that had little chance of going in. I believe they were 2/22 from the 3 pt line.

While OSU can “win ugly” against almost anyone, it seems to me that in order to win it all, they really need to upgrade their offense. If defense-minded Vic Schaefer could do it at MSU, Rueck should be able to do the same at OSU.

 

[LoTrader]

@oldude, you are correct with your analysis from last year--without a solid BIG, and missing Kat Tudor, it was a difficult NCAA Playoff. Beavers played in Italy this summer, and watched all 4 games (via Facebook). OSU has some dynamic freshman BIGs. 6'6", 6'4" (with Lauren Cox arms), and, a 6'9" Serbian who didn't play but will. this season.

Beavers are going to be dynamic this year with Pivec, Slocum, Tudor, Goodman, Jasmine Simmons as our guard corp. Taya Corosdale at forward, and many dynamic posts. This team vs last year's team has far more potential (on offense and defense). The passing among these team members, will be very solid, because our new BIGs are terrific passers. Whereas last year, I was somewhat hopeful (before Kat Tudor went down), this year, OSU is going to surprise many, starting in the PAC-12.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

For A&M to be a top 5 team, they pretty much have to be the top team in the SEC and I really don’t see that happening this season. The Aggies will almost certainly be looking up at your Bulldogs, and likely several other conference teams by the end of the season.

I haven't watched a lot of TAMU but they've never struck me as a top 5 team. To clarify, I've watched them play South Carolina, Missouri, and Miss State I believe. No question when she is going she's a scorer, but when teams have done a job defending her she will take them right out of a game.

I guess the rationale is that they are the highest finishing team in the SEC that returns almost everyone, but they just seemed like a pretty good team that isn't really adding much.

When you factor in their brutal conference road schedule, I don't see them winning the league unless the conference doesn't have any top line contenders. Which is possible.

 

[bballnut90]

I haven't watched a lot of TAMU but they've never struck me as a top 5 team. To clarify, I've watched them play South Carolina, Missouri, and Miss State I believe. No question when she is going she's a scorer, but when teams have done a job defending her she will take them right out of a game.

I guess the rationale is that they are the highest finishing team in the SEC that returns almost everyone, but they just seemed like a pretty good team that isn't really adding much.

When you factor in their brutal conference road schedule, I don't see them winning the league unless the conference doesn't have any top line contenders. Which is possible.

I agree. I think if Vic/Dawn can blend their new talent well, they'll surpass TAMU. Kentucky is also intriguing and Tennessee has a talented roster that could be lightyears better with a new coach.

 

[HuskylnSC]

PAC-12 is easily best women’s basketball conference, top to bottom. Second tier teams routinely give conference’s top teams a battle. Last year Colorado, ranked early but dropping out of rankings after being hit with injuries, nearly beat Stanford with CU’s best player out with injury. As great as UConn is, it would probably never go undefeated in conference play if it were in the Pac-12.

We used to have a saying that, to me, still has validity. "If your second string can beat your first string, you don't have two first strings!" I think that bodes the same in conferences. If the second tier beats the first tier, you don't have two first tiers. I believe history has already proved that in the case of the PAC-12

 

[Alydar]

We used to have a saying that, to me, still has validity. "If your second string can beat your first string, you don't have two first strings!" I think that bodes the same in conferences. If the second tier beats the first tier, you don't have two first tiers. I believe history has already proved that in the case of the PAC-12

While I have witnessed many of those upsets, many of them had a lot more to do with the poor play of the visiting teams than the inspired play of the home team. I have no iron in this fire and I have never seen such a wide swing in quality of play between a team's play at home and on the road as in the P12. And I also think the P12 refs are brutal homers so that contributes. Sorry if that hurts. I do agree that right now, the P12 is the top of the P5 conferences. But that is because the bottom 2/3's of all the other teams in those confs. are mediocre/bad.

 

[LoTrader]

We used to have a saying that, to me, still has validity. "If your second string can beat your first string, you don't have two first strings!" I think that bodes the same in conferences. If the second tier beats the first tier, you don't have two first tiers. I believe history has already proved that in the case of the PAC-12

Would you say that about the ACC Men's basketball conference? PAC-12 WBB is the up and coming conference in WCBB. I believe we will see a WCBB National Champion come from the PAC-12 in the next few years, if not this coming season.

 

[JonathanXIV]

Would you say that about the ACC Men's basketball conference? PAC-12 WBB is the up and coming conference in WCBB. I believe we will see a WCBB National Champion come from the PAC-12 in the next few years, if not this coming season.

Well wouldn't you say the PAC 12 is long overdue at this point? When was the last time a PAC 12 team won it all?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Well wouldn't you say the PAC 12 is long overdue at this point? When was the last time a PAC 12 team won it all?

Is that really the measure of the strength of a conference?

The answer is Stanford in '92. Since then UConn and Tennessee have won a majority of the Championships. Notre Dame and Baylor each have multiple titles. Only 6 other teams than those 4 I listed have won a Title in a nearly 30 year period.

Anyway teams win Championships, not conferences. Did UConn cutting down the nets in '14, '15 and '16 mean the AAC was a strong conference? Of course not, it only means UConn was the best team, says nothing about the rest of the conference.

The Pac 12 has steadily been sending teams to the Final 4. 5 different conference members have made it to the last weekend of the year in the last 6 seasons. What other conference has done that?

 

[LoTrader]

Well wouldn't you say the PAC 12 is long overdue at this point? When was the last time a PAC 12 team won it all?

Yes, I would say the PAC-12 is long overdue and is well positioned to have a national champion in the next few years.

 

[Plebe]

Anyway teams win Championships, not conferences. Did UConn cutting down the nets in '14, '15 and '16 mean the AAC was a strong conference? Of course not, it only means UConn was the best team, says nothing about the rest of the conference.

The Pac 12 has steadily been sending teams to the Final 4. 5 different conference members have made it to the last weekend of the year in the last 6 seasons. What other conference has done that?

You beat me to it.

Getting 5 different teams in the Final Four in a 6-year period is truly amazing. And again, this is from a 12-team conference, not these 15-team Frankensteins that still call themselves conferences.

 

[LoTrader]

Sabrina Ionescu, Christyn Williams, Crystal Dangerfield, Evina Westbrook, Chennedy Carter, Rhyne Howard...random names I can think of. Pivec is not athletic, she is more skill, toughness, and grit like a Marina Mabrey type player.

Pivec is not athletic--none of the kids you mentioned with the exception of Rhyne Howard & Sabrina are in the same athletic universe as Pivec, including CW. Pivec threw Javelin for OSU, and won the state HS javelin championship, and ran cross country when in High School. Pivec is an "all-around" better basketball player (scorer, shooting percentage from 3 and overall, rebounder, defender) than any of the players mentioned, minus Sabrina. Pivec has played all 5 positions on the court for OSU, and very competently (incredibly smart and very high basketball IQ). Statements like "Pivec is not athletic, she is more skill, toughness, and grit like a Marina Mabrey type player" would be less common if PAC-12 games were more available to other regions of the US.

 

[DeeHusky]

Pivec is not athletic--none of the kids you mentioned with the exception of Rhyne Howard & Sabrina are in the same athletic universe as Pivec, including CW. Pivec threw Javelin for OSU, and won the state HS javelin championship, and ran cross country when in High School. Pivec is an "all-around" better basketball player (scorer, shooting percentage from 3 and overall, rebounder, defender) than any of the players mentioned, minus Sabrina. Pivec has played all 5 positions on the court for OSU, and very competently (incredibly smart and very high basketball IQ). Statements like "Pivec is not athletic, she is more skill, toughness, and grit like a Marina Mabrey type player" would be less common if PAC-12 games were more available to other regions of the US.

If she was as good as you claim, more people would know about her. Nothing to do with PAC 12 games, I know about a lot of players in the PAC 12 including her btw. You obviously live in a very biased, unreal world so I’ll agree to disagree.

 

[southofnorth]

OSU and Stanford are two teams that have the *potential* to be great. Both have the size, talent, and good mix of upper and lower classman and experience. I don’t know how well either team will actually do given that they reside in the toughest conference this year, but it’s not hard to imagine both teams in the Elite 8 or even Final Four.

I’m excited to learn the status of Evian Westbrook and see how Adebayo and Camara play. Those are the three questions I have about UConn going into the season. If Westbrook is approved, Adebayo is the athlete she’s been talked up to be, and Camara can play like she did when she played for Guinea, then this will be a very tough team to beat—quite possibly a title contender. All that said, all we can do is wait and wonder until the exhibition games start.

 

[LoTrader]

If she was as good as you claim, more people would know about her. Nothing to do with PAC 12 games, I know about a lot of players in the PAC 12 including her btw. You obviously live in a very biased, unreal world so I’ll agree to disagree.

The right WCBB experts know about her. Look where she is predicted to go in next year's WNBA draft.

2020 WNBA Mock Draft - WNBA - DraftSite.com
2020 WNBA mock draft: Big Board 2.0 with team projections

Who lives in the "biased, unreal world"?

 

[soxfan23]

Would you say that about the ACC Men's basketball conference? PAC-12 WBB is the up and coming conference in WCBB. I believe we will see a WCBB National Champion come from the PAC-12 in the next few years, if not this coming season.

If Oregon doesn't win it all this year, the Pac 12 ain't winning a NC for the foreseeable future!