ESPNW's class of 2024 recruiting rankings are out. | Page 2 | The Boneyard

ESPNW's class of 2024 recruiting rankings are out.

I'm just happy we're still relevant in the recruiting rankings after reading all those BY posts about our demise several years ago.
 
Cuango said:
All you have to do is ask yourself, “would you trade USC’s class for UConn’s?” I believe most coaches would say “Hell no!”
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just to clarify, you mean most coaches wouldn't want Uconn's recruiting class over USC? I'm not sure it's so obvious.
 
DEpup said:
I think there should be more math to this. Add the rankings and divide by the number of recruits. Lowest score wins. It's not difficult.
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It’s a lot more difficult than that kind of formula. For example, using that sort of math, a school that recruited only the #1 player would have a class ranked ahead of a school that landed numbers two, three, four, five, and six.
 
stamfordhusky said:
It’s a lot more difficult than that kind of formula. For example, using that sort of math, a school that recruited only the #1 player would have a class ranked ahead of a school that landed numbers two, three, four, five, and six.
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Agree. If UCONN just got Sarah, they wouldn’t be #2, or even 3-4. What matters is the quality of the recruit. I can safely say Sarah is better than all of USC’s recruits. But, One recruit can’t skyrocket you to the top, even if it is Sarah.
 
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Fanofball said:
Agree. If UCONN just got Sarah, they wouldn’t be #2, or even 3-4. What matters is the quality of the recruit. I can safely say Sarah is better than all of USC’s recruits. But, One recruit can’t skyrocket you to the top, even if it is Sarah.
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One recruit did just that recently for USC and Iowa.

It doesn't happen so often at UConn, because the rest of the team is so good.

We'll get an early look at both classes when they play each other in December. May only be 1-2 freshman getting major minutes in total.
 
MilfordHusky said:
Geno’s more complete thoughts:

uconnhuskies.com

Sarah Strong Signs with UConn, Completes 2024 Signing Class - University of Connecticut Athletics

UConn women's basketball head coach Geno Auriemma announced the signing of No. 1-ranked recruit Sarah Strong as a member of the Class of 2028 on Tuesday.
uconnhuskies.com uconnhuskies.com
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The money quote:

"To have three players coming in that can immediately have an impact on your team is pretty unique."

Emphasis on "immediately." You want to know what Geno thinks? He thinks "immediately."
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
Allie "She has an extremely fundamental base of skills" What the??? Sounds like a long winded insult. Damned with faint praise? If I am Allie I'm taping that at eye level in my locker.
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I wouldn't take it that way. It comes across that she has good technique coming into college which is huge. Some players have to relearn things, or tweak things because of bad habits. I'd rather a player with a good base of the fundamental skills as they can expand on their skillset at a faster rate.
 
packwrap said:
One recruit did just that recently for USC and Iowa.

It doesn't happen so often at UConn, because the rest of the team is so good.

We'll get an early look at both classes when they play each other in December. May only be 1-2 freshman getting major minutes in total.
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I meant to the top of the recruiting class rankings.
 
cancontent said:
I wouldn't take it that way. It comes across that she has good technique coming into college which is huge. Some players have to relearn things, or tweak things because of bad habits. I'd rather a player with a good base of the fundamental skills as they can expand on their skillset at a faster rate.
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Pretty awkward way of trying to say it.
 
stamfordhusky said:
It’s a lot more difficult than that kind of formula. For example, using that sort of math, a school that recruited only the #1 player would have a class ranked ahead of a school that landed numbers two, three, four, five, and six.
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Having to combine quantity and quality to get a ranked score leads me to suspect that ESPN uses a weighted sum as the score with weights derived from its grade system (98, 97, etc).

Obviously, the weights themselves are arbitrary.

Example*:
  • UConn: 2x1.0 + 0.9 = 2.90
  • USC: 1.0 + 2x0.9 + 2x0.6 + 0.30 = 4.30
  • * Weights: 98: 1.00 | 97: 0.90 | 96: 0.80 | 95: 0.70 | 94: 0.60 | 93: 0.50 | 92: 0.40 | 91: 0.30 |
  • 5 grade 95 players would have a score* higher than UConn’s.
  • One can divide the scores above by the number of players, but I suspect ESPN doesn’t do that, as you pointed out.
I like Geno’s recruiting class philosophy, especially evidenced by his recent classes. ESPN’s yearly recruiting ranked scores do not capture a program’s recruiting philosophy overall.

Geno got the recruits he wanted — that’s enough for me.
 
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I don't have any issues with the rankings. USC has an impressive class coming in to go along with the solid roster and talent of Juju Watkins. Like someone said already, the only rankings I care about are at the end of the season when we finish as #1 and holding that National Championship and pieces of the net.
 
oldude said:
USC is #1 because of quantity not quality. The Trojans have 6 top 100 recruits. UConn has 3. Now, you can’t play 6 freshmen at the same time. But you can play 3. So let’s see how many players out of USC’s #1 recruiting class are still around next year at this time.
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They also have two incoming transfers, Assuming Juju's spot is safe, that means 8 newcomers fighting for 4 starting spots. Gonna be a lotta' competition in the preseason and a lot of pressure on the coach to build a winning attitude. Will anybody pass to anybody else?
 
Dugway said:
The only rating that matter's is the one that comes at the conclusion of the National Championship Game.
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Personally, I have reservations, on ranking teams because of the many variables exist with individual players !
 
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I believe the purpose of this type of article (i.e., Too Early top 25, pre-season all-American, etc.) is to create clicks. On that basis the author's goals is to create discussion of their work. UConn #1 creates grumbling, complaining and little discussion. The author met their goal and will get to keep their job.
 
Who cares, we only needed the 3 players because of all the talent we had coming back. We didn't need 6 players, but the three we got was just what Geno wanted. I'm happy with that, and if Geno is happy, then we all should be happy.
 
oldude said:
USC is #1 because of quantity not quality. The Trojans have 6 top 100 recruits. UConn has 3. Now, you can’t play 6 freshmen at the same time. But you can play 3. So let’s see how many players out of USC’s #1 recruiting class are still around next year at this time.
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The ranking criteria have always been badly flawed. There is no accounting for quality. There is no ranking of the very best players and what they can do for a team. Kateryna Koval, a 6'4" post player, likely the best post in her class, went to Notre Dame. Yet ND's recruiting class isn't ranked. Clearly, Koval has the potential to dramatically improve the prospects for Notre Dame for the next four years. Further, South Carolina gets the third-highest ranking player in the class, Joyce Edwards, a 6'3" power forward. Combined with the team returning for SC next year, she could be instrumental in bringing them a NC. South Carolina only got two players, but the one could be NC-making.

Further, there is no attempt to figure in transfers, and that is a glaring failure. In the transfer age, those players can dramatically transform a team. Look at LSU in 2023.

So there should be a system in which the #1 player in the class garners a score that is higher than that going to, say, four other players outside of the top 10. A team with, say, three players in the top 10 should be ranked far higher than one with six players ranked from 20 upwards. Connecticut should get a high ranking for Sarah Strong, as well as enhanced rank for the #7 player. And it's absurd that Notre Dame isn't ranked, though it takes the transformative Koval.

The rating metrics are so bad and so misleading that ESPN should scrap it, and start again. Or just scrap its ranking altogether.
 
Fairfield Fan said:
The ranking criteria have always been badly flawed. There is no accounting for quality. There is no ranking of the very best players and what they can do for a team. Kateryna Koval, a 6'4" post player, likely the best post in her class, went to Notre Dame. Yet ND's recruiting class isn't ranked. Clearly, Koval has the potential to dramatically improve the prospects for Notre Dame for the next four years. Further, South Carolina gets the third-highest ranking player in the class, Joyce Edwards, a 6'3" power forward. Combined with the team returning for SC next year, she could be instrumental in bringing them a NC. South Carolina only got two players, but the one could be NC-making.

Further, there is no attempt to figure in transfers, and that is a glaring failure. In the transfer age, those players can dramatically transform a team. Look at LSU in 2023.

So there should be a system in which the #1 player in the class garners a score that is higher than that going to, say, four other players outside of the top 10. A team with, say, three players in the top 10 should be ranked far higher than one with six players ranked from 20 upwards. Connecticut should get a high ranking for Sarah Strong, as well as enhanced rank for the #7 player. And it's absurd that Notre Dame isn't ranked, though it takes the transformative Koval.

The rating metrics are so bad and so misleading that ESPN should scrap it, and start again. Or just scrap its ranking altogether.
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The other ranking services are no better, But, in truth, I thinks ESPN is pretty solid for wbb. Let's look at the last couple of WNBA drafts then look back at the classes for 2019 and 2020 . Looks like they predict wbb players better than football anyways.
 
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visitingcock said:
They also have two incoming transfers, Assuming Juju's spot is safe, that means 8 newcomers fighting for 4 starting spots. Gonna be a lotta' competition in the preseason and a lot of pressure on the coach to build a winning attitude. Will anybody pass to anybody else?
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Good point. But I do remember a dude named Kobe Bryant who wouldn't pass to his teammates and Shaq basically said just get the damn rebound, so in those rare instances, maybe it doesn't matter??
 
Fairfield Fan said:
Further, South Carolina gets the third-highest ranking player in the class, Joyce Edwards, a 6'3" power forward. Combined with the team returning for SC next year, she could be instrumental in bringing them a NC. South Carolina only got two players, but the one could be NC-making.

Connecticut should get a high ranking for Sarah Strong, as well as enhanced rank for the #7 player. And it's absurd that Notre Dame isn't ranked, though it takes the transformative Koval.

The rating metrics are so bad and so misleading that ESPN should scrap it, and start again. Or just scrap its ranking altogether.
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I'm confused. Laflin ranks South Carolina third among all classes, and UConn did get a high ranking as he has them #2 and likely only a hair behind USC with just three players. I don't get the beef here.

If you don't take all players a team gets into consideration than you might as well just list the best classes based on the teams that got top 10-20 recruits. And even then you end up with basically the same top 5 Laflin has, maybe in slightly different order.
 
Sluconn Husky said:
I'm confused. Laflin ranks South Carolina third among all classes, and UConn did get a high ranking as he has them #2 and likely only a hair behind USC with just three players. I don't get the beef here.

If you don't take all players a team gets into consideration than you might as well just list the best classes based on the teams that got top 10-20 recruits. And even then you end up with basically the same top 5 Laflin has, maybe in slightly different order.
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UCONN was clear #1. I can't speak for South Carolina. I can speak for what I know of UCONN vs USC but this might show that whoever ranked 1 vs 2 doesn't know what they are talking about. But it's not a big deal. And they do a fine job of individual rankings, and am appreciative of their hard work.

When I look at UCONN - Eight of the 12 #1 ranked recruits in their history have been 1st team A/A. I believe 5 of 7 that were 2/3 ranked were also 1st team a/a. That's 13 of 19. A 1st team a/a is being double teamed schemed against etc vs nearly every team including many other super elite teams. And most times a 1st team A/a is leading their team to titles vs teams that don't have a 1st team a/a. .

There are exceptions but when you land the #1 recruit and your next two players are also ranked ahead of the other team - it's a pretty ridiculous assertion to put SoCal ahead. But it doesn’t mean much - the recruiting team ranking if you are that high.
 
hoophuskee said:
UCONN was clear #1. I can't speak for South Carolina. I can speak for what I know of UCONN vs USC but this might show that whoever ranked 1 vs 2 doesn't know what they are talking about. But it's not a big deal.
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You're free to disagree with the end result but Shane Laflin certainly knows his recruits and basketball. He's the lead writer at ESPN and Premiere Basketball Report.

I would've ranked UConn first but I get why he had USC ahead. My guess is it was a split decision.
 
Sluconn Husky said:
You're free to disagree with the end result but Shane Laflin certainly knows his recruits and basketball. He's the lead writer at ESPN and Premiere Basketball Report.

I would've ranked UConn first but I get why he had USC ahead. My guess is it was a split decision.
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You and I can disagree with assessments that even Geno Auriemma believes, right? So, whether it be Shane or Geno or anyone else, we can believe that sometimes others can go a little haywire, right? After all, this is "projection," only.
 
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