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Message: [QUOTE="oldhusky, post: 5143507, member: 9844"] We have far more depth than the end of last year, but my expectations depend heavily on whether we can get a third or forth star from the players other than Paige and Sarah. We have lots of good players but need a couple more to elevate to really really good. Our first two are as good as anybody, but there is a big drop-off to the next tier. Many of the top contenders have better 3rd 4th or 5th best players IMO, at least with the lineup we had against Notre Dame. Obviously Azzi if she returns healthy can give us a third star, and Aubrey after getting her legs back could be near that level, but I think Ash,, Kaitlin, KK and Ice will be very good contributors, but on a true top level championship contender they should be more like 6,7,8,9 than 3,4,5,6. Other than Azzi and Aubrey, I think Jana is another player that may have upside to be a star, but of course is still a work in progress. Our two stars and lots of good complimentary players will have us in contention regardless, but if we want to be near the top of a group like South Carolina, Notre Dame, Texas, UCLA, USC, and LSU, we need our 3,4,5 players to be stars or close to it as well. Azzi and Aubrey could do that if fully healthy, and maybe by season's end Jana can force Geno to start her, or KK or Ash can have a breakout leap from last year, which hasn't happened yet, but potentially still could. [/QUOTE]