The draft boards are not made up of great coaches. Therefore they teams to focus on players with great measurable stats like scoring and rebounding. Professional coach look to needs. If a coach needs a point who can back up a top level, aging PG and learn to start down the road, she’s the one.
I think that will change soon. Her stock out of HS was of course, very high. But, after CC waved her off it took a massive hit. Dawn knew it and even her constant praise campaign wasn’t enough. She probably told her privately come back to SC and let’s reload. The road to recovery was to prove she could call her own number offensively and consistently and shed the label that she was a pass first PG. It’s a label with a double edged sword because sometimes it’s a nice way of saying that you can’t shoot. She gave LSU …THE BUSINESS last night on both ends of the floor and the entire game.
The game was surprisingly competitive. I expected a blowout starting in the frontcourt. But Joyce got in foul trouble and Raven and Tessa did the impressive heavy lifting.
I feel like her stock was quite high after her sophomore year when she put the clamps on Clark in the championship game but it dropped immensely after a lackluster junior season. This year she's turned a corner and has played great in every big game and has terrific numbers on the season. I'm surprised the mock drafts haven't taken note since physically she's a perfect fit with her size (5'9), length (6'2 wing span) and is an elite level athlete.
I don’t think it was ultimately for the NIL, though of course it didn’t hurt her and her mom’s decision to leave. They heard and believed all the commentators that Dawn was keeping her “down” and that she would be a starter anywhere else. What is sad to me is that Dawn called her a generational player, and we will never get to see if Dawn could have coached her up.
I suspect Milaysia is close to being uncoachable. She is an awesome talent. But she doesn’t appear to be much changed since she arrived in college. Superstars are sometimes like this.
Speaking of foul calls, if Kanter is going to be part of these announcing crews, give her access to the same footage the refs would have. Hearing her say she didn't have the same angle several times last night was disappointing.
Tell me why you think LSU “ can pay a LOT more than South Carolina can.” I don’t believe they can.
I think there is a going to be a major difference between what the public eye and a WNBA coaching staff will see in Raven. I don't put much stock into these mock drafts. Outside of the top 5-6 players it's anyone's guess. She would find a place on many teams. She probably wants to go to Seattle so that she can be near her bae (Emmanwori with the Seahawks). 😂
I agree the Fulwiley angle was a nothing burger, but I was hoping that it would have been her night. She is such a joy to watch out there on the court. I loved the embrace she got from the South Carolina players.
BTW….I had to look him up. 🤣 No, I don’t watch most pro sports.
Compare the two states and their economic strengths. South Carolina = tourism and agriculture. Louisiana = oil, gas, and petrochemical (same as Texas and Oklahoma). In terms of economic clout, there is no comparison. And the big donors in Louisiana are a LOT richer than the big donors in South Carolina.
I kind of have a running joke in my head that South Carolina sports is going to win national titles in 20-30 years due to all these super athletic South Carolina legacy babies. We have Brea Beal and JC Horn (DB for Carolina Panthers), Raven Johnson and Nick Emmanwori (Safety for the Seattle Seahawks) Chloe Kitts and Colin Murray-Boyles (forward for the Toronto Raptors) . Plus we have others like Victaria Saxton who just had a kid and then A'ja Wilson, while she isn't dating any former South Carolina player, without a doubt there is going to be pressure on her kids to go to South Carolina (and you just know that she and Bam will have kids with freak athleticism and size).
Both schools can pay a maximum of 20.5 million in direct pay. Both schools spend about 5% to 6% of that amount on direct pay for wbb. Roughly 1 million. It’s pretty standard in the SEC.
There was a mention yesterday during the game that Flau'jae has like 40+ NIL sponsorships and I can really only think of a few commercials where she probably brings in enough money to justify what they're probably paying her. Really, the game has just changed to exchanging money through companies run by donors and calling it NIL. I bet places like LSU have plenty of them that skirt around the rules like that.
The latest word is that she is returning. If so, that will make the front court battles interesting (great problem to have I know) since Chloe will also be back and Alicia will have a full offseason under her belt. I know because of her height everyone considers Alicia a 5, but she seems more natural front facing.
Love Raven. This also begs the question (I have seen it touched on, but not discussed at length), who is our PG next year? Likely we will have a young one. I think Tessa stays at the 2.