Her offense, outside of her shooting, wasn't really criticized by the fanbase, either (it was our rivals who routinely made fun of Raven and are now desperately pretending it never happened). Fans knew that she was an excellent distributor whose shot was coming around. She had a down year last season.
Maybe not but that IS what I read.
I do. It surprised me when I read it.
It would not surprise me if it came from the lunatic fringe of our fanbase during her rs freshman year when her knee had not completely healed. The same lunatic fans who considered Kamilla a “ wasted scholarship” that year,
Oh okay.
Easily the SEC DPOY and probably the NDPOY. Like--please do not overthink this!
Kitts can rebound at a pretty high level and has done so in important games including SEC and NCAA tournament games.
Kitts and Edwards co-existed on team USA and last season but throwing Watkins and Tournebize into the mix (haven't even talked about the incoming freshmen) would tax anyone.
Chloe is a better rebounder (at least per the numbers), but she never started alongside a rebounding machine like Madina Okot. Kamilla was not the rebounder that Madina is. She's not a scorer, which Joyce clearly is.
Joyce is likely to be named an All-American. With Ta'Niya gone, she's the only returning scorer. She will start. Chloe will either come off the bench in a sixth woman role or start in a big line-up scenario. She's going to have to get in where she fits in and do so while coming off a significant injury.
Dawn has chosen this path, so she's got to make it work. The game is changing (with NIL and the transfer portal), so I'm less convinced that it will work. The truth is that if a player misses significant time and isn't a JuJu-level player, that player will find herself fighting for minutes once she's healthy enough to return.
These are my thoughts as well. I expect Kitts to be the first off the bench while she is recovering and then the coaches will determine who gets the more minutes between all the bigs based on who are performing better for that particular game. I also halfway wonder if Tournabize will start over Watkins. I think it'll just depend on how much practice/conditioning Watkins did on her own this past year. Plus, we'll have Tac and the two freshmen backing up those four, though I kind of expect both freshmen bigs to redshirt if they're still recovering from their high school injuries.
If Okot moves on to the WNBA, I would start Tournebize. I would want Dawn to take advantage of her upside (and height). We all have an idea of what Ashlyn can do.
My only concern (and it's getting slighter the more that I think about it) would be backcourt/perimeter production, but I would imagine that Tessa will ascend to All-America status (playing alongside a pass-first guard like Mouse) and that Joyce will spend a healthy amount of her minutes on the perimeter as part of a big line-up.
She should play the best player and comparing Watkins' last season and Tournebize so far isn't remotely close.
It's 2026, not 2024. Move forward. Don't live in the past.
This is the truth. Raven is beloved by the fanbase because we've had to shield her from excessive and unnecessary criticism due to a dismissive hand wave. Imagine a freshman being subjected to that kind of abuse. She was catching hell from rival fans and the media alike. This is the first year that they've realized their error and have course corrected.
Well I said play the best player. You said play the upside. Seems like you probably agree with play the best player.