Kara's All American List as of Today.

[DobbsRover2]

husky....In this imaginary scenario, I'd like to have MoJeff w/ Bria, not Sims. Each is very talented, but in different ways. MoJeff gives UConn exactly what they need, great ball handling, no turnovers, great defense, steals, penetration into the lane on occasion, some scoring, etc.... Sims gives a team scoring, scoring and more scoring.... IMO UConn doesn't need Sims' scoring, they need the other things MoJeff does...

I too would rather have MoJeff with Bria, but I do think that if Sims was with Bria that OS's play would be very different. She actually can pass the ball very well when she wants to, though unfortunately at Baylor recently there seems to be a much more lopsided emphasis on just having her shoot or pick up FTAs.

 

[Kibitzer]

On the Sims question - I really wonder why Kim is good with the way Sims is playing, but apparently she is. And if the coach is cool with it, who am I to question. I do not think it is good for Sims stock at the next level, but she has shown through her first three years that she is not a 'selfish' player and that she is capable of playing a very disciplined game. The fact that this year one could define her game as 'selfish' and or 'undisciplined' is an oddity for her 4 year career. She is putting up sick numbers and even with the recent struggles is YTD still quite efficient.
The inclusion of Liston made me go to the Duke site for some stats and I was pleasantly surprised - she is scoring 18.4 at .568/.492 having just dropped below 50% on her 3s and she takes a lot of them (62/126) and 70/80 on FT .875 with 5.7 rebounds/game - pretty impressive.
The one player I would question is Schimmel - she certainly makes Louisville go, but ... Points 17.9 at .412 though more than 50% of her shots are threes at .401. Her assist/turnovers 95/66 or 1.44. I do think there are other guards with better efficiency including Moriah, Orrange, Lister, etc.

Kim apparently feels that the best chance for Baylor to win is for Sims to get as many points as she can, and that seems to be working against most opponents. So far.

I want to be careful about uusing terms like "overrated" or especially "underrated" -- after all, any mistakes in (e.g., pre-season) evaluations were made by pundits, not the players. But I think it is safe to say that (just Dookies) while Williams may not have performed to the lofty expectations expected for her, Liston most certainly has performed much better than expected. She's been terrific.

As for Schimmel? She will have at least two opportunities soon (this Sunday and March 3) with the bright lights on to validate her status, not to mention the AAC and NCAA tournaments that follow. If she can replicate her performance vs. Baylor last year, she will deserve any honors she receives.

 

[UcMiami]

A bit off topic but talking of Schimmel - I am so impressed with Jeff's ability to game plan with one exception - he just has never been able to come up with a plan for Uconn - no wins and seldom even competitive games. Compared to Muffet who did finally break through. I do think Muffet has had better players, and more rounded teams, but Jeff's difficulty in dealing with Uconn stands out to me.

 

[DobbsRover2]

A bit off topic but talking of Schimmel - I am so impressed with Jeff's ability to game plan with one exception - he just has never been able to come up with a plan for Uconn - no wins and seldom even competitive games. Compared to Muffet who did finally break through. I do think Muffet has had better players, and more rounded teams, but Jeff's difficulty in dealing with Uconn stands out to me.

There are two somewhat similar teams that Louisville just has had absolutely no luck against, and that is UConn and ND, and during the last four years I think the closest margin in any Cards' game against the two was a 10-point loss against ND back in 2011. Usually the margins are very big. What can you say about UConn and ND except that they've been very good, play strong defense, and usually have multiple big scorers that make shutting down the offense much more difficult than with a tandem Griner and Sims obstacle.

During the last three years, Louisville has also been unable to beat KY, though they did win the 2010-11 game easily. It's been close action in the intrastate battle, but early in the year Walz's teams are also having trouble with the Wildcats. Not sure why.

 

[TheTruthBelow]

On the Sims question - I really wonder why Kim is good with the way Sims is playing, but apparently she is. And if the coach is cool with it, who am I to question. I do not think it is good for Sims stock at the next level, but she has shown through her first three years that she is not a 'selfish' player and that she is capable of playing a very disciplined game. The fact that this year one could define her game as 'selfish' and or 'undisciplined' is an oddity for her 4 year career. She is putting up sick numbers and even with the recent struggles is YTD still quite efficient.

I think you answered your own question. If you have someone who is capable of averaging, at least so far, 30 points per game on high efficiency, that's something you're going to capitalize on if you're in Baylor's situation, where there are limited scoring options after Sims and Nina Davis.

I think if anything this season has helped Sims' draft stock. As you said, it's clear from her first three years that she's capable of being a point guard, and she's comfortable playing that way. On the other hand, while she showed a knack for scoring as well, I don't think anyone expected this type of outburst from her. I would be pretty much shocked if she wasn't a top-3 pick.

Edit: If buy stock you just meant how she will perform, I don't expect this season to have a lasting impact. My guess is how often she shoots will depend on the makeup of the team that drafts her.

 

[UcMiami]

THeTruth - agree that telling Sims to go win is great for playing the OOC they played and works against most of the Big12 as well, but ... it is not going to get you to a FF in my opinion so it is a bit short sighted unless all Kim wants is to win the Big 12 this year. Then maybe they can do it by riding Sims.