Well having Turner back will be big. She is a impact player.
...and will be scary good and arguably and rightly so, splitting top votes next year with UConn next year. Do they play each other?
I don't disagree with the optimistic outlook that you, Milford and some others have outlined. But I do worry that UConn will lose an irreplaceable element of this team's success:You are totally correct indeed, but I'd like to point out a few things...
We do tend to say that every single season when we lose great players. How will we "replace" Stef and Bria? KML and Stokes? Tuck, Jefferson, and Stewart? The answer is that we don't ever really "replace" them, but rather add new dimensions to the team for the following season.
What Gabby and Kia do for the team cannot be overstated. But it's clear that in big games, while Geno has finally come to trust Megan a bit more, we really still only go 6.5 deep. But next year our genetics will be different. Maybe worse, maybe better. Z WILL improve over the summer and will be a starter. Meg WILL improve over the summer and either she will start or Christyn will. We will have a healthy ONO, Mikayla and Batouly on the bench so that means that Geno will have the ability to go a legit 9 deep.
When we had Stokes, we had a huge goalie/shot blocker on defense. When she left, the team had to learn to excel at help defense. Right now they are VERY good at it. IF Z can learn to keep her arms straight up and not "jump" into offensive players taking shots, SHE Can be that defensive stopper as well. That means not only will our help defense be great, but also we will have a skilled shot blocker to mop up any mistakes. We don't have that now.
My overall point is that we can't replace any great players who leave, but the best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores. Lou, Gabby, Crystal, Z, Megan and Batouly will ALL improve next season. I hope Mikayla gets healthy soon because I think she has the ability to be part of the core group as well.
The future's so bright, we gotta wear shades!!
No doubt that Gabby and Kia will be missed but didn't we have these same questions when Kelly Faris or Stefanie Dolson or Kiah Stokes or Moriah Jefferson..... graduated?
I agree. And Puisis will be dynamic. I wanted to see her at UConn.
Already cover two post above.
That was a strange grab by FSU away form UCONN &ND. I remember reading an article that ND and UCONN were the top schools showing interest in Pusuis and then less than a month later she committed to FSU-more than a full year (Sept 2017) before her class 2019 has to make any type of signing.
I noticed that too. Very disappointing. JMO, but from the limited amount of video I was able to see, she was the best all-around wing I've seen recently. Granted, I don't see them all but she is tough, physical, and very athletic. And she can really shoot. Great elevation.
We'll have to wait and see how the season plays next year.
Pretty solid pre-season prediction on TA&M right?
Lol...the only thing that will determine UConn's future dominance is how long Geno wants to keep coaching.
That's pure baloney, everyone said the same thing when Bird, Williams, Cash, and Jones all graduated leaving Diana to shepherd a bunch of Freshman, and look what they did. Katie Lou is next year's Diana and Geno will find a way, he is not in the HOF because he looks like Frankie Avalon.
And Geno would be the first to tell you that without great players he can't be a great coach. Chicken or the egg?
You mixed up your teen idol Philly boys, Rob: I think Geno looks more like Bobby Rydell.
He does but also looks like Frankie, at Jacobs thinks so.
Hmm, come to think of it, maybe Geno would prefer to have his looks compared to the third member of Philly triumvirate, Fabian.
I don't know for sure that she was not considered but there a couple of factors here. She's a classic tweener by size and skill set-not big enough (listed as 6'2" on Hoopgurlz but closer to 6') to be PF not quick enough to be SF. She was also a late bloomer pretty unremarkable on the national stage until summer going into Junior year. Not to sound snobbish but UCONN recruiting wise is at the point where unless you are making noise for your age US basketball age group then you are probably not on their radar.
So how did he build a great program? I don't recall him signing five All-Americans in 1991 when he came close to winning it all at the final four. How many great players did he have 91???
He also will tell you he had great players who were not highly ranked or McDonald's All-Americans. He's in the HOF for a reason, remember that. I mean was Meghan Pattyson a top ten recruit?!?! Lol
Gabby won't be playing for UCONN next season or anytime after.You are totally correct indeed, but I'd like to point out a few things...
We do tend to say that every single season when we lose great players. How will we "replace" Stef and Bria? KML and Stokes? Tuck, Jefferson, and Stewart? The answer is that we don't ever really "replace" them, but rather add new dimensions to the team for the following season.
What Gabby and Kia do for the team cannot be overstated. But it's clear that in big games, while Geno has finally come to trust Megan a bit more, we really still only go 6.5 deep. But next year our genetics will be different. Maybe worse, maybe better. Z WILL improve over the summer and will be a starter. Meg WILL improve over the summer and either she will start or Christyn will. We will have a healthy ONO, Mikayla and Batouly on the bench so that means that Geno will have the ability to go a legit 9 deep.
When we had Stokes, we had a huge goalie/shot blocker on defense. When she left, the team had to learn to excel at help defense. Right now they are VERY good at it. IF Z can learn to keep her arms straight up and not "jump" into offensive players taking shots, SHE Can be that defensive stopper as well. That means not only will our help defense be great, but also we will have a skilled shot blocker to mop up any mistakes. We don't have that now.
My overall point is that we can't replace any great players who leave, but the best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores. Lou, Gabby, Crystal, Z, Megan and Batouly will ALL improve next season. I hope Mikayla gets healthy soon because I think she has the ability to be part of the core group as well.
The future's so bright, we gotta wear shades!!
I understand your point but allow me to quibble- McDonalds AA designation for women began in 2002. That was a little bit after Meghan's time. Meghan Pattyson is from my neck of the woods (Doylestown PA) and they weren't tracking top ten or even making a list back then so I can't tell you what number she was. What I do know is that she was a darn good player and Geno found her. Since the inclusion of women in the McDonalds AA game UCONN has not had an AA who did not play in the McDonalds AA game with the exception of Gabby who was on the team but injured.
There were rating services and darn ones during Meghan's playing days such as Blue Star which began in 1981, and one other whose name escapes me but Meg was not highly rated by either of them, and by highly rated I mean top 10. I'm just guessing but think Meg was between top 30 and top 50 on Blue Star. All the really highly rated players back then went to Tennessee, Stanford, and a few other schools. Meg really blossomed her junior year. Hey she reads the board so maybe she'll chime in. Lol
I agree that Kia and Gabby are irreplaceable. Perhaps our most irreplaceable player ever was Maya. We lost in the Final Four the year after she left, just as we did in her final year. Then we won four straight championships. Was it because we got another Maya? No, we had other pieces with different strengths and weaknesses. Among Stef, Bria, Kaleena, Stewie, Moriah, and Morgan, we got 12 player/years of AA selections. Geno recruits talented kids, coaches them up, and gets them to play harder than anyone else. For next year, I expect Pheesa to be even a little better, Lou to be truly elite, Azura to be stronger and better, Crystal to be healthy, Megan to take a leap as Crystal, Pheesa, and Lou did, and at least Christyn to be the real deal. Will the talent gap be smaller? Maybe. Could we lose a game or two? Maybe. I still like our chances.
I hope to God Meghan got better ways to spend her time than reading this. BTW you don't have to go back that far (1991) to find a non top ten player that Geno has developed.
I would still put Louisville on the top tier. They only lose Hines-Allen, and several of their other players have been improving rapidly and still have upside.