triaddukefan
Tobacco Road Gastronomer
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The initials are JB and I am not talking about James Brown.
There is only one JB worth pursuing at this point.
The initials are JB and I am not talking about James Brown.

My New Years resolution is I'm going to be nice on Sundays.
Did Chen look at any other schools?
Great day to be a Terp.

One thing that helps USC is that there is a clear top dog. Teams tend to have more problems when there’s a lot of new talented people and no established leader. (Eg UConn 98-99)I'd put Texas or UCONN over Southern Cal at this juncture, even if they land von Oelhoffen. USC feels a little like LSU this year, adding in a lot of pieces but developing chemistry is far from a given. And most importantly, being good on paper doesn't always translate, especially when trying to gel a lot of talent together. I think USC will be quite good and has potential but I'd put a well built Geno of Vic team ahead of them. Regardless though, it's a MASSIVE get for USC. Making the Final Four should absolutely be a goal/expectation this year.
If Frese can figure out Deberry and Poffenbarger improves her efficiency they have potential to be quite good. A lot of “ifs” though. I think they’re more in the 4-8 range though after UCLA/USC/Ohio State.So how are terp fans feeling. I think they've been almost underrated the past couple years in terms of their portal acquisitions. Anyways is this lineup top 3 in Big Ten
Shyanne Sellers
Bri McDaniels
Kaylene Smikle
Saylor Poffenberger
Amari Deberry
Iriafen Is a lot better than Morrow or Van Lith.I'd put Texas or UCONN over Southern Cal at this juncture, even if they land von Oelhoffen. USC feels a little like LSU this year, adding in a lot of pieces but developing chemistry is far from a given. And most importantly, being good on paper doesn't always translate, especially when trying to gel a lot of talent together. I think USC will be quite good and has potential but I'd put a well built Geno of Vic team ahead of them. Regardless though, it's a MASSIVE get for USC. Making the Final Four should absolutely be a goal/expectation this year.
Not Top 3, but potential to be the 4th best team who might challenge OSU for #3. Chemistry is the key word.So how are terp fans feeling. I think they've been almost underrated the past couple years in terms of their portal acquisitions. Anyways is this lineup top 3 in Big Ten
Shyanne Sellers
Bri McDaniels
Kaylene Smikle
Saylor Poffenberger
Amari Deberry
Iriafen Is a lot better than Morrow or Van Lith.
I don’t think they’ll be in the picture for the conference title either but I give Brenda a lot of credit for hitting the portal hard and recruiting some frontcourt power which should help with the Terps’ rebounding issues. Chemistry will be a major question mark but thats becoming somewhat of the norm in the portal era. This is a roster that should be super versatile and able to respond to different types of matchups which I think has been one of Maryland’s challenges over the years.Not Top 3, but potential to be the 4th best team who might challenge OSU for #3. Chemistry is the key word.
Kubek & the other 2 transfers (Te-Biasu and Toure) figure to play important roles too.
Compare them where they are now (now that one has flourished while the other moved up in competition). Who's better?Is she? It took Iriafen until her third season at Stanford to flourish, right? Morrow has done it since day one at DePaul.
Is she? It took Iriafen until her third season at Stanford to flourish, right? Morrow has done it since day one at DePaul.
Skim's got a new posting about Purdue -
Compare them where they are now (now that one has flourished while the other moved up in competition). Who's better?
Not even debatable in my mind, but obviously some disagree so I guess it is objectively debatable.Is she? It took Iriafen until her third season at Stanford to flourish, right? Morrow has done it since day one at DePaul.
Not even debatable in my mind, but obviously some disagree so I guess it is objectively debatable.
Morrow still 16pts 10 boards with sec schedule, despite being a very similar player to Reese.Compare them where they are now (now that one has flourished while the other moved up in competition). Who's better?
I like USCs freshman class and I bet they pick up one more piece in the portal. I do think tvo fits as an ace perimeter defender and additional ball handler. They arguably have 2 of the top 5 players in the country. I think they should be right with UConn or slightly ahead of them. I think the thing about LSU is they were adding big pieces to a team that won a championship. Hind sight is 20/20 and they had a good year but LSU's acquisitions essentially played the same position as the stars that lead the team to the championship. If u remember Morrow even didn't start some games. USC on the contrary has three starters who graduated and need to be replaced. Now I do think they need shooting as Forbes and Padilla were able to space the floor in a way that kept defenses honestI'd put Texas or UCONN over Southern Cal at this juncture, even if they land von Oelhoffen. USC feels a little like LSU this year, adding in a lot of pieces but developing chemistry is far from a given. And most importantly, being good on paper doesn't always translate, especially when trying to gel a lot of talent together. I think USC will be quite good and has potential but I'd put a well built Geno of Vic team ahead of them. Regardless though, it's a MASSIVE get for USC. Making the Final Four should absolutely be a goal/expectation this year.
There's no guarantee that Morrow will play at Kiki's level in 2024-25 (she didn't do it in 2023-24). Morrow's "elite" seasons came against overmatched competition. When she faced SEC competition (size, strength, and speed), she had her struggles. Meanwhile, Kiki was dominant in a better conference. It helps being taller/longer and more athletic.No guarantee Iriafen will be able to play at this past season's same level in 2024-25; she has yet to put together back-to-back elite seasons. Morrow has.
Think you're splitting hairs here. Their season stats are fairly similar with the exception of FG%. Some could argue Iriafen's scoring average got a boost from her 41 point game against ISU.There's no guarantee that Morrow will play at Kiki's level in 2024-25 (she didn't do it in 2023-24). Morrow's "elite" seasons came against overmatched competition. When she faced SEC competition (size, strength, and speed), she had her struggles. Meanwhile, Kiki was dominant in a better conference. It helps being taller/longer and more athletic.
What Iriafen did at Stanford in that one year would, in my mind, surpass anything that Morrow has done against P5 competition.
You can't make that "exception", as there's a pretty big difference in that stat between the two players. 46% is great for a guard but awful for a post. 54% is a good for a post. Advantage Kiki by a significant margin.Think you're splitting hairs here. Their season stats are fairly similar with the exception of FG%. Some could argue Iriafen's scoring average got a boost from her 41 point game against ISU.
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Kiki Iriafen 2024-25 Stats per Game - NCAAW - ESPN
The 2024-25 NCAAW season stats per game for Kiki Iriafen of the USC Trojans on ESPN. Includes full stats, per opponent, for regular and postseason.www.espn.com
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Aneesah Morrow 2024-25 Stats per Game - NCAAW - ESPN
The 2024-25 NCAAW season stats per game for Aneesah Morrow of the LSU Tigers on ESPN. Includes full stats, per opponent, for regular and postseason.www.espn.com
There definitely are no guarantees as to how either player will do this upcoming season. Both will be dealing with a transition either with a new team or team mates. No one will know for sure until the 2024-2025 season is over as to who will have the better season.
If Iriafen didn't score 41 points, would her PPG for the season be at 19? That game provided a significant boost to the average or she'd likely would have been around 16 points like Morrow.You can't make that "exception", as there's a pretty big difference in that stat between the two players. 46% is great for a guard but awful for a post. 54% is a good for a post. Advantage Kiki by a significant margin.
I would say that the rebounding numbers are similar, but the scoring averages and shooting % are not that similar. As I mentioned earlier, height and athleticism matter.
There are no guarantees--that part is true. However, Kiki is entering a conference that is not known for athletic post play while Morrow will have to navigate the SEC again while remaining a 6'1 undersized post. She won't have Angel to take the pressure off of her this time.
Do the math. Stanford played in 36 games this year. Iriafen's 41-point game likely added about a point to her overall average. So no, she would not have averaged 16 ppg like Morrow. She would've averaged more like 18 ppg, which is still higher than Morrow's average.If Iriafen didn't score 41 points, would her PPG for the season be at 19? That game provided a significant boost to the average or she'd likely would have been around 16 points like Morrow.
And I'm not sure how you're perceiving my use of the word "exception". As Iriafen's FG% is much higher in comparison to the rest of the numbers, it is the exception when comparing their stats.
I think it's a matter of how we're interpreting the word exception here. The FG% is a differentiator for sure and that's what I see as being the exception.Do the math. Stanford played in 36 games this year. Iriafen's 41-point game likely added about a point to her overall average. So no, she would not have averaged 16 ppg like Morrow. She would've averaged more like 18 ppg, which is still higher than Morrow's average.
Now, what would Morrow's average look like had she not dropped 37 against UVA?
You cannot state that all numbers are the same except for FG% when FG% is a key factor (maybe the key factor) in comparing the offensive efficiency for two post players (and considering that the ppg average isn't really that close, either). If you compare two people and they have similar traits except that one is a billionaire while the other is dirt poor, are they really going to be seen as similar? Seems like that one identifier is significant enough to differentiate them by quite a bit.
If Kiki's stats are all better and there's that much of a difference in FG%, then are the two players similar? That's my point--they did not have similar production. Kiki's stats were better. The FG% was not the exception. It proved the rule (that Kiki had superior stats).I think it's a matter of how we're interpreting the word exception here. The FG% is a differentiator for sure and that's what I see as being the exception.