UCONN is clear #2...more talent than anyone in the country. Oregon is #3 IMO, Louisville/Baylor/Mississippi State round out the top 6, not necessarily in that order though.
All teams are losing players from last year's squads, of course, and the interest is seeing how the new additions to the rotations make up for the losses. The three teams you list as 4-6 are no exceptions.
- Louisville: Hines-Allen was a staple of that team all four years she was there, with exceptional athletic ability and passion (maybe too much at times). Who is going to step up in the frontcourt? How will Coach W. readjust?
- Baylor. Well, the top two point guards from last year are now not in Waco. Deep talent...can someone step to run the ship and get the ball to Brown or Cox?
- Mississippi State. As much as we write about McCowan, Vivians was the focal point of that offense. She and her fellow senior class will be missed. Howard can board, but she has not shown herself to be the kind of "go to" player Vivians was (nor has she had to be, in all fairness).
There's a lot of talent on these teams, of course, which makes their graduation/transfer losses proportionate to other teams who may be coming back with less losses. I'll be keeping a particular eye on Louisville, in part, because the Irish are in the ACC and I live in Hines-Allen's hometown of Montclair, NJ.
