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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 4423388, member: 12088"] I think this team is going to be [B]at least as good[/B] as the team that eventually got us to the NC game last year. There, I said it. Yes, we don’t have Paige, who was a bit rickety down the stretch, probably from carrying the team as far as she did. But Azzi looks to be a much fuller court presence than she was last year and will only grow her game, even to titanic proportions. And our front court depth seems better with Aubrey back, and could get to be much better as Ayanna and Amari develop. Our energy on the boards is phenomenal even now, and this was a weakness. Our post scoring could become much better than last year, even if it seems a little erratic now. Aaliyah and Dorka look to be rising stars. And they will benefit from the next item, our perimeter game. Our perimeter game is much better than last year, as is our ability to score in the midrange. We haven’t lost any punch in this area despite graduating 2 great players and may have gained a lot. We lost the NPOY but have somehow gotten stronger. And we haven’t even seen Caroline play yet. Our primary opponent, SC, is probably just as strong as they were last year. PG is a question mark, but they have several candidates to make that position work. By contrast, we could bring a much stronger team to this matchup. I like our chances in the rematch before the tournament. Aaliyah and Aubrey look like they’re ready to bring the strength and energy we’ll need, and Dorka could well be a factor who can’t be accounted for in that game. If we win, we’d have to be the favorite in the tournament. But even if we lose this first game, I think we’ll come back for the rematch in the NC game even stronger. Other teams may have gotten better from last year — Stanford, Texas, Louisville, ND, even Tennessee — but I really like our chances against all of them. There could be surprises early on, and of course injuries could derail this train. But if we beat Texas and NCst convincingly, and then Duke and Iowa, I even like our chances to run the table. Even if we don’t get NC #12 this year, if we get knocked off in the FF, say to SC or Stanford, but play tough the whole way, imagine the consternation the rest of D1 will feel in view of the team we’ll bring back the following year. [/QUOTE]

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