I hope you understand why I'm not getting into it over the relative coaching skills in the other thread. I think Coach Ivey is very good and her time as a point guard wining a championship then, as Muffets assistant, then the NBA, qualifies her very well. Those are facts but how good she is vs another coach with a different history and a different group of players gets to be a shouting match. Even the results of one game only tells you about that game.ND Projected to Win ACC; Hidalgo Named ACC-Preseason POY, Joining Citron, Miles on First Team
In the meantime, Transfer Liza Karlen and frosh Kate Koval are named to the Newcomer List.
Liatu King, who made All-ACC playing for Pitt, was snubbed for All-ACC Honors, which screams that the ACC Panel decided they could only have so many Irish on it. And she didn't make ACC Newcomer because -- well, she's not new to the ACC, just the Irish.
In regards to the teams' projected finishes, the Irish took the vast majority of the votes, with NC State getting a few votes and coming in second, with Duke third, Louisville fourth and Florida State fifth. Newcomer Stanford was projected to finish seventh.
In any case, here's the article Irish beat writer Tyler Horka wrote from an Irish perspective:
Oh yes....I hope you understand why I'm not getting into it over the relative coaching skills in the other thread. I think Coach Ivey is very good and her time as a point guard wining a championship then, as Muffets assistant, then the NBA, qualifies her very well. Those are facts but how good she is vs another coach with a different history and a different group of players gets to be a shouting match. Even the results of one game only tells you about that game.
How is UCONN at 16?? We face ND, SC, USC, Iowa State, Louisville, etc. Our conference isn't great outside of Creighton and maybe Butler this season but come on. That's multiple top 10 teams.I think the Irish will need all the talent they can get given a really tough schedule. Obviously early but Massey has their strength of schedule #3. His list is
1. Iowa
2. South Carolina
3. Notre Dame
4. Louisville
5. UCLA
6. Duke
7. Stanford
8. USC
9. Texas
10. Maryland
...
16. Connecticut
Of course this will change over time and I think the conference reshuffle moved talent into the ACC, BIG, ,SEC from the old version of the PAC, etc.
I was very surprised at Uconn placement as they are usually much higher. But as these very early rankings change so does the strength of schedule.
Massey differs from the ACC panel and has the ACC at Stanford, NC State, Notre Dame, Duke, Virginia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina, etc.
The attached has to be sorted by SSF to get the strength of schedule result: Massey Ratings - College Basketball Women's : NCAA D1 Ratings
I was surprised to but if you drill into it the basis is his current rankings.How is UCONN at 16?? We face ND, SC, USC, Iowa State, Louisville, etc. Our conference isn't great outside of Creighton and maybe Butler this season but come on. That's multiple top 10 teams.
How on earth did Stanford make his list? Who do they have left??I was surprised to but if you drill into it the basis is his current rankings.
Uconn only plays 2 teams ranked 10 or higher, ND and South Carolina. Just picking Texas they play 4, ND, South Carolina twice, and LSU.
Most of the teams you listed playing Uconn are not in Masseys top 10, only ND and South Carolina.
All of this changes as the rankings change over time.
If the only way to win is hope for injuries I'd rather not play, but to each their own. I honestly hope every team ND plays is at full strength so if ND wins the only excuse you have left are to blame the refs. I don't mean to offend you but that's how I feel.My recollection based on past thread dialogues was Massey is still skewed with last years games as it will take 10 or so games this year to ferret out how teams really are.
I hate to say this to the ND fans, but I was happy to read about the injury concerns with Watson and Westbeld as that is where UConn is thinnest in experience. Not sure what to make of Koval as she was #5 in Hoopgurlz and Hildago was awesome last year in her debut so with both Watson and Westbeld on the mend, playing time will be given that Koval could shine. How good is she really, no one knows at this juncture. The only freshmen center who was an immediate success on the high profile level was Aliyah Boston. All other bigs took some time to fully realize their impact-Stewie, Wilson, Brink. Selfishly, I hope Koval takes lots of time....
This point has needed to be made every year it seems. Thank you. Meaningless is the word to describe Massey preseason.Massey preseason rankings mean basically nothing. All it is is averaging each teams success for last 2 or 3 years. Personnel is not looked at at all.
How on earth did Stanford make his list? Who do they have left??
That might be, I've never asked him.Massey preseason rankings mean basically nothing. All it is is averaging each teams success for last 2 or 3 years. Personnel is not looked at at all.
I actually don't know how he gets them but I'll send him a note to ask. I'm curious now.Massey preseason rankings mean basically nothing. All it is is averaging each teams success for last 2 or 3 years. Personnel is not looked at at all.
I asked him and he uses a "weighted average from previous seasons."That might be, I've never asked him.
I actually don't know how he gets them but I'll send him a note to ask. I'm curious now.
Update: Koval is out of the boot and practicing as if nothing was ever wrong.Yup.
Crickets abound in South Bend on that, so fingers are crossed that the boot is for pre-cautionary measures only.
Irish injury streak carries over from last year to this pre-season: Kylee Watson is probably out rehabbing the ACL she suffered in the play-offs; KK Bransford decided to take a redshirt year off to rehab a lower-leg injury; and, Maddy Westbeld having foot surgery a month ago. While Westbeld said she hoped to be back this season, who knows what the timeline is? And now this.
Thank the Dome, Coach Ivey recruited both Lizzie Karlen and Liatu King from the transfer portal. Very much having fingers crossed and thinking good thoughts for both Westbeld and Kate Koval.
Watson is as I expected, her injury was far too late in the season and it wouldnt be worth it to play maybe 4-5 games.There was an exhibition with Davenport last night 101-44 score means nothing.
Karlen went out with a ankle injury unknown severity, Citron was in a boot and didn't play, Westbeld & Risch were in street clothes, and Watson is out for the year.
I'm getting this second hand so feel free to correct me if you were there.
Several reports from the Bench came in from folks that were at the game and you're on target:There was an exhibition with Davenport last night 101-44 score means nothing.
Karlen went out with a ankle injury unknown severity, Citron was in a boot and didn't play, Westbeld & Risch were in street clothes, and Watson is out for the year.
I'm getting this second hand so feel free to correct me if you were there.
According to Benchers who attended, both PG's took turns directly the offense, but Hidalgo was very much playing off ball strongly.To me Miles and Hidalgo are both pure point guards. So, if they are in the backcourt together. I am really curious to see how that works. I think Hidalgo would probably be better off ball than Miles if I had to speculate.