uconnbaseball
Hey there
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 6,902
- Reaction Score
- 9,261
At least, how I see it...
1. Baylor-45%
Kim Mulkey has proven that she can win a national championship, and now she has two of the best players in the game in Brittney Griner and Odyssey Sims. Griner is a game-changer on both sides of the ball; she has the ability to both block/alter shots defensively and score at will in the paint offensively. She is also a capable free throw shooter, unlike some of the superstar posts you'll find in the men's game. Sims, meanwhile, is one of the best on-ball defenders in the game and has quick hands. These two combine to give Baylor a fierce defense and go-to weapons offensively.
Their other starters are beginning to develop in their own right. Madden is a solid player and Destiny Williams, who struggled in Connecticut last year, has turned in some solid games recently as well. She had great games against Texas and Texas Tech this year and may have been the difference between Baylor winning and losing those games.
With that said, Baylor has some weaknesses. For starters, they have been vulnerable away from home at times, struggling to fight off the likes of Texas Tech and Iowa State. As great as Brittney Griner is, she isn't as good at rebounding as she should be considering her talent. She showed measurable progress in her shooting touch this offseason; next offseason she should work on her box-outs in my uneducated opinion. Also, like UConn last year, Baylor is not very deep. They only played 7 players against UConn this year. If either Griner or Sims gets into foul trouble, Baylor doesn't have as much depth as some of the other contenders do. Finally, they are not a great shooting team from beyond the arc (though they aren't bad at it, either, ranking 55th in the country in 3 point percentage). Overall, Baylor is a really good team, and with a proven coach and a ton of quality wins both in and out of conference, is a clear contender for the national championship. With that said, they have too many weaknesses to be considered a runaway favorite.
2. UConn-25%
I am saying there's a chance.
In my clearly unbiased opinion, Geno is the best coach in women's basketball today. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for us, yet we are clearly one of the best teams in the country. We do a great job of contesting without fouling and defending the three, which is why we have the #1 scoring defense in the country. We are also a powerhouse offensively and can score in the paint and from beyond the arc. But you guys know this already.
We don't have many weaknesses, but our lack of a dominant scorer down low will hurt us. Dolson is a very good player and can shoot the ball well for a post, but she isn't guaranteed 12+ points per game like Griner and the older Ogwumike sister is. Stokes is a great defender but still has work to do offensively. Also, one cannot discount our youth. We are still very, very young, though not that inexperienced.
3. Notre Dame-22%
Like Mulkey, McGraw is a proven coach, having won a national championship in 2001. This is her best team since then if you ask me. They have the #1 offense in the country and have a legitimate top 20 level defense. Unlike Baylor, all 5 of their starters are threats to score, and Diggins/Novosel are two of the best offensive players in the game. Peters is also very good.
With that said, they do not have dominating interior presence that Baylor has, nor do they have quite the defensive capabilities that UConn has. We will see if this "jack of all trades" team has the ability to win 6 games in a row. Their close game against Duke gives me pause, but they played well against both UConn and Baylor this year and have dominated vastly inferior competition in the way great UConn teams have done (they won 120-44 against Pitt!)
4. Stanford-6%
They have occasionally struggled against weaker Pac-12 team, including California who they needed overtime to beat. They were competitive at UConn but never really made a serious push late to win that one...that game is the only measure we have to compare them to the top teams in WBB, so they are a little bit of an unknown at this point. They have looked great at times (Tennessee, Texas, Arizona) and poor at others (USC, Xavier, Oregon State). They don't force many turnovers and are average from beyond the arc.
With that said, they are a threat to Baylor. Both Ogwumike sisters can challenge Griner and Stanford rebounds well enough to stay with Baylor on the boards (they are 5th in the country in that regard). They do not have a counter for Sims, so to upset Baylor, they will need her to have an off game. Stanford has the pieces to pull off an upset of one of the three teams above, but I don't feel they are consistent enough to win the national championship. They just have too many flaws.
5. The Field-2%
If someone from this category wins the national championship, we would all be shocked. Kentucky can force turnovers, but doesn't shoot that well and doesn't have a good enough interior presence to beat Baylor or Stanford. They could give UConn or Notre Dame a decent game though. Duke is very young and shoots like a high school team. I'm not sold on McCallie's coaching either. Miami doesn't play great defense. Maryland is flawed all around. UW-GB is unproven and needed overtime to beat the only top 25 team they've seen in Georgia Tech. Tennessee's problems have been dissected to death already so I won't go into them. Delaware has struggled against some of their conference foes and lost to a flawed Maryland team. Other mid-major sweethearts like Middle Tennessee and Marist are not quite as good as they normally are. I doubt any of these teams will make a serious run at the national championship.
In my opinion, WBB seems to be a 3 horse race this year. I am curious to see if an underdog like Delaware or Wisconsin-Green Bay can make the Final Four this year.
1. Baylor-45%
Kim Mulkey has proven that she can win a national championship, and now she has two of the best players in the game in Brittney Griner and Odyssey Sims. Griner is a game-changer on both sides of the ball; she has the ability to both block/alter shots defensively and score at will in the paint offensively. She is also a capable free throw shooter, unlike some of the superstar posts you'll find in the men's game. Sims, meanwhile, is one of the best on-ball defenders in the game and has quick hands. These two combine to give Baylor a fierce defense and go-to weapons offensively.
Their other starters are beginning to develop in their own right. Madden is a solid player and Destiny Williams, who struggled in Connecticut last year, has turned in some solid games recently as well. She had great games against Texas and Texas Tech this year and may have been the difference between Baylor winning and losing those games.
With that said, Baylor has some weaknesses. For starters, they have been vulnerable away from home at times, struggling to fight off the likes of Texas Tech and Iowa State. As great as Brittney Griner is, she isn't as good at rebounding as she should be considering her talent. She showed measurable progress in her shooting touch this offseason; next offseason she should work on her box-outs in my uneducated opinion. Also, like UConn last year, Baylor is not very deep. They only played 7 players against UConn this year. If either Griner or Sims gets into foul trouble, Baylor doesn't have as much depth as some of the other contenders do. Finally, they are not a great shooting team from beyond the arc (though they aren't bad at it, either, ranking 55th in the country in 3 point percentage). Overall, Baylor is a really good team, and with a proven coach and a ton of quality wins both in and out of conference, is a clear contender for the national championship. With that said, they have too many weaknesses to be considered a runaway favorite.
2. UConn-25%
I am saying there's a chance.
In my clearly unbiased opinion, Geno is the best coach in women's basketball today. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for us, yet we are clearly one of the best teams in the country. We do a great job of contesting without fouling and defending the three, which is why we have the #1 scoring defense in the country. We are also a powerhouse offensively and can score in the paint and from beyond the arc. But you guys know this already.
We don't have many weaknesses, but our lack of a dominant scorer down low will hurt us. Dolson is a very good player and can shoot the ball well for a post, but she isn't guaranteed 12+ points per game like Griner and the older Ogwumike sister is. Stokes is a great defender but still has work to do offensively. Also, one cannot discount our youth. We are still very, very young, though not that inexperienced.
3. Notre Dame-22%
Like Mulkey, McGraw is a proven coach, having won a national championship in 2001. This is her best team since then if you ask me. They have the #1 offense in the country and have a legitimate top 20 level defense. Unlike Baylor, all 5 of their starters are threats to score, and Diggins/Novosel are two of the best offensive players in the game. Peters is also very good.
With that said, they do not have dominating interior presence that Baylor has, nor do they have quite the defensive capabilities that UConn has. We will see if this "jack of all trades" team has the ability to win 6 games in a row. Their close game against Duke gives me pause, but they played well against both UConn and Baylor this year and have dominated vastly inferior competition in the way great UConn teams have done (they won 120-44 against Pitt!)
4. Stanford-6%
They have occasionally struggled against weaker Pac-12 team, including California who they needed overtime to beat. They were competitive at UConn but never really made a serious push late to win that one...that game is the only measure we have to compare them to the top teams in WBB, so they are a little bit of an unknown at this point. They have looked great at times (Tennessee, Texas, Arizona) and poor at others (USC, Xavier, Oregon State). They don't force many turnovers and are average from beyond the arc.
With that said, they are a threat to Baylor. Both Ogwumike sisters can challenge Griner and Stanford rebounds well enough to stay with Baylor on the boards (they are 5th in the country in that regard). They do not have a counter for Sims, so to upset Baylor, they will need her to have an off game. Stanford has the pieces to pull off an upset of one of the three teams above, but I don't feel they are consistent enough to win the national championship. They just have too many flaws.
5. The Field-2%
If someone from this category wins the national championship, we would all be shocked. Kentucky can force turnovers, but doesn't shoot that well and doesn't have a good enough interior presence to beat Baylor or Stanford. They could give UConn or Notre Dame a decent game though. Duke is very young and shoots like a high school team. I'm not sold on McCallie's coaching either. Miami doesn't play great defense. Maryland is flawed all around. UW-GB is unproven and needed overtime to beat the only top 25 team they've seen in Georgia Tech. Tennessee's problems have been dissected to death already so I won't go into them. Delaware has struggled against some of their conference foes and lost to a flawed Maryland team. Other mid-major sweethearts like Middle Tennessee and Marist are not quite as good as they normally are. I doubt any of these teams will make a serious run at the national championship.
In my opinion, WBB seems to be a 3 horse race this year. I am curious to see if an underdog like Delaware or Wisconsin-Green Bay can make the Final Four this year.
Right Now!!! Baylor deserves to be ranked #1
