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Preseason All Americans

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These 5 players will compete for the AA guard positions vacated by Lexie Brown and a spot Gray would have contended for as they sit out transfer year.
Kia Nurse-UCONN, Kelsey Plum-WAS, Gabby Ortiz-OK, & Asia Durr-Louisville,& Johnson-Baylor.
I am betting on Durr & Johnson because both will have thier team in top 5 all year. Johnson was overlooked last year & I just don't see voters giving UCONN 4 AA players (Morgan would be the 3rd).
 
Kaizen said:
Kia Nurse should be in the Third Team or HM.... I watch several UConn's replays and agree that why Geno will start her in 2014-2015 session.
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That is a very bold prediction.
 
CocoHusky said:
These 5 players will compete for the AA guard positions vacated by Lexie Brown and a spot Gray would have contended for as they sit out transfer year.
Kia Nurse-UCONN, Kelsey Plum-WAS, Gabby Ortiz-OK, & Asia Durr-Louisville,& Johnson-Baylor.
I am betting on Durr & Johnson because both will have thier team in top 5 all year. Johnson was overlooked last year & I just don't see voters giving UCONN 4 AA players (Morgan would be the 3rd).
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I think Johnson lead the nation in assist to turnover ratio and was the ultimate PG in the way she ran the team but she got almost no recognition.
 
easttexastrash said:
I think Johnson lead the nation in assist to turnover ratio and was the ultimate PG in the way she ran the team but she got almost no recognition.
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Almost no recognition. I believe she was a finalist for the Lieberman award or was down selected very late in the process.
 
CocoHusky said:
These 5 players will compete for the AA guard positions vacated by Lexie Brown and a spot Gray would have contended for as they sit out transfer year.
Kia Nurse-UCONN, Kelsey Plum-WAS, Gabby Ortiz-OK, & Asia Durr-Louisville,& Johnson-Baylor.
I am betting on Durr & Johnson because both will have thier team in top 5 all year. Johnson was overlooked last year & I just don't see voters giving UCONN 4 AA players (Morgan would be the 3rd).
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I think that Nurse, Plum, and Johnson are excellent possibilities to compete for AA honors at the guard spot, but I think there are far more likely and deserving candidates than Ortiz and Durr. I think you selected Ortiz based upon her solid play on the U19 team this summer, but the younger competition made her look more impressive. In college she would compete with more experienced and proven vets, and women that are simply better players than her. For example, Lindsey Allen had far better stats last season playing a tougher schedule (all stats are per game where appropriate; otherwise they are averages):

Stat_____Allen____Ortiz
Min______31_______32
FG%_____52_______36
3FG%____37_______33
FT%_____85_______70
Reb_____3.5_______3.7
Ast______5.3_______3.5
TO______2.5_______2.5
A/TO____2.1_______1.4
St______1.3_______1.0
Pts_____10.4______8.2

I realize that stats don't reveal everything, but I think that Allen is a far more likely AA selection than Oritz, as are several other guards across the country. But maybe Ortiz's sophomore jump will surprise me...

As for Durr, I think it is very hard for a freshman to make an AA team unless she scores a lot of points. She may do that (despite competing with Moore for the basketball) but because Louisville is such a young team (they graduated 122/200 minutes per game!), I think they will struggle a bit this season and that will hurt Asia's chances. I also think that the freshman version of Durr will not be a top guard in WCBB.
 
Fightin Choke said:
I think that Nurse, Plum, and Johnson are excellent possibilities to compete for AA honors at the guard spot, but I think there are far more likely and deserving candidates than Ortiz and Durr. I think you selected Ortiz based upon her solid play on the U19 team this summer, but the younger competition made her look more impressive. In college she would compete with more experienced and proven vets, and women that are simply better players than her. For example, Lindsey Allen had far better stats last season playing a tougher schedule (all stats are per game where appropriate; otherwise they are averages):

Stat_____Allen____Ortiz
Min______31_______32
FG%_____52_______36
3FG%____37_______33
FT%_____85_______70
Reb_____3.5_______3.7
Ast______5.3_______3.5
TO______2.5_______2.5
A/TO____2.1_______1.4
St______1.3_______1.0
Pts_____10.4______8.2

I realize that stats don't reveal everything, but I think that Allen is a far more likely AA selection than Oritz, as are several other guards across the country. But maybe Ortiz's sophomore jump will surprise me...

As for Durr, I think it is very hard for a freshman to make an AA team unless she scores a lot of points. She may do that (despite competing with Moore for the basketball) but because Louisville is such a young team (they graduated 122/200 minutes per game!), I think they will struggle a bit this season and that will hurt Asia's chances. I also think that the freshman version of Durr will not be a top guard in WCBB.
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I strongly agree with most of your points. I did not include Lindsey Allen in the discussion- contendinng for AA honors- because IMO she is a lock to make at least 3rd team at the PG position. The numbers (comparing Allen to Ortiz) are complelling but I have seen both play enough times to not need the numbers to tell me Allen is the better player and more worthy of AA selection. Valid point about Durr and the young Louisville team, I would counter that by saying Mitchell and Hart propelled OSU significantly last year when both were Freshmen and I believe Durr, Fuering , Degreate, Cole & Jones could propel the Cards on a similar arc. That is 5 Top 100 players and #1 recruiting class as ranked by some services. I not talking National Championship, I'm more thinking Cards =Top 5 team by end of the year.
 
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CocoHusky said:
I strongly agree with most of your points. I did not include Lindsey Allen in the discussion- contendinng for AA honors- because IMO she is a lock to make at least 3rd team at the PG position. The numbers (comparing Allen to Ortiz) are complelling but I have seen both play enough times to not need the numbers to tell me Allen is the better player and more worthy of AA selection. Valid point about Durr and the young Louisville team, I would counter that by saying Mitchell and Hart propelled OSU significantly last year when both were Freshmen and I believe Durr, Fuering , Degreate, Cole & Jones could propel the Cards on a similar arc. That is 5 Top 100 players and #1 recruiting class as ranked by some services. I not talking National Championship, I'm more thinking Cards =Top 5 team by end of the year.
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Bballnut90 has Allen as an HM, so I figured that was where you placed her as well. It seems we both agree that she is better than Ortiz, however, it remains to be seen whether Lindsay earns a spot on one of the AA teams.

But I respectfully disagree with your assessment that Louisville may be top 5 this season. As I wrote above, they lost a ridiculous amount of minutes, so the team is very raw. You compared them to an amazing OSU team, but that team (which truly performed beyond expectations during the latter half of the regular season) played to their 5-seed in the big dance, defeating JMU in the first round but losing to UNC (4-seed) in the second round. Another comparison would be last season's UCLA team, which had an acclaimed recruiting class but finished the regular season/PAC12 tourney with a 13-18 record before really coming together in the NIT, winning it all. The most favorable comparison in recent years might be the young UNC squad 2 years ago, but they had a fair amount of upperclassmen to provide leadership, whereas the cupboard is basically bare when looking at juniors and seniors on the Louisville roster. Of course that UNC team lost in the Elite 8 and there are very few people that would have considered them a top 5 team. Finally, I do not believe that Louisville's 2015 class of recruits exceeds UCLA's or UNC's in expectations/hype. We shall see how quickly they gel this season, but top 5 seems unlikely to me.
 
Fightin Choke said:
Bballnut90 has Allen as an HM, so I figured that was where you placed her as well. It seems we both agree that she is better than Ortiz, however, it remains to be seen whether Lindsay earns a spot on one of the AA teams.

But I respectfully disagree with your assessment that Louisville may be top 5 this season. As I wrote above, they lost a ridiculous amount of minutes, so the team is very raw. You compared them to an amazing OSU team, but that team (which truly performed beyond expectations during the latter half of the regular season) played to their 5-seed in the big dance, defeating JMU in the first round but losing to UNC (4-seed) in the second round. Another comparison would be last season's UCLA team, which had an acclaimed recruiting class but finished the regular season/PAC12 tourney with a 13-18 record before really coming together in the NIT, winning it all. The most favorable comparison in recent years might be the young UNC squad 2 years ago, but they had a fair amount of upperclassmen to provide leadership, whereas the cupboard is basically bare when looking at juniors and seniors on the Louisville roster. Of course that UNC team lost in the Elite 8 and there are very few people that would have considered them a top 5 team. Finally, I do not believe that Louisville's 2015 class of recruits exceeds UCLA's or UNC's in expectations/hype. We shall see how quickly they gel this season, but top 5 seems unlikely to me.
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Agree about Louisville. I don't see how they will finish ahead of UConn, ND, USCe, Baylor or Duke. And that's not even considering Ohio St or Tennessee.
I think Louisville struggles to make the top 10 this year.
 
rvwsleep said:
Agree about Louisville. I don't see how they will finish ahead of UConn, ND, USCe, Baylor or Duke. And that's not even considering Ohio St or Tennessee.
I think Louisville struggles to make the top 10 this year.
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I see Louisville as the #4 team in the ACC.... no shame in that for a young squad.
 
chrissaran said:
I know Breanna wouldn't mention it, but didn't she hurt her ankle? She didn't have her usual lift after that.
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Breanna didn't mention it but I thought I remember reading that Geno said it was serious roll over and that her ankle was still in bad shape a few days after the game.
 
bballnut90 said:
Breanna Stewart, Sr, Connecticut-Stewart will be the heavy favorite to take home her third POY award and fourth championship. She is incredibly difficult to match up with, and will need to take a leadership role for UCONN to be successful next year.
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Stewart really does not need to take on a leadership role for UConn to be successful as Jefferson, Tuck and even Nurse could easily fill that role.
 
johnnyc said:
Breanna didn't mention it but I thought I remember reading that Geno said it was serious roll over and that her ankle was still in bad shape a few days after the game.
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From Geno:
"Look at what she did after she sprained her ankle [late in the first half] in the title game—and I saw that ankle a couple of days later, and it was blown up. She subtly had 15 rebounds and four blocked shots, not to mention how many shots she changed."
i-MtTcRkX-M.jpg
 
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jdubct said:
I think she'll more than sneak in. Her play will probably command a place on the third or even on the second team.
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I dont think she will be on the Pre-season All-American team... but if she peforms as expected during the season I expect to see her on some post season All-American lists. Perhaps its the Duke fan in me, but I still think she is overshadowed a bit and will slot behind K.Mitchell, Wilson, and Turner in terms of rising sophomores
 
With Burdick and Harrison, both HM All-Americans and 1st team SEC graduated, I think one of either Graves or Russell will be an All-American. Just depends on which one is more dominant. After seeing Russell play much better than she did as a freshman while overseas, while also adding a lot of strength, I think she DeShields and Graves can all contend for AA status, and they'll prove to be one of the most lethal trios in the country.
 
BroadwayVa said:
Tuck definitely All American first team. If Nurse performs half as well as she did in the Pan Am Medal game we may have another candidate. Tuck was overlooked, cheated, by-passed, left-out of this year's A.A. first team (take your choice )
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As will Nurse be left out next year save a season where she out-plays (and out-scores) the ferocious trio that is Stewie-Mo-Tuck. Actually I guess she only needs to beat Tuck in this race. But then how sad? Tuck really deserves it. Realistically tho I think she gets 2nd team and Nurse waits in line like most, not all other Huskies before her.
 
VolFan said:
With Burdick and Harrison, both HM All-Americans and 1st team SEC graduated, I think one of either Graves or Russell will be an All-American. Just depends on which one is more dominant. After seeing Russell play much better than she did as a freshman while overseas, while also adding a lot of strength, I think she DeShields and Graves can all contend for AA status, and they'll prove to be one of the most lethal trios in the country.
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I like Graves, but I just don't see it. She excels best when she has space in the paint to use her quickness to get by defenders. She played her best ball without Harrison in the paint taking up space. Russell is a big post and will draw a lot of attention inside. I don't see Tennessee having spacing that will be favorable to Graves. Graves also has had underwhelming sophomore and junior seasons after she was arguably the top freshman in the nation back in 2012-13. Kind of crazy to think she was outplaying Stewart for much of their freshman seasons. I'd look for DeShields and possibly Russell as the AA candidates. That said, it has been over a decade since Tennessee has had 2 major threats for AA (last in 2003 with Lawson/Jackson). Tennessee historically does best when they have a superstar (ex. Parker, Holdsclaw, Gordon, McCray, etc) to build their offense around and others omplimentary players have more specialized roles (ex. Spencer/Zolman as shooters, Auguste/Niya Butts as a defensive sparkplug, Bobbitt/Jolly as steady point guards, etc.) rather than UCONN and Notre Dame who typically have more balance in their offense and a slew of 10ppg+ scorers.
 
triaddukefan said:
I dont think she will be on the Pre-season All-American team... but if she peforms as expected during the season I expect to see her on some post season All-American lists. Perhaps its the Duke fan in me, but I still think she is overshadowed a bit and will slot behind K.Mitchell, Wilson, and Turner in terms of rising sophomores
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Agreed. The difference is, Wilson and Turner are coming from Final Four teams and Mitchell scored a zillion points per game last year. Stevens is outstanding and a unique player with the size and skill set, but she isn't on a top team, nor was she an 18-20ppg scorer last years so she could definitely get overlooked. That said, if Duke is a better team this year and she has a big year, she'll definitely get some recognition.
 
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IMHO the Pre-season AA team will be:

1st team
Stewart, PF, UCONN
Jefferson, PG, UCONN
Tuck, F/C UCONN
Nina Davis, SF, Baylor
Tiffany Mitchell, SG, SoCar

2nd team
DeShields, TN
Mitchell, theOSU
Turner, ND
A'ja Wilson SoCar
Stevens, Duke

3rd team
Hamblin, Oregon St.
Coates, SoCar
Nurse, UCONN
Alleyne, Oregon
Allen, ND
 
RSHERMVIKES said:
IMHO the Pre-season AA team will be:

1st team
Stewart, PF, UCONN
Jefferson, PG, UCONN
Tuck, F/C UCONN
Nina Davis, SF, Baylor
Tiffany Mitchell, SG, SoCar

2nd team
DeShields, TN
Mitchell, theOSU
Turner, ND
A'ja Wilson SoCar
Stevens, Duke

3rd team
Hamblin, Oregon St.
Coates, SoCar
Nurse, UCONN
Alleyne, Oregon
Allen, ND
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Seems reasonable. Wouldn't surprise me if the Mitchells were flip-flopped.
 
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