Preseason Top 15 | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Preseason Top 15

vowelguy said:
Updated post Ionescu

  1. Oregon
  2. Baylor
  3. Maryland
  4. Stanford
  5. So carolina
  6. Oregon st
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Solid ranking. I can’t even quibble.
How far down would you put UConn?
 
late night (early morning) after eating banana pudding ranking

1) Oregon
2) Baylor
3) UConn
4) Maryland
5) Lower Carolina
6) Stanford
7) Oregon State
 
DaBball said:
Oregon State defeated both South Carolina and Oregon this season and they return a lot of key pieces, and also add some too. Destiny Slocum and Mikayla Pivec are an awesome 1-2 punch in the backcourt and Kat Tudor is a terrific shooter, and Aleah Goodman provides sensational depth. I don’t think Katie McWilliams will be missed a whole lot once Kat returns. Taya Corosdale returns at the 4 and they have a whole lot of candidates at the 5 - including 6’9” Andrea Aquino. Depending on how the front court pans out, they will be very good.

I think I may put them ahead of Notre Dame, a team they competed closely with early in the season, but Notre Dame loses so much to graduation - Oregon State doesn’t.
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Oregon State is really tricky to predict for next year because so much depends on how good some of its young bigs turn out to be. They do return 4 excellent, experienced guards as you mentioned. Their 5th guard/wing (Simmons) somewhat under performed as a freshman IMO but has potential. They also return 3 front court players with experience, but 1 is undersized (the 6'1" Washington...and 6'1" is being generous), 1 is a hustler but offensively challenged and foul prone (6'2" Thropay), and the third is a good rebounder and fair to good defender but is offensively inconsistent (6'3" Corosdale). So, ultimately how far the Beavers go will depend a lot on how their 2 other inexperienced returning bigs ( sophomore 6'7" Morris, redshirt freshman 6'9" Aquino) develop over winter and/or how fast their new freshman (6'9" Mitrovic, 6'6" Brown, 6'3" Jones) learn from the get go. If at least 2 of these 5 can make significant contributions both offensively and defensively next season, the Beavers could battle with Oregon and Stanford.
 
Rblack335 said:
My recollection is that historically the only players who declared early were players opting out of their 5th year of eligibility. Example being Candace Parker leaving after four years with Tennessee.

Jewel was one of the first players to declare after attending only three years of college. It came as a surprise to me, since it was something we hadn’t really seen in the women’s game. Unless my memory is failing me.
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Zahui B and Epiphanny Prince
 
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triaddukefan said:
late night (early morning) after eating banana pudding ranking

1) Oregon
2) Baylor
3) UConn
4) Maryland
5) Lower Carolina
6) Stanford
7) Oregon State
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About Oregon:

I think one of the positives for Oregon fans is that the returning players still have a ways to go to reach their potential. I believe that this is true even of Ionescu, who is sure to spend her summer addressing/obsessing over the "challenges" of the Kobe Bryant scouting report on ESPN+. It's easy to forget how raw Hebard was when she arrived in Eugene, and, although she's obviously come a very long way, her offensive game certainly could be more diverse. S. Sabally has likewise improved considerably since her freshman year---she was voted all Pac 12 after all--but, as both she and Graves have said, there's still a lot to be added/improved: focus, aggressiveness (minus the charges), avoiding silly fouls, and getting better at involving her teammates (assists). And Boley needs to do more than camp out on the 3 point line, not to mention (imo) improve her conditioning, rebounding, and defense. Graves has proved to be very good at developing (most) players in the program, and I believe that will continue.

The other major positive is depth, which Oregon clearly didn't have all season and which really hurt the team after Hebard injured her knee during the second game against Oregon State and Chavez was sidelined for the remainder of the season a few games after that, reducing the roster to 8 players, one of them with back issues.

Although Cazorla will indeed be a substantial loss, Graves is very high on Chavez, and Jaz Shelley is supposed to be the real deal, having won all sorts of awards in Australia this past year: defensive POY, MVP, "golden hands" (assists + steals - turnovers). But perhaps the biggest addition will be inside. According to Graves, and from what I've seen in FIBA videos, the younger Sabally, who was the MVP of the last two European tournaments in which she played, is a cross between her sister and Hebard: a bigger and stronger inside presence than the former, but a better ball handler and much better shooter from distance (including the 3 point line) than the latter. I suspect she won't start--at least initially--but she will get a lot of minutes, and it's possible that, at times, Oregon could field a frontline of Hebard + the two Sabally's, all of them 6'4" and with very diverse skill sets. And when one adds an incoming 6'5"/6'6" Australian post who outplayed both Aquira DeCosta and Olivia Nelson-Odda in Australia's victory over the US in (I think) the U17 FIBA Tournament, Oregon should finally will have some depth up front. Whether all of this will add up to a stronger team next season remains to be seen of course, but I suspect it will.
 
TerpWomenFan said:
I agree. I think FSU will be really good next season. I wouldn't be surprised to see them make an appearance in the top 10 next season.
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And they get River Baldwin and Samie Puisis. Hard to go wrong with a massive 6'5" presence in the middle, and everyone back from a Top 25 team. Having said that, however, they lost 6 of their last 10 games this season. And in the first round of the Tourney, they only beat Bucknell by 3 points.

Doesn't seem to be a problem of talent, per se...
 
TerpWomenFan said:
Top to bottom talent wise this may be true but I don't see Maryland as the #2 team.

1. Baylor
2. Oregon
3. UConn
4. Stanford
5. South Carolina
6. Maryland
7. Oregon State
8. Notre Dame
9. Louisville
10. NC State
11. MSST
12. Florida State
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Let me try this:

1) Oregon
2) Baylor
3) Stanford
4) Maryland
5) South Carolina
6) CONNECTICUT
7) Florida State
8) Notre Dame
9) ?
 
jonson said:
About Oregon:

I think one of the positives for Oregon fans is that the returning players still have a ways to go to reach their potential. I believe that this is true even of Ionescu, who is sure to spend her summer addressing/obsessing over the "challenges" of the Kobe Bryant scouting report on ESPN+. It's easy to forget how raw Hebard was when she arrived in Eugene, and, although she's obviously come a very long way, her offensive game certainly could be more diverse. S. Sabally has likewise improved considerably since her freshman year---she was voted all Pac 12 after all--but, as both she and Graves have said, there's still a lot to be added/improved: focus, aggressiveness (minus the charges), avoiding silly fouls, and getting better at involving her teammates (assists). And Boley needs to do more than camp out on the 3 point line, not to mention (imo) improve her conditioning, rebounding, and defense. Graves has proved to be very good at developing (most) players in the program, and I believe that will continue.

The other major positive is depth, which Oregon clearly didn't have all season and which really hurt the team after Hebard injured her knee during the second game against Oregon State and Chavez was sidelined for the remainder of the season a few games after that, reducing the roster to 8 players, one of them with back issues.

Although Cazorla will indeed be a substantial loss, Graves is very high on Chavez, and Jaz Shelley is supposed to be the real deal, having won all sorts of awards in Australia this past year: defensive POY, MVP, "golden hands" (assists + steals - turnovers). But perhaps the biggest addition will be inside. According to Graves, and from what I've seen in FIBA videos, the younger Sabally, who was the MVP of the last two European tournaments in which she played, is a cross between her sister and Hebard: a bigger and stronger inside presence than the former, but a better ball handler and much better shooter from distance (including the 3 point line) than the latter. I suspect she won't start--at least initially--but she will get a lot of minutes, and it's possible that, at times, Oregon could field a frontline of Hebard + the two Sabally's, all of them 6'4" and with very diverse skill sets. And when one adds an incoming 6'5"/6'6" Australian post who outplayed both Aquira DeCosta and Olivia Nelson-Odda in Australia's victory over the US in (I think) the U17 FIBA Tournament, Oregon should finally will have some depth up front. Whether all of this will add up to a stronger team next season remains to be seen of course, but I suspect it will.
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Cochrane had 3 points and 9 rebounds. Nelson-Ododa had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Outplayed her? DeCosta had 12
points and 8 rebounds.
 
DaBball said:
Cochrane had 3 points and 9 rebounds. Nelson-Ododa had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Outplayed her? DeCosta had 12
points and 8 rebounds.
Expand ...

Well, that's my take based on the video of the game and her time on the court. She was, I think, only 15 at the time and her role was to rebound and defend, both of which she did very well. (She had 4 blocks.). Only Shelley scored more than 10 points for the Aussies.
 
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Next year will be very different for Miss State. Vic has been losing seniors and replacing them with seniors to-be with a lot of experience. Unless he lands some graduate transfers, he won't have a senior on next year's team. (My money is on him landing someone.)

He will have a lot of pieces, and he is a good coach, so it will be interesting to see what he can put together. If he can get the new players to gel, he could end up Top 10 next year and be a real threat to win it all in 2021.
 
Updated again
Tier 1 teams (title favorites):
1. Oregon-Ionsecu is back so they should be the prohibitive front runners alongside Baylor. Everyone is back aside from Cazorla, plus they bring in the younger Sabally. Ionescu will be the heavy favorite for all POY awards next year and anything less than a title will be a disappointment for Oregon.

2. Baylor-they'll be loaded once again with their sophomore class plus Cox who avoided an ACL. Big losses are Brown and Jackson, but the development of players like Smith, Landrum, Egbo and Decosta should help offset that. At first glance I'd expect Ursin to step in for Jackson and share PG duties with Landrum. I think there's a drop off there but if the freshmen develop and Cox is operating out of the high post, Baylor is going to be deadly. So much talent on the roster and Kim has done a stellar job developing her current players.

Tier 2 Team (title contender)
3. Connecticut-they lose 2 greats but still have a very good core of Dangerfield, Williams and Walker. Look for ONO to make strides in the offseason. Aside from that, the cupboard is very thin but UCONN is UCONN. Coaching staff is top notch and they still have 2 former HS POYs on the roster, Dangerfield who was a top PG recruit and ONO a top post recruit. They'll likely add a good grad transfer (or 2) in the offseason.

Tier 4 (could be a Final Four team or could struggle)
4. Oregon State-up and down year for OSU that finished with a disappointing Sweet 16 showing. They have almost everyone back and should get a boost from Aquino.

5. Texas A&M-everyone is back for the Aggies. Question is will they run a more balanced offense or will it be the Carter show?

6. Maryland-everyone is back for the Terps including potential POY candidate Kaila Charles. Better scheduling is needed.

7. South Carolina-after an up and down season they should be back in Final Four form 2 years post A'ja. They return good backcourt play but will be thin in the post without MHH. #1 class is huge but expecting the freshment to make a big impact from the get go may be ambitious.

8. Stanford-they lose Smith but will be strong with a great cast of players returning in addition to Jones and Belibi. Could easily rise up and be a top 4 team.


Tier 5-doesn't appear to be Final Four threat. Likely a Sweet 16 or Elite 8 squad:

9. NC State-they have a good roster back and should get a boost from their injured players returning. Leslie is a big loss.

10. Mississippi State-can't see them dropping too far down with Schaefer at the helm. They lose 4 starters but returning 2 stud outside shooters in AEH and Bibby. Also had some good contributions from Scott this year and look for Promise Taylor to make an impact in Starkville.

11. Florida State-a lot depends on who is coaching them, but no question Tennessee has top 10 talent on its roster. A starting 5 of Horston, Westbrook, Green, Davis and Collins could be outstanding.

12. Louisville-massive losses with Carter, Durr and Fuerhing. Much depends on if Walz stays and how the team adjusts without Asia.

13. Miami-all key contributors are back aside from Hoff.

14. Tennessee-made a smart choice to part with Holly. Appear to be losing Westbrook though and Holly's replacement is unknown. Really hard to say how this team stacks up with so many unknowns going into next season. Could be top 10 or fringe top 25. Talent is there, should be better than this year though.

15. UCLA-good talent returning, although lose Drummer and Burke. Onyenwere could lead UCLA into top




Others to keep an eye on:
MTSU-bring in 2 former top 10 players in Rellah Boothe (coming off ACL) and Anastasia Hayes...probably not a top 15 threat but worth keeping track of
Syracuse-stud PG is back
Notre Dame-Muffet is great but she has so little talent on this roster compared to every ND squad the past decade. Could be a rough year in South Bend.
Kentucky-Howard is back and Patterson is eligible. Could definitely rise higher.
Texas-really talented roster with Holmes/Sutton/Collier/Higgs all back. Horrendous coaching though.

Teams that may suffer the biggest drop offs include:
-Notre Dame
-Mississippi State
-Louisville
-Connecticut
 
Plebe said:
You're extremely generous to put UConn in a Tier 2 all by themselves.
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Past success gives them a bonus over teams that have more ppg returning. Plus their young trio of CW/ONO/MW looked stellar in the tournament and I'm banking on the fact that they'll make big improvements next year taking on larger roles. Comparing that to Maryland, a team looks good on paper and has everyone back from an underwhelming year, I'd predict UCONN will be the better team.
 
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bballnut90 said:
Past success gives them a bonus over teams that have more ppg returning. Plus their young trio of CW/ONO/MW looked stellar in the tournament and I'm banking on the fact that they'll make big improvements next year taking on larger roles. Comparing that to Maryland, a team looks good on paper and has everyone back from an underwhelming year, I'd predict UCONN will be the better team.
Expand ...
CW may be the best player on next year's team. I don't think Walker and CD can carry that team like KLS and Collier did this year (Walker did make some big shots against Notre Dame but CD struggled). Teams can clamp down on CD because of her size.
I don't think ONO is enough of an offensive threat to bring UConn to a real top four team. However, they may make final four simply because the rest of WCBB next year is down.
The most important position for Baylor next year (like this year) is PG. Who will step in? I have no doubt Mulkey will find someone.
Smith is a baller. She'll step in very well for Brown. She made some great shots against Notre Dame, and Cox can get her the ball very well.
Baylor remains elite with Oregon.
 
Undercovervol said:
CW may be the best player on next year's team. I don't think Walker and CD can carry that team like KLS and Collier did this year (Walker did make some big shots against Notre Dame but CD struggled). Teams can clamp down on CD because of her size.
I don't think ONO is enough of an offensive threat to bring UConn to a real top four team. However, they may make final four simply because the rest of WCBB next year is down.
The most important position for Baylor next year (like this year) is PG. Who will step in? I have no doubt Mulkey will find someone.
Smith is a baller. She'll step in very well for Brown. She made some great shots against Notre Dame, and Cox can get her the ball very well.
Baylor remains elite with Oregon.
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There just dont appear to be any truly elite teams next year outside of Baylor/Oregon. Connecticut has the most potential and could make noise, but I don't see any other squad rising up and threatening the top 2. Potentially Stanford if their freshmen are the real deal. UCONN could be a 4 headed monster next year with Walker, Williams, ONO, and CD.
 
bballnut90 said:
Updated again
Tier 1 teams (title favorites):
1. Oregon-Ionsecu is back so they should be the prohibitive front runners alongside Baylor. Everyone is back aside from Cazorla, plus they bring in the younger Sabally. Ionescu will be the heavy favorite for all POY awards next year and anything less than a title will be a disappointment for Oregon.

2. Baylor-they'll be loaded once again with their sophomore class plus Cox who avoided an ACL. Big losses are Brown and Jackson, but the development of players like Smith, Landrum, Egbo and Decosta should help offset that. At first glance I'd expect Ursin to step in for Jackson and share PG duties with Landrum. I think there's a drop off there but if the freshmen develop and Cox is operating out of the high post, Baylor is going to be deadly. So much talent on the roster and Kim has done a stellar job developing her current players.

Tier 2 Team (title contender)
3. Connecticut-they lose 2 greats but still have a very good core of Dangerfield, Williams and Walker. Look for ONO to make strides in the offseason. Aside from that, the cupboard is very thin but UCONN is UCONN. Coaching staff is top notch and they still have 2 former HS POYs on the roster, Dangerfield who was a top PG recruit and ONO a top post recruit. They'll likely add a good grad transfer (or 2) in the offseason.

Tier 4 (could be a Final Four team or could struggle)
4. Oregon State-up and down year for OSU that finished with a disappointing Sweet 16 showing. They have almost everyone back and should get a boost from Aquino.

5. Texas A&M-everyone is back for the Aggies. Question is will they run a more balanced offense or will it be the Carter show?

6. Maryland-everyone is back for the Terps including potential POY candidate Kaila Charles. Better scheduling is needed.

7. South Carolina-after an up and down season they should be back in Final Four form 2 years post A'ja. They return good backcourt play but will be thin in the post without MHH. #1 class is huge but expecting the freshment to make a big impact from the get go may be ambitious.

8. Stanford-they lose Smith but will be strong with a great cast of players returning in addition to Jones and Belibi. Could easily rise up and be a top 4 team.


Tier 5-doesn't appear to be Final Four threat. Likely a Sweet 16 or Elite 8 squad:

9. NC State-they have a good roster back and should get a boost from their injured players returning. Leslie is a big loss.

10. Mississippi State-can't see them dropping too far down with Schaefer at the helm. They lose 4 starters but returning 2 stud outside shooters in AEH and Bibby. Also had some good contributions from Scott this year and look for Promise Taylor to make an impact in Starkville.

11. Florida State-a lot depends on who is coaching them, but no question Tennessee has top 10 talent on its roster. A starting 5 of Horston, Westbrook, Green, Davis and Collins could be outstanding.

12. Louisville-massive losses with Carter, Durr and Fuerhing. Much depends on if Walz stays and how the team adjusts without Asia.

13. Miami-all key contributors are back aside from Hoff.

14. Tennessee-made a smart choice to part with Holly. Appear to be losing Westbrook though and Holly's replacement is unknown. Really hard to say how this team stacks up with so many unknowns going into next season. Could be top 10 or fringe top 25. Talent is there, should be better than this year though.

15. UCLA-good talent returning, although lose Drummer and Burke. Onyenwere could lead UCLA into top




Others to keep an eye on:
MTSU-bring in 2 former top 10 players in Rellah Boothe (coming off ACL) and Anastasia Hayes...probably not a top 15 threat but worth keeping track of
Syracuse-stud PG is back
Notre Dame-Muffet is great but she has so little talent on this roster compared to every ND squad the past decade. Could be a rough year in South Bend.
Kentucky-Howard is back and Patterson is eligible. Could definitely rise higher.
Texas-really talented roster with Holmes/Sutton/Collier/Higgs all back. Horrendous coaching though.

Teams that may suffer the biggest drop offs include:
-Notre Dame
-Mississippi State
-Louisville
-Connecticut
Expand ...
I think ND maybe better then some think. Will see they still got talent they’ll just be a very young team and don’t be shocked if Muffet goes after a Grad transfer or 2. Or even just a transfer in general.
 
IrishTiger said:
I think ND maybe better then some think. Will see they still got talent they’ll just be a very young team and don’t be shocked if Muffet goes after a Grad transfer or 2. Or even just a transfer in general.
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We shall see. Vaughn looked pretty rough in the tournament and Prohaska works hard but looks more like a glue player than someone who will put up 10+ ppg. ND would've been a top 5 team on paper headed into next year if they didnt lose all 3 2015 recruits.
 
bballnut90 said:
We shall see. Vaughn looked pretty rough in the tournament and Prohaska works hard but looks more like a glue player than someone who will put up 10+ ppg. ND would've been a top 5 team on paper headed into next year if they didnt lose all 3 2015 recruits.
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Prohaska I think could be a player who does get around 10 ppg. I think Vaughn will step up along with some others.
 
Oregon State will be much improved next year if Kat Tudor returns healthy. OSU coaching Staff will have their post rotation locked down by the time PAC-12 play begins. Rueck has a lot of quality candidates for his post rotation, but Rueck will select his post rotation based upon: 1. Individual & Team Defensive skills, 2. Rebounding, 3. Post to Post & Post to Perimeter passing, 4. Screening, 5. Scoring the ball. And I am not worried about OSU's post players scoring the ball next season.

If Kat Tudor returns healthy, the PAC-12 race, and, the NCAA Portland Regional, is between Oregon & Oregon State. I believe Stanford (without Alana Smith) is 3rd in PAC-12. There is not a team in the PAC-12 who has 4 guards/wings like Oregon State: Mikayla Pivec, Kat Tudor, Destiny Slocum, and Aleah Goodman. Oregon's loss of Cozorla is a very BIG loss. Cozorla was the heartbeat of Oregon. Granted, Stanford has solid guard play as well, but losing Alana Smith is a very large loss. Oregon State's roster is full of experience, and skills. It will come down to the post rotation that Rueck and his staff are able to configure. This next season, I believe Oregon State's post play will return to the OSU post play of the past. GO BEAVS

BTW: I think most everyone has Texas A&M under-ranked in 2019-2020 season. I would have Texas A&M in the top 6, and UCONN in the top 10, but not in the top 5.
 
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vowelguy said:
UConn finished the regular season as the 4th-6th best team, and it loses its two -by far- best players. But yet it's gonna be #3?
Expand ...

Ya, id def have uconn in the top 4 and they will be a team competing for yet another final four and chanpionship next year as well. Uconn is losing its top 2 players so what, they still have geno..they lost nurse, Stephens and Williams the season before, but still had tremendous success this season.

As long as this team has geno on the sidelines, they will be in the mix for national championships. Thats just the way it is.
 
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bballnut90 said:
Past success gives them a bonus over teams that have more ppg returning. Plus their young trio of CW/ONO/MW looked stellar in the tournament and I'm banking on the fact that they'll make big improvements next year taking on larger roles. Comparing that to Maryland, a team looks good on paper and has everyone back from an underwhelming year, I'd predict UCONN will be the better team.
Expand ...
It took me a while to realize why something was bugging me about the grouping.

No tier 3?
 
IrishTiger said:
I think ND maybe better then some think. Will see they still got talent they’ll just be a very young team and don’t be shocked if Muffet goes after a Grad transfer or 2. Or even just a transfer in general.
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1554947840721.png
 
vowelguy said:
Updated post SC transfers
  1. Oregon
  2. Baylor
  3. Maryland
  4. Stanford
  5. Texas A&M
  6. Oregon st
  7. UConn
  8. Miami
  9. NC St
  10. Fla St
Kentucky, Syracuse, Miss St, ND
Expand ...

You are high on Miami :eek: Loosing Cornelius will hurt them though...... She may have been their 3rd leading scorer???? She definitely was their best outside shooter by far.
 
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