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Baring injuries and major transfers, I would totally agree with Lotrader in respect to his take on the teams and predictions for the Pac12. Oregon St major problem this season was a lack of scoring from their post position and their decline in 3pt percentage. Gremek, while not as slow as she was made out to be, had bad hands which contributed to her lack of scoring.
People totally did not recognize how much the loss of Kat would affect the teams outside scoring. She has one of the quickest catch and shoot releases in basketball. When she is one teams have to face guard her at all times. This opened up not only lanes but open shots for other players. In is no coincidence that the 3pt shooting percentage of her teammates dropped once she was injured. She was also one of the teams better on the ball defenders.
The other aspect-- lack of point production from the post should also provide more open looks for the outside shooters. Aquino is a really good passer along with mid-range and beyond shooter who' height should be able to get the ball into whomever, they have playing center. Brown has similar height and skill set so they can both play the same role. They will be very difficult to defend in the high post. Very much like Cox and Brown were. I along with LoTrader also believe their lack of low post scoring will be a thing of the past.
Speaking of Baylor. Though they have plenty of talent returning they will not be the same type of team they were the last few years. Smith will not replace Brown, she is an entirely different type of player. As Mulkey state in the Natty Game. Smith relies on the O boards for her points. She does not get them via position and muscle like Brown but slashing to an open space- she out quicks her defenders for O boards and points in the paint. The player who resembles Brown is Egbo. Unless they play small she will play center. With Brown gone they will have to get those low post points from somewhere else. She attracted a lot of attention and the dynamics should be quite different. Those O rebounds for Smith and others should not be so easily gotten as they were when Brown attracted a lot of help defense from her low post position. They will miss Jackson, but perhaps they can attract a grad student transfer again. With no Brown in the low post, they will need outside scoring more than ever.
Oregon can also increase their chances quite a bit if they can also attract a grad transfer point ot guard. With the number of players either announcing their intent to transfer or placing their names in the Portal the odds of that happening are vastly increased. Especially since they are one of the favored teams and the chance to play for a contender seems to be a real attraction.
