Ranking of UConn's 2020 Recruiting Class?

[JoePgh]

I guess I had just assumed that UConn's recruiting class of Paige / Nika / Mir / Aaliyah / Piath would be the #1 recruiting class in the country for 2020. However, the announcers in the Temple game mentioned that it is ranked as the #2 recruiting class. Whose is considered better, and what players does it contain?

And, while we're on this sort of subject, the announcers said near the beginning of the broadcast that UConn is currently #1 in the country in team 3-point shooting percentage at 40%. But later they said that UConn is #2 in that statistic. Did something change during today's games? More importantly, what team has a higher 3-point percentage than UConn in the current year?

 

[MilfordHusky]

HoopGirlz has Oregon at #1. I think the Ducks have a really good class. All 5 members are McDonald's All-Americans and were their respective state's Gatorade POYs. Both of those things are VERY impressive. All 5 players are ranked between #10 and #33.

However, there are 2 things about the UConn class that may make it a better class. (1) HG ranks Edwards as #26. Many of us think she's clearly top 10. She has been on the Canadian National Team and played against pros. HG doesn't know how to rank Muhl, because she plays in Croatia. They assign her a default of 90 (3-star). They also don't know how to rank Gabriel, who "blew up" last summer. Thus, I think HG greatly undervalues 3 of our class. (2) We have Paige and they don't. She's not a typical #1 recruit. She's the best recruit since Stewie.

2020 Women's Basketball Class Rankings

The latest women's basketball rankings for the 2020 class are out. Get expert analysis on who has boosted their programs at espnW HoopGurlz.

www.espn.com

 

[maccca3232]

UConn is currently ranked 1st in 3pt % (39.8%) just in front of Gonzaga (39.4%) and Baylor (39.3%).

 

[MilfordHusky]

In terms of 3-point shooting, I noticed that UConn had raised their level to about 40% of late. The NCAA stats through yesterday:

1. UConn .398
2. Gonzaga .394
3. Baylor .393

Oregon is at 6.

After today's 14-26 barrage, the Huskies are at .403. They are #1 in the nation.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

All Star Girls Report and Prospects Nation rank UConn's class #1, the latter begin strange since they don't rank 2020 non-Americans and thus don't have a ranking for Edwards or Muhl.

 

[JoePgh]

UConn is currently ranked 1st in 3pt % (39.8%) just in front of Gonzaga (39.4%) and Baylor (39.3%).

View attachment 51719

Thank you -- that is a very interesting table. It's worth looking at the column for 3-point attempts, which shows how heavily the team relies on its 3-point shooting. It shows that Baylor has taken relatively few threes compared to almost anyone else among the top teams. (I guess it's different when they play UConn!) However, Oregon shoots a lot more threes than UConn, and makes them at a 38.8% percentage, which for practical purposes is equal to UConn's percentage. Maryland is a good ways down the list, and South Carolina doesn't even show up.

An interesting statistic, if it were available, would be "3-point performance (# of attempts and percentage made) against ranked competition." I suspect that would show that many of the teams with good overall 3-point performance are a whole lot less successful against better teams. I'm pretty sure that is the case for UConn.

 

[maccca3232]

Regular Season 2019-20

UConn's average 3FGA, 3FGM and 3FG% all appear to be trending upwards.

 

[HuskylnSC]

UConn's class vs. Oregon's class - It appears ESPN's unfamiliarity with Nika is what swings the ranking

Class of 2020 Recruits
NAME	POS	RANK	GRADE	SCHOOL
Angela Dugalic	F	F #6	97	Oregon
Te-Hina Paopao	PG	PG #9	97	Oregon
Sydney Parrish	G	G #2	98	Oregon
Maddie Scherr	G	G #6	98	Oregon
Kylee Watson	F	F #3	98	Oregon
Paige Bueckers	PG	PG #1	98	UConn
Aaliyah Edwards	W	W #4	97	UConn
Piath Gabriel	F	F #23	90	UConn
Mir McLean	W	W #3	98	UConn
Nika Muhl	PG	PG #30	90	UConn

 

[BBallF]

Nika would easily be POY in her state if she played in the US. She is that good. Unless, of course, if that state were Minnesota or that city was DC.

 

[Figurehead]

UConn's class vs. Oregon's class - It appears ESPN's unfamiliarity with Nika is what swings the ranking

Class of 2020 Recruits
NAME	POS	RANK	GRADE	SCHOOL
Angela Dugalic	F	F #6	97	Oregon
Te-Hina Paopao	PG	PG #9	97	Oregon
Sydney Parrish	G	G #2	98	Oregon
Maddie Scherr	G	G #6	98	Oregon
Kylee Watson	F	F #3	98	Oregon
Paige Bueckers	PG	PG #1	98	UConn
Aaliyah Edwards	W	W #4	97	UConn
Piath Gabriel	F	F #23	90	UConn
Mir McLean	W	W #3	98	UConn
Nika Muhl	PG	PG #30	90	UConn

I guess one could sort of include Sedonia Prince since she has not played a college game yet?

 

[Steelerone]

Regular Season 2019-20

UConn's average 3FGA, 3FGM and 3FG% all appear to be trending upwards.

View attachment 51720

Macca, I've made an appointment with the math department at Princeton on Monday. They are going to attempt to explain your chart to me.

 

[EricLA]

I guess one could sort of include Sedonia Prince since she has not played a college game yet?

Then I guess one could sort of include Evina Westbrook, who has played 2 years of college basketball, was the #2 kid in her class behind Megan Walker, and has already proven she's an elite basketball talent.

Bottom line, if you go strictly by the numbers they have, Oregon has the best class. I saw Pao-pao play in person. She's good. not great. Reminds me a bit of Mel Thomas - but not as much energy or intensity. If Tehina was coming to UCONN next year, she'd be an average reserve off the bench, and with all our talent, likely never a starter.

These rankings are incredibly subjective. I would take @MilfordHusky 's comments even a step further. Edwards is a legit top 5 kid in that class. I believe Muhl is a legit top 15-20 kid. But when you weight the quality of the classes, Bueckers is SO good that she should be considered similar to the class of Moore - when Moore and Dixon was the clear #1 class no matter what other players any other school had.

Either way, Oregon got a really good class. They also have 6'7" Prince available next year. They will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. But I wouldn't trade our team next year (or the year after) for any other program in the nation. UCONN should be preseason #1 next year. They should be favored to win the NC for at least the next 2 years. I certainly like where we are headed...

 

[Steelerone]

UConn's class vs. Oregon's class - It appears ESPN's unfamiliarity with Nika is what swings the ranking

Class of 2020 Recruits
NAME	POS	RANK	GRADE	SCHOOL
Angela Dugalic	F	F #6	97	Oregon
Te-Hina Paopao	PG	PG #9	97	Oregon
Sydney Parrish	G	G #2	98	Oregon
Maddie Scherr	G	G #6	98	Oregon
Kylee Watson	F	F #3	98	Oregon
Paige Bueckers	PG	PG #1	98	UConn
Aaliyah Edwards	W	W #4	97	UConn
Piath Gabriel	F	F #23	90	UConn
Mir McLean	W	W #3	98	UConn
Nika Muhl	PG	PG #30	90	UConn

These young ladies could be very well playing against one another in the Final in the next few years.

 

[Steelerone]

To misquote Forrest Gump. "Recruits are like a box of chocolates - You never know what you're going to get."

 

[DEpup]

I guess one could sort of include Sedonia Prince since she has not played a college game yet?

Than somehow they'd have to factor in Evina on our side.

 

[todl31]

These young ladies could be very well playing against one another in the Final in the next few years.

Stanford and South Carolina both will be loaded next year as well. They both have lots of young talent and will be good for years.

 

[JoePgh]

Didn't I read somewhere that Oregon recruited Nika Muhl but she chose UConn, showing good taste in addition to her other skills?

 

[bluedevil]

How good is Prince supposed to be?

 

[Steelerone]

When you come right down to it there are probably only eight to ten women's programs that attract the top talent which, in turn, means that when it comes down to measuring who gets the best you can almost flip a coin. Where the difference lies is in what happens to that talent when it arrives. Empirical data appears to point towards a restaurant owner in Ct.

 

[SVCBeercats]

I guess I had just assumed that UConn's recruiting class of Paige / Nika / Mir / Aaliyah / Piath would be the #1 recruiting class in the country for 2020. However, the announcers in the Temple game mentioned that it is ranked as the #2 recruiting class. Whose is considered better, and what players does it contain?

 

[maccca3232]

Macca, I've made an appointment with the math department at Princeton on Monday. They are going to attempt to explain your chart to me.

The good thing is you are smart enough to enroll in Princeton, the bad thing is how much it would cost to do so.

Charts are supposed to make things simpler, I admit I should have added titles to each of the axis (I will edit later when I am at home) to make it easier to analyse.

The left value shows the average number of 3P FG (Attempts in Green and Made in Red).
The right value shows the average percentage of 3P FG (in Blue)
The bottom shows the Number of Games Played.

I could have only included 3P% but I thought it important to show that the improvement wasn't based on the reduction in attempts (i.e. being more selective).

 

[Charliebball]

In terms of 3-point shooting, I noticed that UConn had raised their level to about 40% of late. The NCAA stats through yesterday:

1. UConn .398
2. Gonzaga .394
3. Baylor .393

Oregon is at 6.

After today's 14-26 barrage, the Huskies are at .403. They are #1 in the nation.

it's always wonderful to be ranked number one nationally in an offensive category but that ranking rings hollow to me....................how'd UConn shoot against Baylor, South Carolina and Oregon? Until they raise their game against the toughest competition they are just paper tigers in the shooting department.......

 

[maccca3232]

it's always wonderful to be ranked number one nationally in an offensive category but that ranking rings hollow to me....................how'd UConn shoot against Baylor, South Carolina and Oregon? Until they raise their game against the toughest competition they are just paper tigers in the shooting department.......

All teams shoot lower percentages against better competition and is a reason why they lose games. UConn is not unique in shooting worse from 3 in losses. Below is a table showing shooting % from 2, 3 and Overall by Wins and Losses.

 

[Charliebball]

All teams shoot lower percentages against better competition and is a reason why they lose games. UConn is not unique in shooting worse from 3 in losses. Below is a table showing shooting % from 2, 3 and Overall by Wins and Losses.

View attachment 51742

very true but a legitimately great shooting team is the one that comes the closest to it's season average against the best competition........

 

[BBallF]

No matter what the rankings, we have to think of Evina as a part of our new class because she will be out there playing. She is being greatly undervalued and overlooked in the conversation. She averaged 15 points, 5 assists and almost 4 rebounds from the point guard position as a sophomore at Tennessee. I encourage everyone to watch film of her even as a freshman. She is a slashing type of point guard and at 6'0" she is tall enough to both get to the rim and finish from both sides. She also has an athletic pull up jumper off the bounce ( much better than Megan's) and a solid 3. Also, she has a great handle and is unselfish. Don't be surprised to see her starting next year. She is very, very good. Some services had her ranked over Megan in high school. This is a very serious and determined basketball player by all accounts. I know that everyone has Paige fever and rightly so but this is a proven and experienced elite college player who we are all going to be extolling after she gets her sea legs from the year off.