Sabrina Ionescu (merged thread)

[Huskee11]

Sabrina Ionescu has announced she is back at Oregon for next year. Oregon will be a force, probably pre-season number one.

She had until 9 pm tonight to declare. Jackie Young will have a similar window after tomorrow’s game.

This will impact Lou and Napheesa as Sabrina was projected to go at the top if she came out. Draft is on Wednesday.

 

[Grad1990]

Sabrina Ionescu is coming back.

A Letter to Ducks Nation

Should Oregon be the preseason consensus number 1?

 

[SCspur]

Huge for Oregon! They will be loaded!

 

[Ozzie1986]

Ionescu/Chavez
Shelley/Yaeger/Winterburn
Boley/?
S.Sabally/N.Sabally
Hebard/Giomi/Cochrane

Am I missing a recruit?

 

[ABCDFE]

They should be no. 1 and the favorites

 

[Hayven]

I would be amazed if Oregon does not make it back to the final four next year. Ionescu will get all of the player of the year awards, next year as well.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Ionescu/Chavez
Shelley/Yaeger/Winterburn
Boley/?
S.Sabally/N.Sabally
Hebard/Giomi/Cochrane

Am I missing a recruit?

I would guess Chavez will be starting alongside Ionescu. I don't know how good Shelley is supposed to be, but Chavez was getting regular minutes in the rotation before a late season injury.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Good for her. They've been making incremental steps. Return to the Final 4 is certainly the expectation for them next year, and I'm sure winning it all is the goal. She's probably going to end up w/ twice as many triple doubles as the next closest player, man or woman. And she'll put the career assist record at UO completely out of reach. She's already #1 on the list. Amazingly Cazorla is #2 and their careers overlapped by 3 years.

 

[oldude]

One other back story here. Oregon is “Nike University” in Phil Knight’s backyard. If Ionescu and the Ducks deliver a women’s national championship to Oregon, Nike will roll her out next year as their face of women’s basketball. So Ionescu might just make more money by staying in school than turning pro.

 

[wbball novice]

Good for her! I will still miss Maite Cazorla, though. Is Hebard graduating?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Is Hebard graduating?

No, same incoming class as Ionescu.

 

[Dove]

Sabrina Ionescu has announced she is back at Oregon for next year. Oregon will be a force, probably pre-season number one.

She had until 9 pm tonight to declare. Jackie Young will have a similar window after tomorrow’s game.

This will impact Lou and Napheesa as Sabrina was projected to go at the top if she came out. Draft is on Wednesday.

Thank you for your interest in Lady Duck basketball.

 

[DeeHusky]

They will be really good. I think Sabally’s sister will be big for them.

 

[Argonaut]

Thank you for your interest in Lady Duck basketball.

Drop the Lady — they’re not about that nonsense in Eugene.

 

[Dokey]

The PAC-12 is a tough league but Oregon is pretty tough. They should go all the way in 2020.

 

[eebmg]

Wow. Did not expect that. Must watch next year.

 

[CTtoSanDiego]

Good for her and Oregon! If only Azure had felt the same about unfinished business....

 

[jonson]

I would guess Chavez will be starting alongside Ionescu. I don't know how good Shelley is supposed to be, but Chavez was getting regular minutes in the rotation before a late season injury.

I think that's correct. Graves has said that he believes Chavez will be a "star" (his word) in time and brings things to the table that neither Ionescu nor Cazorla do. He's also had some very nice things to say about Shelley, whom he claims is the best guard from outside the US in the 2019 class. But he's been the most enthusiastic when talking about Nyara Sabally, whose presence would have been really helpful last Friday. She won't back up her sister; I think Winterburn will likely do that. Rather, and this is only a guess, I think she'll migrate back and forth between the 4 and 5 (using conventional numbers)--sometimes playing with Hebard (probably in place of Boley), sometimes not. Her game is apparently a cross between Hebard and her sister: she's also 6'4", but bigger, stronger, and more of an inside player than Satou; on the other hand, she is a better ball handler and more versatile offensively (including the ability to shoot 3's) than Ruthie. Cochrane is a true 5; like most Aussies, she doesn't shy away from contact, is stronger than Giomi, and seems to have good potential as a rebounder/shot blocker. But time will tell about all of this.

Losing Cazorla is not a small thing, but Oregon should be much stronger inside and deeper overall.

 

[DaBball]

Pac-12 will be a gauntlet. They went 2-2 against Oregon State and Stanford and neither of them lost a whole lot (Smith is a big loss but they have a lot of talent to replace her).

 

[DaBball]

I think that's correct. Graves has said that he believes Chavez will be a "star" (his word) in time and brings things to the table that neither Ionescu nor Cazorla do. He's also had some very nice things to say about Shelley, whom he claims is the best guard from outside the US in the 2019 class. But he's been the most enthusiastic when talking about Nyara Sabally, whose presence would have been really helpful last Friday. She won't back up her sister; I think Winterburn will likely do that. Rather, and this is only a guess, I think she'll migrate back and forth between the 4 and 5 (using conventional numbers)--sometimes playing with Hebard (probably in place of Boley), sometimes not. Her game is apparently a cross between Hebard and her sister: she's also 6'4", but bigger, stronger, and more of an inside player than Satou; on the other hand, she is a better ball handler and more versatile offensively (including the ability to shoot 3's) than Ruthie. Cochrane is a true 5; like most Aussies, she doesn't shy away from contact, is stronger than Giomi, and seems to have good potential as a rebounder/shot blocker. But time will tell about all of this.

Losing Cazorla is not a small thing, but Oregon should be much stronger inside and deeper overall.

From what I’ve seen from Cochrane, she is a tremendous shot blocker, but didn’t have much of an offensive skill set. She blocked Aquira DeCosta quite a few times.

Aussies can be tough to gage. Oregon State’s Jasmine Simmons was terrific in Australia, but didn’t show much in her first season. Shelley is a sharpshooter though. Loved her game when she played the US.

And I’m just curious, what can Chavez do that Ionescu can’t? She seems to be able to do well...just about anything

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Drop the Lady — they’re not about that nonsense in Eugene.

That is pretty archaic, isn't it?

 

[jonson]

From what I’ve seen from Cochrane, she is a tremendous shot blocker, but didn’t have much of an offensive skill set. She blocked Aquira DeCosta quite a few times.

Aussies can be tough to gage. Oregon State’s Jasmine Simmons was terrific in Australia, but didn’t show much in her first season. Shelley is a sharpshooter though. Loved her game when she played the US.

And I’m just curious, what can Chavez do that Ionescu can’t? She seems to be able to do well...just about anything

Don't know, actually, but perhaps it has to do with defense and/or overall speed. I do know she was sorely missed during the last part of the Pac 12 season and tournament. You're right about Aussies (and, I would add, internationals in general), but Graves's assessments in that area have been quite good overall.

 

[chrissaran]

I would be amazed if Oregon does not make it back to the final four next year. Ionescu will get all of the player of the year awards, next year as well.

She didn't get all of the players awards. Megan Gustafson got at least one, deservedly so.

 

[Jmsdawg]

Sabrina Ionescu is coming back.

A Letter to Ducks Nation

Should Oregon be the preseason consensus number 1?

Strong letter, make you want her dream to come true but I bleed maroon and white!

 

[j66kicker]

Sabrina Ionescu is coming back.

A Letter to Ducks Nation

Should Oregon be the preseason consensus number 1?

Wow - awesome letter! Duck fans gotta love this - and her.