SEC 21-22

[GamecockFam]

Marta's performance against the Gamecocks always sticks out in my mind for whatever reason. She brings instant energy off the bench. I expect her to do good things for the Vols.

 

[stwainfan]

Marta's performance against the Gamecocks always sticks out in my mind for whatever reason. She brings instant energy off the bench. I expect her to do good things for the Vols.

A foot injury slowed her at the end of the year. I think she will do good things this year.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

I kind of need to sit down and do a reset as to what everyone added in the portal and recruiting.

I feel like I'm lower on Arkansas than before and it's largely that close didn't play Wolfenbarger much in Hungary and she looked like she needed a little work when she did.

 

[cancontent]

I kind of need to sit down and do a reset as to what everyone added in the portal and recruiting.

I feel like I'm lower on Arkansas than before and it's largely that close didn't play Wolfenbarger much in Hungary and she looked like she needed a little work when she did.

I have to get caught up on the US games. Question though.

Is it possible that she's not used to the International style of play, where others on the squad are more familiar? I know for some, the physical contact that is allowed can be an adjustment.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

I have to get caught up on the US games. Question though.

Is it possible that she's not used to the International style of play, where others on the squad are more familiar? I know for some, the physical contact that is allowed can be an adjustment.

I'm not quite sure how playing time was decided upon, but played a lot of minutes with four perimeter players on the floor.

Citron playing a really productive 4 helped USA do that I guess. I'm not sure how much run she's had with team USA in the past. She was really good.

Betts I think has extensive experience with team USA and excelled but the other bigs struggled.

I'd include Ware from Oregon in that group and she got a large block of minutes. Feagin got in good, but declining as competition went on, backup minutes. DeBerryand Wolfenbarger played almost not at all.

obviously it's a very different environment. I had to remind myself watching Citron that I loved Horston in an international setting surrounded by great players but it hasn't worked quite that way at UT.

I'm not sure if the last two games will be viewable outside of ESPN+. They shortened bench in those. I'd like to see them.

 

[cacoastfan]

1. South Carolina - no explanation...
2. Georgia - senior heavy team with tons of experience and bringing in 2 good recruits
3. Tennessee - a toss up, lose R. Davis, but definitely have talent - the key no pun intended to me is the development of their junior class (JH and TK)
4. LSU - bringing in an elite coach and keeping Pointer and Aifuwa as well as Ursin could elevate LSU to 4/5 imo, we'll see how they adapt
5. Kentucky - coaching here is very suspect, which is why I have them at 5, easily could be top 4 though
6. Texas A&M - Coach Blair is a gem, but losing two experiences post players with not much to back them could leave them in trouble, however they could also easily bump up
7. Miss St. - truly a wild card, and could be higher too - a core of Jackson, Hayes, Taylor, and Carter on paper looks good, but coaching here is suspect too
8. Arkansas - losing key seniors is hard to replace but bringing in Goforth, Wolfenbarger, and keeping Martinez should keep them top 8, again this team could fluctuate
9. Ole Miss - I see them improving from this past year and am a fan of Coach Yo but how far do they improve? who knows
10. Florida - keep Briggs but lose their head coach, who knows how that will effect them
11. Mizzou - has Blackwell and Frank but this past year was a doozy and could see the same happening
12-14. Alabama, Vandy, Auburn - bottom 3 could be in any order

Truthfully everyone past SC is a toss up and rounding out the top 4-8 (besides SC) could be a bloodbath.

 

[cancontent]

I'm not quite sure how playing time was decided upon, but played a lot of minutes with four perimeter players on the floor.

Citron playing a really productive 4 helped them do that I guess. I'm not sure how much run she's had with two USA in the past. She was really good in that setting.

Betts I think has extensive experience with team USA and excelled but the other bigs struggled.

I'd include Ware from Oregon in that group and she got a large block of minutes. Feagin got in good, but declining backup minutes, and DeBerryand Wolfenbarger played almost not at all.

obviously it's a very different environment. I had to remind myself watching Citron that I siloved Horston in an international setting surrounded by great players but it hasn't worked quite that way at UT.

I'm not sure if the last two games will be viewable outside of ESPN+. They shortened bench in those.;

Thanks for the insight.

Agree about Betts. Watched her during the U16 Americas tourney in 2019 and was really impressed.

Thanks for the heads up regarding the semis and finals. In Canada we have to use DAZN or ESPN+ with a VPN. Fortunately, I hadn't cancelled the service after the Americup so I still have time to catch these games.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

I kind of need to sit down and do a reset as to what everyone added in the portal and recruiting.

I feel like I'm lower on Arkansas than before and it's largely that close didn't play Wolfenbarger much in Hungary and she looked like she needed a little work when she did.

I think Close knows that Jersey will not be playing guard at the college level....unless she's the next Magic Johnson. She was playing her at wing/forward and if you listen in on some of the timeouts...she was running plays for Jersey from the forward position. You can hear her ask Jersey...if she understands the play. She says yes, but you can tell she still looks lost during the execution. That's natural. It's a very different read from that position and when you aren't the ballhandler, but the recipient. She's as tall as I thought, but, she has put on some muscle.

 

[stwainfan]

 

[Dwilliams02]

1. South Carolina - no explanation...
2. Georgia - senior heavy team with tons of experience and bringing in 2 good recruits
3. Tennessee - a toss up, lose R. Davis, but definitely have talent - the key no pun intended to me is the development of their junior class (JH and TK)
4. LSU - bringing in an elite coach and keeping Pointer and Aifuwa as well as Ursin could elevate LSU to 4/5 imo, we'll see how they adapt
5. Kentucky - coaching here is very suspect, which is why I have them at 5, easily could be top 4 though
6. Texas A&M - Coach Blair is a gem, but losing two experiences post players with not much to back them could leave them in trouble, however they could also easily bump up
7. Miss St. - truly a wild card, and could be higher too - a core of Jackson, Hayes, Taylor, and Carter on paper looks good, but coaching here is suspect too
8. Arkansas - losing key seniors is hard to replace but bringing in Goforth, Wolfenbarger, and keeping Martinez should keep them top 8, again this team could fluctuate
9. Ole Miss - I see them improving from this past year and am a fan of Coach Yo but how far do they improve? who knows
10. Florida - keep Briggs but lose their head coach, who knows how that will effect them
11. Mizzou - has Blackwell and Frank but this past year was a doozy and could see the same happening
12-14. Alabama, Vandy, Auburn - bottom 3 could be in any order

Truthfully everyone past SC is a toss up and rounding out the top 4-8 (besides SC) could be a bloodbath.

It's funny how #2-8 could scramble around in the rankings all year. This is still a very good take.

 

[GoChips20]

I think Close knows that Jersey will not be playing guard at the college level....unless she's the next Magic Johnson. She was playing her at wing/forward and if you listen in on some of the timeouts...she was running plays for Jersey from the forward position. You can hear her ask Jersey...if she understands the play. She says yes, but you can tell she still looks lost during the execution. That's natural. It's a very different read from that position and when you aren't the ballhandler, but the recipient. She's as tall as I thought, but, she has put on some muscle.

Wolfenbarger is a huge question mark for me. A 6’5” / 6’6” wing should be a matchup nightmare and would seemingly make her a top-three recruit, but she’s a few spots back, and as someone above pointed out, she didn’t play much in Hungary. Is she underdeveloped in spots? If so, where? Haven’t seen much of her game.

 

[SCspur]

Wolfenbarger is a huge question mark for me. A 6’5” / 6’6” wing should be a matchup nightmare and would seemingly make her a top-three recruit, but she’s a few spots back, and as someone above pointed out, she didn’t play much in Hungary. Is she underdeveloped in spots? If so, where? Haven’t seen much of her game.

I’ve seen her on the circuit quite a few times and she was very good as a big guard/wing type player at 6’2” but since she’s grown to 6’5” her game has changed a little. She isn’t as quick as she was then. She’ll likely play the four and still be able to play from the perimeter in mike neighbors system like Dungee did. I’m interested in seeing how it works. She has a nice skill set for someone that tall she can pass, pull up and attack off the bounce.

 

[GoChips20]

I’ve seen her on the circuit quite a few times and she was very good as a big guard/wing type player at 6’2” but since she’s grown to 6’5” her game has changed a little. She isn’t as quick as she was then. She’ll likely play the four and still be able to play from the perimeter in mike neighbors system like Dungee did. I’m interested in seeing how it works. She has a nice skill set for someone that tall she can pass, pull up and attack off the bounce.

For sure. Her rebounding ability may be imperative to Arkansas’ seasonal success this year; they’ve never been good at it, but they’ve not had height like hers.

Dungee was a player but Arkansas should, to me, be at least as good this year as last. Slocum never really found her scoring touch (IMO) at Arkansas. They lose those two but return Daniels and Ramirez; add Goforth and Wolfenbarger.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Wolfenbarger is a huge question mark for me. A 6’5” / 6’6” wing should be a matchup nightmare and would seemingly make her a top-three recruit, but she’s a few spots back, and as someone above pointed out, she didn’t play much in Hungary. Is she underdeveloped in spots? If so, where? Haven’t seen much of her game.

I don't read much into her general ranking. I think her biggest obstacle will be making an adjustment to a new position. I'm also not sold that Neighbor's offensive system of random animals (lol) is a good fit. With her present skills and size, she would be a problem at the 4 IF Neighbors ran a traditional 4. He doesn't. BUT...he's a creative guy and she's a very good player, so it will be fun watching them work this out. Might take a minute.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

I don't read much into her general ranking. I think her biggest obstacle will be making an adjustment to a new position. I'm also not sold that Neighbor's offensive system of random animals (lol) is a good fit. With her present skills and size, she would be a problem at the 4 IF Neighbors ran a traditional 4. He doesn't. BUT...he's a creative guy and she's a very good player, so it will be fun watching them work this out. Might take a minute.

I struggle keeping this straight. Is Dauda coming in this year for Arkansas? I feel like I was told there was some holdup with her, maybe injury?

I'm interested to see what Neighbors does when he has more size to work with not having much knowledge about his Pac 12 days.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

I struggle keeping this straight. Is Dauda coming in this year for Arkansas? I feel like I was told there was some holdup with her, maybe injury?

I'm interested to see what Neighbors does when he has more size to work with not having much knowledge about his Pac 12 days.

She was released because Mulkey bolted, so I'm assuming she plays this year. You never know how Neighbors will use size, but when he does he usually plays to their strength. I wouldn't expect him to use Jersey like he did Osahor. Both big, but different strengths and skills. Last season his bigs seemed to be an afterthought....sort of like his defensive coaching skills.

 

[SECbbfan24]

She was released because Mulkey bolted, so I'm assuming she plays this year. You never know how Neighbors will use size, but when he does he usually plays to their strength. I wouldn't expect him to use Jersey like he did Osahor. Both big, but different strengths and skills. Last season his bigs seemed to be an afterthought....sort of like his defensive coaching skills.

Dauda is redshirting this year I believe due to a knee injury, or that is what I read at least.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

She was released because Mulkey bolted, so I'm assuming she plays this year. You never know how Neighbors will use size, but when he does he usually plays to their strength. I wouldn't expect him to use Jersey like he did Osahor. Both big, but different strengths and skills. Last season his bigs seemed to be an afterthought....sort of like his defensive coaching skills.

I don't feel like he had any bigs to speak of last year.

defense...well you maybe have a point there.

 

[dws3665]

8. Arkansas - losing key seniors is hard to replace but bringing in Goforth, Wolfenbarger, and keeping Martinez should keep them top 8, again this team could fluctuate

Ramirez.

Don't sleep on Elauna Eaton joining the lineup, either.

 

[dws3665]

I think Close knows that Jersey will not be playing guard at the college level....unless she's the next Magic Johnson. She was playing her at wing/forward and if you listen in on some of the timeouts...she was running plays for Jersey from the forward position. You can hear her ask Jersey...if she understands the play. She says yes, but you can tell she still looks lost during the execution. That's natural. It's a very different read from that position and when you aren't the ballhandler, but the recipient. She's as tall as I thought, but, she has put on some muscle.

Totally agree that Jersey looked a little confused much of the time -- but, that's to be expected considering that she was asked to play totally out of position - down on the block. I don't think she was out on the wing for the US unless she was setting a pick. She was obviously very uncomfortable at the beginning, and became slightly less uncomfortable as the tournament wore on. I think she understood her role pretty well - she was there to set picks, rebound, and be the 4th or 5th option in offensive sets. And when Clark, Johnson, and Paopao are running your offense, you're not going to make it to the 4th or 5th options very often, if at all.

I expect her to play more on the wing for Arkansas, away from the basket and very, very occasionally go down low to post up (not her game yet), and to defend in the low block.

 

[SCGamecock]

I’ve never seen a team so disinterested in playing through the post, but that’s to be expected when you have Clark, Fudd, Paopao, Citron and Johnson in your backcourt. Plus they’re all so young.. post play isn't really emphasized at the youth level. It’s not until college where most players learn to really play and execute inside-out. That said, this USA team had some good forwards/centers that we really didn’t get to see much of at all. From what I’ve seen, all of them are already very good at 1 or 2 things and I can see all of them doing very well at the college level..

 

[cacoastfan]

Ramirez.

Don't sleep on Elauna Eaton joining the lineup, either.

Whoopsie, my bad. It will be interesting to see how the newbies gel with Neighbors style and mesh with the returnees too

 

[dws3665]

I’ve never seen a team so disinterested in playing through the post, but that’s to be expected when you have Clark, Fudd, Paopao, Citron and Johnson in your backcourt. Plus they’re all so young.. post play isn't really emphasized at the youth level. It’s not until college where most players learn to really play and execute inside-out. That said, this USA team had some good forwards/centers that we really didn’t get to see much of at all. From what I’ve seen, all of them are already very good at 1 or 2 things and I can see all of them doing very well at the college level..

She sort of took a back seat this tournament (I'm not really sure why, because I thought she looked great), but don't forget Payton Verhulst, as well, She is such a steady, all-around player. She continues to stand out to me. I was really impressed with Citron, for sure, but I thought Verhulst was every bit as good (and even better on D).

 

[LwrcasefaN]

I don't feel like he had any bigs to speak of last year.

defense...well you maybe have a point there.

Taylah Thomas. She had 17 against Uconn. But...Neighbors...and Arkansas guards forgot she was a starter most of the time. lol

 

[Gamecockfan77]

She sort of took a back seat this tournament (I'm not really sure why, because I thought she looked great), but don't forget Payton Verhulst, as well, She is such a steady, all-around player. She continues to stand out to me. I was really impressed with Citron, for sure, but I thought Verhulst was every bit as good (and even better on D).

I disagree with this as it pertains to this tournament, but I could easily see Verhulst being more of a college star.

 

[dws3665]

Taylah Thomas. She had 17 against Uconn. But...Neighbors...and Arkansas guards forgot she was a starter most of the time. lol

Love, love, love Taylah, but she is 6'1" in one-inch shoes. She played the post (mostly due to limited options), but she was not a "big," per se. If opposing teams let her use her speed to get down the court and score in transition, she was a great asset. (She also became a VERY reliable FT shooter over the course of her career.) She was not a great low post option in the half-court against teams with legit post-sized players, though. (I am actually hoping she has a great grad-transfer year as a 4 in TTU's offense.)

I think the Hogs will have more options this year. It's time for Destinee Oberg to step up and show what she can (or can't) do, and the Fr Emrie Ellis is a very versatile presence. She is 6'2"-6'3", but she is really long and good shot blocker/changer. Not sure how SEC-ready she is, though. And Erynn Barnum is a lot like Thomas, but with more strength and offensive game, and a little more height (but not as good at FT's, by a long shot).

The Hogs have been so short for Neighbors' tenure, but they look to have four 6'+ players on the court for much of the time this year (even if Dauda red-shirts, which seems likely): Goforth (6'1"), Eaton (6'), Wolfenbarger (6'4"-6"5"), Oberg (6'3"), Ellis, Marquesha Davis (6'), Barnum (6'2"), and Fr. Ashlyn Sage (6'2"). Of the folks who are likely to see the most playing time, only Ramirez and Makayla Daniels (both 5'9") are on the shorter side.

The concern for me about the Hogs is youth/inexperience. Ramirez and Daniels are also their most experienced players. Goforth has a year at OSU, and Davis and Barnum have been important role players for 2 years in Neighbors' system. Otherwise, the other players are new or have seen very few minutes. How will they come together? How will they replace Dungee's production? I'm kind of envisioning a slow start but rounding into shape as the season moves on ... which I guess isn't that bold a prediction lol.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Tennessee gonna be interesting. They lost a sniper in Re.... Now can Burrell take it up a notch and be that leader. Same with Jordan H...

They're gonna crack the top 5... But will they have any identity.

Well...assuming volnation members aren't delusional in believing that Pissott (2022) is the next Stewie or Della Donne and that Striplin, Wynn and Puckett are all VASTLY underrated by ranking services.....I'm thinking they should win the SEC outright! OH...and they have a secret weapon....COACH JUMPER...who can be there tomorrow. GEESH.

 

[southie]

Anyone hearing of any potential matchups in the SEC/Big 12 challenge? This is all I've been able to piece together:

Florida @ TCU
ISU @ LSU
Mizzou @ Baylor

Texas plays its annual game at Tennessee this season; hope it doesn't count as the challenge game. Since we hosted A&M in last season's challenge, we'll be on the road this season. Thinking maybe at MSU, South Carolina, or Kentucky.

 

[dws3665]

The Hogs were supposed to sit out last year, but nobody else would play Baylor. Pretty sure that Arkansas is sitting this one out.

 

[SCGamecock]

SC’s OOC schedule is pretty crowded, but there’s a chance we could be in.