Shocking! ESPN's Way Too Early has UConn 7th!

[Dokey]

After top eight, maybe top four, this is throwing darts blindfolded. That Oregon wins it all is almost a given. Baylor could make it to 2nd but I wouldn't be surprised if they lost in elite eight. Stanford should rattle a lot of cages. Other teams ranked above UConn or just below come with as many questions as Huskies. This is fun but let's play a half dozen games first.

 

[Orangutan]

Saying that Danielle Cosgrove is going to become a starter for ND while failing to mention Danielle Patterson or Mikayla Vaughn shows the level of care and knowledge (shockingly little!) that goes into the production of this article.

I would rank UConn 4th.

 

[Plebe]

I got my eye on Middle Tennessee. Anastasia Hayes, Rellah Boothe, and Eternati Willock. I think they will make some noise.

Will definitely tune in to some of their games next year. Curious to see if coach Insell can get those players to play as a cohesive unit. The C-USA race should come down to MTSU or Rice, which returns Ogwumike, Mulkey and some other experienced contributors.

 

[Plebe]

Saying that Danielle Cosgrove is going to become a starter for ND while failing to mention Danielle Patterson or Mikayla Vaughn shows the level of care and knowledge (shockingly little!) that goes into the production of this article.

Perhaps the omission of Patterson was prescient?

 

[triaddukefan]

I got my eye on Middle Tennessee. Anastasia Hayes, Rellah Boothe, and Eternati Willock. I think they will make some noise.

Dont forget about RaShika White... transfer from Elon will be eligible this season. 6'4" and was the Colonial Six Player of the Year in 2017-18. Averaged almost 13pts... 6 rebounds... and 1.3 blocks coming off the bench.

 

[Charliebball]

I got my eye on Middle Tennessee. Anastasia Hayes, Rellah Boothe, and Eternati Willock. I think they will make some noise.

I'm not sure how many games they'll win but any team with Rellah Boothe will definitely make some noise...............

 

[Orangutan]

Perhaps the omission of Patterson was prescient?

Maybe .

Man, she appeared to have friends outside of the basketball team and had just started a podcast that was promoted by the Athletics department. Would never have figured her to want to transfer.

Then again, it seemed like McGraw would pull her anytime she made a single mistake. Maybe she wants a coach with a bit lighter touch. It seemed like this would be the year that Muffet would finally be forced to let her just play through the mistakes.

Anyway, Creme is still wrong. Brunelle will start instead of Cosgrove.

 

[Plebe]

Maybe

And here I thought you were the social media maven!

 

[Dokey]

PAC-12 will continue as top conference, improving top to bottom, even bottom Colorado who struggled after losing top player to injury but nearly beat Stanford. They add New Zealand's 6'4" Charlotte Whittaker at post. Remember that name.

 

[Plebe]

I am fine with UConn at #7. All 6 teams ahead of them were in the good-to-great range AND return most of their firepower.

I say Notre Dame is too low at #17. I don't care that they graduated all their starters and I don't care that they just lost Patterson. They may drop some games early with their inexperienced lineup, but I predict that Peoples and/or Brunelle will be a force as freshmen, and Vaughn and Nixon will also make leaps. By February they will be a top 10 team.

 

[Orangutan]

And here I thought you were the social media maven!

You scooped me this time...rough finding out one of your team's players wants to transfer via sunglasses guy emoji.

 

[LoTrader]

This Way to Early forecast is as good as any I have seen. Oregon is going to be very talented next season. Stanford & Oregon State will also compete for the PAC-12 championship, and Ducks are not a lock by any means. This is the 1st way to early forecast I have read that had Texas A&M in top 5, and, I agree that Texas A&M will be extremely talented next season.

 

[Plebe]

You scooped me this time...rough finding out one of your team's players wants to transfer via sunglasses guy emoji.

Eh, you got D. Walker and lost Patterson. Net gain, I'd say.

 

[Orangutan]

Eh, you got D. Walker and lost Patterson. Net gain, I'd say.

I don't know - I really liked Patterson's potential and was excited to see what she could do with more minutes.

Also, ND is now incredibly thin in the post (only Cosgrove to backup likely starters Brunelle and Vaughn).

 

[shiverz45]

Charlie has old info since Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan isn't transferring from SC.

He noted in his writeup Harrigan withdrawing her name.

 

[newfrontier]

This Way to Early forecast is as good as any I have seen. Oregon is going to be very talented next season. Stanford & Oregon State will also compete for the PAC-12 championship, and Ducks are not a lock by any means. This is the 1st way to early forecast I have read that had Texas A&M in top 5, and, I agree that Texas A&M will be extremely talented next season.

Also, Charlie Creme emphasizes Oregon State's great front line height "Oregon State will have size to spare with incoming freshman 6-6 Kennedy Brown and 6-3 Taylor Jones to go along with 6-9 Andrea Aquino, who redshirted this season, and 6-7 Patricia Morris..." But, he wrote this before 6-9 Jelena Mitrovic signed as yet another big incoming freshman! What would he say now?? Oregon State will have way, way, way more size to spare?? (how good or not they will be individually is the question)

 

[militarydog]

I was surprised when one of the other “too early” polls had Mississippi State at 12. To have MSU at 8 is extremely generous. Two players that are key to the season (Bibby and P Taylor) are coming off knee and foot injuries respectively. Even if both are healthy Bibby and maybe Espinoza-Hunter are the only players any analyst could reasonably predict as a shoe in for starting positions.

 

[TheFarmFan]

Also, Charlie Creme emphasizes Oregon State's great front line height "Oregon State will have size to spare with incoming freshman 6-6 Kennedy Brown and 6-3 Taylor Jones to go along with 6-9 Andrea Aquino, who redshirted this season, and 6-7 Patricia Morris..." But, he wrote this before 6-9 Jelena Mitrovic signed as yet another big incoming freshman! What would he say now?? Oregon State will have way, way, way more size to spare?? (how good or not they will be individually is the question)

Because it's Scott Rueck, I'll give him some tremendous benefit of the doubt, but I'm really curious to see how his team gels together next year. He has a 5'7" point guard (Slocum), three shooting guards at or below 6' (Goodman at 5'9", Pivec at 5'10" and Tudor at 6'), and then like 5 players at 6'5" or taller. And Slocum in particular likes to push the pace, which probably would be hard to maintain with several very tall, lumbering posts. And IMHO, I thought part of Grymek's problem last season was that her plane of ball movement was not even close to being at the same level as her teammates, so lob passes to her were very diagonal, it was hard to get the ball inside to her off a bounce pass because it'd end up at her knees half the time, and she wasn't effective at kicking it back out for inside out opportunities. I'm not sure why, but somehow Gulich's 6'5" seemed like a much more manageable size to get the ball in and out.

So despite some impressive roster stats It's not obvious to me how these players are all going to fit together, but I'm sure Rueck will figure it out, and it'll be fun to watch.

 

[Orangutan]

Is Brunelle definitely settled on as a post? She seemed to play more of a wing role in the McD's and JBC games; more of a sharpshooter and less of a presence in the paint - across both games I don't remember her taking a single shot within 15 feet of the basket, and she didn't have a block in either game. And at 6'2" isn't exactly a dominating inside presence (I realize Pheesa was only 6'2" also, but Pheesa was both more athletic and had much better presence and movement inside the paint.). Just wondering cause I could see her in more of an Erin Boley like role with better defense and speed. But maybe that's not what ND will need next season?

On signing day, McGraw emphasized her 3-point shooting and how important it was to get a shooter with Mabrey graduating. So I think they'll find a way to get her behind the three-point line. But I've always thought she was a 4 in ND's system.

I think Vaughn and Cosgrove will handle the low post duties but Brunelle will have to play the 4 out of necessity. With Patterson at 4, she could possibly have logged some minutes at 3.

 

[Carnac]

Is UConn at #7 more shocking than ND at #17?

Not sure why people are ripping MIN at #18. His rationale isn’t bad. They were down a starter all season. Whalen should be a little savvier this year.

We’ve got 2 question marks in our starting lineup next season. ND has 5. Plus, we have 3 returning starters with experience, they don’t. Until they post some wins (plural) over top 15 teams, I’ll take a wait and see approach.

Right now, I don’t think #17 is unreasonable. Water always seeks its own level. If they are a good team early on, they will rise quickly in the rankings.

 

[nwhoopfan]

which probably would be hard to maintain with several very tall, lumbering posts

I think Mitrovic is the only one of the tall posts that might be lumbering. Morris and Aquino are fairly mobile and I expect Brown and Jones to be as well.

 

[HuskyPhan]

2011 they lost NPOY Tina Charles--> Final Four
2012 they lost an all time great in Moore -->Final Four
2015 they lost pillars Dolson and Hartley-->Championship
2017 they lost the top 3 WNBA picks (including Stewart)--> Final Four
2019 they lost 2 DPOY and their only post presence (all 1st round picks)-->Final Four

See a trend?

To quote my favorite Dumb and Dumber line......

So you're saying there's a chance......

 

[SCspur]

It’ll be a battle in the SEC that’s for sure. I would like to see A&M and Miss St schedule a little tougher next year. I hope I get to see a A&M v Baylor matchup next year, that would be fun. I think Vic needs to throw his team in the fire and schedule top 10 teams early. That will definitely help. Something that should give SC an advantage in winning the SEC next year will be the fact that we will play both of these teams at home so it’ll be tougher on them.

I also wouldn’t sleep on Missouri next year either. They lose Cunningham but Hayley Frank and Aijha Blackwell are very good! Add them to Akira Levy and Amber Smith and that’s definitely a top 5 SEC squad.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Sounds about right. We were out rebounded massively by Baylor and a few others. Just look at the height and heft of the top teams- Baylor, Oregon, Maryland and others.

Even with a better ONO, that's one player with height. No one else is there to help her.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I am not surprised A&M is number 5, I think they could win it al, they have everybody returning and a superstar to lead them. I am surprised MSST is rated above SC, we lost more and have no senior leaders.

Charlie created that list when he thought Kiki was transferring.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Top 10 Looks close to my earlier prediction. I would flip flop Stanford and OSU. Texas would be in my top 10.

Unless Texas got a new coach, they won't be sniffing the top ten.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

He noted in his writeup Harrigan withdrawing her name.

I see; he's changed it since I first read the write up.

 

[willtalk]

Because it's Scott Rueck, I'll give him some tremendous benefit of the doubt, but I'm really curious to see how his team gels together next year. He has a 5'7" point guard (Slocum), three shooting guards at or below 6' (Goodman at 5'9", Pivec at 5'10" and Tudor at 6'), and then like 5 players at 6'5" or taller. And Slocum in particular likes to push the pace, which probably would be hard to maintain with several very tall, lumbering posts. And IMHO, I thought part of Grymek's problem last season was that her plane of ball movement was not even close to being at the same level as her teammates, so her inside out passes were very diagonal and it was hard to get the ball inside to her off a bounce pass because it'd end up at her knees half the time. I'm not sure why, but somehow Gulich's 6'5" seemed like a much more manageable size to get the ball in and out.

So despite some impressive roster stats It's not obvious to me how these players are all going to fit together, but I'm sure Rueck will figure it out, and it'll be fun to watch.

Interesting because I saw the same thing. It was a real problem for Oregon St. I feel their failure to get the ball to Grymek was a combination of things. To begin with Grymek did not jump but that itself would not have been enough to cause the problem. The main problem was that two of the Beavers primary ball handlers do not throw good lob passes. Their passes to Grymek, as you stated were very diagonal and usually ended up just off of Grymeks fingertips beyond her reach. The fact that they had problems connecting with Grymek also made them hesitate when she did have great position and should have passed.

The reason it worked better with Gulich is also for multiple reasons. To begin with Gulich had better hands and could jump for balls over her head. McWilliams had the ball in her hands more and she was a better passer to the post than Pivek or Slocum. Tudor, who was injured and out this season, threw the best lob pass of any of them. Probably because she shoots such high arching shots while the others are flat shooters. When you shoot high shots you emphasize dropping the ball in the right place, it is similar to a lob pass. She was the best at getting the ball to Gulich. Goodman seemed to be the best this season at making the passes to Grymek. The other guards not only did not trust Grymek but also did not trust themselves to make those passes, so they did not make them in rhythm but seemed to hesitate and that allowed the defense more time to react.

I also think Scott R. has a plan or he would not have recruited or signed so many tall players. He envisions neither Brown or Aquino as centers. In the Jordan Brand Game Brown played at the 3. Aquino is not a post up player either and she will not be played as one. She will either play as a forward or at the high post on offense. That leaves Mitrovic and Morris at center and Jones as a swing center and power forward. On most other teams they would be locked into just the center position. Kennedy Brown chose OSt because she knew that with the other posts there she would not have to play at a post position. Neither Aquino or Brown are better face-up than back to the basket players. They also have enough ball skills to play on the perimeter. And with their height and passing ability, they will have no problem getting the ball into the post players.

If you can imagine and offense with either Brown or Aquino with the ball on either the wing or high post and a team having to defend their shot while at the same time defending a tall post player from getting a pass in position from an equally tall player from the perimeter. They could pass the ball back and forth to each other and the smaller defenders couldn't do much about it. Then if you had Brown at the wing and Aquino at the high post with a 6'7" or 6'9' center posted up that would be a defensive nightmare. Now that might not be feasible on the other end though out a game, but if you needed the last basket to close a quarter or a game it would be indefensible. Or think of a time out defense they could put on the floor with all that length.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

Its an ESPN ranking!!@@!@! Really not something to get too excited or upset about. I feel UCONN will be right in the mix at the end of the season. When ONO learns a hook shot she will be un stoppable under the hoop... with CD, CW and MW Outside, i think we will be ok.

 

[willtalk]

On signing day, McGraw emphasized her 3-point shooting and how important it was to get a shooter with Mabrey graduating. So I think they'll find a way to get her behind the three-point line. But I've always thought she was a 4 in ND's system.

I think Vaughn and Cosgrove will handle the low post duties but Brunelle will have to play the 4 out of necessity. With Patterson at 4, she could possibly have logged some minutes at 3.

A lot more players are making an effort to chose teams where they will be playing positions that reflect where they will be playing at the next level. That is why 6'6" Kennedy Brown chose a post loaded Oregon St. She knows they will not force her into playing in the post out of necessity. Another example is DeCosta at Baylor. Aside from recovering from an early injury, another reason DeCosta did not get much floor time at Baylor is that she was being transitioned to play on the perimeter. On some other post needy teams they would have stuck her at forward because of her rebounding. At Baylor she will play the positions she is more suited to and which give her the best opportunity to succeed at the next level. Some people wondered how they would handle both Smith and Decosta playing at the same position. Well, Smith stayed in the post while Decosta transitioned to the perimeter.