SI Women's Way-To-Early Top 10

[mbr33ct]

1. Oregon
2. Baylor
3. UConn
4. Stanford
5. Maryland
6 through 10....check the link below.

Disclaimer: My apologies if it has already been posted. I don't see it, so here it goes.

Women's way-too-early top 10 ranking for 2019–20

 

[dtbtbtb]

it should be 1. Oregon, 2. Baylor. 3 to 10: everyone else

 

[EricLA]

6. aTm
7. SC
8. Oregon State
9. Notre Dame
10. UCLA

I think ND at 9 is laughable. They lost their entire starting lineup. Not sure I'd even put them in the top 20 preseason. Maybe 18-22 or something.

 

[Triad]

6. aTm
7. SC
8. Oregon State
9. Notre Dame
10. UCLA

I think ND at 9 is laughable. They lost their entire starting lineup. Not sure I'd even put them in the top 20 preseason. Maybe 18-22 or something.

I'm not the greatest of ND fans, nor am I a hater. I think Muffet would have had to break 2 legs and had only 4 players to be that low. Like Uconn I have come to expect and accept that ND would be in the top 5.
Time will tell.

 

[CL82]

I'm not the greatest of ND fans, nor am I a hater. I think Muffet would have had to break 2 legs and had only 4 players to be that low. Like Uconn I have come to expect and accept that ND would be in the top 5.
Time will tell.

Well she just lose all her starters to the WNBA. That's the kind of thing that hamper some coaches.

 

[newfrontier]

40% of the top 10 are Pac-12 teams and Arizona State is probably top 15. Is there a deeper conference? AZ is also on the rise and Utah is improving too.

 

[Dillon77]

6. aTm
7. SC
8. Oregon State
9. Notre Dame
10. UCLA

I think ND at 9 is laughable. They lost their entire starting lineup. Not sure I'd even put them in the top 20 preseason. Maybe 18-22 or something.

I'm not the greatest of ND fans, nor am I a hater. I think Muffet would have had to break 2 legs and had only 4 players to be that low. Like Uconn I have come to expect and accept that ND would be in the top 5.
Time will tell.

Well she just lose all her starters to the WNBA. That's the kind of thing that hamper some coaches.

I am an ND alum and fan. I'm not certain I agree with ND being in the pre-season Top Ten because, as EricLA so adeptly points out, they've lost their entire starting line-up and not a lot of those on the bench got into games, due to MM liking a short bench (see, she and Geno have more in common than Philly) and injuries (yet again).

However, there's a lot of Mickey D and National Team talent returning and coming aboard as frosh. We'll see if grad transfer Destinee Walker (a 5'10" gurad from North Carolina) can regain the form that put her on the All-ACC frosh team.

MM can mesh a team through practice (which is her favorite part of coaching), particularly one with talent. And I suspect you'll see MM push hard on man-to-man defense and have them run the Princeton offense a bit more "purely," like in the Maddie Cable-Michaela Mabrey years. (Freshmen Sam Brunelle and Anaya Peoples seem well suited to it.) It will take time...but I'll bet they'll crack that Top 10 in the latter part of the season.

Being a former coach myself, I'm looking forward to this.....

 

[Geesworld]

Overall its Pretty good list. I had to laugh at the pretty accurate, Texas A&M breakdown.

 

[newfrontier]

Overall its Pretty good list. I had to laugh at the pretty accurate, Texas A&M breakdown.

SI's breakdown on Oregon State misses an important point I think. At least one of it's four newer/new "bigs"
needs to break out in 2019-2020 and really contribute if Oregon State is going to be top 10. Make that four FIVE newer/new "bigs" if the 6'9" Mitrovic from Serbia signs on or after April 17, as anticipated.

 

[Geesworld]

SI's breakdown on Oregon State misses an important point I think. At least one of it's four newer/new "bigs"
needs to break out in 2019-2020 and really contribute if Oregon State is going to be top 10. Make that four FIVE newer/new "bigs" if the 6'9" Mitrovic from Serbia signs on or after April 17, as anticipated.

WOW, You took my thoughts, right from my head. First glance I was surprised they weren't in the top 5. Second Glance reading the breakdown and I didn't see any mentions of the 6'7 or 6'8 Bigs. Tells me they aren't a sexy pic right now.

 

[Carnac]

1. Oregon
2. Baylor
3. UConn
4. Stanford
5. Maryland
6 through 10....check the link below.

Disclaimer: My apologies if it has already been posted. I don't see it, so here it goes.

Women's way-too-early top 10 ranking for 2019–20

One thing the author of this piece got right is it's way too early to formulate a list of this nature. The rosters are not complete yet for some teams, specifically UCONN!!!! There are letters of intent yet to be signed during the REGULAR signing period April 17 - May 15, 2019. Since its all for fun right now, let's begin.......

Right now, I'd rank Stanford above UConn. Tara's got a monster class of recruits coming in this summer. UConn's 2019 class is still yet to be determined. Louisville just got commitments from 3 transfers from Ga Tech and Cal today. Louisville 3 - UConn 0.

I think it's a foregone conclusion that ONO starts next season. The question we'll debate all summer is who will be the 5th starter? RIGHT NOW, I think it's a very strong possibility that Aubrey Griffin may start. Despite the fact that she is a freshman, who amung the reserves is more talented than she is? She may be forced to start as Christyn was this season, and learn as she goes. I could also make a case for Mikayla Coombs because of her defensive capabilities if nothing else.

I think it's fair to say that Geno and Jeff's recruiting standards and tactics are not quite the same. It's still early in the game. We'll see who Geno can get before the LOI deadline expires. Did you know..................... that college coaches are not allowed to be present for the signing of a letter of intent?

New signing period rules for 2018-19 school year -

Starting in the 2018-19 school year, significant updates to the signing period rules are going to speed up the time line for seniors looking to sign with a school. In the past, there was an early signing period (usually in November) followed by a break over the holidays (dead period) before signing NLIs resumed in the spring during the regular signing period.

Starting this year, all athletes outside of football and men’s and women’s D1 basketball players can begin signing scholarships on November 14, 2018 and continue to sign anytime through August 1, 2019.
While much of the recruiting process happens long before November of your senior year, the fact that athletes will be ending their recruiting by signing NLIs earlier means recruiting in the lower divisions will likely speed up as well.

In the past, NCAA D2, D3 and NAIA schools would wait for D1 programs to complete their recruiting classes before ramping up their signings. Now that D1 schools will be completing their signings earlier, expect all other division levels to be busy over the holidays and early in 2019 instead of mid to late spring.

 

[Bigboote]

I'm not the greatest of ND fans, nor am I a hater. I think Muffet would have had to break 2 legs and had only 4 players to be that low. Like Uconn I have come to expect and accept that ND would be in the top 5.
Time will tell.

I'd put Mississippi State in the top ten for the same reason. Vic lost four starters this year, but he lost four last year, too.

 

[bballnut90]

Pretty good list IMO. ND shouldn't be top 10 though....they have an entirely new roster with very limited playing experience. They used their bench even less than UCONN did, and they have just one top 25 recruit on their team, plus she's a freshman. Muffet is a great coach but I can't remember her ever having a roster this weak before. Top 4 seed and a Sweet 16 berth would be a good accomplishment for ND unless they land some top grad transfers. Final Four and it'd be Muffet's best coaching job ever.

 

[DeeHusky]

I would take UCLA out of the top 10. I would add Miss St and maybe Louisville(depending on on if those GT transfers are able to play next season )in there somewhere. I would put Miss St in front of Notre Dame, South Carolina.

1)Baylor(until they get beat since they are defending champs) 2)Oregon 3)UConn 4)Stanford 5)Texas A&M, 6) Oregon State, 7)Maryland, 8)Miss St 9)South Carolina 10)Notre Dame

 

[Orangutan]

they have just one top 25 recruit on their team, plus she's a freshman.

Surely it's two - Peoples and Brunelle. Three once you add in Destinee Walker, who hasn't officially been announced yet, but appears to be on her way as a grad transfer.

Even then, it's a weird stat/fact. Dan Olson has the ESPN platform so I guess his rankings get treated as authoritative. Over the last few years, his rankings of ND players are generally lower than those of other services. And it seems like ND commits usually move down in the rankings after making their commitments. I don't think it's on purpose or anything more than a coincidence. It's just an odd thing I've noticed.

Patterson, Nixon, and Gilbert all were McDonald's All-Americans, which implies they are in the top-24 in the eyes of the selectors. Nixon and Gilbert were also both in the top 25 on ASGR and Prospectsnation. And Nixon, Peoples, and Prohaska got picked to play for the USA U18 team. That was the 2nd time Abby was picked to play for the USA.

It all depends on you frame it. Another way to look at it is that ND is set to have 6 McDonald's All-Americans and has a 7th player that was twice picked for team USA.

 

[bballnut90]

Surely it's two - Peoples and Brunelle. Three once you add in Destinee Walker, who hasn't officially been announced yet, but appears to be on her way as a grad transfer.

Even then, it's a weird stat/fact. Dan Olson has the ESPN platform so I guess his rankings get treated as authoritative. Over the last few years, his rankings of ND players are generally lower than those of other services. And it seems like ND commits usually move down in the rankings after making their commitments. I don't think it's on purpose or anything more than a coincidence. It's just an odd thing I've noticed.

Patterson, Nixon, and Gilbert all were McDonald's All-Americans, which implies they are in the top-24 in the eyes of the selectors. Nixon and Gilbert were also both in the top 25 on ASGR and Prospectsnation. And Nixon, Peoples, and Prohaska got picked to play for the USA U18 team. That was the 2nd time Abby was picked to play for the USA.

It all depends on you frame it. Another way to look at it is that ND is set to have 6 McDonald's All-Americans and has a 7th player that was twice picked for team USA.

Just looked it up, you do make a good point about Dan Olson. AO was underranked by him and more appropriately ranked by other outlets. Hopefully for ND's sake their 2018 and 2019 kids are more in line with their PN rankings than HG. One thing I've learned and have even preached to people on here is not to count out Notre Dame since they have a habit of consistently overachieving, but I think Muffet has a real uphill battle ahead. Would love to be proven wrong--I think ND becoming a steady contender has been great for the game.

 

[Carnac]

Just looked it up, you do make a good point about Dan Olson. AO was underranked by him and more appropriately ranked by other outlets. Hopefully for ND's sake their 2018 and 2019 kids are more in line with their PN rankings than HG. One thing I've learned and have even preached to people on here is not to count out Notre Dame since they have a habit of consistently overachieving, but I think Muffet has a real uphill battle ahead. Would love to be proven wrong--I think ND becoming a steady contender has been great for the game.

I agree. Despite the fact that Muffet lost her entire starting 5, like the Phoenix, I expect her program will rise form the ashes and be highly competitive this year. She's got too much talent on her team not to. That's a hard pill to swallow, losing your entire starting line up. Few programs could survive that dynamic. I know UConn could not.

If somehow, her team can avoid the injury bug that has plagued them lately, they can do better than most folks expect them to. ND will make the tournament, and get past the 2nd round. After that who knows. It depends on the luck (Irish luck) of the draw.

 

[SimpleDawg]

1. Oregon
2. Baylor
3. Stanford
4. Oregon State
5. Louisville
6. UConn
7. Maryland
8. Texas A&M
9. Mississippi State
10. Tennessee

...

 

[mbr33ct]

Surely it's two - Peoples and Brunelle. Three once you add in Destinee Walker, who hasn't officially been announced yet, but appears to be on her way as a grad transfer.

Even then, it's a weird stat/fact. Dan Olson has the ESPN platform so I guess his rankings get treated as authoritative. Over the last few years, his rankings of ND players are generally lower than those of other services. And it seems like ND commits usually move down in the rankings after making their commitments. I don't think it's on purpose or anything more than a coincidence. It's just an odd thing I've noticed.

Patterson, Nixon, and Gilbert all were McDonald's All-Americans, which implies they are in the top-24 in the eyes of the selectors. Nixon and Gilbert were also both in the top 25 on ASGR and Prospectsnation. And Nixon, Peoples, and Prohaska got picked to play for the USA U18 team. That was the 2nd time Abby was picked to play for the USA.

It all depends on you frame it. Another way to look at it is that ND is set to have 6 McDonald's All-Americans and has a 7th player that was twice picked for team USA.

...let's just say he's bias against ND.

 

[Geesworld]

1. Oregon
2. Baylor
3. Stanford
4. Oregon State
5. Louisville
6. UConn
7. Maryland
8. Texas A&M
9. Mississippi State
10. Tennessee

...

3 Pac 12 in the Top 5
3 SEC in the Bottom 5

Seems like early forecast, has Pac 12 as the top conference next season and I would be one of them who agrees with that thinking. However, I wonder if voters would put all three PAC 12 teams so high knowing they would eventually have to play one another.

Crazy, that the power five, Big 12 and ACC are outside looking in.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

I'm as big a Connecticut fan as anyone, but a #3 national ranking just makes no sense.

We went to the Final Four two years ago, then lost three starters to the first round of the WNBA draft. This year we went to the Final Four, and then promptly lost our top two scorers, and two starting front court players to the first round of the WNBA draft. In place of those two now-pros, we get an untried freshman, who played a smattering of minutes in the McDonald's AA game. Even Geno Auriemma admitted that he didn't think he'd make it to the Final Four this month.

By contrast, other teams, including Stanford, have gobbled up the freshman talent, and Oregon, Stanford, Maryland, and Baylor are returning massive talent, the latter from the bench.

I've been a fan long enough to remember when we had a difficult time after lean recruiting years. Let's be honest with ourselves.

 

[Robin]

Pretty good list IMO. ND shouldn't be top 10 though....they have an entirely new roster with very limited playing experience. They used their bench even less than UCONN did, and they have just one top 25 recruit on their team, plus she's a freshman. Muffet is a great coach but I can't remember her ever having a roster this weak before. Top 4 seed and a Sweet 16 berth would be a good accomplishment for ND unless they land some top grad transfers. Final Four and it'd be Muffet's best coaching job ever.

Only 2, huh? They have 5 McDonald's AA and then add Destinee Walker who was a 5 star and really good as a freshman before she was injured. I don't know if they will be a top 10 program next year but they have the talent to get there.

 

[Florida Fan]

Only 2, huh? They have 5 McDonald's AA and then add Destinee Walker who was a 5 star and really good as a freshman before she was injured. I don't know if they will be a top 10 program next year but they have the talent to get there.

As much as I'd like to, you can't rule out Muffet's team. She could easily ad more legitimate and hardship transfers to round out a competitive team. UCONN's issues are real and a challenge for Geno and CD, the stuff for a summer of boneyard angst. There does seem to be boatload of talent for SC and Stanford, our team will continue to focus on fitness and character.

 

[SCspur]

1. Oregon
2. Baylor
3. Stanford
4. Oregon State
5. Louisville
6. UConn
7. Maryland
8. Texas A&M
9. Mississippi State
10. Tennessee

...

I would put UCLA, Florida State and NC state in the top 10 before Miss St and Tenn. I don’t see either team being that good next year. Miss St maybe top 15 and Tenn top 25 at some point. I also doubt it’ll be 3 better teams in the SEC than SC despite the transfers. But to each is own I guess...

EDIT: Besides Evina Westbrook is transferring and that’ll be a big blow! Jordan Horston will be pressed into PG minutes early.

 

[PAC-12HoopFan]

WOW, You took my thoughts, right from my head. First glance I was surprised they weren't in the top 5. Second Glance reading the breakdown and I didn't see any mentions of the 6'7 or 6'8 Bigs. Tells me they aren't a sexy pic right now.

This past season's 6'8" center for Oregon State. Joanna Grymek, is graduating. Returning for the Beavs will be 6'9" redshirt freshman Andrea Aquino, 6'7" soph-to-be Patricia Morris, and 6'3" rising junior Taya Corosdale, a solid rebounder and two-year starter who can stretch defenses if her outside shot returns to where it was during her freshmen year prior to shoulder surgery.

OSU fans are hopeful that at least one of their three incoming freshmen (6'9" Jelena Mitrovic from Serbia, 6'6" McDonald's All-American Kennedy Brown from Kansas, and 6'3" Taylor Jones from Texas) will provide the Beavs with front court depth during the '19-'20 season and supplement a strong core of returning guards. Brown and Jones are signed. Mitrovic is expected to sign with Oregon State as early as tomorrow.