Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="EricLA, post: 5292578, member: 26"] Glad this will be settled on the basketball floor. IMHO, and I said earlier, between what both teams lost to graduation, the portal, and what both teams are bringing in as freshmen, and from the portal, UConn did better. SC lost Feagan, Hall, and PaoPao to graduation. They lost Fulwiley and Walker (I believe she has 1 year eligibility left) to the portal. 3 of them were starters. Fulwiley was 1st or 2nd off the bench and the 2nd leading scorer on the team behind Edwards. So they lost 4 out of their top 7 players... UConn lost Bueckers, Chen, and Griffin to graduation, and Samuels to the portal. 2 starters and their best player/leader. SC adds Makeer and McDowel, a pair of 6'1-2" wings, Latson (WCBB leading scorer last year), and Okot - a center who started for Mississippi State and averaged over 11 PPG last season. (Did I miss any additions or subtractions for SC?)... UConn adds Quinones, Fisher, and Malou-Malel as well as transfers Heckel and Williams. [USER=7511]@oldude[/USER] had a thread on UConn winning the portal war. I agree with him. Also I'd argue that Quinones is at least as good, if not better, than Makeer, and Fisher and Gandy are at least equivalent of McDowel (not that they play the same position but my point is neither team is appreciably better in their recruiting class- pretty close IMHO). It's the portal where UConn really finalized our "missing pieces". Williams was a brilliant addition and likely starts, and Heckel and Arnold will be an extraordinary 1-2 punch of PG's for the team. Given that we walloped them twice last season, and I don't see where they out-maneuvered us in recruiting OR the portal, I will be very surprised if they beat us this season. I'm much more confident of our team than I was last season, and last season we had the incomparable Paige Bueckers. Obviously SC fans feel really confident too. I'm sure they feel Latson is a huge addition and as the leading scorer last season should help lead them back to the top. They probably feel that Edwards is an AA candidate. Raven Johnson, Tessa Johnson, Watkins, Kitts, and Latson are maybe their starting 5? I'm really looking forward to seeing how both teams stack up against each other, and how their benches help or hurt. I think our bench is the deepest and best in the nation, but we will see when the games are played. I'm not a good enough analyst to say whether I think Geno will out coach Dawn or vice versa. I've observed in the past where I thought Geno missed the boat, and the same for Dawn. New season, different teams, different strengths and weaknesses from last year. Bottom line I like our chances. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach