UConn WBB roundtable Predictions.

[Wbbfan1]

UConn women’s basketball 2020-21 roundtable predictions

With this being one of the Huskies’ most intriguing teams in recent memory, our staff weighs in on how we think this season will unfold.

www.theuconnblog.com

What are your thoughts, where do you disagree?

 

[EricLA]

I enjoyed that. For the most part, their comments, even when they disagreed, echoed what BY'ers have said. There has been plenty of debate over who the starters will be, never mind who the MVP or breakout players will be.

Obviously we generally look for nits to pick. "How may games will they lose this season?"

Bethune: They lose at most two games this season. They’ll lose one conference game and one non-conference game (Baylor or South Carolina)

Seriously? UCONN will lose one conference game? To who? DePaul, who was just absolutely slaughtered by L'ville? And who lost to aTm by 2? Marquette, who lost to a team called "Milwaukee" by 9? SJU, who has lost games to 'Nova and Delaware so far this season? Creighton, who already has 3 losses this season? Those were the top 4 pre-season picks after UCONN. I supposed we should mention Villanova, as they are undefeated, even tho they have a 3-point win over Quinnipeac.

Anyway, I know there have been dominant UCONN teams who have had close calls in the BE before (post ND and L'ville), but even if 3 starters have an awful night, this team is so deep I just don't see how anyone could think we'd lose a BE game this season. Obviously it COULD happen, but to go on record saying you think so - again I ask "WHO"??

And given that this was just posted today, I have to imagine the panel is aware that both Baylor and SC have lost games this season. Obviously losing to NC State is a better 'loss' than losing to WVU, but frankly, neither of those teams really scares me at this point. We will see tho!!!

 

[Geew1992]

Love the Westbrook and giving Tennessee a good butt whipping!

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Toward the end Madigan indicates Evina was bitten by the injury bug while at UConn. I thought she carried the damaged knee out of Tennessee. Anyone have a handle on that?

 

[DefenseBB]

I concur with Eric that the article has a bit of everything-even disparate thoughts!. I also agree with my fine SD er LA colleague that no way does UConn lose a conference game. Mostly due to UConn matching up more favorably this year than last year in guard play. Our guards are deeper and more talented. Now add in Liv and Aaliyah and no way with Depaul or a Marquette team that lost to Milwaukee beats us.

With Baylor and SC showing inconsistency in shooting or guard play, we match up much better with them as well and have superior depth at guard to out gun either of them.

I do think Stanford, Oregon are curious contenders. Louisville and NC State are interesting but I do feel we match up well those last two much better than the two former.

Finally A GAME to get excited about. Welcome back and to all my devoted colleagues here, thanks for the perseverance and tenacity to keep us going!

GO HUSKIES! Or is it Husky's? Don't want to offend anyone....

 

[DefenseBB]

Love the Westbrook and giving Tennessee a good butt whipping!

But wait, Tennessee has Rae Burrell...

 

[EricLA]

But wait, Tennessee has Rae Burrell...

All joking aside, not sure what's going on this year. She has by far the most impressive numbers on the team, Rennia Davis, pre-season Naismith watch list, has been MIA as often as not, and Horston comes off the bench.

I wonder if the orange natives are getting restless, and if not, how long before they do. Recruiting has fallen off BIG TIME since Warlick left. Say what you want about her, she recruited the snot out of the classes. Harper hasn't landed a top 20 kid in 2+ years of recruiting.

1. 2020 - Salary #57
2. 2021 - Puckett #43
3. 2022 - Pissot #33

That is a list of the highest rated recruit to verbal/sign to Tennessee in the lats 3 classes. I realize there is a ton of recruiting left in 2020. Maybe Tennessee fans are encouraged that they have gone from 57 to 43 to 33. Still, they really are doing no better than solid mid-majors, and middle of the pack teams in the P5. I guess recruits agree - "Tennessee is so last week" LOL...

 

[Nash83]

Toward the end Madigan indicates Evina was bitten by the injury bug while at UConn. I thought she carried the damaged knee out of Tennessee. Anyone have a handle on that?

Carried from Oregon, should have had surgery in high school. Evina wanted to play last year but with the denied waiver she decided to do the full blown surgery that was really required for many years.

 

[DefenseBB]

Wait a minute, Didn't Eric go off just the other day about NEVER liking Tennessee??? What is he doing applying logic and analysis to this team?

While Kelly may not have snagged a top 5, 10 or 20 prospect yet, it is really too early as as I only think she could land the 2022 HS class. I mean joining in the fray in April of 2019 is a bit late to get any top 2021 graduates as all had already narrowed their choices down and given the toxic environment at Tennessee at the time, I would not expect any Juniors in Fudd's class to seriously open up their recruiting because Holly finally was shown the door.

As we all know here on this forum, rankings are only a piece of the pie, motor, attitude, how they fit within your system or with your existing roster are also heavily weighed. Holly always seemed to recruit with the logic of "land of the misfit toys" in mind. How many really meshed with the each other?

Last, when Kelly loses to the Alabama's, Vandy's and Auburn's of the SEC on a regular basis the way Holly did, then I will consider her a dud. That program was long dead prior to 2019 when Holly was canned. The voting public was blinded by history to keep voting them in the Top 25 and the NCAA committee let them into at least 1 NCAAT that they should not have if not 2 NCAAT's so that streak should have been broken.

Remember, 3/4 of Kelly's roster is still Holly's collection of "unique pieces". She has another year of coaching before I want to render a complete decision.

 

[EricLA]

Wait a minute, Didn't Eric go off just the other day about NEVER liking Tennessee??? What is he doing applying logic and analysis to this team?

While Kelly may not have snagged a top 5, 10 or 20 prospect yet, it is really too early as as I only think she could land the 2022 HS class. I mean joining in the fray in April of 2019 is a bit late to get any top 2021 graduates as all had already narrowed their choices down and given the toxic environment at Tennessee at the time, I would not expect any Juniors in Fudd's class to seriously open up their recruiting because Holly finally was shown the door.

As we all know here on this forum, rankings are only a piece of the pie, motor, attitude, how they fit within your system or with your existing roster are also heavily weighed. Holly always seemed to recruit with the logic of "land of the misfit toys" in mind. How many really meshed with the each other?

Last, when Kelly loses to the Alabama's, Vandy's and Auburn's of the SEC on a regular basis the way Holly did, then I will consider her a dud. That program was long dead prior to 2019 when Holly was canned. The voting public was blinded by history to keep voting them in the Top 25 and the NCAA committee let them into at least 1 NCAAT that they should not have if not 2 NCAAT's so that streak should have been broken.

Remember, 3/4 of Kelly's roster is still Holly's collection of "unique pieces". She has another year of coaching before I want to render a complete decision.

True but let's look at the competition. Muffet missed out on Caitlin Clark, so Nielle Ivey comes in and lands #8 Olivia Miles from 2021. She also landed #16 Sonia Citron

Kara Lawson comes in and promptly lands #18 Shay Bollin from 2022. And she's a Tennessee grad, out-recruiting her Alma Mater from day 1.

Even worse, Courtney Banghart has been at UNC the exact same amount of time as Harper at Tennessee (both started 2019). She got off to a great start in 2020 landing Deja Kelly (#10). Then, Banghart's 2021 class is among the top 3-4 in the entire nation headlined by #9 Teonni Key (oh, her sister went to Tennessee) and McPherson, Wiggins and Adams (17, 18 and 20).

Did Vic Schaeffer land 2020 #6 Moore and #10 Harmon? Not to mention #24 Hunter. And Vic just started in 2020.

So bottom line I'm not buying "give her time". If Tennessee was still a destination school, or Harper was a better recruiter, she'd have done something similar to ANY of the above mentioned coaches. UNC has some decent history, but nothing like the legacy of Tennessee, and Banghart is rebuilding that program from scratch. At least Harper has Davis, Burrell, and Horston at Tennesse - certainly a great core to play with the past 2 seasons and build off for recruiting.

At least Holly landed top recruits. LOTS of them.

 

[DefenseBB]

True but let's look at the competition. Muffet missed out on Caitlin Clark, so Nielle Ivey comes in and lands #8 Olivia Miles from 2021. She also landed #16 Sonia Citron

Kara Lawson comes in and promptly lands #18 Shay Bollin from 2022. And she's a Tennessee grad, out-recruiting her Alma Mater from day 1.

Even worse, Courtney Banghart has been at UNC the exact same amount of time as Harper at Tennessee (both started 2019). She got off to a great start in 2020 landing Deja Kelly (#10). Then, Banghart's 2021 class is among the top 3-4 in the entire nation headlined by #9 Teonni Key (oh, her sister went to Tennessee) and McPherson, Wiggins and Adams (17, 18 and 20).

Did Vic Schaeffer land 2020 #6 Moore and #10 Harmon? Not to mention #24 Hunter. And Vic just started in 2020.

So bottom line I'm not buying "give her time". If Tennessee was still a destination school, or Harper was a better recruiter, she'd have done something similar to ANY of the above mentioned coaches. UNC has some decent history, but nothing like the legacy of Tennessee, and Banghart is rebuilding that program from scratch. At least Harper has Davis, Burrell, and Horston at Tennesse - certainly a great core to play with the past 2 seasons and build off for recruiting.

At least Holly landed top recruits. LOTS of them.

See, NOW that's the fiery Eric I know!!! Whew, knew I could get it out of you if I tried....

Now I really hope our game with them can gets played for Evina to go back (BTW without fans ) and play well and WIN big. Just for my amusement to log onto VolNation and see the reactions...

 

[Geew1992]

True but let's look at the competition. Muffet missed out on Caitlin Clark, so Nielle Ivey comes in and lands #8 Olivia Miles from 2021. She also landed #16 Sonia Citron

Kara Lawson comes in and promptly lands #18 Shay Bollin from 2022. And she's a Tennessee grad, out-recruiting her Alma Mater from day 1.

Even worse, Courtney Banghart has been at UNC the exact same amount of time as Harper at Tennessee (both started 2019). She got off to a great start in 2020 landing Deja Kelly (#10). Then, Banghart's 2021 class is among the top 3-4 in the entire nation headlined by #9 Teonni Key (oh, her sister went to Tennessee) and McPherson, Wiggins and Adams (17, 18 and 20).

Did Vic Schaeffer land 2020 #6 Moore and #10 Harmon? Not to mention #24 Hunter. And Vic just started in 2020.

So bottom line I'm not buying "give her time". If Tennessee was still a destination school, or Harper was a better recruiter, she'd have done something similar to ANY of the above mentioned coaches. UNC has some decent history, but nothing like the legacy of Tennessee, and Banghart is rebuilding that program from scratch. At least Harper has Davis, Burrell, and Horston at Tennesse - certainly a great core to play with the past 2 seasons and build off for recruiting.

At least Holly landed top recruits. LOTS of them.

She actually beat top ten teams.