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Message: [QUOTE="oldhusky, post: 3645365, member: 9844"] This year's class is hard for the traditional rating services to judge because of two foreign players. So we have a Canadian who has played on her national team as their youngest member. That is a big accomplishment which indicates this is a special player. Although I wish there was more footage to review of her, what I have seen tells me several things. Edwards is smooth, agile, has a good handle for a big, appears to have an outside shot and decent vision. She has good size and appears to be strong enough to bang in the post, certainly stronger if not taller than Liv. Apparently not just a passable potential backup to Liv, but a very good one. But her best position is probably PF where frankly she appears to check all the boxes. Because of her handle, and what appears to be good perimeter skills is often also described as a wing, and probably could play there if needed , but on this team should probably get many of the PF minutes and most of the backup C minutes. In short in it were not for being foreign I think Edwards would be rated top 5 in this year's class. In a similar way Nika Muhl is not compared to US players. There is a-lot of video on her and I encourage fans to watch all of it. If you do, you will see exceptional vision. Not just the sound passes, but the ones where she sees something most don't. Anticipating players getting open before they do, getting the ball to them in a wide variety of ways, in general showing the kind of instincts and natural passing ability that is very rare indeed. Something else that is special is how she pushes the pace. You also see in those highlights an aggressive tough defender. I don't think I have seen highlights from any player that had as many clean steals off the dribble leading to a fast break layup. Statistically she usually leads her league in assists and is right near the top in steals, while getting way more rebounds than a PG should. She takes the ball strong to the hole, but the outside shot may be a problem. If she was a US high school player I think she would be top 10 herself, despite questions regarding the shot because everything else looks very good. So if that is accurate then maybe we have three top 10 players, including #1, and maybe comparisons to Stewart, Jefferson, and Tuck are not ridiculous, particularly with two additional incomers of note, one pretty highly rated, but perhaps mid level by Uconn standards in Mir, and another in Piath who most think will not contribute right away, but could be a factor down the road. Time will tell but to me Edwards is a sure thing, and I fully expect to see her in the WNBA someday, and Nika at a minimum will be a very good college player. Mir is likely to be good and possibly much better if coach can find a way to use her athletic skills in the offense like with Gabby (also applies to Aubrey). Piath if she gets the defensive schemes down pat, with time should be a good backup big who at least defends and rebounds. If the offense comes then she could be a very good backup. If you add all that up, it is a very special class, and would have been rated that way if our two foreign players were judged on the same scale. [/QUOTE]

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