USC #1 & #2

[LGITB]

I hate to be the odd person out, but is this a ranking thread (yet another?) or a all hail USC thread (which should go on the general board, no?)
Again, apologies if it's coming across as being rude, but I really want to read about UConn when I come on this board and not about how great other teams are, unless it's in a discussion thread about them playing us.
(last time, sorry)

 

[JonathanXIV]

USC West also added the point guard from Oregon State. Of course we have to see how they play together but the talent and depth is much better then last year. I just like so many of the pieces. UConn's other question is will Geno play his bench? SC bench scored about 30 points a game. 2 years ago Stanford played 12. To win today I think you must embrace depth, something Geno has been reluctant to do the past few years. I'm well aware that injuries limited his options.

Let's first get a bench before we worry about Geno using it.

 

[donalddoowop]

There is no USC east and west. There's USC and there's S. Carolina.

As Regina said, "Stop trying to make USC happen. It's not going to happen."

Thank you!

 

[NycUcWbbFan]

USC should not be preseason #1. South Carolina should be preseason #1.

The thought experiment that goes into preseason rankings is not complicated, but is subjective. It starts with the final 2023 rankings, adjusted for (a) departures, (b) incoming recruits, (c) incoming transfers, (d) recovering players, and adjusted for the coaching staff’s history of making lineups work.

2023-24 Women's College Basketball Rankings - ESPN

Thought Experiment 1: South Carolina vs USC:

• South Carolina lost Cardoso. Adds #3 Freshman (forward Joyce Edwards). Was #1 (undefeated). Dawn 2023 COY. ==> Pre-season #1.
• USC lost 6 players (including #2, #4, #5, #8 scorers 2023-24 USC Trojans Women's Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com). Adds Kiki Iriafen, TVO. Adds 6 Freshmen (3 guards (#13, #16, #54), 1 wing (#6), 2 forwards (#47, #92)). Was #5. Gottlieb. ==> Should not be pre-season #1.

Thought Experiment 2: UConn vs ND vs Texas:

• There seems to be disparate treatment of recovering stars by ESPN and others. ND with Miles goes from #11 to #3. TX with Harmon goes from #7 to #2.
• UConn with Azzi and Jana, Kaitlyn replacing Nika, missing Aaliyah but adding heralded freshmen (#1 Sarah, #7 Allie and #11 Morgan), and going from 7 to 10 playable players to start the season and with Geno coming from one of his best coaching years, goes from #3 to #4. UConn has All-American and only returning former Player of the Year Paige.
• Texas does add talented freshmen (guard ranked #9 and forward ranked #12). Notre Dame adds #5 freshman post.

My top 5 before any season play: 1 South Carolina, 2 UConn, 3 Texas, 4 USC, 5 Notre Dame.

 

[Urshurak]

South Carolina is #1 until they lose. Period. That's it.

The rest, really doesn't matter. IN fact, IMHO, none of it matters until maybe January. Maybe not even then.

 

[tower1]

The landscape of women's college basketball is going to look very different when November arrives and the 2024-25 season begins. USC west has not been seeing as a #1 team by ESPN experts yet.

And with transfers still making decisions and so many players eligible to use a fifth year per the COVID-19 waiver, this top 25 will likely change too. Plenty. But the offseason starts now. Here's our Way-Too-Early Top 25.

1. South Carolina Gamecocks
2. Texas Longhorns
3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
4. UConn Huskies
5. USC Trojans

Women's Way-Too-Early Top 25: Transfers, coaching changes shake up rankings

South Carolina remains No. 1, but USC and UCLA are climbing and Stanford and Oregon State fell out of the rankings.

www.espn.com

Uconn did a nice job getting Strong to come. But we still haven't been able to recruit a center. We need a a center to backup Janna. She is coming back from major surgery. I can't believe that we haven't gotten a big in the last couple of years. Do we need another recruiter that can bring in Bigs ?

 

[RadfordRam]

As of now I think USC west (The women of Troy) will be the preseason #1 ranked team. USC east (the Gamecocks) will be #2. UConn, and Texas will be debated at #3 & #4. USC west now has two of the top ten players in the country, a great freshman class, and lots of depth. Adding two experienced transfers is a BIG deal. USC east has almost everyone back (YES, the one player they lost was a big loss, emphasis "BIG" but they have great depth, size, and with only 1 loss in 2 years (I know everyone did not play both years), they know how to win. I see about 3 or 4 other teams that could also win it.

Nah, Carolina will be #1

 

[RadfordRam]

UConn is a top 2 team no matter what any other team does and no one can tell me different until the season starts.

Top 5-6, not top 2 IMO.

 

[visitingcock]

There is no USC east and west. There's USC and there's S. Carolina.

As Regina said, "Stop trying to make USC happen. It's not going to happen."

Yeah, I'm "talking to" you.

So, you have credentials that establish your authority to dictate how acronyms are used? Legal precedent to show that SCar cannot use "USC?" That citizens are prohibited from using USC west (USCw) and USC East (USCe) to differentiate between the two schools.

By the way, who is OSU? Ohio State? Oregon State? Oklahoma State? (Let's not get into the "Carolina" thing.

It's silly as crap; particularly in the case where posters are clearly differentiatiating the two school that have them same rights to use the acronym. Many posters here refer to Southern California as "USC" and South Carolina as "SC" which is just as confusing since South Carolina does not have the right to copyright the interlocking S & C used on their baseball caps that is similar to that used by the Trojans. Either school may use it and both do.

For clarity on national boards I use "SCar" when referring to my team. On SEC boards, I may use USC and posters know who mean. Many, if not most, on the SEC boards refer to us as USC and those other guys as Southern Cal.

Original point: Nothing wrong with USCw or USCe. Everybody knows who's being discussed.

 

[Bone Dog]

Want to get a heated discussion going? Start talking about ranking teams before anyone knows what they're talking about. Where's Carnac?

We all want to know where @Carnac is. In the meantime, I've unofficially dubbed myself the ad hoc Carnac. My crystal ball may be a lot hazier, but I'm not afraid to use it. Come to me for all your prophecy needs. Available 24/7

 

[meyers7]

Yeah, I'm "talking to" you.

So, you have credentials that establish your authority to dictate how acronyms are used? Legal precedent to show that SCar cannot use "USC?" That citizens are prohibited from using USC west (USCw) and USC East (USCe) to differentiate between the two schools.

By the way, who is OSU? Ohio State? Oregon State? Oklahoma State? (Let's not get into the "Carolina" thing.

It's silly as crap; particularly in the case where posters are clearly differentiatiating the two school that have them same rights to use the acronym. Many posters here refer to Southern California as "USC" and South Carolina as "SC" which is just as confusing since South Carolina does not have the right to copyright the interlocking S & C used on their baseball caps that is similar to that used by the Trojans. Either school may use it and both do.

For clarity on national boards I use "SCar" when referring to my team. On SEC boards, I may use USC and posters know who mean. Many, if not most, on the SEC boards refer to us as USC and those other guys as Southern Cal.

Original point: Nothing wrong with USCw or USCe. Everybody knows who's being discussed.

Get a clue. It's people like you who mess everything up. USC is USC. Some come along lately small time school out of South Carolina, with no freaking history, now wants to play with the big boys and pretend they're an USC? Get a clue. You types act like sports didn't start til Dawn arrived on campus. Get a clue.

Nobody cares what a bunch of yokels from the SEC think anyway. USC has been USC since long before OJ wasn't a murderer.

What next? You wanna use ND for North Dakota? Get a clue.

And to educate you it's not OSU, it's tOSU. Get a clue.

 

[JonathanXIV]

Uconn did a nice job getting Strong to come. But we still haven't been able to recruit a center. We need a a center to backup Janna. She is coming back from major surgery. I can't believe that we haven't gotten a big in the last couple of years. Do we need another recruiter that can bring in Bigs ?

Isn't Janna a big? And wasn't she recruited a year ago?

 

[hornets]

South Carolina should be #1, period. They lost only one piece to the puzzle, and who are they replacing her with. The number 2 player in the Country. SC, has chemistry. Don't underestimate that.

 

[MSGRET]

We all want to know where @Carnac is. In the meantime, I've unofficially dubbed myself the ad hoc Carnac. My crystal ball may be a lot hazier, but I'm not afraid to use it. Come to me for all your prophecy needs. Available 24/7

He is fine and has taken a sabbatical from the Boneyard. As for who is the preseason #1, I go with SC as #1 with the following being the remaining Top 5 in no particular order; UConn, Texas, USC and Notre Damn.

 

[Bone Dog]

He is fine and has taken a sabbatical from the Boneyard.

Please tell him he is missed.

 

[donalddoowop]

Isn't Janna a big? And wasn't she recruited a year ago?

So is Gandy.

 

[donalddoowop]

He is fine and has taken a sabbatical from the Boneyard.

There are no sabbaticals on the Boneyard.

 

[visitingcock]

Get a clue. It's people like you who mess everything up. USC is USC. Some come along lately small time school out of South Carolina, with no freaking history, now wants to play with the big boys and pretend they're an USC? Get a clue. You types act like sports didn't start til Dawn arrived on campus. Get a clue.

Nobody cares what a bunch of yokels from the SEC think anyway. USC has been USC since long before OJ wasn't a murderer.

What next? You wanna use ND for North Dakota? Get a clue.

And to educate you it's not OSU, it's tOSU. Get a clue.

And its people like you who think that using an acronym used by someone else "messes everything up." Like you can't distinguish between USCe and USCw. Funny how many people violate your rule.
(Okay, I did like the OJ reference. )


And "to educate you:" Ohio State adopted the tOSU moniker to differentiate themselves from other schools that had the right to use OSU. Hmmm, sound familiar? Use of a small case letter to distinguish between schools' common acronym. Get a "clue."

"Yokels" hmmm? Okay. Nice having a well reasoned discussion with you. Carry on in conceited ignorance.

 

[jake0414]

It remains to be seen how both SoCal and UCLA handle traveling distances to play half their games.

Eighteen conference games. The B1G hasn’t announced the schedule structure but if each team plays every other team in conference (seventeen opponents) then nine road games. If USC and UCLA play one another twice then one road game is a 13 mile bus ride. Out the eight remaining road games I could see the LA schools traveling to Oregon and Washington every other year in a single road trip not appreciably different than before. If so then six or eight road games in the Midwest/East. Not unreasonable to assume those six or eight road games would be played in three or four road trips. For example to Iowa & Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin, Michigan and Michigan State, etc. While the distance and time away from home will be longer for the LA schools I imagine the B1G conference will take steps to limit the time away - Thu/Sat games or Fri/Sun games instead of Wed/Sat or Thu/Sun games.

As someone pointed out in another post, this could result in other B1G teams playing USC and UCLA back to back, quite a gauntlet next season, especially in LA.

BTW - UCLA took four straight road trips in non-conference play last season: UConn in the Cayman Islands, @arkansas, FSU in CT and @Ohio State. While it was just four games instead of eight it still required long distance travel week after week. They did okay, arguably better than in conference play.

 

[Dugway]

Yeah, I'm "talking to" you.

So, you have credentials that establish your authority to dictate how acronyms are used? Legal precedent to show that SCar cannot use "USC?" That citizens are prohibited from using USC west (USCw) and USC East (USCe) to differentiate between the two schools.

By the way, who is OSU? Ohio State? Oregon State? Oklahoma State? (Let's not get into the "Carolina" thing.

It's silly as crap; particularly in the case where posters are clearly differentiatiating the two school that have them same rights to use the acronym. Many posters here refer to Southern California as "USC" and South Carolina as "SC" which is just as confusing since South Carolina does not have the right to copyright the interlocking S & C used on their baseball caps that is similar to that used by the Trojans. Either school may use it and both do.

For clarity on national boards I use "SCar" when referring to my team. On SEC boards, I may use USC and posters know who mean. Many, if not most, on the SEC boards refer to us as USC and those other guys as Southern Cal.

Original point: Nothing wrong with USCw or USCe. Everybody knows who's being discussed.

To 99.9% of the country, USC is Southern Cal.

It is what it is, full stop, no matter how much women's basketball fans from select areas may wish for something else, it is Southern Cal. Go ahead and call yourselves 'The Cocks'. We will know who you are talkin about that way. But USC is someone else.

For what it is worth, OSU is Ohio State. Those other two schools are Or. St. and Ok. St.

 

[hoophuskee]

For Southern Cal, a lot of it depends on their freshman. Juju and Iriafen can lay claim to being the best duo in the country, but basketball is a 5x5 game. TVO and Marshall should be able to be solid role players, but they still need young players to step up. Can totally happen but I am not awarding them the NC just yet.

South Carolina takes a big hit with Cardoso gone. She had a Griner like effect sometimes, altering opponents inside game defensively. Plus she dominated the boards. That skill at that size was a huge advantage. However, they return pretty much everything else, add good recruits, will see young players get better, and have the chemistry. They are my #1 for now.

Since it’s a uconn board, I’ll just say that the huskies are a giant question mark to me. On paper we have so many options, so many highly regarded youngsters. But the true key will be how do players look post injury, and can they stay healthy. One advantage seems like we have the potential to shoot lights out. Lots of intrigue.

I’m also not sleeping on ND. Miles, Hidalgo, and Citron is a formidable trip to pair with Westbeld. And Texas looks dangerous as well. Hoping for a season of parity.

4 players are especially important-- not that others are not - ofc all are needed to a degree. Many hre speak of Jana with very high hopes- I just need to see her vs USA players. But Geno did takl her up big time.

-
1-- Azzi
2-- Sarah
3-- Jana
4-- Chen

 

[meyers7]

To 99.9% of the country, USC is Southern Cal.

It is what it is, full stop, no matter how much women's basketball fans from select areas may wish for something else, it is Southern Cal. Go ahead and call yourselves 'The Cocks'. We will know who you are talkin about that way. But USC is someone else.

For what it is worth, OSU is Ohio State. Those other two schools are Or. St. and Ok. St.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

In the football centric world of college sports, USC means Southern Cal, and UT means Texas.

It's been that way for at least as long as I've been following college sports, and that's about 75 years.

 

[meyers7]

And its people like you who think that using an acronym used by someone else "messes everything up." Like you can't distinguish between USCe and USCw. Funny how many people violate your rule.
(Okay, I did like the OJ reference. )

It ain't about not being able to distinguish, it's about a certain fanbase thinking they are from some historical university and trying to co-opt an already established acronym to make themselves feel big time. Have some common decency.

Hey, look at us, we're USC too.

Nope, you ain't.

Heck you ain't even Carolina (that's UNC). You just S. Carolina. Most people probably couldn't even tell you where Columbia is.

And "to educate you:" Ohio State adopted the tOSU moniker to differentiate themselves from other schools that had the right to use OSU. Hmmm, sound familiar? Use of a small case letter to distinguish between schools' common acronym. Get a "clue."

It's been The Ohio State University since 1878.

"Yokels" hmmm? Okay. Nice having a well reasoned discussion with you. Carry on in conceited ignorance.

Hey Cletus, I was nice. I didn't say "toothless, grit-eatin', banjo-playin', inbred, Baltic Avenue livin', PBR drinkin', slack-jawed yokels". I just said yokels.

 

[triaddukefan]

Nah, Carolina will be #1

Yall are Little Carolina.


I entered the thread just to say that.