When Ice and Morgan Return To The Court ...?

[Skeets]

This is exactly why @EricLA is right. The notion that our ‘second 5’ is a top team in itself only makes sense if we mean that potentially they might eventually become comparable with what other top teams actually are right now. And even this is implausible on its face in almost every case, since it includes so many assumptions that run contrary to our experience. Still, as an expression of our enthusiasm for the non-starters, it is a wonderful bit of hyperbole. As it happens, I am a fan of enthusiasm and hyperbole. But I must also admit that this one can’t be taken nearly as seriously as some of our other habitual enthusiasms.

Please noticed that I didn't say "Top team". I said a pretty good D1 team. You think otherwise?

 

[Bone Dog]

Please noticed that I didn't say "Top team". I said a pretty good D1 team. You think otherwise?

I am aware. Your post was much more judicious. I wasn’t thinking of what you said in particular, but of the more general phenomenon @EricLA was talking about. This often shows up as a casual remark, as for example the one that introduced the idea in this thread by @Ct Dog. Not everyone who invokes this trope is so judicious.

As for your question, my guess is that our second 5 as they’re playing right now would be a mediocre D1 team. That’s probably a lot better than the second 5 on any other team would do. However, if we were to rewrite reality and get them a ton more playing time than they’ve actually earned so far, I suspect they’d be more than a pretty good team. Some would need to improve their conditioning in order to play 25+ minutes in D1 games. One way to see this would be to ask if they could win a starting spot on other teams. Blanca and Kayleigh could probably become the regular starters on most if not all D1 teams. I suspect they’d have been competitive for starting spots on Iowa or UNC or USC as is, but probably not UCLA or Texas or LSU. Jana and Allie are probably only a couple months away from starting on most if not all top 100 teams.

If the fifth player were Kelis, even though the skies the limit for her talent, she is still pretty green. Could she start as an SG on Gonzaga? Yes, maybe, but probably not right away. If it were Morgan, we can all see the problem. Same if it were Ice or Ayanna or Carol.

If we’re talking only about potential, I’d say some second five on the current roster could well become the top D1 team. After all, I have a feeling many of them will be starting for UConn within a year or two.

 

[Tonyc]

I believe Morgan and Ice will redshirt. They are really good players but as of now there arent enough minutes to play the players who are healthy let alone those coming back from injury. Its that simple.