Which team has the most talented roster in terms of top 8 players.

[GirlBoo1020]

I agree with @RSHERMVIKES. You underestimate Geno and Paige & Co. Peculiar after this past season in which they surprised everyone. You're right to think the chances are in SC's favor, and I also think they are the preseason favorite. It also looks like UCLA and USCw will be ranked by many as #2 and #3. I don't share this latter sentiment and think UConn and ND are the chief contenders for SC.

As for the unknowns, on UConn's side there are many.

• Mainly will the injured recover in time (Aubrey, Caroline, Azzi, Jana, Ayanna)
• and will the Freshmen be able to contribute (Sarah, Morgan, Allie)?
• And a lot rides on Jana not only returning healthy but also finding her ability to play at the D1 level.

As for the rest, they are now known quantities.

• We know what Ash and KK can do, and Ice and Q are also known quantities. It's not unreasonable to expect a sophomore leap out of some of them, if not all of them.
• And there a few other knowns, namely Paige and Kaitlyn, and Azzi if she can come back at all. Yes, this is not a sure thing.
• Paige Azzi Kaitlyn Ash and KK is already one of the best backcourts in D1, if not the best, even if none of the freshmen can contribute at all. I think the odds that Azzi will find her form are encouraging, especially if she doesn't have to play 35+ minutes/game.

Do we think none of Aubrey, Ayanna and Caroline will return? That seems unlikely. If only one of them returns, that is a huge boost to our front court. And if both Aubrey and Ayanna can return to form/have a sophomore leap, it will give Jana and Ice much needed relief.

Now let's compare this to the knowns and unknowns at SC, just to take one example.

• The knowns are formidable in the frontline (Watkins, Feagin, Kitts and Dauda) That's some serious depth, though they aren't huge. Other than Dauda at 6'4", it is an athletic but not very tall group.
• The unknowns are promising and this is where the size resides. But they are mainly untested (Walker, Tac and Edwards).
• Will Tac be able to contribute major minutes this season?
• Will Walker recover her form?
• Will Edwards find a way to contribute at the D1 level? Some or all of these questions may get answered in the positive.
• In the backcourt, the knowns are also impressive (Raven, Tessa, Te-Hina, Milaysia and Bree). This strikes me as the main strength of SC this year, even more than the front court, which is a departure from the profile of recent teams.

Dawn's backcourt is all healthy, which is a real advantage over UConn. But if Azzi comes back healthy, I'd give the edge to UConn over this backcourt. SC looks like the second best backcourt in D1 to me. As for matchups, I like KK or Kaitlyn on Raven or Milaysia, Azzi or Ash on Te-hina or Bree, and Paige on Tessa. And this assumes Geno gets nothing from Morgan and Allie who would pose serious matchup problems for SC. The front court edge has to go to SC, but this is not their main strength, as I said above, and it's also where the unknowns are. Watkins and Dauda have some good size and I don't care for the matchup of the taller but untested Jana against two seasoned players. She's strong enough to outmuscle both Watkins and Dauda, which not many bigs can say. But they are simply more experienced. Will Ice be able to overcome this advantage? Maybe, though it means playing two bigs and that hasn't been Geno's best lineup in recent years. Kitts is a good player, but a healthy Caroline or Aubrey would pose a serious problem for her on defense. Will they be healthy enough by then? Two years ago, UConn with no Paige or Azzi or Ice or Caroline almost upset SC. Both squads are a little different now, and it's hard to predict how such a game would go this time around. But that game gives me hope. I'd say SC has to be favored to win this one. But I think there's a chance Paige & Co could pull another upset here.

We could do a similar comparison with UCLA. Here the question mark for the Bruins is their backcourt. Can Rice and Jones make up for the loss of Osborne? I don't think they can really compare to the backcourt UConn can put out there. Their advantage is almost entirely in the front court and it is significant. Geno's game plan would have to be to out-quick them and maybe force them to sit Betts to get more team speed. Can this succeed? I think Paige & Co have at least an even chance to prevail.

And for USCw, we've already seen what Paige can do against Juju. Add in Azzi and Kaitlyn and it becomes even more an advantage for UConn. USCw adds Kiki Iriafen. Is that enough? She is formidable and probably gives them a front court advantage, but is it enough to overcome the backcourt advantage UConn will almost certainly have?

I'm pretty confident we could go down the entire list from the OP and find that UConn has a good chance to win against most of them. SC and ND look like the only long shots to me.

Well I appreciate the analysis but I disagree with a lot of it. Namely I think you are underestimating matchup style of play factor, which is admittedly hard to do without having seen teams play but since its the off season, it won't stop me! Last season's final four run is a great example of match ups favoring UConn and leading to a surprise run to the final four. I don't think we were a top 10 team last season but we avoided teams that could exploit our biggest weakness which was dribble penetration from the backcourt, namely the PG position, to create for others and we made the final four because of it. USC is a team that was probably better than us all year, but we happened to match up well against them because of their lack of PG, and therefore we won. South Carolina in 2023 is another good example of a team we matched up very well against, even without our best players, despite not being as good as them because our strengths played into their weakness. It was the opposite once 2024 came around, despite our team possible being better than our 2023 team.

Looking forward to next year, assuming top teams strengths and weakness, I think of the top 8:
UConn will match up well against: Notre Dame, UCLA, and Texas, and poorly against: South Carolina, USC, and NC State
Notre Dame will match up well against: South Carolina, Texas, USC and Poorly Against: NC State, Uconn, and UCLA
South Carolina will match up well against everybody. The only teams they might struggle with are: Notre Dame and UCLA

I'm too lazy to do the rest but really trying to show the point that a team could be the second best team in the country next year and the 5th best team in the country could have a better chance of beating the number 1 team (south carolina) than them.

 

[Alydar]

A lot of UConn's talent is untested. UConn's 1st year players can/will make the difference for UConn this year. They look very impressive, even by UConn standards. All of them seem very advanced, skill-wise. El Alfy is fairly unknown outside of Storrs but seems to be the real deal and has been back practicing, which is good since it was an achilles that sidelined her. Hopefully between her, Strong, Brady and Patterson Geno won't need to put Bueckers on the front line.

 

[Bone Dog]

Well I appreciate the analysis but I disagree with a lot of it. Namely I think you are underestimating matchup style of play factor, which is admittedly hard to do without having seen teams play but since its the off season, it won't stop me! Last season's final four run is a great example of match ups favoring UConn and leading to a surprise run to the final four. I don't think we were a top 10 team last season but we avoided teams that could exploit our biggest weakness which was dribble penetration from the backcourt, namely the PG position, to create for others and we made the final four because of it. USC is a team that was probably better than us all year, but we happened to match up well against them because of their lack of PG, and therefore we won. South Carolina in 2023 is another good example of a team we matched up very well against, even without our best players, despite not being as good as them because our strengths played into their weakness. It was the opposite once 2024 came around, despite our team possible being better than our 2023 team.

I actually agree with most of your analysis. Especially the dribble penetration issue, which killed us against ND. We just weren't ready for the sort of offensive pressure Hidalgo could bring in the half court. But I would also say about that game part of the problem was not playing to the scout. I didn't go into this above because I didn't wanted to get into the weeds. KK could have contained Hannah if she'd cut off the drives to her right hand. She didn't do that despite what the scout surely said, and neither did Nika who wasn't nearly quick enough to keep up with her. I think one reason why they didn't play to the scout on Hannah (just a guess here) is that the rest of the defense wasn't yet switching crisply enough.

But I don't see that same problem dogging us this season for a couple reasons and the Syracuse and USCw games show this. By the time of the tournament, our freshman-heavy lineup was now more experienced and we were able to contain another speedy guard in Dyaisha Fair. This isn't an accident. It was just that we were playing much better defense by that point in the season. This is what happens when your rotation consists of three seniors and four freshmen. You play ragged defense early on and then you improve. KK Ash and Ice improved.

You say that USCw was probably better than us much of the year and that we only won because of matchups. Here I halfway disagree. They were in a sense better than us early on because Juju could carry them until her teammates got up to speed, while we were hobbled by hidden injuries to Azzi Ayanna and Caroline. Juju is that good, and we weren't... yet.

I'd say in the MD Louisville and UNC games, Paige had decided to be much more dominant. The Louisville game especially was a game in which the matchups didn't favor us except for Paige. Their big guards caused problems all game long. But Paige (like Juju) simply shouldered the load and outplayed them. I think there was a moment in the MD game when Paige turned something on and she wasn't the same for the rest of the season. Watch for that technical foul in the second quarter and see what you think. She went into 'beast mode' and never turned it off all season.

Back to USCw, they played better than UConn much of the season, but come tournament time UConn had come together and was playing great team defense and USCw wasn't playing as well. We absolutely were a top-10 team by then. In the Elite Eight game, the matchups still favored USCw in Juju and Forbes, but despite that Nika KK Paige and Ash were able to outplay them for most of the game, and Aaliyah was simply better than Marshall. It's not merely that they lacked a PG. It's that we outplayed them at almost every position. You can't say they were a better team and only lost because of matchups if we beat them when they should be playing their best.

As for SC in 2023, I think you're right. We were undermanned, but matched up well enough. They lacked a reliable perimeter shooter and Lou was just too big for Raven and Zia to handle. The solution was that they fouled her constantly and prevented her from moving through the lane. Dorka and Aaliyah countered Boston and Cardozo in a sense -- Boston and Cardozo scored and rebounded really well. But they couldn't contain Aaliyah who was unstoppable on offense, and Dorka denied them total control of the lane on defense, though her stat-line was unimpressive. Nika was just good enough to contain Raven and Zia, and Aubrey was also a difficult matchup for them. And I agree that the next year the addition of Te-hina created a problem matchup for us, though lacking Aubrey and Caroline and Dorka also doomed us.

Where I disagree with respect to SC is in assuming that the same matchup problems will exist again. If they do -- that is, if the injury demon ravages the roster again -- sure, there's no way we can matchup. But I get bored by dwelling on injuries. Until I have to, I will assume everyone's healthy. In that case, there's every possibility the matchup problems will be in our favor.

 

[GirlBoo1020]

I actually agree with most of your analysis. Especially the dribble penetration issue, which killed us against ND. We just weren't ready for the sort of offensive pressure Hidalgo could bring in the half court. But I would also say about that game part of the problem was not playing to the scout. I didn't go into this above because I didn't wanted to get into the weeds. KK could have contained Hannah if she'd cut off the drives to her right hand. She didn't do that despite what the scout surely said, and neither did Nika who wasn't nearly quick enough to keep up with her. I think one reason why they didn't play to the scout on Hannah (just a guess here) is that the rest of the defense wasn't yet switching crisply enough.

But I don't see that same problem dogging us this season for a couple reasons and the Syracuse and USCw games show this. By the time of the tournament, our freshman-heavy lineup was now more experienced and we were able to contain another speedy guard in Dyaisha Fair. This isn't an accident. It was just that we were playing much better defense by that point in the season. This is what happens when your rotation consists of three seniors and four freshmen. You play ragged defense early on and then you improve. KK Ash and Ice improved.

You say that USCw was probably better than us much of the year and that we only won because of matchups. Here I halfway disagree. They were in a sense better than us early on because Juju could carry them until her teammates got up to speed, while we were hobbled by hidden injuries to Azzi Ayanna and Caroline. Juju is that good, and we weren't... yet.

I'd say in the MD Louisville and UNC games, Paige had decided to be much more dominant. The Louisville game especially was a game in which the matchups didn't favor us except for Paige. Their big guards caused problems all game long. But Paige (like Juju) simply shouldered the load and outplayed them. I think there was a moment in the MD game when Paige turned something on and she wasn't the same for the rest of the season. Watch for that technical foul in the second quarter and see what you think. She went into 'beast mode' and never turned it off all season.

Back to USCw, they played better than UConn much of the season, but come tournament time UConn had come together and was playing great team defense and USCw wasn't playing as well. We absolutely were a top-10 team by then. In the Elite Eight game, the matchups still favored USCw in Juju and Forbes, but despite that Nika KK Paige and Ash were able to outplay them for most of the game, and Aaliyah was simply better than Marshall. It's not merely that they lacked a PG. It's that we outplayed them at almost every position. You can't say they were a better team and only lost because of matchups if we beat them when they should be playing their best.

As for SC in 2023, I think you're right. We were undermanned, but matched up well enough. They lacked a reliable perimeter shooter and Lou was just too big for Raven and Zia to handle. The solution was that they fouled her constantly and prevented her from moving through the lane. Dorka and Aaliyah countered Boston and Cardozo in a sense -- Boston and Cardozo scored and rebounded really well. But they couldn't contain Aaliyah who was unstoppable on offense, and Dorka denied them total control of the lane on defense, though her stat-line was unimpressive. Nika was just good enough to contain Raven and Zia, and Aubrey was also a difficult matchup for them. And I agree that the next year the addition of Te-hina created a problem matchup for us, though lacking Aubrey and Caroline and Dorka also doomed us.

Where I disagree with respect to SC is in assuming that the same matchup problems will exist again. If they do -- that is, if the injury demon ravages the roster again -- sure, there's no way we can matchup. But I get bored by dwelling on injuries. Until I have to, I will assume everyone's healthy. In that case, there's every possibility the matchup problems will be in our favor.

I agree with a lot of this, disagree with some. Namely that I agree the same penetrating backcourts won't bother us as much this year I just don't agree with why. The addition of Chen and hopefully Jana (alongside a functional front court) will plug holes that caused our problems defensively last year. For as excellent of college defenders Aaliyah and Nika were, Aaliyah wasn't a rim protector or great helpside defender and Nika lacked the foot speed to keep up with quicker guards that want to get in the lane and are a threat to pass. Thats the reason I think she could handle Fair but no other guards similarly built. Personally I think we would have lost to Notre Dame if we had played them again in the tournament, despite the improvements defensively.

The reason I think we will still match up poorly with South Carolina this year is their front court is quicker, stronger, more experienced than ours. Last year I think we lose by less if Cardoso is playing because we matched up better with them with her because we relied on neutralizing bigs with speed, can't do that when their frontcourt is too agile. Their backcourt, imo, is superior as well, even with a healthy Azzi. I don't think we have anyone that can stay out Fulwiley and Johnson while still staying out on their shooters (Johnson and PaoPao). My guess is this year the only way you can beat South Carolina by making them go big (which a team like UCLA might be able to do with Betts and crew) to neutralize some of the agility in their frontcourt or by putting their shooters on the bench with guards with speed (also something UCLA can do but potentially a tactic for Notre Dame). The third option is the default option for anyone and kind of what Indiana almost did but a team that can go unconscious from three is a dangerous for everyone, way too early to say if UConn has this potential given all the question marks and of the returning players, only Paige is a threat from three.

To make this more inclusive of Non-Uconn fans, I think that USC/Notre Dame match up will tell us a lot. On paper, I think Notre Dame should win by 10+ points. No one on USC should be able to say in front of Notre Dame's backcourt and while Juju and Kiki will be a problem for Notre Dame, Notre Dame has more defenders that will give them trouble than the reverse.

I think South Carolina would make quick work of USC so I am happy they are playing UCLA instead, that MIGHT be a game (though, I am skeptical of Close). South Carolina vs Notre Dame will also be really interesting, I don't think South Carolina played a backcourt last year as tough as Miles/Hildago will be this year, I think they might really have to rely on their post scoring that game to win that game.

 

[FanInNC]

Well I appreciate the analysis but I disagree with a lot of it. Namely I think you are underestimating matchup style of play factor, which is admittedly hard to do without having seen teams play but since its the off season, it won't stop me! Last season's final four run is a great example of match ups favoring UConn and leading to a surprise run to the final four. I don't think we were a top 10 team last season but we avoided teams that could exploit our biggest weakness which was dribble penetration from the backcourt, namely the PG position, to create for others and we made the final four because of it. USC is a team that was probably better than us all year, but we happened to match up well against them because of their lack of PG, and therefore we won. South Carolina in 2023 is another good example of a team we matched up very well against, even without our best players, despite not being as good as them because our strengths played into their weakness. It was the opposite once 2024 came around, despite our team possible being better than our 2023 team.

Looking forward to next year, assuming top teams strengths and weakness, I think of the top 8:
UConn will match up well against: Notre Dame, UCLA, and Texas, and poorly against: South Carolina, USC, and NC State
Notre Dame will match up well against: South Carolina, Texas, USC and Poorly Against: NC State, Uconn, and UCLA
South Carolina will match up well against everybody. The only teams they might struggle with are: Notre Dame and UCLA

I'm too lazy to do the rest but really trying to show the point that a team could be the second best team in the country next year and the 5th best team in the country could have a better chance of beating the number 1 team (south carolina) than them.

I’m curious why you think Notre Dame matches up poorly with NC Stare next year ? Not saying you’re wrong necessarily, but I’m just curious to hear your take on it.

 

[GirlBoo1020]

I’m curious why you think Notre Dame matches up poorly with NC Stare next year ? Not saying you’re wrong necessarily, but I’m just curious to hear your take on it.

I'm less confident in this one to be fully transparent because I don't follow NC state as closely as some of these other teams but I did watch a bunch of their games last year. My rational though is NC State's speed and length in the backcourt could present real problems for Notre Dame and I'm not sure Notre Dame's front court will have improved enough to overtake NC State downlow and I think the final four run will be a real boon for their confidence. We'll see but that was my rational!

 

[GoUconn7961]

I kind of love that UConn is the great unknown at this point. Aside from Paige the lineup is a crapshoot. I am most interested to see Jana play. I'll worry about the other teams when I have to. SCAR and ND are the most loaded imo.

 

[Bone Dog]

I kind of love that UConn is the great unknown at this point. Aside from Paige the lineup is a crapshoot. I am most interested to see Jana play. I'll worry about the other teams when I have to. SCAR and ND are the most loaded imo.

Exactly. Let the games begin!

 

[cancontent]

Exactly. Let the games begin!

The different storylines for this season makes it fun for fans. Looking forward to it.

 

[visitingcock]

Let's just look at top 8 players. I wanted to make this a poll but struggled mightily. I actually think it's UCLA.

South Carolina	USC	UConn	UCLA	Notre Dame	Texas	NC State	Oklahoma	LSU	Iowa State	TCU
Ashlyn Watkins	Rayah Marshall	Jana El Afy	Lauren Betts	Kate Koval	Taylor Jones	Caitlin Weimer	Raegan Beers	Sa'Myah Smith	Audi Cooks	Sedona Prince
Chloe Kitts	Kiki Iriafen	Ice Brady	Timea Gardener	Maddy Westbeld	Aliyah Moore	Madison Hayes	Skylar Vann	Aneesa Morrow	Addy Brown	Agnes Emma Nnopu
Bree Hall	Juju Watkins	Paige Bueckers	Gabriela Jaquez	Sonia Citron	Madison Booker	Zoe Brooks	Sahara Williams	Mikaylah Williams	Lily Hansford	Maddie Connors
Te-hina Paopoa	Kennedy Smith	Azzi Fudd	Londynn Jones	Olivia Miles	Laila Phelia	Aziaha James	Payton Verhulst	Flau'jae Johnson	Kenzie Ware	Hailey Van Lith
Raven Johnson	Talia Von Oelhoffen	Kaitlyn Chen	Kiki Rice	Hannah Hidalgo	Rori Harmon	Saniya Rivers	LexY Keys	Kailyn Gilbert	Emily Ryan	Donyvan Hunter
MiLaysia Fulwiley	Kayleigh Heckel	KK Arnold	Janiah Barker	Cassandra Prosper	Shay Holle	Zamereya Jones	Aubrey Joens	Shayeanne Day-Wilson	Sydney Harris	Maddie Scherr
Tessa Johnson	Avery Howell	Sarah Strong	Charlise Ledger- Walker	Liz Karlin	Jordan Lee	Madison Cox	Naveah Tot	Last-Tear Poa	Kelsey Joens	Aaliyah Roberson
Jocelyn Edwards	Dominique Darius	Ashlynn Shade	Kendall Dudley	Liatu King	Kyla Odacre	Lacie Steele	Liz Scott​	Jersey Wolfenbarger	Arianna Jackson	Una Jovanovich

I wonder how many of these talented teams will end up ranked in the top ten?

I’m guessing that Oklahoma and TCU will not. I just don’t see Oklahoma transitioning well to the SEC due to style of play despite picking up Beers.

I’m a big Mark Campbell fan but I don’t see his team making the huge jump from last year despite picking up a load of talent from the portal. I also expect a former PAC member or two to make waves in the Big 12. I think TCU os gonna have a bright future. Now, if he can add Jaazzy next year . . .

 

[GirlBoo1020]

I wonder how many of these talented teams will end up ranked in the top ten?

I’m guessing that Oklahoma and TCU will not. I just don’t see Oklahoma transitioning well to the SEC due to style of play despite picking up Beers.

I’m a big Mark Campbell fan but I don’t see his team making the huge jump from last year despite picking up a load of talent from the portal. I also expect a former PAC member or two to make waves in the Big 12. I think TCU os gonna have a bright future. Now, if he can add Jaazzy next year . . .

TCU was doing pretty well last year before they lost their whole team to injury if memory serves. This is the time of year when hope springs eternal but the reality is that a lot of preseason top 10 teams last year ended up being more in the 15-25 range (or unranked in Tennessee's case) so by January this list could look totally different. Hoping my Huskies don't end up out of the conversation again next year but you never know what teams will surprise you in a good way (Nc State) or a bad way.

 

[visitingcock]

TCU was doing pretty well last year before they lost their whole team to injury if memory serves. This is the time of year when hope springs eternal but the reality is that a lot of preseason top 10 teams last year ended up being more in the 15-25 range (or unranked in Tennessee's case) so by January this list could look totally different. Hoping my Huskies don't end up out of the conversation again next year but you never know what teams will surprise you in a good way (Nc State) or a bad way.

Out of the conversation?

Are you a Washington fan?

I would love to see TCU end up in the 15-25 range. Would be a great job by the 3nd year coach,

 

[Bone Dog]

I wonder how many of these talented teams will end up ranked in the top ten?

I’m guessing that Oklahoma and TCU will not. I just don’t see Oklahoma transitioning well to the SEC due to style of play despite picking up Beers.

I’m a big Mark Campbell fan but I don’t see his team making the huge jump from last year despite picking up a load of talent from the portal. I also expect a former PAC member or two to make waves in the Big 12. I think TCU os gonna have a bright future. Now, if he can add Jaazzy next year . . .

I doubt the 4 on the right will not be in the top 10.
3 of them are likely to be top 20 though.

Duke, Baylor and Louisville are my picks to fill out the top 10

 

[GirlBoo1020]

I doubt the 4 on the right will not be in the top 10.
3 of them are likely to be top 20 though.

Duke, Baylor and Louisville are my picks to fill out the top 10

Curious about Louisville's team next year and why you think so highly of them after a relatively underwhelming year this year?

 

[visitingcock]

Curious about Louisville's team next year and why you think so highly of them after a relatively underwhelming year this year?

It’s hard to write Jeff off for one “ mere”bad year after appearances in 6 of the last 10 Elite 8s. Especially since some of the ten teams listed above (including ND and UCLA) have coaches who have never reached that level.

 

[GirlBoo1020]

Need to start a tally of all the top team playing each other to see if we can make an unofficial conference pool!

 

[visitingcock]

x.com


Need to start a tally of all the top team playing each other to see if we can make an unofficial conference pool!

When you past a link from “X” erase the “x.com” and replace with”twitter.com”. It will then show in your post.

 

[FanInNC]

I'm less confident in this one to be fully transparent because I don't follow NC state as closely as some of these other teams but I did watch a bunch of their games last year. My rational though is NC State's speed and length in the backcourt could present real problems for Notre Dame and I'm not sure Notre Dame's front court will have improved enough to overtake NC State downlow and I think the final four run will be a real boon for their confidence. We'll see but that was my rational!

I agree about State’s strength being the backcourt and the athleticism there. However I feel like ND is one of the teams that scares me in the conference or at least can nullify that advantage with Olivia back and Hildago as well as Citron. A lot of talent and experience there.

Down low is State’s biggest concern next year in my estimation. Madison Hayes (or possibly Saniya Rivers) will play the role of a small ball 4 which should create mismatches on the offensive end, however will likely be a size disadvantage on the other side of the ball. Hayes is a good rebounder, but not the size of a traditional 4. Westbeld likes to float away from the basket so perhaps it wouldn’t be a major detriment but she could probably have her way on the blocks in that match up Id imagine. At the 5 State has brought in Caitlin Weimar from Boston who I won’t pretend to be an expert on. She was Patriot league player of the year last year and I believe 2 time DPOY for the conference. Seeing highlights she’s more athletic and mobile than River Baldwin was last year but lacks the lower body strength and size of Baldwin. I’m hopeful she gives State a more athletic look and different skill set, but I also don’t know how her game will translate.

Maddy Cox showed flashes last year but was rather inconsistent. Hopefully she takes a step as a quality 4. Depth beyond that is a serious question with Mallory Collier and incoming freshmen Tilda Trygger and Lorena Awou who I think State are excited about but generally Wes Moore doesn’t give a freshman a big role unless they force his hand.

 

[cancontent]

It’s hard to write Jeff off for one “ mere”bad year after appearances in 6 of the last 10 Elite 8s. Especially since some of the ten teams listed above (including ND and UCLA) have coaches who have never reached that level.

Not to mention he has an impressive class coming in including the daughters of Zach Randolph and Gilbert Arenas who are ranked in the ESPN 100.

 

[nwhoopfan]

TCU was doing pretty well last year before they lost their whole team to injury if memory serves.

They won a bunch of games to start the season, but it was against a pretty weak OOC schedule. We'll never know how they would've fared in conference if not for the rash of injuries.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Upset? I never felt that 20-21 was SCar’s “year.” We were reloading that year, We had lost 2 valuable pieces of the 19-20 team that had 2 first round seniors. (Yes, we proudly waive our garnet banner for 19-20.)

Our 20-21 team lacked any senior leadership and had only one starting junior . They lost five games ( all to highly ranked teams except TENNESSEE). Nevertheless it was a solid F4 squad and Paige was brilliant in that regular season OY game in stoors.

I mean they were a missed layup and put back away from probably winning the title, but the team didn't win the SEC and it wasn't one of the best teams Dawn has had.

It was a very defendable team.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

They won a bunch of games to start the season, but it was against a pretty weak OOC schedule. We'll never know how they would've fared in conference if not for the rash of injuries.

Hailey Van Lith and Scherr will help, I think.

Good test against experienced players that shouldn't be too intimidated.

 

[triaddukefan]

TCU was doing pretty well last year before they lost their whole team to injury if memory serves. This is the time of year when hope springs eternal but the reality is that a lot of preseason top 10 teams last year ended up being more in the 15-25 range (or unranked in Tennessee's case) so by January this list could look totally different. Hoping my Huskies don't end up out of the conversation again next year but you never know what teams will surprise you in a good way (Nc State) or a bad way.

Washington, Northern Illinois, Houston Christian ?? Bunch of huskies out there.

I doubt the 4 on the right will not be in the top 10.
3 of them are likely to be top 20 though.

Duke, Baylor and Louisville are my picks to fill out the top 10

Duke aint' a top 10 team to start the season. Too many questions.

I would rank them at #11

 

[Bone Dog]

Duke aint' a top 10 team to start the season. Too many questions.

Have faith, triad