Emily Bessoir opted to forego her extra year of eligibility and won’t return next season. Lina Sontag also “retired” from NCAA D1 WBB and returned to Germany. Both made Germany’s Olympic team though neither played major minutes. Forward Christeen Iwuala transferred to Ole Miss. Those three have been replaced by Juniors Gardiner, Barker and Grad transfer Leger-Walker. I think the replacements constitute an upgrade though Leger-Walker remains a question mark returning from an ACL injury.
Not sure I understand the logic behind some of the match ups, tbh.
I am an Ice fan. I really liked her game in high school, and am excited to see how she develops. With that being said, her mid range and perimeter game is quite different from Gardiner's. Ice is more of a spot up shooter at this moment. In high school she showed that she can do dribble pull ups off of the 3 point line. I think she has more to her face up game, but it's not as quick and smooth as Gardiner's. Gardiner's is more guardlike and she can make shots on the move. And has a quick release that allows her to put up shots that are well contested. You do have a point, will she play the 3? That will be difficult. But she shot 39.5% from 3 last season. So maybe that's the plan.
No it won't.
Ash-Dugalic. The height difference is too great for Geno to think he could give Ash that defensive assignment. It’s not unreasonable to think Ash might end up on her occasionally on a switch, a “mouse in the house” situation. But this will not be the norm. For the same reason Ash will not be assigned to guard Gardner. This may mean Ash won’t see as much court time in a UCLA game. Also, I think it unlikely Close would put 3 bigs on the floor at once in Betts Dugakic and Gardner or Barker. My guess is Betts plus one big and Rice Jones Jaquez or another wing. Which means again that Ash would not likely spend much time defending a big.
Good analysis. I agree about SC and think they have to be the pre-season favorite. Too much talent, experience, depth and team balance to put anyone else in that spot. UConn may have more talent, but not the same depth in the front court or nearly as much experience. What Geno has is the best player in D1 and potentially the 2nd, 3rd and 4th best players. But that’s merely potential and other than Azzi we have no idea what they will look like on the court together. It doesn’t outweigh all that experience.
I really just don't think Leger-Walker will be available to play this season and if she is it will be very rusty, at the very end of the season on a brand new team that's already spent 4 months developing chemistry. I don't see her adding much given the reality of the situation, unfortunately. If she was coming in healthy it would be a different story but given how late in the season her injury was it will be tough.
With or without the injury, I'm still confused as to how these two can be compared against each other. They don't play the same position as Leger-Walker is a PG and Prosper is more of a wing than a guard. That's what I find perplexing. If there was a debate between Miles and Leger-Walker, that would make more sense because they play the same position.
I wasn't comparing the bench by position because some teams have all guards on their bench and some have all bigs. Just by player quality. I think Prosper will help her team more than Walker would.
If it's based solely on injury, I get it to an extent. If Leger-Walker was fully healthy, I'd disagree for the same reasons I noted earlier.
How do you defend her? Maybe a Booker at Texas could maybe control her. A SCar could look at using Watkins on her but that would leave Iriafan free to run wild. I guess you have to concentrate on denying her the ball as much as possible - which means a lot of pressing.
Just don't foul her and you'll be fine. She has no left hand and will shoot her team out of games if you don't let her get to the line. She is kind of like Arike, people look at the scoring total but ignore the efficiency. Against UConn she ended with 29 points on 25 shots, shooting 36%, 4 turnovers 2 assists. That is... not good and yet people considered it a good game. If some of those shots had gone to Marshall who we had no answer for, they might have been playing Iowa in the final four.
Texas @ ND. ACC/SEC challenge
No way Watkins defends Juju. Juju is too much perimeter and too much handle. Bree and Raven will defend her and other wings. Juju is too much of an explosive scorer from the outsde to allow Watkins to defend her vs guarding Kiki which potentially she is a much, much better match to defend.
What about Joyce Edwards? She's pretty athletic. She may be an option as a perimeter defender, or she can play the 4 and let Watkins have a go at the 3.
If Nika and Paige can guard Juju, Raven Johnson would have no issue.
You mean guard Juju? Juju is a Wing not a PF. And Watkins is not a 3. Edwards is more of a 3 than Watkins.
Watkins is 6-3 fast, great leaper, quick reflexes, can run the floor and PERHAPS the best athlete in the nation. Wait. Isn’t Paige a 4 herself ( when needed)? Can she guard Juju?
Edwards is absolutely a 4. No way she guards Juju effectively. It's gotta be Raven and Tessa with a little help from the front court. Put a big on Juju and she'll make a living from the free throw line, like she did against UCLA.
i don't think Texas @ Uconn has been confirmed though I would love to see it get scheduled.
No Watkins can't Not a chance vs one of the top 5 perimeter players in wcbb. With respect no she can't. Nor is Paige a PF vs a team like SOCar. It's a mismatch. Bree and Raven will guard her or other players but certainly not Watkins other than off switches.
I think Watkins is plenty quick enough to guard other Watkins tbh. Probably a better option than Bree Hall. But South Carolina has elite perimeter defenders, no need to risk foul trouble for Ashlyn Watkins by putting her on Juju and give Kiki an easier defender so its a moot point.
Nika's defense is built on team. Not on quickness because she doesn't have elite athleticism. . She has grown up all her life playing defense on the perimeter though. Juju all her life has grown up learning how to score on the perimeter. The reason why you state you wouldn't put Watkins on Juju despite her quickness and concern for foul trouble is because she more than likely would have little chance to do it effectively unless Juju was just off.
I made a typo referencing Edwards.
