Who dominates the 2020s?

[azfan]

NCAAW: UConn ruled the decade. Who will roar into the 2020s?

The Huskies' run in the 2010s was phenomenal, but the tides are already changing. Will a new team take over the 2020s? Or will UConn continue its dominance?

sports.yahoo.com

Taking this Yahoo article a step further will there be a team that will dominate the 2020s the way the Huskies dominated the 2010s? If so who?

 

[willtalk]

I doubt any team will dominate like Uconn did in the 2010's -- ever again. The dynamics of WCBB has changed too much.

 

[eebmg]

I voted UConn since I think with Paige and Azzi (only positive thoughts) , another dynasty will arise. More interesting to me is the challenger. Who plays the foil of ND who was our biggest challenger?

 

[Plebe]

Why is Tennessee even one of the choices?

 

[EricLA]

I voted UConn since I think with Paige and Azzi (only positive thoughts) , another dynasty will arise. More interesting to me is the challenger. Who plays the foil of ND who was our biggest challenger?

I tend to agree with you. Even if we don't land Azzi, Geno is still after many other top players and is is the only coach to land a top 2022 kid so far. This year is a crapp shoot as to who will win the NC - IMHO Oregon is the favorite, but LOTS of parity. Starting next year, UCONN will again be bad for WCBB. I could see us winning at least 2 and likely 3 NC's during Paige's UCONN career.

Obviously it depends who is recruited after that. Just look at who we have for 2021. DeBerry and Poffenbarger. We are on the short list of at least 3 or 4 other top 10 kids. I have no idea where we stand in 2022 or beyond. But UCONN is poised for a sustained run for the first 4-5 years of the decade. After that, no idea since it all boils down to recruiting.

Not sure why people keep talking about Tennessee as a potential top team. They are stacked right now and are barely in the top 25. It remains to be seen if Kelli can recruit anywhere near the level Holly could. People seem to agree she's a better X's and O's coach, but only a handful of teams recruited better than Holly, and her entire staff is now gone. I'd have put Louisville on there - but there are no other teams recruiting as well as UCONN. Close behind tho are Baylor and Stanford.

Lastly, define dominate. If UCONN wins 4 or 5 out of the 10 NC's of the decade, I'd say that's domination. In the next 5 years I think we are going to be favorites in at least 3. We will see who else we land recruting-wise...

 

[eebmg]

Why is Tennessee even one of the choices?

I would have added Baylor, South Carolina and tossed out Maryland and TN from the Poll list.

 

[Plebe]

I would have added Baylor, South Carolina and tossed out Maryland and TN from the Poll list.

Baylor would have to be the second candidate imo behind UConn. The only team besides UConn to win more than one NC in the 2010s.

 

[DefenseBB]

This was a silly poll as the correct vernacular should have been, "After UConn, who will have the most success in the 20's"? That would be an interesting poll...

 

[baggerbob]

This was a silly poll as the correct vernacular should have been, "After UConn, who will have the most success in the 20's"? That would be an interesting poll...

UConn had a perfect Storm during Stewie's 4 years, Stewie never was seriously hurt during the tournament. Look at what happened her 4th year in Seattle. All it takes is one injury at the wrong time and you lose.

 

[sivad40]

Not sure why people keep talking about Tennessee as a potential top team. They are stacked right now and are barely in the top 25. It remains to be seen if Kelli can recruit anywhere near the level Holly could. People seem to agree she's a better X's and O's coach, but only a handful of teams recruited better than Holly, and her entire staff is now gone. I'd have put Louisville on there - but there are no other teams recruiting as well as UCONN. Close behind tho are Baylor and Stanford.

What makes Tennessee a stacked team?

 

[biobioprof]

Lastly, define dominate. If UCONN wins 4 or 5 out of the 10 NC's of the decade, I'd say that's domination. In the next 5 years I think we are going to be favorites in at least 3. We will see who else we land recruting-wise...

The poll has a specific definition of >3 NCs.

 

[Hayven]

With the commits we have coming in, it looks very positive for UConn. Everyone is underestimating Edwards, but she and Paige will be a dynamic duo. I have high hopes for UConn with the recruits coming in. I think they can match the UConn teams of the early 2000s. Possibly add Azzi into the mix, and it will be just criminal.

 

[EricLA]

What makes Tennessee a stacked team?

2017 Rennia Davis (#12)
2018 Zay Green (#8)
2018 Jaz Massengill (#25)
2019 Jordan Horston (#2)

Rae Burrell is no slouch - not rated super high but athletic with a good motor. Key is a solid center especially for a freshman. I realize Green is out for the year but They have as much talent as most teams. Barring any transfers, they only lose Brown and Harris after this year. Brown is a starter but probably only because Green is injured this year.

Anyway, they have as much talent as several top 10 teams on paper. We will see if it translates into anything.

 

[sivad40]

2017 Rennia Davis (#12)
2018 Zay Green (#8)
2018 Jaz Massengill (#25)
2019 Jordan Horston (#2)

Rae Burrell is no slouch - not rated super high but athletic with a good motor. Key is a solid center especially for a freshman. I realize Green is out for the year but They have as much talent as most teams. Barring any transfers, they only lose Brown and Harris after this year. Brown is a starter but probably only because Green is injured this year.

Anyway, they have as much talent as several top 10 teams on paper. We will see if it translates into anything.

Stacked to me is when you have four or five of your starters rated within the top 10 and the top 8 of your rotation is made up of top 15 to top 50 ranked players with slight variations. Tennessee has too many players like Burrell, Key, Saunders, etc ranked 100 or more by at least one recruiting service to be stacked.

 

[shiverz45]

Stacked to me is when you have four or five of your starters rated within the top 10 and the top 8 of your rotation is made up of top 15 to top 50 ranked players with slight variations. Tennessee has too many players like Burrell, Key, Saunders, etc ranked 100 or more by at least one recruiting service to be stacked.

This would be an interesting thread to start based on your criteria whether or not a team is stacked. SC has 10 of 12 top 100. SC has 5 players ranked in the top 10 based on 1 or more of the major recruiting services. 4 players ranked in the top 25. 1 player ranked #72 and she is the leading scorer.

 

[bballnut90]

UConn had a perfect Storm during Stewie's 4 years, Stewie never was seriously hurt during the tournament. Look at what happened her 4th year in Seattle. All it takes is one injury at the wrong time and you lose.

Not to mention Jefferson who cant stay healthy at all in the W after a brilliant college career.

 

[bballnut90]

2017 Rennia Davis (#12)
2018 Zay Green (#8)
2018 Jaz Massengill (#25)
2019 Jordan Horston (#2)

Rae Burrell is no slouch - not rated super high but athletic with a good motor. Key is a solid center especially for a freshman. I realize Green is out for the year but They have as much talent as most teams. Barring any transfers, they only lose Brown and Harris after this year. Brown is a starter but probably only because Green is injured this year.

Anyway, they have as much talent as several top 10 teams on paper. We will see if it translates into anything.

That's literally 1 healthy top 10 recruit on the team and she's a freshman. Not sure how you can conclude that as, "stacked."

 

[EricLA]

That's literally 1 healthy top 10 recruit on the team and she's a freshman. Not sure how you can conclude that as, "stacked."

Well the poll talks about the coming decade. Obviously this year Green is injured. You don't believe Davis is one of the top 10 kids in her class? She was #9 per PN, so at least someone thought she was top 10 coming out of HS. But hey, I find it interesting that I'm having to convince you that Holly recruited some top level players, or that Davis is really good.

Of course you had a bunch of defections too. But I would observe that next year, Tennessee will have 3 kids who were rated in the top 10 in their class, one of which was #1. If that isn't a stacked team, I don't know what is.

Certainly not the recruiting classes of say UCONN, Stanford, Baylor, SC, Oregon, OSU, but right up there with Maryland, Louisville, Kentucky, Florida State, UCLA, NC State, etc. With that kind of talent, your fabulous new HC should easily have the team in the top 10 right? I mean she's an awesome coach, right?

I guess we just have different definitions of stacked. If on paper, Tennessee has one of the top 7 or 8 teams in WCBB, I'd consider that stacked. If your definition is a final 4 team with NC potential, then no, I guess Tennessee will never be stacked.

 

[bballnut90]

NCAAW: UConn ruled the decade. Who will roar into the 2020s?

The Huskies' run in the 2010s was phenomenal, but the tides are already changing. Will a new team take over the 2020s? Or will UConn continue its dominance?

sports.yahoo.com

Taking this Yahoo article a step further will there be a team that will dominate the 2020s the way the Huskies dominated the 2010s? If so who?

On paper UCONN is definitely the best positioned. They continue to steadily land 1-2 top 5 kids on an annual basis and they don't transfer out. Looking ahead to next year, they'll likely start three former #1 recruits, a former #2 recruit and another former top 5 recruit. 4 of those players will be upperclassmen too, no less. The following two years they have a top 5 kid on board from each class and are likely in the mix for several others. The rich continue to stay rich.

Factors that will be interesting to watch over the next decade though include:

-Player health (as noted above, UCONN usually had all of their top players healthy in the NCAAs)

-Transfers and grad transfers (will heavy transfer culture continue? UCONN stay immune from top players transferring out? Will coaches stop going after large classes since they consistently have several defects?)

-Players leaving for pros with a year of eligibility left (Deshields, Young, Stevens, Loyd) or at least strongly consider leaving early (Ionescu last year, talk this year about Walker, Sabally and Carter all being eligible for next). We saw a few players bolt early this decade, will the trend be more prevalent in coming years?

Stanford also looks really good for years to come and Baylor/South Carolina should be good too. Oregon and Oregon State both look dangerous. All of those schools have done excellent with transfers too so I think year in and year out they'll be able to fill holes well and stay competitive even when they graduate key players.

 

[bballnut90]

Well the poll talks about the coming decade. Obviously this year Green is injured. You don't believe Davis is one of the top 10 kids in her class? She was #9 per PN, so at least someone thought she was top 10 coming out of HS. But hey, I find it interesting that I'm having to convince you that Holly recruited some top level players, or that Davis is really good.

Of course you had a bunch of defections too. But I would observe that next year, Tennessee will have 3 kids who were rated in the top 10 in their class, one of which was #1. If that isn't a stacked team, I don't know what is.

Certainly not the recruiting classes of say UCONN, Stanford, Baylor, SC, Oregon, OSU, but right up there with Maryland, Louisville, Kentucky, Florida State, UCLA, NC State, etc. With that kind of talent, your fabulous new HC should easily have the team in the top 10 right? I mean she's an awesome coach, right?

I guess we just have different definitions of stacked. If on paper, Tennessee has one of the top 7 or 8 teams in WCBB, I'd consider that stacked. If your definition is a final 4 team with NC potential, then no, I guess Tennessee will never be stacked.

Lol I'm not getting into a new petty argument with you. I'll go along with what you said in that we have different definitions of "stacked."

 

[EricLA]

Lol I'm not getting into a new petty argument with you. I'll go along with what you said in that we have different definitions of "stacked."

Obviously. Didn't realize you were being petty.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

Why is Tennessee even one of the choices?

Why is Maryland. I haven't read all the posts yet but Baylor?

 

[sivad40]

This would be an interesting thread to start based on your criteria whether or not a team is stacked. SC has 10 of 12 top 100. SC has 5 players ranked in the top 10 based on 1 or more of the major recruiting services. 4 players ranked in the top 25. 1 player ranked #72 and she is the leading scorer.

On paper, they seemed to be more "stacked" (quoted for emphasis) than Tennessee is. I haven't looked in depth to see if any of those players are ranked out of top 100 by at least one or more recruiting services like Tennessee who has multiple players ranked outside of the top 100. As you see in this thread, there's different criteria for what a stacked team is.

 

[IWearShoes]

You seem to have left off a team that played in 2 of the last 3 NC games.

 

[Plebe]

You seem to have left off a team that played in 2 of the last 3 NC games.

We should've had a poll about which teams to include as the choices.