RebKell's Junkie Boards

[Howee]

[pilight]

[Oldfandepot2]

[quote="leeshajo"]South Dakota State (I kind of wrote a book, sorry

)[/quote

I am bibliophile so thank you so much for taking the time. I am sorry about the injury to Gabby and like you said it really sucks. Wish her all the best and hopefully she will be back sooner than later.

_________________
Cave Canem!
We must listen to each other no matter how much it hurts. Bishop Desmond Tutu.

[buzzyb]

[AAOK423]

[mzonefan]

[summertime blues]

[buzzyb]

[Beemer]

[grrlagent]

Posted a lot of this under the SEC thread, but here is a quick, short analysis on the LSU Lady Tigers:

I love my LSU Lady Tigers, but I think they're going to struggle this season. Danielle Ballard and Raygiene Moncrief are solid but I'm not 100% sold on any player after that unfortunately. Boykin and Pedersen are veterans but have yet to really shine. Boykin is physical but she has yet to break out into the player she was recruited to be and that may be due to her illness a year ago. I hope this year is her year. Youngblood is a wildcard literally and figuratively. I think it will all depend on Jasmine Rhodes and Dashawn Harden following up last years strong but spotty performances with good consistent guard play. A lot of new, fresh, unproven faces after that....

_________________
“Never mistake activity for achievement.”
John Wooden

[ArtBest23]

[Oldfandepot2]

[ArtBest23]

[Oldfandepot2]

Thanks, Art. Good analysis.

_________________
Cave Canem!
We must listen to each other no matter how much it hurts. Bishop Desmond Tutu.

[cthskzfn]

[Oldfandepot2]

[ArtBest23]

[Norcalnick]

California Golden Bears

Projected starting lineup:

PG: Brittany Boyd
Wings: Mercedes Jefflo
Wing: Gabby Green or Mikayla Cowling
Wing: Courtney Range
Post: Reshanda Gray

Strengths:

With due respect to Plum, Orrange and Alleyne, in my opinion Cal has the two best players in the Pac-12 in Boyd and Gray, and both are projected first round draft picks in the WNBA this year.

Boyd does everything - passing, scoring, drawing fouls, disrupting on defense, pulling down boards. Gray will be one of the most efficient scorers in the country and will draw constant double teams.

Cal's general team strength should be length and athleticism. The addition of freshmen recruits Gabby Green and Mikayla Cowling means that Cal could run with three rangy, athletic 6'2''+ guards. They should be really disruptive on defense, and they should create a variety of matchup problems on offense.

Weaknesses:

Depth, for one. Cal only has 10 players on the roster. Two were reserves to barely played last year, and three are freshmen, which basically means there are only 5 'proven' players on the roster. Any injuries to potential starters could be devastating. There will be a heavy burden on Boyd and Gray to stay on the court. I think they are capable, but there's risk.

Depth is particularly iffy inside, which means that Cal will likely be playing lots of 4 guard lineups, which is a stylistic change that may or may not work.

More than anything else, Cal is expecting big developmental jumps from sophomores Courtney Range and Mercedes Jefflo, and immediate positive contributions from Cowling and Green. None of those are unrealistic things to expect - sophomores usually improve a lot, and most folks expect McDonald's All Americans to contribute. But there are no guarantees.

Expectations:

Win the Pac-12 title, outright. If Cal can't win the Pac-12 title this year, with Boyd and Grey as seniors and Stanford seemingly vulnerable, then when would it ever happen? Beyond that, earn a top 4 tournament seed to earn home court advantage to star the tournament.

[cthskzfn]

What is your take on UCONN, cths..


rambling thoughts:

Two 4-yr starter experience cannot be replaced by perennial reserves or freshmen, imo, so they'll feel the loss of Dolson and Hartley, especially early on.

I'm curious to see how the offense runs w/o these two players who were integral cogs. Additionally, their team-defense acumen is gone.

There'll be a bigger load on Jefferson to distribute/run the offense. I think Nurse is the leading candidate for the other guard spot. Hopefully her Team Canada experience will allow her a shorter learning curve than is usual for a freshman so that she can assume some of the load, at least by season's end. I think her size will help mitigate the loss of front-court size.

I'll assume Lewis, Stewart and Jefferson have improved and can handle a bigger role. Hopefully Tuck can play injury-free. If so, the team will be much more versatile/deep/potent.

The biggest ?s for me (other than injury) are Stokes and the other guard spot. Will Stokes shine as a starter, or will the Peter Principle come into play? Has she broadened her offensive game and will she be more definitive w/ the ball?

As for the team's record or seasonal results, I think there's as good a chance to go undefeated as there is to lose a game or two.

_________________
Silly, stupid white people might be waking up.

[purduefanatic]

Purdue will be an interesting team to see develop. They graduated a very dynamic senior backcourt of KK Houser and Courtney Moses who both provided lots of leadership, gritty play and mental toughness. That said, KK was like a roller coaster...she would look like an All-American one game and the next have so many unforced turnovers. They also lost fellow senior guard DeeDee Williams, who was mostly a defensive specialist and Camille Redmon, who was penciled in to start in the post but most likely would have ended up coming in off the bench.

Best guess at starters:

PG - April Wilson, 5'7 Jr (10 PPG, 4.7 APG)
2 - Ashley Morrissette - 5'9 Soph (2.2 PPG)
3 - Torrie Thornton - 6' Jr (1.8 PPG, 2.1 RPG)
4 - Whitney Bays, 6'2 Sr (12.1 PPG, 7-9 RPG)
5 - Liza Clemons, 6'2 Sr (9.4 PPG, 5.5 RPG)

Backcourt
Purdue was at its' best last year with Wilson running the point and Houser playing on the wing. Wilson is a true PG and someone that I feel very comfortable with when the ball is in her hands. Morrissette had flashes of brilliance last year but found it hard to break fully into the rotation with 3 senior guards and Wilson involved. Word around the program is that she has been by far the most impressive of all the returnees and has come back ready to claim playing time. Thornton is a very athletic wing that can also play some post (with the preseason injury to incoming 6'3 frosh Haley Bodnar). If she does, look for any of 5'7 Jr Hayden Hamby (played very well down the stretch last year and is known for being a great shooter) or 6'2 Soph Bridget Perry (unorthodox lefty that can drill the '3' or penetrate) to start.

If a frosh can take a starting spot, my money is on 5'10 Justine Hall, the Colorado Player of the Year last year. She is the perfect point/combo guard, able to shoot the '3' effectively while also being able to put the ball on the floor and attack the basket. Andreona Keys, a very athletic wing, is also listed at 5'10 and averaged 24 points/game in a tough league in Atlanta.

I really like the mix of these 7 guards/wings...my only real concerns are getting Hall ready to play some PG when Wilson has to come out of the game finding someone other than April Wilson that can take & make a shot in a tough situation (end of game type of thing).

Frontcourt
Clemons & Bays will be a very good inside duo...the downside is both are "only" 6'2 and while they play tough & physical, they really aren't that bulky. Some of the teams in the B1G have tall, thick, physical post players and that could give them some occasional problems inside. Bays liked coming off the bench last year but this year will be a starter. She was limited to just under 20 mins/game, but that was mainly due to her coming back from an injury and not wanting to push her to point of no return. I look for her to play 25-28 mins/game this year. Clemons suffered from foul trouble all too often last year and she really needs to keep that under control...if she does, she will play a lot and should put up excellent numbers in several categories.

After the starters we get into a lot of unknowns. Thornton, as mentioned above, will most likely spell them at the 4 spot for a while. A lot is expected of the incoming frosh, led by 6'2 Erica Moore. She has a little of a thicker build and actually has a lot of skills of a guard. However, she could be the perfect "stretch 4", pulling out a post player that will have to try to defend someone on the perimeter. She is coming off an injury that took away her senior year but if healthy, she is a very dynamic player that will be a crowd favorite. Another frosh is the aforementioned 6'3 Haley Bodnar, the reigning Utah Player of the Year who is currently recovering from a stress fracture. The hope today is that she will be able to be back for the conference portion of the season. The last member of the 5-player freshman class is 6'5 Bree Horrocks from Georgia. Also a pretty good volleyball player, she should contribute a few points, rebounds and blocks every game.

All in all, it's feast or famine with this group in terms of experience...from 2 seniors to 3 freshmen. There is a pretty good amount of versatility in this group.


This team has a lot of youth: 5 freshmen and 2 sophomores. They also need to replace a pretty good amount of scoring and leadership from the seniors that graduated last year. Because of that, there are a lot of unknowns about how they are going to react once they get into games and who will take it upon themselves to take over when the going gets tough. I really like the incoming class and think they have the ability to make a big impact this year...if they don't, it could be a long year. That said, there is still plenty of talent on this team and I look for them to finish 5th-8th in the Big Ten this year and win a game or 2 in the NCAA's.

[NoDakSt]

North Dakota State:

Last season the Herd crawled to a 6-24 record including a meager 2-12 record in the Summit League. The train wreck that was Carolyn DeHoff's program reached its inevitable nadir; in a year that saw the Bison football team claim a third consecutive FCS title, both track teams claim multiple conference titles and advance unprecedented numbers to Eugene, and NCAA tourney berths for softball, baseball and mens' basketball (the latter claiming an opening round win over Oklahoma), the tolerance for WBBs' less-than -mediocre performance was finally dashed and Dehoff was sent packing. In her place the Bison Admin hired never-before head coach Maren Walseth; former star and current assistant at Penn State. Perhaps not a bad hire considering that Walseth is a Twin Cities native (once a recruiting grounds for NDSU) and that her sis Annika had played in Fargo. Walseth kept Assistant Coach Keith Dickhudt on her team and brought in Assistants Patrick Harrison and Kachine Alexander, the latter also a Twin Cities Prep and former all conference player at Iowa.

The good and bad news is that NDSU returns pretty much everyone. Maybe it is a ringing endorsement that almost everyone stayed in Fargo in support of the regime change. Longtime Bison fans are searching for a frame of reference versus how far the program has fallen. Definitely the results are different from when the program was in its DII heyday winning 5 national titles in the 90s. And many fans feel that the current athletes are second rate to the legends of long ago. Can Walseth turn this group into competitors? If she can't what does it mean? Ultimately, the pressure on this new staff might be pretty low. THey have an extra year to bring in their own recruits and achieve results.

The Bison are expected to finish dead last in this year's conference. I could see that possibility, especially if the coaching staff decide to develop younger players for future results at the expense of upperclassmen.

[loneycafe]

So NC State:

No idea what to expect this year. We lost six seniors to graduation, notably our post players (Keisha Gatling and Kody Burke) and our biggest 3-point threat (Myisha Goodwin-Coleman). And we have a lot of new players: an Arkansas transfer (Dominque Wilson), a junior college transfer (Carlee Schuhmacher), and four freshmen.

Coaches and players have said we'll be more guard-oriented this year given the newness and inexperience of post players. Last season, when we had to be more guard-oriented, it wasn't pretty. Our guards last season were inconsistent and very streaky and a no-show for some games. I also don't know who will step up and fill the void left by our 3-point threat MGC. Just a lot of unknowns.

Coach Moore developed a schedule similar to the one he did last year: have a pretty soft OOC schedule to give the players some time to grow and jell and work out some kinks and develop confidence before the ACC schedule starts. It paid off last season; we'll see what happens this season.

The player who'll probably emerge as the leader this year is sophomore Miah Spencer. Coach Moore really, really likes her, and she showed some great potential last year. She's not afraid to drive, and she is a hard-nose defender. She has some swagger, too. She's already a captain.

Pack fans aren't expecting the same 4-seed in the ACC tournament as last year; and I think the No. 9 and No. 10 pre-season predictions in the ACC are a little generous and show more faith in Coach Moore than the players. That's not a knock on the players; it's just we'll be working in so many new players (and we lost so much), it's hard to even predict the potential of this new group without seeing a few games first.

I would be surprised if this year's Pack team cracks the Top 25; but with the recruits we've got coming, and the right coach in Coach Moore, we're a program on the upswing.

[noleman]

Florida State:

FSU loses their best player in school history and their starting PG. They return 3 starters, and bring in some talented transfers and recruits.

Strengths: Depth at all positions; Balance
Weaknesses: 3 pt Shooting; No "Star" player

Guards:
Brittany Brown is one of the better perimeter defenders in the league and was 3rd in the ACC in steals last season. She starterd every game her freshman season and had a solid debut year. I personally expected more from her after watching her play many times in high school. She was a good but streaky shooter especially from deep. So to see her struggle to shoot last year was odd, hopefully she regains her shooting touch this season.

Richardson, Conwright, Bingley: Tranfers from Rutgers, Kentucky, and Iowa State. Richardson was a top 25 kid out of high school and Conwright was having a solid career at UK before hurting her knee. I had penciled in Richardson as the starting PG since she transferred here but Semrau recently said that Conwright had been running the show in practice so far. Known as a defensive ace, Im looking forward to see what else she brings to the table. BIngley sat out half the season and had some solid games last year. She will need to be a more consistent shooter and more ways to score the ball off the dribble.

Ray: Already a social media star, If she can produce on the court than she will have a very good career on and off the court in the future. She is probably the teams best 3 pt shooter which is why i think we will see her get plenty of court time this season.

Wings:
Morgan Jones has always been a streaky shooter because she has such a funky shot form. In the beginning of the season, she was Natasha's robin, picking up the slack when howard struggled or got in foul trouble. Jones really struggled in the latter part of the season. Team will need consistency from her this year. She played 1-4 last season and will probably do more of the same depending on matchups and lineups.

Shakayla Thomas: Leading scorer in the MCDAA game, expect her to have a great career at FSU. Great slasher and has a solid mid range game. Will need to work on defense and ball-handling. Has a great chance of winning ACC FOY.

Lauren Coleman: Definitely one of those connect-the-dots type of players. She isn't great at one thing but does many things well. High IQ, good 3pt shooter and play maker. Senior leadership from her will be important as she is the only player whose played more than 1 season in the ACC.

POSTS:
Slaughter: Was a beast on the boards last season and i expect her to break howard's rebound record b4 she graduates. Had a great freshman year, will need to stay out of foul trouble.

Bulgak: JC POY, player is likely the one who will try to fill howard's shoes. Another long, athletic 6-4 post who can run the floor but can also hit the 3. Once committed to UNC, Bulgak will be an important piece for FSU this season.

James: Another MCDAA, Seems to have gotten in better shape and will obviously get more time since Natasha is gone. I think will have a solid season.

Degbeon and Bevillard: European post who should at least add rebounding this season and bevillard ended her career after 4 consecutive ACL injuries.

Optimistically, All of FSU's new pieces come together perfectly and they finish 2nd in the league.
Realistically, It will probably take time to build on court chemistry and they finish anywhere from 4-6.

Players to watch: Keep an eye on Thomas and Bulgak, I believe they will be difference makers this season.

[Shmermerer1]

DePaul:

Strengths: guards, passing, 3pt shooting
Weaknesses: post play and rebounding

We lose only one starter from last year (Jasmine Penny). She was our leading scorer and was one of the most efficient scorers in the nation. While she could score, she was very undersized and not a very good rebounder. We can make up the points in Bruno's high octane offense. We will need our freshmen post players To step up. Marte Grays 6"2 is a top 100 recruit and will get significant minutes right away. Elri Liebenberg 6"5 is a bit of a work in progress, but has loads of potential. Pretty fast and athletic for her height. She just needs to learn how to use the backboard as she is used to playing net ball. Brandi Harvey-Carr 6"4 is a sophomore and should be starting this year. She needs to stay out of foul trouble. If she can, than this team is a top 10 team. Our guards are some of the best in the nation. Hrynko and Jenkins average over 5 apg. We also bring back Megan Rogowski. She is one of the top 3pt shooters in the country. Again I think if we can rebound better, this will be a better team than last year.

[Oldfandepot2]