"What happens in CLA this coming February won't be a huge deal" - If both teams come in #1 and #2 as projected it will be the biggest WBB game ever played at CLA
2021-2022 WBB Team
- Thread starter Cocky 45
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If you read their forum the natives are getting a little restless. They thought Cardosa was their savior in the post until she signed with us.
Agreed. I would also add Cardoso adds depth in the post. I know that wasn't a problem last year....until it was. In the Final Four. 🙁
Dawn has added the players who can address the weakness from last season. How much she's willing to play the newcomers over veteran players is going to be interesting to see.
Since the last time we played them at CLA. (Yeah, I know they weren't 1 or 2 at that time.) Yeah, it will be huge hype but shouldn't really matter. It doesn't REALLY matter til tourney time though.
The 2019 class broke the mold. That was part talent, part necessity. Freshman just didn’t start for DS, not A’ja, not Alaina, not Tiffany Mitchell.
I know Johnson and Rivers would be starting anywhere in the country except us and UCONN. I think they move to the front of the line as primary backcourt subs.
Their minutes will start at 15-20 a game. Raven at the 1&2 and Rivers at the 2&3 and maybe the 4 if a team is packing in really tight.
I think they will pick up the D quicker than the O. When you are that good in HS, you tend to be too ball dominant for college.
Feagin is in a tougher spot. Long line at the 4&5. I am sure she will get a look at the 3 just to see if she can play that position.
Hall is someone I honestly don’t know about. That is my ignorance and laziness. I have just not watched her film. Would love your insights if you have watched her
When I watch Hall plays, Tiffany Mitchell comes to mind. She's athletic and has the size to play wing. Will be able to play SEC defense right away. Offensively, she might not be ready to make an immediate impact.
She can hit the intermediate shot from the video I've seen. I know some will say "yeah, that's against high school competition," but with Boston drawing double and triple teams, our wings are often left completely unguarded. If Hall can hit enough open jumpers for the defense to respect her, that would be huge.
I also think she's an impressive person off the court, from what I can tell. High IQ/good attitude. Her parents are active on social media and very supportive of Dawn and the team in general.
In 2015-16, CT was #1 and USC was #2, and played in CLA in front of a sold out crowd of 18,000. It was the first official sellout of CLA for a WBB game....
I do believe at times Dawn was too loyal to veteran players especially around 2014 or so. I think Ty was the first freshman to start from the beginning and played a part in Dawn's adaptation to give some of underclassmen more of a chance to start.
As for the incoming freshmen I honestly don't see Rivers ever playing the 4 especially considering who we have on the roster. Johnson is the only freshman I'm confident will have significant playing time. Feagin is probably next on the list and that's going to be likely dependent on how much range Saxton has added to her game or how much Amihere can clean up her game. I think Feagin will likely mostly play the 4 but could end up playing 3 some depending on the team needs..
As for Rivers and Hall, I believe they are both are 2/3 and will fall somewhere on the depth chart. The only reason I'm not so sure about Rivers is mostly because of what you mentioned earlier about the ball dominance. She'll be a great player but I'm not sure she'll go right out the gate with significant minutes. Again their minutes will be dictated by the consistency of Cooke and the offensive game of Beal.
Good points. The only time I would ever see Rivers at the 4 is if we play an undersized team that is just packing it in. That would give 4 shooters on the perimeter. She is 6’1” long with speed and hops. She is probably the best freshman athlete coming into the college game this year. If given enough minutes she could make all conference defensive team
With Amihere, Saxton, Henny and Rivers you have four of the most athletic players in the country
In the other thread someone mentioned that Cardoso won't be a starter, why the heck would she not be our starting center? 6'7 paint beast, go back and watch the Syracuse/UConn NCAA tournament game, she had several blocks. Move Boston to the 4 which is her natural position anyway. Then rotate Amihere, Feagin, Saxton off the bench. Nobody UConn has in the post can match up with Boston/Cardoso.
Put the best 5 out there regardless of class, If Raven Johnson is the better PG and the type of player people on here say she is then you play her.
I will say she looks like a much better passer than Henderson, guard play and turnovers killed us last year it was painful to watch at times Henderson sprint down the floor and turn it over, or throw wild passes was infuriating. She does that next year and you have to bench her.
Boston is not a 4, She is a five. She has been named the top enter in the country two years running. ALL SEC & ALL SEC defensive player of the year twice.
Her bread and butter is low post back to the basket. Her foot work is impeccable, she can go left or right, has a drop step. The best comparison is to Tim Duncan, “The Big Fundamental” She does everything right. Mike Neighbors of Ark. said it best, “Boston is the best center in college, she just makes you wrong!”
She has a developing outside shot, but she does not have a quick enough first step to play the 4.
Cardoso is great but she is not as polished as Boston. Boston played 32 minutes last year up from 24 her freshman. Cardoso is going to get 20 minutes mostly spelling Boston. They will together but I imagine it will be more hi-lo post combo like Coates and Wilson
Yes, I think Boston is definitely a 5, especially with the way the game is played today. Not many teams play a traditional power forward along with a center anymore. And we don't want Aliyah chasing a player around the perimeter. Not her strength. I suspect coach will play more zone this coming season, when they both are on the floor at the same time.
We will not change the DNA of the defense or team. With our newly acquired depth, we will force opponents to play at a frenzied pace. This will allow us to get our reserves the needed minutes while resting the starters. Our reserves must get substantial minutes this season.
No team has the depth of talent that Dawn has with 11 McDonalds All Americans and 14 five star players. UConn has 11 McDonalds All Americans and 11 five star players. Stanford has 7 All Americans and 10 five star players.
She is an elite talent and would likely start on almost any other team in the nation roster but as winloseortie noted Boston has been the best center in the nation the past two years. While I think Boston could theoretically play the four, especially since she's expanded her range and improved her face up game, I don't think it's beneficial to her or the team for that to be her primary role.
Both players take up a lot space and are great back to the basket players with great passing skills. Their strengths are too similar for her to start in my opinion. I'm sure at times we'll see them play together but I doubt it will be the norm or for long periods of times this upcoming season.
She'll be more effective playing off of Boston as a sub. For example,imagine a player like Elissa Cunane a top tier big from NC State, battling Boston for the first quarter, then Dawn gives her a breather and Cardoso comes in off the bench and plays the 2nd quarter, by halftime the opposing big would be likely winded and overwhelmed while our players remain fresh and continue to overwhelm our opponents in the 2nd half.
For a first year starter and especially immediately following the footsteps of a 4 year starter like Ty Harris, Henderson did a pretty good job as a point guard and in my opinion was one of the best in the nation. The only issue I see is the turnovers at times, but in many cases I believe it was the result of trying to make something happen when our offense just couldn't score.
Outside of that she's a better scorer, a better rebounder and can really affect the game in a moment's notice with her speed and her assists were only slightly below Harris. I think what she really lacked was a quality backup like Johnson to relieve her. She averaged over 34 minutes this past season. I think relieving her of some minutes plus the experience of last year should do her wonders.
In her Sr year Ty averaged 28 minutes per game, it lead the team.
Beal averaged the same amount of minutes but that was 4th on the team. All the starters except Saxton played too many minutes. There are significant minutes to go around for the bench. Optimally unless it’s a really tight game against top flight competition 25 mpg is what you the starters playing.
As you said, depth has a cumulative effect..... Cunane has no effective backup, when she is resting they have no one to stop Boston/Cardoso so she has to play extended minutes, which means a greater possibility of foul trouble
I think Amihere will benefit greatly from a Boston/Cardoso rotation. Amihere lists "Power Forward" on her twitter bio. That's definitely her natural position. She can play the 5, of course. However, she has the potential to be outstanding at power forward. She can already guard any 4, whether they are a stretch 4 or a power 4. I can't emphasize enough have much Boston's foul trouble hurt us against Stanford. Amihere was forced to play the 5, which she did well enough, but we needed her on Haley Jones. Shouldn't be a problem next year.
I'm not ruling out Saxton. If she can hit a mid-range jump shot consistently, she'll earn herself more playing time. We know Dawn will give her ample opportunity to prove herself.
I'm not ruling out Saxton. If she can hit a mid-range jump shot consistently, she'll earn herself more playing time. We know Dawn will give her ample opportunity to prove herself.
I think truly that 2014-15 and 2019-20 were entirely different developments, which I think you're saying above. In 2014-15, the team was returning their ENTIRE starting 5 that had just won 29 gms (the 2nd most in program history), won the program's first SEC title (reg. season) of ANY kind, and earned the program's first ever #1 Seed in the NCAAT. It included Mitchell who was the SEC POTY.
It would have been a difficult situation for the staff to have benched any players from that success for youngsters coming into the program that have yet to accomplish ANYTHING for the program. No matter HOW talented they were or how highly rated they were out of high school. As it was, both Wilson and Coates ended up taking minutes away from Ibiam and Welch as the season progressed, despite doing it from the bench. But they earned that based on their play.
Sessions and Dozier were NOT offensive options during their entire time at USC, and one might have thought that either Cuevas-Moore or Duckett - being 5-star rated per Hoopgurlz - would have stolen more minutes. Cuevas-Moore was played often in 2014-15, but she was too wild and undisciplined and too often came out of games not because it was time for someone else to rotate in, but because she exasperated Staley with turnovers and bad decisions. Duckett started her freshman season in Staley's doghouse sort of - her conditioning was poor and she was not able to meet Staley's preseason conditioning requirements that the other freshmen met - but she eventually played in 20 games including 10 SEC games.
So they were at least given opportunities to earn more playing minutes if not outright promised them.
2019-20 however, was different: the previous season's team did not perform well. Several players - including starters like Bianca Jackson and Te'a Cooper - transferred out, and other starters like Alexis Jennings and Doniyah Cliney graduated. In 18-19, perhaps for the first time in years, Staley struggled to settle on a consistent starting five all season long due to inconsistencies and poor play.
The 19-20 roster make-up was going to be entirely different, with only Harris' and Herbert-Harrigan's roles secured. No one else had earned starting roles that had to worry about losing them - everyone would be competing on level ground.
So, which former roster compares more so with next season's 2021-22 roster? We return EVERY single starter from last season's team that won the SECT championship, earned another NCAAT #1 Seed and reached the Final Four and was a made layup shy of playing for it all.....
All great points. Now for a stream of unconscious reply.
The 18-19 team was 14 players deep but was deeply flawed by not having a true post and by the ONLY transfer mistake DS has made at USC. It was the only time in a decade span that we were caught without a post. To make things worse we caught Baylorx2 Miss st x2 and Maryland who had multiple top tier post players. Cooper...... less said the better.
You are spot on when you compare 14-15 and 19-20. The one thing I would add is that I think the 19-20 team changed our programs DNA and culture. Top flight talent came in, started, contributed and won. But it was how they won. Seniors, Freshmen, coaching staff just meshed and a culture of “I don’t give a damn about who scores, let’s crush our opponent” was elevated. Now nobody really worries about points or minutes. Oregon was great but EFF them we win by 10.
Going forward I think Cooke has figured out when to go and when not to go. Amihere needs to sort that out. Henny’s Stats the last half of SEC and tourney as good as Ty’s. DS was brutal and told the incoming freshmen, they would not start as freshmen maybe not even as sophs.
Lastly....Duckett.......deep sigh. Saw her play at Dreher and she was a physical beast. Looked like Tiffany Mitchell as an upperclassman. But by fall practice she was badly out of shape and just lost. I am sure it was a very tough time in her life and hope she has figured things.
Only Feagin and Johnson were invited to the U19 trials but only Feagin was selected. Hopefully this experience and selection is a good sign about how soon her impact will be in effect for the upcoming season.
This offseason gets more interesting every day. It is only a 9 woman roster, isn’t that a small roster? I thought Fudd, Clark and Betts were locks
I was surprised Raven, Reese from UMD, and Wolfenbarger from Ark did not make team. So many variables; Coach, style of play etc.
DS will have good problems for a rotation. The 19-20 team had a 9 player rotation and it just overwhelmed teams! How deep a rotation can DS manage??
It's my understanding that there's 5 more finalists that they will pull from to fill in the last 3 spots for a 12 woman roster. Two of the finalists are Wolfenbarger and Reese. From the looks of the finalists they must be looking for more post depth/wings considering the 5 finalists left appear to all be post players or wings 6'3 or taller.
As for our roster management, I think if anyone can handle it, Dawn can. I can see her using a 12 player rotation next season. I think our 5 star post players should all see decent minutes. I think the guards is where we might see some players sitting on the bench for extended minutes.
Aliyah doesn't turn 20 until December. She's only a month older than Caitlin Clark, who's playing on the 19U team.
Clark and Diamond Johnson, both with a year of D1 experience, had an advantage over Raven and the other high schoolers. I thought she might be one of the 5 finalists. The incoming freshman guard to UL made the final list over her. Jeff Walz just happens to be the coach of the 19U team. Not that I blame him. I'm sure Dawn will get similar scrutiny.
Clark and Diamond Johnson, both with a year of D1 experience, had an advantage over Raven and the other high schoolers. I thought she might be one of the 5 finalists. The incoming freshman guard to UL made the final list over her. Jeff Walz just happens to be the coach of the 19U team. Not that I blame him. I'm sure Dawn will get similar scrutiny.
How do you see this rotation going? I think the 4 spot could get interesting. It will take some tinkering but Dawn will find a way to make this work.
Boston is a month too old, you have to have been born in 2002 or later and she is already playing for the Americup team with more veteran players so I'm sure she wouldn't have been considered anyway if eligible. But I agree I think Raven got overlooked by mostly more experienced guards. I'm sure she'll be fine and hopefully will have an extra chip on her shoulder, much like I hope Cooke does for missing out on the Americup team.
Honestly I don't know there's so many options and it really depends on who steps up and improve. The one thing I believe is that the starting lineup will likely be the same, although I could see Amihere take over for Saxton, but it wouldn't surprise me if Saxton starts and Amihere comes in off that bench to help disrupt the game for our opponents. I expect 15+ minutes for Amihere, Boston, Cardoso and Saxton. Feagin is the wildcard and depending on how effective she is could steal minutes from some of our other players. I think Wesolek will likely see much of the same type of minutes as last season, I think she's a step too slow and that's just not something you really just train
As for the guards this is where things get tricky. Henderson, Cooke and Beal will get their minutes for sure but it's going be dependent on their consistency on how much the others will play. Beal like Saxton is likely most at risk of losing some minutes, on a side not if I was her I would be speeding my days working on 3 pointers and free throws, she's such a great player but her offense is what will likely limit her playing time. So I think Raven will definitely see the floor , her game is made for Gamecock basketball. This is where I get stuck, Littleton with a strong off-season of conditioning a year removed from her surgeries could be really good, Eniya Russell seeing the work she has to put in to just see the floor could be impactful as well, I think both of these players have the potential to be great scorers if they put in the work, whereas there's Hall and Rivers two guards that could be really great but just don't know how early their game translate to the college level just yet. Then there's Thompson who I don't see gaining minutes either due to her lack of defensive skills, her sharp shooting has to be elite for her to see any real minutes this season. Finally there's Lele she will likely be injured for much of the season and if she does come back as well as she did last year, I can see her playing less than 10 minutes a game but being disruptive and a matchup nightmare.
Overall I don't envy Dawn, there's a lot of talent on this team and if she can keep the egos in check we should be in for a special season.
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Any loss should be considered aberrant and ignominious.
We can kick everybody's asses in every game that is played on a paper court.
Hardwood is sometimes different. No, losing to an NC State, a UConn or Stanford is not aberrant and ignominious. Losing to a UT or A&M is, but those things seem to happen once a year. Stanford lost to Coloorado and UConn lost to Arkansas.
I have very high expectations of reaching the Final Four each of the next four seasons based upon the talent we have on hand. I have expectation of reaching the Final Game at least half of those years and winning at least one NC. Anything beyond that would be gravy for me, and I love me some gravy.
But . . . those who act like we shouldn't lose a game in the next four seasons have ODed on Koolaid.
Good points all. I think it's imperative that Dawn find her best lineup by the end season, which is a long time, and START THEM. Dawn has lost two Final Four games in her career by one point. In both, she had a starter contribute next to nothing. I don't blame her for last season because, after the loss of Lele, she didn't have many options. This coming season, however, she'll have PLENTY of options.
Yes, we could beat most teams if Thompson and Wesolek started, but when when get to the Stanfords and the UCONNs in the Final Four, the option of playing our best players 38 to 40 minutes has to be there. It's single elimination. We only get one chance to prove we're the better team.
Dawn is not alone, btw. It's happens to other great coaches as well. Kim Mulkey didn't start DiJonai Carrington against UCONN. She had to call a timeout to get Carrington in the game. Baylor lost by two points. There's not much margin for error against UCONN (and the officials). Bueckers, Williams and Westbrook all played 40 minutes. Geno is a great coach, and mainly because he plays his best lineup a lot. He doesn't overthink it.
Great post. I have been saying this for some time.
I expect us to go 16-0 in conference the next two years. To lose a game will be a confluence of a lot of bad mojo, but that can happen every now and then. I also would be shocked and disappointed if we were not regular season champs the next two years.
I don’t know what will happen when we play UCONN & NCSU next year. We could blow their doors off or we could lose. They both have enough talent and depth to beat us. I am clear we have less weaknesses than them, but on a given night, who knows?
UCONN’s starting five will consist of three #1 players from their senior year in HS, a # 2 and a #5. There starting 5 is better ON PAPER than ours.
Most likely some of the lesser talent will see the floor because in many games we'll be so far ahead that Dawn can play anyone & still win by 15-20 points
I'm taking it a season at a time. If everyone we have projected for next season actually shows up, we should not lose a ballgame.
🤣 I get it, you think we should be undefeated national champs next year and anything less is unacceptable to you. I will never be able to convince you otherwise
All I ask is this, IF, I repeat IF we lose to UCONN or NCSU in regular season please don’t act indignant or surprised. You have had numerous folks tell you how good they are. In return I promise to not say, “See, I told you that they were a really good team that we needed to worry about.”
If we win both of those games, we can both be Happy
Very preemptive. I would have to see the actual circumstances. I might be more occupied with my golf game anyway.
Well so much for the open good faith offer approach, go with God
