ADVERTISEMENT

Raven Johnson

treetop flier

treetop flier

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2000
3,216
1,777
113
Watched the replay of Raven's game in the Geico Girls National Championship Semi Final. Hadn't seen her play before. She is going to be special at Carolina. 1 assist away from a triple double. 1 assist and 3 steals from a quadruple double. 25 points. Fremont had closed to within 3 late in the game and she just took over. Great vision, and passing skills. Good 3 point shooter. I think she made 4. Great situation for her to come in and not have to carry more than her share with the guards we have.

The game is on the ESPN app and they play for the championship today(Sat) at 10am.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lakecock1, CoachT13 and roosterbell
We have 14 players right now scheduled to be on next year's roster. We can have 15. What, if anything, do we do with that extra spot?

My guess is Lele would like to come back. Just a guess. She could rehab using the university's resources and slowly play her way back into basketball shape.

But we could really use another big body. Not a star. Just a grad transfer who wants play on a good team and will accept limited minutes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Goody101
DarkCock said:
We have 14 players right now scheduled to be on next year's roster. We can have 15. What, if anything, do we do with that extra spot?

My guess is Lele would like to come back. Just a guess. She could rehab using the university's resources and slowly play her way back into basketball shape.

But we could really use another big body. Not a star. Just a grad transfer who wants play on a good team and will accept limited minutes.
Click to expand...

Do we have 15 scholarships to give, or is somebody paying their own way?
 
Ashleyhdenton said:
I think Eniya Russell just announced she’s leaving
View embedded media
Click to expand...
I don't know what this means? It wouldn't surprise me considering she didn't play much and I'm sure like most high school star players,she has people in her ear about her sitting on the bench.
Until the post season I was a little worried about Amihere but I think she's buying into the program now. It wouldn't surprised if Wesolek or Littleton decided to leave either.
 
Last edited:
Gamekem said:
I don't know what this means? It wouldn't surprise me considering she didn't play much and I'm sure like most high school star players,she has people in her ear about her sitting on the bench.
Until the post season I was a little worried about Amihere but I think she's buying into the program now. It wouldn't surprised if Wesolek or Littleton decided to leave either.
Click to expand...

Destiny isn't going anywhere

 
  • Like
Reactions: roosterbell, vacock# and Gamekem
Just because D Littleton said she will be back doesn't mean anything. Players say that all the time and still leave. ut, like Gamekem said surgeries and injuries may have slowed her down. But, if she does leave Celeste Taylor out of Texas is in the portal.

Bye Russell - we could use that spot.
 
Last edited:
DarkCock said:
Not seeing it
Click to expand...
She said "2 gone" in the caption and then there was picture of a hoody that said "Thank you if ever believed in me." Personally I still don't see this being an announcement that she's leaving.
 
Last edited:
hahnenkampf said:
Maybe for the best. She’s definitely a long-term project.
Click to expand...

Weird time to announce, the team wasn't even back from San Antonio yet.

I hope she's not upset with coach. The advanced stats on Russell were not very good and Dawn continued to give minutes. (Her most minutes came against Tennessee). That's believing in a player.
 
DarkCock said:
Weird time to announce, the team wasn't even back from San Antonio yet.

I hope she's not upset with coach. The advanced stats on Russell were not very good and Dawn continued to give minutes. (Her most minutes came against Tennessee). That's believing in a player.
Click to expand...
Eniya has a lot of athletic ability but she looks pretty raw. She seemed at times to not have an understanding of team ball so to speak and tried to do too much on her own. She needs a lot of coaching to reach her potential in my opinion.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Goody101, DarkCock and Gamekem
roosterbell said:
Eniya has a lot of athletic ability but she looks pretty raw. She seemed at times to not have an understanding of team ball so to speak and tried to do too much on her own. She needs a lot of coaching to reach her potential in my opinion.
Click to expand...
I think her limited minutes played a huge role in that. She's still playing high school hero ball, I think she's like a less polished version of Cooke who didn't have the benefit of getting to learn the college game on the court like our sophomores last year, because this team was still figuring out it's identity for most of the season. I think a real heart to heart with Dawn, during their post season conversation, on what she should do to increase her playing time could do her wonders. Our roster should be pretty solid next year, our bench could be good enough to make it to the NCAA tournament on their own if they can connect well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: winloseortie, Goody101 and roosterbell
roosterbell said:
Eniya has a lot of athletic ability but she looks pretty raw. She seemed at times to not have an understanding of team ball so to speak and tried to do too much on her own. She needs a lot of coaching to reach her potential in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Every time she got the ball, she would put it up. Still playing me ball. She would foul regularly also. I think she would be a decent ball handler and has a decent jump shot, but as you say, no discipline.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Goody101, DarkCock and roosterbell
Garnet chicken said:
Every time she got the ball, she would put it up. Still playing me ball. She would foul regularly also. I think she would be a decent ball handler and has a decent jump shot, but as you say, no discipline.
Click to expand...
As we say in the space business: “All thrust and no guidance.”
 
Garnet chicken said:
Every time she got the ball, she would put it up. Still playing me ball. She would foul regularly also. I think she would be a decent ball handler and has a decent jump shot, but as you say, no discipline.
Click to expand...

I know right? She may have had a green light though. She mostly came in when Zia was out. We didn't have many players who could create their own shot besides Zia and Henderson. I guess that was her role, but she struggled.

Who remembers BCM's freshman year when she would come in and go wild? 😂
 
  • Like
Reactions: roosterbell and 92Pony
Evina Westbrook is returning for UConn.

Maryland: “all four seniors coming back” We just might our shot at them.

Styles,
Lewis,
Bibby,
Benzan
 
DarkCock said:
We have 14 players right now scheduled to be on next year's roster. We can have 15. What, if anything, do we do with that extra spot?

My guess is Lele would like to come back. Just a guess. She could rehab using the university's resources and slowly play her way back into basketball shape.

But we could really use another big body. Not a star. Just a grad transfer who wants play on a good team and will accept limited minutes.
Click to expand...

They have four high level interior players plus Beal and possibly Grissette who can easily give minutes at the 4.

They don't need a big body.
 
Russell leaving would not be a huge surprise, but I thought she looked just fine when she was in there.
 
CuriousCock said:
They have four high level interior players plus Beal and possibly Grissette who can easily give minutes at the 4.

They don't need a big body.
Click to expand...

I assume one of those " high level interior players" is Saxton, who had zero rebounds in 30 minutes of play against Stanford. Saxton's inability to play the 5 is the reason Dawn has to be careful with Boston's and Amihere's minutes. If both get in foul trouble, then we have no other post defender.

So, yes, we could use another big. Like I stated, one content with limited minutes.

Btw, both Lele and Saxton were on the team that got destroyed by Baylor on the boards 2 years ago. Much of our rebounding is trickle down effect from Boston and Amihere being elite rebounders.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vacock#
Saxton is a blue collar rebounder. She gets in there and battles and gets the stick back shot. She was a piece of the puzzle. Game against Stanford was very unusual. She and Beal with some work can hit that 10 to 15 footer. The whole team needs to work on making chip shot lay ups. The new girls will probably work their way in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vacock#, uscedge21, roosterbell and 2 others
Garnet chicken said:
Saxton is a blue collar rebounder. She gets in there and battles and gets the stick back shot. She was a piece of the puzzle. Game against Stanford was very unusual. She and Beal with some work can hit that 10 to 15 footer. The whole team needs to work on making chip shot lay ups. The new girls will probably work their way in.
Click to expand...

She's a "piece of the puzzle" is a good way to put it. She has limitations, but she's a legit power forward. When Texas played a small lineup against us, Saxton posted up her defender and scored in the low post. She's also an overall good defender and especially help defender (where she gets a lot blocks). And, perhaps most impressively, she's a good leader.
 
DarkCock said:
I assume one of those " high level interior players" is Saxton, who had zero rebounds in 30 minutes of play against Stanford. Saxton's inability to play the 5 is the reason Dawn has to be careful with Boston's and Amihere's minutes. If both get in foul trouble, then we have no other post defender.

So, yes, we could use another big. Like I stated, one content with limited minutes.

Btw, both Lele and Saxton were on the team that got destroyed by Baylor on the boards 2 years ago. Much of our rebounding is trickle down effect from Boston and Amihere being elite rebounders.
Click to expand...
Keep in mind they were freshmen and Baylor had two bigs who were really good and went on to WNBA as high picks. I can’t remember their names but they were both 6’5. Not a fair comparison for two girls at 6’0 and 6’2
 
CCUIrmo said:
Keep in mind they were freshmen and Baylor had two bigs who were really good and went on to WNBA as high picks. I can’t remember their names but they were both 6’5. Not a fair comparison for two girls at 6’0 and 6’2
Click to expand...

That's what I'm trying to say. Lauren Cox and Kalani Brown were elite rebounders. Baylor crushed us, twice, that season. The next year, we added Boston. She got 13 rebounds and we outrebound Baylor +14 (Saxton and Lele had 2 rebounds in that game) and we beat them by double digits. So, yeah, we can't expect Saxton and Lele to rebound against elite rebounders.

If we plan on winning a nation title, then we're going to run across a team with excellent rebounders during the tournament. Stanford, for instance. Coach Staley was really hampered last Friday because both Amihere and Boston were in foul trouble. She couldn't afford to play them both at the same time for fear of them fouling out and leaving us with minimal rebounding. At the end of halves, she usually goes with Wesolek when Boston and Amihere have a couple of fouls. Wesolek, though, is not a serious option late in a Final Four game. We needed someone who could hold up on the glass. Like a Sarah Imovbioh type.

Note: I don't believe we've been outrebounded since we lost to Baylor in the tournament two years ago. I know for sure we weren't outrebounded this year. We still outrebounded Stanford by 4 Friday, even with Saxton not contributing. But we really needed to win that stat more decisively. It still blows my mind that skinny Lexie Hull had 13 rebounds against us. 13!
 
Wesolek is 6’ 1’ and plays forward while some guards are the same size. We need some tall ones.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DarkCock
DarkCock said:
That's what I'm trying to say. Lauren Cox and Kalani Brown were elite rebounders. Baylor crushed us, twice, that season. The next year, we added Boston. She got 13 rebounds and we outrebound Baylor +14 (Saxton and Lele had 2 rebounds in that game) and we beat them by double digits. So, yeah, we can't expect Saxton and Lele to rebound against elite rebounders.

If we plan on winning a nation title, then we're going to run across a team with excellent rebounders during the tournament. Stanford, for instance. Coach Staley was really hampered last Friday because both Amihere and Boston were in foul trouble. She couldn't afford to play them both at the same time for fear of them fouling out and leaving us with minimal rebounding. At the end of halves, she usually goes with Wesolek when Boston and Amihere have a couple of fouls. Wesolek, though, is not a serious option late in a Final Four game. We needed someone who could hold up on the glass. Like a Sarah Imovbioh type.

Note: I don't believe we've been outrebounded since we lost to Baylor in the tournament two years ago. I know for sure we weren't outrebounded this year. We still outrebounded Stanford by 4 Friday, even with Saxton not contributing. But we really needed to win that stat more decisively. It still blows my mind that skinny Lexie Hull had 13 rebounds against us. 13!
Click to expand...
Several of their players knew the right time to push.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SCcocks4ever and DarkCock
vacock# said:
Wesolek is 6’ 1’ and plays forward while some guards are the same size. We need some tall ones.
Click to expand...

We currently have a spot for another player. That could be Lele, I suppose. I haven't seen that possibility ruled out. If not her, then I would think there is some tall girl in the portal who wants to win a title and is willing to accept a limited role.

Of course, there is also the possibility Senia Feagin is a baller from day one and vies for major playing time. I'm just reluctant to expect too much out of a freshman. Better to be pleasantly surprised.



WBB9.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: vacock#
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Alan Cole

South Carolina Women's Basketball Open Locker Room Quotes (Post-Indiana)

Replies
0
Views
583
The Insiders Forum
Alan Cole
Alan Cole
J

Mulkey is classless

Replies
110
Views
5K
Gamecocks Forum
JGH 35
J
Alan Cole

South Carolina Women's Basketball Open Locker Room Quotes (Pre-Oregon State)

Replies
0
Views
554
The Insiders Forum
Alan Cole
Alan Cole
F

Can Dawn sign Sarah Strong ( Nations Number One player )?

Replies
23
Views
1K
Gamecocks Forum
Forever Fowl
F
Alan Cole

South Carolina Women's Basketball Open Locker Room Quotes (Post-Tennessee)

Replies
6
Views
567
The Insiders Forum
FORKCOCK
FORKCOCK
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back