Can South Carolina Take Next Step | The Boneyard

Can South Carolina Take Next Step

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They are really gonna miss Aleisha. I am not entirely sure they will be a better team next year. I'm not overly impressed with Aja Wilson until she can show that she has the total package like Stewie-actually no one can be like Stewie, so I'll say in order for Aja to impress me, she gonna have to do more than make 5 footers and put backs. SC is not difficult to like. They seem humble and non-threatening. Unlike ND, i hope they improve and give us a challenge next year. I don't think they will be able to hang with us. We'll win by around 20. Can't stand ND-wannbe UCONN! Really detest ND! Hope we play them next year with a title on the line again. Crush them!
 
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Every time I read about Wilson being some kind of guard hybrid I wonder if the person writing it actually watched her play. Wilson may think she has guard skills but I don't. While watching her at the FF this year it was hard imagining her bringing the ball up court against any guards like Moriah, L Allen, T Mitchel, C Williams and others like that and I don't see it. Forget about guarding any of those players. Any decent guard would eat her alive. Put her in the paint and give her the ball and we are talking a whole different player. She gave Stewie some fits and I have to respect her for that. She is an excellent player with the potential to become an elite player. Her rematch with Stewie should be a good one.
 
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ditto reno! I also wouldn't mind crushing Tenn next year. Can't stand Holly either. Just a crony of Pat. Saw on espn i believe when they were showing Diamond. Holly was sucking up to her and to her father big time! I have no respect for her!
 

Wbbfan1

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IMHO like this year, next year So Carolina will be considered one of the Elite teams in WBB. Maybe with more development of A'ja Wilson and Bianca Cuevas they can remain an Elite team the following two years. That gives them a possible run of 3 or 4 years as an elite team. After that it will depend on their Recruiting in the 2016 and 2017 Class. This year 10 out of their 15 players were from either North Carolina or South Carolina. I don't think you can remain an elite team unless you're able to recruit Nationally. They are a deep team but in the next two years they lose 7 players off their roster due to graduation. To remain an elite team they have to get Top 5 recruiting classes in 2016 and 2017.
 
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With USC, I think UConn is the only team worthy of being classified as "elite"..... USC I do not feel qualifies for this distinction.... they have a good team yes,.... but for an "elite" team (the definition of course being clearly separate from the rest of the field) to be mired in struggles with Duke, UNC, KY..... just doesn't seem to me to be worthy of being classified as a noble effort. And going forth, will they be athletic enough? Will they WANT to run the court, play blanket defense, etc....?? Maybe yes, I do not know. I picked them #3 next year not because I thought they were great, but by default largely. Hopefully for their fans, they will see their team rise into a group that comes to play every night.
 
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Every time I read about Wilson being some kind of guard hybrid I wonder if the person writing it actually watched her play. Wilson may think she has guard skills but I don't. While watching her at the FF this year it was hard imagining her bringing the ball up court against any guards like Moriah, L Allen, T Mitchel, C Williams and others like that and I don't see it. Forget about guarding any of those players. Any decent guard would eat her alive. Put her in the paint and give her the ball and we are talking a whole different player. She gave Stewie some fits and I have to respect her for that. She is an excellent player with the potential to become an elite player. Her rematch with Stewie should be a good one.
I agree with this, Wilson should watch some Anthony Davis highlights, she can be a strong face up 4, take a few post players off the dribble in the high post, but I can't see her playing at the 2 or even the 3.
 

SCGamecock

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This year 10 out of their 15 players were from either North Carolina or South Carolina. I don't think you can remain an elite team unless you're able to recruit Nationally. They are a deep team but in the next two years they lose 7 players off their roster due to graduation. To remain an elite team they have to get Top 5 recruiting classes in 2016 and 2017.

So true. I think that's why Dawn Staley really stressed throughout the season, the importance of SC even making it to the final four. With a good coach, a final four berth is a great catalyst to national recruiting and future success. That exposure was so good for SC, it showed that we're a program that can compete for national titles. Just look at what that first final four did to UCONN.. it took a program that mostly recruited in the northeast and allowed them to go nationally, and once that happened, Geno was able to make UCONN the program it is today. There will be a lot of playing time up for grabs at SC after the 2015-2016 season. After next season, we lose a lot of talent at our guard positions and if you look at the 2016 class you'll see that Dawn Staley has SC in on a good bit of the elite guards in the top 50, nationally. Those guards probably were not looking SC's way before the final four.. and now they are. We're not at that level where we can just stack talent on top of talent on the bench.. so these next two recruiting cycles we'll be in rebuild mode, which is good because now SC can rebuild with elite talent.

With USC, I think UConn is the only team worthy of being classified as "elite"..... USC I do not feel qualifies for this distinction.... they have a good team yes,.... but for an "elite" team (the definition of course being clearly separate from the rest of the field) to be mired in struggles with Duke, UNC, KY..... just doesn't seem to me to be worthy of being classified as a noble effort

I don't think the author was trying to slight UCONN or put UCONN and USC on the same level by calling SC "elite"... what he was basically saying is that now, when people talk about the good programs in WBB they'll talk about UCONN, Notre Dame, Baylor, Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina etc.. and now they'll add South Carolina to that list. We all know where UCONN stands in WBB.. towering over the rest of some really good programs. That doesn't make them any less elite.. just means UCONN is on Mount Olympus and everybody else is mortal.
 

CocoHusky

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This part of the article is false:
" Why hasn’t Staley signed another top recruiting class? Because she doesn’t have to.
South Carlonia formally extended offers to the following Kalani Brown, Beatrice Mompremier and Evelyn Akhator.
They also extendd formal offers to Guards/Wings Te'A Cooper, Destinee Walker, Diamond DeShields-actually visited, and #2 in the class Asia Durr.
More accurate to say Dawn was trying to recruit as hard as possible was not as successful as she wanted to be with the class of 2015.
This part of the article is a confusing:
"Wilson could play in Welch’s power forward location or play as a hybrid guard."
When a guard is refereed to as a Hybrid that is usually the ability to play both PG & SG-Neither is Wilson. As long as the word Guard is associated with Wilson playing NCAA Women's Basketball South Carolina will continue to have a self-inflicted headache IMO.
 

UConnCat

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Judging by comments on this board during this time last year and just before last season started, USC didn't deserve top 10 ranking, didn't deserve the #1 seed in the 2014 NCAAT and shouldn't deserve a #1 seed in the '15 NCAAT, and most likely will be a sweet-sixteen team again. They ended up having the shot in their hands - which they missed - that would have had them playing UConn for the national title this past season.

Oh for goodness sakes, no need to make stuff up. Most fans on this board had SC in the top 4 and at least top 10 heading in to the '14-15 season. Most fans didn't think SC would be as good as UConn and that proved to be accurate.

http://the-boneyard.com/threads/by-poll-whats-your-top-10.66264/page-2
 
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Hybrid guard is useless unless your are under full court press or all of your guards foul out/need a break! Unless you have some guards skill at elite level, then it will only be reliability when used in a true contesting game.
You can say that Stewie has some guard skills too. But it is not something that Geno want to develop and depend upon.
 
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I don't think the author was trying to slight UCONN or put UCONN and USC on the same level by calling SC "elite"... what he was basically saying is that now, when people talk about the good programs in WBB they'll talk about UCONN, Notre Dame, Baylor, Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina etc.. and now they'll add South Carolina to that list. We all know where UCONN stands in WBB.. towering over the rest of some really good programs. That doesn't make them any less elite.. just means UCONN is on Mount Olympus and everybody else is mortal.[/QUOTE]

Oh my goodness, I agree.... never thought that author was trying to do this..... my interest was with the casual usage of the term "elite".... which means to separate yourself from the others...... I equate it to having a program that is good to the point that it elicits respect and even fear when an opponent sees them on their schedule...... I do not think of that when I think of any of the list you wrote.... MD, TN, KY, UNC, and Duke, which has become a bit of a laughing stock when considering the accomplishments of the Coach P era. Who is "elite" in WCBB? I will ask, somewhat rhetorically, what makes KY Duke UNC Tenn "elite"? When is the last time any of them sniffed a Final 4? When is the last time - seriously - any of these programs notched a major win - against ANY TEAM which was significant? I do not have any vendetta against any of these teams, but how are ANY of them "elite"? To label any of them as such is not even a stretch..... it is just inaccurate.....

You know on your other point at 10 of 15 on roster being from the Carolinas..... point well taken..... and with UConn, looking back at history...... it took a while before recruits from other parts of the country took the leap of faith to come to New England to play for UConn..... it takes time..... as an aside, it made me feel good to see the Wisconsin men make the NCAA title game with starters mostly from Wisconsin... including an all white Wisconsin backcourt..... Wisconsin a great state if you are looking for a good wheel of cheese but it is not exactly the most fertile hoops hunting ground
 

SCGamecock

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This part of the article is false:
" Why hasn’t Staley signed another top recruiting class? Because she doesn’t have to.

He's not saying Dawn didn't WANT to sign another top recruiting class. He's saying it wasn't paramount to sign another class.. basically, sure it would've been nice to sign another top 10 class but if we don't then she'll work with what she has, which is still good. That was Dawn's thinking. Like the article said, not many elite players are going to come to SC and bide their time on the bench. We're just not that kind of program yet.

This part of the article is a confusing:
"Wilson could play in Welch’s power forward location or play as a hybrid guard."

Don't think of it as Wilson playing point guard/shooting guard... think of it more as Wilson playing Wing/Power Forward. That's really what a wing is right, a combination of a shooting guard and a forward that plays out near the perimeter to shoot or slash to the basket. So when you look up her stats and you see "G/F Wilson" think of it as "W/F Wilson".. Wilson is capable of playing on the perimeter and mid range, the majority of us just haven't seen it yet. No, you will not see Wilson bringing the ball up the court (it did happen once this past season, which was weird) nor will you see Wilson guarding point guards and very athletic shooting guards... you will occasionally perhaps see her on the WING waiting for the kickout or driving to the goal like a FORWARD. The majority of the time though she'll be a power forward that regularly faces up defensively.
 

EricLA

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lol.

Did you even bother to read the thread you linked? Read my above post again (or, for the first time), and tell me how it's dis-proven by your linked thread....
Um... did you even bother reading it? Obviously not.

Literally every single UCONN fan who offered an opinion had SC in the top 5. Some as high as #2. So why don't you read the posts again.

With regards to the previous season, SC had a cupcake schedule - playing maybe 1 or 2 top 10 teams (Tenn), who I think they lost to that season, they backed into a 1 seed because they played no one who was really any good. They flamed out in the sweet 16 and I think it was fair to say that maybe they were "given" a 1 seed, but they were not really even a top 8 team (1-2 seeds).

As for SC being a truly elite team, They lost 2 starters. I don't care that Coates and Wilson will become the new starters next year - they lost 1 great and 1 good player and replace them with one good guard. I'm not sure if SC will be better than last year - probably a little bit. BUT they have a small window. Last year and this year - the only 2 years they have even a remote shot to beat UCONN.

Given that we have the best recruiting class coming in, and given we already landed the top PG from the following class (Dangerfield), UCONN is reloading. SC is not. At least not yet. They need to recruit more similar to programs like ND where they land 1 top 10, 1 top 20 and 1 top 30 kid literally almost every year. Until then, they have a window right now and really I don't see them really challenging UCONN this season either...

Oh sure there will be a ton of hype around the game. But SC just doesn't have the talent UCONN has...
 
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It is laughable --The good thing about USC losing at Kentucky last year to finish 15-1 in the SEC was it gave Staley a chance to keep the streak alive – in each of her seven years at USC, she has improved her league win total.

So 15-1 is better than 16-0, because of the improvement stream being alive?
Why can't the writer write that losing to ND in NCAA semi is also a good thing, as it can keep the NCAA record improvement as well. As all we know, once you win it all, there will be nothing more to improve!
 
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If the next step is to win the championship, then I would say yes, but in a year or two. I completely forgot about Jatari White (regarding my post on the "Toughest Opponent" thread). She absolutely tore up the NC high school ball last year. Other than that, they have the talent to take the next step
 
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If the next step is to win the championship, then I would say yes, but in a year or two. I completely forgot about Jatari White (regarding my post on the "Toughest Opponent" thread). She absolutely tore up the NC high school ball last year. Other than that, they have the talent to take the next step
Not to win the championship next year! get to the final will be an improvement from this year and at the same time keeping the improvement streak alive. If they win the championship the next year, the NCAA improvement streak will die...
 

UConnCat

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lol.

Did you even bother to read the thread you linked? Read my above post again (or, for the first time), and tell me how it's dis-proven by your linked thread....

No. I did read your post several times in an effort to understand your point. Maybe you need to clarify.

Are these your first posts since before February 9th?
 
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Judging by comments on this board during this time last year and just before last season started, USC didn't deserve top 10 ranking, didn't deserve the #1 seed in the 2014 NCAAT and shouldn't deserve a #1 seed in the '15 NCAAT, and most likely will be a sweet-sixteen team again, at best. They ended up having the shot in their hands - which they missed - that would have had them playing UConn for the national title this past season.

Coates and Wilson are two very talented and young players. They were the team's #2 & #3 scorers, and #1 & #2 rebounders, basically only playing half a game every game. Now they will step into starting roles and get more minutes. White was almost as highly regarded as Wilson was coming out of the 2014 class, but injury and illness (and depth at her position) limited her minutes and development. She will be the top post player off the bench to spell Coates, and should have a substantial impact to the team if she can average up to 15-20 minutes per gm. Cuevas showed flashes of her talent, and her speed is a definite weapon to be developed, but IMO she played too rushed even for her own quickness, which resulted in wildness at times. Something that definitely can be improved upon this off-season.

Welch's natural rebounding abilities and tough physical play will be missed: her scoring & rebounding was diminished this season with all the freshmen talent getting minutes, but when she was needed to step up she always did and knew what to do. That leadership will be missed. USC will have 5* SG Duckett and 4* G/F Cliney ready to take bigger roles on the team - they will almost be like incoming true freshmen, since they contributed so little last season. Cliney in fact will be a red-shirt freshman. So the depth was so that even though both were a part of the roster, they will make it seem as if we got 3 incoming players to take the place of the 3 out-going ones...

USC will be fine this year.... and I hope they have a good season..... this conversation of this player and that player playing this function and that hybrid position makes me think to the importance of guard play...... SC will be so strong at front line everyone can agree.... against the top especially though, they will need to depend on their guards to create opportunities for them

Tiffany.... wow I love to watch her play....yes.... let the creators create!!!! the smaller players who are better able to handle the ball can create situations which set up the bigs for everything they do..... I think of our Moriah Jefferson, who, despite getting her share of publicity and praise, still does not get enough in my estimation. She is multifaceted..... creates much of the offense and transition.... not to mention smothering defense..... I think of Jim Calhoun, who always stacked his team with small forwards.... I think if he could have 10 of them on his roster he would have..... largely because they could create.......

USC this year will need Mitchell and her cohorts back there on the back line to produce in a big way to bring out the greatness of those on the front line.
 

stwainfan

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Dawn has done a good job. The program was on the bottom of the SEC when she took over. I agree that getting recruiting all over the country is important. I also want to see how much Wilson has improved. I think if they get back to a FF. It will help them moving forward.
 

EricLA

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LOL, didn't know you were a Lady Vols fan:

That was on the first page....

Your knowledge base is that of a fan who only lives inside the bubble of their own favorite team's history, and think every other program has had the same opportunities and just failed. In 2013-2014 USC was a team that had 0 5* players, 1 McDonald's All-American player (as a freshman), and a total of Five (5) players rated above 3*. Reaching the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAAT was once a novelty for even their head coach. By most rating services USC had a top-25 SOS for '13-'14. No, they did not deserve a #1 seed for the NCAAT that year, but they've been trashed on here for playing a NAIA-type cupcake schedule - as if they played the AAC conference - when truth was although they didn't play a TOP FIVE schedule strength, their schedule strength wasn't bad at all. This past season, USC's schedule was actually rated above UConn's by most online services....
Ah. So i had them at #6. So literally every UCONN poster who offered an opinion had them in the top 6. And clearly you completely missed the point anyway. Can't discuss with someone who is that closed minded.
 

UcMiami

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Good post Coco. Dawn had the same problem other teams including Uconn have - she had two very strong classes and that scared away some/all of the top recruits in the following year.
 

UcMiami

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I think the first person who got national prominence associating Guard with Wilson was her high school coach complaining about how she was being utilized by the USA coaches. She also stated she did not want to be a center in college so was leery of teams recruiting her who did not have center types on their team. Her thoughts are probably correct, the HS coach was out of line. Her natural position should be as a 4 or is now the current term a 'stretch 4'. Stewart, Stevens at Duke, etc. are the model - someone capable of shooting a three, but more effective mid-range and in. Capable of ball handling to drive on a defender and able to defend to the three, but better closer to the basket.
Stewart scores under 2o% of her points from 3, Stevens even less, but the threat, sets up the drives.
 
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