ESPNW Top 25

[Orangutan]

Comes complete with brief profile on each team: http://espn.go.com/womens-college-b...top-espnw-preseason-women-basketball-rankings

1. UConn
2. South Carolina
3. Tennessee
4. Notre Dame
5. Baylor
6. Ohio State
7. Oregon State
8. Florida State
9. Louisville
10. Maryland
11. Duke
12. Mississippi State
13. Stanford
14. Texas
15. Arizona State
16. Texas A&M
17. Kentucky
18. South Florida
19. Oklahoma
20. George Washington
21. Northwestern
22. Florida Gulf Coast
23. Princeton
24. Chattanooga
25. Rutgers

 

[easttexastrash]

Texas is not getting enough respect. They have Boyette at 6-7 and Lang at 6-5 and a slew of talented guards. Look for Jordan Hosey to shine early on in her career and for Atkins to have a big sophomore season. This is a very talented team.

 

[Sonny44]

Texas is not getting enough respect. They have Boyette at 6-7 and Lang at 6-5 and a slew of talented guards. Look for Jordan Hosey to shine early on in her career and for Atkins to have a big sophomore season. This is a very talented team.

Didn't we beat them by 50?

 

[Orangutan]

Texas is not getting enough respect. They have Boyette at 6-7 and Lang at 6-5 and a slew of talented guards. Look for Jordan Hosey to shine early on in her career and for Atkins to have a big sophomore season. This is a very talented team.

They finished 23 in Sagarin and 22 in the polls. It's certainly possible that they over-perform this ranking but they need to improve from last season just to get to it.

Boyette and Lang are pretty good, but not great, in my opinion. As for the guards, they had basically nobody that shot the 3 well last year and most of their guards shot poorly overall, including Atkins who also had way more turnovers than assists. Seems like you can pack the paint and just let their guards lay bricks.

I think Atkins will improve but it's hard to project her from what she did last year into being a star right away. Higgs and Hosey should make an impact but how much can you really expect as freshmen?

 

[triaddukefan]

I still dont see why Louisville has been ranked ahead of Duke this preseason..... but oh well.

 

[easttexastrash]

Didn't we beat them by 50?

Texas had a number of injuries last year. They lost Nneka late in the season and Lang battled injuries most of the season. Texas is a team on the rise and will be in the top 10 pretty early in the season.

 

[UcMiami]

Looks like the ESPN voters looked at the transfers out of UNC before voting, unlike the coaches.

 

[Gus Mahler]

I still dont see why Louisville has been ranked ahead of Duke this preseason..... but oh well.

Nice picture of Lexie, by the way.

 

[Bigpetunia]

To my mind, the biggest question mark in the rankings concerns Tennessee. If Holly can mold a real team out of all that talent, they could not only be #2, but a very strong#2 contender. This is the season, IMO, that will truly reveal if Holly has what it takes, and if Diamond can be coached to be a real team player. On the other hand, they could easily fall several slots...a big test year for them. My only major quibble is that Dayton is completely overlooked. I know they lost their two sharpshooters, but this is a team that is very well-coached, led UConn at the half of an Elite Eight game (when UConn was playing very well) and still has talent, certainly enough to make the top twenty-five. We gonna see!!

 

[triaddukefan]

Nice picture of Lexie, by the way.

Blue suits her alot better than Red

 

[triaddukefan]

To my mind, the biggest question mark in the rankings concerns Tennessee. If Holly can mold a real team out of all that talent, they could not only be #2, but a very strong#2 contender. This is the season, IMO, that will truly reveal if Holly has what it takes, and if Diamond can be coached to be a real team player. On the other hand, they could easily fall several slots...a big test year for them. My only major quibble is that Dayton is completely overlooked. I know they lost their two sharpshooters, but this is a team that is very well-coached, led UConn at the half of an Elite Eight game (when UConn was playing very well) and still has talent, certainly enough to make the top twenty-five. We gonna see!!

Meh.... TN is talented... but they arent more talented than South Carolina, Duke, Maryland, or Ohio State.. probably not Baylor... at least in my opinion.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

Blue suits her alot better than Red

We said the same thing during our Sweet 16 game last year.

 

[triaddukefan]

We said the same thing during our Sweet 16 game last year.

Meh.

The terps will be fine without Brown.

 

[alexrgct]

Wow, five top 10 teams on UConn's schedule: S. Carolina, ND, Ohio State, FSU, and Maryland. Plus USF and Chattanooga are also on UConn's schedule, and those two teams are also top 25.

By the conclusion of the Maggie Dixon game against UMD, we will have a great feel for how good a team we have this season. As long as Butler is the "only" player sidelined, I think the Huskies will be great!

 

[Bigpetunia]

Meh.... TN is talented... but they arent more talented than South Carolina, Duke, Maryland, or Ohio State.. probably not Baylor... at least in my opinion.

If Holly is the coach some folks seem to think she is, the talent level at Tennessee is sufficient to prove you wrong. For what it's worth, I, actually, remain skeptical. The true verdict on Holly is, as yet, unclear...this is, I think, the first time in the post-Pat era that her team is apparently healthy enough and sufficiently loaded to demonstrate whether or not she's got the coaching "chops" to create the full reemergence of UTenn WBB to the highest level. On the other hand, the verdict is long in on Coach P. While I understand your bias and your hopes, I cannot put Duke in the same elite category as the other teams that you mention, and at least one you don't (ND). Joanne will, yet again, lead the nation in underdevelopment of talent...I like to call it the Elizabeth Williams syndrome.

 

[triaddukefan]

If Holly is the coach some folks seem to think she is, the talent level at Tennessee is sufficient to prove you wrong. For what it's worth, I, actually, remain skeptical. The true verdict on Holly is, as yet, unclear...this is, I think, the first time in the post-Pat era that her team is apparently healthy enough and sufficiently loaded to demonstrate whether or not she's got the coaching "chops" to create the full reemergence of UTenn WBB to the highest level. On the other hand, the verdict is long in on Coach P. While I understand your bias and your hopes, I cannot put Duke in the same elite category as the other teams that you mention, and at least one you don't (ND). Joanne will, yet again, lead the nation in underdevelopment of talent...I like to call it the Elizabeth Williams syndrome.

I never said nor implied that the teams I listed (Baylor, Ohio State, Duke, South Carolina, Maryland) were elite. Hopefully teams like TN AND Duke which have dealt with injuries the past 3 seasons will be fully healthy.

 

[UcMiami]

TN has one 'proven' talent in DD - national freshman of the year. They have another player who I think regressed a bit in Graves over the last year, but if she regains her fire can be great. They have a bunch of other potential talent - is Russell a great college center? we are about to find out. Are the recruits as good as TN thinks? And have the other returners developed during the summer. And then how do they all fit together and can Holly teach an effective offensive and defensive system. A lot of questions in my mind.
The other programs I think have better track records to base projections for this year on. Of the top ten, only four team/coach combinations have no FF appearances in the last 10 years - TN, OSU, OS, and FSU