Window Closing for USCar | The Boneyard

Window Closing for USCar

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I believe USCar is pressing, feeling some pressure to win it all this year with their window of opportunity slowly closing. And this year, we can be pretty sure they will not be able to run the FSU-ND-UConn gauntlet. They aren't even a match for MD right now.

When you compare who UConn, Tenn, ND, Baylor, Louisville, Texas, etc, add to their rosters next year to that of USCar, it doesn't bode well for them. They also graduate half their post players. And replacing the contributions of Welch will be difficult.

It could be difficult for them to get a #2 seed in next year's tournament.
 

sarals24

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Staley hasn't been able to follow up her recruiting coup of Wilson with any sort of highly ranked class. That's the key...you have to actually build a program with class after class...not just one big class and then hope they can carry you.
 

EricLA

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I believe USCar is pressing, feeling some pressure to win it all this year with their window of opportunity slowly closing. And this year, we can be pretty sure they will not be able to run the FSU-ND-UConn gauntlet. They aren't even a match for MD right now.

When you compare who UConn, Tenn, ND, Baylor, Louisville, Texas, etc, add to their rosters next year to that of USCar, it doesn't bode well for them. They also graduate half their post players. And replacing the contributions of Welch will be difficult.

It could be difficult for them to get a #2 seed in next year's tournament.
I agree with you for the most part. For all the SC hype, and yeah they got Wilson, White, and Cuevas in their freshman class, they have only 1 player from 2015 and she's outside of the top 100. You simply can't go an entire class and land no one. And even worse for them, I'm not sure who they are still "in" with for 2016, but fully half of the top 10 have already committed. Of the top 11 kids in 2016, 6 have committed to UCONN, ND, Baylor, Texas, Washington and Vandy. I don't see SC landing Cox, Holmes, McCoy or Ionescu, so that leaves Odom in the top 10.

And in the rest of the top 20, only 5o other kids are uncommitted at this point. The window for a top 20 kid for SC is closing fast. Stanford, ND, Maryland and OK State have landed kids from 12-20.

You are correct - next year the lose Welch, Gaines and Ibiam. They have no one else like Welch. I certainly think Coates and Wilson are up to the task becoming starters next year and they will still have a solid bench, but let's be honest - UCONN is flat out better. and without reloading, like UCONN, ND Baylor, L'ville and a few others seem to be doing, SC has their best shot this year. Next year not so much. The following year, forget it.

To add to what Sarals said, I could see if they landed a potential AA in every position, but really they landed a solid guard, a solid post player, and a potential AA post player in Wilson. It's not like they landed the TASSK force and in the class following, who would want to play behind them if they are really good?

Even after we landed Stewie, Tuck and Jefferson, we managed to land Chong the following season, and 2 years after that we got Nurse, Williams, Ekmark and Butler.
 
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I disagree slightly. I think SC will have as good a shot next year as this. They will improve, just from having Cuevas and Wilson make the sophomore leap. But ND will improve more and UConn may improve as well.

More importantly, SC is just far inferior to UConn so their chances of a Natl Championship are tiny. And yes AFTER next year nonexistent.
 
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Top ten that's it.......Aja Wilson and Bianca cuevas need help and it doesn't seem to be coming but there is still time. That is the coaches fault. Obviously they try and recruit so it's hard to point the finger, but Maya's last year we didn't have enough help for her. The same thing happened on the men's side this year where Ryan boatright needed help. To me those type of seasons are hard to take because had Maya and Ryan had just a little more help things could have been special. seems Aja Wilson May be in for a similar fate.
 

DobbsRover2

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Hard to say how it will work out for USCar losing the 16 ppg and 15 rpg of Welch, Ibaim, and Gaines, and the first two are the highest percentage shooters on the team. They have a big roster this year with 15 players, so much depends on the still large group of players developing more, but maybe most of all whether Jatarie White can recover next season fully from the stress fractures that pretty much sidelined her and made her a very limited player this season. If she comes back next year as the player everyone expected out of HS, the G-c-ocks could actually be very solid in the post. There is also sometimes an addition by subtraction with losing players, and as good as Welch has been in many ways, her 42.3% FT shooting has to be of some concern late in a close game. Also, Ibaim has one of the worst assist\turnover ratios I've ever seen at 0.27. So the team could improve.
 

Orangutan

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Too much is made of this year's recruiting class. They are at 15 on their roster this year. That's probably a couple too many, so graduating three and only bringing in one is fine.

The reason you don't see the guard they recruited in the top 100 is because she is an international player...sometimes they don't even get evaluated. I think ESPN just this year started rating a few, like Salvadores. Prospects Nation has her as the #5 rated international player and I'll give Dawn the benefit of the doubt that she knows what to look for in a point guard.

2016 will be the test, but remember they've just started to get press as an elite program. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see them close strong in 2016 recruiting.

I actually think they could be better next year...I don't foresee that much of a drop off. Sure, Welch and Ibiam are good but at some point all that post talent is just redundant. If it means more minutes for Coates and Wilson, I don't think that's a bad thing for SC.
 

cockhrnleghrn

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Dawn has stated that she prefers only having 12, but there were a lot of good players available in South Carolina and nearby last year so she signed a bigger class than she normally would have. Ibiam and Welch were not that highly rated coming out of high school, so Dawn and her staff did a good job of developing them. We have 4 McDonald's All-Americans on the team - 3 freshmen and 1 sophomore, so rumors of our demise are greatly exaggerated.
 
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All of the teams mentioned earlier in this thread have at least that many McD's AA on their rosters. And they have highly ranked classes coming in.
 

cockhrnleghrn

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All of the teams mentioned earlier in this thread have at least that many McD's AA on their rosters. And they have highly ranked classes coming in.
The point is that our highest ranked recruits are currently freshmen and sophomores so to say we have to win it all this year or next or we'll drop way off is ridiculous.
 
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I believe USCar is pressing, feeling some pressure to win it all this year with their window of opportunity slowly closing. And this year, we can be pretty sure they will not be able to run the FSU-ND-UConn gauntlet. They aren't even a match for MD right now.

When you compare who UConn, Tenn, ND, Baylor, Louisville, Texas, etc, add to their rosters next year to that of USCar, it doesn't bode well for them. They also graduate half their post players. And replacing the contributions of Welch will be difficult.

It could be difficult for them to get a #2 seed in next year's tournament.

I don't agree with a lot of this.

1--- Since when was their window open? If it was never open how can one say "it is closing?"

2--- I think many overrate Welch and USC's overall size. Welch is a good player but she isn't an impact player. She's a hustle player. And what we see time and again is size by itself is overrated. You need skill along with some size.

3-- Next year they will be more dangerous because the ball will go to Wilson more. They may not be as good record-wise but they will be better. The ball going to Wilson more makes them better.

4--- Next year they will be less plodding and more uptempo with an ability to score rather than "plodding offensive rebounding."

5--- When you feature more of Wilson to go along with Kelsey Mitchell (already a terrific player back) and Coates now being an upperclassmen- you have a very dangerous team that isn't limited to being a plodding team designed to win a lot on defense and offensive rebounding.

6--- They might become a 2seed because they might lose to Tenn. But I wouldn't want them in my region if they were a 2seed. Let ND or someone else such as Baylor get stuck with them as 2.

corrected . . .
 
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Staley hasn't been able to follow up her recruiting coup of Wilson with any sort of highly ranked class. That's the key...you have to actually build a program with class after class...not just one big class and then hope they can carry you.
You realize that there's only been one fully committed class post-Wilson, right?
 

cockhrnleghrn

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You realize that there's only been one fully committed class post-Wilson, right?

People forget about Jatarie White, who was a top ten recruit, too, but has been hurt. Bianca Cuevas has been up and down, but she has a lot of speed to burn and can hopefully be harnessed and used in a more controlled manner.
 
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People forget about Jatarie White, who was a top ten recruit, too, but has been hurt. Bianca Cuevas has been up and down, but she has a lot of speed to burn and can hopefully be harnessed and used in a more controlled manner.
That's really the key with Cuevas. From what I've seen, she has a ton of talent and tremendous potential. If she develops into a mature point guard who makes good decisions with the ball, she's going to be a tremendous asset to your team. If she tries to be the next Meighan Simmons, not so much.
 

cockhrnleghrn

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That's really the key with Cuevas. From what I've seen, she has a ton of talent and tremendous potential. If she develops into a mature point guard who makes good decisions with the ball, she's going to be a tremendous asset to your team. If she tries to be the next Meighan Simmons, not so much.
Our fans love Bianca and are very protective of her because she's had a very rough life, losing her mother and others at a very young age. Dawn has said that she often played out of control (like Bianca) as a freshman, too.
 
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I was just thinking of this today..... and then here is the thread for it! Yes, I am of the mind that SC will lose a lot... with Welch and their 6'4" pivot.....the 2 of them were real contributors to SC's success..... it is a lot to lose with nothing coming in to replace that talent..... Having said that though, SC still has Wilson and Coates.... moving into larger roles...... and they will be fine..... Wilson is a transformational player, and is the keystone of SC's rise to the top in WCBB..... let's see if they can stay there.....
 
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Our fans love Bianca and are very protective of her because she's had a very rough life, losing her mother and others at a very young age. Dawn has said that she often played out of control (like Bianca) as a freshman, too.
Well, even if she hadn't had a tough life, I don't think the fact that she plays out of control would be a good reason to disparage her as a person. But as a basketball player, she has some growth to do if she wants to hit her potential.
 

HuskyNan

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I believe USCar is pressing, feeling some pressure to win it all this year with their window of opportunity slowly closing. And this year, we can be pretty sure they will not be able to run the FSU-ND-UConn gauntlet. They aren't even a match for MD right now.

When you compare who UConn, Tenn, ND, Baylor, Louisville, Texas, etc, add to their rosters next year to that of USCar, it doesn't bode well for them. They also graduate half their post players. And replacing the contributions of Welch will be difficult.

It could be difficult for them to get a #2 seed in next year's tournament.
High school rankings mean nothing once a kid is in college. There have been lots of highly ranked (as high school players) kids that have not won championships or even challenged for them. Contending for a title has a lot of intangibles - coaching, health of key players, mental toughness of the team, physicality... If high school rankings alone meant anything, Stanford would still be playing and Dayton watching the games on TV.
 
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triaddukefan

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High school rankings mean nothing once a kid is in college. There have been lots of highly ranked (as high school players) that have not won championships or even challenged for them. Contending for a title has a lot of intangibles - coaching, health of key players, mental toughness of the team, physicality... If high school rankings alone meant anything, Duke would still be playing and Dayton watching the games on TV.

4ydwwNT.gif


I was about to like your post... until i read the last sentence. There was no need to put Duke in this conversation :(
 
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I think the key going forward will be her ability to recruit nationally. You can become successful by recruiting locally (if the talent is available) and regionally then the next step would be keep widening your recruiting area to take advantage of all the national talent if it does not reside close to you. Getting kids out of CA, TX...
 

triaddukefan

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I think the key going forward will be her ability to recruit nationally. You can become successful by recruiting locally (if the talent is available) and regionally then the next step would be keep widening your recruiting area to take advantage of all the national talent if it does not reside close to you. Getting kids out of CA, TX...

There is a lot of talent in SC's geographic area...... GA, NC, FL..... but its also alot of competition among the schools down here. NC has done a good job snatching kids outta SC... but in the past few years... Staley has done a good job in sealing the northern border... at the same time getting 2 top NC kids out of Charlotte.
 

cockhrnleghrn

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If Dawn can lock down South Carolina and get the top players out of Charlotte each year, with an occasional player from out of the region, she will be ok. I'm surprised she's only had 1 recruit out of the Philly area since she's been at USC. Maybe that will change now. Of course, I'm biased because of my roots, but I love players out of NYC.
 

stwainfan

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How many players does SC have coming in next year?
 
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