Top 15 Freshman from the Athletic

[eebmg]

From Kiki Rice at UCLA to Flau'jae Johnson at LSU: the top 15 women's basketball freshmen

Lyndsey D'Arcangelo selects the top freshmen who will make an impact this season.

theathletic.com

15. Chance Gray, Oregon
14. Ruby Whitehorn, Clemson
13. Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State
12. Cotie McMahon, Ohio State
11. Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, Baylor
10. Flau’jae Johnson, LSU
9. Maggie Mendelson, Nebraska
8. Maya Nnaji, Arizona
7. Timea Gardiner, Oregon State
6. Justine Pissott, Tennessee
5. Grace VanSlooten, Oregon
4. Ayanna Patterson, UConn

When the Huskies are stacked, it’s hard for even some of the most talented freshmen to get solid minutes off the bench. But UConn lost a significant amount of scoring from last season: Christyn William, Evina Westbrook and Olivia Nelson-Ododa are no longer on the team. Paige Bueckers is sidelined with an ACL tear. Freshman Ice Brady (knee) is also out for the season. Dorka Juhász (wrist), Caroline Ducharme (hip) and Aubrey Griffin (back) are coming back from injuries. Patterson is a talented small forward with guard-like skills. She can hit shots from the wing, and is expected to get into the lane often. As the top-ranked recruit at the wing position, she should get quality minutes on a thin Huskies roster.

3. Janiah Barker, Texas A&M
2. Lauren Betts, Stanford
1. Kiki Rice, UCLA

 

[southie]

I think Latson and Flau'Jae will end up better than those rankings. Mendelson at Nebraska will be playing volleyball until mid-December. She probably hasn't spent much time if any with the basketball program yet; so, I'm gonna assume her impact this season will be minimal.

 

[WFFL]

Barker should be ahead of Betts imo.

 

[bballnut90]

Barker should be ahead of Betts imo.

Agreed. I think her and Barker will be the 2 major standouts from this class. Rice especially is a really exciting PG prospect.

I'm not seeing where Betts gets a ton of minutes this year considering Stanford still has Brink/Belibi. Talaysia Cooper could get minutes too with SC's PG injuries and I thought she looked fantastic in the AA game.

 

[BruinGold]

Kiki Rice may start a little more slowly than this list implies. UCLA has a history of not being the easiest place for freshmen to get minutes and make a serious impact. Rice will be competing for time against Gina Conti (transfer from Wake Forest who sat out a year and is now 5 years out of HS), Dominique Onu, Charisma Osborne, and Londynn Jones. No matter how good she is, she won't be carrying the team. Onu, in particular, had been underachieving and is reputed to be the most improved player on the team coming in to the season. I'm guessing that Rice will be earning time based on her defense more than anything else.

UCLA's backcourt is loaded this year.

 

[darrell]

Agreed. I think her and Barker will be the 2 major standouts from this class. Rice especially is a really exciting PG prospect.

I'm not seeing where Betts gets a ton of minutes this year considering Stanford still has Brink/Belibi. Talaysia Cooper could get minutes too with SC's PG injuries and I thought she looked fantastic in the AA game.

Brink is extremely foul prone, that’ll open a lot of minutes for her. The biggest issue is if she’ll be buried on the depth chart behind Prechtel (who gives outside scoring) Iriafen (who I think is progressing great).

 

[saywho]

Brink is extremely foul prone, that’ll open a lot of minutes for her. The biggest issue is if she’ll be buried on the depth chart behind Prechtel (who gives outside scoring) Iriafen (who I think is progressing great).

I think Iriafen is most likely going to limit Betts’ minutes more than Prechtel. From their scrimmage this weekend, Iriafen made a huge jump and looked like the best player on the floor for Stanford. Brink has been practicing playing both 3 and 4. There will be some interesting lineups with many players interchangeable based on matchups.

 

[nwhoopfan]

UCLA has a history of not being the easiest place for freshmen to get minutes and make a serious impact.

Osborne and Canada are readily apparent exceptions to that. And while they didn't put up nearly as high of scoring averages as Fr., I seem to recall both Billings and Onyenwere made an impact early in their careers. I think if a player has the talent, they will get the chance at UCLA, even as a Fr.

 

[WFFL]

Kiki Rice may start a little more slowly than this list implies. UCLA has a history of not being the easiest place for freshmen to get minutes and make a serious impact. Rice will be competing for time against Gina Conti (transfer from Wake Forest who sat out a year and is now 5 years out of HS), Dominique Onu, Charisma Osborne, and Londynn Jones. No matter how good she is, she won't be carrying the team. Onu, in particular, had been underachieving and is reputed to be the most improved player on the team coming in to the season. I'm guessing that Rice will be earning time based on her defense more than anything else.

UCLA's backcourt is loaded this year.

Rice will be the go to player from day 1 . Figuring out a way to get Osborne to give Rice the rains will be Coach's main priority or should be at least. Rice has that wow factor and that type of "Dog" determination in her place. It's going to be hard to keep her off the floor theres a reason she's #1 and every school including Uconn, SC , and any school within reach of a national title wanted her to commit there . Pretty sure minutes won't be an issue in Rice's case.

 

[visitingcock]

Agreed. I think her and Barker will be the 2 major standouts from this class. Rice especially is a really exciting PG prospect.

I'm not seeing where Betts gets a ton of minutes this year considering Stanford still has Brink/Belibi. Talaysia Cooper could get minutes too with SC's PG injuries and I thought she looked fantastic in the AA game.

Betts will be great eventually - but not as a frosh. She's simply not ready to bang with the bigs. Watching her in the McDonald's AA game, she was intimidated by the physical play of opposing bigs - especially Miami Frosh, Kyla Oldacre. Bett's needs to work against the Stanford starters.

I could, of course, end up eating my words. I expect her to face up with Boston if, as often is the case, Brink ggets into foul trouble.

 

[StanFan]

Figuring out a way to get Osborne to give Rice the rains will be Coach's main priority or should be at least... Pretty sure minutes won't be an issue in Rice's case.

This won't be too hard. Osborne is more of a natural 2 than a 1 better suited to a strong support role (like she played with Onyenwere. As you said minutes definitely won't be an issue for Rice - not a lot of a coaches choose to feature a freshman for conference media days like Cori Close did. This is already Kiki's team.

 

[WFFL]

Betts will be great eventually - but not as a frosh. She's simply not ready to bang with the bigs. Watching her in the McDonald's AA game, she was intimidated by the physical play of opposing bigs - especially Miami Frosh, Kyla Oldacre. Bett's needs to work against the Stanford starters.

I could, of course, end up eating my words. I expect her to face up with Boston if, as often is the case, Brink ggets into foul trouble.

I think betts will be used more so to guard Cardoso instead of Boston. Aaliyah is to quick and powerful for betts right now and will literally run right through her.

 

[WFFL]

This won't be too hard. Osborne is more of a natural 2 than a 1 better suited to a strong support role (like she played with Onyenwere. As you said minutes definitely won't be an issue for Rice - not a lot of a coaches choose to feature a freshman for conference media days like Cori Close did. This is already Kiki's team.

Agreed , KiKi will be the face of this team from day 1 and already is . The upperclassmen taking a back seat to a hot shot freshmen will be intriguing to watch . She's damn good and definitely the primary playmaker and scorer on the team from game 1 , but how does she incorporate kiki's game with osborne and the cast is what im waiting to see.

 

[Bballmom]

Rice will be the go to player from day 1 . Figuring out a way to get Osborne to give Rice the rains will be Coach's main priority or should be at least. Rice has that wow factor and that type of "Dog" determination in her place. It's going to be hard to keep her off the floor theres a reason she's #1 and every school including Uconn, SC , and any school within reach of a national title wanted her to commit there . Pretty sure minutes won't be an issue in Rice's case.

Kiki is an extremely hard worker and I’ve had the pleasure of watching her play many times over the years. In my opinion she is in the top 10 players for her class but is not number 1. She doesn’t play well against physical teams which is something I’m hoping she works on. There were several games during the EYBL season where she scored in single digits. Coach Geno was at the game where she had only 4 points. I believe that sealed her fate in not going to UConn. But I’m rooting for her at UCLA. That was a great decision.

 

[WFFL]

Kiki is an extremely hard worker and I’ve had the pleasure of watching her play many times over the years. In my opinion she is in the top 10 players for her class but is not number 1. She doesn’t play well against physical teams which is something I’m hoping she works on. There were several games during the EYBL season where she scored in single digits. Coach Geno was at the game where she had only 4 points. I believe that sealed her fate in not going to UConn. But I’m rooting for her at UCLA. That was a great decision.

Sealed her fate not going to UCONN ? lol her commitment date everyone here literally wanted her to choose UCONN though ...can you elaborate on her "Fate" because this is being stated as if Geno backed off and he definitely did not as We were a finalist for KiKi Rice along with Stanford and were bummed out to see her choose UCLA.

 

[Bballmom]

Kiki was not going to be a starter at UConn or Stanford. Geno would visit Azzi’s practices and local high school games. That was not the case for Kiki. And unfortunately her nerves got the best of her when he finally caught her game in Indiana.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Betts will be great eventually - but not as a frosh. She's simply not ready to bang with the bigs. Watching her in the McDonald's AA game, she was intimidated by the physical play of opposing bigs - especially Miami Frosh, Kyla Oldacre. Bett's needs to work against the Stanford starters.

I could, of course, end up eating my words. I expect her to face up with Boston if, as often is the case, Brink ggets into foul trouble.

I wouldn't worry much about the McD's game.

Rarely are those a showcase for centers. And the pace and structure of game are rarely what college looks like.

Team USA play is usually a good indicator.

I tend to think she'll be good early but Tara will need to pull more out of her to get her to great.

Im not sure if she's on the same level as Boston but Dawn had to work on that too.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

From Kiki Rice at UCLA to Flau'jae Johnson at LSU: the top 15 women's basketball freshmen

Lyndsey D'Arcangelo selects the top freshmen who will make an impact this season.

theathletic.com

15. Chance Gray, Oregon
14. Ruby Whitehorn, Clemson
13. Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State
12. Cotie McMahon, Ohio State
11. Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, Baylor
10. Flau’jae Johnson, LSU
9. Maggie Mendelson, Nebraska
8. Maya Nnaji, Arizona
7. Timea Gardiner, Oregon State
6. Justine Pissott, Tennessee
5. Grace VanSlooten, Oregon
4. Ayanna Patterson, UConn

When the Huskies are stacked, it’s hard for even some of the most talented freshmen to get solid minutes off the bench. But UConn lost a significant amount of scoring from last season: Christyn William, Evina Westbrook and Olivia Nelson-Ododa are no longer on the team. Paige Bueckers is sidelined with an ACL tear. Freshman Ice Brady (knee) is also out for the season. Dorka Juhász (wrist), Caroline Ducharme (hip) and Aubrey Griffin (back) are coming back from injuries. Patterson is a talented small forward with guard-like skills. She can hit shots from the wing, and is expected to get into the lane often. As the top-ranked recruit at the wing position, she should get quality minutes on a thin Huskies roster.

3. Janiah Barker, Texas A&M
2. Lauren Betts, Stanford
1. Kiki Rice, UCLA

I think Ayanna Patterson is somebody to watch.

I don't see any real obstacle to playing time other than Geno and players with her size and athleticism often have double/double ability right off the bat.

 

[eebmg]

I think Ayanna Patterson is somebody to watch.

I don't see any real obstacle to playing time other than Geno and players with her size and athleticism often have double/double ability right off the bat.

It depends on how well she picks up the offense. Geno has said she is a work in progress basketball wise. If she looks like she is on the same page, she will definitely get major minutes. Maybe there is a more athletic Morrow waiting to get out.,

 

[Gamecockfan77]

She'll probably make me eat these words in the matchup this year, but I think the transition will be a relative struggle for Pissott based on her ranking here.

She really struggled with Team USA.

 

[WFFL]

Kiki was not going to be a starter at UConn or Stanford. Geno would visit Azzi’s practices and local high school games. That was not the case for Kiki. And unfortunately her nerves got the best of her when he finally caught her game in Indiana.

Yet the hopes of her committing to UCONN were above and beyond hopeful lol. Why is that a trend with some posters here when a player does not pick your school it becomes "we did not have much interest" or the attempts to compare them to a current player and devalue the recruit as if you did not want nor need them ? KiKi Rice had her own thread with double digit pages before she picked UCLA she's a kid who will be a star in the women's game.

 

[WFFL]

I think Ayanna Patterson is somebody to watch.

I don't see any real obstacle to playing time other than Geno and players with her size and athleticism often have double/double ability right off the bat.

AP has already taken minutes away form upper classmen . She's a workhorse and will definitely leave an imprint as a husky in her 4 years. IM excited to see her improve !!!

 

[ClifSpliffy]

players with her size and athleticism often have double/double ability right off the bat.

'players with her size and athleticism often have double/double ability right off the bat.' timestamp: pre-first game.

dang. u called it. noice.

personal favor: can u clone a whole bunch of urself, put the husky helmet with the good dog on them, and then have them register accounts here?
thanks.
signed, 'not a southie fan, but a fan of clear thinking.'

 

[Bballmom]

Yet the hopes of her committing to UCONN were above and beyond hopeful lol. Why is that a trend with some posters here when a player does not pick your school it becomes "we did not have much interest" or the attempts to compare them to a current player and devalue the recruit as if you did not want nor need them ? KiKi Rice had her own thread with double digit pages before she picked UCLA she's a kid who will be a star in the women's game.

 

[Bballmom]

I’ve probably seen her play dozens of times each year since she was in middle school. I also live in the DC metro area and am connected to the basketball community. Kiki has played in two games against “easier” competition and she was just ok.