10-30-2015, 06:44 AM
(10-30-2015, 12:47 AM)SControl link Wrote:Not at all. My notes were merely observations as Tara and the rest of the coaching staff are expert evaluators and have both found plenty of under the radar talent and developed them (e.g. kokenis pre-retirement, Lili, etc.).
I think Tara is one of the best coaches to ever coach college WBB. She really runs with what is given to her with an extremely limited talent pool (to pass through admissions). Not only should her track record and coaching ability attract top talent but the appeal of living in California + an incredible degree makes Stanford ahard choice to decline. However, i can't help but wonder how the lack of recent championships has done to deter top (and seemingly qualified) players to the farm. Take the youngest Samuelson sister as an example. Id go out on a limb and say a factor to her moving cross country to Storrs was the liklihood of her coming out of college with at least 1 national championship before graduating college. I believe had Tara won a championship in the last decade, the 2010 game comes first to mind, we'd possibly have more players coming to Stanford to play for a HOF coach, get a top notch degree, live in one of the most desired locations, AND would have a chance of playing for and winning a national championship.
I look at the University of Dead Fake Girlfriends and how they've been able to attract top the last 6 years or so. I think those players go in thinking theyre getting a great education AND possibly win a national championship (despite coming up short the last few years) whereas coming to Stanford almost seems like you have to pick one or the other...
Just trying to keep the conversation going. Excuse the scattered thoughts and typos as this was written at 1 in the am and I am typing using typo-probe small iPhone keys.
We had this discussion in threads before, but I don't think the lack of a national title is driving the top recruits away. Over the past 8 years, we've reached 6 Final Fours and 2 Sweet Sixteens and nearly swept the Pac-12 titles and for most of those years, we dominated league play. With UConn's domination of national championships, only a handful of other teams (N.D., Maryland, Baylor) have had the same success.
Over the past 4-5 years, schools whose combined postseason record over the last few years don't equal ours (Nebraska, Texas, Ohio State, UCLA, Georgia Tech, etc.) have had Top 10 recruits come to their program.
In this year's ESPN's Top 20 Recruiting Classes, we are ranked #17. Over the last 8 years, we have had as many Final Fours (6) than 14 of those schools combined during that same time period.
