[81alum]

The 10 women's college basketball players who must have breakout seasons in 2022-23 (espn.com)

Hannah Jump on list

Beat me to the punch as I was just going to bring this article up.

I agree that we'll need Jump to take that next step as a consistent offensive threat. The last couple years with Brink, Jones and Lexie, she was often the fourth (and an often deadly) option on the floor, but with the Hulls gone and our backcourt a bit of a question mark, it would be great if she brought stability. It will also be tougher as she is clearly our #1 three point threat, so opposing teams will focus on her when she's outside the arc.

We can look back to Karlie's senior year as a model for what Jump can and can't do.  The problem that year was just as you said--Karlie always got the best perimeter defender.  There were games when she could only get 1 or 2 shots off.  In our final game against South Carolina, she got 25 minutes before her injury, and she went 0/2.  Three point shooters can be effectively defended if the other team is willing to sag off of someone else.

The answer is either to have another superb three point threat from another player or for Jump to develop the ability to slash around her defender.  At a minimum, we need Jump to be consistent enough to force other teams to come out and thus open up space for our bigs.  It is possible that she will score less this year than last but be much more important to our success, if she can just make it a 4 on 4 game for everyone else.

[81alum]

The 10 women's college basketball players who must have breakout seasons in 2022-23 (espn.com)

Hannah Jump on list

Beat me to the punch as I was just going to bring this article up.

I agree that we'll need Jump to take that next step as a consistent offensive threat. The last couple years with Brink, Jones and Lexie, she was often the fourth (and an often deadly) option on the floor, but with the Hulls gone and our backcourt a bit of a question mark, it would be great if she brought stability. It will also be tougher as she is clearly our #1 three point threat, so opposing teams will focus on her when she's outside the arc.

We can look back to Karlie's senior year as a model for what Jump can and can't do.  The problem that year was just as you said--Karlie always got the best perimeter defender.  There were games when she could only get 1 or 2 shots off.  In our final game against South Carolina, she got 25 minutes before her injury, and she went 0/2.  Three point shooters can be effectively defended if the other team is willing to sag off of someone else.

The answer is either to have another superb three point threat from another player or for Jump to develop the ability to slash around her defender.  At a minimum, we need Jump to be consistent enough to force other teams to come out and thus open up space for our bigs.  It is possible that she will score less this year than last but be much more important to our success, if she can just make it a 4 on 4 game for everyone else.