[MV72018]

Paige Beukers: #1 in 2020
Aaliyah Edwards #23 in 2020
Ayanna Patterson: #6 in 2022
Isune Brady: #8 in 2022
Kamorea Arnold: #6 in 2023
Ashlyne Shade: #8 in 2023
Qadance Samuels: #41 in 2023

Nika Muhl is the only player who wasn’t ranked in the top 50 and that’s partly because she came from Croatia.  Two other players that saw playing time tonight were outside the top 10.  Five(!) players were in the top 8 recruits their year.

That’s not throwing shade on Geno; after all he recruited them!  But if we are talking about swapping rosters, then you have to account for the fact that UConn’s roster was stacked, and while Stanford is no pushover, the only two top 10 players we have are #3 in 2020 Cameron Brink, and #7 in 2021 Brooke Demetre.

Hannah Jump was #36 in 2019
Kiki Iriafen was #22 in 2021
Talan Lepolo was #71 in 2022
Elena Bosgana was unranked (but international)

That doesn’t give Tara a pass; after all there were a number of players (including Buekers) who we recruited but couldn’t get to sign (BobK can chime in if she had the grades or not).  But Tara recruited the players we have.

But, if your question is “could Geno have taken the 2023/24 Stanford team past the sweet sixteen”, the answer is not self-evident just because he is taking a UConn team with more star power to the final four.

BC

Thank you for this. I was thinking exactly the same thing, but without the bandwidth to do the analysis. For all UConn has recovering from injury on their bench, Geno is still playing with a talented, top-recruited rotation.

The tournament at the end stages is very guard driven because the opponents are so good defensively.  You need elite guards who are a threat to score off the dribble either with pull-ups or drives to the basket.  Defenses then have to collapse on that player which opens up passes for assists.  If Tara was coaching Clark, Bueckers or Fulwiley, I’m very confident she would have found a way into the Final Four.   And I’m positive that neither Staley nor Auriemma could have “coached” an injured Lepolo into the final four.

The question is whether Geno or Staley would have had and kept Lepolo as his PG throughout the season, or would have accelerated the development of another team member as his PG during the season and had that woman installed as his starting PG by tournament time.

[MV72018]

Paige Beukers: #1 in 2020
Aaliyah Edwards #23 in 2020
Ayanna Patterson: #6 in 2022
Isune Brady: #8 in 2022
Kamorea Arnold: #6 in 2023
Ashlyne Shade: #8 in 2023
Qadance Samuels: #41 in 2023

Nika Muhl is the only player who wasn’t ranked in the top 50 and that’s partly because she came from Croatia.  Two other players that saw playing time tonight were outside the top 10.  Five(!) players were in the top 8 recruits their year.

That’s not throwing shade on Geno; after all he recruited them!  But if we are talking about swapping rosters, then you have to account for the fact that UConn’s roster was stacked, and while Stanford is no pushover, the only two top 10 players we have are #3 in 2020 Cameron Brink, and #7 in 2021 Brooke Demetre.

Hannah Jump was #36 in 2019
Kiki Iriafen was #22 in 2021
Talan Lepolo was #71 in 2022
Elena Bosgana was unranked (but international)

That doesn’t give Tara a pass; after all there were a number of players (including Buekers) who we recruited but couldn’t get to sign (BobK can chime in if she had the grades or not).  But Tara recruited the players we have.

But, if your question is “could Geno have taken the 2023/24 Stanford team past the sweet sixteen”, the answer is not self-evident just because he is taking a UConn team with more star power to the final four.

BC

Thank you for this. I was thinking exactly the same thing, but without the bandwidth to do the analysis. For all UConn has recovering from injury on their bench, Geno is still playing with a talented, top-recruited rotation.

The tournament at the end stages is very guard driven because the opponents are so good defensively.  You need elite guards who are a threat to score off the dribble either with pull-ups or drives to the basket.  Defenses then have to collapse on that player which opens up passes for assists.  If Tara was coaching Clark, Bueckers or Fulwiley, I’m very confident she would have found a way into the Final Four.   And I’m positive that neither Staley nor Auriemma could have “coached” an injured Lepolo into the final four.

The question is whether Geno or Staley would have had and kept Lepolo as his PG throughout the season, or would have accelerated the development of another team member as his PG during the season and had that woman installed as his starting PG by tournament time.