[old spanish trail]

Might be worth looking at what we recruited over the last four years:

2021
Brooke Demetre, 6-3 Wing, CA. Ranked # 4 in her Class.
Jzaniya Harriel 5-9 Guard CA 4.75 GPA ranked # 1 Nor Cal and #52 ESPN
Eleni Bosgana, 6-2 Wing from Greece
Kiki Iriafen 6-2 4/5 from So Cal ranked # 9

2022
Lauren Betts, 6-7 Post CO. Ranked ESPN #1, PN 4.5*, ASGR #1.  Committed to Stanford 13 Jan 2021!  Official Visit 10-2-2021.
Talana Lepolo, 5-7 PG CA, PN 4.5*, ESPN #70, ASGR #43. Has visited. Committed Sep 2021.
Indya Nivar 5-9 G NC, ESPN #20, ASGR #36. Stanford is in her top 3 as of 7-Sep-2021.  Official visit 9-24-2021. Committed 17-Nov-2021.

2023
Sunaja (Nunu) Agara | 5'11" Guard | ranked 40 (graded 93) by ESPN | ranked #14 by PN | Committed 25-Oct-2021
Courtney Ogden, 6-1 Wing GA, Ranked ESPN #12, ASGR #43, PN #7. A tweet said we offered 2-Oct-2021.  Visited 2-Oct-2021. | committed 18-Nov-2021
Chloe Clardy, 5-9 Guard from Arkansas.  Ranked ESPN #28, PN 4.5*. Committed 5 Aug 2022.

2024
Kennedy Umeh, 6-3 Forward from Maryland. Ranked ESPN #40, PN #20.  Committed 8/7/2023. Her name has been spelled "Ume" on some web sites. Signed 11/8/23.
Wrenwyck (Shay) Ijiwoye, 5-6 Guard, Arizona, ESPN #44, PN #40. Has visited.  Visited again 2/20/23. Has an offer 2/27/23. Committed 9/1/23! Signed 11/8/23.
Harper Peterson NorCal 6-3 Wing, ESPN #84, PN #35.  Offered 6/24/2023. Official visit 9/30/2023. In her final 3 as of 11/3/2023. Signed 11/9/23.

We lost the #1 player from 2022, the #9 player from 2021, the #20 player from 2022.

It has been talked about before, but Demetre has not played as the #4 player in her class, which is disappointing, and may be an indictment of Paye if other players don't live up to their rankings.  You could make the case that there is enough talent on the team to be in the top 25, though, with Agara, ranked (I'm using ESPN and prospect nation) 14/40, Ogden ranked 7/12, Umeh ranked 40/20, Ijiwoye 40/44, Clardy 28/UR, and Peterson ranked 35/84, plus Demetre.  That is a solid nucleus even after what we have lost, but devoid of star power.  One year is way too soon to come to judgments and I am very curious to see what Paye does in the long term, assembling and keeping talent on the team and getting it to play good basketball.  Early returns are just that, early, but you would rather have the indicators you see for Smith than for Paye.

BC

If we are going off of recruiting rankings (which is the metric we should be using for this discussion), on paper, WBB is MUCH more talented than MBB. It is incredible what CKS has been able to do with this MBB roster. Yes, Maxime is an All-American but Blakes and Sellers are the only other players on the team who would be Top-7 contributors on other ACC teams. 

Also, I don't understand why people still think Angel tried to get into grad school at Stanford and was denied. He had a 4.0 in Econ. He did not even apply for a coterm - he was ready to move on and did so. Not an admissions issue whatsoever.

I didn't say Angel was denied. I heard there wasn't a good fit.

[old spanish trail]

Might be worth looking at what we recruited over the last four years:

2021
Brooke Demetre, 6-3 Wing, CA. Ranked # 4 in her Class.
Jzaniya Harriel 5-9 Guard CA 4.75 GPA ranked # 1 Nor Cal and #52 ESPN
Eleni Bosgana, 6-2 Wing from Greece
Kiki Iriafen 6-2 4/5 from So Cal ranked # 9

2022
Lauren Betts, 6-7 Post CO. Ranked ESPN #1, PN 4.5*, ASGR #1.  Committed to Stanford 13 Jan 2021!  Official Visit 10-2-2021.
Talana Lepolo, 5-7 PG CA, PN 4.5*, ESPN #70, ASGR #43. Has visited. Committed Sep 2021.
Indya Nivar 5-9 G NC, ESPN #20, ASGR #36. Stanford is in her top 3 as of 7-Sep-2021.  Official visit 9-24-2021. Committed 17-Nov-2021.

2023
Sunaja (Nunu) Agara | 5'11" Guard | ranked 40 (graded 93) by ESPN | ranked #14 by PN | Committed 25-Oct-2021
Courtney Ogden, 6-1 Wing GA, Ranked ESPN #12, ASGR #43, PN #7. A tweet said we offered 2-Oct-2021.  Visited 2-Oct-2021. | committed 18-Nov-2021
Chloe Clardy, 5-9 Guard from Arkansas.  Ranked ESPN #28, PN 4.5*. Committed 5 Aug 2022.

2024
Kennedy Umeh, 6-3 Forward from Maryland. Ranked ESPN #40, PN #20.  Committed 8/7/2023. Her name has been spelled "Ume" on some web sites. Signed 11/8/23.
Wrenwyck (Shay) Ijiwoye, 5-6 Guard, Arizona, ESPN #44, PN #40. Has visited.  Visited again 2/20/23. Has an offer 2/27/23. Committed 9/1/23! Signed 11/8/23.
Harper Peterson NorCal 6-3 Wing, ESPN #84, PN #35.  Offered 6/24/2023. Official visit 9/30/2023. In her final 3 as of 11/3/2023. Signed 11/9/23.

We lost the #1 player from 2022, the #9 player from 2021, the #20 player from 2022.

It has been talked about before, but Demetre has not played as the #4 player in her class, which is disappointing, and may be an indictment of Paye if other players don't live up to their rankings.  You could make the case that there is enough talent on the team to be in the top 25, though, with Agara, ranked (I'm using ESPN and prospect nation) 14/40, Ogden ranked 7/12, Umeh ranked 40/20, Ijiwoye 40/44, Clardy 28/UR, and Peterson ranked 35/84, plus Demetre.  That is a solid nucleus even after what we have lost, but devoid of star power.  One year is way too soon to come to judgments and I am very curious to see what Paye does in the long term, assembling and keeping talent on the team and getting it to play good basketball.  Early returns are just that, early, but you would rather have the indicators you see for Smith than for Paye.

BC

If we are going off of recruiting rankings (which is the metric we should be using for this discussion), on paper, WBB is MUCH more talented than MBB. It is incredible what CKS has been able to do with this MBB roster. Yes, Maxime is an All-American but Blakes and Sellers are the only other players on the team who would be Top-7 contributors on other ACC teams. 

Also, I don't understand why people still think Angel tried to get into grad school at Stanford and was denied. He had a 4.0 in Econ. He did not even apply for a coterm - he was ready to move on and did so. Not an admissions issue whatsoever.

I didn't say Angel was denied. I heard there wasn't a good fit.