[BostonCard]

We are never really in the hunt for the top player or two..

We had a nice span of signing top players (in the top-3 of their class): with 2019 (Haley Jones), 2020 (Cameron Brink), 2022 (Lauren Betts), with some good signings (like Iriafen) in between, so I don’t think it is true that we are never in the hunt for the top players or two, unless you are focused narrowly on 2023 and 2024, and even then, we were “in the hunt” for Juju Watkins (my recollection is that we made it to the final 3 and may have been her second choice).  The bigger issue is that we lost Betts and Iriafen to the portal, and that recruiting guards has always been a bit more challenging than recruiting elite post players or even wings.

I think we need to see where things settle out in the next few years.  As others have pointed out, we have a top-3 recruiting class last year, and, importantly, Hailey Swain is an elite guard, something we’ve historically struggled with.  There have been a lot of changes to women’s college basketball with the portal, NIL, etc., and that is going to create some headwinds for Stanford.  But I think it’s too early to declare defeat.

BC

[BostonCard]

We are never really in the hunt for the top player or two..

We had a nice span of signing top players (in the top-3 of their class): with 2019 (Haley Jones), 2020 (Cameron Brink), 2022 (Lauren Betts), with some good signings (like Iriafen) in between, so I don’t think it is true that we are never in the hunt for the top players or two, unless you are focused narrowly on 2023 and 2024, and even then, we were “in the hunt” for Juju Watkins (my recollection is that we made it to the final 3 and may have been her second choice).  The bigger issue is that we lost Betts and Iriafen to the portal, and that recruiting guards has always been a bit more challenging than recruiting elite post players or even wings.

I think we need to see where things settle out in the next few years.  As others have pointed out, we have a top-3 recruiting class last year, and, importantly, Hailey Swain is an elite guard, something we’ve historically struggled with.  There have been a lot of changes to women’s college basketball with the portal, NIL, etc., and that is going to create some headwinds for Stanford.  But I think it’s too early to declare defeat.

BC