WBB #1 2022 Lauren Betts is Cardinal!

[Maple Leaf]

Our frontcourt that season with Brink, Betts, Belibi and Prechtel will be incredibly deep and talented.

sounds like a law firm...  BETTER it sounds like the members of a Rock Band by the name of Shot-Blockers

and don't sleep on iriafen!

[UltimateCard]

Report from "The Athletic".
https://theathletic.com/news/lauren-bett...9fJ5woAAtn

And the story on ESPN’s site - sounds like Stanford coaches had the right touch
https://www.espn.com/womens-college-bask...s-stanford

[Griffins78]

Late to the game... this is such great news! I love this current team and with more talented players coming - its going to be fun for years to come. Love all that everyone has been posting. Also, I'm hoping that Maya comes back next year and has a great year. We'll be even more dominant in the paint.

[Hulk01]

Regarding three point shooters:

I'd assumed Kiki Rice was not effective, based on her 0-5 from three,
and sub .600 FT in the FIBA U16 tournament,
where she otherwise was outstanding.

But she shot 33% for her high school season last season,
so we might add her to our list of "shooters,"
assuming we land her.
(Baffling if we do not, however.)

And while I can't find Jzaniya Harriel's stats,
I do know she made 96 threes last season,
which ranked in the top 25 in the country.
So I assume it's a good percentage shot for her. . .

[BobK]

Saw Harriel twice last year very nice three shot. Looked very good great form
And made them.

[BosCard]

Regarding three point shooters:

I'd assumed Kiki Rice was not effective, based on her 0-5 from three,
and sub .600 FT in the FIBA U16 tournament,
where she otherwise was outstanding.

But she shot 33% for her high school season last season,
so we might add her to our list of "shooters,"
assuming we land her.
(Baffling if we do not, however.)

And while I can't find Jzaniya Harriel's stats,
I do know she made 96 threes last season,
which ranked in the top 25 in the country.
So I assume it's a good percentage shot for her. . .

I think there is a difference between "can shoot a 3" and "3-point sniper".  Think about facing Oregon which generally defends with a zone.  We need "3-point snipers" to create space for Belibi and Jones to either work inside or drive from the top of the key.  If you don't have "3-point snipers" to punish the zone for sagging in, then the key and the middle of the lane gets super clogged up with defenders.  On the flip side, Oregon has "3-point snipers" like Boley, Miskell, and Paopao, all of whom shoot a lot of threes and at a high percentage (they are all above 42% for the season).

In our 2020, 2021 and 2022 recruiting classes, we have one player I would classify as a "3-point sniper" and that is Van Gytenbeek.  She has had limited attempts as a Cardinal freshman but is shooting 46% from three this year and shot 45% from three her senior year of high school.  I couldn't find the stats for Demetre but she might be a good 3-point shooter since I have heard her shooting is one of her best skills.  And possibly Harriel who shot a good but not great 36% from three last year. 

So in this three year span of recruiting, we have one "3-point sniper" and maybe two good 3-point shooters.  I think we need at least one more "3-point sniper" in our 2022 class to give Brink, Iriafen and Betts room to operate in the paint.

[Hulk01]

I agree with your distinction, BostonCard.  Decent from three and dangerous from three, a la Oregon, are very different.

Londyn Jones was dangerous from 3 at the FIBA U16's,
the reason I've hoped/assumed Tara had offered her.
But maybe no?

[jonnyss]

i can't find a 3-point % for brooke demetre either, but in the video at the top of her twitter page, she shows us 25 made shots - 14 of them 3-pointers. so she is proud of her 3-point shot.

link

[Lorcan]

Lest we forget, Hannah Jump could emerge as a sniper to space things out for the next few years. We could see a lineup of Van Gytenbeek, Jump, Jones, Brink, and Belibi by their senior years. That’s one heck of a lineup to defend, especially if Jump continues to improve her defense.

[paloalto]

Recruiting war for 2023 Mendelson may come down to Tara versus Hambly.  If she accepted a VB scholarship I'm almost certain Hambly would let her play basketball after VB concluded if she wanted.  If she accepted a BB scholarship I doubt Tara would let her play volleyball.


I saw a couple videos of Betts. She definitely has skill and coordination for a young kid that height. She will be good in college but how good is difficult for me to extrapolate based on prep videos. A player that height is so ridiculously taller than most opponents she can dominate almost entirely with height. In college the height levels out somewhat making it not such an imbalance under the basket.

[BostonCard]

Was Kristin Folkl on a basketball or volleyball scholarship?

BC

[BobK]

Practice for both sports are year round now unlike 20 years ago. So hard to play both. Top VB and basketball recruit Lauren Ware is playing basketball at Arizona. VB will be almost done when basketball is at Arizona.

Really really doubt one could do both. Maybe Sr in basketball after volleyball

[ca245]

[quote="paloalto" pid='304993' dateline='1610655367']
Recruiting war for 2023 Mendelson may come down to Tara versus Hambly.  If she accepted a VB scholarship I'm almost certain Hambly would let her play basketball after VB concluded if she wanted.  If she accepted a BB scholarship I doubt Tara would let her play volleyball.

Isn't there a rule that, because WBB is the higher ranked sport (not sure how that is determined), if Mendelson is on scholarship and plays both WVB and WBB, her scholarship counts against WBB?

[CardinalWBBFan]

I think you have to be on basketball scholarship if you do both. I think it’s an NCAA rule (which was put in to place to prevent football players using track scholarships or something like that).

Mendelson is a superb athlete. Much better athlete than Betts, but Betts has two inches on her and seems to be more dominant for sure. 

Betts usually has a great matchup with Oregon State commit Raegan Beers sometime during the season. She also had some great battles with Cali Clark who went to high school with Van Gytenbeek as well as Fran Belibi.

I think Colorado starts HS hoops soon, so we’ll get to follow her a little bit closer.

[BobK]

I believe the rule about which sport applies only to partial scholarship sports. Not basketball and women’s volleyball

[BosCard]

Recruiting war for 2023 Mendelson may come down to Tara versus Hambly.  If she accepted a VB scholarship I'm almost certain Hambly would let her play basketball after VB concluded if she wanted.  If she accepted a BB scholarship I doubt Tara would let her play volleyball.


I saw a couple videos of Betts.  She definitely has skill and coordination for a young kid that height.  She will be good in college but how good is difficult for me to extrapolate based on prep videos.  A player that height is so ridiculously taller than most opponents she can dominate almost entirely with height.  In college the height levels out somewhat making it not such an imbalance under the basket.

Yes but Betts has proven herself against taller players / better competition as well.  During the USA basketball U16 trials, she was consistently described as one of the few players who was a "lock" to make the team.  Plus she was a starter on the U16 team.  We have had players like Belibi and Brink make USA national teams before but neither of them started.  The only recent player we have had start on a USA national team is I believe Jones, who has turned out to be a pretty amazing player.  And then during the U16 Americas tournament, Betts lead the team in minutes and set a u16 team record of rebounds per game (13.5).  I think Betts will be pretty special but glad she won't have to do it all on her own as there is plenty of talent beside her on our future teams as well.