Portal Needs vs Available Entrants

[RUcrazee]

The top PGs are coming off the board by the day. One of the hopefuls that was in our backyard, Kayla Padilla (Penn), just committed to USC. She's from So Cal.

We lost out on the UMass PG, Taylor who committed to Louisville. (may be more of a shooting guard)
Lauren Park-Lane(Seton Hall) has committed to Mississippi St. Didn't realize she was from Wilmington, DE.

Big names such as PaoPao, E. Rogers(both U of Oregon), Owusu (VT), Mair (Boston College), Nivar (Stanford) are still out there, among others.

Local talent at the smaller colleges, include a guard from Fairleigh Dickinson, played at Gil St Bernard, Ella Fajardo. I think we should offer her a spot. High bball IQ, good 3pt shooter, nice handle.

 

[RUcrazee]

Don't know if it's in the cards, but it would really be nice if Diamond came back at point guard.

Also, another of my favorites really needs to think about coming back up to NJ,...Lashae Dwyer (U of Miami). Miami just added 4 guards through the portal( who must have been promised some playing time). They lose the Cavinder Twins and maybe a little-used reserve guard to graduation. They have two starters coming back at guard.

Dwyer should be able to read the tea leaves and see that logjam for playing time if she stays at Miami. She could come to RU and start and play a ton of minutes in front of fans that are familiar with her from when she played at The Patrick School in Elizabeth, NJ. and also make new fans with her exciting style of play. She is a perfect fit with our current roster. Can play pg but best fit as the SG if we can get a top notch PG, like Diamond

Diamond J -PG
Lashae D - SG
Kaylene S -W
Destiny A -PF
Chyna C -C

That's a NICE starting five with some good backups in Huerter, Sidibe, KB, Lafayette, and Bates. Also an addition like Fajardo as a backup PG.and a 6'5"+ post spells highly competitive roster for 2023-24.

 

[RUcrazee]

Hope we are pursuing Piath G. who's in the portal out of UMass. Also Isabel Verajao from U of Mich is in portal. Lots of upside for both. Other 6'5" posts in portal from Princeton, Texas and Utah deserve a look.

 

[RUcrazee]

Maybe we have a chance this time. Skylar did include us in her top list of schools before her commitment to Missouri. She would likely get plenty of playing time from the start.

 

[ScarletteK80]

Skylar Jones went to the same high school as Tasha Pointer. Hmm, go get her if she is RU material Coach P.

 

[RUcrazee]

Skylar Jones went to the same high school as Tasha Pointer. Hmm, go get her if she is RU material Coach P.

She is definitely RU material.

 

[RUcrazee]

RUWBB 2023-24 Depth Chart

PG​	SG​	W​	PF​	C​
M. Petticord​	K. Smikle​	A. Sidibe​	D. Adams​	C. Cornwell​
?​	E. Lafayette​	A. Bates​	K. Brown​	K. Brown​
J. Huerter​	J. Huerter​	J. Huerter​	A. Bates​	???​
A. Sidibe​	A. Bates​	E. Lafayette​	A. Sidibe​
​		??​

starters in red
? - opening for PG/CG
?? - opening for elite wing
??? - opening for 6'5 ish, skilled post

My question to you all is, Who do you want to see still added at this point and for what spot in the lineup.

IMO, we still need another PG or combo guard that can play backup to Mya or alongside being that Smikle, Huerter, and Lafayette can all play the wing.

Chyna and KB are interchangeable depending on the matchup on a given night.

I wouldn't mind adding an elite wing (6'1" - 6'2" ish, athletic) .....the total package type player... pretty much, the player that we want to see Antonia develop into.

Hopefully, our returning players are hard at work improving the weak spots in their games. That improvement is going to be key to avoiding being buried on the bench. Can't have the turnovers and inconsistent shooting that we saw this past season from just about everyone but Kaylene, amongst the perimeter players. KB and Chyna were fairly consistent in the post.

For Jillian, it probably comes down to the degree to which she can defend to determine how many minutes she will get. If she adjusts to the strength level of P5 college ball, I see her being a major part of the rotation, due to her complete offensive skill set.

 

[RUcrazee]

Next steps for Kaylene.....Hopefully, she will make the adjustment to her game where she makes her teammates better while still being the aggressive penetrator/finisher and long-range sharpshooter. Hopefully they all will do a much better job than this past season of playing together/connected offensively.

IMO, Kaylene is where Arella was her Jr/Sr year in regard to playing connected to her teammates. She played in takeover mode most of the time. When she decided to come back for that last year, she knew she had to work on better court awareness where she could play off of her teammates as well as set them up for easy buckets by drawing the attention. It was a real struggle for her.

Kaylene would be well-served to make that adjustment while still in the early stages of her college career. It will be key to her going to the next level just as it was for Arella.

Have to give Caitlin C credit. She is the one to study tape of in this case. Looking at KD (Kevin Durant) recently, I noticed some added nuances to his offensive game that looked Caitlin inspired to me.

 

[eso1989]

RUWBB 2023-24 Depth Chart

PG​	SG​	W​	PF​	C​
M. Petticord​	K. Smikle​	A. Sidibe​	D. Adams​	C. Cornwell​
?​	E. Lafayette​	A. Bates​	K. Brown​	K. Brown​
J. Huerter​	J. Huerter​	J. Huerter​	A. Bates​	???​
A. Sidibe​	A. Bates​	E. Lafayette​	A. Sidibe​
​		??​

starters in red ? - opening for PG/CG ?? - opening for elite wing

??? - opening for 6'5 ish, skilled post

My question to you all is, Who do you want to see still added at this point and for what spot in the lineup.

IMO, we still need another PG or combo guard that can play backup to Mya or alongside being that Smikle, Huerter, and Lafayette can all play the wing.

Chyna and KB are interchangeable depending on the matchup on a given night.

I wouldn't mind adding an elite wing (6'1" - 6'2" ish, athletic) .....the total package type player... pretty much, the player that we want to see Antonia develop into.

Hopefully, our returning players are hard at work improving the weak spots in their games. That improvement is going to be key to avoiding being buried on the bench. Can't have the turnovers and inconsistent shooting that we saw this past season from just about everyone but Kaylene, amongst the perimeter players. KB and Chyna were fairly consistent in the post.

For Jillian, it probably comes down to the degree to which she can defend to determine how many minutes she will get. If she adjusts to the strength level of P5 college ball, I see her being a major part of the rotation, due to her complete offensive skill set.

Does Brown still have eligibility left? For some reason I thought she was done. Either way we need more depth At the guard and forward/ center spot.

 

[RUfanDNT]

KB has a COVID year left, as does Awa. Although there has been no official announcement, I am assuming/hoping that they stay.

I think we need an experienced PG who can start while Mya gets more experience. We also need a young center since they always seem to take longer to develop and KB and Chyna will be gone.

 

[RUcrazee]

Danggit!! Another good PG from the wishlist, now off the board. Indya Nivar(Stanford), has transferred to North Carolina. They have made three great additions this offseason.

Silver lining,.....one of those signings may have been the straw that brought Destiny back home to us.
Other possible silver lining could be the fact that they have a LOT of quality guards. With Deja Kelly back for her extra year, and now Nivar in the mix,........
playing time just became tougher to come by for Paulina Paris.

Maybe Destiny's move back to Jersey influences Paulina, who played at Saddle River Day in North Jersey and is from the NY area. Remember, she did have RU in her original Top 5. She would be a great fit with our program. Very nice player who could get lost in the mix at UNC.

Come on home Paulina!

 

[sammybb]

Indya Nivar(Stanford) is from NC, so not a huge surprise she chose a school from her home state.

 

[RUcrazee]

Indya Nivar(Stanford) is from NC, so not a huge surprise she chose a school from her home state.

Yeah, I figured she would chose an already established Top 20 team. I thought she might go Duke for more opportunity to start and play plenty of minutes.

 

[RUcrazee]

New to the wishlist.
Another player who would really be a perfect fit with us is Kaitlyn Gilbert. She's a grad transfer, I think. Very good player who's had quite a journey since starting out at ND. Can play PG or SG. Coquese, I'm sure, is aware of her being in the portal.

 

[ho26rus]

Well if we are doing wish lists
The first player offerred when Coach Co came in i think was Skyler Jones who went to Cappy Poindexters school in Chicago.
our ladies recruited her for 5 weeks and we made her top four list.
She is 2023 and i have no clue why but she decommitted Missouri on Thursday . She is a four star combo guard thus perfect for us and our coaches do have a leg up

btw just speculating and i dont have any scoop

 

[ScarletteK80]

Well if we are doing wish lists
The first player offerred when Coach Co came in i think was Skyler Jones who went to Cappy Poindexters school in Chicago.
our ladies recruited her for 5 weeks and we made her top four list.
She is 2023 and i have no clue why but she decommitted Missouri on Thursday . She is a four star combo guard thus perfect for us and our coaches do have a leg up

btw just speculating and i dont have any scoop

Cappie Pondexter! Where did you find out about Skyler?

 

[RUcrazee]

Well if we are doing wish lists
The first player offerred when Coach Co came in i think was Skyler Jones who went to Cappy Poindexters school in Chicago.
our ladies recruited her for 5 weeks and we made her top four list.
She is 2023 and i have no clue why but she decommitted Missouri on Thursday . She is a four star combo guard thus perfect for us and our coaches do have a leg up

btw just speculating and i dont have any scoop

ho26rus, I'm on it. I guess I post so much, you must have missed ScarletteK and I posting on Skylar above in this thread.

Cappie was actually a Marshall High grad. Skylar attends Whitney Young HS.

View embedded media

Maybe we have a chance this time. Skylar did include us in her top list of schools before her commitment to Missouri. She would likely get plenty of playing time from the start.

 

[ho26rus]

ho26rus, I'm on it. I guess I post so much, you must have missed ScarletteK and I posting on Skylar above in this thread.

Cappie was actually a Marshall High grad. Skylar attends Whitney Young HS.

sorry i only reacted to the last posts. I, frankly, did not read that. So my bad,,, sorry,, Also in error i typed cappy at whitney young but i meant Tasha. So again my mistake

 

[RUcrazee]

Lots of big name players coming off the board in the portal these days. Justine choosing Vandy sure caught me by surprise. She would have been a good fit with our roster and style,....but, Oh well! Vol fans must sick to their stomachs today.

Still a ton of good players that can fill our needs. There's been a lot of HS class of '23 signees that have recently decommitted. No need to panic.

Jillian Brown(Norhtwestern) was another guard of interest for me, being that we recruited her out of HS. Good player, has just committed to Virginia.

 

[RUcrazee]

As has been said on this board a few times, this NIL stuff is going to make for some new juggernauts due to deep-pocketed donors(sponsors). I get the feeling that Angel Reese's on-court-actions are going to bring about others who look to cash in from attention by any means. I hope I'm wrong but seeing how Reese has become a multimillionaire since the LSU-Iowa final, .......

Last I had checked, about a week after the NCAA final, she had skyrocketed to 1.3 mil in est. NIL worth (or whatever they're calling it). Tonight, I hear she just inked a deal with Mercedes worth about 2 million.

No need to leave early for the WNBA. Top players can market themselves better by staying in college. Some college standouts might not even make a WNBA roster or get to play much. Might as well stay in school and enjoy your friends, the more carefree lifestyle, and no bills to pay if you're a scholarship athlete.

For that matter, if states with no taxes on income affect NIL earnings, then we can forget it when it comes to the Elite talent. That will be a HUGE advantage for schools in those states, if this is the case.

This NIL idea is gonna need some tweaking.

 

[Ray6232010]

Don't know if it's in the cards, but it would really be nice if Diamond came back at point guard.

Also, another of my favorites really needs to think about coming back up to NJ,...Lashae Dwyer (U of Miami). Miami just added 4 guards through the portal( who must have been promised some playing time). They lose the Cavinder Twins and maybe a little-used reserve guard to graduation. They have two starters coming back at guard.

Dwyer should be able to read the tea leaves and see that logjam for playing time if she stays at Miami. She could come to RU and start and play a ton of minutes in front of fans that are familiar with her from when she played at The Patrick School in Elizabeth, NJ. and also make new fans with her exciting style of play. She is a perfect fit with our current roster. Can play pg but best fit as the SG if we can get a top notch PG, like Diamond

Diamond J -PG
Lashae D - SG
Kaylene S -W
Destiny A -PF
Chyna C -C

That's a NICE starting five with some good backups in Huerter, Sidibe, KB, Lafayette, and Bates. Also an addition like Fajardo as a backup PG.and a 6'5"+ post spells highly competitive roster for 2023-24.

Does anyone know if we are even recruiting Diamond Johnson?

 

[RUfanDNT]

I don’t know if we are recruiting her but one of her followers on Twitter is Nikki McCray who follows all our potential recruits.

 

[RUcrazee]

I wouldn't mind adding an elite wing (6'1" - 6'2" ish, athletic) .....the total package type player... pretty much, the player that we want to see Antonia develop into.

Our new commit, Zachara P., at 6'2" currently, may just fill this wish. She, along with a stronger, more developed Bates can wreak havoc out there with Mya, Kaylene, and Destiny getting the bulk of the opponents attention.

Zachara's highlights, no joke, remind me of Angel Reese in HS,.....though Zachara has a much better shot that extends to the 3 pt line. Reese was more of a beast in the paint.

 

[RUcrazee]

Skylar Jones, former RUWBB prospect from Chicago, who committed to and then de-committed from Missouri, has now committed to ................................

Arizona😣

Barnes just keeps reeling 'em in. She's pressing all the right buttons. Really thought we had a chance to land Skylar this second time around.

 

[RUcrazee]

Besides the obvious LSU portal riches, there are some other programs that surprisingly, really loaded up from the portal.

Most surprising
- SC (the West coast one; Univ. Southern Cal)
- Texas A&M
- Louisville
- Miami


Not so surprising but notable additions
- UNC
- Virginia
- Miss St
- TCU
- Pretty much, ....the rest of the top 20 programs added key pieces that should make huge impact.

I know I probably forgot a team or two.

 

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

Roster at 10. Maximum number for WBB is 15. I think. I doubt we go to a full roster, 12 would be a good number, maybe 13.

What's next ?

No. 1 has to be a Post Player. A 3rd center so that Cornwall and Brown can play without being concerned about fouling. Cornwall can stay 2 more years because of the free Covid year.

 

[RUcrazee]

No. 1 has to be a Post Player. A 3rd center

Agree 100%. Preferably, a tall, skilled, post(6'5"+).
While I'm at it,.....athletic also.

Top of the wishlist, but, of course, ...not too many of those out there in the portal. Hopefully we can recruit that type player from the '24 or '25 class.

IMO, 12 seems like a good number for the roster so that no one gets lost on the bench.

 

[Knight Time Fan]

12 is a good roster size. While most coaches will use between 7 and 9 players for the vast majority of minutes in games (especially as the season progresses) you really need a couple additional players that can come in competently in the case of an injury or foul issue. You are not going to get a 12 player roster of all really good players, I think 1 or 2 "stars", 1 or 2 really good, possibly specialists, 4 good and solid players and then 4 competent subs.

If you go with 15, you end up with a few that are just - literally - warming the bench and in some cases possibly disrupting chemistry.

 

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

12 is a good roster size. While most coaches will use between 7 and 9 players for the vast majority of minutes in games (especially as the season progresses) you really need a couple additional players that can come in competently in the case of an injury or foul issue. You are not going to get a 12 player roster of all really good players, I think 1 or 2 "stars", 1 or 2 really good, possibly specialists, 4 good and solid players and then 4 competent subs.

If you go with 15, you end up with a few that are just - literally - warming the bench and in some cases possibly disrupting chemistry.

I like 12.

Use 13, 14, 15 for developing players you take a chance with and see what happens. Maybe do a favor for a local HS program by taking one of their players. Or, take a lower ranked "teammate, sister or friend" of a future star.