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Slide in Recruiting Success? Where? Yes we had a defection and injuries, but most programs had even more defections and/or injuries. You can't lose two of your primary rotation frontcourt players to ACL injuries and expect to be the same team. So, it's not recruiting. It's just the adversity cycle of basketball. Everyone gets their turn. UConn had their turn 2-3 years ago. We are going through our cycle now. With that said, Okot has been fantastic and she fills the middle. Latson doesn't have the numbers she had at Florida State, but she is averaging 18 points a game on over 50% from the field and over 40% from 3. Also, buying in and passing the ball. Averaging 4 assists a game. Tessa is shooting the cover off the ball. Shooting 48% from 3. Joyce is playing on an All-American level and even Raven is shooting 40% from 3. If this keeps up, this will be Dawn's best offensive team and it won't be close. Now, you are incorporating four new starters and the Defense and Defensive Rebounding is a work in progress. Also, there is obvious questions with depth. However, I think these last 4 games have been important in developing confidence in Maddie. Makeer is going to be a factor this year. Just haven't needed to push her with the concussion. Also, I know a lot of people are down on Tac and Dauda, but I have seen improvement especially with Tac. We have five more games before the season really gets serious with the home re-match with Texas. Dawn just has to keep feeding the bench minutes and have them develop. Who cares if we beat these upcoming teams by 30 or 70. We are fine. Yes, we lost a game to the #2 team in the country on a buzzer beater. Yes, we had a close game with Louisville. However, I think history is going to smile on that Louisville win. I think the Cardinals are a very good ballclub this year. Just routed Tennessee last Saturday. So, the sky is not falling. We have to just exhibit a little bit of patience and watch this team develop.
All I said is…in my opinion…this year’s recruitment is not quite as good. That had nothing to do with the injuries…it does the bench. The bench in previous years has been our strong point. There are several of the bench who do not contribute much…just a fact. They may have been highly rated, but they are not living up to their high school success. I still love my team…but the bench is not as strong as recent years.
This year's class brought in two starters that we are leaning on heavily in Latson and Okot. No, Latson is not Fulwiley in exciting plays, but far more productive. Also, Okot is matching the junior year production of Aliyah Boston when we won the National Championship. Both will be drafted in the 1st Round if things continue as they are. Also, what other program has an All-SEC performer go down (Kitts) and plug in someone who is playing like an All-American (Edwards). Makeer had been out, but she was getting 16 minutes a game before she got hurt. Dawn doesn't give out 16 minutes a game to freshman who can't play. The only person that you could really say is a recruiting miss is Dauda. She is in her last year and hasn't contributed much. I think Tac pp is coming along. She will be able to help as she gets more comfortable in her knee. With that being said, Dauda and Tac wouldn't have been needed if you had Kitts or Watkins available. Their injuries are just the circumstances of the game. Has nothing to do with recruiting.
I think you may be thinking about the Adhel Tac that played at UTEP and North Texas. (I see Google has even made a mess of Tac's information online). Our Adhel never played at any other college. She was just in High School two years ago and graduated early to enroll. She didn't play much in her junior and senior years due to knee injuries. Players usually start to come around in their second year after injury. You are, also, talking about a young big that missed significant time in her development. We were not supposed to lean on her this year. She has to play due to injuries.
You just gave a nice example of how the pubic gets fooled daily. AI coupled with the Internet will create generations of misguided ignorance.
Maybe you could just pass over the small portion of posts that us 10 people seldom post.
I understand she is 6'7" .... I don't recall a player with her skillset being a Lady G .... not expecting much this year but hopefully next year Kitts and Watkins will return (for some reason it feels very iffy for the latter) and Tourbize having a season to play some and learn the system, I am hopeful for a strong year ... this season reminds me of a couple of seasons that UConn had with all the injuries 2-4 years ago ....
