(WBK) OGT: UF vs Chicago State November 12, 7 pm SEC+

Send him some NIL money!
Regular Shaq appearances at our WBB games will certainly boost attendance.

 

I know nothing about their program but it plays like a group in its first year.
They have guards that struggle bringing the ball up the court unguarded.

 

Wow, didn’t realize Chicago State was a Junior Varsity city. That is some drubbing

 

Chicago State has been really bad for years. Not sure if they are still in the Missouri valley but they were typically at the bottom of the league every year. I couldn’t really watch much of the game but glad the score reflected what it should have. Unfortunately I don’t think games like this are good for skill development but certainly good for morale. Still would love an update on Reynolds before too long.


Also noticed that they updated McGills number to 21 from 23 on twitter and that was E Kindreds number. Was she on the bench? I didn’t see any change on the roster but they also didn’t provide an updated number for her so that was confusing

 

How does a school in a basketball hotbed like Chicago not come up with at least serviceable players?

 

Seems the men’s team at Chicago State aren’t doing that much better (so far 0-3 for the season). They lost by 47 points to Texas by a score of 105 to 58 last night

 

Let's compare our roster this year to last. Then, imagine how well we'll be playing in January. Who do you think are upgrades, even, and downgrades?

Matharu vs. Liv
Rimdal vs. Warren
Reynolds vs. Reynolds
Dut vs. O'Neal
Kyle vs. Kyle
---
(Subs, not apples-to-apples)
Correa vs. Dizeko
Warren vs. Gassett

For the starters, it feels like come January, every position will be even or better.

Want to change my lineups? (Mostly by minutes played.)

 

It looks to me like Warren is a better all-around player than Rimdal. Berte, when she was on, was deadly from 3, but it seemed like she was having too many off days. She didn't bring a whole lot to the table on off days.
McGill, O'Neal, and Reynolds will give us 3 5-star players on the court (I believe they are all 5s, correct? Or McDonalds' AA?). They're lacking in experience but not talent.

 

I think that our lineup is more skilled and intentionally set this year…sometimes the lineups in years past seem like we were grabbing for any players we could from the portal, undergrad, Europe etc and just trying to make them work together. Many times, you can add two players who get 15-20 ppg and they will not produce 30-40 ppg playing together. In the case of matharu—she needed to have the ball in her hands all the time to be effective. We certainly will be missing her on defense though. We will miss lei bringing serious point production off the bench. I think that will be made up by committee. Also unrelated but crazy to hear Smesko is leaving FGCU to be the coach of the Atlanta Dream. Would have never guessed in a million years lol.

 

All 3 were McD AA. Liv and Reynolds were five star. I think O'Neal was 4 star. I agree on Rimdal...each game I watched "just wasn't her day." Good fundamentals on defense but not high-end athleticism.

My hope is that, by mid-January, the experience fills in and our 1-7 are all even-or-upgrades.

 

Very good post, thanks, and good point about roster construction.

Since I'm really a newbie at this...what's your forecast for Reynolds? Any chance she makes a huge jump?

 

with Reynolds I think we need to see a big jump honestly. She has been solid but she hasn’t blown me away by any means. Obviously the injury has put a little damper on her performance which I’m obviously factoring in to what I have expected thus far.


I think we have seen good but I want to see great because I think it’s in there.

 

If I had to guess, he'll be at the Marshall game.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Laila needs to be more aggressive, I heard her and Warren really worked with Howard a lot and both are highly improved. I have see it from Warren so far.

also I saw we got a couple of guards from Australia to commit to us. Kellly Rae looking to get a longer roster next year. I know she struck out on some big time recruits barely from what I was told. So went the international route. We need at lleast 7 to sign this year and 3 so far. Weird they are all international players

 

I agree that Warren seems different this year. On the brink of being a clutch player difference maker.

 

Most players have a jump from freshman to sophomore seasons, and then improve a little each year after. Jeriah has been solid since her freshman season and seemed to improve slightly each year since. But she looks like she's putting it all together right now, albeit against lesser competition. Happy to see her playing so well.

 

I remember when jeriah signed I thought that if she stayed for four years she will be a solid rotational player and I would say she exceeded my expectations last year and all I’m seeing this year is just bonus. She is a great example of a player who has truly committed to getting better and embracing her role and it’s really paid off. On the subject of missing out on big recruits— it’s always a bummer, but those relationships tend to stay positive these days because transfers are so common and you never know when that same player will come knocking again. Europe is a hotbed of talent and many of the kids have a workhorse type attitude and you can really find some diamonds in the rough. American players get the most exposure and offers and money etc. foreign players want an opportunity to get that exposure or in many cases…free education. Can’t blame them for recruiting overseas before they look at juco, lesser sought after American/canadian players