Notre dame women's recruiting lately has

[Izo]

Has not been good

In 2016 ,recruited top talent Jackie Young , Erin Boley (transferred to Oregon ). , Mikalya Vaughn ,(injured ,red shirted)

In 2017 ,Danielle Patterson

In 2018 Kaytln Gilbert ( McDonalds All American, injured red shirted , definitely would have helped with depth at guard ,) also highly regarded Jordan Nixon ( didn't get a lot of playing time ?) , Danielle Cosgrove 6'4" who hardly played.

We also lost out on a lot of tall top talent in the paint

At least we recruited 6'2" top 4 player in Samantha Brunelle and a top guard in Anya Peoples .

In2019 we will be very weak in the paint ,possibly rebounding and we really don't know how good the guard ( outside shooting) of Gilbert ,Peoples , Nixon . Also don't know about Jackie Young ? Should retun and work on outside shooting

 

[binhamin]

I went over this in the Notre Dame and Muffet McGraw thread.

Nixon has been nursing a hamstring injury. Cosgrove was behind two of the best posts in the country (Turner and Shepard), a highly sought after post who mysteriously lost her ranking after a move in HS (Vaughn), and a former McDonald's All-American (Patterson). So when exactly is she supposed to play?

It is a struggle to attract top talent when they can't see a clear path to play time. There are exactly 200 minutes to disperse among the entire roster in any given game. Starters usually get around 150 of those minutes. The rest have to be dispersed to key reserves and developing players, and those 150 can become more if a game is tight.

GIlbert and Nixon are both former McDonald's All-Americans. Prohaska played for the USA U17 team. Peoples and Brunelle are both McDonald's All- Americans. So the team next year will lean on 5McDAA's. They may be young, but talent won't be an issue.

Jackie Young has 24 hours from the conclusion of her last game to make a decision, per what I've been reading online. So I believe she has until 8:15pm EST to decide. She might get until 9, but she has to decide today.

 

[Izo]

Yes ,I agree with the guard situation , but as far as the posts players ,Cosgrove , Vaughn , Patterson, they haven't shown much. If they were ready, MCGraw would have worked one or two into the rotation . There were plenty of games that were routs and McGraw could have inserted Vaughn , Patterson into the game early in the fourth quarter. Instead at the end with 2 minutes left . Vaughn and Patterson did get a minute or 2 just to give Turner and Shepard a quick rest ,but nothing significant.

Watching Baylor , UConn, and others, There were freshmen and sophomores who were given quality time

 

[binhamin]

I don't know how many times I need to say this, but I'll say it again: You do not sacrifice starter minutes for bench players unless absolutely necessary.

Vaughn, Patterson, and Cosgrove are bench players. They played enough minutes to give Turner and Shepard quick breaks and when the starters were in foul trouble. That's it. To get more minutes, they would have had to outplay Turner and Shepard in practice consistently. That's where minutes are earned. Do I expect a true freshman, a true sophomore, and a sophomore just back from a knee injury to outplay a 5th year grad student and a senior who are considered two of the best at their positions? Not a chance.

Quit comparing rosters. Baylor has a lot of imbalance in their classes and had to depend on some freshmen. UConn always depends on freshmen playing immediately. If teams are playing freshmen and sophomores, there's only 2 reasons: the freshman is clearly better or there is no better option in the upper classes. Neither were the case this year.

 

[Kelso86]

Yea -- read an article earlier that ND will be VERY young next year (both in terms of class, and playing experience).

 

[stu4don]

I don't know how many times I need to say this, but I'll say it again: You do not sacrifice starter minutes for bench players unless absolutely necessary.

Vaughn, Patterson, and Cosgrove are bench players. They played enough minutes to give Turner and Shepard quick breaks and when the starters were in foul trouble. That's it. To get more minutes, they would have had to outplay Turner and Shepard in practice consistently. That's where minutes are earned. Do I expect a true freshman, a true sophomore, and a sophomore just back from a knee injury to outplay a 5th year grad student and a senior who are considered two of the best at their positions? Not a chance.

Quit comparing rosters. Baylor has a lot of imbalance in their classes and had to depend on some freshmen. UConn always depends on freshmen playing immediately. If teams are playing freshmen and sophomores, there's only 2 reasons: the freshman is clearly better or there is no better option in the upper classes. Neither were the case this year.

Thanks Bin... I think next year will be a rebuilding year. But Muffet has this program humming. And, when you look at their high school rankings -- there isn't THAT much of a difference between this amazing starting five and what we have in the wings. Yes, we currently have only one top ten compared to three... But we have plenty of quality players waiting to play. And who knows what 2020 brings for MM and the Irish. (Transfers too?)

Finally, having played basketball, don't discount playing against the best starting five in the country and in ND history for two seasons in practice (sops) and one (frosh.)

By the way. Love Prohaska! She is going to be a difference maker. Watch.

Maybe it is better that we start fresh next year and let the youngsters get their minutes...

 

[binhamin]

Yea -- read an article earlier that ND will be VERY young next year (both in terms of class, and playing experience).

It's a problem a lot of coaches would hate to have and would love all at the same time. On one hand, you're losing 5 highly productive starters. On the other, you're rebuilding with a group of highly talented players.

Thanks Bin... I think next year will be a rebuilding year. But Muffet has this program humming. And, when you look at their high school rankings -- there isn't THAT much of a difference between this amazing starting five and what we have in the wings. Yes, we currently have only one top ten compared to three... But we have plenty of quality players waiting to play. And who knows what 2020 brings for MM and the Irish. (Transfers too?)

Finally, having played basketball, don't discount playing against the best starting five in the country and in ND history for two seasons in practice (sops) and one (frosh.)

By the way. Love Prohaska! She is going to be a difference maker. Watch.

Maybe it is better that we start fresh next year and let the youngsters get their minutes...

It's more of a reload than a rebuild. If we would have gotten all of the new starters in one class or didn't have a full starting unit already at the school, I'd definitely say rebuild. But Patterson and Vaughn are juniors and Prohaska, Gilbert, Cosgrove and Nixon have seen the court here and there. The only ones lacking game experience are Peoples, and Brunelle, and I don't think it's going to take a lot to get them up to speed. Like you said, they had to practice against the 5 that are leaving. The best way to get better is to play against the best.

 

[Rionegro]

Not that worried--- other than Oregon, Baylor, Sc, STan, maybe uconn ( nice 3 plus ONO but nothing else), and maybe one or two others, we will be in the mix. 5 McDonald's AA and no doubt a transfer or two. Elite 8 would make me happy and not total shock. Final 4 probably ultimate ceiling and huge accomplishment

 

[binhamin]

Not that worried--- other than Oregon, Baylor, Sc, STan, maybe uconn ( nice 3 plus ONO but nothing else), and maybe one or two others, we will be in the mix. 5 McDonald's AA and no doubt a transfer or two. Elite 8 would make me happy and not total shock. Final 4 probably ultimate ceiling and huge accomplishment

Oregon has to be the early favorite to win it all. They return 4 starters, have a really good rising sophomore guard in Taylor Chavez to replace the graduating Maite Cazorla, and get Nyara Sabally back from injury. If they don't take it all, I'd be surprised. Baylor is retooling. They don't have Brown in the post anymore, so they will become an entirely different team that can be defended differently. UConn has more holes in their roster than I've ever seen. Stanford and South Carolina have nice classes on paper, but there is no saying they will have an immediate impact.

Elite 8 may be a big stretch next year. I'd be happy with making the dance. Getting to the sweet 16 would be a good building block for a very young team.