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Post by 411500 on Jul 7, 2019 9:32:28 GMT -8
Just a few comments about our roster for the upcoming season. More for review and conversation than anything...
There has been so much posted lately about who were hoping to get in the future (recruiting) that we've kinda been glossing over who we got now.
So, here's a quick look at the players that Coach will try to shape into a championship team.
MASH Unit....unknown productivity because of medical problems.
Kat Tudor - - leg injury ended her 2018/19 season early in conference play. It is generally assumed (not confirmed) that her injury will be completely healed by December and that her game will return to where it was before the injury. Prognosis: hopeful wait-and-see.
Jelena Mitrovic - - leg injury a couple months ago will most likely keep her on the bench all season. (This is speculation. Not confirmed.) Prognsis: Not likely to see action this season.
Andrea Aquino - - unknown (to the public) problems leave her status up in the air. Encouraging news is that she tried out for the Paraguay National team recently. Prognosis: no one outside of the team seems to know for sure what the deal is with her. No one outside the team knows if she is a player good enough to make significant contributions to a team that sees itself as a Pac-12 contender. Prognosis: Not enough is known about her to make an informed guess.
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Proven Pac-12 players
Mikayla Pivec - - All-conference candidate
Destiny Slocum - -All-conference candidate
Aleah Goodman - - All conference candidate
Taya Corosdale - - beginning her 3rd year as OSU starter
Maddie Washington - - sometime starter, solid utility player, solid 6th player
Trish Morris - - not a proven Pac-12 player - but she showed potential to become a starter this year if she demonstrates solid improvement over her Frosh season
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Incoming Frosh
Kennedy Brown - - perhaps OSU's most decorated recruit ever....6'5 with excellent promise. Beaver nation hoping she makes a first year splash like Pivec and Corosdale did in their rookie seasons.
Taylor Jones - - a wait-and-see talent. 6'3 with reputed excellent defensive skills.
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Utility players
Jasmine Simmons - -played sparingly in her Frosh season...Might be another year before she is a productive player...Showed very few flashes of excellence in her brief floor time in 2018/19....
Janessa Thropay - - has struggled with injuries throughout her career. Probably will not earn much floor time this season if everyone remains healthy.
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Unfairly brief summary:
The Beavs return 5 strong Pac-12 calibre players (including Kat Tudor). All 5 are essentially perimeter players.
The Beavs enter the season with no proven Pac-12 post player - to meet the high expectations Rueck places on himself the Beavs must get very impressive productivity from the combined efforts of Morris, Aquino and Brown - all unproven performers...
Right now (in July, for Gawd sake) it looks like the Beavs have less player talent than either Oregon or Stanford, primarily because of no proven post player...A successful season, by Beaver standards, will require superb team defence and excellent execution of the half court offence for which the Beavs, in my view, are among the best in the country..
More later.......
GO BEAVS !!
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Post by avidbeaver on Jul 7, 2019 12:39:54 GMT -8
Who is Kennedy Baker? Oh, the dreaded typos.
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Post by newduke2 on Jul 7, 2019 12:46:44 GMT -8
Who is Kennedy Baker? Oh, the dreaded typos. Grand daughter of Howard Baker. |
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Post by 411500 on Jul 7, 2019 13:30:21 GMT -8
Don't know where the hell "Baker" came from, but now it's gone ! Thanks for the heads up...
Last year I wrote a segment and referred to "Trish Miller" about 6 times....
GO BEAVS !!
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Post by beaverwbb fan on Jul 7, 2019 13:45:36 GMT -8
Mik is as solid and steady as they come. We for the most part know what we are going to get out of her -- high percentage shots, rebounding, toughness, etc. I think and hope that we will see an even better version of Destiny this year. After a year of playing, I think she is going to make a huge jump. Goodman was solid for most of last season as well, consistency was at times an issue. Key for her will be returning to freshman form from behind the arc. If she does that, we are in very good shape. Kat is a little bit of a wildcard, but if she is back to where she left off, that will be a relief, because she was missed. Taya's shooting % also need to return to freshman form, and we will be solid at the 4. You don't really want your PF shooting 1/2 their shots from behind the arc when they shoot under 30%.
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Post by rmancarl on Jul 7, 2019 19:51:10 GMT -8
Nice topic 411500. Taya's comments at the end of last season was that she was going to work on her one on one game this off season. I think that is a strong move. I'd like to see her 3pt'r be a bit more consistent, but if she can improve her inside game and beating her defender one on one, that will be big for this team.
We can all just hope Kat returns to form, and the sooner the better. That also will be huge for this team.
I agree that I expect Destiny should take a nice jump this year as well. Her, Aleah, and Mik playing the guard/wing position together for another year should really benefit their chemistry this upcoming season.
I'm hoping, and I believe, Trish will open some eyes this year. I think it all comes down to how much time she puts in. I haven't really heard any comment on her work ethic. If it is strong, and she puts in the time, then the rest of the Pac is in for a little surprise.
Kennedy is a versatile player who in some ways reminds me of Katie Mac. What I mean in saying that is Kennedy may play 3 positions, and be solid on the court, but I don't expect her to put up huge numbers......at least not early in her career.
Taylor says she wants to be freshman of the year in the Pac-12, and I would give her every shot, except I'm not sure she will get enough minutes. I can see her backing up center and PF, but the Beavs have a veteran (Maddie) that will be extremely diffucult to replace. Personally, Taylor is the talent I expect to put up solid....possible spectacular....numbers for the Beavs, but she probably won't have the chance to shine until her sophomore campaign.
I'm really looking forward to seeing Jelena play, and seeing what she can do on the court, but until we know she can play, it's hard to have any idea of what she can do at this level.
The Beavs will probably be picked for 3rd in the Pac again this year. Obviously the ducks will be extremely difficulot to beat, but I think the battle among the top three will definitely make the title up for grabs. It will be interesting to see the Pac-12 schedule. I'm guessing Stanford and the Oregon schools will likely play each other twice this season, and if UCLA (or anyone that does) only plays the Oregon schools once, that is a big plus for them. I think I will reserve my conference pics until I see the schedule.
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Post by alaskabeav on Jul 7, 2019 20:21:58 GMT -8
We have undersized guards that got exploited last year in several key games such as ASU aNd Washington. With the emergence of multiple low post players coming up it could help if Corodale helped out up top with other teams taller guards.
We will need an outside shooting threat like Tudor to open our inside game. We also need good passing from someone who can dump the ball down low now. Recall Pivec was an instrument al passer to our German post during her great senior year.
I think defense will improve once teams can’t dominate the inside like last year.
I think OSU team look could be a lot different when the younger bigs figure out their role. It will take some time but we will look pretty tough
From the get go on defense with the new bigs. Just one mans opinion
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Post by nwhoopfan on Jul 7, 2019 21:41:56 GMT -8
We have undersized guards that got exploited last year in several key games such as ASU aNd Washington. I never thought of UW's guards as particularly big. Peterson was red hot that game, I don't think it was a problem of size. Melgoza and Peterson are both listed under 6', are they really much bigger than OSU's guards? None of the other UW perimeter players did anything in that game in Vegas other than those 2. |
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Post by beaveragain on Jul 7, 2019 23:31:23 GMT -8
And in the Arizona State game it wasn't their guards that were the problem, it was Ibis (forward). In the first half of the first game Katie guarded Ibis and Ibis got two baskets. Then SR switched Mik onto Ibis and Ibis went crazy scoring. And from what little I saw of the 2nd game Mik was still covering Ibis and she still wasn't tall enough to do it. The one coaching decision by SR that I'm just baffled as to his reasoning.
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Post by giantkillers83 on Jul 8, 2019 17:21:20 GMT -8
Yea.... that ASU game.... Ibis was the gal.......could not miss.
Had a cat named Ibis..... a very cool cat.... loved him.
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Post by beaveragain on Jul 8, 2019 20:46:42 GMT -8
I pretty much agree with what 411 had to say about the team, but I thought I'd expand on my thoughts.
Mic- She has markedly improved each of her three seasons. If she can boost her FT average and again improve shooting, scoring, rebounding etc, then she's at least AA and a NPOY candidate.
Aleah- If she can steady her game a bit and bring the effect. shooting % back up to her Freshman year (59%) then what's not to like.
AA- Let's just hope that whatever the problem is that she is all right. And if she can play bball for the Beav's also then great.
Maddie- I'd be happy with Maddie at the middle except against the 6'4"+ types. With the development of her mid range shot she's an asset offensively. She may also be able to figure out how to keep opposing posts away from the basket, but that takes a certain about of 'tude that I'm not sure she has.
Taya- I keep seeing stuff about how good Sabally is. Taya is better than her in every category except one, shooting %. But Taya didn't get to practice before last years season due to shoulder surgery. Give Taya a summer to practice her shot and I think the Beav's will end up with the better power forward in every category.
Thropay- Having Jan hurt for so much of the season last year leaves her a bit of a mystery. But if the Beav's get into a tough battle in a game I know who'd I want on my side.
Kat- If Kat can come back from her injury and isn't suffering any effects from it I think the Beav's will be in the race for the national championship. If not, they they will be a very good team.
Destiny- Her shooting as well as the rest of the team tailed off at the end of the season. A summer's rest and practice should get that back together. The only problem I saw with her last year was occasional defensive lapses that another summer of work out's should fix. Her offensive explosiveness provides SR with a tool he's never had before.
Patricia- At the beginning of last year Pat was so far behind in play I figured at least two years before they got any useful play from her. Her rebounding was always there but the rest of her play improved all year long. And now, well, SR's defense really clicks when he has a shot blocking post and I think she may be that person this year.
Jas- In shoot arounds you could tell she's been practicing her 3's, and her finish on drives had improved. But she got so little playing time that it wasn't clear if her defense had improved. Let's hope so, because if Kat's not able to come back at all/or effectively the Beav's are going to need another guard out there big time.
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Post by carlosdanger on Jul 9, 2019 4:04:22 GMT -8
Taya- I keep seeing stuff about how good Sabally is. Taya is better than her in every category except one, shooting %. But Taya didn't get to practice before last years season due to shoulder surgery. Give Taya a summer to practice her shot and I think the Beav's will end up with the better power forward in every category.
Are you talking about Satou Sabally? The All-Pac-12 player that was a finalist for the top forward in the country? The player that ranked 3rd in the entire country, regardless of position, in player efficiency? You are implying that Taya Corosdale is going to somehow be the better player next season? Potential injuries aside, the odds of that happening are somewhere between slim and none.
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Post by nwhoopfan on Jul 9, 2019 4:43:01 GMT -8
Taya- I keep seeing stuff about how good Sabally is. Taya is better than her in every category except one, shooting %. But Taya didn't get to practice before last years season due to shoulder surgery. Give Taya a summer to practice her shot and I think the Beav's will end up with the better power forward in every category.
Are you talking about Satou Sabally? The All-Pac-12 player that was a finalist for the top forward in the country? The player that ranked 3rd in the entire country, regardless of position, in player efficiency? You are implying that Taya Corosdale is going to somehow be the better player next season? Potential injuries aside, the odds of that happening are somewhere between slim and none.
Yeah, that caught my eye too. Corosdale is a better rebounder than Sabally. Other than that...
It's no knock on Taya. Satou is probably the most versatile 6-4 player in the country and is an absolute nightmare matchup for defenders.
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Post by beaverwbb fan on Jul 9, 2019 6:32:15 GMT -8
Satou averaged 16.6 PPG and shot over 50% from the floor and over 40% from three. Taya averaged 6.9 PPG and shot under 40% from the floor and under 30% from three. Taya also was unable to gaurd Sabally this year. I really hope Taya can bring her efficiency up, because her numbers were way too inefficient for a forward.
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Post by willtalk on Jul 9, 2019 7:52:48 GMT -8
I also noticed that post. But I chose not to respond. This problem would not exist if people would just evaluate a player based on their own abilities and not always feel it is necessary to compare them to other players. Specifically to players located a bit lower in the state. I mean what is the purpose of that. All it leads to is responses like the ones that followed.
It was really unfair to Corosdale to compare her to Sabally. Corosdale is a really good player who improved her defense and rebounding last season and will more than likely be improved this coming season as well. However, Sabally can play any position on the floor. She is the best athlete on their team. And she has a legit shot at being the #1 pick of her class in the draft. She is that good. Being honest and realistic with respect to Sabbaly will in no way diminish either Taya's abilities or accomplishments.
Nothing wrong with being loyal and praising the players on our favorite teams. Still, we should keep an air of objectivity. We should support a player for what they are, not what we wish them to be.
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