I'm a regular visitor here, but I don't post often. But the events of the last few weeks have me concerned about the upcoming season - and beyond.
First off, I'm a big fan of Sherri and all she's done for the university. She's got a great record of success and she's an outstanding representative of OU, the state, and women's basketball in general.
Also, I appreciate all the young ladies who select OU and devote so much of their time and energy to the program. It's not easy being a student-athlete, and our teams consistently represent OU well both on and off court.
That includes McKenna, Chelsea, and Nancy. The circumstances of their departures are unique, but I appreciate them coming to OU and working hard in the program.
At the end of the season it looked like we would have a 13-person roster for the upcoming season:
6 frontcourt
5 wings
2 PGs
As it stands today, we are down to:
4 frontcourt
4 wings
2 PGs
If the season started today, I think our depth chart would look like this:
PG: Ortiz/Pellington
Wing: Llanusa/Penzo
Wing: Williams/Rich
PF: Manning/Simpson
C: Pierre-Louis/Odimgbe
When the season ended, I believed the team had a good shot at finishing at least third in the conference. But with the above roster, the team will need everything to break right to finish third, and there's little chance of finishing higher.
I can easily see a situation much like what happened to the men's team this year - where one or two injuries or underachievers send the season into a tailspin.
Barring injury we can be fairly confident of what we'll get from Maddie, Gabby, and ViVi. And I'm pretty confident Llanusa will be a solid contributor, much like Chelesa was last year.
But consider what would happen if the team loses any players - particularly at PG or in the frontcourt. Then you'd have some players forced to play 35-40 minutes per game while others would be forced into unfamiliar roles.
Even if everyone stays healthy, there are questions about at least six spots on the roster:
Pellington - Needs to be as good as advertised. If she is, she could move Gabby to the wing at times and give us two solid PGs. But it's often tough for young PGs to step in early.
Simpson - Nice to hear that she's a good rebounder, but I don't think Idaho is exactly a basketball hotbed. Thus it's hard to believe she'll be a huge contributor right away.
Williams - Think we've seen what she can do. Good effort, can take it to the basket and hit some short-range shots, but she doesn't shoot the 3 and she's a bit undersized. If she were a bit taller she might be a Campbell-type player, but that's not going to happen.
Rich - Supposed to be a good shooter, but we didn't see any of her last year, and there were plenty of times we could have used some shooting. Maybe she was hurt and she'll show something this year.
Penzo - Gileysa is one of my favorite players. She's an outstanding passer - one of the best I've seen since Plumley's ill-fated season or Stacey Dales. But it doesn't look like she's got the quickness to match up defensively and she hasn't shown a consistent offensive game. Hate that her knee injury seems to have affected her so much.
Odimgbe - Nice size with some athletic ability, but she hasn't shown much of a feel for the game and doesn't look like she'll be much more than a role player.
Bottom line - that's a lot of question marks. It's a lot to expect everything to go right and this team to improve on last year's finish. Especially when the teams behind us last year have a lot of players coming back.
Don't know if any other help is on the way. It would be nice to get a senior transfer who could play right away, but that doesn't seem to be as common in the women's game like it is on the men's side. And I don't see much value in bringing in a Durrett-type JC transfer who would just cost us another scholarship for 2018.
As a number of other posters have mentioned, the 2018 class is going to be a key to keeping the team near the top of the conference. With 8 schollies available, Sherri needs to recruit at least four bigs - and they need to be able to play right away. And it wouldn't hurt to find some athletic wings, too.
So that's my long "hot take." Thanks for putting up with the rant. I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store and hoping for the best. Boomer Sooner!
First off, I'm a big fan of Sherri and all she's done for the university. She's got a great record of success and she's an outstanding representative of OU, the state, and women's basketball in general.
Also, I appreciate all the young ladies who select OU and devote so much of their time and energy to the program. It's not easy being a student-athlete, and our teams consistently represent OU well both on and off court.
That includes McKenna, Chelsea, and Nancy. The circumstances of their departures are unique, but I appreciate them coming to OU and working hard in the program.
At the end of the season it looked like we would have a 13-person roster for the upcoming season:
6 frontcourt
5 wings
2 PGs
As it stands today, we are down to:
4 frontcourt
4 wings
2 PGs
If the season started today, I think our depth chart would look like this:
PG: Ortiz/Pellington
Wing: Llanusa/Penzo
Wing: Williams/Rich
PF: Manning/Simpson
C: Pierre-Louis/Odimgbe
When the season ended, I believed the team had a good shot at finishing at least third in the conference. But with the above roster, the team will need everything to break right to finish third, and there's little chance of finishing higher.
I can easily see a situation much like what happened to the men's team this year - where one or two injuries or underachievers send the season into a tailspin.
Barring injury we can be fairly confident of what we'll get from Maddie, Gabby, and ViVi. And I'm pretty confident Llanusa will be a solid contributor, much like Chelesa was last year.
But consider what would happen if the team loses any players - particularly at PG or in the frontcourt. Then you'd have some players forced to play 35-40 minutes per game while others would be forced into unfamiliar roles.
Even if everyone stays healthy, there are questions about at least six spots on the roster:
Pellington - Needs to be as good as advertised. If she is, she could move Gabby to the wing at times and give us two solid PGs. But it's often tough for young PGs to step in early.
Simpson - Nice to hear that she's a good rebounder, but I don't think Idaho is exactly a basketball hotbed. Thus it's hard to believe she'll be a huge contributor right away.
Williams - Think we've seen what she can do. Good effort, can take it to the basket and hit some short-range shots, but she doesn't shoot the 3 and she's a bit undersized. If she were a bit taller she might be a Campbell-type player, but that's not going to happen.
Rich - Supposed to be a good shooter, but we didn't see any of her last year, and there were plenty of times we could have used some shooting. Maybe she was hurt and she'll show something this year.
Penzo - Gileysa is one of my favorite players. She's an outstanding passer - one of the best I've seen since Plumley's ill-fated season or Stacey Dales. But it doesn't look like she's got the quickness to match up defensively and she hasn't shown a consistent offensive game. Hate that her knee injury seems to have affected her so much.
Odimgbe - Nice size with some athletic ability, but she hasn't shown much of a feel for the game and doesn't look like she'll be much more than a role player.
Bottom line - that's a lot of question marks. It's a lot to expect everything to go right and this team to improve on last year's finish. Especially when the teams behind us last year have a lot of players coming back.
Don't know if any other help is on the way. It would be nice to get a senior transfer who could play right away, but that doesn't seem to be as common in the women's game like it is on the men's side. And I don't see much value in bringing in a Durrett-type JC transfer who would just cost us another scholarship for 2018.
As a number of other posters have mentioned, the 2018 class is going to be a key to keeping the team near the top of the conference. With 8 schollies available, Sherri needs to recruit at least four bigs - and they need to be able to play right away. And it wouldn't hurt to find some athletic wings, too.
So that's my long "hot take." Thanks for putting up with the rant. I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store and hoping for the best. Boomer Sooner!
