Congratulations to our 5 @OregonWBB incoming freshmen:

[Merganzer]

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[Alan]

Wow! Looks like the next few years will be fun!

[GrandpaDuck]

Difference between this class and Sabrina's class is we may not need 2 or 3 of them to start day one to be competitive.

Prince, Sabally the younger, Boley, Shelly and Chavez is an upper half of the conference starting line-up with way above average 3 point shooting and defensive potential.

Chavez and Shelly are outstanding defensively in the zone, challenging 3-point shooters and blocking off penetration. If Prince and Sabally can rebound like we are hoping they can that 5 has no glaring weakness.

If one of these fab 5 breaks in to the day one starting lineup it will be because they are truly special. Here's hoping some are.

[panamaslim]

Also, Giomi has improved incrementally each year and won't get huge minutes, but will be reliable off the bench when needed.

Hard to say about Cochran; but in limited time (injuries) she is strong at medium range and had a reputation as a great blocker in high school.

[duck58]

Also, Giomi has improved incrementally each year and won't get huge minutes, but will be reliable off the bench when needed.

Hard to say about Cochran; but in limited time (injuries) she is strong at medium range and had a reputation as a great blocker in high school.

g

I noticed her shot blocking ability. Checked stats and she had 9 in 118 min. By far the best block to minute ratio on team. Seemed lost on offense. A lot of talent needing development. Same for Winterburn. The starting 5 seems to be obvious. But with the Fab 5 freshmen and those 3 the rotation could be deep.

[panamaslim]

Oops - forgot about Holly. Maybe not quite next year, but she will be a real tiger her last two.

[duckduckgoose]

Tahina Paopao is going to be special. Her coach says she’s the best player he’s ever had.


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[gogreen55]

Back when the Ducks landed this Fab 5 group of incoming freshmen, I watched all the clips available for each of them. It may just be that she has the best compiled, most slickly produced package of the bunch, but by far the one I am most excited about is Maddie Scherr. I don't expect anyone to be as good as Sabrina, but just in terms of being a tremendous all-around player that can excel in every facet of the game, Maddie is it. It is hard to tell against high school competition, but I think that Maddie might have a slight bit more length and athleticism than Sabrina, which would give her a bit of a higher ceiling on the defensive end also. Health permitting, I don't think there is any doubt Maddie is going to be an awesome all-around player at Oregon, it is just a matter of the degree of awesomeness. Here are her junior highlights...



By the way, did anyone hear Kelly Graves on the Pac-12 Women's Basketball podcast a few days ago? The most surprising thing he revealed (the first time he had made it public at least.....maybe others on paid boards were aware of this?) was that if the NCAA Tournament had been played, they were planning on playing Nyara Sabally in the games. I had no idea this was even being considered, or that she was healthy enough to do it, but apparently she had been practicing full-go behind the scenes and they were going to unleash her. As long as there are no setbacks, the fact she is healthy enough to play even right now is great news for next season.

Graves also gushed about Sedona Prince being an absolute baller.....he compared her game to Bill Walton. He said Sedona and Nyara will both be first round WNBA draft picks when the time comes.

Graves also indicated that the Ducks will be looking to bring in a transfer to add some experience.

[Tray Dub]

Nice post gogreen, Scherr looks awesome in those highlights.

[nogerO]

Also, Giomi has improved incrementally each year and won't get huge minutes, but will be reliable off the bench when needed.

I'm sorry but Giomi would maybe only start for 1 or 2 Pac teams. She's a turnover machine. I'm surprised she hasn't transferred somewhere she can play.

[duck58]

Nice post gogreen, Scherr looks awesome in those highlights.

If the other 4 are anywhere close to that, future looks good. And Graves compares Prince to Bill Walton. They may not be as dominant as this year, but should at least challenge for PAC-12 title again next year.

[duck58]

Also, Giomi has improved incrementally each year and won't get huge minutes, but will be reliable off the bench when needed.

I'm sorry but Giomi would maybe only start for 1 or 2 Pac teams. She's a turnover machine. I'm surprised she hasn't transferred somewhere she can play.

She really didn't have that many TOs. In 318 min she had 16. Ruthy in 946 min had 48. That's very equivalent. 1 TO for each 20 min played. Satou had 64 TOs in 836 min played. That is 1 TO for each 13 min played. She also had 13 steals and 8 blocked shots. Definitely better on the defensive end. I think she might start for more than 2 Pac teams, but no one mentioned her as a starter. Prince will be. She can and did give some reliable min. spelling Ruthy. She will do the same for Prince; unless one of the FAB 5 moves ahead of her.

[GrandpaDuck]

Way too early wild speculation but I have Watson in next years rotation but not starting because of the need for another athletic muscular big. Kylee is like Satou in that looking at her frame and movement you wouldn't think "that's a tall girl" until she stands next to a guard.

At least one of the three Freshman guards is sure to be in the rotation as well. Like Gogreen I give a slight edge to Scherr for the same reason, she breaks down defenses with penetration which isn't the strongest part of the game of our returners. I see Parrish as more of a Boley than Sabrina and honestly haven't seen enough Paopao to speculate on her fit. My favorite Husky Kelly Plum sure raves about her though.

The news that young Sabally might have played in the tournament just makes me sick. I prefer speculating about next years team, as the end of this years season is one of my top disappointments in sports and well crap that makes it worse.

[duck58]

I read somewhere that Graves said PaoPao reminds him of Sabrina. Hope so. If she's even somewhat close.

[GrandpaDuck]

When Sabrina's class came in I hadn't predicted Hebert as an early contributor compared to the other big girls. Took her about one game to teach me how wrong my guesses were.

I hadn't mentioned Dugalic at all for early rotation based on possible redundancy of skills with the big girls already on the team. She does have a high ceiling though and I can easily see myself eating crow on where I have her handicapped on total minutes played in season one among the FAB 5. Still speculating on this stuff is fun and free.