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https://www.ducksports.com/sports/20190 ... n-swirling

Sabrina Ionescu turned 21 this season.

“I hope she made smart decisions that night,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves recently joked.

Ionescu’s December birthday was significant in the women’s basketball world because it means the Ducks’ national player of the year candidate will have a decision to make after the season is over.

The WNBA requires prospects to be at least 22 years old during the year in which the draft takes place. Ionescu, a junior, is projected by ESPN to be the No. 1 overall pick of the Las Vegas Aces in this April’s WNBA draft.

I’ll only let her leave if she brings us a natty this year.

Sincerely, Homer

I'd bet a natty for Sab and she'll turn pro. If not she'll be back with the gang to try again on more time. I hear Nyerra (sp) is better than her sister and that might be the missing piece need for a national title...

nogerO wrote:I'd bet a natty for Sab and she'll turn pro. If not she'll be back with the gang to try again on more time. I hear Nyerra (sp) is better than her sister and that might be the missing piece need for a national title...

Not to be a jerk, but who actually says this who has watched them play? Where is this notion coming from? Certainly not from anyone with or affiliated with Oregon, because Nyara hasn't played 1 healthy minute for Oregon. Both were MVPs of the FIBA; U-18 (Nyara), U-20 (Satou) recently. I'm sure Nyara is going to be good, but hearing everyone who follows Oregon women say Nyara is supposedly better is getting annoying....Satou is among the top 5 small forward-power forwards (3/4) in the nation right now, and looks to be among the top 10 players in the nation come 2019-20. Nyara is just not as far along in development, and couldn't possibly be, so there is no way she is better...right now..

bigsugarduck wrote:

nogerO wrote:I'd bet a natty for Sab and she'll turn pro. If not she'll be back with the gang to try again on more time. I hear Nyerra (sp) is better than her sister and that might be the missing piece need for a national title...

Not to be a jerk, but who actually says this who has watched them play? Where is this notion coming from? Certainly not from anyone with or affiliated with Oregon, because Nyara hasn't played 1 healthy minute for Oregon. Both were MVPs of the FIBA; U-18 (Nyara), U-20 (Satou) recently. I'm sure Nyara is going to be good, but hearing everyone who follows Oregon women say Nyara is supposedly better it getting annoying....Satou is among the top 5 small forward-power forwards (3/4) in the nation right now, and looks to be among the top 10 players in the nation come 2019-20. Nyara is just not as far along in development, and couldn't possibly be, so there is no way she is better...right now..

Some of the statements you have made here are just, for lack of a better word, dumb. How at any point could you say definitely say she’s not better or not further along? Because she’s younger? Cause ya, being younger obviously makes you inferior. Smh. I agree it surprises me people around the program and that have seen them say that, but also it’s an exciting thought for sure.

pudgejeff wrote:

bigsugarduck wrote:

nogerO wrote:I'd bet a natty for Sab and she'll turn pro. If not she'll be back with the gang to try again on more time. I hear Nyerra (sp) is better than her sister and that might be the missing piece need for a national title...

Not to be a jerk, but who actually says this who has watched them play? Where is this notion coming from? Certainly not from anyone with or affiliated with Oregon, because Nyara hasn't played 1 healthy minute for Oregon. Both were MVPs of the FIBA; U-18 (Nyara), U-20 (Satou) recently. I'm sure Nyara is going to be good, but hearing everyone who follows Oregon women say Nyara is supposedly better is getting annoying....Satou is among the top 5 small forward-power forwards (3/4) in the nation right now, and looks to be among the top 10 players in the nation come 2019-20. Nyara is just not as far along in development, and couldn't possibly be, so there is no way she is better...right now..

Some of the statements you have made here are just, for lack of a better word, dumb. How at any point could you say definitely say she’s not better or not further along? Because she’s younger? Cause ya, being younger obviously makes you inferior. Smh. I agree it surprises me people around the program and that have seen them say that, but also it’s an exciting thought for sure.

Okay, help me out...

What was dumb? I didn't really talk about age (which you honed in on), but was implying development. They often correlate but are not one in the same. In the past year Satou has developed immensely from best freshman in the conference to an all Pac-12 type performer. In the past year, Nyara has been getting healthy from the knee. Has Nyara somehow gotten better as a basketball player in that time?

bigsugarduck wrote:

pudgejeff wrote:

bigsugarduck wrote:

nogerO wrote:I'd bet a natty for Sab and she'll turn pro. If not she'll be back with the gang to try again on more time. I hear Nyerra (sp) is better than her sister and that might be the missing piece need for a national title...

Not to be a jerk, but who actually says this who has watched them play? Where is this notion coming from? Certainly not from anyone with or affiliated with Oregon, because Nyara hasn't played 1 healthy minute for Oregon. Both were MVPs of the FIBA; U-18 (Nyara), U-20 (Satou) recently. I'm sure Nyara is going to be good, but hearing everyone who follows Oregon women say Nyara is supposedly better is getting annoying....Satou is among the top 5 small forward-power forwards (3/4) in the nation right now, and looks to be among the top 10 players in the nation come 2019-20. Nyara is just not as far along in development, and couldn't possibly be, so there is no way she is better...right now..

Some of the statements you have made here are just, for lack of a better word, dumb. How at any point could you say definitely say she’s not better or not further along? Because she’s younger? Cause ya, being younger obviously makes you inferior. Smh. I agree it surprises me people around the program and that have seen them say that, but also it’s an exciting thought for sure.

Okay, help me out...

What was dumb? I didn't really talk about age (which you honed in on), but was implying development. They often correlate but are not one in the same. In the past year Satou has developed immensely from best freshman in the conference to an all Pac-12 type performer. In the past year, Nyara has been getting healthy from the knee. Has Nyara somehow gotten better as a basketball player in that time?

"Nyara is just not as far along in development, and couldn't possibly be, so there is no way she is better"

"Has Nyara somehow gotten better as a basketball player in that time?"

Does that help to show where you're making assumptions that sound dumb?

The second one implies Satou is better now than Nyara. I don't know, but from what we've heard from people that do actually know, Nyara is and has been better.

It is interesting hearing about this younger sibling being better than the older. You hear that a LOT in sports, and sometimes the younger is nowhere even close to that level (the older sibling just talked him/her up). Now if she is all the hype, it would have been great to have had her this year, as Maite is graduating.
With that said, I do think if a natty comes, Sabrina will turn pro.

Monthsr ago I searched all over and watched several videos of Nyara. Unless she has changed her game during rehab she is a different style player than Satou. She is a power player, no where near the outside shooter, but will bring a ruggedness and physicality and versatility.

She will likely be a better rebounder and shoot blocker if she fully recovers and maybe be player Oregon needs to complement all their finesse players. Another banger to go along with Ruthie.

There is a good chance Satou starts at shooting guard if Ionescu returns to play point. And Nyara could well be the defensive center with twin power forwards on offense.

Its a real apples and oranges comparison stlye wise, but to say Nyara who isn't playing and certainly wasn't as good as Satou is right now when she got hurt is wishful thinking and not fact.

what i've heard was that nyara is farther along in her development than satou was at the same age, not that nyara is expected to come in and give the type of performances satou is giving on a nightly basis right now. i'm sure she'll have the same learning curve satou went through adjusting to the rigors of the d-1 college game.

the fact that they aren't necessarily similar players (as mentioned above) also makes a direct comparison difficult.

oregontrack wrote:what i've heard was that nyara is farther along in her development than satou was at the same age, not that nyara is expected to come in and give the type of performances satou is giving on a nightly basis right now. i'm sure she'll have the same learning curve satou went through adjusting to the rigors of the d-1 college game.

the fact that they aren't necessarily similar players (as mentioned above) also makes a direct comparison difficult.

The whole reason why I brought this up is because I've been hearing it from fans, and a few announcers, but no one who has seen both play at the same time. Has Graves made a comment on Nyara? I thought he said something about Nyara being a 'freshman of the year' type player. I'll totally buy that Nyara could have been a better apple to Satou's orange when picked off the Germany tree. But now that orange is looking phenomenal up close and the apple is stuck in a chilled warehouse out of sight. It seems like people are expecting Nyara to be better than Satou and that is a bit unfair to Nyara if she does not live up to the hype.

I also think Sabrina will leave if Oregon gets a title this year, and stay if she doesn't. Either way, she's soooo much fun to watch I'll probably have to start following the WNBA here soon...

I agree with both of the last two posts.

I would like to correct an impression I may have given for those who haven't seen Nyra much. While I have talked about muscle and banger, she is not a big bulky pusher type. She runs and jumps like a deer. I expect we'll see her get in the scrum with the bigger girls but out jump most of them by a foot. Attitude + Athleticism.

I'm assuming Nyra is similar to that Marie Gulich from osu, or Stanford's aussie player.

Hadn't been aware about any rule for college women leaving early until I heard an announcer of one of the Ducks' recent games talk about Sabrina having that option. If the Ducks were to win the NC this year, I guess I'd be ok with it. Would still be sad if she left early regardless. i guess the average WNBA salary is about $75K, btw.

honestly, i've never paid attention to the early entry rule for the WNBA because you almost never hear about it. if she truly is projected as the #1 overall pick, i would advise her to leave as i would any other student-athlete projected to be a #1 pick.

if she defies my much sought after advise and comes back to school for one more go-round, all the better.