A Domer's reality check

[Izo]

With Lloyd leaving ,ND has lost a lot of quality players .In the past 3 years ,the Irish have lost. 3. All American ,Diggins,McBride,now Lloyd .Also we graduated Achonwa ,our 6'5" anchor in the middle . Right now Allen at point guard is good ,but not at the top level .Losing 3 guards of this caliber ,ND takes a step backward and it will take a few years even though they have recruited 3 guards who are ranked in the top 25 in the 2015 class .

As far as UConn they are far ahead of the other schools in recruiting with 6'5" Natalie Butler eligible plus the # 1 player of the 2015 class 6'3 " L.Samuelson and the #3 ranked player in the class of 2016 ,super guard Crystal Dangerfield .The most amazing thing is Samuelson. Is from Mater Dei in California and her sisters play for Stanford .Dangerfield plays in Tennessee and an elite program like the Vols couldn't keep her in state .Unbelievable .

In recruiting ,ND and UConn and the other elite programs are after the same players in the high school class of 2016. The # 1 recruit , Lauren Cox has 10 schools on her list ,Texas ,Baylor ,TexasA&M, Oklahoma ,ND ,UConn.Duke,Stanford . Baylor is only an hour and a half from her home and Cox's parents might want to attend games .Cox's mother played for SMU,but Cox would need a great supporting cast if she decided there.Oklahoma is interesting ,because they have a good recruiting class with 6'9" Mulkey and Cox would not have to play in the post.Oklahoma would be building a a top 10 program. If Cox decided to leave Texas ,UConn would have a slight edge over ND and others .

Also other top forwards and centers besides Cox are # 2 ranked player 6'4" Joyner also from Texas and # 5 ranked 6'4" Tori McCoy from Illinois .Can't believe Auriemma is going to get all 3 of these front court players.

I believe that Auriemma is a great salesman for the Huskies . High school super stars know that if they choose UConn ,they will go to final fours and will win one or more national championships .

Maybe a South Carolina has a slight chance with their big talented front court ,but their guard play has to improve tremendously to have any chance.Other schools like Baylor,Maryland,Duke ,North Carolina ,Stanford, ND have to have Super Recruiting Classes to compete and so far they have decent classes but nothing rivaling UConn .

This is my take and believe me ,I 'm usually correct in my analysis .A touch of reality from a Fighting Irish .

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

From my perspective ND has looked a little short on quality inside personnel the last couple years. I think last year in the finals they played without someone but they didn't have depth and got hammered. When ND beat UConn in 2011 and 2012 they did not have great inside personnel either but they had girls who could shoot and handle at all 5 positions which made them exceptionally difficult to defend.

I do think ND did as good a job as anyone all year of defending UConn in the 2015 championship game, but they still lost by 10. Faceguarding Lewis and playing off Jefferson and Nurse was exactly the way to defend UConn (plus they defended Stewart well), but UConn also played solid D and made enough big plays between Lewis and Jefferson. UConn's core talent was just better than ND's and that is what won out the last 2 years. UConn will have a better and deeper team next year with Butler in the middle and a much deeper bench.