High ceiling, low floor. This team has a lot of talent, but comes with some question marks. Stars: Jr. Forward Michaela Onyenwere is the undisputed star on this team and can dominate on both ends of the floor... or spend long periods on the bench, in foul trouble. 5th year Sr. PG Japreece Dean is back to ease the transition to two intriguing frosh point guards, and may see more time by the end of the season at shooting guard, which would free her up to shoot many more 3-pointers than she has to date. She will have the ball in her hands at the end of close games, not only because of her experience, but also because she is automatic at the charity stripe. Who is missing: Kennedy Burke, the swiss army knife, did quite a lot of everything... very quietly. She is now quietly playing in the WNBA. She leaves a huge hole on both ends of the floor. Lajahna Drummer, rebounder and undersized post-banger, has also graduated. The loss of both women leaves a gap in the front court that Onyenwere can't fill on her own. Soph. Ahlana Smith has entered the transfer portal and will not be returning at guard. Who will show up: Double RS-Soph. G Lindsey Corsaro finally got a chance to play in her 3rd year in the program and showed why she was a top-20 recruit in HS. She probably will look like a SF most of the time, but can also run the offense. Jr. F Lauryn Miller has steadily been working back from a catastrophic HS knee injury, but has played limited minutes thus far. She has the moves, but hasn't shown the stamina yet. That has to change this season, as she is our only proven post player. Who might step up: Jr. G Chantel Horvat has been severely limited by injuries but has a ton of potential. Look for her to break out like Corsaro did last year. Soph. G Kiara Jefferson and RS-Soph. G Kayla Owens can both contribute in the backcourt with Jefferson having the inside track for playing time after a strong freshman year. Owens has mostly been injured and her game is a bit of a mystery at this point.
Next: Who's new?
Online speculation is fun... but that's all it is.
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Who's new: four guards and a stretch 4. Transfer RS-Jr. G Natalie Chou will play after sitting out her transfer year. A top-10 recruit coming out of HS, she never seemed to fit in at Baylor, but showed plenty of shooting range in limited minutes. She is 6'1" and definitely skilled, but (pure speculation here...) may not have matched up well with smaller guards defensively. She could be very Kari Korver-like. Fr. PG Charisma Osborne is very, very good and should be taking the starting point role from Japreece Dean by the end of the season. Japreece is probably more effective when she gets to freelance more without the ball in her hands, so this could be really good for her... and for us. Fr. PG Jaden Owens is option 1A at the point and should see a lot of playing time, but may not be quite as good as Osborne. In any case, we won't be lacking competition bringing the ball up court with five players who could be distributing: Dean, Osborne, J. Owens, Corsaro, and Jefferson. (Trivia: Jaden Owens has dated or is dating LiAngelo Ball, despite being from different states...) Fr. G Camryn Brown is an unheralded guard who is something of a track star, so don't be surprised if she gets in games on defense and shows us a little something. Fr. F Brynn Masikewich is the classic "stretch 4", a 6'3" prototypical power forward who really, really wishes she were Steph Curry. She is on the Canadian national team and can rebound, which we need, and has some range, which is nice, I guess. If she regularly drops 12-footers from the baseline, and spells Onyenwere and Miller effectively, I will be happy.
Who isn't new: Ally Rosenblum is a 6'4" Sr. F/C who has mostly been injured during her career. Shayley Harris is a 6'6" Soph. C who is reasonably athletic but looked like a project last year. Any production out of either player would be a huge bonus, but should not be expected.
Next season's team looks loaded in the backcourt. They got speed and shooting range. Dean's presence will be key. The whole team this past season was gritty and relentless. Even if they were outgunned and outsized, they kept battling. Dean was a huge part of that. If she can pass some of that competitive fire onto the youngsters, this team will have a fighting chance in every game.
But, without Burke and Drummer, the Bruins will have to fight even harder next season as they'll be even more undersized in the front court. Seems that this team will once again be one or two bigs short of competing for the Final Four.
With so many new players coming in, it will be an exciting team to watch. And it will be interesting to see how they play to their strengths and try to minimize their deficiencies.
There should be 3 open scholarship slots for 2020: Japreece Dean and Ally Rosenblum should be leaving, and Ahlana Smith's spot should also be available... if we don't give it to a transfer.
The most glaring need is for skilled post players. Really, we need to recruit in reverse order: 5's, then 4's, then 3's and 2's. We have two excellent incoming freshman point guards.
Commit: Emily Bessoir, a 6'4" German forward has committed already. She's a "stretch 4", much like Brynn Masikewich, and seems to get a lot of points from the 3-point line. She will probably play close to the basket on defense, and try to draw the opposing center out of the paint on offense. It's hard to judge her game from the international highlight video, but she looks reasonably athletic for her height...and the range is definitely there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwrB9ZNrzd4
That leaves 2 more open spots to fill. I will put out a caveat here, before committing myself... there ain't a lot of people covering women's basketball recruiting, and if you aren't personally making the rounds on the travel circuit, there isn't a lot of up-to-date info out there. That said, I've made a list of UCLA targets who, at one time or another, have listed UCLA as a school of interest.
Hailey Van Lith, 5'7" G, ranked #8 by ESPN (any ranking given here is ESPN). We are on an old top-8 list of hers, and she was rumored to have recently visited campus. Not a position of need, but she is a scoring machine and a driven gym rat who could inspire similar work habits in others. Her name gets mentioned in comparison with Kelsey Plum and Sabrina Ionescue. She could be a program changer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wh0bDAuguY
Madison Scott, 6'1" F, #14. Recently visited campus. Has an aggressive game and is definitely not afraid to drive through traffic. Similar to Michaela Onyenwere. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6HMWoeQ4c8
Lauren Ware, 6'5" F, #30. Wants to play both basketball and volleyball in college, which limits her choices. She just blew out her knee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MYPsEG6ozE
