RebKell's Junkie Boards

[PickledGinger]

Not to split hairs, but England and Perez are both Grad Students. Both missed a season due to injury and are in their 5th collegiate year, 4th playing.

[GEF34]

There is also the possibility that some could choose to stay another year with the recent NCAA ruling. If they are not on track to graduate and needed another year or semester of classes or they want a masters degree or just love the college athlete life they could not turn pro.

[Shades]

Rutgers Hoops G Arella Guirantes: 'We have a lot of unfinished business'
https://rutgers.rivals.com/news/rutgers-hoops-g-arella-guirantes-we-have-a-lot-of-unfinished-business-

[CamrnCrz1974]

2021 WNBA Draft Board: Preseason Top 25
Sizing up the 2021 class before the start of the 2020-21 college basketball season
Ben Dull (Floor Game)
November 16, 2020

Time for some disclaimers. These are subjective rankings. The main goal for this board is to provide a snapshot of the class at this point in time. Players can play their way up or down. I’m not necessarily aiming to project forward too much beyond what a player has already shown on tape. But if that’s what you see in some cases, then you’ve found some players that I really, really believe in as prospects.

Here we go: Floor Game’s Preseason Top 25 2021 WNBA Draft Board. Stats obtained via Her Hoop Stats.

https://floorgame.substack.com/p/2021-wnba-draft-preseason-top-25-big-board?

[PickledGinger]

I mentioned this in another thread, but Chelsey Perry is my darkhorse for the draft this year, and I think she could be the highest drafted American post. Her statline - 23 points, 8 boards, 2 assists, 2.7 blocks and 50-39-86 shooting - at a Power 5 school would be Lottery worthy.

Selena Lott is the other Mid-Major prospect I like. The thing this write-up doesn't mention is that her increased production came on the back of moving from the wing to Point Guard full time.

[Shades]

[PickledGinger]

[root_thing]

I’m slowly coming around to Bell Dull’s view that Rhyne Howard will enter the 2021 draft. At first, it seemed farfetched because the idea came out of the blue. Leaving early simply because you graduated has never happened before as far as anyone can remember. It's commonplace for players to graduate early, but they still stay for their fourth year of eligibility. Nonetheless, if you think about Howard’s particular situation there aren’t a lot of reasons why she should return to Kentucky. If Rhyne actually graduates, then staying for her degree is gone as a reason. She scored 23.4 ppg last year on .433/.382/.791 shooting. Forget about improving, if Howard simply approaches those numbers again this season, then she’ll likely be the #1 pick -- #2 at worst. Therefore, coming back to improve her game and draft position is not a motivating factor. Lastly, Kentucky has very little chance of winning a national championship in 2022. So, that pretty much eliminates all the reasons for staying. At this point, some poster usually jumps in and starts to rhapsodize about the joys of college life and how they would give their big toe or worship Satan just to be able to live so carefree for one more year. However, people have to remember that the grind for a serious athlete is very different from life for the average student. Athletes are required to get up very early in the morning to attend practice, and then they need to find more time to do physical training and to work on their own game. On weekends, they have to actually play games and half the time that involves traveling to another city. Athletes adhere to a very demanding schedule in order to fulfill both academic and sports requirements. In fact, when you listen to interviews with WNBA rookies, they often cite having a lot of free time as a major adjustment when they turn pro. Life as a professional is actually more leisurely than being an amateur -- provided you make the team.

_________________
You can always do something else.

[Richyyy]

Also college life isn't much like college life at the moment, and may well not be for a while. Combined with the increased money now on offer, there are definitely more reasons to leave early than there used to be. I'd just like to see some hint that Howard's anywhere close to being on course to graduate early. I accept that it's more common than I previously thought, but it's still not standard for everyone. A lot of players who take a graduate course so they can use up their remaining eligibility missed a year along the way due to injury or transferring or whatever - so in academic terms it's 4+1 rather than 3+1.

There must be some basketball journalists left in Kentucky...

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Independent WNBA coverage: http://www.wnbalien.com/

[root_thing]

Now that I think about it a little more, I believe a lot of players are sort of in-between -- they graduate in 3.5 years. So, you hear about players taking graduate courses during their true 4th year, but it's only happening for part of the season. Using that as a starting point, I suppose it isn't much more of a stretch to finish in three years. Supposedly that's what Ionescu did. She wanted to have her degree before she left school, but she also wanted the option of entering the 2019 draft. In Sabrina's case, she met the birth-year age 22 requirement anyway so it didn't affect her draft status. However, she wanted to have that degree before leaving as a personal goal.

Another near-example would be Sabally. According to Wikipedia, she finished her final courses in August, which means it ran into the WNBA season. Again, it didn't affect Satou's draft status because she turned 22 this year, but it does show that she was close to graduating in three years. As GEF34 points out, you don't need to be an academic superstar to do it if you're hanging around campus during the summers. This is not to say that we actually know what Howard has or hasn't done.

_________________
You can always do something else.

[ClayK]

So does anyone have any idea of Howard could graduate early?

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Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā

[Shades]

Former Gopher finds new home at Texas A&M
https://spokesman-recorder.com/2020/11/10/former-gopher-finds-new-home-at-texas-am/

[Shades]

Here’s ESPN’s updated and expanded college player ranking. They did a Top 10 immediately after the season ended back in April.

Charlie Creme, Graham Hays and Mechelle Voepel Come up with this list so you know some players are gonna fall through the cracks and this list may not be all that useful for draft evaluations.

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/30322884/ranking-top-25-players-women-college-basketball-2020-21

1. Rhyne Howard, Kentucky (Top junior)
2. Aari McDonald, Arizona (Top senior)
3. Michaela Onyenwere, UCLA
4. Aliyah Boston, South Carolina (Top sophomore)
5. Dana Evans, Louisville
6. Elissa Cunane, NC State
7. NaLyssa Smith, Baylor
8. Kiana Williams, Stanford
9. Ashley Joens, ISU
10. Christyn Williams, UConn
11. Destiny Slocum, Arkansas
12. Rennia Davis, Tennessee
13. Rickea Jackson, Mississippi St
14. Paige Bueckers, UConn (Top freshman)
15. Arella Guirantes, Rutgers
16. Evina Westbrook, UConn
17. Lindsey Pulliam, Northwestern
18. Chelsea Dungee, Arkansas
19. Zia Cooke, South Carolina
20. Unique Thompson, Auburn
21. Haley Jones, Stanford
22. Kiara Lewis, Syracuse
23. Micaela Kelly, Central Michigan
24. Naz Hillmon, Michigan
25. Ali Patberg, Indiana

Seeing that Charlie Creme is involved with this, he’s a heavy metrics guy so this seems like more of a “what have you done for me lately” kind of list instead of a visionary list.

For instance, even though Nyara Sabally hasn’t stepped on the college court, isn’t being Satou’s sister enough to give her some Top 25 street cred?

Even though Rennia Davis plays for underperforming Tennessee, shouldn’t she get more credit for being a top college recruit? Has she really not lived up to it that much?

Same for Haley Jones. #1 recruit last year but #21 on this list. She was hurt, so it’s what have you done for me lately.

They rank Kiara Lewis ahead of teammate Tiana Mangakahia. What have you done for me lately?

They dropped Westbrook from #8 in April to #16 now. I guess they figured out she might not even be starting.

I know ranking college players may be somewhat different than ranking WNBA prospects, and a great college player may not be even a good WNBA prospect, but I would think my projected lottery pick of Collier would be good enough to make a college Top 25 list. Need a new dartboard, ESPN.

_________________
Nnekalonians 1:14 - Thou shalt not accept that which is not earned

[Randy]

Collier is not even in the top 25?

[myrtle]

[Randy]

If she really wants to turn pro couldn't she sign a contract with an overseas team and then enter the draft?

[root_thing]

[Luuuc]

Shyla Heal interview
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fo4em4P1Yfw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Brief WNBA mention at 21:30

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Thanks for calling. I wait all night for calls like these.

[awhom111]

[root_thing]

[Richyyy]

[root_thing]

[Shades]

Here’s Collier’s stat line today against North Texas.
Collier 44 pts (14-17, 2-2 3P, 14-15 FT), 16 reb (6 off), 2 blk, 1 stl in 34 min

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FEbpfp1es9g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

She’s up to 69 pts in 2 gm’s/53 min.

_________________
Nnekalonians 1:14 - Thou shalt not accept that which is not earned

[WNBA 09]

[pilight]

The lottery is Friday, December 4th. Will be revealed at halftime of DePaul-Louisville.

_________________
I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home