If the hope was that two weeks of basketball would have given a clearer image of the hierarchy in girls’s school basketball this season, that has not been the case. In truth, most of my conversations since Nov. 6 have featured some variation of, “Wait, is Crew X good?”
Except for South Carolina on the prime — cease me when you’ve heard that earlier than — each different projected contender has taken its lumps. Whereas the Gamecocks roll by way of their opposition, most groups across the nation want a while to determine new rosters and techniques. Rising pains have been anticipated, like LSU and Virginia Tech integrating new transfers, or Maryland and Indiana coping with the graduations of WNBA first-round picks.
However, on the entire, the standard of play across the nation has been higher than anticipated. However given my regional biases, and the truth that that is the ultimate 12 months of the Pac-12 as we all know it, these inaugural rankings will focus out west on the convention that’s within the midst of an epic going-away celebration.
Virtually Well-known: Duke, Princeton, Maryland
Is the promise of Stanford’s frontcourt being realized?
The Cardinal had a humiliation of riches on the ahead positions final season, however there have been too many choices for any particular person gamers – apart from Cameron Brink – to get adequate run, particularly since Stanford so typically went small with Haley Jones on the 4. Now the rotation is shorter, and the first beneficiary is Kiki Iriafen, who is prospering with the bigger minutes load.
Carolyn Peck known as Iriafen a mixture of Chiney and Nneka Ogwumike with a splash of A’ja Wilson on the Stanford-Duke broadcast Sunday, and although the reward appears hyperbolic, Iriafen’s begin has been noteworthy. The junior is averaging 21 factors and 9 rebounds per sport by way of 4 contests, blowing away her per-minute averages from the prior two seasons. The Cardinal have been already paint offense in 2022-23, changing 63 % of their shot makes an attempt on the rim; Iriafen’s success charge to date is sort of comically spectacular, as she has made 25 of 31 photographs on the basket. Brink’s means to area the ground as a shooter and a high-low passer permits Iriafen the room to function, and that frontcourt tandem is the first motive Stanford sits undefeated regardless of welcoming two robust opponents (Indiana and Duke) to Maples Pavilion to start out the 12 months.
Probably the most confounding storylines of Stanford’s 2022-23 marketing campaign was the best way the Cardinal used (or maybe, failed to make use of) Lauren Betts. The No. 1 recruit within the nation was an afterthought in Stanford’s rotation, averaging fewer than 10 minutes and getting DNP-ed twice, so it wasn’t precisely shocking that Betts sought out a distinct location for the remainder of her collegiate profession.
Betts’ transfer to Los Angeles cleared up the frontcourt state of affairs for the Cardinal, and it’s additionally been a boon for the Bruins. UCLA performs an energetic model of protection, swarming ballhandlers and making use of heavy ball strain, however that may create openings on the rim if the opponent will get behind the protection, particularly when the Bruins spent a lot of the season and not using a conventional middle on the court docket. That’s not a difficulty with Betts, who serves as an eraser within the paint, however extra typically deters opponents from even making an attempt photographs in her neighborhood. Opponents are taking lower than 15 % of their photographs on the rim towards UCLA, higher than 97 % of defenses, per CBB Analytics.
What’s attention-grabbing is that Betts’ affect has really been extra pronounced on offense. By way of 4 video games, UCLA is 38 factors per 100 possessions higher with Betts on the ground, with 25 of these factors approaching offense. She works arduous to seal her defender in order that the Bruins can ship her the ball inside, however when that doesn’t work, she’s a keen and efficient screener who creates area for her guards to get to the basket. Towards Princeton, Betts made all 9 of her field-goal makes an attempt by way of three quarters, however didn’t get any shot makes an attempt within the fourth because the Tigers did no matter they might to disclaim her the ball. She responded by enjoying pick-and-roll with Charisma Osborne, and as one defender stayed glued to Betts, Osborne had open jumpers and driving lanes.
Charisma Osborne & Lauren Betts mixed for 4️⃣3️⃣ factors to push No. 3 UCLA previous Princeton at Pauley on Friday 😤
Highlights ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/OvAino7kdD
— Pac-12 Community (@Pac12Network) November 18, 2023
Probably the most full offensive participant within the Pac-12
Iriafen, Brink and Betts have introduced the products to start out the season, and though the Utes have been the primary Pac-12 staff to register a loss in 2023-24, that doesn’t diminish how good the reigning convention participant of the 12 months has been. The one solution to cease Alissa Pili is by getting her off the court docket, as a result of Pili can do absolutely anything on offense. She entered Sunday having made almost 79 % of her discipline targets on the season; her jumper has been on level, an virtually unfair complement to her stunning footwork within the put up.
This reverse end from Pili towards Baylor excessive off the glass was arduous to even comprehend in actual time.
That is truthfully stable protection, however Alissa Pili simply has angles and footwork all the way down to a mastery
Like backwards off the spin off the highest off the glass? Who does that lmao
What a basket pic.twitter.com/WEIR3459yL
— Mark Schindler (@MG_Schindler) November 16, 2023
At a later date, we’ll dive into the defensive enhancements Utah must make and the way it can keep afloat when Pili is in foul hassle. For now, it’s extra enjoyable to easily recognize what a uniquely expert offensive participant Pili is.
Why the Buffs are within the nationwide dialog
We’re weeks away from convention play, and I’m already giddy in regards to the potential Pac-12 participant of the 12 months race. The league is full of dominant frontcourt gamers, however by way of two weeks, I can’t take my eyes off of Jaylyn Sherrod. At 5-foot-7, she finishes 60 % of her photographs within the restricted space and will get there almost 5 instances per sport. It takes a uncommon mixture of velocity and power to make her solution to the basket so typically and so successfully, particularly when her long-range jumper is basically nonexistent. Even when defenses go beneath on Sherrod since she isn’t a risk to drag up off a display, they’ll’t corral her on her path to the ring.
🌪🌪🌪@Jaylynsherrod // 💻 ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/hGOiyif8V4
— Colorado Ladies’s Basketball 🦬 (@CUBuffsWBB) November 19, 2023
What’s been most spectacular about Sherrod is her means to adapt to any tempo. Colorado is comfy executing within the half court docket, whether or not that’s letting Sherrod dictate the motion from the highest of the important thing or utilizing its forwards as hand-off hubs on the elbows. Sherrod also can push the ball down opponents’ throats together with her velocity in transition. Towards LSU within the opener, the Buffaloes excelled within the open court docket, and towards SMU Saturday, Colorado needed to execute towards a set protection. Each video games resulted in comfy victories.
Notre Dame’s one-woman wrecking crew
From a fifth-year senior to an audacious rookie, the state of guard play in school basketball is at an all-time excessive. It’s arduous to imagine that Hidalgo is in her first 12 months at Notre Dame, as a result of she has commanded that staff on each ends of the ground like a seasoned veteran. The accidents to Olivia Miles and now Sonia Citron (although coach Niele Ivey was relieved to disclose that Citron ought to be again in a number of weeks) have given Hidalgo extra accountability for the Irish, nevertheless it looks like — together with her confidence — she would have seized a bigger position regardless.
Hidalgo has been a one-woman wrecking crew for Notre Dame, and it’s becoming that the participant who sealed a gold medal for Crew USA on the FIBA U-19 World Cup this summer time with a steal has introduced that stage of defensive prowess to South Bend. She is averaging almost seven takeaways per sport — for context, 117 groups in Division I are recording fewer — and had a 12-steal evening that tied a program report with fellow New Jersey fireball Marina Mabrey.
It’s baffling to see opposing groups attempt to convey the ball up towards her full-court strain or go proper at Hidalgo on protection with out making an attempt to display her off the ball. She has an never-ending motor as a point-of-attack defender and super instincts in assist protection. Notre Dame is 22.1 factors per 100 possessions higher on protection alone when Hidalgo is on the court docket, which looks like a misprint till you notice opponents flip over the ball 11 % extra typically in these minutes. Two weeks into her school profession, Hidalgo may be probably the most thrilling defensive playmaker within the nation.
Doing all of it 💪🔥 @HannahHidalgo #NCAAWBB x 🎥 @ndwbb
— NCAA March Insanity (@MarchMadnessWBB) November 18, 2023
Is Iowa’s shot distribution the difficulty?
Monika Czinano tried 10.6 discipline targets per sport final season, with one other 7.7 coming from McKenna Warnock. That’s about 18 photographs per evening that Iowa needed to reallocate for this season. The perfect consequence can be Hannah Stuelke assuming the majority of that workload, however she’s added solely 4 extra makes an attempt per sport. Sharon Goodman and Addison O’Grady have every added three extra shot makes an attempt to their averages, however that also leaves about eight extra discipline targets per contest, and most of these are going to Caitlin Clark.
In concept, giving extra photographs to the very best offensive participant within the nation isn’t an issue, however Clark’s workload is slightly overwhelming for Iowa proper now. And the reigning nationwide participant of the 12 months admitted after the Hawkeyes’ loss to Kansas State that she must be higher at getting everybody concerned. Coach Lisa Bluder additional drove that time residence when she mentioned about her put up gamers: “We’ve to have extra religion in them.”
The magic Clark created with Czinano can’t be simply replicated, even when it looks like Iowa is consistently churning out one nice put up after one other. However the one hope of that occuring is for Clark to at the very least give Stuelke, Goodman and O’Grady an opportunity.
(Photograph of Te-Hina Paopao: Jacob Kupferman / Getty Pictures)
