UCONN IS STILL A VERY HUSKY DOG! CAN YOU SAY PAIGE BUECKERS?!

In ESPN’s prediction of the top 25 for the 2020/2021 season, they put UConn in 4^th place, behind South Carolina, Stanford, and Mississippi State.

My prognostication puts Stanford as No#1. UConn as No#2, Baylor No#3, South Carolina No#4, Arizona No#5, UCLA No#6, Oregon No#7, Louisville No#8, Oregon State No#9, North Carolina State No#10 Maryland No#11, and Mississippi State No#12 (They just lost their coach to Texas.)

In a Blog Piece before the 2019 season, I said the magnetic field of the women’s NCAA basketball world was reversing and that America’s best talent would start heading in larger and larger numbers to the PAC12. From my top 12 above you can see I think it’s happening, but UConn still has a powerful attraction. I’m predicting that the PAC12 will once again be the most competitive conference in the country with five teams in the top 10.

I felt sure Paige Bueckers, (the No#1 ranked player in the 2020 recruiting class) would decide to replace Sabrina and come to Oregon. But no, she decided on UConn and she’s working hard on Azzi Fudd to follow her. (Azzi, named for the great Stanford star, is the No#1 ranked player in the 2021 class.) I hope Tara and Jennifer Azzi are putting on a full court press to bring Jennifer’s namesake to the Farm where she belongs, to replace Kiana Williams.

I think the ESPN analysts are seriously underestimating the power of having Paige Bueckers at point guard and Evina Westbrook at shooting guard next season at UConn. The following is a link that shows some highlights of Paige slicing and dicing a bunch of high school opponents in Minnesota.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avCjxgJoZZo

If you watch some of Sabrina’s highlight tapes from Monte Vista H.S. in Walnut Creek five years ago, they look a lot like this. Evina is a terrific transfer from Tennessee who had to sit out last season. She’ll bring a lot of scoring to UConn next year.

UConn is losing Crystal Dangerfield and Megan Walker who were the strength of their 2020 season. Their loss would devastate most programs, but with Paige and Evina running the show and Anna Makurat, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, and Christyn Williams returning, I think Geno will surprise a lot of people next year. I’m putting them in the national championship game in San Antonio, and losing to Stanford in a classic memorable battle.