Women's College basketball Pre-Preseason

C and R were surfing that there Internet and found that the pundits are already predicting the top ten women’s college basketball teams for next year, even though most colleges were still unwinding from this season, Stanford included.

Typical themes will be how teams handle the loss of seniors. For Stanford, they lost Jayne Appel and Ros Gold-Onwude. They might lose guards JJ Hones and Mel Murphy depending on off-season knee surgery. However they add red-shirt Sarah Boothe, who is 6’5” and freshman Chiney Ogwumike, Nneka Ogwumike’s sister, plus two strong guards. Here’s an in-depth analysis of Stanford by Jake Curtis of the Examiner. UConn loses center Tina Charles and Kalena Greene, yet have the best player in the country in Maya Moore. However, it helps to have a supporting cast. Stanford fits the team concept/supporting cast better than UConn next year, so many predict the streak will end, including C and R. UConn also comes west next year to play Stanford at home. Mark your calendars for that one!

You can also check out Jake’s preseason picks. He echoes that UConn will be vulnerable, and he picks Stanford above UConn. However, his number one team is Baylor. Say what? We disagree. Brittney Griner has unique skills yet we do not think she has a strong supporting cast. We still pick Stanford above Baylor.

Charlie Creme of ESPN also has Baylor above Stanford. He lists UConn, Baylor, Stanford as his one two three. Jeff Linder of the Gazette Online has the same top three. What? Baylor above Stanford next year. We do not believe it and hope they both eat their words. Picking Baylor above Stanford. Do they know something we don’t? (that’s certainly possible). But C did not like how Baylor’s Brittney Griner was coached and doesn’t think they will use her as effectively as they should, plus her supporting cast is shaky and that’s why she thinks Stanford will prevail over them.

All the analysis’ have PAC-10 foe UCLA on the rise and in the top 15, with Jake placing them 7th, and Charlie 13th and Jeff has them 11th. Let’s not look ahead to UConn just yet, folks.

Well, we wish the Stanford players a healthy and restful off-season, full of hard work and training. Hee hee, can they have both? Well, we wish them a happy time at the awards ceremony. This was a special year and we hope they savor what little remains.