12-24-2016, 02:13 AM
Well, one way to measure it is to assess our team based on recruiting class and recruiting player rankings (drawn from ESPN):
Class Rankings:
Frosh: 9th
Sophomores: Not top 20
Juniors: 10th*
Seniors: 6th**
*Lost 18th ranked Taylor Rooks
** Lost 20th ranked Kailee Johnson and NR Lili Thompson
I suspect that averages out to something like between the 15th and 20th best recruiting class in the country on average, and probably a little lower if you took Rooks and Johnson out of the calculations.
Players:
This Week's Starting 5:
11 - Erica McCall, 96 (*****)
25- Brittany McPhee, 97 (*****)
38 - Marta Sniezek, 97 (*****)
77 - Karlie Samuelson, 93 (****)
NR - Briana Roberson, 89 (***)
We have no top 10 recruits in our starting lineup (Erica just missed it), and only two in the top 25. And unsurprisingly, so far this season, our offense has pretty much relied on those two (Erica and Britt). My sense is that Marta is probably underplaying relative to her recruiting ranking, and Karlie overplaying, but neither has been reliable enough this year (at least on offense) to really be a difference maker for us. If you attribute a ranking of 101 to NR, our average starting lineup player was a recruiting rank of 50th in the country. On this basis a top 15 team ranking is definitely better than our recruiting would expect. So on this basis, I think the GW coach was right: we're playing better as a team than you would expect based on the raw recruiting power of the players on the court.
Bench:
27- Nadia Fingall, 97 (*****)
34 - DiJonai Carrington, 97 (*****)
NR - Alanna Smith, 90 (***)
NR - Shannon Coffee, 90 (***)
NR - Alexa Romano, 90 (***)
NR - Mikaela Brewer, 89 (***)
Not surprisingly, the only three highly recruited bench players are the only three that have seen significant minutes off the bench. Although Alanna is NR, that's largely a function of ESPN not ranking foreign recruits. I'm sure she would have been a top 50 recruit otherwise.
Injured/Not Cleared:
30 - Kaylee Johnson, 97 (*****)
42- Anna Wilson, 96 (*****)
This is definitely hurting us. Kayl and Anna are among our most highly ranked recruited players, and my sense is that Anna's recruiting ranking was lower than her actual performance her senior year.
Former Players:
18 -Taylor Rooks, 98 (*****)
20 - Kailee Johnson, 95 (****)
NR - Lili Thompson, 86 (***)
Although neither Rooks nor Johnson lived up to their promise, it's worth remembering that we have close to 25% attrition among our current crop of players.
I'm not overly familiar with Syracuse, but they definitely don't recruit nearly as well as we do. But I do think given the crop of players we currently have, we're performing better as a team than you would expect based on our recruiting rankings. In particular, our starting 5 do not overwhelm based on recruiting rankings alone.
This is probably an iffy metric, but I suppose it's the only way to measure "raw" ability and control for the "team effect" of Stanford coaching and player development.
Class Rankings:
Frosh: 9th
Sophomores: Not top 20
Juniors: 10th*
Seniors: 6th**
*Lost 18th ranked Taylor Rooks
** Lost 20th ranked Kailee Johnson and NR Lili Thompson
I suspect that averages out to something like between the 15th and 20th best recruiting class in the country on average, and probably a little lower if you took Rooks and Johnson out of the calculations.
Players:
This Week's Starting 5:
11 - Erica McCall, 96 (*****)
25- Brittany McPhee, 97 (*****)
38 - Marta Sniezek, 97 (*****)
77 - Karlie Samuelson, 93 (****)
NR - Briana Roberson, 89 (***)
We have no top 10 recruits in our starting lineup (Erica just missed it), and only two in the top 25. And unsurprisingly, so far this season, our offense has pretty much relied on those two (Erica and Britt). My sense is that Marta is probably underplaying relative to her recruiting ranking, and Karlie overplaying, but neither has been reliable enough this year (at least on offense) to really be a difference maker for us. If you attribute a ranking of 101 to NR, our average starting lineup player was a recruiting rank of 50th in the country. On this basis a top 15 team ranking is definitely better than our recruiting would expect. So on this basis, I think the GW coach was right: we're playing better as a team than you would expect based on the raw recruiting power of the players on the court.
Bench:
27- Nadia Fingall, 97 (*****)
34 - DiJonai Carrington, 97 (*****)
NR - Alanna Smith, 90 (***)
NR - Shannon Coffee, 90 (***)
NR - Alexa Romano, 90 (***)
NR - Mikaela Brewer, 89 (***)
Not surprisingly, the only three highly recruited bench players are the only three that have seen significant minutes off the bench. Although Alanna is NR, that's largely a function of ESPN not ranking foreign recruits. I'm sure she would have been a top 50 recruit otherwise.
Injured/Not Cleared:
30 - Kaylee Johnson, 97 (*****)
42- Anna Wilson, 96 (*****)
This is definitely hurting us. Kayl and Anna are among our most highly ranked recruited players, and my sense is that Anna's recruiting ranking was lower than her actual performance her senior year.
Former Players:
18 -Taylor Rooks, 98 (*****)
20 - Kailee Johnson, 95 (****)
NR - Lili Thompson, 86 (***)
Although neither Rooks nor Johnson lived up to their promise, it's worth remembering that we have close to 25% attrition among our current crop of players.
I'm not overly familiar with Syracuse, but they definitely don't recruit nearly as well as we do. But I do think given the crop of players we currently have, we're performing better as a team than you would expect based on our recruiting rankings. In particular, our starting 5 do not overwhelm based on recruiting rankings alone.
This is probably an iffy metric, but I suppose it's the only way to measure "raw" ability and control for the "team effect" of Stanford coaching and player development.