[TheFarm07]

The USC UCLA game was instructive.  UCLA looked to me like the better team, but Juju Watkins is a unique and unstoppable force.  I got the feeling that USC became too reliant on her, though.  Hard to believe she is a freshman.  She moves around the basket as well as our Jones did, and she shoots the three as well as Jump does.  My guess is that she won't stay 4 years.

The real revelation to me about USC was McKenzie Forbes, the Harvard transfer who leads USC in scoring.  She has a very smooth move slashing to the basket.

Betts looked much better defensively than she did with us, and was more athletic.  I think she probably got in better shape for this season.  6 blocks for her.  She was always paired with another super sized post, like Dugalic, making the high/low passing interesting. 

But with all the hoopla about UCLA's posts, I think their strength are the guards.  Osborne and Jones and Rice are three superstars.  Jones going 5/8 from three point range will do for UCLA and Betts what Lepolo did for us yesterday.

It's really frustrating for me to read about all of these players you've highlighted and know that virtually all of them had Stanford under consideration (and in Betts' case, on the roster). I know there's nothing that can be done now, but I can't help but think about what could have been.

Instead of wishing for some more consistency or more development from some of our current players, in an alternate universe, it could have been Juju Watkins spreading the floor for our offense. Considering how well Brink and Kiki have done this season given the opposing team's focus on them, imagine how much more room they would have to operate with if defenses had to also account for a superstar like Juju too.

[TheFarm07]

The USC UCLA game was instructive.  UCLA looked to me like the better team, but Juju Watkins is a unique and unstoppable force.  I got the feeling that USC became too reliant on her, though.  Hard to believe she is a freshman.  She moves around the basket as well as our Jones did, and she shoots the three as well as Jump does.  My guess is that she won't stay 4 years.

The real revelation to me about USC was McKenzie Forbes, the Harvard transfer who leads USC in scoring.  She has a very smooth move slashing to the basket.

Betts looked much better defensively than she did with us, and was more athletic.  I think she probably got in better shape for this season.  6 blocks for her.  She was always paired with another super sized post, like Dugalic, making the high/low passing interesting. 

But with all the hoopla about UCLA's posts, I think their strength are the guards.  Osborne and Jones and Rice are three superstars.  Jones going 5/8 from three point range will do for UCLA and Betts what Lepolo did for us yesterday.

It's really frustrating for me to read about all of these players you've highlighted and know that virtually all of them had Stanford under consideration (and in Betts' case, on the roster). I know there's nothing that can be done now, but I can't help but think about what could have been.

Instead of wishing for some more consistency or more development from some of our current players, in an alternate universe, it could have been Juju Watkins spreading the floor for our offense. Considering how well Brink and Kiki have done this season given the opposing team's focus on them, imagine how much more room they would have to operate with if defenses had to also account for a superstar like Juju too.