A lot is going on in College Park. Yes, Frese has rebuilt well year after year, but this latest year saw a big drop in talent.
Diamond Miller was the #2 overall pick for the W. That’s Caitlin Clark good. She alone being on that team was a gamechanger for them. Like Clark, she could do things very few others can, including putting the team on her back. Then Abby Meyers was also a first round pick — she was a veteran player with a solid mid range game who could create shots very well for the numerous shooters on their team. I knew it was gonna be a lot harder to replace two senior leaders with great attitudes over the likes of Angel Reese and Ashley Owusu, who clearly had some chemistry / effort issues — and also will not be Top 2 W picks.
On top of losing those two, they lost another 5th year starter in Pinzan. They mostly have replaced them with a couple transfers from mid-majors who, while talented, simply aren’t 1st round picks. G Jakia Brown Turner — NC State txfr — is an exception, but she hasn’t been performing to expectations. Which should be fine tbh bc it takes most transfers awhile to settle in. It arguably took Molly Davis an entire season plus. But JBT also isn’t rly what they need on a talented, guard-heavy roster tho.
So there’s been a lot of turnover on the MD roster and this last year hit them unexpectedly hard (I think 5 of their 7 rotation players are transfers). Frese said she rly struggled to find anyone else in the portal this season. Some fans say it’s NIL. Other less forgiving parties might say that the constant revolving door of transfers has cast an unflattering reputation over the program.
On top of that, injuries have made the situation worse. 5th year W Faith Masonius tore her ACL 2 seasons ago and really has never recovered. F Allie Kubek tore hers last year and isn’t the same this year. C Emma Chardon tore hers earlier this year, and so did freshman 5 star guard Riley Nelson. So they’re short handed.
This roster chaos has left them without a true PG and without a true C. They’ve got 6’1 girls defending under the basket. Shyanne Sellers, their best all around player and passer, had filled in at PG this season (even tho she is a SF). But just two games ago, she suffered a knee injury and is now day to day. She missed the Indiana game of course.
Their offense has rly stagnated as a result. Theres a lot of hero ball / ISO play going on which is v uncharacteristic of a Brenda frese led squad. And bc of their (lack of) depth they can’t press, their signature defense. Theyre having a rough go.
