Mac25, I think all schools are traveling every weekend with the AAU Circuit just kicking into gear recruiting. This is going to be one of the most important recruiting season in a long time. We have to sign not just a top recruiting class, but we have to get a couple of impact players for this team to turn it around. Olivia Cochran is the most important recruit on our board, we have to land her are we are headed down the road to mediocrity. You get a commitment from Olivia, you start getting looks from Madison Hayes, Raven Johnson, Brianna Turnage and others who could make a difference in your program. We lost Caliya and Taja this year and Mckenzie Emgram last year. We really don't have anyone of those three caliber type players on this team. And if you bring in a lot of transfers you would have to take time to get 5 players a year before they start getting continuity. Personally, I would prefer not to use scholarships on transfers, I want players who are going to be with me for 4 years. This coming November will let us know what kind future we will have.

I'm guessing Baylor, USC, and ND would beg to differ. Seeing as how transfers helped them win NC. Not to mention a few years back with the Aggies using a juco transfer to win it all.

Badboyoncampus01, Baylor had Cloe Jackson, Notre Dame had Jessica Sheppard and South Carolina had the 2 from the state of Georgia. All were high school All Americans except Cloe. But those three teams had the nucleus already in place. Baylor needed a point guard, Notre Dame needed a post player after Brianna Turner went down with an ACL and South Carolina needed perimeter scoring. I am not saying we couldn't use transfers, but with the talent in the next three classes coming up, I would hate to see us use those scholarships with a whole lot of transfers. In fact, I like that we were using one every now and then like with Patchis Roberts, Taja Cole and Jenna Staiti. I just don't want to lose out on possibly signing this young talent coming up.

I agree with that. Just sounded like you never wanted transfers period.

No, I would like to be selective. You never know when injuries hit certain players like Que Morrisson. Que was never herself this season and it did affect us. I hope she can be her old self this season.

Mike, I am fully aware of who we lost the past two years. I am also aware of the players who have signed. I agree I do not see a go to player on the current roster and I do question who will we depend on for scoring. I do see a healthy Que stepping up as one of the leaders. Outside of that, I think we continue to sink in a pool of mediocrity within the conference. Is there a late signee that can help elevate this team. I know about how great the 2020 class is in the state but the current coaching staff might not be here in 2020 unless we change the product on the court.

I definitely don't think it's as dire as its being made. We have enough talented players that have been leaders before whether it be scoring, rebounding, or forcing turnovers. We just brought in a good recruiting class that should be able to contribute right away. That's something we were missing from last years freshman class and it ended up hurting us. The key to next year's team is goin to be defense. Our team played good individual defense last year but it never translated to the team. We have been in the top half with less talented rosters since joni took over and I dont expect next year to be any different

Part of our defensive success was Robinson serving as the "Eraser" on a lot of attempts. I hope Staiti and Bates can continue that trend. How is Bates coming along from her injury?

Mac25, this won't be the staff make or break season. But you have to start thinking about 2020/21 year. Because that is possibly it for McGarity. The school only gave him a one year extension, which means he will probably be out after that. A new AD comes in, he will automatically evaluate every program and he will wonder can he make the program better with change. I look at our roster and I only see role players. In order to get to elite status, you have to have at least a couple of elite players mixed in. I was hoping Joni would tweak her staff for a big name recruiter. Tasha Butts would have been ideal, she from the Macon area and has done very well on the recruiting circuit. Nell Fortner hired her last week. So now we have to contend with her at Tech. The formula for success is recruiting. All collegiate sports in America that is great, starts with recruiting. UGA Womens BBall is crumbling.

How is signing 2 5 star girls considered crumbling? At one point Chloe was ranked #1 in the Country.

Chloe was number one at one time. Her ranking drop because she was playing two sports. She is going to have to make a choice at UGA, basketball or soccer. Maria Taylor came to UGA as a volleyball player even though Landers recruited her for basketball. After a year and a half, Maria said that was enough. The body needs time to recover and playing two sports means your chance of injury doubles. I think that UGA was one of the few schools that offered her the chance to do both. So what will Chloe do at UGA, soccer or basketball.
Javyn will play more than Jordan, but it will take time before you see an impact from her. UGA won 18 games last year, but had an RPI of 112. With our losses on the roster the last two years, this season in all likelihood won't be as good as last.

mmixon, I think a lot will depend on how well we have some kids come back from injuries as well as how hard do players work in the offseason. If we have kids committed such as Jessica Shepard did at Notre Dame, we could surprise some people.

Javyn Nicholson is a incoming freshman, but one has to give up to the kid for her work ethic. She is putting in some serious work on her fitness. The running and conditioning she is putting in is crazy, but will help her play long stretches. That is one area that freshman struggle along with the speed of the collegiate game. Depending upon the work the team puts in will be telling. Do I think we are crumbling as was stated in an earlier post? Nah! Did we lose some key pieces? Yes, but that provides others a viable opportunity to step up. As my coach (Coach Gibson) would always say, "you better be ready when your number is called". If you can more out of Staiti and Paul in the post, we will be fine. I think Que will get her mojo back and Shaniya Jones is definitely a hooper. I think she can make up some ground with the loss of Cole. I didn't say that she equates to Cole's production, but she can soften that blow a little. Mikayla Coombs is giving Georgia a hard look and it will cause us not to bring in both, Madison Hayes and Anaya Boyd. I think UGA will only land one of the two,if Coombs decides to make Athens her home.
One thing that I will say. I have been close to many recruiting circles in our state and many of the AAU coaches and some high school coaches are the reason our program struggles. With that, I say this, many of them wanted Andy to hire them and when he did not that many ridiculed him and basically blackballed the program. Some were even two-faced to the man which was mind boggling to me as an adult. Andy's hiring of Tasha Humphrey's mother was detrimental to our program, because I don't think she was ready to coach and recruit at this level, so that is another contributing factor. Many of these high school coaches are looking for ways for themselves to gain some type of clout and popularity for sending their kids to schools they see as "big" names and that is why we are seeing a huge spike in transfers. That is why I have respect for coaches like Jan Azar, the coaches from St. Francis and Holy Innocence because they don't get down like that. Coach Hubbard and Kirk Pointer are others that don't try and sway their players to go to their biggest offers. They allow their players to make their own decisions without persuasive tactics.

Excellent post tyree. Couldn't have said it better myself. I might be among the few that actually thinks our team will be better next year. It was the death by a thousand cuts that did us in last year