Aaniyah Branch is a 6'5" forward center who plays for Holy Innocent. She is no where yet a finished product which is great, but for a freshman in high school she is some kind of athlete for her size. I hope Coach Abe and staff have taken notice. Saw her in the game against River Ridge and when she was on the floor she has a lot of athleticism. At her age, she might grow a couple more inches. I am thinking after the next 2 years of travel ball, she could take number one in that class. She has athleticism that is as good, maybe better than Kamila Kordosa. Just needs to work on post moves. The state of Georgia is loaded with young talent. Don't forget Morghan Reckley is in that class and she is number one.

There is a problem. Will Abe even have a job in Athens much longer?

Josh Brooks is smart enough to know and see what handicaps Coach Abe has. I think he gives her at least two more years to build the talent back into the program.

Sure hope so Dawg44. I am on Team Coach Abe. Talent is coming.....

I watched most of the OK game. Once again the freshmen get a pass. The upper class do not.

That was one of the worst foot work on defense game I have seen the lady bulldawgs play. Getting back door at will.

I did like when Coach was letting them have it during one of the time outs.

Poor Azinger. She has to play the entire game and getting beat up the entire time.

I am tired of seeing them dribble in traffic or the bigs put the ball on the floor. 90% of the time it results in a turnover.

I looked at our schedule. There is only one game they might win and that is not even a given.

I'm supporting Coach Abe, too.
Shes got another strong class coming in- It is hard to watch this season but Coach Abe is on the right track with talent-- Really need a commanding post player!

Before this season I had said that this team cannot win. I said that this should be a training year for the freshmen and returning players for next year. I also said that it would be tough for everyone concerned, but the growing pains will be valuable experience for next year with the talent coming in. I have been watching Jocelyn Faison and her teammates and Jocelyn will be an outstanding player for us. Her size and athleticism is off the charts. She checks all the boxes for being a great player. Unfortunately, Aubrey Beckham tore her ACL which will cause her to be working on rehabilitating her knee, but she like Jocelyn checks all the boxes. Zhen Craft will be another outstanding player for us. Outstanding defensive player with great athleticism also. Meghan Yarnevich will be a top freshman who can stretch the floor with three point shooting. Harissoum Coulibaly will be a scorer with defensive ability and she might have to play some point guard for us as well as Jocelyn. Things will definitely get better next year.
After Joni left us, it gutted the talent on the team. Coach Abe did an outstanding job with the five players left. She brought in Diamond Battles, Britney Smith and Alisha Lewis and added the guard from Texas and made a great season from nothing. But that was a one year deal. She was unknown as far as High School coaching and players in Georgia, but she has closed the gap and players are visiting her and UGA all the time. I think when we get through next year, UGA will be back in the top of women's basketball.
Coach Abe is already looking good for Isabella Ragone next season and Alanna Beckham which could be 2 excellent players. The following year is that player who can put UGA back in National Championship contention is Finley Parker and Coach Abe is all over her. Just think of Maya Moore who won three titles. River Ridge is number one in the state with a 21 and 1 record. That lone lost came to the top team from Tennessee early in the year. Finley camped at UGA and was offered on the spot. Coach Abe and staff visited River Ridge and Finley and her family visited UGA the weekend of October 13th. I am thinking she really likes the Dawgs and don't be shocked if she pulls the trigger. Think of Herschel Walker and what he did for the Football program and Dominique Wilkins and what he did for the Men's basketball program. Finley can be that for Coach Abe.

Unless next year is better. No way she stays 2 or 3 more years.

dawg212003 said:

---

Unless next year is better. No way she stays 2 or 3 more years.

---

Unfortunately, I agree. I think the coaches at Arkansas and Missouri are in trouble this year, but I think bad seasons for us and Texas A&M (maybe Florida and Auburn too) next season would cause a coaching change. Coach Taylor really has to recruit extremely well in the portal this year as they don't currently have the influx of talent coming in that we do.

I hope we can turn it around. I like the talent we have coming back and the talent coming in, but we don't know how impacted we will be by the transfer portal. If we have no attrition, I think we are at a roster of 14 with most of our top contributors being sophomores and freshman.

Luckily for us, a lot of big name players in the SEC are graduating, so some upper echelon teams could drop a little (Kentucky, Alabama, Ole Miss for example).

With our freshmen getting experience this year and the returning upperclassmen is big for our team next year. Just think of the talent that we have coming in with them. With the class coming next season, recruiting is finally stabilize under Coach Abe. Now we can concentrate more on the top talent state wide and nationally. We should be a lot better and if we can win between 16 to 20 games will show the growth of the program under Coach Abe.
I have a lot of faith in Coach Abe that our program is going in the right direction. She has won at every place she has been. She won the conference title and tournament title at UCF before leaving and gave UCONN all they wanted three years ago. That UCONN team lost in the finals against South Carolina. It was UCONN toughest game on their floor all season. We just have to be a little patient and not expect to win the conference next year, but hope to see the team grow into a winner.
Recruiting is definitely getting stronger and this off season we need to add two possibly three players of need. Alanna Beckham should be one, I am hoping Isabella Ragone is a second and the third is up in the air. Hopefully, we can find a forward or center with height and athleticism would be perfect.