Two years at Illinois and then two years at Alabama. She lead the team in minutes played last year at 1,066, she took more than 100 more three pointers than Hannah (who lead ND in three-point attempts) and was third in the country at 259. She is a great three-point shooter making 41.7% last year and >45% the year before and never in her career less than 35%.

She is not a great 2-point or FT shooter, doesn't rebound all that much, A:TO < 1.0. Maybe, as others have speculated, there is concern that Emma and Cassandre may be limited still this upcoming season.

get her feet wet. I like this pick a lot.

She very well see her future in the pro level as a 3 and D specialist off the bench. Showcasing yourself as a volume shooter doesn't particularly help if that's not her position in the WNBA.

If she's looking to make that change, add an ND grad degree and pursue a national championship, then it would certainly fit a need for ND if there are any questions as to whether Emma is ready/healthy.

• Click here for link at https://fightingillini.com/news/2020/10/12/general-aaliyah-n

Nye was listed as do not contact in the portal, so we are definitely a real option here. She and King are such different players that bringing in both could be on the table. It looks like we are really setting up for a title run. Guard depth could be off the charts. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for Gardiner and Iriafen, but Karlen and Weimar wouldn't be bad either. No commitments yet, but this is shaping up to be an excellent portal class.

- Different approaches: Nee is more of a long-distance shooter, while King lives, primarily, from the elbow in. And rebounds like crazy.

- But both only have one year, so that shows Niele is looking for a one-and-done approach at this position.

- Still think the team needs a post to share time with Kate Koval.

When they were good of course.

I don't believe that the Miles/HH pairing is going beyond next season barring injury. Their presence makes it a team that's going to push the ball. I believe that plays more to Kings strengths than Kate's right now. I don't believe K. Watson will be available in 24-25. King, with Koval in reserve, would alleviate the necessity for Maddie to go bump and grind in the post as soon as fouls become an issue. Taking away from her offense. Koval can do that. Maddie in a real emergency. They are going to play mostly zone in their set defense. King, based on what I saw of her vs the Irish, doesn't need plays run for her to be effective. She's also been a better rebounder than anyone ND has outside of Maddie and Olivia. Olivia's impact on rebounding is a factor sorely missing last season.

Any team with HH is going to apply defensive pressure. But HH along with a healthy Cass, KK and Citron would make it possible for longer periods. Making the cliche about turning turning defense into offense a reality.

Hopefully a healthy Emma Risch and another shooter would complete things.

If the injuries on our bench might be carrying into next season. Or if Emma and Cass may not be able to go right away.

After two straight years of injuries depleting the roster and affecting how far we can go in the NCAA tournament, I think she's playing it safe this time around and bringing in more than enough capable players.

If there is any year for Coach Ivey to bring in more players than not, this is the year because they're going for broke.

Last year, she had 11 players (not counting Brown) that she thought would play. This year, she currently has eight players (not counting Watson) and of that list, we don't know if all will be healthy next season. I think at minimum they get three transfers and I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up with four.

I wonder if NI is starting to adapt roster strategy based on what teams such as SoCar, UConn and LSU have been doing.

...given the close-to-the-vest nature of the program, who really knows how the injuries/recoveries are progressing? And, yes, working with a short deck year in, year out limits one's options.

So, even though these two six-footers are both listed as guard/forwards, they offer talents that could work with/spell Cass/KK and/or Emma.

And then, there's the big(ger) forward/post situation!