past seasons I see Olivia moving upto #2, Soni staying at #3 and Maddy #5. Amazing part is not one other ACC player in the list which bodes well for the 2025 ACC Tournament. I start to worry now about the 2025-26 Season based on what happened after we lost 5 players in the 2019 Draft. Go Irish 🍀👍
I agree completely about the loss of talent next year. That is why I think one transfer from portal should have at least two years eligibility remaining. I think Timea Gardiner fits that option. She would slide into MW position seamlessly. She would be very valuable rotation player this year as again I think to compete you need at least 8 healthy quality players. I still want Kiki as well but........ who knows
...which would be 2025's first round (next year, Golden State has a team). The list of projected draft picks includes multiple players from UConn (Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd), Notre Dame (Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld, Olivia Miles), Kansas State (Ayoka Lee, Serena Sundell)
and South Carolina (Te-Hina Paopao, Raven Johnson).
If you don't have a NY Times/Athletic subscription, here are those top 13 choices:
1) Paige Bueckers, UConn
2) Kiki Iriafen (Stanford/In Portal)
3) Sonia Citron, Notre Dame
4) Georgia Amoore, Va. Tech/Kentucky
5) Ayoka Lee, Kansas State
6) Maddy Westbeld, Notre Dame
7) Aneesah Morrow, DePaul/LSU
8) Olivia Miles, Notre Dame
9) Te-Hina PaoPao, South Carolina
10) Azzi Fudd, UConn
11) Serena Sundell, Kansas State
12) Rayah Marshall, U.S.C. (Southern Cal)
13) Emily Ryan, Iowa State
ND is more than guard U next year (Maddy being a forward!)
3. Sonia Citron | 6-1 guard | Notre Dame
"It’s hard to design a more prototypically perfect 2-guard than Citron. She is tall and strong, defends well and has a beautiful jumper that goes in 37 percent of the time from long range. Citron is overtaxed as a primary ballhandler, but let her run off screens or handoffs, and she can create her own shot. She is plug-and-play on any team, adding positive value on both ends of the floor."
In the long run, I think she'll have a distinguished career in the pro's and will make U.S.A. International Teams at the senior level, because she's flourished in international tournaments in the past and she can add anything to a team of all stars.
(Down the road I think she might outlast and outshine players like Bueckers because of her undervalued strength.)
I think if Soni had been eligible, her draft stock would have been high for this year's draft. I still wonder if we're not using Soni in the best way.