Point guard questions at the top
Last year's Final Four teams all share a critical question in the backcourt for the 2022-23 season
Welcome to View from the Top, a NCAA women’s basketball newsletter focused on the title contenders and championship picture.
The 2022-23 season is officially here. If you followed along with me last year, welcome back! If you’re new here, View from the Top covers the top teams in the country with an eye towards March all season long. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the top teams in the country, who the true title contenders are and more weekly (or at least close to it) throughout the season. Thanks for following along!
In last year’s national championship game, national player of the year Aliyah Boston did what Aliyah Boston does. But, it was Destanni Henderson’s 26 points and four assist performance that elevated South Carolina to take home their second national title. The year before Kianna Williams provided a steadying presence running Stanford’s offense, leading to a Pac-12 and national championship. In 2019, Chloe Jackson finished off her graduate transfer year at Baylor with 26 points and five assists in the final game of the season to help the Bears hoist the trophy.
You get the picture - the team left standing at the end of the season usually has an experienced point guard at the helm. The point guard position, however, happens to be the subject of some big questions for each of the teams that were at the Final Four in Minneapolis this past April heading into the 2022-23 season.
While replacing Henderson is no easy feat, the Gamecocks may be the most equipped of the four teams to solve their questions at the point. South Carolina seems to have a wealth of options at every spot in the lineup this season, and the point guard position is no exception. At SEC media day, Dawn Staley noted that Zia Cooke has been “doing some heavy-duty playing the point”. While moving in to more of a facilitator role would be a departure from what we’ve seen from Cooke in her first three seasons, she does have the advantage of knowing the ins and outs of the Gamecocks’ offense.
In addition to Cooke, South Carolina can look to Raven Johnson. While Johnson played in just two games last season before being sidelined for the year with a knee injury, she was the second ranked recruit and top ranked point guard in last year’s freshman class. The Gamecocks have also added graduate transfer Kierra Fletcher who averaged 3.7 assists per game at Georgia Tech last season, and return Laeticia Amihere who rotated into the role when Henderson was briefly injured last season. Finding a solution at the point shouldn’t be a problem, but finding the best rotation could take some time.
The outlook for Stanford is not quite as generous. The Cardinal struggled to find the right solution to lead their offense last season. In the absence of a true point guard to fill that role again this season, and less guard depth following the departure of the Hull twins and Anna Wilson, it sounds like Stanford will look to Haley Jones to fill that role in her senior campaign.
Jones is certainly used to having the ball in her hands frequently and is a capable ball handler. She led the Cardinal with 3.7 assists per game last season, but was also turnover prone with 2.9 per game. Perhaps more concerning is if having to play on the ball more will limit Jones' ability to move off the ball and find her way to the basket. With much of the rest of Stanford’s best talent concentrated in the frontcourt, it will interesting to see if they can run their normally fluid offense without more facilitating guards on the floor.
In the case of UConn, the Huskies are in an unfortunately familiar place with Paige Bueckers sidelined with a knee injury once again. While they do still have a true point guard option in Nika Muhl, it seems like the UConn will rely on more of a point guard by committee approach this season sharing the role between Muhl, Fairfield grad transfer Lou Lopez-Senechal and Azzi Fudd.
Missing the offensive production of Bueckers, the country’s best point guard, changed the outlook for the Huskies this season. It’s also a blow to the depth of the backcourt. Muhl is prone to being in foul trouble, posting a foul rate of 4.6 percent last season which ranked in the highest third of the country. UConn will need to be able to keep her on the floor and stay healthy elsewhere to not be detrimentally thin on ballhandlers.
Louisville stills has Hailey Van Lith, who is certainly a solid option to orchestrate the Cardinals’ offense. But, to say there aren’t questions for how the point guard role looks this year would be a disservice to the role Kianna Smith and Chelsie Hall played in last year’s backcourt. Smith and Hall combined for 4.8 assist per game last season and posted the two best assist-to-turnover ratios on the team.
Van Lith won’t be left to shoulder the load alone however, as the Cardinals also added transfer Chrislyn Carr from Syracuse. Carr averaged 2.7 assists per game last season; in her 2019-20 season with Texas Tech she averaged 5.0 assists per game. If she can replicate a similar level of production, she’ll be a huge asset in the Louisville back court.
With the season tipping off today, we’ll get a first look at what the point guard position looks like to start for South Carolina, Stanford and Louisville tonight. UConn begins their season on Thursday.
Looking for more season preview content? You can also find some of my takes ahead of the 2022-23 season here:
Her Hoop Stats’ Eye on College Basketball Takeover:
Her Hoop Stats Unplugged 2022-23 NCAA Season Preview | Part 1:
Her Hoop Stats Unplugged 2022-23 NCAA Season Preview | Part 2: