Do you need 5 stars to win

[BrooklynSaints]

It looks like the top schools like Tenn. are stacking up on as many 5 star players as they can get. It seems more like the Yankee model of baseball putting a top star at every position. But in Baseball as Yankee fan see that just does not work every year.

Every team needs role players to do the dirty work, I would think a 3 or 4 star player would be better suited for certain roles.

In Womens basketball, Can a school win it all without having a 5 star player ?

If your answer is yes, Please provide your starting 5, (of players having 3 or 4 stars only) playing in college today who
are capable of winning an NCAA championship

[intelligenthoodlum]

On the women's side ALL OF THE TIME, the top programs AS POLICY roll in the star wattage, and TURN enough of them into role players, mentally and stylistically.
These stars willingly accept this transformation, for the most part. Boys, as a rule, generally want to go to a college where they can spark something off. Girls, on the other hand, generally want to go to a college that already has something going on, and is close to the top, if not already there...

[BUFan]

Baylor in 2005 might be your best example....Sophia Young had just moved to the US and was not on anyones top list, Stephanie Blackman was top 100 but down in the 70's. Emily Nieman was about the same as Blackman. Abi Wabarra had no offers from anywhere and was brought to BU by her aunt. Chelsea Whitaker was a transfer and I can't tell you anything about her rankings out of high school. Chemeka Scott and Angela Tisdale weren't on anyones top 100.

Not to sound like I am degrading any of the ranking circles because I am not, but WBB is not as far along now, obviously, as the mens side. There is no way the owners of these services can get around as see all the girls there are and make an accurate evaluation to come up with a true list of 5 stars. Plus with the girls game played below the rim, coaching plays even a greater part of the game.

[ClayKallam]

To win, you need playmakers -- and usually, playmakers have that five-star ranking. Sometimes kids slip through the cracks for whatever reason, but a nationally ranked high school team usually has two D1 players, and a Sweet 16 college team usually has a player who will get a look in the WNBA, and maybe two.

You can't win without talent, though whether that talent gets acknowledged before making its presence known in college is a different story. That's about rankings and player evaluation; in college, it's about winning.

[BrooklynSaints]

I guess there needs to be a distinction between high school recruits who are 5 stars based on potential and college players who are 5 stars based on performance.

Baylor's Sophia Young is a 5 star college player based on performance. It can be said for Paris, Parker, and Wiggins etc.

If we divide all college players into groups.

top 10% 5 star
next 30% 4 star
next 20 % 3 star
next 20% 2 star
next 20% 1 star

The top teams would have two or three players in the top 10%.

If I'm a school that does not have a 5 star performer am I just doomed or is there more to the game than just 5 star players?

Also, why recruit a 5 star high school player if you only want 4 or 3 star work done? Isn’t that just inviting potential trouble?

[BUFan]

I assumed you were talking about recruiting high school kids since that is when the rankings are done. College to pros is more need based . College generally is looking for as many top players as possible that will fit into their scheme with several role players

[tyree02]

You need chemistry to win championships. If Tennessee didn't have chemistry they wouldn't have won it all this year. They had talent, but that team had great chemistry. Baylor meshed well together that's why they took home the title because they played great together. Tennessee had an awesome class when Candace and Company came to Knoxville and look how many are left, 4 put of 6. Sometimes players hate being put in a supporting role. I would play for a losing school before I rode anyone's bench. I feel as though girls are really onto Tennessee because of their championship season too. Look at what a title did for Maryland. They had everybody back, and the chemistry was just not there in March, and look at the talent that team has!!!!

[BrooklynSaints]

I agree with chemistry. But does chemistry more important than 5 star players. Can I have a team with great chemistry but only players in the bottom 90% and win a championship?

[hoopsfl]

I think all would agree that talent is necessary to win a championship. Few if any teams however win with 5 stars who all want to be the star - that's where chemistry comes in. When Maryland won, Doron sacrificed some of her game for the greater good of the team.

[BrooklynSaints]

I guess I hear so much talk about the women’s game being based on the fundamentals. Apparently more so than the men’s game.

I remember Villanova men upsetting Georgetown men in the NCAA championship games. One could argue that Villanova had a bunch of 4 star players.

I also look at the past Olympics. The USA men’s team was loaded with 5 star players. The team lost to Greece. A team with 4 star players.

I would assume that others could note examples of this happening in the men’s game. Why, if the women’s game is superior, do you need 5 star players to win?

[ClayKallam]

After battling through the California high school playoffs for several years, a couple things became clear to me:

1) You had to have talent to win

2) You had to have chemistry to win

3) You had to have luck to win

A very good team always won the state title -- but it wasn't necessarily the best team. A team with better talent might have had chemistry issues; a team with better chemistry might not have matched up talent-wise; and a team with both might have just been unlucky at the wrong time.

It's possible that a team with limited talent could win the state title, with great chemistry and great luck, but it's more likely that a team with great talent and great chemistry will put the banner on the gym wall. (The same applies at every level, I think, and in every sport.)

That's why I think we put far too much emphasis on who wins the playoffs as opposed to who does the best in the regular season. What you do over 26 games, or 82 games, shows more about who you are than what happens in either one-game or short-series playoffs.

[fhire]

Everyone has made great points about why teams win. I think in addition to having talent that is developed to meet the needs of the system, a good system, good coaching you need luck!!! I think a team like Tenn makes their own luck how do u ask well they get mainly 5 star kids and do a great job developing them mentally and physically and then they go out and play anybody that they believe to be a national title contender and play them. How is the luck manifested well when they go in to any game their fearless and this freedom allows them to gamble an make plays without fear of failure. For a team like Marist that had their magical run the luck manifested itself in seeding I believe they were like a 10 seed or so and this allowed them to play a teams in the first couple of rounds that either didn't exceed their talent or matched up poorly against their system. And remember 5 stars or no stars the players as to have a burning desire to be the best. Look at Angel McCoughtry Big East Player of the Year and Kodak All-American this year she was a maybe a top 100 kid coming out of prep school but she had that desire to get better and believed that she could be an elite player now she is.
________
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[Hoopsking]

Having tthe priviledge of watching Christ the King Basketball, you don't need 5-stars to be the best program in the Country. A couple of star players and great role players will get the job done in a system.

I watched the Diocesan semis between an undermanned CK team without Sky Lindsey and a powerful St. Mikes team with the likes of Roche, Smith, Harris, Sidney, etc. Christ the King's system is what won the game. They had Lorin Dixon and that's it. Lorin Dixon plus a bunch of girls who played their role well such as Aimee Levine, Tahira Johnson, Gelese George, Jael Pena.

It's all about the system in place. All you need is a couple of high impact go to players and you can win.

[BrooklynSaints]

Having tthe priviledge of watching Christ the King Basketball, you don't need 5-stars to be the best program in the Country. A couple of star players and great role players will get the job done in a system.

I watched the Diocesan semis between an undermanned CK team without Sky Lindsey and a powerful St. Mikes team with the likes of Roche, Smith, Harris, Sidney, etc. Christ the King's system is what won the game. They had Lorin Dixon and that's it. Lorin Dixon plus a bunch of girls who played their role well such as Aimee Levine, Tahira Johnson, Gelese George, Jael Pena.

It's all about the system in place. All you need is a couple of high impact go to players and you can win.

You statement contradicts your argument. In the Diocesan semis, CTK had one 5 star player. St. Mike had no 5 star players. Doesn't that make St. Mike's the underdog in the game.

[likewbb]

The question is "win" does win mean the Championship or a good season and ranking in the top 25: 10; 5? Ohio State, TN, MD, Rutgers, Conn, Duke, UNC, Texas, GA, Stanford perhaps OKLA and LSU had more than 1 five star players and only 1 of them won the NCAA. Texas had the most below expectations season of those listed.

I have read that for a men's basketball team to get to the sweet 16 is worth millions in sales, publicity and concessions. The financial stakes for winning are increasing as evidenced by the turnover of coaches.

How many coaches who aren't considered 5-star maximize their players' ability to play the game of basketball . An example of a coach who had a losing record but managed to get to the NCAA with a team that experienced significant injuries (Drake). On the contrary I have observed some major university who have poorly coached players. My point is that five-star players need to associate with five-star coaches (as rated by ability to teach, motivate and adjust during game conditions).

[BBjess]

And didnt CTK then lose to team who does not have even one rated player.