Returning Minutes and Points for the Her Hoop Stats 2018–19 Top 25
Last March, we released our final top 25 ballot for the 2018–19 season. Heading into the 2019–20 NCAA women’s basketball season, we took a look at how much experience and scoring each of those top 25 teams returns this year.
How each team measures up in returning minutes and points varies greatly. Here’s the full breakdown, sorted by our final top 25 from the 2018–19 season:
Abundant returners:
Florida State: If you don’t have Florida State in the conversation to win the ACC this year, you might want to add them in. The Seminoles return over 99 percent of their points and scoring from last season. Florida State finished sixth in the ACC last season and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Especially in light of a weaker ACC this season, they have a good chance to contend for a conference title and deeper tournament run.
Texas A&M: Texas A&M looks poised from another strong season. The Aggies return 90 percent of their minutes and 94 percent of their scoring. Most notably, they return preseason AP All-American Chennedy Carter, who averaged over 23 points per game last season. Additionally, they return their lead rebounder from 2018–19 in N’dea Jones, who averaged over 11 boards per game.
Maryland: Maryland returns 89 percent of their minutes and points back for the 2019–20 season. The Terrapins finished just outside the top 10 last season. With their returning experience and elite freshman class, the Big Ten favorites look ready for a deep tournament run in 2020. Senior guard Kaila Charles, who had 14 over 20 point performances last year, is certainly a player to watch this season.
Big losses in South Bend:
No real surprise here, but the numbers confirm that Notre Dame lost a lot from its 2019 Final Four team. With the departure of their entire starting lineup, all of whom were drafted and made WNBA rosters this summer, the Irish return just 15 percent of their minutes and 7 percent of their scoring from the 2018–19 season.
As evidenced by their narrow road win over Fordham on opening night, Notre Dame will have an uphill climb this season. As a positive sign for the Irish, No. 6 recruit Sam Brunelle looked excellent in her collegiate debut, scoring a team-high 14 points and adding 5 boards.
Other teams facing large roster changes this season include Marquette (24% of scoring returning), and Iowa who returns just 37 percent of their scoring in conjunction with the loss of national player of the year Megan Gustafson.
Experience winning out at the top of the Pac-12:
There is no question that the Pac-12 is the strongest conference in women’s college hoops this season. The preseason top three teams — Oregon, Stanford and Oregon State — all return a wealth of seasoned talent. All three teams return over 70 percent of their points and minutes.
Oregon leads the way in returning points at 82 percent, behind four elite returning starters in Sabrina Ionescu, Ruthy Hebard, Satou Sabally and Erin Boley. The Cardinal lead the way on the minutes front, returning 78 percent of the minutes from last year’s roster.
The teams with high continuity from last season look poised to excel this year. Of course, as we’ve already seen with South Carolina’s road upset of Maryland — anything can happen.
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