City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The college basketball season is ready to turn the page, all the teams in the City 6 with at most a couple games left until non-conference play ends and the various leagues get into swing. That’s as good a time as any to evaluate what’s happened so far, and provide some mid-season grades for each of the City 6 men’s and women’s squads.

Here’s a look at the women’s; click here for the men's:

Drexel
Record: 7-3
HerHoopStats Ranking: 81
Best Win: home vs. Penn State (86-82, Dec. 18)
Worst Loss: at Yale (60-58 OT, Dec. 11)
Grade: B+

The Dragons haven’t really missed a beat despite sustaining significant graduations from last year’s 28-win team, losing a couple games to good La Salle and St. Joe’s teams on the road, but they’d like to get back that loss to a 6-6 Yale team that hit a put-back shot which only questionably beat the OT buzzer. They’ve also played the last five games without freshman Kylie Lavelle, who got off to an incredibly hot start (18.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg) but is game-to-game with an undisclosed lower body injury; Keishana Washington (29.5 ppg) has been carrying them, with a career-best 42-point game in the win over Penn State; senior forward Hetta Saatman (7.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg) has put up career-best numbers in a full-time role. If Lavalle gets back for the CAA stretch, they’re in good shape to do well.

La Salle
Record: 8-5
HerHoopStats Ranking: 155
Best Win: home vs. Drexel (77-74, Nov. 15)
Worst Loss: at Howard (62-57, Nov. 7)
Grade: B

It’s been a good-but-not-great non-conference slate for La Salle, which still has a game Wednesday against Villanova before opening conference play 10 days later against St. Joe’s, then one final non-league game against Hartford on Jan. 2. Statistically they’re pretty even across the board, not really ranking outside the 50th-70th percentile on the vast majority of the HerHoopStats categories; their 3-point defense (28.6) is 54th nationally, but they turn it over 18.8 times per game, 289th in the country (too many for a team with their experience in the backcourt). Kayla Spruill (13.8 ppg) and Claire Jacobs (12.5 ppg) are the only two in double figures on a rotation that goes no fewer than 10 or 11 deep, but look out for freshman Mia Jacobs (7.5 ppg), now fourth on the team in scoring after contributing 44 points in their last three games.

Penn
Record: 6-5
HerHoopStats Ranking: 132
Best Win: home vs. Temple (62-61, Dec. 11)
Worst Loss: at San Francisco (73-65, Dec. 21)
Grade: B-

The Quakers don’t really have a bad loss; San Fran is 9-3, but their other losses have been at Northwestern, St. Joe’s and Southern Cal, all quality teams, while their only home loss is to a ranked Villanova. The Dons just represented the biggest missed opportunity as Penn held a 37-27 lead at halftime but couldn’t hold on, dropping to 1-4, but they’ve rallied with five straight wins. Kayla Padilla (15.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg) has been good but still not shooting the ball as well as she did the last two seasons, with Jordan Obi (12.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg) joining her in double figures; lately, freshman guard Simone Sawyer (9.6 ppg) has been coming on strong, averaging 14.4 ppg over their last seven. But they could use a few more shooters on the floor, considering they take 38.5% of their shots from beyond the arc (22nd in the country) but are making 30.8% (172nd nationally). 

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Saint Joseph’s
Record: 9-1
HerHoopStats Ranking: 91
Best Win: at Vanderbilt (67-59, Nov. 20)
Worst Loss: at Villanova (82-59, Dec. 10)
Grade: A-

It’s been a terrific start to the season for the Hawks, who despite only having one senior in the starting lineup — Katie Jekot, who’s briefly sidelined with an ankle injury — have played like a veteran squad. Sophomore Talya Brugler (15.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg) is an all-city talent, and her classmate Mackenzie Smith (12.8 ppg, .429 3PT%) and freshman Laura Ziegler (10.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg) are right behind her; Jekot (8.7 ppg) is fourth on the team in scoring and tops in assists (5.1/game). According to HerHoopStats, they’re 91st in the country in both offense and defense, thanks to shooting 34.8% from the 3-point arc (60th) and only turned it over on 17.1% of possessions (66th), with a 1.14:1 assist-to-turnover ratio (38th).

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Temple
Record: 5-6
HerHoopStats Ranking: 120
Best Win: at Georgetown (78-61, Nov. 12)
Worst Loss: at Penn (62-61, Dec. 11)
Grade: C+
The Owls haven’t played a single game this season at what they hoped would be full strength, with guard Aniya Gourdine out for undisclosed reasons, Northeastern graduate transfer Kendall Currence out with a torn ACL and forward Rayne Tucker (Towson) not yet eligible after her transfer, and they’re in the first year with a new head coach in Denise Richardson. They’ve still been competitive even against a tough schedule, led by Aleah Nelson (16.2 ppg, 4.8 apg), plus Tiarra East (11.8 ppg) and Jasha Clinton (10.4 ppg). The biggest issue thus far has been getting a solid interior presence, with the 5-9 East leading them in rebounding (6.6/game). 

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Villanova
Record: 9-3
HerHoopStats Ranking: 35
Best Win: at Princeton (69-59, Nov. 11)
Worst Loss: home vs. Creighton (67-46, Dec. 2)
Grade: B+

It’s been a strong start to the season for the Wildcats, who’ve been in the Top 25 for the last few weeks but finally slipped out after losing to Iowa State this past weekend in their only game of the week. Maddy Siegrist (27.8 ppg, 9.6 rpg) has been her tremendous self, and Lucy Olsen (12.9 ppg) has stepped up, as has Christina Dalce (6.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg), while Maddie Burke (7.3 ppg) is hitting 45.8% of her 3-point attempts. But they need a little more offensively from Brooke Mullin, who’s shooting just 5-of-43 (11.6%) from 3-point range, and a rotation that in some games hasn’t gone any deeper than seven could use a little more depth.