bearwbbfan said:

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She appears to be committing at the end of the month, and it is believed to be between USC, Cal, and UCLA. espnW lists her as a 6-3 guard and ranks her #14 in 2021.

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Thanks for the tea. Where did you see that she's considering Cal? I recall an interview where UCLA and USC were mentioned, but wasn't aware of Cal being in the mix.

Given the bigs we have, I could see why Rayah would consider us given her desire to play on the perimeter.

wbbilluminati said:

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Given the bigs we have, I could see why Rayah would consider us given her desire to play on the perimeter.

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Yes! No more having to play people like Courtney Range in the post because we have nobody else.

Good news she's considering the Bears.

Courtney played with two WNBA first rounder who were centers in Gray and Anigwe. Plus she had Davidson to do the dirty work underneath.. Range led the team in 3 point tries in the 2015-16 season.

Just watched some game footage of Rayah. Her game does remind me a lot of Courtney Range! I don't know if I'd call Marshall a guard though in terms of what she could do handling the ball. She's got very long arms. Would be a tremendous get!

wvitbear said:

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Courtney played with two WNBA first rounder who were centers in Gray and Anigwe. Plus she had Davidson to do the dirty work underneath.. Range led the team in 3 point tries in the 2015-16 season.

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I remember Courtney playing a lot at PF. Gray and Anigwe didn't overlap and Davidson wasn't much of a factor as a freshie (average 12 min, 3.3 pts, 1.4 reb).

Stu, what I meant is that Courtney overlapped the two centers. Meaning that as soon as Gray left, Courtney moved on to Anigwe. So she never played without an outstanding center playing with her. Davidson played more and more as she progressed up the ladder.

More research.

2013- 14 Range played with Brandon and Gray. No shortage of great post players there.

2014-15 Gray and Davidson. (that first year Davidson only played about 12 minutes a game)

2015-16. Anigwe and Davidson (Davidson played 22 minutes a game.). Courtney led the team in 3 point attempts.

2016-17. Anigwe and Davidson (Davidson again played 22 minutes a game). Was second on the team in three point attempts.

Range was a nice athlete but not nearly in the category of Cowling or J Brown. On top of that she had nagging leg injuries that slowed her down but affected her shooting. Particularly her last season.

I believe Rayah is a better athlete than Courtney. I watched Courtney play for 4 years in high school and 4 years at cal. She was athletic but not that athletic like Cowling or Brown.

I checked Rayah's stats and she scored a lot of points and she shot twice as much as anyone else on the team. But she shot 30% from three point land and 66% from the free throw line. So right now i don't see her as an outside threat. But she probably handles the ball very well and can go to the hoop or ESPN wouldn't rate her as a guard. She is rated higher than Courtney was as a high school player so I assume she is very athletic. If she shot better then she would probably be higher than 20th.

I have never seen her play and probably won't. Her team is a pretty good team but not a great team. So I don't expect to see her up here if we even have a state playoff.

wvitbear said:

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Stu, what I meant is that Courtney overlapped the two centers. Meaning that as soon as Gray left, Courtney moved on to Anigwe. So she never played without an outstanding center playing with her. Davidson played more and more as she progressed up the ladder.

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I agree with all of that and I think Davidson may have improved through her Cal career more than any other player I've seen here.

I remember talking with Clay after a game in Davidson's freshman year and he thought Cal wasted a scholarship. You are right about her improvement. Was it her freshman year that she made the game winner against ASU?

Agree Davidson improved a lot during her Cal tenure, but her role changed as well. She arrived as a 6'3" perimeter shooter, but the Bears lack of bigs, and her length, put her inside to compliment Anigwe. Nina contributed critical rebounding, defense, energy and some scoring in that role.

I never regarded her as a three point shooter. She shot 21.9%, 28.6 %, and 25.0 % the last three years she played. Always looked like she was going to be one but it never happened.

I found it frustrating to watch Davidson pass up shot after shot from the top of the key or even from closer in. It seemed like she was under orders not to take those shots even when wide open. And without even the threat of that shot, teams kept collapsing down on us inside. Not sure why you would even have a big person stationed outside if they do not represent a shooting threat.

Nina was one of my fav players

https://instagr.am/p/B43mHe2A6Hj

I have been wrong before and will be again ...

But despite Davidson's popularity, she really wasn't the kind of player who's going to make a difference at the Pac-12 level. Her numbers suggest a nice reserve who won't kill you ... good rebounder, could finish around the rim, no perimeter threat, mediocre free-throw shooter, awful ballhandler.

Start five players at Davidson's level and you're going to struggle to win games in the Pac-12. Start one at her level and you're OK. If she's your eighth best player, you've got something ...

wvitbear said:

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I remember talking with Clay after a game in Davidson's freshman year and he thought Cal wasted a scholarship. You are right about her improvement. Was it her freshman year that she made the game winner against ASU?

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She did after Gray fouled out and LG was forced to put her in. She got the offensive rebound, made a nice move and put in the game winner in a tough win at ASU. She had a nice inside game coming in. She also looked terrific shooting 3's when she first came in.

She did shoot 40% in 3's (10-25) her freshman year and went downhill as she lost confidence. She was also a decent free throw shooter coming in but she went through a stretch where she missed the rim more often than not.

She and Cowling were my favorite players during that period. I always wondered what her career would have been if Alanna Smith didn't commit.

Actually Oregon instead of UCLA: https://instagr.am/p/CEkYqWEp7QI

bearwbbfan said:

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Actually Oregon instead of UCLA: https://instagr.am/p/CEkYqWEp7QI

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On that same Instagram post, Rayah wrote "Saturday is the day". Decision day?

ClayK said:

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I have been wrong before and will be again ...

But despite Davidson's popularity, she really wasn't the kind of player who's going to make a difference at the Pac-12 level. Her numbers suggest a nice reserve who won't kill you ... good rebounder, could finish around the rim, no perimeter threat, mediocre free-throw shooter, awful ballhandler.

Start five players at Davidson's level and you're going to struggle to win games in the Pac-12. Start one at her level and you're OK. If she's your eighth best player, you've got something ...

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I liked Nina because of her hard hat mentality and motor

Obviously there were better players, but she played a key role on those teams

My current favorite player is Leilani. Again, not the most talented player, but I like her toughness, and having to play so many PG minutes as a freshmen is not an easy thing

HoopDreams said:

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ClayK said:

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I have been wrong before and will be again ...

But despite Davidson's popularity, she really wasn't the kind of player who's going to make a difference at the Pac-12 level. Her numbers suggest a nice reserve who won't kill you ... good rebounder, could finish around the rim, no perimeter threat, mediocre free-throw shooter, awful ballhandler.

Start five players at Davidson's level and you're going to struggle to win games in the Pac-12. Start one at her level and you're OK. If she's your eighth best player, you've got something ...

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I liked Nina because of her hard hat mentality and motor

Obviously there were better players, but she played a key role on those teams

My current favorite player is Leilani. Again, not the most talented player, but I like her toughness, and having to play so many PG minutes as a freshmen is not an easy thing

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Leilani has photos of her training this summer.....she has worked very hard....her brother is now a junior in highschool and plays football........they workout together.....there are also pictures of her shooting in a gym...

Just wondering - would there be enough basketballs to go around? Those 5 star recruits like to dominate the ball and pile up offensive statistics.

Intuit said:

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Just wondering - would there be enough basketballs to go around? Those 5 star recruits like to dominate the ball and pile up offensive statistics.

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Oregon has made it work, as has Stanford. I think Charmin will also instill that kind of winning attitude.