Talia von Oelhoffen 2021

[Sonofabeach]

 

[eebmg]

The picture above 'clipped' school 5. On purpose?

 

[Bama fan]

She is the daughter of Kimo von Oelhoffen who played several years for the Pittsburgh Steelers as a defensive lineman. He was a starter on the 2005 Super Bowl winning Steelers team. Her mother, Tondi, was a three sport star in Washington high school sports and had six state records in her day. Older sister , Kamri, is a first team NWAC all star in basketball. So Talia has a fine pedigree.

 

[EricLA]

Wow that is great to see. I think it will be hard to lure her away from Stanford - we have not fared well when competing against them for kids - we usually end up coming in second. Still, IMHO she can either choose to play for the team that will most likely win NC's during her 4 years, or go somewhere else and lose to UCONN...

 

[eebmg]

Wow that is great to see. I think it will be hard to lure her away from Stanford - we have not fared well when competing against them for kids - we usually end up coming in second. Still, IMHO she can either choose to play for the team that will most likely win NC's during her 4 years, or go somewhere else and lose to UCONN...

Well, we got KLS and KML. Maybe some good luck with Three initial players (TVO)

 

[oldude]

Wow that is great to see. I think it will be hard to lure her away from Stanford - we have not fared well when competing against them for kids - we usually end up coming in second. Still, IMHO she can either choose to play for the team that will most likely win NC's during her 4 years, or go somewhere else and lose to UCONN...

UConn has held their own vs Stanford in recruiting going all the way back to Rebecca. More recently, UConn has persuaded KML, Gabby & Lou all to head East from out west.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Wow that is great to see. I think it will be hard to lure her away from Stanford - we have not fared well when competing against them for kids - we usually end up coming in second. Still, IMHO she can either choose to play for the team that will most likely win NC's during her 4 years, or go somewhere else and lose to UCONN...

That Stanford diploma isn't a bad consolation prize though.

 

[TheFarmFan]

In general, I view these lists that include Stanford with a grain of salt, because of 4 out of 5 players who have Stanford in their final 5/10 lists don't end up being admissible in the end and wind up elsewhere by October of their senior year. Delayah Daniels is the (presumed) most recent example of this - we held a fourth spot open and she stayed uncommitted into the fall but, we assume, didn't end up getting the scores she needed and then immediately announced her commitment to Cal. We didn't end up filling that fourth spot.

Well, we got KLS and KML. Maybe some good luck with Three initial players (TVO)

Do we know KML was admitted/admissible to Stanford? Although never documented, everyone has always assumed KLS was admitted/admissible but chose Storrs instead (esp. given her sisters). With the exception of Lou, Skylar Diggins, and Mikayla Pivec, there aren't many known recruits I can think of that have been formally admitted but gone elsewhere. (That's not to say they couldn't be, just that, if you know Stanford isn't your top choice, all the extra APs and SAT targets you need to make may not be worth it to you. Given her GPA, Bueckers is an example of someone I suspect could have been admitted to Stanford down the road had she chosen that path.)

Not to second-guess KML's academic bona fides, but rather there's just never been any Stanford lore that she was clearly admissible, and she committed to UConn early in her junior year before she would have even been able to be formally admitted. (Ordinarily when recruits make early commitments, like Jana Van Gytenbeek and Brooke Demetre, they've clearly surpassed thresholds with room to spare such that the AD can give them the presumptive thumbs up. Every once in a while - especially with Stanford football - a recruit ends up falling short in the end and has to awkwardly decommit at the last minute. Really tough situation, so the AD tends to be overly cautious in giving clear signals.)

 

[JonathanXIV]

That Stanford diploma isn't a bad consolation prize though.

Yeah. Too bad it didn’t work out for those kids who chose UConn.

 

[chrissaran]

UConn has held their own vs Stanford in recruiting going all the way back to Rebecca. More recently, UConn has persuaded KML, Gabby & Lou all to head East from out west.

What about D? She's from Cali too.

 

[CocoHusky]

UConn has held their own vs Stanford in recruiting going all the way back to Rebecca. More recently, UConn has persuaded KML, Gabby & Lou all to head East from out west.

Most recently Haley Jones and Cameron Brink both chose Stanford after visiting UCONN.

 

[Blakeon18]

UConn over Vandy and Stanford for Sue Bird.

 

[Tonyc]

UConns secret weapon has is every game is televised and her family and friends can watch her

 

[Zanzman]

Pac12 network

 

[oldude]

Most recently Haley Jones and Cameron Brink both chose Stanford after visiting UCONN.

Win some, lose some. Liv also was also recruited at Stanford before choosing the Huskies.

While we’re at it, let’s talk about just how difficult it is to get into Stanford. If we’re talking about the general student body, Stanford is one of the most difficult schools in the world to gain admission to. But when we are talking about scholarship athletes, assuming recruits meet the minimum criteria for admissions (GPA, test scores, core courses) each Stanford coach is allowed a specific number of recruits that they can designate for acceptance. I submit that the two most important criteria for an athlete to be accepted at Stanford are 1) How good are they? & 2) Is Stanford their first choice?

Our good friend TheFarmFan has suggested that some of the players who reportedly were interested in Stanford but eventually ended up in Storrs, may not have been accepted at Stanford. He may be correct. However, all that KML, Lou, Gabby, Liv and any other top UConn recruit needed to do to insure acceptance at Stanford was to assure Tara that Stanford was their first choice.

 

[oldude]

What about D? She's from Cali too.

I don’t know if DT was ever interested in Stanford. All that I know is that once Geno showed up at her house in Chino, CA and started speaking in Italian to her dad, DT was coming to UConn.

 

[CocoHusky]

Win some, lose some. Liv also was also recruited at Stanford before choosing the Huskies.
While we’re at it, let’s talk about just how difficult it is to get into Stanford. If we’re talking about the general student body, Stanford is one of the most difficult schools in the world to gain admission to. But when we are talking about scholarship athletes, assuming recruits meet the minimum criteria for admissions (GPA, test scores, core courses) each Stanford coach is allowed a specific number of recruits that they can designate for acceptance. I submit that the two most important criteria for an athlete to be accepted at Stanford are 1) How good are they? & 2) Is Stanford their first choice?
Our good friend TheFarmFan has suggested that some of the players who reportedly were interested in Stanford but eventually ended up in Storrs, may not have been accepted at Stanford. He may be correct. However, all that KML, Lou, Gabby, Liv and any other top UConn recruit needed to do to insure acceptance at Stanford was to assure Tara that Stanford was their first choice.

This is misleading on a couple of levels. @TheFarmFan post stated that some of those players ended up "elsewhere". He didn't "suggest" anything about UCONN or the players that chose UCONN over Stanford. Secondly I know from personal experience that admissions to stanford is entirely independent of Tara, regardless of how good a BB player you are and even if Stanford is your first choice.

 

[Crossover]

I don’t know if DT was ever interested in Stanford. All that I know is that once Geno showed up at her house in Chino, CA and started speaking in Italian to her dad, DT was coming to UConn.

Let's be real. DT would be the first to admit that academics is not her thing. I breathed a sigh of relief (as did Geno) when she received her UCONN degree.

 

[Alydar]

This is misleading on a couple of levels. @TheFarmFan post stated that some of those players ended up "elsewhere". He didn't "suggest" anything about UCONN or the players that chose UCONN over Stanford. Secondly I know from personal experience that admissions to stanford is entirely independent of Tara, regardless of how good a BB player you are and even if Stanford is your first choice.

I can't speak about Stanford but if you are a talented male football/basketball player there are prep schools that specialize in tutoring athletes into acceptable numbers for admission to college. Some of UConn's star mbb players came that route. There's a reason a lot of those stars are 20 year old freshmen. And in today's one and done world you can be steered through a semester. I don't think Duke's star freshmen bb players go there for the degree.

 

[oldude]

He didn't "suggest" anything about UCONN or the players that chose UCONN over Stanford. Secondly I know from personal experience

You need to go back and reread his post. He specifically mentions KML & Lou. As for your personal experience, unless you work in the Stanford Admissions Department, you don’t know how they weigh various admissions criteria including athletic ability and racial diversity to name a few. I would be shocked if Stanford evaluated all 45,000-50,000 annual admissions applications solely based on academic criteria.

 

[oldude]

Let's be real. DT would be the first to admit that academics is not her thing. I breathed a sigh of relief (as did Geno) when she received her UCONN degree.

She certainly earned a PHD in basketball.

 

[pvdoggy]

You need to go back and reread his post. He specifically mentions KML & Lou. As for your personal experience, unless you work in the Stanford Admissions Department, you don’t know how they weigh various admissions criteria including athletic ability and racial diversity to name a few. I would be shocked if Stanford evaluated all 45,000-50,000 annual admissions applications solely based on academic criteria.

Yeah, if anybody believes that all Stanford admission are treated equally, they are being naive.

Legacy | KQED

Maya DiRado Andrews was a beneficiary of Stanford’s legacy admissions mechanism and she says its time to end it.

www.kqed.org

I don't know if Maya Dirado would have made it on her own merit, but at least we know not all applicants are evaluated based on the same standard. Based on the "legacy" criteria, Lou might have gotten a leg up on other applicants as well.

 

[TheFarmFan]

Since I seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest, let me just say that:

1. No, I was not implying anything about any specific UConn player. All I was saying is that KML has never been one of the "one that got away" players in discussions about recruiting misses, the way that Lou, Skylar Diggins, and Mikayla Pivec all definitely have been. So that was news to me - but I was not insinuating that it was "fake" news.

2. Yes, of course, admissions to Stanford is different for (some) athletes than for the general student body. But 1 out of every 7 Stanford undergraduates is a varsity athlete - if the university had wholesale diminished admissions standards for all varsity athletes, there's no way Stanford would remain a "top" US News school in terms of GPA and SAT metrics.

3. Contrary to olddude's insinuations, and in line with what CocoHusky said, I have never heard of Stanford coaches getting to designate their players for guaranteed admission, and everything I've heard has been to the contrary. Tara has been explicit in saying that in any given season, there are roughly 5-10 of the top 100 recruits who could be admitted to Stanford. I do think, for athletes who are already in the "admissions zone," coaches can bump their designated athletes to the top of the small heap. But again, that is among the already small pool who can qualify - not just any ESPNW Top 100 recruit. There's a reason why UConn, Louisville, Baylor, Tennessee, etc., show up on many, many more Top 5/10/etc. lists than does Stanford.

4. The reality of being a top high school recruit these days is that it involves not just HS basketball, but travel teams, summer leagues, and various other U16-type commitments. All of that cuts into the time it takes to take all the required APs, rack up enough As, and ace the PSAT and SAT. It's not just about raw smarts, but also about the dedication of being really solid on both the court and in class. Follow Kate Paye's twitter feed and you'll see how much time she spends trying to selling prospective recruits on taking the affirmative steps as a freshman or sophomore in high school to set themselves up to be eligible for admission by their senior year. They can't just wake up one day midway through junior year and decide they want to go to Stanford.

(And honestly, this is why I didn't begrudge Lou one iota for picking UConn over Stanford: if your goal is to be a top pro basketball player and you don't have other non-basketball ambitions -- and you know you have the talent to do so -- you'll almost surely graduate from Storrs a more finished product than from the Farm, and your "school network" will be far stronger for your chosen profession.)

TL;DR: I treat any recruit listing us in her top 5 as a pleasant thought that I'm not going to get seriously invested in unless and until I know they've been admitted.

 

[tomcat]

I know nothing about this stuff, but this kid just has that West Coast look about her.

 

[oldude]

Since I seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest, let me just say that:

1. No, I was not implying anything about any specific UConn player. All I was saying is that KML has never been one of the "one that got away" players in discussions about recruiting misses, the way that Lou, Skylar Diggins, and Mikayla Pivec all definitely have been. So that was news to me - but I was not insinuating that it was "fake" news.

2. Yes, of course, admissions to Stanford is different for (some) athletes than for the general student body. But 1 out of every 7 Stanford undergraduates is a varsity athlete - if the university had wholesale diminished admissions standards for all varsity athletes, there's no way Stanford would remain a "top" US News school in terms of GPA and SAT metrics.

3. Contrary to olddude's insinuations, and in line with what CocoHusky said, I have never heard of Stanford coaches getting to designate their players for guaranteed admission, and everything I've heard has been to the contrary. Tara has been explicit in saying that in any given season, there are roughly 5-10 of the top 100 recruits who could be admitted to Stanford. I do think, for athletes who are already in the "admissions zone," coaches can bump their designated athletes to the top of the small heap. But again, that is among the already small pool who can qualify - not just any ESPNW Top 100 recruit. There's a reason why UConn, Louisville, Baylor, Tennessee, etc., show up on many, many more Top 5/10/etc. lists than does Stanford.

4. The reality of being a top high school recruit these days is that it involves not just HS basketball, but travel teams, summer leagues, and various other U16-type commitments. All of that cuts into the time it takes to take all the required APs, rack up enough As, and ace the PSAT and SAT. It's not just about raw smarts, but also about the dedication of being really solid on both the court and in class. Follow Kate Paye's twitter feed and you'll see how much time she spends trying to selling prospective recruits on taking the affirmative steps as a freshman or sophomore in college to set themselves up to be eligible for admission. They can't just wake up one day midway through junior year and decide they want to go to Stanford.

(And honestly, this is why I didn't begrudge Lou one iota for picking UConn over Stanford: if your goal is to be a top pro basketball player and you don't have other non-basketball ambitions -- and you know you have the talent to do so -- you'll almost surely graduate from Storrs a more finished product than from the Farm, and your "school network" will be far stronger for your chosen profession.)

TL;DR: I treat any recruit listing us in her top 5 as a pleasant thought that I'm not going to get seriously invested in unless and until I know they've been admitted.

So let me be clear. I am not suggesting that Stanford student-athletes are not also very good students. I am suggesting that not everyone who gets into Stanford is their HS valedictorian with twin 800 SAT scores. I am also suggesting that the respective coaches for each varsity team at Stanford play a major role in which athletes are accepted into Stanford.

Specifically with regard to WBB, Stanford has 15 endowed athletic scholarships that are sponsored by some heavy hitter alumni. The last thing Stanford University wants is for any of those scholarships to go unfilled. It is my contention that Tara and her coaching staff work very closely with the Admissions Department to insure that the applicants who are accepted are the ones most likely to come.