2016 UConn commitment: Molly Bent [merged thread]

[UConnCat]

Geno Shea and Dawn were looking at Molly. .

I highly doubt Dawn Staley was looking at Molly Bent.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Let me say something. Fans once again are coming to conclusions without seeing anything. Geno Shea and Dawn were looking at Molly. She's gotta have a lot of talent and great qualities for them to take any time to watch her. No she isn't ranked in the polls at the top. Either is Danielle Patterson but Patterson is very talented with huge up side. Shes getting offers from everyone. What makes some of you doubt Geno and Shea? I like what Im hearing about Molly. I like what Im hearing a lot. As Kib mentioned shes got game and that's all that matters. Im glad the videos were taken down because my fear would be that fans would come to conclusions based on them and many of the fans opinions would be negative. The only measure we need to know to evaluate Molly is she has a big heart and you cant measure the heart of a champion because you cant see whats inside a champions heart.

This is funny really, because it is like a replay of initial reaction to Kia Nurse's commit! Most of us sign on - some of us who actually knew (pat yourself on the head Baldie) and the rest on faith, with the nattering nabobs of negativity chiming in. How'd that work out for the naysayers? Course they now say they were on board since day one! But what is the talk on DS on the hunt, where did that come from? I missed that. As far as the videos went, you have to be well schooled to look at them and see what our coaching staff saw, because they were raw videos - not the highlights of 20 games focusing solely on the shots that fall and the steals and killer assists. So they were games without flow but you saw a kid that absolutely knows her role, how to move, and how to defend and ended her Soph year with over 1000!

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Who is Molly Bent????

To quote an earlier poster calling a coach to bring her in: "Get Bent."

 

[Kmoney]

CocoHusky said:
4--- On another post you said this move has you scratching your head. Why? Beyond this year we are sort of set at the 2,3 and 4 positions. aren't we? This player adds depth to the pg position and doesn't appear to be just a pg. If anything unusual happens with Chong or Dangerfield what do we have at backup pg? Then after Chong goes, she'll give us depth. How many elite pg's are going to want to come to UCONN once we have Dangerfield?

So obvious, but brilliantly written. I hope all the doubters read it and understand it.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

How many elite pg's are going to want to come to UCONN once we have Dangerfield?

Hey, Coco...you stole that from me! Really ridiculously obvious, but only to a few of us apparently.

 

[CocoHusky]

1-- You really consider Nurse 'a role player" when 2016 rolls around? Wow. Was Dennis Johnson a role player for Boston Celts too? Wow- you're tough. But then I read on another post of yours you are saying she'll be an eventual all-american. She'll be BOTH an a/a and a role player?
2-- Who would be our backup pg if either Danergfield or Chong gets hurt? We'd have to put Nurse there right? Isn't Nurse's best position a sg?
3-- In 2016 why don't you think KLS can play the sg? Couldn't players such as Collier or Gabby guard sg's if the sg is very quick?
4--- On another post you said this move has you scratching your head. Why? Beyond this year we are sort of set at the 2,3 and 4 positions. aren't we? This player adds depth to the pg position and doesn't appear to be just a pg. If anything unusual happens with Chong or Dangerfield what do we have at backup pg? Then after Chong goes, she'll give us depth. How many elite pg's are going to want to come to UCONN once we have Dangerfield?

Just when I was ready to move on you pull me back in.
1) Nurse is role player IMO with the potential to be Superstar/all American by the time she is a senior which was the time frame of the discussion you reference. Buy the time Dennis Johnson played for the Celtics he was absolutely a role player. The Dennis Johnson who played for the Seattle Supersonics and then the Suns was an absolute star.
2) In a previous post I stated an opinion that I don't see Dangerfield starting as a Freshmen. So that would leave Nurse and Chong as options for starting with Dangerfield in a backup role. That would leave a backup role open so hopefully we were on the same page. My opinion was we needed another guard in the class of 2016 a hybrid guard that could compete for minutes as a backup (please leave injuries out of the discussions I don't like to tempt fate.) There are several posters that disagreed with the need for a guard in 2016 class.
3) I never said that KLS couldn't play SG. I never said Collier or Gabby couldn't play SG-quite the opposite. My projected starting 5 posted in another thread had a Starting line up of Butler, Tuck, KLS,Collier, and Nurse at the 5, 4,3,2,1 respectively- I took much flack for that also. It's all good!
4) I disagree with you that we are set 2, 3,4 positions after this season. I think we need a backup 4/5 with size (6'3-4" ish)-McCoy or Cox. Irwin, Boykin, Collier, KLS, Ekmark are all capable 3s so we are good there. I think we needed an 1/2 combo guard as mention before (Bent, Chong Ekmark) will fill the role.
I don't think I was the only one scratching my head at this signing-Just the only one (fightinchoke maybe??) to think out loud & write my thoughts here. For me a good day is when I find I agree with myself, so I sincerely appreciate the dialogue and the space to think out loud.

 

[Huskies Rule]

Who is Molly Bent????

After missing out on an absolute diamond right under your nose in Murfreesboro, no Vol should ever question who Geno does or does not go after. I get the feeling Molly and Kyla Irwin and two incredibly hard-working, fundamentally sound, skillful but not spectacular kids who will do anything and everything to WIN. Not flashy, wow-did-you-see-that players, but the kind that are essential ingredients for winning national championships.

 

[Gus Mahler]

I have felt all along that another guard was needed in the 2016 class, preferably a big guard. In that sense I am very pleased with the get. I think another big is also needed. That was the higher priority to me. I am hopeful of that still happening.

What's most interesting to me here is that this recruit parallels the Irwin case: Great kid, good student, solid character, coach's kid, not the most athletic but knows how to play, dedicated to the game, but neither is highly ranked. In one sense they're both risks/projects, in another they are insurance: filling out the roster to avoid the '13-'14 situation with 8 scholarship players. Given the rest of the talent on the team, this seems like a smart strategy, and Geno is in good position to pursue it.

 

[CocoHusky]

What makes some of you doubt Geno and Shea?

Tony to question and try and make sense of a signing is not the same as doubt. None of us has reason to "Doubt" Geno or Shea. Questions on the other hand help us to understand the overall strategy- See Gus's most recent post as an example of something strategic that I had not even thought of.

 

[CocoHusky]

Who is Molly Bent????

Bent is going to be Dangerfield's backup & teammate. Yes that same Crystal Dangerfield from your own backyard!

 

[Huskies Rule]

CocoHusky said:
How many elite pg's are going to want to come to UCONN once we have Dangerfield?

However many are smart enough and willing to share time as the team's second point guard and to learn to play the two. in order to win National Championships.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Im glad the videos were taken down because my fear would be that fans would come to conclusions based on them and many of the fans opinions would be negative.

Quite frankly, who cares what someone's opinion of her is, whether it be positive or negative? Taking down the videos only prevents people from watching her in action which presumably was the point of putting them up in the first place.

 

[Woof 101]

To quote an earlier poster calling a coach to bring her in: "Get Bent."

Rocky they can't get Bent, we got Bent!

Bent is going to be Dangerfield's backup & teammate. Yes that same Crystal Dangerfield from your own backyard!

Wow Dangerfield never got no respect and now would never complain about getting Bent!

 

[Sluconn Husky]

In one sense they're both risks/projects, in another they are insurance: filling out the roster to avoid the '13-'14 situation with 8 scholarship players.

No chance of that. There are already 12 scholarship or verbal Huskies for 2016.

 

[Gus Mahler]

No chance of that. There are already 12 scholarship or verbal Huskies for 2016.

Including Irwin and Bent, right? Doesn't that support my point?

 

[Kibitzer]

To some extent it is true of all teams, but UCONN has produced a number of players like, (as UCMiami has pointed out), Kelly, Stef, Maria, and possibly in the future Chong, that were not chased down by all the power programs, and yet went on to become AA's or important contibutors to NC's here at UCONN.
If Geno (and Shea) think that Molly is UCONN material then I'm going to assume that she is going to have a role in the team's future success.

I recall that when announcements were made that Kalana Greene and Tiffany Hayes had committed to UConn, the typical Boneyard reactions were either "Huh?" or "Who?"

 

[hoophuskee]

Just when I was ready to move on you pull me back in.
1) Nurse is role player IMO with the potential to be Superstar/all American by the time she is a senior which was the time frame of the discussion you reference. Buy the time Dennis Johnson played for the Celtics he was absolutely a role player. The Dennis Johnson who played for the Seattle Supersonics and then the Suns was an absolute star.
2) In a previous post I stated an opinion that I don't see Dangerfield starting as a Freshmen. So that would leave Nurse and Chong as options for starting with Dangerfield in a backup role. That would leave a backup role open so hopefully we were on the same page. My opinion was we needed another guard in the class of 2016 a hybrid guard that could compete for minutes as a backup (please leave injuries out of the discussions I don't like to tempt fate.) There are several posters that disagreed with the need for a guard in 2016 class.
3) I never said that KLS couldn't play SG. I never said Collier or Gabby couldn't play SG-quite the opposite. My projected starting 5 posted in another thread had a Starting line up of Butler, Tuck, KLS,Collier, and Nurse at the 5, 4,3,2,1 respectively- I took much flack for that also. It's all good!
4) I disagree with you that we are set 2, 3,4 positions after this season. I think we need a backup 4/5 with size (6'3-4" ish)-McCoy or Cox. Irwin, Boykin, Collier, KLS, Ekmark are all capable 3s so we are good there. I think we needed an 1/2 combo guard as mention before (Bent, Chong Ekmark) will fill the role.
I don't think I was the only one scratching my head at this signing-Just the only one (fightinchoke maybe??) to think out loud & write my thoughts here. For me a good day is when I find I agree with myself, so I sincerely appreciate the dialogue and the space to think out loud.

1-- OT -- I like the "pull me back in comment!" With that said - what did you think of the movie that used that line? I thought it was very disappointing.

2--- As I said in terms of characterizing role players- wow you are tough imo. IMO you can define every player as a role player if you wanted. Michael Jordan's main role was to score etc. He did other things but hsi main role was to score. It would be tough though to say characterize him as a role player though one can argue he was. SO I'm not saying you are wrong - just being very tough. Rodman was a role player too and is in HOF. Dennis Johnson was an all-star in 1985. Kia Nurse - if one says she will be an a/a in her sr year- then in her jr year she will be be doing a lot of things very, very well therefore to classify her as a role player - imo wow that is a tough designation of her.

3--- In terms of your comment above Dangerfield, okay I see it - but why do we need another hybrid (do you mean "hybrid as a a big guard? I don't think we need a big guard. We have a big guard coming the following year with other major possibilities I think along with KLS as a big guard))? We have two pgs in Chong and Dangerfield. Nurse can play pg if need be. SO now we have Bent. We have many sg's including KLS. Keeping Nurse at sg with two main pg's (Chong and Dangerfield) what is wrong with that?

4-- I know you never said anything about KLS - but I brought it up because you didn't list her as a sg. You didn't list her - so I asked you why. So now we have other "sg's" why not get someone who is more of a pg like we did with Bent?

5-- I agree we can use awesome players like Cox and McCoy as I wrote my reply to you poorly. I think with Butler as a center, then Collier, KLS, Gabby, Nurse, Ekmark and Irwin (maybe Tuck) , - our strength right now is at the 2/3/4 imo. Which would make us more lethal with Cox/McCoy. Has this move with Bent taken us out the picture of getting Cox or McCoy? If it hasn't then why scratch your head regarding Bent?

6-- You're the only that it wrote it (scratching your head. And I didn't see Choke's questioning the move either.) - so I can only respond to you. So I still am scratching my head why you or anyone else would be scratching theirs as to why we signed a backup pg? I still don't understand why you are and because you are the only one on this thread questioning it, you are the only one I could ask the question to.

 

[AnotherVolFan]

After missing out on an absolute diamond right under your nose in Murfreesboro, no Vol should ever question who Geno does or does not go after. I get the feeling Molly and Kyla Irwin and two incredibly hard-working, fundamentally sound, skillful but not spectacular kids who will do anything and everything to WIN. Not flashy, wow-did-you-see-that players, but the kind that are essential ingredients for winning national championships.

How did you get that I was questioning who Geno goes after from my post?! Lmaooo

What are you saying with this post?

........Im basically saying what people were thinking when they seen the thread title. I mean how many people here had heard of her before this thread. All im saying is you wouldnt think this would be the next commit for UCONN...it came out of no where, and if you try to look the girl up to see what she's about....you get nothing, I hope that cleared it up for you some.

 

[AnotherVolFan]

Bent is going to be Dangerfield's backup & teammate. Yes that same Crystal Dangerfield from your own backyard!

.......well its to early to call her a backup but I promise you I had already figured out that she was going to be a teammate of Dangerfield.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

and if you try to look the girl up to see what she's about....you get nothing, I hope that cleared it up for you some.

Oh, PUHleez...troll that lure somewhere else. The Vols have spent years lamenting what is wrong with a team full of press clippings.

 

[AnotherVolFan]

Oh, PUHleez...troll that lure somewhere else. The Vols have spent years lamenting what is wrong with a team full of press clippings.

Ok you're taking my post and making it more than what it is....this doesn't have ANYTHING to do with UT...my gosh...I'm talking about your recent commit sir...let's stick to that! All I want to do is see how the girl plays...that's it!!! Just like everybody else does......

 

[formerlurker]

This commitment has me scratching my head. Anyone else? Was I too focused on Chou, Willoughby, Harris, Ionescu, Ramirez, or Slocum? Kelly Jekot visited UCONN and seemed interested and ended up signing with Villanova. Am I just another spoiled UCONN fan? I look at the video and a see a very good player, I am not even sure she was the best guard in that AAU team's backcourt-#24 with the brace looked just as good IMO.

 

[hoophuskee]

Anyone can construe a negative post in any manner they want. What about all the posts this board has of Tennessee? IS a post negative when someone says no one else has a chance to win other than UCONN?

Or the disagreement of a player making all-American or all-conference over another?

 

[NewCorn]

We'll never get an accurate height on Molly, though, because she's Bent over.

She's taller than Bria.

 

[cferraro04]

I highly doubt Dawn Staley was looking at Molly Bent.

What Dawn is looking at could be over-rated, after all she was looking at a national championship trophy but it is Geno and the Huskies who actually will be looking at it for a very long, long time... By the way, I don't think Dawn was looking at Kia Nurse and I'm glad she wasn't...

 

[JS]

Anyone can construe a negative post in any manner they want. What about all the posts this board has of Tennessee? IS a post negative when someone says no one else has a chance to win other than UCONN?

Or the disagreement of a player making all-American or all-conference over another?

Negative is in the eye of the beholder, eh?

Thanks to Coco for speaking his mind. It's led to good conversation (hopefully to continue), which is why we're all here, is it not?

And that's a positive. What's not a positive is saying, in effect:

-- "Geno knows best, so shut up!" or
-- "You're going to hurt the player's [family's] feelings, so shut up!"

These are attempted conversation-killers.

Reasoned questioning (not bashing), followed by reasoned and civil agreement or disagreement (not insults or squelching attempts) are in the best interest of the board.

End of speech.