2021 Husky/Gamecocks Recruiting "Super Classes": Mid Term Report Card

[visitingcock]

@HuskyNan Move to General if thats where this should be:

The Huskys and Gamecocks had the dually-proclaimed superclasses among prospects in the 2021 rankings. They now have two years under their belts, but talented upperclasses and injuries have limited their playing time. One has transferred out for each school. Lets discuss their careers to this point and where we see them after two more years. A reminder of their Hoopgurlz rankings.

1	Azzi Fudd	98​	UConn	G	5-11		St. John's College H.S. (DC)
2	Raven Johnson	98​	South Carolina	PG	5-8		Westlake H.S. (GA)
3	Saniya Rivers	98​	South Carolina	G	6-0		Eugene Ashley H.S. (NC)
4	Sania Feagin	98​	South Carolina	F	6-3		Forest Park H.S. (GA)
5	Caroline Ducharme	98​	UConn	G	6-1		Noble & Greenough School (MA)
		​
14	Aubryanna Hall	96​	South Carolina	G	5-11		Wayne H.S. (OH)
15	Amari DeBerry	96​	UConn	F	6-5		Williamsville South H.S. (NY)
30	Saylor Poffenbarger	94​	UConn	G	6-2		Middletown H.S. (MD)

 

[visitingcock]

AZZI: She has been the Super Shooter she was touted to be, but more than "hampered" by injury. Did she even get two half seasons? She has the shooting skills to become a superstar if the body holds up.

RAVEN: Came in behind two WNBA guards, then lost her freshman season due to injury. Did not seem 100% until about midseason of her second season. Can still become an All SEC level player at her position. Future WNBA player? Maybe.

RIVERS: Got meaningfull-time opportunity as a freshman behind two WNBA level guards, but the highest scorer of her high school senior class couldn't shoot, Transferred to NC State and was awarded ACC "6th player" of the year. Will probably have a very good career.

FEAGIN: Was buried as a frosh behind Boston, Amihere and Saxon. Then, Cardosa transferred in. Then, Saxon took her 5th yea., Ashlyn Watkins., That's a lot of trees. Then Dawn signed big leaper, Ashlyn Watkins. Feagin has looked good in mop up time but hasn't gotten meaningful pressure-time minutes. I expected her to transfer when we signed JUCO Big Sakima Walker but she is staying. I hope she gets a chance to show why she was the number 4 prospect.

DUCHARME: Like Azzi, she has shown great talent when healthy. Concussions worry me. She could have a WNBA career if she has no more concussions. Pulling for her!

BREE: Has been a solid, if unspectacular contributor. Has defensive skills and can take over Brea Beal's defensive specialist role. Shot has improved but needs more before I call her a future WNBA player.

DEbERRY: Needs more work.

POFFENBARGER: Probably should not have entered school early. Transfer to Arkansas. Could end up being All SEC player by her senior year due to excellent rebounding techniques.

 

[Geew1992]

I agree with everything except Saylor. No reason for her not to enroll early. Her high school basketball was canceled. And she didn’t lose any eligibility.

 

[Bone Dog]

I think Caroline is unique in this list in that she's demonstrated her abilities in the clutch. None of the others, not even Azzi, has really done as much in this regard as Caroline. Aziz's skill level may be higher, and her shooting more pinpoint. But she's been plagued by more than just injury. Lack of confidence has hampered her. I think if she gets a season playing next to Paige, that friendly rivalry will bring all her confidence roaring back. But Caroline finds her confidence more internally. She is the consummate clutch player.

 

[PacoSwede]

I think Caroline is unique in this list in that she's demonstrated her abilities in the clutch. None of the others, not even Azzi, has really done as much in this regard as Caroline. Aziz's skill level may be higher, and her shooting more pinpoint. But she's been plagued by more than just injury. Lack of confidence has hampered her. I think if she gets a season playing next to Paige, that friendly rivalry will bring all her confidence roaring back. But Caroline finds her confidence more internally. She is the consummate clutch player.

absolutely agree re: azzi's confidence; she seems unwilling to test/exploit her talents to the point that i sometimes question whether she has them. she'd be well served by overcoming her seeming timidity, which, i suspect, she is well aware of.

in that regard, i fear the presence of paige will be in fact be an obstacle to azzi's development of assertiveness -- she may feel paige's accomplishments just can't be exceeded and azzi thus will be intimidated... then, of course, she has her injury history, which can cause one to lose confidence, to deal with.

OTOH, i have no clue if this is an accurate assessment, since i don't know azzi or her personality and thinking, and your take might be right on ... i hope so, for the sake of azzi, the team and huskies fans.

 

[cometjo]

absolutely agree re: azzi's confidence; she seems unwilling to test/exploit her talents to the point that i sometimes question whether she has them. she'd be well served by overcoming her seeming timidity, which, i suspect, she is well aware of.

in that regard, i fear the presence of paige will be in fact be an obstacle to azzi's development of assertiveness -- she may feel paige's accomplishments just can't be exceeded and azzi thus will be intimidated... then, of course, she has her injury history, which can cause one to lose confidence, to deal with.

OTOH, i have no clue if this is an accurate assessment, since i don't know azzi or her personality and thinking, and your take might be right on ... i hope so, for the sake of azzi, the team and huskies fans.

I think Azzi looked amazing, a clear superstar, before her first injury last year. And when she came back, it looked like she was going to pick up right where she left off. But after the second injury she didn't really look the same, which makes total sense: after any injury its hard to trust your body, but how much harder must it be to get injured right away after you've been told everything is OK—I can only imagine that would make it ten times harder to just relax and play.

 

[LarryLegend]

Deberry was clearly overrated. Hard to believe but evaluating kids is always a crapshoot.

 

[mtblancalas]

Amari looks like a player that needs time. I think she will be a fantastic player by her senior year

 

[HuskylnSC]

Super recruiting class?? Maybe above average UConn recruiting class.

 

[visitingcock]

Super recruiting class?? Maybe above average UConn recruiting class.

Note quotation marks used by me. You are expressing what I implied. They were both hailed as "Super Classes" by their respective fan bases and ranked 1 or 2 depending on the ranking service.

In retrospect, neither looks like it was a "Super Class" at this point in their careers. Could that change with their junior and senior seasons ahead ? Maybe, but not "probably."

 

[HuskylnSC]

Note quotation marks used by me. You are expressing what I implied. They were both hailed as "Super Classes" by their respective fan bases and ranked 1 or 2 depending on the ranking service.

In retrospect, neither looks like it was a "Super Class" at this point in their careers. Could that change with their junior and senior seasons ahead ? Maybe, but not "probably."

It was primarily SC fans who were hailing their 'super class'. I think most UConn fans felt our class was good but fell short of some other classes specifically 1999 (perhaps the greatest of all time) and 2012.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Deberry was clearly overrated. Hard to believe but evaluating kids is always a crapshoot.

Amari looks like a player that needs time. I think she will be a fantastic player by her senior year

Amari went through microdiscectomy surgery in May and has spoken about getting her mental health and anxiety issues under control. " There was some mental health stuff, I had some anxiety and things like that. Figuring that out took a little while but I'm in a good place right now. I'm on the healing side of everything.”

I'm hoping that without the constant leg pain and a solid mental approach Amari can use her extreme physical skills to dominate.

 

[wingsfan055]

Losing Saylor was a big blow to UConn's depth last year.she was needed. She looked confused trying to play in her pre-Freshman Spring at UConn. Then, she put up big numbers at Arkansas last year. The whole situation appeared awkward.

 

[wingsfan055]

Amari went through microdiscectomy surgery in May and has spoken about getting her mental health and anxiety issues under control. " There was some mental health stuff, I had some anxiety and things like that. Figuring that out took a little while but I'm in a good place right now. I'm on the healing side of everything.”

I'm hoping that without the constant leg pain and a solid mental approach Amari can use her extreme physical skills to dominate.

This explains a lot. She was not ready to play, mentally or physically, from Day 1 last year. Yet, Geno was unfairly criticized from many here about not playing the bench.

 

[wingsfan055]

Azzi and CD clearly hasn't lived up to expectations, but that's mostly due to health. They've both have shown flashes of greatness but neither can stay on the court. Would love to see a full year of both of them healthy.

 

[visitingcock]

It was primarily SC fans who were hailing their 'super class'. I think most UConn fans felt our class was good but fell short of some other classes specifically 1999 (perhaps the greatest of all time) and 2012.

I'll admit some truth to that. With 2 ,3, 4 and 14, it looked better than our 2019 class (on paper) and most of our fans bought. Many Uconn fans argued that their class was better and (when considered with Paige) would lead to three straight championships.

But, HEY. We're all fan -atics. Right.