6'8" Canadian commits to Oregon | Page 2 | The Boneyard

6'8" Canadian commits to Oregon

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I saw her mentioned before here. Surprised she hadn't been talked about more, maybe because she's from Calgary while most of the recent attention to Canadian HS talent has been on Toronto? Physically on video she looks like she has just as much a scary combo of size/athleticism as McCowan or Soares. Video can be deceiving but her ceiling looks higher than any other post in the class of 2021.


Yes and no. She immigrated to Canada when she was in Grade 8 (possibly Grade 7). Really raw as she was only introduced to basketball when she moved here. She was part of the Basketball Alberta program but had a long ways to go with respect to others in her class (e.g. Lattimore, Zingaro, Alexander) who also are freshmen this year.

It's still unclear as to how she'll fare this season because there were no competitions in Canada last year. I've noted before, it would have been interesting to see how she would play after moving to Ontario to play for Crestwood.
Toronto is 1/6th of Canada's pop (16%) so it's going to dominate everything up north.
As comparison, California is not even 12%.
This is 100% accurate unfortunately. A lot of great players from BC, AB and even QC get overlooked for players in Toronto or Ontario.
 
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I’m beginning to think Kyei may be more of an impact player this season than I originally estimated.
 
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Nice haul by Oregon! Hopefully all goes well for the young lady and Oregon's basketball program and their development of the young lady's skills.
 
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I’m beginning to think Kyei may be more of an impact player this season than I originally estimated.
She's a big unknown factor for sure. Depending on how she performs, she could be the surprise 2021 player out of Canada when you think of all the hype around Lattimore.

It sounds like the year with Crestwood, even without games was a huge step in her development. Hoping this continues into the exhibition and non-conference games.
 
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Yeah "mad scientist experiment" with "projects" for sure, because Oregon State bringing in 6'9" Mitrovic, at one time the third ranked player in Europe and bringing in 6'9" Aquino, at one time the 7th ranked player in the nation (as per ESPN) was plainly a crazy, risky experiment rather than the skilled recruitment of bonified prospects. What was Rueck thinking? Somehow he should have just known that Mitrovic would sustain a season ending knee injury AFTER signing her, and he should have just known Aquino would be diagnosed with a heart condition that would prevent her from playing for 2 seasons (and counting), AFTER signing her. Mad scientist experiment with "projects" ??? Ahhhhh, WRONG, Guess again. If Mitrovic and Aquino are "projects", please fill my roster with players like them. I would agree that 6'7" Morris was more experimental, but hardly a "mad scientist experiment". Also, if previous centers like Gulich and Hamblin are other examples, the word "brilliant" might be a slightly closer word to the truth than "mad" when it comes to Oregon State's recent history with post players.

In contrast, Phillipina Kyei is not ranked anywhere....at least not anywhere Oregonlive or other media outlets can identify. "I think Phillipina has a chance to be a really good player," Graves said in a release. " Now this sounds like the definition of an experimental project. By the way, I would never refer to Kelly Graves et al. at Oregon as a "mad scientist" or what he does as a "mad scientist experiment" , but you have no problem calling Rueck et al. this even though Reuck is recognized as among the best coaches in the Nation (as is Graves). You sound unnecessarily disrespectful and heavily biased to me.
Extremely denigrating characterization of both the players and the coaches.
Does the same despicable labeling apply to Coach Geno and the Piath recruitment?
Or only to other teams?
Or maybe the cutoff for for your “experiment “ is any player 6’6” and over?
Poor use of words.
 
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Extremely denigrating characterization of both the players and the coaches.
Does the same despicable labeling apply to Coach Geno and the Piath recruitment?
Or only to other teams?
Or maybe the cutoff for for your “experiment “ is any player 6’6” and over?
Poor use of words.
Tell that to Figurehead.
 
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The Coach of Oregon went out of his way to mention her in his media day. Might have more of an immediate impact then most think.
 
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Sophomore Wing Sydney Parrish on Kyei:
“I have never seen someone develop faster ever playing basketball [than she has] in the last month. It has been unbelievable… She is going to be a really really special player and I’m so excited for everyone to see her play…”
 
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This is something that many who follow basketball do not seem grasp. Players develop at different paces. Some pick in long befor they graduate high school and some don't make their main leap until the reach college. We also need to make allowences for players who pick up the game late such as is the case with the Oregon player. Even without this player I expected Oregon to be better than they are rated. They had a lot of difficulties towards the end of last season. Their game against Louisville was not a good representation of there actual strength. Even with out their point and their back up point they still could have won the game if not for some bad calls against Sabbally.
 
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Great article. Only one point from the article I have a different perspective regarding one quote from Prince:

“She is going to be a really really special player, and I’m excited for everyone to see her play," she said. "Nobody knows about her because she’s from Canada and she was kind of under the radar. I’m really excited to see how she progresses."

It's partially accurate. I think it's more because she was based in Alberta, not being from Canada. She didn't have opportunities to compete against those who'd challenge her. Had she resided in BC, Ontario or Quebec, she likely would have been further ahead in her development because there are more players her height she'd compete against consistently.

It's not her fault. It's just how it is in Canada when it comes to basketball hotbeds. Alberta is starting to pick up with players like Brynn Masikewich who is at UCLA and Yvonne Ejim who is at Gonzaga.

I'm really keen to see how this season progresses for her. She didn't need a lot of hype to get this opportunity and she's already benefitting from it.
 

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