A'ja to Announce College Decision on April 16th (merged)

[semper]

I think she's coming to UCONN.

 

[jsloanjr]

If she watched the USC games last weekend and watches the UCONN games this weekend, she might change her mind or she is sending up smoke signals to confuse everybody but her......Lets wait unti April 16th........

 

[Tonyc]

Well, given the number of posts in this thread, and the number of people who have viewed it, I'd say yes. UCONN is on the verge of a run of domination that has never been seen before. In landing KML, and then Tuck, Stewie, and Jefferson, UCONN has a pair of classes with 4 kids who are legitimately the best at their positions in the nation (not quite for Tuck), and who are in the top 5 in their classes. UCONN already has Nurse and Williams on board. Again, big "if's" with regards to health, but Williams is easily a top 10 kid, and possibly top 5, and Nurse IMHO is one of the top 5 kids in her class as well, even though she's from Canada and ranked right around 10 by everyone besides ESPN.

Landing Wilson would give them 6 kids on the team next year who are legit top 5 in their respective classes. The year after that, KML will be graduated, but IF UCONN lands Samuelson and Durr, that gives them 7 kids top 5, and literally 5 kids who were either 1 or 2 in their classes. That's just sick, and like I said, unprecedented in the possibilities of a true dynasty that already goes back 6 years (our 7th final 4 in a row), and with 3 out of the last 5 NC's (4 out of 6 if they win this year), it would set UCONN up for a run that has simply never been seen.

Even if they don't get Wilson, the rest of the talent is so spread out that while teams like SC, Stanford, Duke, Maryland, UNC, Tennessee, Baylor, Louisville, and a few others could legitimately make final 4 runs, UCONN would be the undisputed favorites in every season for the next 4-5. Now I'm not trying to mess with the mojo, put the cart before the horse, or any other analogy, but what I just said above is a big reason why Wilson is such a big deal.

If she chooses SC, they suddenly become a contender for a final 4. NOT really a contender for a NC. Let's be honest - Maya Moore only won 2 NC's at UCONN and as it turns out, she is probably close to the best all around player in the world right now. If we'd landed Elena, it's likely Maya would have won at least 1 more, but with all the talent she was surrounded by, she only won 2. For SC fans to think they have a legit shot at an actual NC, they need to get past UCONN and ND and no matter how nice SC's run was this year, Wilson does not make them better than UCONN or ND...

Well let me add Geno mentioned at a breakfast a couple of weeks ago that he expects UConn to do very well with the class of 2015. Let me go a step further and there is an AAU team that boast HS freshman and 5 of the starters want to play for UConn. 2 are 6'2+ one is 6'3 and the other two are 5'10. So that carries Uconn out for another 8 years. Now we all know that they can change their mind and so can UConn however its nice to know where we stand.

One thing about UConn. When your the best everybody will tell you your the best, you dont have to tell everybody your the best because they already know your the best. So when decision time comes we will see who is willing to say I want to be a Uconn Husky.

Sarals on your post let me add one thing. It baffles me how you can have Griner and Sims and only win 1 NC? I love KM but I have to question what happened. She had the players, the leaders, the go to players and won one 1 NC.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Well let's take a look at that.
McD AA's

UCONN - 8 (Dolson, Hartley, KML, Stokes, Banks, Stewart, Jefferson, Tuck)
Rutgers - 4 (Canty, Laney, Copper, Scaife)
Louisville - 2 (Hammond, Smith) (notice no Schimmel)
Tennessee - 6 (Simmons, Burdick, Massengale, Graves, Russell, Reynolds)
Kentucky - 5 (Walker, O'Neill, Thompson, Harper, Epps)
Notre Dame - 5 (McBride, Loyd, Mabrey, Reimer, Allen)
Duke - 9 (Gray, Peters, Jackson, Williams, Jones, Greenwell, Chidom, Henson, Cooper)
Maryland - 3 (Mincy, Howard, Brown) (notice doesn't include Thomas)
UNC - 4 (McDaniel, DeShields, Washington, Mavunga) (Gray probably should have been)
Baylor - 4 (Sims, Johnson, Prince, Small)
Stanford - 4 (Ogwumike, BSamuelson, McCall, Johnson)

Also Per Hoopgurlz, UCONN has had one #1 recruiting class the last 4 years. (which would include Fresh-Seniors now)
2010 - 2013
UCONN - #3, #2, #1, >20
Duke - #1, #4, #7, #2
Tennessee - #14, #1, #5, #3
Notre Dame - #8, #24, #4, #4
Stanford - #4, #6, #23, #6

So I'd say, getting good players sure helps. But to answer your question, yea, coaching matters.

Wow @Duke. How haven't they won championships? Either the recruiting rankings are way way off or it's something else.... Hmmm wonder what that something else could be?

 

[RockyMTblue2]

You ask that again why? Are you insinuating Geno isn't a great coach?

If so, while recruiting is a bit of a horse race, you're making a Spectacular Bid for Citation as
Tom Fool of the month. I don't mean to act like a Ruffian, but your insinuation can't be Affirmed.

(Sorry, with Derby Day less than a month away, something came over me .)

See, Biscuit, (oops) -- great coaches generally aren't just some lucky stiffs who happen to pull in the best talent and then sit back and win.

Please allow for the possibility that they get that talent because they're great coaches and the talent knows it.

Please allow for the further possibility that coaching great talent takes talent. Because greatly talented players can keep improving, just as mediocre players can.

Again I ask, how great does coaching have to be to make a mediocre player better?

The challenge with an uber-talented player may be different, but it's just as much a challenge. Big high school stars need plenty of good coaching of a specialized nature to get to the next level and beyond.

The flaws in the games of big high school stars may be more ingrained, because they've been rewarded against lesser competition.

Often those flaws have gone unnoticed by high school coaches who, if they notice them at all, lack the skill and the incentive to address them.

That's where a top level college coach comes in. Think constant improvement, big star, no matter who you are. And here, exactly, is what you need to do, and here's how you can do it.

And by the way, the best players in the world aren't great players in a vacuum. They're good at working as part of a team of similarly great players.

That's different from just being the big star who makes a group of lesser players win a few more games, against lesser competition, than they would have otherwise .

Food for a Round Table discussion before we Forego further debate and Whirlaway to the off-season.

Oops. There I go again.

No one will Eclipse that JS!

 

[Fightin Choke]

Now hold on gentlemen, hold on.....Not so fast. I seem to remember an interview conducted with A'ja on the sideline during the MCDonalds Game when she said that she was looking for a place that she felt comfortable and where she got along well with the coaches. She also stated that it was the little things that she was focusing on and where her skills could be fully developed by coaches so that she could play at the next level (WNBA). And if thats the case , and I have no reason not to believe it is , that speaks loud for UConn. No other coaching staff left in her final four can say they have developed more players for the Next Level than UConn.
Geno has a proven track record. UConn has a proven track record. UT and UNC have new coaches with NO track record. And USC is just getting started in the right direction with a limited success record over the past 6 seasons. So UConn has EVERYTHING A'ja is looking for if her interview is to be believed......And I have no reason to not believe her.

She may have her mind already made up one way or the other but don't discount UConn just yet.

Andrew Calder is an assistant coach who subbed for Sylvia Hatchell this season, but Sylvia is expected back next season. And of course Hatchell is the 2nd winningest coach in WCBB, has won a NC, and is in the WBB Hall of Fame.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Andrew Calder is an assistant coach who subbed for Sylvia Hatchell this season, but Sylvia is expected back next season. And of course Hatchell is the 2nd winningest coach in WCBB, has won a NC, and is in the WBB Hall of Fame.

I hope it would not be impolite to observe that Sylvia has not gotten it done in far more than recent memory or indelicate to note that it remains to be seen whether she will return to full activity in her position.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Andrew Calder is an assistant coach who subbed for Sylvia Hatchell this season, but Sylvia is expected back next season. And of course Hatchell is the 2nd winningest coach in WCBB, has won a NC, and is in the WBB Hall of Fame.

I'm really confused as to why she's in the Hall of Fame. She has won a lot of games but it's been because of the overwhelming talent she's had rather than her ability to coach them and make them better. She's won games but in my mind, has vastly underachieved what another coach would have done with the same material. I guess I'm saying she may be a Hall of Famer as a recruiter but not as a coach. Even then, I think what might have really helped her recruiting efforts is the fact that the school she is coaching is North Carolina which is a prestigious educational institution that has a wonderful campus and relatively mild weather throughout the winter (normally). Unless her coaching technique is run and gun, one on one street basketball, I don't think she does a very good job on the sidelines but that's JMHO!

 

[RUGGY]

Ummm, not to be a grammar nazi, but after your creative use of capitals, commas, periods, spacing, apostrophes, spelling, etc. to ask if this clears this up? No, not really.

good grief try this IMO BAM and BIF you can BIH finally DMY hope this clears this up now cause ya IWIAM love ya LOL

 

[Buzzyboy]

Andrew Calder is an assistant coach who subbed for Sylvia Hatchell this season, but Sylvia is expected back next season. And of course Hatchell is the 2nd winningest coach in WCBB, has won a NC, and is in the WBB Hall of Fame.

The number of wins doesn't speak on the type of coach she really is. I really have very little respect for her abilities on the sidelines. I think with the talent that she's had over the years she has underachieved badly. She's coached at a prestigious university with a lovely campus and tranquil winters and as a result she's had the ability to get some unbelievably talented girls to play for her. As a result of being appreciably more talented than most other teams she's won many games but there are numerous coaches that I feel would have done a lot better and likely won more titles. Her teams are typically poorly disciplined and most often play out of control. A parallel would be General Motors. For many many years GM was selling a massive amount of cars which would suggest that they were making the best cars but Honda and Toyota's entry into the U.S. market gave people a glimpse of what we should expect in a car. That's when people realized G.M. had been just coasting on their reputation. I think that same type thing applies her. Her success was recruiting girls who believed that she would make them better but rarely did she do that. If girls were better leaving than when they had arrived on campus, it was likely due to their own hard work and their natural maturing process, not her coaching and teaching abilities. That is JMHO but I'm confident that there are many women's basketball coaches in America that are better than she is despite her many wins.

 

[FairView]

I've got nothing to add.
I'm just posting to increase the length of this thread, since I have 612 in the office pool guessing how many posts this thread will end up with.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Ummm, not to be a grammar nazi, but after your creative use of capitals, commas, periods, spacing, apostrophes, spelling, etc. to ask if this clears this up? No, not really.

It is understandable...not the post, but the condition. Hang around long enough on those Tenn boards and all you are capable of is sentence fragments and mutterings.

 

[pap49cba]

Announcement will be televised..... LINK

 

[baggerbob]

With Breanna it was I'm going to UConn, because Geno would make her the best player she could be. Comfort was not the major part of the equation. A'ja might come here, but if comfort is important, Geno wouldn't be the person to play for. Stef, Bria, say there is a love- hate relationship, because Geno will not let you cheat yourself, he will ride you to get better.

 

[hussybulldog]

Announcement will be televised..... LINK

Are Geno and his coaching staff invited?

 

[doggydaddy]

Announcement will be televised..... LINK

All I can do is shack my head....lol.

Good for her....I guess......but......

Really?

 

[easttexastrash]

For A'ja I hope the decision is UConn (though I declared my Ouija Board said USC a while back) for reasons other than basketball. It has to do with stepping out of your cultural comfort zone and taking on a bit of a different cultural world before you are too set in your ways. The basketball stuff should point to UConn too, but for the sake of the whole human being it should be UConn too.

Yes, let's hope she gets out of the south before she is too damaged to recover.

 

[ChicagoGG]

IMO, if her decision is on TV, she's not coming to UConn. Good for her that she has achieved that level of interest already from ESPN, but it seems a little over the top for a high school senior. And I don't think that Geno would be too keen on being part of the tv hoopla.
Just yesterday he "casually" mentioned that Stewie signed her LOI on the hood of her car and then went to school. Also that she doesn't need handlers, all she wants to do is play basketball. I think Geno knows which way the wind is blowing and he is okay with it.
As I said, JMO.

 

[alexrgct]

All I can do is shack my head....lol. Good for her....I guess.but. Really?

. You should upgrade and mansion yours.

 

[doggydaddy]

. You should upgrade and mansion yours.

See Hongster? I get made fun of too.

I hate you Alex.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

She's just listening to her dad and staying humble.

 

[rocky rococo]

I prefer not to get hopes up and be pleasantly surprised if things go well, than to assume the rosy scenario and be let down by reality.

 

[John Glass]

I think it would be no surprise if it's South Carolina, but are you saying she has made up her mind and didn't tell the other three coaches just so she can announce on 4/16?

sure, I think some girls love the attention

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Yes, let's hope she gets out of the south before she is too damaged to recover.

Good grief, it has been roughly 149 years! Your reaction sorta makes my point.

 

[easttexastrash]

Good grief, it has been roughly 149 years! Your reaction sorta makes my point.

That was said tongue in cheek.

I am not sure what you are referencing, I was just making a joke about how northerners seem to think southerners need to move out of the south to become better people. Although I do think that my many years in Denver and having traveled to every state in the US did change my view of the world.