Amber Orrange Waived By N.Y. Liberty

[Gate81]

Yo Rule - I like the way you think. You clarified the problem and peeled down another layer--One great player and everything goes through her. Dead on! You also supplied the names that escaped me and some I never remembered. What you posted brought back a tidbit Geno barked out one day (I forget what he was pontificating on) but he said, " my goal is to get/have/develop 2 great players EVERY YEAR." What a contrast to Tara Van. Looks like Geno is pretty close to reaching that lofty goal--year after year after year!

totally agree but try to imagine if due to academics, Geno could only get one great athlete (every 4 years), not 2 or 3 every year...then consider that someone like KLS reads the handwriting on the wall and the one superior athlete of 2015 you could get goes elsewhere because she realizes that to be on a championship team you need to be surrounded by several top notch athletes. I know Geno's great, but could he accomplish the same if he were to switch teams with Tara?

 

[PhillyCoach]

totally agree but try to imagine if due to academics, Geno could only get one great athlete (every 4 years), not 2 or 3 every year...then consider that someone like KLS reads the handwriting on the wall and the one superior athlete of 2015 you could get goes elsewhere because she realizes that to be on a championship team you need to be surrounded by several top notch athletes. I know Geno's great, but could he accomplish the same if he were to switch teams with Tara?

Gate 81 - that's a nice question that has to be thought through. My off the cuff response is --The ASSUMPTION is UConn players are not as smart and could not go to Stanford. Over the last 5, 10 or 20 years I believe that most of UConn/s players were recruited or at least on the list of ND, Duke, & Stanford. And we know how smart most of the players were and are now. Geno gets the athletic and smart players pretty regularly. Nevertheless, I do see the point you are making and it does cause some consternation. Stanford has its own obstacles that some other teams do not have.

 

[CL82]

totally agree but try to imagine if due to academics, Geno could only get one great athlete (every 4 years), not 2 or 3 every year...then consider that someone like KLS reads the handwriting on the wall and the one superior athlete of 2015 you could get goes elsewhere because she realizes that to be on a championship team you need to be surrounded by several top notch athletes. I know Geno's great, but could he accomplish the same if he were to switch teams with Tara?

Yes, I believe that he could.

 

[UcMiami]

Gate 81 - that's a nice question that has to be thought through. My off the cuff response is --The ASSUMPTION is UConn players are not as smart and could not go to Stanford. Over the last 5, 10 or 20 years I believe that most of UConn/s players were recruited or at least on the list of ND, Duke, & Stanford. And we know how smart most of the players were and are now. Geno gets the athletic and smart players pretty regularly. Nevertheless, I do see the point you are making and it does cause some consternation. Stanford has its own obstacles that some other teams do not have.

Smart is one thing, but Stanford like the Ivy League are looking at the top 5% academically and they do not do 'academic exceptions' for their athletes. I am sure some percentage of Uconn players could have gone to Stanford, but definitely not all of them. It is a huge handicap for Tara as it would be for Geno. Just look at the line-up of Deans list each year as an indication of the percentage of the team Geno could have recruited - it is not the same, but probably not a bad indicator. DT for example was not I believe on Stanfords radar though Sue was.