Andra Espinoza-Hunter to transfer [merged thread]

[CocoHusky]

I hope you are correct. Would be unfortunate to lose a year. She committed to Uconn as she said when she was 14. Too young and star struck for that decision, just like when she left Ossining for Blair. Good kids sometimes make poor decisions or at least hasty ones. She has done this twice now.

Sorry to see her leave, my reasons for this are totally selfish. No matter where she ends up, every game will not end up on TV. Lucky to see 1/3 on internet connection. Uconn is premier place, to bad she didn't stay, just hope she makes good decisions and lands on her feet.

So long to most of you Boneheads. After 4+ years I can pull away from Luigi, CD and Uconn bball for awhile. check back in for some of the big games.....final 4!!!!! Best of Luck in 18 and beyond.

 

[SCGamecock]

I read it as respect rather than hate, well, for South Carolina anyway. UConn fans would rather AEH go to a team that has no chance of beating the Huskies rather than strengthening an already strong team.

Haha yeah I was just giving MDoggie a hard time!

 

[OldAlum]

Wish her the best. Kind of odd way this happened. Knowing the program and especially Saniya should have given her a clue that minutes would be hard to come by as a freshman. Yet she got more minutes than two others of her class. And then leaving the team before the semester ended and not enrolling elsewhere for the Spring semester is odd. Usually if a player isn't going to enroll elsewhere in the Spring, they would stay with the team through the season. So now she has a season with no formal basketball?
Maybe we will learn more, maybe not. Could have been other basketball or non-basketball factors that we know nothing about.

 

[EricLA]

While disappointed, I'm not surprised. In the short run she was behind Danger, Walker and Nurse. In the longer run, she'd probably end up behind Danger, Williams, Walker, and Coombs. She's obviously a talented player, but IMHO not as talented as the others I mentioned.

This is the problem UCONN faces when they recruit "middle" tier players. Kids like Johnson, Engeln, Ekmark, Espinosa-Hunter, and to a lesser extent, Banks (injuries), Boykin, and Edwards... If these kids are willing to come to UCONN and earn reserve PT and play roles like Irwin, Bent, Gardler, Buck, etc., then they can thrive.

However, if they all desire to be starters, or to get starters minutes, then UCONN is not the right fit for them. Just look at the plethora of top 10 talent UCONN has currently and coming:

Williams, Nurse
Collier, Samuelson, Stevens
Dangerfield
Walker, Coombs
Williams, ONO

That means in any given year, UCONN has 8 top 10 type players, several who were #'s 1-3 in their classes. Reserves will have a tremendously difficult time breaking into the top 7-8, and seeing as Geno almost never goes deeper than that in big games, they will be limited to the last 4-8 minutes in games that are already well in hand.

Just look at how much Ekmark is playing for ASU, or Edwards for USC, or Boykin for PSU, or Butler for GMD, or any of the other kids who transferred to programs with much less top 10 talent.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Well it is rumored that Dorothy has a mean crossover.

Some experts think she has the toto game. And a lot of experience being on the road.

 

[oldude]

if Kiah had left she might have developed quicker and further.

Not a chance. Kiah was a big kid who could run and jump when she arrived at Storrs, but her basketball skills were completely undeveloped. Kiah was the epitome of a basketball “Project.”

She wasn’t really a factor for the Huskies until towards the end of her junior season. During her senior season she became a very effective defender and rebounder as the 1st substitute off the bench.

Without the tremendous amount of work that Kiah put in under the direction of Geno and CD, it’s highly unlikely she would become a solid professional in the WNBA and internationally.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Syracuse is sticking out to me here... but a Big 10 school like Michigan, Maryland or Penn State wouldn’t surprise me either.

Agree. Syracuse and Penn State were the first schools to come to mind. Syracuse likes the three-ball (as you know).

 

[Mdoggie]

Go Cuse!

 

[CocoHusky]

Not a chance. Kiah was a big kid who could run and jump when she arrived at Storrs, but her basketball skills were completely undeveloped. Kiah was the epitome of a basketball “Project.”

She wasn’t really a factor for the Huskies until towards the end of her junior season. During her senior season she became a very effective defender and rebounder as the 1st substitute off the bench.

Without the tremendous amount of work that Kiah put in under the direction of Geno and CD, it’s highly unlikely she would become a solid professional in the WNBA and internationally.

That is just not the case. Before she came to UCONN Kiah Stokes was twice U16 and U17 USA basketball player. Much more accomplished at that age than say Stefanie Dolson & Tina Charles. Kia Stokes averaged more than 20 points a game for 3 years of HS and was a CONSENSUS (McDonald's, Parade Magazine, WBCA) All-American as a high school player. There is no doubt that Geno and CD brought out much of Kiah's talent but Kiah was no "project" when she arrived.

 

[oldude]

That is just not the case. Before she came to UCONN Kiah Stokes was twice U16 and U17 USA basketball player. Much more accomplished at that age than say Stefanie Dolson & Tina Charles. Kia Stokes averaged more than 20 points a game for 3 years of HS and was a CONSENSUS (McDonald's, Parade Magazine, WBCA) All-American as a high school player. There is no doubt that Geno and CD brought out much of Kiah talent but Kiah was no "project" when she arrived.

Kiah had really bad hands and footwork when she arrived at Storrs, to the point where she frequently struggled to make an open layup. While Steph was never the physical specimen that Kiah was, Steph had superior hands and footwork. As for Tina, it was always about getting her to play hard all the time.

 

[boontonbomber]

Not a chance. Kiah was a big kid who could run and jump when she arrived at Storrs, but her basketball skills were completely undeveloped. Kiah was the epitome of a basketball “Project.”

She wasn’t really a factor for the Huskies until towards the end of her junior season. During her senior season she became a very effective defender and rebounder as the 1st substitute off the bench.

Without the tremendous amount of work that Kiah put in under the direction of Geno and CD, it’s highly unlikely she would become a solid professional in the WNBA and internationally.

all we're doing here is expressing opinions, which is fine. "highly unlikely" is nothing more than your opinion. I would suggest that Kiah's offensive skills showed very little improvement over 4 years, and she continues to struggle with scoring in the WNBA,

 

[ASweet3781]

I think this is for the best for Hunter and or us. If Hunter feels she will be happier elsewhere than she made the right choice.

I was always surprised UConn took 4 players from the class of 2017. I didn't think it was a particularly strong class especially after watching the high school all star games. But it simply made our roster too crowded and I feared what that may mean for chemistry. If Butler hadn't transferred we'd have 14 players. Way too many. I think 12 is the ideal number. We basically had 3 frosh guards fighting for crumb minutes. Not a great situation for their or the teams development.

So good luck Andra. And this will mean more minutes for Kyla, Mikayla, and Lexi to develop and for Megan to work out of her funk. And it may mean our top 6 won't get too bogged down in practices. Geno obviously has not been pleased with the freshmen in practice. Better for our main goal, a championship.

 

[Shorty Dee]

I am so sorry to hear this. Andy had great potential. As always, wherever she lands, I will follow her. I wish her the best.
Once a Husky, always a Husky .

 

[chrissaran]

Andra is not a middle tier player. Unless she says why she left, we may never know.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Not a chance. Kiah was a big kid who could run and jump when she arrived at Storrs, but her basketball skills were completely undeveloped. Kiah was the epitome of a basketball “Project.”

She wasn’t really a factor for the Huskies until towards the end of her junior season. During her senior season she became a very effective defender and rebounder as the 1st substitute off the bench.

Without the tremendous amount of work that Kiah put in under the direction of Geno and CD, it’s highly unlikely she would become a solid professional in the WNBA and internationally.

Kiah was a shutdown defender. When she came into the game, that often triggered nice runs for us, because she defended, blocked shots, rebounded, and started the break. The front line of Stef, Kiah, and Stewie was the best defensive front line I’ve seen.

 

[MilfordHusky]

AEH's transfer absolutely fits several past patterns for UCONN transfers.
Pattern 1, as many others have pointed out was that AEH was a class of 4, as was 2010, 2014.
Pattern 2, continues average rate for UCONN of 1 transfer per year.
Pattern 3, each of the last 4 UCONN transfers (Edwards, Boykin, Ekmark, and AEH (2X) ) also changed High Schools.
Pattern 4, AEH committed to UCONN as a Sophmore only other player to do the same was Courtney Ekmark.

Don't think this is much of a mystery at all. Talented players want to play Now. Today AEH was competing with a Canadian Olympian- Nurse & the #1 player in 2015 Class-KLS, & the #1 player in the 2017 class- Walker to get minutes at shooting guard. Next year AEH would have been competing against 3 players ranked #1 in thier respective classes at shooting guard or SF.

I wish AEH the best.

Pattern 3 is interesting. Kids transfer for different reasons (I transferred at both the undergrad and grad levels), but changing schools at the high school level may be predictive of changing at the college level. BTW, Honesty Scott-Grayson has gone to at least 3 different high schools.

Re Pattern 4, add Jacki Gemelos to the list of sophomore commits who didn’t make it through 4 years at UConn.

 

[Bleed Blue-XY]

Well, this sucks. I, like many others on here am not surprised giving her absence for so long but she seemed to have great potential. I wish the writer of the article would have followed up with AEH to explain why UCONN wasn’t “a good fit”, was it the coaching, lack of playing time, academics, competion, home sickness, etc. Like others have said she has been around the program too long to be shocked about how it is ran.
Anyway in an effort to keep things positive, I wish her good luck in her future endeavors (kind of the same way you wish nothing but the best for an ex who broke up with you because you don’t want to seem petty, lol).

 

[oldude]

Kiah was a shutdown defender. When she came into the game, that often triggered nice runs for us, because she defended, blocked shots, rebounded, and started the break. The front line of Stef, Kiah, and Stewie was the best defensive front line I’ve seen.

Agreed, but that front line didn’t play together until Kiah was a junior.

 

[enigmatic]

Kiah was a shutdown defender. When she came into the game, that often triggered nice runs for us, because she defended, blocked shots, rebounded, and started the break. The front line of Stef, Kiah, and Stewie was the best defensive front line I’ve seen.

Kiah was literally my favorite player on that 14-15 team. While I never expected anything from her on the offensive end, her presence on the boards and defensively around the rim were undeniably valuable. I remember hoping she would get double digit boards and 3+ blocks every game. Those 19 rebounds she had in South Bend against ND were critical and I was so happy to see her get that triple double against Memphis.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Andra is going to take her time to her next school is a good fit. Girls basketball: Ossining alumna Andra Espinoza-Hunter opens up about transferring from UConn

 

[HoopsFan21]

I'm always a little surprised at transfers now because UConn WCBB is the most documented college program in the country. No player can say they didn't know what to expect or they were surprised by how difficult it was. Everyone knows how difficult it is, and if you don't you should probably get cable TV or the internet.

 

[sarals24]

I mean, I had heard how painful childbirth was, and watched one on video, and lots of my friends had done it, but it in no way prepared me for the real thing. Hearing and experiencing are two very different beasts.

 

[donalddoowop]

Some players thought it would be hard but not as hard as it is. Almost all have been surprised just how hard it really is even though UCONN players have been saying it for years..

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Pattern 3 is interesting. Kids transfer for different reasons (I transferred at both the undergrad and grad levels), but changing schools at the high school level may be predictive of changing at the college level. BTW, Honesty Scott-Grayson has gone to at least 3 different high schools.

Re Pattern 4, add Jacki Gemelos to the list of sophomore commits who didn’t make it through 4 years at UConn.

Yes, she experienced/suffered significant geographic and scholastic dislocation as a young teenager. Different towns, schools, and teams. She committed to UConn very early.

I think this had nothing to do with playing time or coaching or athletic prospects. I wonder whether, like EDD, it was all about home and family and emotions.

Real loss. Wish her well. But certainly a loss.

 

[Centerstream]

Yes, she experienced/suffered significant geographic and scholastic dislocation as a young teenager. Different towns, schools, and teams. She committed to UConn very early.

I think this had nothing to do with playing time or coaching or athletic prospects. I wonder whether, like EDD, it was all about home and family and emotions.

Real loss. Wish her well. But certainly a loss.

I don't believe it's about home and family, she has already said in an interview that her options are wide open, could be CA or TX for her next school.