Another Replacement Guard ?

[Charliebball]

This pretty much confirms that the UCONN target is Elena Buenavida-see @HuskyNan post # 3 in this thread.
The video below also confirms she is class of 2022.

Elena Buenavida Estevez 2022

This is "Elena Buenavida Estevez 2022" by Dan Bowmaker on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

vimeo.com

Is she no longer committed to UCLA?

My next "Oversea Dream" is Elena Buenavide Estevez. She was a guard on the winning U 20 Spanish
team, this summer, AND she is the point guard on the current Spanish U18 squad currently playing.
The young lady is now 18 and she was eligible for both squads. She also scored 20 points?? in the
first game of the U18 European FIBA Tournament. Would that make her a possibly eligible " walk on" for
the fall semester? One blogger said that an eligible player needs to be enrolled by late August, another
said a player needed to be enrolled by the tenth day of classes. ONLY GENO knows for sure!

what am I missing?.........from what I understand she was committed to UCLA and then signed a pro contract instead..........now she's going to break that contract and come to Storrs at the very last minute? .............if Geno pulls that one off then he really is a miracle worker......

 

[Bone Dog]

Too bad if she's going to UCLA. She's got some creativity on offense and looks strong. She doesn't look to be very quick though.

 

[AmeriConn]

I am so enjoying this thread.

 

[CocoHusky]

Is she no longer committed to UCLA?

what am I missing?.........from what I understand she was committed to UCLA and then signed a pro contract instead..........now she's going to break that contract and come to Storrs at the very last minute? .............if Geno pulls that one off then he really is a miracle worker......

I have no idea.

 

[awhom111]

Lou had low visibility before college because she played in France and then Ireland. If she had played in the United States (or even Eastern Europe), she might have ended up on a better ranked team.

To see her potential, those who don’t know Lou should watch the Fairfield Taxas tournament game (the full game is no longer available on YouTube, but there is still a seven-minute highlight video). Athletic, fluid, can find her own shot. I don’t know if it’s useful to compare her with Caroline except in a conversation about who is going to start. They are very different players.

I’m partial to Lou because I’m in France. I’ve bookmarked some French sites with information about her playing time in France, and I might someday share that on the BY. I do believe she has the potential to be a very important player at UConn, especially now that Paige is out. In fact, she does some things on offense that remind me of Paige. We’ll just have to see how she plays game after game at a higher level and how quickly she can learn UConn’s offense.

More generally, for UConn to get to the Final Four, I think everyone is going to have to step up. Azzi, for example, is going to have to play at her full superstar potential. Nika is going to have to prove to the naysayers that she is more than a « serviceable » PG. And Lou will have to show WCBB that France is one of the great BB countries in the world. Because it is.

Plenty of French players have tons of visibility before college (too much in the eyes of their federation in fact). Lou just was not at the level of prospect at a young age to be playing above the local team level in the third division, hence the Ireland choice, but her hard work there and in college have paid off nicely. I do wonder if she has ever considered playing for Mexico because that could have also helped her get recruiting attention earlier.

I mentioned her because I would love to see Anna Makurat come back and play for the Huskies this upcoming season.
She's a great shooter & passer, knows the UConn system, and could add a mature dimension to the team in Paige's absence.
She played with Paige, Nika and Edwards.
I wouldn't be surprised if Geno tried to contact her to gauge her interest, or to help find another European player.
Anna's part of the UConn WBB family.

Sure, but what rule would allow a player who left school and played professionally, to return to school? Saying that Anna could return makes about as much sense as saying that Evina could return.

Is she no longer committed to UCLA?

what am I missing?.........from what I understand she was committed to UCLA and then signed a pro contract instead..........now she's going to break that contract and come to Storrs at the very last minute? .............if Geno pulls that one off then he really is a miracle worker......

Reportedly unable to gain admission to UCLA. Whether the contract she signed is truly a professional one or qualifies as amateur is unknown.

 

[sun]

Sure, but what rule would allow a player who left school and played professionally, to return to school? Saying that Anna could return makes about as much sense as saying that Evina could return.

Reportedly unable to gain admission to UCLA. Whether the contract she signed is truly a professional one or qualifies as amateur is unknown.

It's true that Anna Makurat may not be eligible, that's why I said that she "could" be eligible and not that she "is" eligible.

From what I understand, Anna played professionally before she played for UConn.
However, amateurs are only allowed to receive actual expenses when playing for a pro team in order to maintain their amateur status.
It's the WNBA that forces players in their draft to declare that they won't be returning to the NCAA.
But there is a process where some pro players can return to the NCAA with penalties such as missing games or repaying money for their pro activities.
It depends on a ruling by the NCAA regarding an athlete's amateur eligibility certification.
The point is that declaring that a players is going pro and becoming a pro are 2 different things.
It appears that professional status in the WNBA is much more formalized.
Some Europeans are pros at 16 years old yet some posters here have talked about them being recruited to attend UConn in the future.
Each case is judged on its own merits and Evina playing in WNBA may not be on the same pro level as every European playing on a pro team.
Previously I wasn't able to find anything about Anna Makurat's professional career in Europe, so I really don't know what she's been doing or how much that she's been paid to play.
I could find her name in a box score of the team that she was supposedly playing for at the time.

Not Found

asmscholarships.com

NCAA ELIGIBILITY CENTER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS below

https://strose_ftp.sidearmsports.com/custompages/Compliance/Prospective SA/NCAA ELIGIBILITY CENTER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS.pdf

 

[sun]

Sure, but what rule would allow a player who left school and played professionally, to return to school? Saying that Anna could return makes about as much sense as saying that Evina could return.

Correction:
I couldn't find Anna's name in the box score of the pro team that she was supposedly playing for at the time.

Do you have any information to share about Anna's pro career after leaving UConn?

 

[Skeets]

Geno has been playing about 8 players as long as I’ve watched the team with the exception of 1999-2000. We are short a guard after losing Paige, obviously, but mostly because it’s Paige. There would be a lot less hand wringing if it had been Nika that had gone down.

Nan, I'm not going to argue with your statement, but that is an incredibly un-nice thing to post. Imagine Nika reading your post. I don't see how anyone other than the Deacon can give it a "like".

 

[Stymie]

Wasn’t Nika nursing a tender ankle for much of last year?
And isn’t Azzi’s foot stress condition still being of minor concern.
Aubrey coming back from back surgery and Caroline hip surgery.
And Dorka wrist surgery?
Asking a lot of these athletes to grind it out 35+ minutes a game without possibly “aggravating” these conditions.
That is a reality.
I’m so done debating the possibility of entering the season short players.
These woman are not robots.
We’ll see.
Would love to be proven wrong.

 

[UConnCat]

Jamelle watching Lithuania (Juste Jocyte) v Sweden (Tilda Trygger).

Spain plays Turkey at 9:45 and Latvia plays Belgium at 2:15.

 

[oldude]

Wasn’t Nika nursing a tender ankle for much of last year?
And isn’t Azzi’s foot stress condition still being of minor concern.
Aubrey coming back from back surgery and Caroline hip surgery.
And Dorka wrist surgery?
Asking a lot of these athletes to grind it out 35+ minutes a game without possibly “aggravating” these conditions.
That is a reality.
I’m so done debating the possibility of entering the season short players.
These woman are not robots.
We’ll see.
Would love to be proven wrong.

Thank you Chicken Little…..

 

[Bald Husky]

We have a lot of scorers, all we need is someone who can handle the ball.

 

[CocoHusky]

Jamelle watching Lithuania (Juste Jocyte) v Sweden (Tilda Trygger).

Spain plays Turkey at 9:45 and Latvia plays Belgium at 2:15.

 

[oldude]

Jamelle watching Lithuania (Juste Jocyte) v Sweden (Tilda Trygger).

Spain plays Turkey at 9:45 and Latvia plays Belgium at 2:15.

Great to learn that Jamelle traveled all the way to Bulgaria to scout the European U18 championships. That sounds like something new as far as UConn recruiting is concerned?

 

[AmeriConn]

Great to learn that Jamelle traveled all the way to Bulgaria to scout the European U18 championships. That sounds like something new as far as UConn recruiting is concerned?

Wow, that’s big news!

 

[UConnCat]

Great to learn that Jamelle traveled all the way to Bulgaria to scout the European U18 championships. That sounds like something new as far as UConn recruiting is concerned?

Bulgaria? The European U18 championships are on the island of Crete which is a much nicer travel destination for JJ.

Nothing new here. UConn coaches have traveled the world for recruiting.

 

[oldude]

Bulgaria? The European U18 championships are on the island of Crete which is a much nicer travel destination.

Nothing new here. UConn coaches have traveled the world for recruiting.

I stand corrected. Thanks for filling me in.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I'd like to short this notion of another replacement guard. Yeah, I know, the returns suck.

 

[Argonaut]

Correction:
I couldn't find Anna's name in the box score of the pro team that she was supposedly playing for at the time.

Do you have any information to share about Anna's pro career after leaving UConn?

Anna played last season with Gorzów Wielkopolski in the Polish league. She was hurt through a lot of the season but still averaged 10.1p/3.5r per game when she was with the team.

She’s already signed to play next season for Dinamo Sassari in Sardinia.

 

[Dillon77]

Lopez Senechal was a poor rebounder last year at Fairfield. Only got 7.9% of available rebounds. Worse than Ducharme.

Hmm. The overall numbers from the season show she wasn't a solid rebounder... you're right. However, I keep going back to the Texas game against an oversized Texas team that featured Ms. Aaliyah Moore (10 rebounds) and Lauren Ebo (7 rebounds). Lopez-Senechal "only" had 5 rebounds but it led the Stags that day. I watched that game and she battled hard there.
So, I'm inclined to think she can rebound for her position, but that wasn't her main job for Fairfield last year.

 

[Zarathustra]

Too bad if she's going to UCLA. She's got some creativity on offense and looks strong. She doesn't look to be very quick though.

The L. A. Times of November 15, 2021, has Elena Buenavida Estevez, 175 cm, born 8 / 3 / 2004 (that would be
18 yoa currently) as a "Verbal Commit" to UCLA. For the reference: Google = UCLA WOMEN's Basketball and Elena Buenavida Estevez (see the bottom of the article). There was also a comment (somewhere) that she would not be at UCLA for
the 2022 - 2023 season and that she needed to pass a language requirement (English?). The U 20 Spanish
guards were Claudia Contrell, also 18, and the MVP of the tournament. My recollection is that Claudia was the
guard who was to sign a future " contract" sometime after the tournament. The second Spanish U 20 guard
was Mama Dembele, 5 ' 6", who is currently playing at U of Missouri. Elena was on both teams: U 18 and U 20. ...correct?
So, while I had focused on ELENA as
a UCONN interest (the BY reported that someone from UCONN was watching her in the U 18 tournament) that would be only logical if Elena had already a change of heart
and withdrew ???? her "verbal commit" and thus was then able to make (or could make) a Verbal Commit change.
This is too complex for my limited knowledge of how the " system" works. In passing, it is my understanding that Juste Jocyte has some "nonprofessional"?? agreement with a French team and has played with them for a while now. I will check the
Lithuanian Roster sometime later. Anyhow we know how this really pans out in a few weeks.

 

[CL82]

Why would a top ranked but lesser ranked player take that risk competing vs number 1's when it is much less risk at another fine school, and you can play?

Because competitors like competition? It sharpens you and makes you the best version of yourself. As they say in the receiving core on the football team, “iron sharpens iron.”

 

[CL82]

Nonsense. Now you’re just uttering platitudes. UConn got to the championship game this past year with an 8 player rotation in the win over Stanford. While SC was able to empty their bench in their double-digit win, only 6 Gamecocks played 10 mpg or more. In 2018, ND won a championship with a 6 player rotation. The following year, Baylor won their championship with a 7 player rotation.

For what it’s worth “Uttering Platitudes” would be a good band name.

 

[Urshurak]

Using Oregon as an example is disingenuous.

• It was Nika’s 4th game back after her injury
• Christyn was a scratch 15 minutes before the game, which threw the team out of equilibrium
• There was one guard, 2 wings, and 3 forwards. For a short bench to work, it needs to be the right players. If either Paige or Azzi had played, the Huskies might have won that game.

I was just going to post something similar to this. This game was just a perfect storm of disaster. Any other day UConn wins this game by double digits.

 

[Bone Dog]

I was just going to post something similar to this. This game was just a perfect storm of disaster. Any other day UConn wins this game by double digits.

Yup, same for the Georgia Tech game.