Bird-Cash-Williams & Jones ...Where Were They Ranked?

[HuskerDo]

I think the point guard who started for a time was Tihanna Abrlic, who kept throwing spectacular passes to the other team. The order I remember is that Bird started for about 6 games, hurt her knee, Walters started about 8 more, hurt both knees, and then it was up for grabs. Walters had some good moments, but I remember Geno quote about her: "she's trying to be great before she's good."

 

[Waquoit]

Kiersten Walters was the starting PG before Sue on the team but she had a series of knee problems that prevented her from ever playing hoops. She had a lot of potential tho. The recruiting class ended up being called the TASSK force... Shortened later to "TASS" because poor Kiersten was unable to contribute from a hoops perspective

Walters would have been a star without the injuries. She was talented and played hard. I'm glad she still in the game, her players are lucky to be able to learn from her.

 

[Wally East]

Tamika William's FG % was monstorous. Does anyone if she holds the highest FG% at UConn? Just curious. It seemed like she never missed.

Tamika's career FG % of 70.3 (560-797) is the all-time leader at UConn by a lot. Kara is second at 62.8% and Tina is third 61.0% (although both of them took a lot more shots, 1,507, and 1,588 respectively).

 

[zakalex]

Who was ranked between Cash and Jones that year and where and how did she end up?

 

[Vowelguy]

Who was ranked between Cash and Jones that year and where and how did she end up?

I'm guessing Michelle Snow, Lindsey Yamasaki, Tawana McDonald, or Takeisha Lewis. They were Parade 1st team AAs along with ALL 5 UConn members. They also all played in the 1998 WBCA AA game.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...dYvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=paoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4628,3156514

http://www.wbca.org/pages/AWARDS_high_school_all-america_game_box_scores

 

[meyers7]

It went something like this...

1 - Williams
2 - Cash
4 - Jones
15 - Walters
21 - Bird

Bird might have been 17 or so - it was Blue Star who at the time was about the only service that was ranking the kids. However, in fairness, most people knew Bird was a top 5 kid, however, she chose not to play for Mike Flynn's team (I think it was him) in AAU and so she was "punished" in the rankings.

I have Blue Star had them at
1-Williams
2-Cash
5-Jones
13-Walters
18-Bird

 

[j66kicker]

I have Blue Star had them at
1-Williams
2-Cash
5-Jones
13-Walters
18-Bird

Who were #3 & 4?

 

[chuckhusky]

From the Courant Nov. 18, 1997.

 

[Vowelguy]

From the Courant Nov. 18, 1997.

Nice!
Though BlueStar may have updated its rankings after that, so those might not have been the final rankings.
Splitting hairs though.

 

[Wally East]

As far as complete lists go, this list, from December 1997, with the rankings as of October 1997, was the best that I could find.

1. Tamika Williams, 6-1, Dayton Chaminade-Julienne, OH
2. Nina Smith, 6-3, jr, Waterloo West, IA
3. Swin Cash, 6-1, McKeesport McKeesport, PA
4. Lindsey Yamasaki, 6-2, Oregon City, OR
5. Kelly Komara, 5-6, St. Joseph's Lake Central, IN
6. Asjha Jones, 6-2, Piscataway, NJ
7. Takeisha Lewis, 6-2, Lisbon, LA
8. Tawanna McDonald, 6-5, Flint Northern, MI
9. Shalon Pillow, 6-4, North Bend Taylor, OH
10. Raina Goodlow, 6-3, Detroit Dominican, MI
11. Donetta Snow, 6-4, Pensacola, FL
12. Ayana Anderson, 6-3, Houston Westbury, TX
13. Krista Gingrich, 5-8, Lewistown, PA
14. Keirsten Walters, 5-8, Littleton, Hertiage, CO
15. Tamara Moore, 6-0, Minneapolis North, MN
16. Lauren St. Clair, 6-0, Phila. Mt. St. Joseph's, PA
17. Shondra Johnson, 5-8, N. Orleans St. Mary's Acad, LA
18. Shawn Gortman, 5-10, Columbia Keenan, SC
19. Suzanne Bird, 5-8, Middle Village Christ the King, NY
20. Sheila Lambert, 5-7, Seattle Chief Sealth, WA

 

[EricLA]

The blue star list that I have (printed them out years ago) goes as follows:

1. Tamika Williams - UCONN
2. Swin Cash - UCONN
3. Lindsey Yamaski - Stanford
4. Kelly Komura - Purdue
5. Asjha Jones - UCONN
6. Takeisha Lewis - La Tech
7. Tawanna McDonald - Georgia
8. Shalon Pillow - Tennessee
9. Raina Goodlow - Michigan
10. Donetta (Michelle) Snow - Tennessee
11. Ayana Anderson - La Tech
12. Krista Gingrich - Duke
13. Keirsten Walters - UCONN
14. Tamara Moore - Wisconsin
15. Lauren St. Clair - Stanford
16. Shondra Johnson - Alabama
17. Shawn Gortman - South Carolina
18. Suzanne Bird - UCONN
19. Sheila Lambert - Washington
20. Britt Hartshorne - Colorado

I printed all this stuff out several later so I thought this was the final Blue Star rankings. But Nina Smith is not on their list... Interesting!

 

[DobbsRover2]

Tamika William's FG % was monstorous. Does anyone if she holds the highest FG% at UConn? Just curious. It seemed like she never missed.

It took about 4 or 5 years after Tamika's graduation to finally get the NCAA records updated to make her the leader. Because she never took enough shots during a season to ever qualify for a season title, she was somehow overlooked for the career mark no matter how many times a few of us notified the NCAA records keeper, but she's certainly on top now, and easily met the 400 shot requirement.

Career
(Min. 400 made)
70.3%—Tamika Williams, UConn, 1999-02 (560 of 797)

 

[Fiftyish]

Soooo.....what have we learned from this exercise in memory? What I have learned is:
1. If Sue was ranked 18 or 19 or whatever coming out of high school, then don't bet the farm on the rankings by the basketball experts.
2. Future success in college has a lot to do with the coaching staff.

 

[Wally East]

Soooo.....what have we learned from this exercise in memory? What I have learned is:
1. If Sue was ranked 18 or 19 or whatever coming out of high school, then don't bet the farm on the rankings by the basketball experts.

I'd say don't rely on one expert, which is good advice in most situations

 

[hoophuskee]

Who was ranked between Cash and Jones that year and where and how did she end up?

Lindsey Yamasaki -- she was something like 6'2 or 6'3.

I thought there was a story that if Lindsey went to another school (maybe UCONN) either one of the other players wanted to go to Stanford or if she came to UCONN -- one or two of the others may not have come (maybe because she was thought to be better?).

 

[meyers7]

Who were #3 & 4?

3-Lindsey Yamasaki - Stanford
4-Kelly Komara - Purdue

 

[meyers7]

The blue star list that I have (printed them out years ago) goes as follows:

1. Tamika Williams - UCONN
2. Swin Cash - UCONN
3. Lindsey Yamaski - Stanford
4. Kelly Komura - Purdue
5. Asjha Jones - UCONN
6. Takeisha Lewis - La Tech
7. Tawanna McDonald - Georgia
8. Shalon Pillow - Tennessee
9. Raina Goodlow - Michigan
10. Donetta (Michelle) Snow - Tennessee
11. Ayana Anderson - La Tech
12. Krista Gingrich - Duke
13. Keirsten Walters - UCONN
14. Tamara Moore - Wisconsin
15. Lauren St. Clair - Stanford
16. Shondra Johnson - Alabama
17. Shawn Gortman - South Carolina
18. Suzanne Bird - UCONN
19. Sheila Lambert - Washington
20. Britt Hartshorne - Colorado

I printed all this stuff out several later so I thought this was the final Blue Star rankings. But Nina Smith is not on their list... Interesting!

Yea, that's what mine looks like.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Interesting that they have 17 or 18 players better than Sue in her class alone. I don't think there have been 17 players better than Sue from 2002 to 2015.

 

[j66kicker]

Interesting that they have 17 or 18 players better than Sue in her class alone. I don't think there have been 17 players better than Sue from 2002 to 2015.

I don't think there have been 17 or 18 (or 3) players better than Sue ever

 

[JS]

The difference of one place for Sue and others appears to result from the presence or absence of Nina Smith. I'm guessing the final ranking for TASSK's senior season was the one that included her at #2 and dropped all the others but Tamika by one place.

Smith was a year behind TASSK. Her college career was injury riddled, and she ended up at a Div. II school. But her high school career was great.

She was clearly in the ascendancy in the fall of '97. We know she was at Blue Star #2 in Dec. '97 (Wally East post), shortly after TASSK signed its letters of intent. So many of the recruiting articles on TASSK might not have caught up with her rise.

She wouldn't have gone from #2 to entirely off the list six months later when TASSK graduated in 1998, as she was high school NPOY the following season (1998-99).

That's logic. There's also the wild card of the vagaries of the mind of Mike Flynn.

 

[Waquoit]

Interesting that they have 17 or 18 players better than Sue in her class alone. I don't think there have been 17 players better than Sue from 2002 to 2015.

In the world

 

[Vowelguy]

She wouldn't have gone from #2 to entirely off the list six months later when TASSK graduated in 1998, as she was high school NPOY the following season (1998-99).

That's logic. There's also the wild card of the vagaries of the mind of Mike Flynn.

Blue Star used to publish 2 lists -- a ranking of all players and a ranking of just seniors (the two were ordinally the same).