Boykin transferring

[TerpWomenFan]

The only big loss for ND there is Cable. Curious as to what happens with Reimer. But they'll have Allen, Turner, Mabrey, Ogunbowale, Westbeld, possibly Reimer, get Patberg back, and bring in two top 12 recruits in Young and Boley. That's mighty strong on paper.

Baylor will return almost everyone except for Niya Johnson. Mompremier and Brown, who both have had some big games already, will be sophomores, and they bring in Cox.

Mitchell's the big loss for SC though they do lose depth. Be interesting to see how the two transfers fit in. Gray's pretty explosive. They need Cuevas to develop, imo.

To add to this tOSU have Mitchell, Calhoun, Holland, Muvunga and Cooper/Hart starting with Tori McCoy and Linnae Harper coming off the bench. That's pretty good.
Duke has Salvadores/Lambert, Brown, Greenwell, Stevens, Chidom/Cooper and a really good bench.
Maryland might be one year away (Rellah Boothe?) but Shatori Walker-Kimbrough is playing at an All-American level right now. I can honestly say she is playing better than Tiffany Mitchell who was a 1st team preseason All American.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I'm really not understanding the underlying feeling of panic here. Look at the roster below. Five Top 15 players, which does not include the unranked Canadian Kia. The shortest kid on the floor is ranked #3 - and we know after watching Mo that height means zero when you've got a boatload of talent. Five kids in the post, including a couple of undersized but more than able forwards in Gabby and Napheesa, who I think is the second coming of Swin Cash. Natalie wasn't ranked coming out of high school but was still the Big East Freshman of the Year. This roster looks pretty darn good to me.

2016-2017 Roster
HG = HoopGurlz, BS = Blue Star (2016 only) PN = Prospect Nation

5-5 F G Crystal Dangerfield (#3 HG, #3 BS, #4 PN)
5-9 F G Molly Bent
6-0 Jr G Kia Nurse
6-0 Jr G Courtney Ekmark (#31 HG)
5-8 Sr G Saniya Chong (#75 HG)
5-7 Sr G Tierney Lawlor
6-3 So G/F Katie Lou Samuelson (#1 HG, #2 PN)
5-11 Jr G/F Gabby Williams (#14 HG)
6-1 So G/F Napheesa Collier (#6 HG. #6 PN)
6-2 F F Kyla Irwin (#44 BS, #103 PN)
6-2 RSr F Morgan Tuck (#6 HG, #9 PN)
6-5 RJr C Natalie Butler

If Tuck comes back we can absorb the loss of Boykin reasonably well -- just costs us a little bit of depth at the 4/5.

If Tuck leaves, we're in big trouble.

Without Tuck, we have a starting lineup of

Dangerfield
Nurse
Lou
Collier
Butler

w/ Chong, Ekmark, and Bent in the backcourt and Williams and Irwin in the frontcourt off the bench.

The starting lineup is OK, maybe a little undersized at the 4, but with a freshman PG (not even MoJeff was ready as a freshman).

The bench features one player (Williams) who you would feel comfortable playing major minutes against top-flight competition.

That might be our least capable roster in nearly a decade.

 

[Orangutan]

To add to this tOSU have Mitchell, Calhoun, Holland, Muvunga and Cooper/Hart starting with Tori McCoy and Linnae Harper coming off the bench. That's pretty good.
Duke has Salvadores/Lambert, Brown, Greenwell, Stevens, Chidom/Cooper and a really good bench.
Maryland might be one year away (Rellah Boothe?) but Shatori Walker-Kimbrough is playing at an All-American level right now. I can honestly say she is playing better than Tiffany Mitchell who was a 1st team preseason All American.

Thing is - half these players we don't even know are all that good. For example, look at OSU. Mitchell is great and Holland, Cooper, and Hart are fine pieces. But Calhoun was flat terrible (statistically, at least) in her time at Duke. Mavunga is fine, not great. You really can't count on freshmen too much, especially bigs, so who knows if McCoy will help. Harper is a guard who had a 0.6 A/TO ratio and shot 38.7% FG, 24.4% 3FG, 51.4% FT. Plus, they lose Alston who is very important for them and another starter, Craft. Why are we so sure they'll be better, then?

The "only big loss for ND there is Cable". Well, Michaela Mabrey is also a starter and is shooting 40% from 3 and is 2nd on the team in assists. Plus, she is the team's vocal leader. And Cable is the best player on the team so far this year, without whom ND would be utterly screwed. Turner's shoulder is now a lingering question mark. Who knows how Patberg will come back from knee surgery and how long it will take her to be comfortable at this level. I thought she would need a year to acclimate BEFORE the ACL tear happened.

I could go on, but the point is that other teams will have a lot of questions to answer next offseason, too.

 

[EricLA]

I think it's logical to look at UCONN this year and say "they are a juggernaut and it's very unlikely anyone can topple them so let's look at next year and see who might win, if not UCONN".

We lose Mo and Stewie - possibly the 2 best players in the country, but if Moriah isn't the 2nd best player, she's certainly top 5 talent-wise, and what she does for the UCONN team. Replacing them will not be like "replacing" Dolson/Hartley or KML/Stokes.

SC loses Imbovich, Sessions, Roy, Mitchell, and Dozier. That's a lot.
ND loses Cable, Maybrey and Huffman. 2 starters. Not as much as what UCONN loses, but that's a lot.
Baylor loses Johnson, Fuqua and Higgins - only 1 starter.
Maryland loses Howard, Moseley, Pfirfman and Pavelech. Not sure who is a starter but from scoring, it's 3, 5 and 9.
Texas loses Boyette, Davenport, Rodrigo and Sanders. I think that's 2 starters and 1, 5 and 7 in team scoring..
tOSU loses Alston, Craft, and that's it. I think it's 1 starter and #2 and 6 on team scoring.

Look at the top 20 recruits for next year - Baylor has 2, as does Texas, Maryland and ND. OSU has 2 if you include the transfer Linnae Harper. UCONN has 1 and SC has 1 in transfer Kaela Davis, but I also think they are getting a really good PG from Canada - I'm not sure how "good" she is but I think UCONN fans would agree that Nurse is probably top 10 in her class so if this other PG is top 20, that would give SC 2 new top players coming in.

I think UCONN and SC lose the most. Baylor loses the least. I would not be surprised to see Baylor start next year #1, but that's way premature. Taking UCONN out of the equation, I think it's very close near the top for these 6 other teams but maybe it would be in the order of Baylor, SC, ND, Texas, tOSU and Maryland. Throw UCONN in there somewhere - between 1 and 3, and there's your preseason top 7.

 

[easttexastrash]

Baylor loses Johnson, Fuqua and Higgins - only 1 starter.

Higgins is actually the starting center this year, so Baylor will lose two starters. Higgins will be sufficiently replaced by Brown, Mompremier or Cox. Johnson is going to be much harder to replace because she is the key to everything that this team does. Hopefully Alexis Jones or "Juicy" Landrum will be ready to step in at PG.

 

[intlzncster]

I think it's logical to look at UCONN this year and say "they are a juggernaut and it's very unlikely anyone can topple them so let's look at next year and see who might win, if not UCONN".

We lose Mo and Stewie - possibly the 2 best players in the country, but if Moriah isn't the 2nd best player, she's certainly top 5 talent-wise, and what she does for the UCONN team. Replacing them will not be like "replacing" Dolson/Hartley or KML/Stokes.

SC loses Imbovich, Sessions, Roy, Mitchell, and Dozier. That's a lot.
ND loses Cable, Maybrey and Huffman. 2 starters. Not as much as what UCONN loses, but that's a lot.
Baylor loses Johnson, Fuqua and Higgins - only 1 starter.
Maryland loses Howard, Moseley, Pfirfman and Pavelech. Not sure who is a starter but from scoring, it's 3, 5 and 9.
Texas loses Boyette, Davenport, Rodrigo and Sanders. I think that's 2 starters and 1, 5 and 7 in team scoring..
tOSU loses Alston, Craft, and that's it. I think it's 1 starter and #2 and 6 on team scoring.

Look at the top 20 recruits for next year - Baylor has 2, as does Texas, Maryland and ND. OSU has 2 if you include the transfer Linnae Harper. UCONN has 1 and SC has 1 in transfer Kaela Davis, but I also think they are getting a really good PG from Canada - I'm not sure how "good" she is but I think UCONN fans would agree that Nurse is probably top 10 in her class so if this other PG is top 20, that would give SC 2 new top players coming in.

I think UCONN and SC lose the most. Baylor loses the least. I would not be surprised to see Baylor start next year #1, but that's way premature. Taking UCONN out of the equation, I think it's very close near the top for these 6 other teams but maybe it would be in the order of Baylor, SC, ND, Texas, tOSU and Maryland. Throw UCONN in there somewhere - between 1 and 3, and there's your preseason top 7.

I'd agree that UCONN loses the most, but only because those two players are so much better than everyone else in the country. Also, UCONN starts so much higher to begin with (a 10/10) while the rest of the field is lower (7.5/10). So UCONN losing a lot, while the others lose less, doesnt necessarily drop them below all the others.

 

[Sonny44]

I was expecting some drop off going into next year regardless. There is no way we can sustain the current run. Even UCONN had a couple of "down years" post-DT. We cannot win the NC every year.

That was due mostly to one player who never fulfilled.

 

[Fightin Choke]

I think it's logical to look at UCONN this year and say "they are a juggernaut and it's very unlikely anyone can topple them so let's look at next year and see who might win, if not UCONN".

We lose Mo and Stewie - possibly the 2 best players in the country, but if Moriah isn't the 2nd best player, she's certainly top 5 talent-wise, and what she does for the UCONN team. Replacing them will not be like "replacing" Dolson/Hartley or KML/Stokes.

SC loses Imbovich, Sessions, Roy, Mitchell, and Dozier. That's a lot.
ND loses Cable, Maybrey and Huffman. 2 starters. Not as much as what UCONN loses, but that's a lot.
Baylor loses Johnson, Fuqua and Higgins - only 1 starter.
Maryland loses Howard, Moseley, Pfirfman and Pavelech. Not sure who is a starter but from scoring, it's 3, 5 and 9.
Texas loses Boyette, Davenport, Rodrigo and Sanders. I think that's 2 starters and 1, 5 and 7 in team scoring..
tOSU loses Alston, Craft, and that's it. I think it's 1 starter and #2 and 6 on team scoring.

Look at the top 20 recruits for next year - Baylor has 2, as does Texas, Maryland and ND. OSU has 2 if you include the transfer Linnae Harper. UCONN has 1 and SC has 1 in transfer Kaela Davis, but I also think they are getting a really good PG from Canada - I'm not sure how "good" she is but I think UCONN fans would agree that Nurse is probably top 10 in her class so if this other PG is top 20, that would give SC 2 new top players coming in.

I think UCONN and SC lose the most. Baylor loses the least. I would not be surprised to see Baylor start next year #1, but that's way premature. Taking UCONN out of the equation, I think it's very close near the top for these 6 other teams but maybe it would be in the order of Baylor, SC, ND, Texas, tOSU and Maryland. Throw UCONN in there somewhere - between 1 and 3, and there's your preseason top 7.

You missed a very important transfer for SC, Alisha Gray, who you can certainly consider a top 20 recruit.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Most of the players ND and SC lose are complimentary pieces, imo. Cable's having an excellent senior season so far, Mitchell is not. UConn is losing two superstars. Regardless, this won't be like having a powerhouse UConn or Baylor team at the top with a gap to the rest. It'll be open for a few including the Huskies if things break right.

 

[Fightin Choke]

I don't believe they have more talent then UConn. SC will not be much of a threat with outside shooters. Both ND and SC are struggling this season against good teams. They lose a lot to graduation after this season. The games next season will be more competitive. I believe UConn executes better and is better defensively then both next season. JMO UConn will not be a the level they have been in the past few years mainly because of lack of multiple superstars on the roster. The will still be very very good. If Tuck stays UConn will be fine. Katie Lou and Collier will be great next season. Im saying based on a past game when Geno played them with Nurse Tuck and Chong. That group looked terrific playing together. Im looking forward to the MSG game with MD on the 28th. Will you be there? Would love to meet you.

Notre Dame is struggling against good teams because of injuries. When you train for a traditional 2-big/3-guard offense and have to suddenly play a 4-guard offense, there will be struggles. Now that Reimer is out of the picture (at least for this season), will ND stick with a 4-guard offense, or practice both the traditional and the 4-guard? If ND starts Westbeld and Turner, who do they bring in when there is foul trouble? Nelson does not seem ready to play significant minutes, as she accumulates fouls very quickly, and Thompson may never be ready for a bigger role. Unless match-ups dictate a different line-up, I would think that ND sticks with the 4-guard line-up and spells Turner with Westbeld. After the team becomes accustomed to the 4-guard line-up, we can ask whether they are still struggling against good teams.

And ND doesn't lose too much next season. Cable is certainly a huge loss, but she didn't even start last season. She is a great example of a player making incremental improvements year by year and thus playing far above her 52nd ranking by Hoopgurlz. Huffman is a great effort player but again, she was ranked 52nd by Hoopgurlz. She has greatly improved her minutes this season because of her rebounding and defense, but she barely played last season (10 mpg, 2 ppg). Michaela is a team leader (2-time captain, 2-year starter), so she will be missed but there is better talent below her waiting to emerge from under her shadow. Considering (1) the incremental improvement that typical Notre Dame players achieve, (2) the fact that the incoming class is elite (Patberg back from injury, Jackie Young, Erin Boley) and Muffet has a willingness to use young talent immediately, and (3) the possible return of Taya Reimer from injury and her self-imposed hiatus, ND is expected to be much better next year than this year.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I'm hoping our mantra next year will be: "We have Morgan, and you don't!"

If she returns, I really like our chances in 2016-17. If Morgan does not return, we need someone to step up. Kia is very tough, and Gabby is uber-athletic and improving. Natalie could be very, very good. I'll be interested in seeing Lou and Pheesa grow. They both have AA potential and maybe NPOY potential. Crystal looks like a future star. The following season will be bolstered IF we can get Megan Walker.

 

[intlzncster]

That was due mostly to one player who never fulfilled.

Nah, not just Charde. Two big girls transferred (Kelly McCormick? from NZ; Liz Sherwood) and Kennitra Johnson transferred. A post player recruit (Langhorne?) was supposed heavy UCONN leans but matriculated at MD at the last second (maybe this was Harper--memory is fuzzy). Another kid (Brittnay Hunter) wanted to come but was steered towards Duke by parents, busted her knee, transferred to UCONN, but was never the same since. Another stud guard (Nicole Wolff) was ravished by injuries and never got off the ground.

It was a perfect storm sort of thing.

 

[intlzncster]

I'm hoping our mantra next year will be: "We have Morgan, and you don't!"

If she returns, I really like our chances in 2016-17. If Morgan does not return, we need someone to step up. Kia is very tough, and Gabby is uber-athletic and improving. Natalie could be very, very good. I'll be interested in seeing Lou and Pheesa grow. They both have AA potential and maybe NPOY potential. Crystal looks like a future star. The following season will be bolstered IF we can get Megan Walker.

Has something recent been said that has cast doubt on her return? Everything I read previously has her slated to come back, directly from her mouth. But I've admittedly not kept up with it all. Strange things happen, but a while ago, I'd have put it at 95% return, given the information out there.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Has something recent been said that has cast doubt on her return? Everything I read previously has her slated to come back, directly from her mouth. But I've admittedly not kept up with it all. Strange things happen, but a while ago, I'd have put it at 95% return, given the information out there.

There are several opinions and statements, though the dates on some of the statements may be unclear. I've read that she's planning on returning and also that she hasn't decided.

 

[HuskyNan]

Tuck has said repeatedly that she intends on returning to UConn next season to play a graduate season after her class – Stewart, Jefferson and Briana Pulido – graduates.

UConn's Morgan Tuck Might Be Overshadowed, But Geno Appreciates Her, Courant

 

[hjoerring]

Look up Stewie's stats from mid-December of her freshman year and tell me if they're All American stats.

Cannot believe you are making an argument about KLS based on similar stats for a few games. IMO Stewart and KLS were 2 diff #1s. Stewart carried far more expectations for Uconn and for any other team. KLS not so. She was not expected to be transformative- just a great/good shooter. It is true however that in the early going of their career they had issues. This is not to say that KLS will not, in the end, be the very best player ever!

 

[billnaples]

I went through the list someone provided of the transfers over many years. There were about 20 names. There were fewer than 6/7 that I recognized as having played much if any. So I think most of the kids who left were likely issues of minutes, one clearly a clash of kid/parents/coach (Sherwood). I recall Kinnetra Johnson and Samarie Walker got fair amount of court time. Engeln, Edwards, Johnson Played some, not enough for any ego. Why put Walters (injuries) and EDD (burnout, you should know the story), on the list at all, The reality is that few true tier one players leave good programs. Deshields may be the most talented player in 10-15 years to leave and want to bet it was at least in part over the potential for the program to get hammered by NCAA. Way overblown to believe transferring is a major problem., especially at UConn.

 

[HoopsFan21]

I went through the list someone provided of the transfers over many years. There were about 20 names. There were fewer than 6/7 that I recognized as having played much if any. So I think most of the kids who left were likely issues of minutes, one clearly a clash of kid/parents/coach (Sherwood). I recall Kinnetra Johnson and Samarie Walker got fair amount of court time. Engeln, Edwards, Johnson Played some, not enough for any ego. Why put Walters (injuries) and EDD (burnout, you should know the story), on the list at all, The reality is that few true tier one players leave good programs. Deshields may be the most talented player in 10-15 years to leave and want to bet it was at least in part over the potential for the program to get hammered by NCAA. Way overblown to believe transferring is a major problem., especially at UConn.

20 names is kind of a lot actually considering most of the transfers have occurred over such a short time (maybe 10 years?).

 

[HuskyNan]

I went through the list someone provided of the transfers over many years. There were about 20 names. There were fewer than 6/7 that I recognized as having played much if any. So I think most of the kids who left were likely issues of minutes, one clearly a clash of kid/parents/coach (Sherwood). I recall Kinnetra Johnson and Samarie Walker got fair amount of court time. Engeln, Edwards, Johnson Played some, not enough for any ego. Why put Walters (injuries) and EDD (burnout, you should know the story), on the list at all, The reality is that few true tier one players leave good programs. Deshields may be the most talented player in 10-15 years to leave and want to bet it was at least in part over the potential for the program to get hammered by NCAA. Way overblown to believe transferring is a major problem., especially at UConn.

Kennitra is intensely shy and private. While she loved her teammates, she disliked the fishbowl the Huskies live in. Likewise, other transfers had their own reasons for leaving. I don't know why you'd want to label all the transfers as playing time or conflict issues when that is absolutely not true, including Liz.

 

[intlzncster]

Kennitra is intensely shy and private. While she loved her teammates, she disliked the fishbowl lives the Huskies live. Likewise, other transfers had their own reasons for leaving. I don't know why you'd want to label all the transfers as playing time or conflict issues when that is absolutely not true, including Liz.

Heck, McCormick wanted to play netball in NZ. A million reasons for transferring. The only one with any friction I can remember was Samarie.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Has something recent been said that has cast doubt on her return? Everything I read previously has her slated to come back, directly from her mouth. But I've admittedly not kept up with it all. Strange things happen, but a while ago, I'd have put it at 95% return, given the information out there.

There are several opinions and statements, though the dates on some of the statements may be unclear. I've read that she's planning on returning and also that she hasn't decided.

Tuck has said repeatedly that she intends on returning to UConn next season to play a graduate season after her class – Stewart, Jefferson and Briana Pulido – graduates.

UConn's Morgan Tuck Might Be Overshadowed, But Geno Appreciates Her, Courant

Every public statement she has made has indicated a desire to return.

Despite that, I have a feeling that come April, after rationally weighing the pros and cons, she will decide it more prudent to begin her professional career. I would love to eat a heaping plate of crow on that, especially considering that if I'm right we are going to have a fairly depleted roster.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

20 names is kind of a lot actually considering most of the transfers have occurred over such a short time (maybe 10 years?).

Thank God we've lived through it, huh!

 

[MilfordHusky]

Tuck has said repeatedly that she intends on returning to UConn next season to play a graduate season after her class – Stewart, Jefferson and Briana Pulido – graduates.

UConn's Morgan Tuck Might Be Overshadowed, But Geno Appreciates Her, Courant

I know she made that statement last April. She may have said the same at Media Day. My concern is that it may be old information. Doris said in November that she was probably leaving. I doubt that Doris has better info than the Horde. I'd love to see a current interview, for our collective peace of mind, but I don't want to see Morgan distracted from the task at hand--making her team as good as possible and winning out through April. I hope she stays and can see the arguments on both sides. I'm confident that Morgan will make a well-reasoned decision. We'll know in time.

 

[CTyankee]

Very classy for Geno to air out the dirty laundry about her academics..guess he's trying to do damage control with this chronic transfer (especially two McD's in consecutive years) issue..

Ohhh... Ouch....

 

[EricLA]

Tuck has said repeatedly that she intends on returning to UConn next season to play a graduate season after her class – Stewart, Jefferson and Briana Pulido – graduates.

UConn's Morgan Tuck Might Be Overshadowed, But Geno Appreciates Her, Courant

BUT BUT BUT... This article, even tho it was printed Dec 15, does not say WHEN Morgan made that comment, or who she made it to. For those reasons I think it's still murky what she intends to do after this year... <For the record, my comment was complete SARCASM>.

I guess people will say and post what they want regardless of the facts at hand. For example, even tho David Price signed a multi million $ contract with the Sox for 7 years, I still say he will be gone after 1 year. You know, the Sox may not win the world series and he may decide to bail. I mean, that's about as logical as the "Morgan will leave early" comments. Oh well...!