Butler Picks UConn

[mhshuskies]

I think the operative word was "experienced," meaning college experience. Collier and Boykin will be freshmen.

Icebear got my back.

 

[MilfordHusky]

"She's just what Geno and UConn needed." Exactly! She plays the right position, has the right skills and a solid work ethic, and is a great kid. Seems like an excellent fit.

This really helps Kiah in practice next year, just as battling Kiah will help Natalie. I love it!

Natalie will take pressure off of Stewie her senior year. Yes, De'Janae and Napheesa will too, but Natalie is really tall and already proven.

After Stewie leaves, the front line of Natalie, Napheesa, and De'Janae will be one of the best, maybe THE best (I won't say "hands down"). Add Lou at the wing and that front line might be comparable to Stewie, Stef, Kiah, and Kaleena. Yikes!

In terms of playing time, Lou and Asia Durr will force Geno to play them based on their talent and effectiveness. Minutes will be more balanced. In terms of starting, recall that, until injuries hit, Diana, Maya, and Stewie did NOT start as frosh. I don't think their careers were adversely affected.

I'm anxious to hear comments from Natalie and Geno. I believe that Geno can speak once he has her LOI, right?

 

[RoyDodger]

Roster next year now at 11.
I think this means 0 to 2 more players from the 2015 class.

I presume you were leaving out Pulido and Lawlor because with the two walk-ons, the potential** roster for 2015-2016 has 13: Boykin, Butler, Chong, Collier, Edwards, Ekmark, Jefferson, Lawlor, Nurse, Pulido, Stewart, Tuck, and Williams. If one or two others commit to UConn for 2015, it appears to me that Geno would have his largest roster in many a year.

**I cautiously use the term "potential" because the oral commitments are not yet "written in stone."

 

[WesternPaFan]

it's gonna be a "great wall of China at the post"....

....How great for Kiah to be able to practice against Stewart and Butler an develop into a Great AA Center this coming year!!!!

 

[Icebear]

I presume you were leaving out Pulido and Lawlor because with the two walk-ons, the potential* roster for 2015-2016 has 13: Boykin, Butler, Chong, Collier, Edwards, Ekmark, Jefferson, Lawlor, Nurse, Pulido, Stewart, Tuck, and Williams. If one or two others commit to UConn for 2015, it appears to me that Geno would have his largest roster in many a year.

*I cautiously use the term "potential" because the oral commitments are not yet "written in stone."

Walk ons do not matter in the count one way of the other against the scholarship count. You could have 20 players on a team if you have 5 walk ons.

 

[bschwartz]

Cat, you are so plugged in. If I didn't know you, I'd wonder if you have an illegal wiretap going.

I think it is called Twitter.

 

[Kibitzer]

I'm anxious to hear comments from Natalie.

ahem.

I believe you are eager to hear comments from Natalie but anxious to hear them from Katie Lou and Asia.

 

[winlots]

I tried to put the basketball on the butler's tray...good concept....anyway, I'm THRILLED!!!!

SEMP: the effort was noticed...and the concept was outstanding and immediately understood, I'm sure..

 

[winlots]

I would be ecstatic to close out 2015 with Samuelson.

SUE - I have VERY high hopes for her coming here. I also think DURR is very, very important, as she would be the natural slide-in after a year backing up Jefferson at that spot.

 

[winlots]

What a nice way to start a Wednesday morning. Welcome Ms Butler, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

MEYER: I won't ask how you were ending Tuesday night??? (Along with the Rangers/Pens game, how did you MISS this? Well, at least you work up.....always a good thing)

 

[UConnCat]

I think the operative word was "experienced," meaning college experience. Collier and Boykin will be freshmen.

Plus, Butler is a center.

 

[winlots]

MEYER: So early for such great humor....even from The Master. Good one.

 

[Vowelguy]

I presume you were leaving out Pulido and Lawlor

The walk-ons will never receive significant playing time. And any scholarships for them are dependent on availability. So yes, they are excluded.

 

[johnnyc]

I'm anxious to hear comments from Natalie

This is all I need to know.....

Jim Lewis won’t soon forget his first real encounter with Natalie Butler. It was Oct. 28, four days after he was named Georgetown’s new women’s basketball coach, the day after the Hoyas scrimmaged against the University of Virginia. Lewis pulled Butler aside and told her she could be a women’s professional basketball player someday.

Most 17-year-old freshmen might respond giddily to such praise, but Butler didn’t even crack a smile.

“Her immediate response was, ‘Well coach, I’ve got a lot of work to do. Let’s go,’” Lewis recalled. “That’s Natalie Butler.”

Later on in the article.....pretty similar to Stef Dolson's experience.....

Lewis’s willingness to throw Butler into the fire accelerated her improvement in every phase of the game. She cut weight and grew stronger as time went on, allowing her to use her 6-5 frame to impose her will rather than succumb to the aggressive pace of Division I basketball.

http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/apps/pb...an-season-at-georgetown&template=fairfaxTimes

 

[Wonkster]

... We needed a center starting in 2015, and one of the best just landed in our lap. Amazing!!!

And to think that it happened on Mulbery Street!

 

[EricLA]

I think the operative word was "experienced," meaning college experience. Collier and Boykin will be freshmen.

And also size. Collier and Boykin are not true 5's in any sense of the way the position is played. Butler is. Whether she's more like Dolson, or more like Jess Moore, is almost irrelevant. UCONN needed size up front and they got it. As it turns out, she may end up being as good or better than most of the other bigs UCONN missed out on the past few years (McCall, Reimer, and Howard)...

 

[Dove]

Why is she leaving G'town?

 

[Icebear]

And also size. Collier and Boykin are not true 5's in any sense of the way the position is played. Butler is. Whether she's more like Dolson, or more like Jess Moore, is almost irrelevant. UCONN needed size up front and they got it. As it turns out, she may end up being as good or better than most of the other bigs UCONN missed out on the past few years (McCall, Reimer, and Howard)...

I was referring to what Vowel missed in the post. It was the descriptive "experienced."

 

[UConnCat]

Why is she leaving G'town?

Butler hasn't spoken about her reasons publicly, though her former AAU coach mentioned the coaching changes.

McCormick-Dix exchanged some text messages with Butler after hearing the reports that she had decided to transfer to UConn.

"She sad it was a life-changing experience and she is excited but it was not an easy decision for her," McCormick-Dix said. "When she made the decision to go to Georgetown she really was excited about it, happy about it, very emotionally connected to it so I don't think it was an easy decision for her."
Keith Brown was suspended as Georgetown's coach for unprofessional behavior and resigned eight days later. Former WNBA coach Jim Lewis came in and was the interim head coach before Natasha Adair was appointed Georgetown's new coach last month.

"I have three players there right now and it has been difficult for all of them," McCormick-Dix said.."I don't think it was an easy decision for Natalie to leave Georgetown by any means. She is not the type of kid to pick up and leave. I think it was a very difficult decision to make but at the same time she took her time through this process. She didn't rush anything, she took her time and she made the best possible decision she could out of a really bad situation."

 

[EricLA]

SUE - I have VERY high hopes for her coming here. I also think DURR is very, very important, as she would be the natural slide-in after a year backing up Jefferson at that spot.

Durr is more a combo guard IIRC, but she certainly CAN play the 1 (and the 2). I think she's more similar to Taurasi than to Jefferson. I could see her and Nurse starting, much like when UCONN started Doty and Hayes - Neither is a PURE PG, but UCONN has not had very many of those over the years (Rizzotti, Williams, Swanier, Dixon and now Jefferson come to mind). And Jen was so long ago she might have been a combo guard too.

I would say players like Conlon, Taurasi, Hayes, Montgomery, and even Bird were combo guards, mainly because they were very capable scorers as well as leaders running the team. Not that Jefferson isn't a capable scorer, or Rizzotti for that matter but just trying to draw a bit of an analogy for differences...

 

[Zorro]

SUE - I have VERY high hopes for her coming here. I also think DURR is very, very important, as she would be the natural slide-in after a year backing up Jefferson at that spot.

Doc; Are you maybe forgetting in the current excitement that we have four guards coming in this year, three of whom are either point guards or combo guards, and all of whom are highly rated? Not too long ago everyone was raving about how Nurse was going to be the heiress apparent to MoJet. Now all of a sudden she (and Sadie and Courtney) are chopped liver and it its "very, very important" that we get Durr? How much of a good thing do you have to have before it becomes too much of a good thing? Maybe it IS possible to have too many guards?

 

[Kibitzer]

Having Natalie Butler (1) decide to leave Georgetown surprisingly, then (2) publicly announce that she was considering transferring only to either UVa or UConn, THEN (3) decide quickly to commit to the Huskies -- a mind-boggling sequence of events, especially in light of UConn's need for at least one BIG player after Kiah graduates. Reminds me of the old adage:

"All the planning in the world doesn't beat plain dumb luck."​

 

[ndmb]

ahem.

I believe you are eager to hear comments from Natalie but anxious to hear them from Katie Lou and Asia.

Maybe Milford knows something we don't.

 

[JS]

I believe that Geno can speak once he has her LOI, right?

She won't be signing a LOI. The National Letter of Intent only applies to a player's initial enrollment in an NCAA school (including transfers from junior colleges to an NCAA school).

Publicity rules do, however, prohibit the school to which a player is transferring from commenting until the basic enrollment paperwork is done -- such as acceptance of a written scholarship offer from the school.

 

[ndmb]

Doc; Are you maybe forgetting in the current excitement that we have four guards coming in this year, three of whom are either point guards or combo guards, and all of whom are highly rated? Not too long ago everyone was raving about how Nurse was going to be the heiress apparent to MoJet. Now all of a sudden she (and Sadie and Courtney) are chopped liver and it its "very, very important" that we get Durr? How much of a good thing do you have to have before it becomes too much of a good thing? Maybe it IS possible to have too many guards?

We'll obviously be fine in the guard department if Durr goes elsewhere. Having said that (and without any disrespect to the four extraordinarily talented young women coming in 2014), Durr is simply on a whole nother level. It was only a five game sample, and not against Div 1 level competition, but she led the U16 team in scoring with 18.4 PPG, while shooting 53% as as guard. And oh, by the way, that was in 20.4 minutes, giving her a points per 40 of 36.1. She also averaged 3.2 steals per game.

I wonder if this would be seen differently if KLS (who also has the potential to be a truly dominant player) wasn't also in this year. Our four 2014 guards are great, really, but when you have the opportunity to get a player of Durr's caliber (assuming the coaching staff feel she's a fit for the team), you get excited about it.