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Butler Picks UConn

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Icebear said:
I think the operative word was "experienced," meaning college experience. Collier and Boykin will be freshmen.
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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)...
 
Why is she leaving G'town?
 
ericsandiego said:
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)...
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I was referring to what Vowel missed in the post. It was the descriptive "experienced."
 
Dove said:
Why is she leaving G'town?
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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."
 
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winlots said:
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.
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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...
 
winlots said:
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.
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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?
 
.-.
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."​
 
Kibitzer said:
ahem.

I believe you are eager to hear comments from Natalie but anxious to hear them from Katie Lou and Asia.
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Maybe Milford knows something we don't.;)
 
MilfordHusky said:
I believe that Geno can speak once he has her LOI, right?
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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.
 
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elzorrogris said:
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?
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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.
 
JS said:
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.
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Will she sign the scholly offer on the hood of her car?
 
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MilfordHusky said:
I think picking up Butler affects Brown in one way or another. I'm not sure it affects anyone else very much, though maybe it means that McCoy would not start as a frosh, of she picks UConn.

Clearly, UConn looks like a Final Four team for the next 4-5 years, at least. :)
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O I don't know. The twin towers has served us well in the past. Think on that young jedi




'Try' Not!
Do
or do not

There is no 'try'
 
Sounds like we'll love this kid.

"She chases excellence on and off the court. She is smart and she truly loves basketball. She plays and trains year-round. She works at it. She came to practice early and worked. She stayed 30 minutes after and worked," Butler's high school coach, Lake Braddock's John Giannelli, told the Courant last week. "Before practice she'd already be soaked with sweat. I'd kid her, 'Natalie, why are you wet, it's not raining out?' It's because she had already run the steps in our football stadium before a three-hour practice. She worked with medicine balls. She's not afraid to bump or push and when she plays rough she plays better."
 
UConnCat said:
Sounds like we'll love this kid.

"She chases excellence on and off the court. She is smart and she truly loves basketball. She plays and trains year-round. She works at it. She came to practice early and worked. She stayed 30 minutes after and worked," Butler's high school coach, Lake Braddock's John Giannelli, told the Courant last week. "Before practice she'd already be soaked with sweat. I'd kid her, 'Natalie, why are you wet, it's not raining out?' It's because she had already run the steps in our football stadium before a three-hour practice. She worked with medicine balls. She's not afraid to bump or push and when she plays rough she plays better."
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Just wow. The more I hear about this kid, the more I think we are really lucky!
 
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Kibitzer said:
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."​
Expand ...

My first thought also... luck. But upon further thought (See "Rich: Fairfax Stars ED thinks Butler is bound for greatness" thread), this was luck that Geno and CD have made for themselves over the last 20 years of hard work. This was no random event. Kudos to them for building a program that attracts this kind of quality kid.
 
winlots said:
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)
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Was out reffing after work, when I got home found out my step-son's car's brakes were gone. Spent most of the night looking at it and getting it towed to the shop. Didn't get a chance to get back on the BY til this morning.
 
Kibitzer said:
ahem.

I believe you are eager to hear comments from Natalie but anxious to hear them from Katie Lou and Asia.
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English 101 lesson from Kib. :)

10,000 posts, and I'm still a work in progress.
 
psconn said:
My first thought also... luck. But upon further thought (See "Rich: Fairfax Stars ED thinks Butler is bound for greatness" thread), this was luck that Geno and CD have made for themselves over the last 20 years of hard work. This was no random event. Kudos to them for building a program that attracts this kind of quality kid.
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Now I go to Vince Lombardi:

"Lady luck doesn't kiss bums sleeping on park benches."​
 
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JS said:
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.
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Thanks for the correction, Solicitor! The lack of LOI makes sense. The relevant point is that Natalie needs to complete some paperwork. It's a shame it wasn't completed already, because Coach was very talkative today. But it's ok--great players and people are worth waiting for.
 
Butler, and Stewie are both gym rats, always trying to improve. Butler even though not playing next year, will keep Stewie, Kiah, and Morgan sharp, and that should be frightening to opponents.
 
I wonder if Geno is going to try a Houdini and apply for her to play this season on hardship grounds?

Like, three coaches in one year.
 
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