Caroline Ducharme (Caroline Ducharme) Video

[Mdoggie]

You are not reading that wrong. I don't believe Caroline does anything at an elite level. I reserve elite for top 5 or 10 players in each class. I also don't believe she has to do something at an elite level to be a contributor at UCONN. This talk about her being a "ringer, surprise, secret weapon" is taking it to far.

I respect your opinion.

 

[CocoHusky]

Caroline Ducharme is/will be much better than Lexi or Courtney. Bank on it!

She's not. Courtney Exmark was considered the best shooter in her class by a rather large margin. There are at least 6 shooters of roughly the same size as Caroline that are considered better shooters in this class-(Brooke Demetre, Payton Verhulst, Sonia Citron, Greta Kampschroeder, Saylor Poffenbarger, & Jersey Wolfenbarger).

 

[CocoHusky]

I’m calling her a ringer. If I’m correct we fans benefit.

Nah us fans don't matter. The only thing that matters is that Caroline has accepted the challenge of playing at UCONN and she is more than capable of meeting that challenge.

 

[Mdoggie]

She's not. Courtney Exmark was considered the best shooter in her class by a rather large margin. There are at least 6 shooters of roughly the same size as Caroline that are considered better shooters in this class-(Brooke Demetre, Payton Verhulst, Sonia Citron, Greta Kampschroeder, Saylor Poffenbarger, & Jersey Wolfenbarger).

We shall see.

 

[DEpup]

IMO Caroline is appropriately ranked and is a top 25-30 player in this class. As I have written before she is comparable to two former UCONN players that were ranked 29th and 30 in their respective classes-Courtney Ekmark & Lexi Gordon. Comparing her to KLS and Paige who were ranked CONSENSUS #1 in the class is an outlandish comparison and a sets unnecessary burdensome expectations. This is a class with some very talented wing/guards Caroline is among them but certainly not above them.

In my opinion, I'd say Caroline is in between your descriptions. I'd say in the high teens.

 

[DEpup]

She is much better than Gordon or Ekmark.

 

[BobbyJ]

IMO Caroline is appropriately ranked and is a top 25-30 player in this class. As I have written before she is comparable to two former UCONN players that were ranked 29th and 30 in their respective classes-Courtney Ekmark & Lexi Gordon. Comparing her to KLS and Paige who were ranked CONSENSUS #1 in the class is an outlandish comparison and a sets unnecessary burdensome expectations. This is a class with some very talented wing/guards Caroline is among them but certainly not above them.

I agree with most of this. However, I believe she’s quicker, more instinctive, a better ball handler and passer, and physically tougher than either of those two. Because of these traits and abilities I agree with you that she can thrive in UConn’s system. I value mental toughness and intangibles a lot.

 

[CocoHusky]

She is much better than Gordon or Ekmark.

Let's just make sure we are remembering correctly and not rejecting the comparison because we are disappointed that Lexi and Courtney decided to leave UCONN. We might also want to take into account Geno's opinion of Courtney.

Geno calls Courtney Ekmark one of best shooters ever seen...on any level

John A. is tweeting that Geno called Courtney Ekmark one of the best shooters he's ever seen, at any level..!! "She is a phenomenal shooter." Wow..!! I'm guessing he has seen a few really good shooters in his day... ;) Go Courtney..!!

the-boneyard.com

 

[HopJim]

You are not reading that wrong. I don't believe Caroline does anything at an elite level. I reserve elite for top 5 or 10 players in each class. I also don't believe she has to do something at an elite level to be a contributor at UCONN. This talk about her being a "ringer, surprise, secret weapon" is taking it to far.

While I am not sure whether Caroline will meet your definition of "elite," she likely will be part of an elite team. Geno has more resources than in many years and will be able to use her shooting and playmaking ability to open the floor for others. Defensively, she has the size and quickness to fit in nicely with UConn's defensive schemes. Few remember what a player was ranked in high school but we all remember the players that made up the championship teams.

 

[DEpup]

Let's just make sure we are remembering correctly and not rejecting the comparison because we are disappointed that Lexi and Courtney decided to leave UCONN. We might also want to take into account Geno opinion of Courtney.

Geno calls Courtney Ekmark one of best shooters ever seen...on any level

John A. is tweeting that Geno called Courtney Ekmark one of the best shooters he's ever seen, at any level..!! "She is a phenomenal shooter." Wow..!! I'm guessing he has seen a few really good shooters in his day... ;) Go Courtney..!!

the-boneyard.com

And unfortunately Courtney could not move fast enough in the offense to get an open shot to show off that great shooting ability. She never was the same speed wise after her high school injury. Caroline doesn't appear to have that issue after her injury. Courtney was much more successful in the ASU slow half court offense and she got much fitter. Caroline is already in better shape than Courtney was at UConn. Who knows what would have happened for Courtney if she got that fit while still at UConn. The fitness question goes for Lexi too.

 

[CocoHusky]

While I am not sure whether Caroline will meet your definition of "elite," she likely will be part of an elite team. Geno has more resources than in many years and will be able to use her shooting and playmaking ability to open the floor for others. Defensively, she has the size and quickness to fit in nicely with UConn's defensive schemes. Few remember what a player was ranked in high school but we all remember the players that made up the championship teams.

Caroline talents will be utilized in the best way possible because ALL of Geno's players are. As I have said before Caroline does not have to be elite to be a UCONN contributor. IMO UCONN has 1 elite ingredient going forward and that is Paige as primary play maker. Regarding Caroline's defense, while UCONN does not have an Elite perimeter defender I would project Aubrey, Saylor, Nika, Mir & Paige (in that order) to be better perimeter defenders at this point.

 

[Alydar]

In that same range of rankings as Gordon and Ekmark was Kia Nurse at 33 & Stevens at 23. One thing I have learned about these rankings is that getting a high one requires a player to be highly visible, and those who aren't sometimes don't even get in the top 100, like Chong, until she committed to UConn, when she appeared there for the first time.
Being 25-30 or thereabouts is not a death sentence. Prospect Nation has Ducharme at 23 and Iriafen, who had several here salivating until she went to the barnyard instead of the boneyard, at 20. If you think that Ducharme's ranking is right then you have to believe Iriafen's is equally justified.

 

[CocoHusky]

In that same range of rankings as Gordon and Ekmark was Kia Nurse at 33 & Stevens at 23. One thing I have learned about these rankings is that getting a high one requires a player to be highly visible, and those who aren't sometimes don't even get in the top 100, like Chong, until she committed to UConn, when she appeared there for the first time.
Being 25-30 or thereabouts is not a death sentence. Prospect Nation has Ducharme at 23 and Iriafen, who had several here salivating until she went to the barnyard instead of the boneyard, at 20. If you think that Ducharme's ranking is right then you have to believe Iriafen's is equally justified.

You can go back and look at any year of the rankings and find players that out or under performed their rankings for any school. We can wait 5 years and do the same for Caroline. All the players you mentioned (Lexi, Courtney, Kia, Azura, Kiki, Saniya, Kiki) were appropriately ranked IMO based on how they performed up to the time of the ranking. I get that some think that Caroline is ranked two low. What I don't get is those that think she will outperform her ranking just because she's coming to UCONN. I expect Caroline to perform up to her ranking and be a UCONN contributor.

 

[Alydar]

You can go back and look at any year of the rankings and find players that out or under performed their rankings for any school. We can wait 5 years and do the same for Caroline. All the players you mentioned (Lexi, Courtney, Kia, Azura, Kiki, Saniya, Kiki) were appropriately ranked IMO based on how they performed up to the time of the ranking. I get that some think that Caroline is ranked two low. What I don't get is those that think she will outperform her ranking just because she's coming to UCONN. I expect Caroline to perform up to her ranking and be a UCONN contributor.

Appropriately????? Yeah, but not correctly unless not seeing them play more than a few minutes is apprropriate methodology. No one can make an accurate judgement based on 15 minutes of one or two AAU games, which is what most AAU players get. It would be more helpful for fans if the rankers would list the events in which they actually saw the players they are ranking. Seems to me that there are about 30 AAU teams that get 90% of the coverage. The rest are left to themselves to get the word out. Sure, if you are an elite player on an elite AAU team you get an "appropriate" ranking, but if you are Kia Nurse, out of the loop, you are definitely not going to get an accurate ranking, even if it was appropriate.

 

[CocoHusky]

Appropriately????? Yeah, but not correctly unless not seeing them play more than a few minutes is apprropriate methodology. No one can make an accurate judgement based on 15 minutes of one or two AAU games, which is what most AAU players get. It would be more helpful for fans if the rankers would list the events in which they actually saw the players they are ranking. Seems to me that there are about 30 AAU teams that get 90% of the coverage. The rest are left to themselves to get the word out. Sure, if you are an elite player on an elite AAU team you get an "appropriate" ranking, but if you are Kia Nurse, out of the loop, you are definitely not going to get an accurate ranking, even if it was appropriate.

Uhm....... ESPN and Prospectsnation both list the events which they have seen the players play. Above and beyond AAU tournaments BlueStar, ProspectsNation and a few other also sponsor events where the players can come work out get feedback and actually talk to the people rating & ranking them. Hopefully you realize the irony of this phrase you used "accurate judgement". That's one of them there oxymorons. The rating and rankings are judgements. Judgement by definition is prone to error. Kia Nurse did play AAU, Canadian teams actually show up and compete pretty well at many of these high level AAU tournaments. Mike Flynn for over 10 years has had BlueStar ranking the players in Europe. He was the first to predict stardom for Nika Muhl and that was well before UCONN got involved. Every year at every school you will have players exceed their ranking and some that will not.

 

[Mdoggie]

Nika Muhl is a ringer! I crack myself up sometimes!

 

[Alydar]

I believe that you get what you pay for. HG is a wonderful resource for fans but I doubt any D1 coach uses them for anything but basic factual information. There are private evaluation services available that can run into thousands of dollars but most of us never see those.

 

[CocoHusky]

I believe that you get what you pay for. HG is a wonderful resource for fans but I doubt any D1 coach uses them for anything but basic factual information. There are private evaluation services available that can run into thousands of dollars but most of us never see those.

I doubt very much if ANY D1 coaches use HG for any reason at all. The paid version of HG is called:

Dan Olson Collegiate Girls Basketball Report