Coombs's Waiver Petition Denied | The Boneyard

Coombs's Waiver Petition Denied

This definitely doesn't spell well for the Westbrook appeal. It appears the NCAA has decided after being lax past 3 to 4 years in granting transfer transfer waivers they are now not. I can't help but scratch my head at why now the NCAA has decided to toughen up their approval process. Does not appear to be fair. We can only assume that Geno supported Coombs waiver as he supported AEH waiver last year.
 
soxfan23 said:
Feel bad for the kid, but this could be a blessing in disguise for Coombs! She desperately needs to develop her jumpshot and overall offensive game, maybe the year off will give her the time to do just that.
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At this point in her career I sincerely doubt that she’s going to be able to break down and rebuild a fundamentally flawed shooting stroke that she’s had since before she entered HS.
 
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oldude said:
At this point in her career I sincerely doubt that she’s going to be able to break down and rebuild a fundamentally flawed shooting stroke that she’s had since before she entered HS.
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If it was that apparent that early, why did Geno recruit her? He normally has such a good eye for uncoachable flaws, and tends to avoid "projects." I wasn't around during her recruitment, but I'm curious to know how this wasn't apparent back then (or why, if it was, it wasn't considered fatal).

Wish her the best - she seemed like a good, albeit bedeviling, egg.
 
TheFarmFan said:
If it was that apparent that early, why did Geno recruit her? He normally has such a good eye for uncoachable flaws, and tends to avoid "projects." I wasn't around during her recruitment, but I'm curious to know how this wasn't apparent back then (or why, if it was, it wasn't considered fatal).

Wish her the best - she seemed like a good, albeit bedeviling, egg.
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I suggested the following explanation last year. Mikayla checked all the boxes. Great athlete with speed and springs on her feet. Great off the dribble with the ability to attack the basket. Tough defender, good passer and hard worker with a great attitude. If you watch highlight films of her HS days, you will see her make a bunch of 3’s.

I don’t know how many times the UConn coaches watched Mikayla in person, but I would guess it would be no more than 2 and possibly only once. On that night, maybe she didn’t take a lot of outside shots, maybe she made a few or maybe you just chalk it up to a bad shooting night. Certainly, UConn had to recognize Mikayla’s extremely unorthodox shooting stroke. She basically slings the ball from her waist.

In the McD AA game I was extremely high on Mikayla for playing defense and setting up her teammates, 2 things you see very little of in HS all star games. Looking back on that game, Mikayla took few if any shots.

In retrospect, I think Geno and his coaching staff simply missed the fact that Mikayla was a really bad shooter from outside, or perhaps they thought they could coach her up. As I said, she checked all the boxes.
 
TheFarmFan said:
If it was that apparent that early, why did Geno recruit her? He normally has such a good eye for uncoachable flaws, and tends to avoid "projects." I wasn't around during her recruitment, but I'm curious to know how this wasn't apparent back then (or why, if it was, it wasn't considered fatal).

Wish her the best - she seemed like a good, albeit bedeviling, egg.
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Because she was a solid defensive player and she was recruited when bodies were needed,
 
irsh4242 said:
This definitely doesn't spell well for the Westbrook appeal. It appears the NCAA has decided after being lax past 3 to 4 years in granting transfer transfer waivers they are now not. I can't help but scratch my head at why now the NCAA has decided to toughen up their approval process. Does not appear to be fair. We can only assume that Geno supported Coombs waiver as he supported AEH waiver last year.
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I doubt that there's an overall trend of tightening. Plenty of waiver requests have been approved. On the men's side in particular, there were about 4 approvals for every denial.
 
Plebe said:
I doubt that there's an overall trend of tightening. Plenty of waiver requests have been approved. On the men's side in particular, there were about 4 approvals for every denial.
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There has been a higher percentage of waivers granted in the women's game.
 
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I really do not know why she decided to leave, She would have had a lot of playing time because she could have provided very needed defense on a team that Geno says can't play defense. She was a solid dribbler and could attack the basket.

Well, C'est la vie
 
itsasport said:
I really do not know why she decided to leave, She would have had a lot of playing time because she could have provided very needed defense on a team that Geno says can't play defense. She was a solid dribbler and could attack the basket.

Well, C'est la vie
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I'm sorry, but UConn is in bad shape if Coombs would have gotten major PT against good teams. As good as her defense was, it forces UConn to truly play 4 on 5 on offense, since she basically couldn't score anything but layups.
 
Plebe said:
I'm sorry, but UConn is in bad shape if Coombs would have gotten major PT against good teams. As good as her defense was, it forces UConn to truly play 4 on 5 on offense, since she basically couldn't score anything but layups.
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Kalana Greene, Kelly Faris, and Caroline Doty were no offensive juggernauts either, yet all three played a whole lot of minutes in big games. Doty mainly because of her poise, but the other two mainly offered defense and average offense at best (neither averaged above 12.5ppg). You’re telling me that if Coombs got 30mpg she couldn’t reach 10ppg? I’d have to think if she continued to work on her game and was given significant enough minutes the scoring would follow like it did for Greene and Faris.
 
southofnorth said:
Kalana Greene, Kelly Faris, and Caroline Doty were no offensive juggernauts either, yet all three played a whole lot of minutes in big games. Doty mainly because of her poise, but the other two mainly offered defense and average offense at best (neither averaged above 12.5ppg). You’re telling me that if Coombs got 30mpg she couldn’t reach 10ppg? I’d have to think if she continued to work on her game and was given significant enough minutes the scoring would follow like it did for Greene and Faris.
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I was thinking of that same team. You don't need everyone to score 15 a night when you can hold opponents in the 50s or lower in most games.
 
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southofnorth said:
Kalana Greene, Kelly Faris, and Caroline Doty were no offensive juggernauts either, yet all three played a whole lot of minutes in big games. Doty mainly because of her poise, but the other two mainly offered defense and average offense at best (neither averaged above 12.5ppg). You’re telling me that if Coombs got 30mpg she couldn’t reach 10ppg? I’d have to think if she continued to work on her game and was given significant enough minutes the scoring would follow like it did for Greene and Faris.
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Doty had potential to be a great shooter before she got hurt, I would call her a good offensive player.
 
The game has changed. Geno runs a 1-4 motion offense that works best if everyone on the floor can shoot the ball. It is particularly important that both guards can shoot the ball. In last year’s FF, Baylor, ND, OR & UConn were among the highest scoring teams in the nation. There won’t be any teams winning championships by 50-48 anymore.
 
Plebe said:
I'm sorry, but UConn is in bad shape if Coombs would have gotten major PT against good teams. As good as her defense was, it forces UConn to truly play 4 on 5 on offense, since she basically couldn't score anything but uncontested layups.
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FIFY
 
Go/huskies said:
Doty had potential to be a great shooter before she got hurt, I would call her a good offensive player.
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I agree that she could’ve been a great shooter and offensive player, but she wasn’t after her injuries and she stilled played considerable minutes given the other players on the teams she played on.
 
southofnorth said:
Kalana Greene, Kelly Faris, and Caroline Doty were no offensive juggernauts either, yet all three played a whole lot of minutes in big games. Doty mainly because of her poise, but the other two mainly offered defense and average offense at best (neither averaged above 12.5ppg). You’re telling me that if Coombs got 30mpg she couldn’t reach 10ppg? I’d have to think if she continued to work on her game and was given significant enough minutes the scoring would follow like it did for Greene and Faris.
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Coombs doesn't belong in the same conversation with Greene, Faris and Doty. Greene and Faris played in the WNBA for god's sakes. All 3 could score some baskets, were good passers and could fit in offensively. Coombs was not capable of any of those things. She showed she was a capable defender and had a nose for the basketball. She just didn't know what to do with the ball once she got her hands on it.
 
UConnCat said:
Coombs doesn't belong in the same conversation with Greene, Faris and Doty. Greene and Faris played in the WNBA for god's sakes. All 3 could score some baskets, were good passers and could fit in offensively. Coombs was not capable of any of those things. She showed she was a capable defender and had a nose for the basketball. She just didn't know what to do with the ball once she got her hands on it.
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The WNBA part is kind of moot given 1) Coombs is not eligible for the WNBA yet and 2) neither Greene nor Faris have made teams lately...

Not sure I would count either Greene or Faris as adept passers either. Greene was essentially 1:1 A:TO ratio and Faris was around 2:1. Coombs 37 assists to 29 turnovers puts her on par with Greene’s career A:TO average. Coombs’ fg% wasn’t great, I’ll concede that, but then again neither was the sample size (19/68 or about 27.9%). If they continued to develop her shooting form and she wasn’t yanked for making the same mistakes every starter made she might have eventually flourished. Who knows. My point being that not everyone on the court needs to be a sharpshooting bucket getter. Some are meant to provide defense, hustle, and the occasional offense—whether that be a good pass, pick, or shot.
 
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I'm not sure why anyone is surprised by this or why it would bode ill for Evina. Mikayla's coach was not fired, nor was she abused and harassed on social media by fans. I'm not sure of the exact reasons each gave for their waiver request, but I can't imagine they share any similarities, except that they both left schools they were originally recruited to...
 
southofnorth said:
The WNBA part is kind of moot given 1) Coombs is not eligible for the WNBA yet and 2) neither Greene nor Faris have made teams lately...

Not sure I would count either Greene or Faris as adept passers either. Greene was essentially 1:1 A:TO ratio and Faris was around 2:1. Coombs 37 assists to 29 turnovers puts her on par with Greene’s career A:TO average. Coombs’ fg% wasn’t great, I’ll concede that, but then again neither was the sample size (19/68 or about 27.9%). If they continued to develop her shooting form and she wasn’t yanked for making the same mistakes every starter made she might have eventually flourished. Who knows. My point being that not everyone on the court needs to be a sharpshooting bucket getter. Some are meant to provide defense, hustle, and the occasional offense—whether that be a good pass, pick, or shot.
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Faris wasn’t an adept passer? She recorded 145 assists as a sophomore and 165 assists as a junior which is 8th all-time for a single season at UConn. You should check out Faris’s Bio page. She was a very good player. Again, Coombs doesn’t belong in the same conversation with Kelly.
 
Living in Georgia I read some about Coombs in high school since I live here and heard she had an unusual shot but that she was quick and athletic. Recruiting is far from an exact science and I get even more skeptical about rankings each year as I've seen players with very good rankings in high school look very average or mediocre in college and that's been among several of the top programs. I know coaching, fit, player attitude, dedication and injuries can play a part where even a talented athlete would not look as good as advertised but my gut tells me most of these rankings come off of opinions of peer coaches in major, coporat sponsored tournaments. AAU gives the game a great deal of exposure but it has so much influence now over the college game and it shows.
 
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oldude said:
I suggested the following explanation last year. Mikayla checked all the boxes. Great athlete with speed and springs on her feet. Great off the dribble with the ability to attack the basket. Tough defender, good passer and hard worker with a great attitude. If you watch highlight films of her HS days, you will see her make a bunch of 3’s.

I don’t know how many times the UConn coaches watched Mikayla in person, but I would guess it would be no more than 2 and possibly only once. On that night, maybe she didn’t take a lot of outside shots, maybe she made a few or maybe you just chalk it up to a bad shooting night. Certainly, UConn had to recognize Mikayla’s extremely unorthodox shooting stroke. She basically slings the ball from her waist.

In the McD AA game I was extremely high on Mikayla for playing defense and setting up her teammates, 2 things you see very little of in HS all star games. Looking back on that game, Mikayla took few if any shots.

In retrospect, I think Geno and his coaching staff simply missed the fact that Mikayla was a really bad shooter from outside, or perhaps they thought they could coach her up. As I said, she checked all the boxes.
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She checked all the boxes. She had a great attitude. She was quick, fast and could jump and defend--but had a bad outside shot---yea, dump her!!
90 percent of what you stated GENO loves in his guards. At 17/18/19 she still is correctable in nearly everything with a great attitude. I doubt it was GENO's choice she leave UConn. After sitting on the long side of the splinters on his bench with health problems and others--SHE choose to leave.
I liked this kid since she first put on a Uniform.
Any person who scores over 90 in attirbutes and personality belongs on Geno's team. Many of Uconn's guards, with few exceptions, hit the 3 regularly as frosh some into the Soph year and drilled them as Jr, Sr's.
Excuse my long winded defense of Coombs--she is much more than those who detract her--can they drill 8 or 10 3's in a game, me neither.
 
UConnCat said:
Faris wasn’t an adept passer? She recorded 145 assists as a sophomore and 165 assists as a junior which is 8th all-time for a single season at UConn. You should check out Faris’s Bio page. She was a very good player. Again, Coombs doesn’t belong in the same conversation with Kelly.
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Kelly had trouble making 3's until a senior. Kelly had one GREAT game and even Geno commented on her not repeating it. Her greatest asset was ATTITUDE and COACH ABLE. the kinda kid Geno loves.. Coombs belongs in any conversation of UConn--she worked hard, played hard, had health issues, and had the GENO attitudes, positive. If Coombs stayed at Uconn who knows where she'd fit in this conversation. There are former Uconn kids that were true dud's, Coombs wasn't one of them. Let us discuss this in 3 years (I'll be happy to discuss anything in 3 years.)
EDIT---Kelly was suppose to be Uconns defensive answer to Diggins---never happened. In at least one game Diggins (as short as she was) stuffed Kelly a FEW times. Diggins had little trouble scoring on her.
 
Plebe said:
I'm sorry, but UConn is in bad shape if Coombs would have gotten major PT against good teams. As good as her defense was, it forces UConn to truly play 4 on 5 on offense, since she basically couldn't score anything but layups.
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Her defense was not all that good and she only shot 35% on LAYUPS. Her confidence and entire game were shot and she was not going to regain either in the stratosphere that is UCONN WBB.
 
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