December UConn Recruiting Thread

[soxfan23]

A stretch 4 like Tuck is invaluable. More so than another guard if Fudd is coming. Moore would fit that mold, if I'm not mistaken? Any thoughts on this?

So would Edwards, DeBerry, and possibly Poffenbarger.

 

[Charliebball]

Geno talking Paige:

UConn’s Paige Bueckers, the nation’s top recruit in 2020, is a ‘natural’

UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma isn’t hiding his expectations for Paige...

www.ctinsider.com

if anybody can have a seamless transition to college ball it's PB...........she was college ready two years ago as far as I'm concerned..............she may have her bad moments but I'd be shocked if she isn't ready to rumble from day one........

 

[Sluconn Husky]

F – Kiki Iriafen, Harvard-Westlake, Jr.

Iriafen (6-foot-3) might end up being the best girls basketball player to ever come through Harvard-Westlake. This season she is averaging a mind-boggling 24.1 points and 18.9 rebounds per game. After two years of varsity basketball, Iriafen is starting to use her length to impact the game offensively and defensively. She could be a McDonald’s All-American in 2021.

Daily News girls basketball top players to watch

Here is a list of the best girls basketball players in the area.

www.dailynews.com

 

[JordyG]

F – Kiki Iriafen, Harvard-Westlake, Jr.

Iriafen (6-foot-3) might end up being the best girls basketball player to ever come through Harvard-Westlake. This season she is averaging a mind-boggling 24.1 points and 18.9 rebounds per game. After two years of varsity basketball, Iriafen is starting to use her length to impact the game offensively and defensively. She could be a McDonald’s All-American in 2021.

Daily News girls basketball top players to watch

Here is a list of the best girls basketball players in the area.

www.dailynews.com

What I like about these kids, especially the tall ones, is how their basketball growth spurt is behind their physical growth spurt. How some catch up and surpass their progress arc, some exceed it, and some just blow past it to become other worldly. You just can't tell. Sure is fun to watch.

 

[BobbyJ]

F – Kiki Iriafen, Harvard-Westlake, Jr.

Iriafen (6-foot-3) might end up being the best girls basketball player to ever come through Harvard-Westlake. This season she is averaging a mind-boggling 24.1 points and 18.9 rebounds per game. After two years of varsity basketball, Iriafen is starting to use her length to impact the game offensively and defensively. She could be a McDonald’s All-American in 2021.

Daily News girls basketball top players to watch

Here is a list of the best girls basketball players in the area.

www.dailynews.com

That's my girl, sign her up. Skill set reminds me a little of Collier. Not too many have Collier's kind of motor, she'll go a long way if she does.

 

[JoePgh]

Geno talked about roster-size in yesterday's new conference. He still likes 12 as the ideal number but attrition when playing-time isn't available is an increasing part of the landscape. Especially, if the chance for immediate eligibility exists at another school.

I think the philosophy of recruiting "good program role-players" may have become a thing of the past after Irwin and Bent.

"Caroline, we would like you to come to UConn to be a role-player on a championship team". I am not sure that speech is given anymore.

I don't know what to make of the statement in your second paragraph. Are you saying that UConn's experience with Molly and Kyla has been a bad one and has soured Geno on taking other players in that mold? If so, I think you are completely wrong. I think Geno and CD appreciate how much those two have contributed to the team (without demanding mucho minutes or threatening to transfer if they don't get those minutes), and they would be delighted to have two more players of that talent level with the same attitude, to fulfill a similar role.

I don't know whether Caroline Ducharme would be right for that role. You may be right that she thinks she is talented enough to be a starter in college, and she may be right about that. It does seem unlikely that she would be a starter and play major minutes at UConn in the next few years. But she is from nearby (the Boston area), so her family could attend many games at UConn, and she may like the UConn style of play enough that she is willing to take that risk. As a non-superstar, it seems unlikely that she will play in the WNBA no matter where she goes to college, so playing minutes may not be critical to her from that point of view. (That is in contrast to someone like Mikayla Coombs, who may well have WNBA aspirations, realistic or not.)

The most important question is whether both Caroline and UConn Nation could accept her as "CD 4".

If Caroline comes to UConn and (if necessary) accepts the Molly/Kyla role, it would not preclude Geno from signing a 5th player from the 2021 class who might actually be a contender to start during her career.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Lol....she’s gonna go to UCONN.

Everyone thought the same about Boston.

 

[Charliebball]

I don't know what to make of the statement in your second paragraph. Are you saying that UConn's experience with Molly and Kyla has been a bad one and has soured Geno on taking other players in that mold? If so, I think you are completely wrong. I think Geno and CD appreciate how much those two have contributed to the team (without demanding mucho minutes or threatening to transfer if they don't get those minutes), and they would be delighted to have two more players of that talent level with the same attitude, to fulfill a similar role.

I don't know whether Caroline Ducharme would be right for that role. You may be right that she thinks she is talented enough to be a starter in college, and she may be right about that. It does seem unlikely that she would be a starter and play major minutes at UConn in the next few years. But she is from nearby (the Boston area), so her family could attend many games at UConn, and she may like the UConn style of play enough that she is willing to take that risk. As a non-superstar, it seems unlikely that she will play in the WNBA no matter where she goes to college, so playing minutes may not be critical to her from that point of view. (That is in contrast to someone like Mikayla Coombs, who may well have WNBA aspirations, realistic or not.)

The most important question is whether both Caroline and UConn Nation could accept her as "CD 4".

If Caroline comes to UConn and (if necessary) accepts the Molly/Kyla role, it would not preclude Geno from signing a 5th player from the 2021 class who might actually be a contender to start during her career.

I think you are underestimating Ducharme's skills. Her growth as a player was slowed by a knee injury so her ranking if fully healthy would probably be in the 25-35 range and that's nothing to sneeze at. She can really shoot the ball and every team can use another scorer coming off the bench, even UConn. From what I can tell she's been a consistent UConn lean for quite some time. Whether non starter minutes are her cup of tea is a whole different matter.........

 

[victor64]

'I don't know what to make of the statement in your second paragraph. Are you saying that UConn's experience with Molly and Kyla has been a bad one and has soured Geno on taking other players in that mold? "

Not at all. Kyla and Molly demonstrated early that they are fabulous teammates. They also showed that they lacked certain qualities that would make them regulars. They are getting chances this year (which they are using to their advantage) because of injury and low roster numbers. These types of players that aren't getting much time are now more likely to take their chances somewhere else. The other three recruits in Walker's class took that route for example

I don't know what Ducharme's goals are, what type of student she is or what type of person she is. I know that Geno has shared multiple times that he has no patience with players that feel entitled to something that they have not earned.

In an effort to keep posts brief, I sometimes make implications. Implying anything negative about Molly and Kyla was not the intent. Sorry.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

I think you are underestimating Ducharme's skills. Her growth as a player was slowed by a knee injury so her ranking if fully healthy would probably be in the 25-35 range and that's nothing to sneeze at.

She's much higher everywhere than ESPN.

23rd at PN, 9th at ASGR, 7th at BS, though she is a BlueStar girl so a little salt taken with that one

 

[Charliebball]

She's much higher everywhere than ESPN.

23rd at PN, 9th at ASGR, 7th at BS, though she is a BlueStar girl so a little salt taken with that one

from my admittedly amateur viewpoint I find those numbers to be a bit inflated but what do I know..............she's not the great athlete, not the quickest player on the court but she can score and should be a really solid college player for a top twenty team

 

[DEpup]

If Ducharme is the right kind of kid for Geno as he says and has her eyes wide open as to the talent around her then sign her up as a local kid. (I also think Westbrook will only stay 1 yr of playing). Realistically you can't have a team of over 12 starters.. you have to have a good mix of starters and role players. That's one of the issues the last couple years. We haven't had good role players to give a few good minutes a game. Just think if we had a senior Kyla/Molly duo each year playing the way they are right now. I'll go out on a limb and say there would be at least 1 or 2 more titles because those player types can get you through a starter injury for a couple games or foul trouble because of their experience in the program. I actually think Danger could have played at Seton Hall but since Molly and Kyla were giving good stability there was no rush to put Danger out there before she was ready in my opinion. Its a long season and the minutes add up so I'm totally in favor of always having a senior or two role players. We need the Lorin Dixon, McClaren, and Stokes type players again to truly be bad for basketball.

 

[Argonaut]

A poor quality image, but it seems that Rivers is down to her top six — UConn included!

 

[Sluconn Husky]

View attachment 49019

A poor quality image, but it seems that Rivers is down to her top six — UConn included!

Logos listed: UConn, FSU, Maryland, ND, North Carolina, NC State

Logos missing: South Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, Duke, UNC Wilmington, NC A&T

 

[BobbyJ]

View attachment 49019

A poor quality image, but it seems that Rivers is down to her top six — UConn included!

I’ve got a feeling she’s getting the “face of the program” recruiting pitch from ND and NC which may well be true. Might be hard to pass up. BTW, did you notice that she’s from Laney HS in Wilmington, NC, Michael Jordan’s old HS?

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Logos listed: UConn, FSU, Maryland, ND, North Carolina, NC State

Logos missing: South Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, Duke, UNC Wilmington, NC A&T

Rivers just put up another IG post saying she hasn't cut her list from 12 and apologizing for any confusion.

 

[Argonaut]

Rivers just put up another IG post saying she hasn't cut her list from 12 and apologizing for any confusion.

What a strange sequence...

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Second game of the season for Jaelyn Bates:

 

[donalddoowop]

Isn't Rivers a player who said she wanted to beat UConn? How good is she?

 

[CocoHusky]

Isn't Rivers a player who said she wanted to beat UConn? How good is she?

Damn good. Best defender in the class. Bucket getter deluxe. UCONN started recruiting her right after she made that statement.

 

[Kurebeach5]

I’ve got a feeling she’s getting the “face of the program” recruiting pitch from ND and NC which may well be true. Might be hard to pass up. BTW, did you notice that she’s from Laney HS in Wilmington, NC, Michael Jordan’s old HS?

Her first two years she went to Laney. She transferred this year to Ashley HS in Wilmington, saying she legitimately relocated because her home was decimated by Hurricane Florence. If it was for hoop reasons Ashley is the worst of the Wilmington schools with both New Hanover and particularly Hoggard having a richer history.

 

[victor64]

Her first two years she went to Laney. She transferred this year to Ashley HS in Wilmington, saying she legitimately relocated because her home was decimated by Hurricane Florence. If it was for hoop reasons Ashley is the worst of the Wilmington schools with both New Hanover and particularly Hoggard having a richer history.

Spill it Kurebeach. You seem to have familiarity with Rivers. Of those 12, who do you think it is down to?

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Amari DeBerry's first game line from last Saturday (12/7):

14 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks, 2 steals

 

[Kurebeach5]

Spill it Kurebeach. You seem to have familiarity with Rivers. Of those 12, who do you think it is down to?

To be perfectly honest, I'm as clueless as anybody. I am going to watch her play Friday night, I'll let you know if I hear or see anything (such as who else may be there).

 

[MilfordHusky]

Damn good. Best defender in the class. Bucket getter deluxe. UCONN started recruiting her right after she made that statement.

She reminds me of Jordan! Michael Jordan.