DiJonai Carrington top-3

[HuskylnSC]

So, where's the 'We needa BIG!' bandwagon. I think I'll jump on if there's room.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I wouldn’t necessarily describe Carrington as a Girl Scout. Regardless of her health, Carrington could fill a looming leadership void on this year’s team. For the first time in forever, UConn does not return a single senior who suited up in the prior season. Right now, UConn’s lone senior is Evina, who has not played a single minute for the Huskies and is coming off two knee surgeries herself.

While leaders will eventually emerge from the jr, sophomore & freshman classes, with a strong probability that there will be no on campus pickup games this summer, and who knows what the fall will look like, what does UConn have to lose by bringing in a mature, intelligent and experienced player for one year?

I wonder if anyone from the Trees can tell us was she a leader at Stanford? And it is not like she enters Storrs and becomes a Husky mother hen. She's a transplanted Tree. We'll use her (hopefully she will fit and be and stay fit) and she'll use us. Her unabashed goal, a perfectly fine one, is to catch the eyes of WNBA GMs and coaches and get drafted in 2021. It means that she is looking to maximize her productive time on the court. Again that is good, but if she does not get what she sees as necessary it doesn't make for a happy picture.

 

[Cornell Lt]

Not sure why some are up in arms over her. Geno & Co. recruit certain types of players and time has proven that a UConn kid is not afraid of competition. If a grad transfer "takes minutes away" from a freshman, then I would expect that the freshman would work harder to earn those minutes. I only see positives about adding her to the roster.

 

[JonathanXIV]

I am sure they did. Sometimes things don't work out. They can express their opinions and I can express mine.

True that. But while everyone might have an opinion, not all opinions are created equal.

 

[UCBaller2012]

Not sure why some are up in arms over her. Geno & Co. recruit certain types of players and time has proven that a UConn kid is not afraid of competition. If a grad transfer "takes minutes away" from a freshman, then I would expect that the freshman would work harder to earn those minutes. I only see positives about adding her to the roster.

Same sentiments here. We’re talking about a real major all conference performer...

 

[domerduck]

That was a once in a lifetime thing for Oregon. In Storrs, it happens every 2-3 years.

Ed (good name), just to be factual it has only happenned twice to UConn that 3 or more players were drafted in the 1st 8 in the WNBA. 2002 and 2016, both incredible drafts for UConn. So for UConn it happens once a decade, which still is impressive like Oregon did this year. From what I can tell these are the only 3 times it has ever happened, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

What is more factual is UConn has far more top 8 picks than Oregon which the Huskies have averaged one a year since 2001, with 19 overall in the top 8 since then. These were the Ducks only 1st round WNBA draft picks ever. Got a ways to go to match mighty UConn. We will see if Oregon can get a 1st rounder again in our lifetime.

 

[nwhoopfan]

We will see if Oregon can get a 1st rounder again in our lifetime.

With the way Graves is recruiting now, I'd say it's highly likely he will have multiple 1st round picks in the future.

 

[j66kicker]

Ed (good name), just to be factual it has only happenned twice to UConn that 3 or more players were drafted in the 1st 8 in the WNBA. 2002 and 2016, both incredible drafts for UConn. So for UConn it happens once a decade, which still is impressive like Oregon did this year. From what I can tell these are the only 3 times it has ever happened, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

What is more factual is UConn has far more top 8 picks than Oregon which the Huskies have averaged one a year since 2001, with 19 overall in the top 8 since then. These were the Ducks only 1st round WNBA draft picks ever. Got a ways to go to match mighty UConn. We will see if Oregon can get a 1st rounder again in our lifetime.

"3 in the top 8" is arbitrary/cherry picked, based on Oregon's 2020 draftees. But stellar, none-the-less. 1-2-8 is an amazing class, and all seem to be great people - how can you root against Ionescu-Sabally-Hebard? Congratulations!

UConn's two times of "3 in the top 8" were "1-2-4-6" and "1-2-3". So should I create a "3 in the top 6" category? Never mind.

Anyway, I'll also grudgingly give Notre Dame their due for "1-5-11-16-19" 2019 draft - very impressive.

 

[Alydar]

Tell her to crash the boards. Walker avg 8.4 rebounds, Carrington avg of 7.5 could be useful.

I think you are missing my point. There have been some posts on the 2020 recruits that say that McClean has no position to play because she is just a 5'11" rebounding phenom.
A starter for Stanford is certainly a skilled player and I'm not saying Carrington couldn't be used but what does she bring to the table other than skill as a rebounding guard? Experience? Sure, but what does she know about UConn's system after 3 years of living 3000 miles from Storrs?

UConn could use a strong rebounder that can play defense inside, not another perimeter player who shoots 33% from 3. I think they have everything they need right now and Carrington would be insurance, no more.

 

[Alydar]

Anyone who says we don’t want her is crazy. I’ll throw her a welcome party. We need experience at the guard positions. She helps she helps, she doesn’t she doesn’t but why not take a chance on a player that has shown in the past that she can play at a high level against high level competition. It’s a no brainer. I don’t understand some people’s thinking, it’s just crazy. I think we need a rebounding big, without one, Carrington may be the player that puts us over the hump with a lot of firepower from the guard spot. Why not, nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Firepower? 33% from 3. By december 1 next year UConn fans will be screaming for her NOT to shoot.
UConn is already getting 3 new guards to go with 2 that they have already. Do they really need a 6th?

 

[Lucelab113]

I think you are missing my point. There have been some posts on the 2020 recruits that say that McClean has no position to play because she is just a 5'11" rebounding phenom.
A starter for Stanford is certainly a skilled player and I'm not saying Carrington couldn't be used but what does she bring to the table other than skill as a rebounding guard? Experience? Sure, but what does she know about UConn's system after 3 years of living 3000 miles from Storrs?

UConn could use a strong rebounder that can play defense inside, not another perimeter player who shoots 33% from 3. I think they have everything they need right now and Carrington would be insurance, no more.

If there were any strong rebounders on the transfer market that would be eligible to play next year maybe they'd go after one but there are none!

"Carrington would be insurance". Exactly! So why are some people so uptight about her joining our team? It's a one year insurance policy for a team that's an ACL away from being thin. Carrington coming in would effect no future recruits or their decisions as she'd be gone after this year.

It seems the main reason people don't want her is because 1. She's a guard and many are programmed to scream WE NEED BIGS and 2. Other grad transfers were not huge contributors (so, Evelyn may not have been a huge contributor but at least she gave us a body to get some starters out of these AAC blowouts in the 4th qtr to prevent injury).

Ms. Carrington, if you or your family are lurking just know many of us would welcome your services!

 

[Lucelab113]

Didn't the coaching staff think that getting Evelyn Adebayo was in the best interest of the team? This is a WBB message board and they are just giving their opinions, whether they make sense or not.

Apparently you wanted UConn's starters to play 40 minutes a game up by 50 points against Tulsa or ECU in the 4th quarter. Maybe even get injured as well? Or wear down.

Evelyn helped prevent that. That's called contributing.

Score one for Geno and his staff. This thread has made me all the more thankful he is running this program and not some of the Yarders!

 

[Gus Mahler]

My only interest in DC would be as the additional player on the roster, to ensure that if one suffered an injury, there would still be 10 to scrimmage with on the road. Insurance, as was mentioned above. Otherwise, I would rather the young players (1-3) be given the chance to develop. Also as mentioned above, another front-court player would better. I sense that that ship has sailed.

 

[Figurehead]

Not sure why some are up in arms over her. Geno & Co. recruit certain types of players and time has proven that a UConn kid is not afraid of competition. If a grad transfer "takes minutes away" from a freshman, then I would expect that the freshman would work harder to earn those minutes. I only see positives about adding her to the roster.

Because it is to cushion the fall? Because that said player is unlikely to pick the beloved team. In other words such player disses beloved team by selecting someone else and fans say that player is not a good fit or they did not want the player in the first place. See it in about every sport when there is a high probability that a program gets snubbed by a recruit.

Just wait until Fudd picks Notre Dame. Same thing will happen.

 

[jonson]

With the way Graves is recruiting now, I'd say it's highly likely he will have multiple 1st round picks in the future.

Graves himself has said that there were two sitting on the bench this past year: Nyara Sabally and Sedona Prince. That's assuming both are/will be healthy, of course, but he has generally been accurate in his evaluations. And for those who might be interested there is a short video near/at the top of the Oregon WBB Twitter site showing Prince shooting threes and dunking. Looks really really good to these eyes.

 

[domerduck]

"3 in the top 8" is arbitrary/cherry picked, based on Oregon's 2020 draftees......UConn's two times of "3 in the top 8" were "1-2-4-6" and "1-2-3". Anyway, I'll also grudgingly give Notre Dame their due for "1-5-11-16-19" 2019 draft - very impressive.

3 things First. I agree it was arbitrary and was only clarfying for "Edsaid", it's not true that "In Storrs, it happens every 2-3 years." Second. I also agree that 2002 & 2016 were incredible drafts for UConn which I specifically stated in my post. In addition in my research had I used three in top 10, UConn would have had a 3rd one in 2018 (4, 6, & 10). Georgia also had 3 in the 1st nine in 2001 with the Miller twins and Deanna Nolan going 2, 6, & 9. Maybe there were more, but I only did some random checking based on my memory and studied the useful Wikipedia page "List of UConn Huskies in the WNBA draft".
Third you are right about ND's draft last year and probably the best ever from 1 team, which did have 3 in the 1st round as well. Only other time 5 players were drafted from one team was Tennessee in 2008: 1, 4, 15, 16, & 35. Oregon's draft was good this year probably 4th or 5th best ever for a school but ND's 2019 & UConn's 2002 & 2016 were the better in both quality and quantity and Tenessee's in 2008 was pretty good too. We will see if another team can match these team drafts in the future.

 

[maccca3232]

Ed (good name), just to be factual it has only happenned twice to UConn that 3 or more players were drafted in the 1st 8 in the WNBA. 2002 and 2016, both incredible drafts for UConn. So for UConn it happens once a decade, which still is impressive like Oregon did this year. From what I can tell these are the only 3 times it has ever happened, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

What is more factual is UConn has far more top 8 picks than Oregon which the Huskies have averaged one a year since 2001, with 19 overall in the top 8 since then. These were the Ducks only 1st round WNBA draft picks ever. Got a ways to go to match mighty UConn. We will see if Oregon can get a 1st rounder again in our lifetime.

If you wanted strictly only Top 8 picks then Tennessee also achieved it in 2012.

Currently their are 12 first rounds picks, so for consistency (some earlier drafts had more or less teams, so more or less first rounds picks) the table below shows teams with at least 3 picks in the top 12 (UConn had 4 in 2002).

Notes:

• This only happened 3 times in the first 19 years (1997 to 2015) but including this year it has now happened five consecutive years (2016 to 2020).
• Oregon becomes the sixth team to achieve, with only UConn (3) achieving it multiple times.

Georgia	2001​	Kelly Miller (#2 Charlotte Sting), Deanna Nolan (#6 Detroit Shock), Coco Miller (#9 Washington Mystics)
UConn	2002​	Sue Bird (#1 Seattle Storm), Swin Cash (#2 Detroit Shock), Asjha Jones (#4 Washington Mystics), Tamika Williams (#6 Minnesota Lynx)
Tennessee	2012​	Shekinna Stricklen (#2 Seattle Storm), Glory Johnson (#4 Tulsa Shock), Kelley Cain (#7 New York Liberty)
UConn	2016​	Breanna Stewart (#1 Seattle Storm), Moriah Jefferson (#2 San Antonio Silver Stars), Morgan Tuck (#3 Connecticut Sun)
South Carolina	2017​	Alaina Coates (#2 Chicago Sky), Allisha Gray (#4 Dallas Wings), Kaela Davis (#10 Dallas Wings)
UConn	2018​	Gabby Williams (#4 Chicago), Azurá Stevens (#6 Dallas), Kia Nurse (#10 New York)
Notre Dame	2019​	Jackie Young (#1 Las Vegas), Arike Ogunbowale (#5 Dallas), Brianna Turner (#11 Atlanta)

 

[Sakibomb25]

If Geno is recruiting Carrington and wants her at Storrs, then he thinks she can help his team... isn't there a saying you guys have around here... Geno knows best?

She's a tough, gritty player. She describes herself as an emotional leader (see article below) and you won't get any ego from her. She understands that sometimes a team needs points, other times the team needs rebounds or lockdown defense. She's willing to do whatever she can to win. She's also great at crashing the boards.

Of course, the one caveat is her health... but if she gets to Storrs with two good knees, she will definitely help the team out next year. And like others have alluded to, Geno recruits players who aren't afraid of competition... and if they are, then they came to the wrong school.

The Final Four: Women’s basketball seniors reflect on their final year

Seniors Mikaela Brewer, DiJonai Carrington, Nadia Fingall and Anna Wilson share their experience on the women's basketball team in the midst of their final season on the Farm.

www.stanforddaily.com

 

[hoophuskee]

I have not been talking about the coaches but about the armchair coaches. The UConn staff knows while we just speculate. If they take her then they see the need. I just think she's redundant. The only thing I see that Carrington has to add in Storrs is rebounding. And isn't there a thread around here talking about how McClean has no position because she is 5'11", just exactly like Carrington?
I'd say play her at the 3 for her rebounding but 3's at UConn have to shoot the 3 and she's a 33% 3pt shooter. So what do you do with a 5'11" rebounder who can't shoot 3's? Well, if she's a freshman you develop her, teach her new skills. And if she's a 5th year player? With chronic knee trouble?

I'm not saying good or bad. I haven't seen her play but 33% from 3 is equivalent to 49.55% from 2. And some seniors do improve their shooting from their jr year. Overall her shooting in her jr year was nearly identical to Christyn Williams soph year.

 

[soxfan23]

I'm not saying good or bad. I haven't seen her play but 33% from 3 is equivalent to 49.55% from 2. And some seniors do improve their shooting from their jr year. Overall her shooting in her jr year was nearly identical to Christyn Williams soph year.

You can't cherry pick Carrington's career season and compare it to (most likely) Williams career worst season!

 

[donalddoowop]

Apparently you wanted UConn's starters to play 40 minutes a game up by 50 points against Tulsa or ECU in the 4th quarter. Maybe even get injured as well? Or wear down.

Evelyn helped prevent that. That's called contributing.

Score one for Geno and his staff. This thread has made me all the more thankful he is running this program and not some of the Yarders!

Where did I say that? How much rest did she provide the starters? She was usually the last player in and with very little time to play. I was responding to a post that said the coaching staff always acted in the best interest of the team. They thought they were but it did not happen because she did not adjust to the UConn system Did you read that post? If you had you would not have made such a silly statement. This thread made me realize how some posters don't understand some of the posts on it.

 

[hoophuskee]

You can't cherry pick Carrington's career season and compare it to (most likely) Williams career worst season!

I don't agree with calling it cherry picking when you look at each player's last full season. I think you're wrong for example if you ever look at player's freshman year and try to draw a conclusion form those numbers when they are a senior.

As for CWill's stats just trying to draw a comparison between the two for their last full year which I think is the best way to compare. It's not cherry picking. It's using stats in a better way. CWill was an honorable mention A/A. Just trying to highlight Carrington's last full season - she wasn't a "bad" shooter. Alydar said she can't shoot. Well her last full season she did shoot decent enough.

 

[DEpup]

Where did I say that? How much rest did she provide the starters? She was usually the last player in and with very little time to play. I was responding to a post that said the coaching staff always acted in the best interest of the team. They thought they were but it did not happen because she did not adjust to the UConn system Did you read that post? If you had you would not have made such a silly statement. This thread made me realize how some posters don't understand some of the posts on it.

However, I also remember Geno saying he enjoyed having her because she worked hard and was an example to the "stars" that if she was working hard to get the most of her talent then they should too. Having a team of only stars where most things come easy is not always good for effective practicing and setting good examples for young phenoms. I actually think having a hard working DJC trying to get the most of her last year will be a good example for the freshmen whether she starts and plays 25 min or not.

 

[Alydar]

I'm not saying good or bad. I haven't seen her play but 33% from 3 is equivalent to 49.55% from 2. And some seniors do improve their shooting from their jr year. Overall her shooting in her jr year was nearly identical to Christyn Williams soph year.

Exactly. And there has been a lot of posts here saying Williams had an off year and needs to raise her game, a lot (not my opinion). Add that Williams has 2 years of UConn experience and I can't understand all the enthusiasm at the thought of adding another guard just like her.
It seems to me that more is not always better. If UConn wasn't loaded with guards I'd be more in favor of adding one.

And I'm not opposed to her, just don't see what she adds. Experience? Yeah, but it's west coast experience.

 

[hoophuskee]

Exactly. And there has been a lot of posts here saying Williams had an off year and needs to raise her game, a lot (not my opinion). Add that Williams has 2 years of UConn experience and I can't understand all the enthusiasm at the thought of adding another guard just like her.
It seems to me that more is not always better. If UConn wasn't loaded with guards I'd be more in favor of adding one.

And I'm not opposed to her, just don't see what she adds. Experience? Yeah, but it's west coast experience.

But where we differ though is that I do see what she can add. But where i agree is that I don't know if she can produce in an impact way. But that's why they play the games!