Gusters to Baylor

[CocoHusky]

Just a third-party perspective here, but it seems like every time another elite program lands a recruit that hypothetically would have been helpful to UConn, a lot of posters use it as a referendum on the state of the program, which somehow manages to come off as both hubristic and insecure all at once. Hubristic because hey, UConn doesn't get to have all the top recruits folks - there are legit reasons to pick other schools. And insecure, because some people immediately claim that recruit was "overrated all along," while others act as if somehow the one recruiting miss shows that suddenly Geno's "past his prime," "doesn't know how to recruit anymore," or is "stubborn and won't adjust to the needs of today's players."

IMHO, it's not a good look for Huskies fans and not a great look for the program if its fans are so bothered by every time a top recruit goes elsewhere. Good fans stay confident in their team through thick and thin and don't care who other teams get. And that should be UConn fans, because no matter what recruit they get that you don't get, you have is Geno. And they don't.

UConn will be a top program as long as Geno is coach. UConn will miss on many top recruits. There are tons of other great programs worthy of top recruits, so that is rational, natural, and good for the sport. But UConn will get many others. It has always been thus, and always will be. Every program has peaks and troughs. No other program's peaks are 4 straight national championships. Ever. Some people on this board could really use a little perspective.

Post of the year right here!

 

[CocoHusky]

Dolson wasn't top 10 overall. But she was one of the top 1-2 posts that year. Weren't very many. Also she was a McD AA.

Dolson was in my youngest daughter's class so I knew the class pretty well. Chiney was in the class I guess you could consider her a post. To your point though there were only two notable post in the class Karla Gilbert at Texas A&M and Theresa Plaisance of LSU. Kilbert was very high in the calls (top 10ish) and Plaisance was top 50. Both Dolson and Plaisance had better NCAA and professional career than Gilbert.

 

[Charliebball]

You realize that about half that list is not good enough to play at UConn right?

I would say from a purely basketball standpoint all of these players would have helped UConn:

Nataija Marshall (6'6")- Notre Dame
Cameron Brink (6'4")- Stanford
Hannah Gusters (6'4") Baylor
Aliyah Boston (6'4") South Carolina
Ashten Prechtel (6'5") Stanford
Maori Davenport (6'4") Rutgers
Laeticia Amihere (6'3") South Carolina
Charli Collier (6'5") Texas
Shakira Austin (6'5") Maryland
Sedona Prince (6'7") Baylor

 

[cferraro04]

Kara Wolters - 6'7"
Azura Stevens - 66"
Stefanie Dolson - 6"5"
Kelly Schumacher - 6'5"
Natalie Butler - 6’5”
Rebecca Lobo - 6'4"
Tina Charles - 6'4"
Liz Sherwood - 6'4"
Breanna Stewart - 6'4"
Jessica Moore - 6'3"
Kia Stokes - 6'3"
Ann Strother - 6'3"
Katie Lou Samuelson - 6'3"

 

[bballnut90]

While a few bounces going UConn's way could have enabled Geno and team to win any of the three last National Championships, but lack of a talented true Post Player and/or Power Forward hurt their chances. Rebounding against talented Bigs cost them dearly. They gave up too many second and third chance opportunities. Ono will help in the future, but UConn needed experienced Post/Power Forwards already on the roster to enhance their chances at the National Championships.

Not saying Geno/Chris aren't recruiting talented Bigs, but for whatever reason until last season with Ono's signing, UConn haven't successfully recruited a true potential All American Post/Power Forward since Morgan Tuck signing in the 2012/13 Class. Then you have to go back to Stef Dolson in the 2010/11 Class. Stef wasn't ready when she arrived but with Stef's hard work and coaching, she ended up as an All American. While not an All American, can't forget the role Kiah Stokes played on defense and rebounding.

As I've said in a prior post, Geno/Chris are able to send Post/PF's to the WNBA as 1st round picks and they're still in the league. Just wonder what other teams are using to successfully recruit against Geno/Chris when the roster shows a need for Post/Power Forwards and playing time should be available. UConn needs a Physical Talented Post Player/Power Forward going forward. Some days shots don't fall. Rebounding and Defense will win the close games against teams that have equal talent. Hope Geno gets one or two in the 2020 Class.

Small Ball will win a lot of games, but sometimes when you're going up against the Baylor's, Miss St and yes even Notre Dame who rely on small ball but have the bigs to get them rebounds and points when necessary, you need some size to get Rebounds and play Defense. UConn hasn't had the Physical Player to match up in the last three years.

I dont think Geno was expecting to go smaller the past 3 years....players leaving really hurt them. In 2017 he likely expected Butler to develop into a better player by that point but she just didnt. She was expected to be on the 2018 team as well but transferred again. In 2018 he did have an excellent F/C in Stevens but she didnt break the starting lineup and appeared to not enjoy playing inside. In the semifinals, Stevens dominated inside in Q2 and turned the game around for UCONN but inexplicably sat almost the entire the 3rd and ND got back into the game. She was expected to return as a dominant frontcourt player in 2019 but bolted for the pros leaving UCONN without any proven height inside. Collier also decommitted after the hurricane and would've contributed last year. This last recruiting cycle he struck out on both Boston and Jones, plus there doesnt appear to be any extremely high profile bigs on the transfer/grad transfer market. Seems more like a string of bad luck than anything else. UCONN absolutely dominated inside from 2013-2016 with Dolson, Stokes and Stewart. Fortunately for Geno, he seems to be landing every top guard and has by far the most stacked backcourt in the country the next 2-3 seasons.

If Westbrook is eligible this year, the starting 5 will have two #1 recruits, a #2 recruit, a #3 recruit and a #5 recruit who was ranked #1 until an injury. The following year you swap out the #3 recruit with the incoming #1 recruit. I don't think any team has ever assembled a roster with that many top kids in a starting 5. Anyone who thinks Geno is struggling as a recruiter needs their eyes checked.

I also fully expect ONO to be a much better player next year with year under her belt. UCONN players almost always follow a pattern of taking a year or so to adjust before blossoming as sophomores. We saw it with Walker, Dangerfield, Stewart, Jefferson, KLS, Collier, Bird, Taurasi, Montgomery, etc. Zero reason to believe it doesnt happen again with ONO, especially with the strong finish down the stretch.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Not surprisingly, UConn was runner-up:


"It came down to Connecticut and Baylor over the last couple of months," Gusters said. "I visited both schools and both were great."


Gusters, a senior-to-be at MacArthur (Irving, Texas), said there was one key factor that nudged her toward Waco and coach Kim Mulkey.


"I decided on Baylor because of their great success in post players like Brittney Griner, Lauren Cox and Kalani Brown," she said. "I want to emulate those posts."

Baylor lands commitment from elite post player Hannah Gusters

Kim Mulkey rode two talented post players to a national title in April. Another is on her way to Baylor.

www.espn.com

 

[Charliebball]

Not surprisingly, UConn was runner-up:


"It came down to Connecticut and Baylor over the last couple of months," Gusters said. "I visited both schools and both were great."


Gusters, a senior-to-be at MacArthur (Irving, Texas), said there was one key factor that nudged her toward Waco and coach Kim Mulkey.


"I decided on Baylor because of their great success in post players like Brittney Griner, Lauren Cox and Kalani Brown," she said. "I want to emulate those posts."

Baylor lands commitment from elite post player Hannah Gusters

Kim Mulkey rode two talented post players to a national title in April. Another is on her way to Baylor.

www.espn.com

I don't get the sense that Gusters is nearly as good as any of those three but best of luck to her...............

 

[meyers7]

Dolson was in my youngest daughter's class so I knew the class pretty well. Chiney was in the class I guess you could consider her a post. To your point though there were only two notable post in the class Karla Gilbert at Texas A&M and Theresa Plaisance of LSU. Kilbert was very high in the calls (top 10ish) and Plaisance was top 50. Both Dolson and Plaisance had better NCAA and professional career than Gilbert.

I was thinking of Ogwumike as more of a F than a post. But either way Dolson was one of the top posts that year.

 

[meyers7]

Kara Wolters - 6'7"
Azura Stevens - 66"
Stefanie Dolson - 6"5"
Kelly Schumacher - 6'5"
Natalie Butler - 6’5”
Rebecca Lobo - 6'4"
Tina Charles - 6'4"
Liz Sherwood - 6'4"
Breanna Stewart - 6'4"
Jessica Moore - 6'3"
Kia Stokes - 6'3"
Ann Strother - 6'3"
Katie Lou Samuelson - 6'3"

A few more

Paige Sauer 6-5
Christine Rigby 6-6
Brittany Hunter 6-3
Heather Buck 6-4
Michaela Johnson 6-3
ONO 6-4

 

[meyers7]

Not surprisingly, UConn was runner-up:


"It came down to Connecticut and Baylor over the last couple of months," Gusters said. "I visited both schools and both were great."


Gusters, a senior-to-be at MacArthur (Irving, Texas), said there was one key factor that nudged her toward Waco and coach Kim Mulkey.


"I decided on Baylor because of their great success in post players like Brittney Griner, Lauren Cox and Kalani Brown," she said. "I want to emulate those posts."

Baylor lands commitment from elite post player Hannah Gusters

Kim Mulkey rode two talented post players to a national title in April. Another is on her way to Baylor.

www.espn.com

UCONN can match/exceed that. But not as recent. At least it's a thought out reason.

 

[Mdoggie]

Dead thread. On to the next one.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

A few more

Paige Sauer 6-5
Christine Rigby 6-6
Brittany Hunter 6-3
Heather Buck 6-4
Michaela Johnson 6-3
ONO 6-4

But Michaela Johnson transferred. Heather Buck was a complete bust. Brittany Hunter transferred in after incurring serious and lasting injury to her knee, resulting in her being limited to about 10 minutes a game max, and couldn't play in every game.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

I would say from a purely basketball standpoint all of these players would have helped UConn:

Nataija Marshall (6'6")- Notre Dame
Cameron Brink (6'4")- Stanford
Hannah Gusters (6'4") Baylor
Aliyah Boston (6'4") South Carolina
Ashten Prechtel (6'5") Stanford
Maori Davenport (6'4") Rutgers
Laeticia Amihere (6'3") South Carolina
Charli Collier (6'5") Texas
Shakira Austin (6'5") Maryland
Sedona Prince (6'7") Baylor

Exactly. We accepted Butler as a transfer because of the clear need for a big. She was middling at best, though she did play a good deal. We certainly wanted Collier, and all BY fans rejoiced at her commitment; then all BY fans groaned when she switched her allegiance. I do recall BY'er's claiming that at one point, UConn was actively recruiting Amihere. And we wanted Alliyah Boston.

So we can't claim that we really didn't want any of these bigs now that they've committed to other schools. We wanted them.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

I dont think Geno was expecting to go smaller the past 3 years....players leaving really hurt them. In 2017 he likely expected Butler to develop into a better player by that point but she just didnt. She was expected to be on the 2018 team as well but transferred again. In 2018 he did have an excellent F/C in Stevens but she didnt break the starting lineup and appeared to not enjoy playing inside. In the semifinals, Stevens dominated inside in Q2 and turned the game around for UCONN but inexplicably sat almost the entire the 3rd and ND got back into the game. She was expected to return as a dominant frontcourt player in 2019 but bolted for the pros leaving UCONN without any proven height inside. Collier also decommitted after the hurricane and would've contributed last year. This last recruiting cycle he struck out on both Boston and Jones, plus there doesnt appear to be any extremely high profile bigs on the transfer/grad transfer market. Seems more like a string of bad luck than anything else. UCONN absolutely dominated inside from 2013-2016 with Dolson, Stokes and Stewart. Fortunately for Geno, he seems to be landing every top guard and has by far the most stacked backcourt in the country the next 2-3 seasons.

If Westbrook is eligible this year, the starting 5 will have two #1 recruits, a #2 recruit, a #3 recruit and a #5 recruit who was ranked #1 until an injury. The following year you swap out the #3 recruit with the incoming #1 recruit. I don't think any team has ever assembled a roster with that many top kids in a starting 5. Anyone who thinks Geno is struggling as a recruiter needs their eyes checked.

I also fully expect ONO to be a much better player next year with year under her belt. UCONN players almost always follow a pattern of taking a year or so to adjust before blossoming as sophomores. We saw it with Walker, Dangerfield, Stewart, Jefferson, KLS, Collier, Bird, Taurasi, Montgomery, etc. Zero reason to believe it doesnt happen again with ONO, especially with the strong finish down the stretch.

Yes, we didn't expect to be smaller. Though KLS was 6'3", she was a natural guard, not a forward. And though she gave her best, Pheesa was not a natural post either. And against Baylor, the lack of size inside was telling. Weren't we outscored in the pain in that game 50-10?

We've been cobbling bigs together for a few years now. Z was a transfer, whom Coach Geno was disappointed left after one year. We've picked up the grad transfer Adebayo, because, as Coach Geno put it, "we need some size and we need some rebounding."

Let's keep in mind that most of our championships have come with powerful post players: two with Tina; four with Stewart; one with Lobo (?). And Stewart was assisted by Dolson and Stokes. And also keep in mind that we lost in the FF against a team- ND- that had a natural post player.

Coach Geno is the greatest. But he's telling us we need post players, and he just said it again. Let's stop pretending.

 

[bballnut90]

Yes, we didn't expect to be smaller. Though KLS was 6'3", she was a natural guard, not a forward. And though she gave her best, Pheesa was not a natural post either. And against Baylor, the lack of size inside was telling. Weren't we outscored in the pain in that game 50-10?

We've been cobbling bigs together for a few years now. Z was a transfer, whom Coach Geno was disappointed left after one year. We've picked up the grad transfer Adebayo, because, as Coach Geno put it, "we need some size and we need some rebounding."

Let's keep in mind that most of our championships have come with powerful post players: two with Tina; four with Stewart; one with Lobo (?). And Stewart was assisted by Dolson and Stokes. And also keep in mind that we lost in the FF against a team- ND- that had a natural post player.

Coach Geno is the greatest. But he's telling us we need post players, and he just said it again. Let's stop pretending.

Posts are needed, but let's not ignore that you guys have a good one for the next 3 years in ONO.

Baylor was also an anomaly that no team was suited to match up well with. They had a 6-7 All-American post in Brown and another 6-4 All-American post in Cox who has a 6-11 wing span. Not to mention a pair of highly touted freshmen off the bench who were 6-3 and 6-5. No one was contending with that. In their last 3 years of the year, Iowa was outscored 52-24 in the paint, Oregon was outscored 48-20, and ND was outscored 54-24. All of those teams had a standout post too....I don't think having a standout post puts UCONN over the hump in 2019, though it couldn't have hurt.

And in the 2018 semifinals, ND didn't have a natural post player. Shepard was a true 4 who was forced to play center all year with Turner tearing her ACL. She obviously adjusted well as a good rebounder and physical presence but isn't a true center. Stevens showed she was a better inside presence than Shepard in both matchups. Geno just didn't use her as much as Muffet used JS.

 

[willtalk]

True elite posts are the scarcest and hardest position to fill in Basketball. I would also add true points to that category as well. But then most points in college are actually just athletic two's with good handles. Uconn is just in a position that most teams have always found themselves in. Players just used to feel grateful to be offered by Uconn. if offered it was generally a given that they would commit. The dynamics in respect to recruits and WCBB has been changing for some time now. It is not an automatic that Geno will get his pick of the litter every year. There just isn't enough elite talent to go around to all the good programs that exist in todays college reality. Too much competition for too few players.

I wonder how much him not coaching the national team has influenced recruiting. I remember other teams fans claiming that gave him an unfair advantage. Players might have gone to Uconn because they felt it gave them a leg up in the selection process.

 

[meyers7]

But Michaela Johnson transferred. Heather Buck was a complete bust. Brittany Hunter transferred in after incurring serious and lasting injury to her knee, resulting in her being limited to about 10 minutes a game max, and couldn't play in every game.

I didn't make the list. I was just adding the players that were missing.

 

[meyers7]

Yes, we didn't expect to be smaller. Though KLS was 6'3", she was a natural guard, not a forward.

Eh, no. KLS was/is a natural SF or W. Not a natural guard.

And though she gave her best, Pheesa was not a natural post either.

True, she's a 4. A stretch one vs a PF.

because, as Coach Geno put it, "we need some size and we need some rebounding."

But he's telling us we need post players, and he just said it again. Let's stop pretending.

I don't think anyone is pretending. It's just a few on here keep harping on "bigs" implying nobody, including Geno, realizes it. We do. He does. They can shut up about it now. Actually they can shut up about it quite a while ago.

After bringing in all this talent over the past month or so, all they can still keep whining about is bigs. It's gotten really freaking old.

 

[j66kicker]

I wonder how much him not coaching the national team has influenced recruiting. I remember other teams fans claiming that gave him an unfair advantage. Players might have gone to Uconn because they felt it gave them a leg up in the selection process.

A lot, IMO. (So... Who had the #1 recruiting class this year?)

 

[DaBball]

You realize that about half that list is not good enough to play at UConn right?

I think it is too early to say that. For example a lot of people likely would have said a player like Elissa Cunane out of HS would not have been good enough to play at UConn, but she had a much better year than Nelson-Ododa or Collier. Too early to say a player who never played a game at the college level isn't good enough for UConn.

 

[soxfan23]

I think it is too early to say that. For example a lot of people likely would have said a player like Elissa Cunane out of HS would not have been good enough to play at UConn, but she had a much better year than Nelson-Ododa or Collier. Too early to say a player who never played a game at the college level isn't good enough for UConn.

Cunane had a better statistical year than ONO, but she also played on a team where she was looked to for offense. That was not ONO's role at UConn, they had Samuelson, Collier, Williams, Walker, and Dangerfield to handle the scoring. As for Collier, I have thought she was/is overrated as far back as when she was committed to UConn.