Haley Jones to Stanford

[ucbart]

Save me "The Sky is Falling" BS posts. This is a VERY BIG DEAL.

 

[TitleTown]

She was NEVER leaving California!

 

[MilfordHusky]

You know the question.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Not surprised.

 

[GG]

Good luck to her.

 

[JordyG]

Tough. Not surprised.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Congrats to Haley and Stanford!

 

[Go/huskies]

Best wishes to Haley

 

[Carnac]

The consensus here in the yard was that she was not coming, and would stay close to home, in this case, very close. Oh well, the other shoe has fallen, now what?

No. 1 recruit Haley Jones signs with Stanford -

Haley Jones traveled more than 15,000 miles for her official visits and then waited nine extra days as the air from the Northern California wildfires cleared. On Wednesday, the top-ranked women's basketball prospect finally announced her plan to move a mere 45 miles from her Santa Cruz, California, home and signed with Stanford and coach Tara VanDerveer.

Jones announced her decision in a morning signing ceremony in front of family, teammates and classmates at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose.

"It will be great to be a part of a program that is always up there competing for national championships," Jones said in a phone interview. "Playing for a coach like Tara, who is a Hall of Fame coach, is going to be a great experience."

Jones is the first No. 1 prospect to sign with Stanford since 2010, when Chiney Ogwumike signed with the Cardinal. Ogwumike now plays for the WNBA's Connecticut Sun.

The signature from Jones boosts the Stanford class to No. 2 in the country. VanDerveer previously welcomed No. 16 Ashten Prechtel, No. 23 Francesca Belibi and No. 50 Hannah Jump. Jones picked Stanford over Notre Dame, South Carolina, Oregon and UConn, which signed a single recruit -- No. 33 Aubrey Griffin. South Carolina's five-player class ranks No. 1 in the country.

[Article]

 

[hoopsfan22]

Tara gets a fantastic player, and Haley gets one of the best educations money can buy while getting to stay home to play in front of friends and family. Good luck to her.

 

[Hayven]

Nice pickup for Tara and staff. On to next year...

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Stanford was my guess.

Got one of the last three right anyway (jackson, boston, jones).

 

[SportsPageMike]

Good for Tara and we all wish her well. So is the cub-board bare or is there anyone else available this late in the recruiting stages? If not, we wait and see what develops for the Spring one. This have tons of confidence in Geno and the UConn staff.

 

[bbballfan23]

Not shocking. Focus is on class of 2020! I think we will still be a top 10-15 team next year as long as ONO develops how I think she will. She won’t be an AA next year but I think she will be a first team All-Confernec type player. Crystal will be best PG in country & CW & MW will have expanded roles. Depth even more of an issue than this year, however. TRUST IN GENO!

 

[Dillon77]

Congrats to Haley Jones. Thought it would be tough to get her away from the left coast and that proved to be the case. Gets to play with USA teammate Fran Belibi immediately, as well as the Hull twins and Jenna Brown. And the year after Cameron Brink comes aboard. Strong group of recruiting classes for Coach Tara.

 

[Beachampion]

Were going to be taking a backseat for a few years, unless the last couple recruiting classes start to play like they were advertised. What worries me more are the number of recruits decide not to play here or have left the program.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Not shocking. Focus is on class of 2020! I think we will still be a top 10-15 team next year as long as ONO develops how I think she will. She won’t be an AA next year but I think she will be a first team All-Confernec type player. Crystal will be best PG in country & CW & MW will have expanded roles. Depth even more of an issue than this year, however. TRUST IN GENO!

ONO, Crystal Dangerfield, Megan, CW are probably the obvious choices for the starting positions, and then I guess Batouly and Mikalya battling it out for the final spot. We'll have Aubrey, Kyla, Molly, and Lexi off the bench, so maybe Geno can find a walk on, a transfer (now that the NCAA is no longer forcing the one year sit out), or JUCO player that can help because they won't have enough to go 5 on 5 in practice.

 

[DICKG]

Congratulations to Stanford.

Maybe Geno will give his bench players some playing time knowing he needs to rely on them in the future. Even it means a few losses, these players can only gain confidence by listening in practice and playing important minutes instead of garbage minutes.

 

[JordyG]

Congrats to a great coach such as Tara for landing a great young player. Best wishes for a great career for Haley. Honestly though, I'm getting kind of tired congratulating other coaches for their recruiting classes.

 

[CTBballfan243]

The Sky is falling !!!!!!

 

[Boreifs]

Are there any European players who are possibilities for a spring signing? I’m not sure Geno would be so keen on a one and gone grad transfer; it takes a long time to learn his system

 

[BleedBlue72]

UCONN better sign a Major class next year... the future of the program is at stake. Hopefully we sign a few juco players... we will be even shorter next season a roster of 10 maybe 9 depending on camera comes back.. with her recent knee injury...losing Boston was the biggest blow I never thought Haley would leave California. I’m glad she ended up at Stanford and not South Carolina or Notre Dame. I have a lot of respect for Tara and the Stanford program. Amazing campus , the best education out there.. Haley made the right choice. 2020 or bust.... hopefully juco or grad transfers. Next season is going to be a very long and disappointing season in 20 plus years.. but hopefully Geno signs 5-6 players for 2020... a monster class to get UCONN back on top. Sign height!!!! We need big bodies and the next great PG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Shades]

Are there any European players who are possibilities for a spring signing? I’m not sure Geno would be so keen on a one and gone grad transfer; it takes a long time to learn his system

Is it too late for Magbegor to change her mind?
Wasn’t she the one who got the “don’t go to UConn” ball rolling? Maybe it was Collier....

 

[SimpleDawg]

Can't beat Stanford. Prettiest campus surroundings, tech friendly, prestigious education. WBB will be competitive for years to come, and her choice confirms it.

 

[hoopsfan22]

UCONN better sign a Major class next year... the future of the program is at stake. Hopefully we sign a few juco players... we will be even shorter next season a roster of 10 maybe 9 depending on camera comes back.. with her recent knee injury...losing Boston was the biggest blow I never thought Haley would leave California. I’m glad she ended up at Stanford and not South Carolina or Notre Dame. I have a lot of respect for Tara and the Stanford program. Amazing campus , the best education out there.. Haley made the right choice. 2020 or bust.... hopefully juco or grad transfers. Next season is going to be a very long and disappointing season in 20 plus years.. but hopefully Geno signs 5-6 players for 2020... a monster class to get UCONN back on top. Sign height!!!! We need big bodies and the next great PG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If we sign 5 or 6 from one class, we might as well only sign 2 or 3 because the other half will transfer. When was the last time we had a recruiting class of more than 3 remain intact? Other than the big three, when was the last time a recruiting class of more than 2 remained intact? Geno says 2 is his preferred class size, so if he can land a couple of top recruits in 2020 and again in 2021 the program will be fine. We may have to wait a little bit for another national title though.