Haley Jones to Stanford

[Jim R]

Haley did what was best for HALEY!

You are exactly right, and that's exactly how it should be. But, at times, its curious when these college bound stars are quoted as to the "why" of their choice. Take the top two recruits, Haley Jones, and Jordan Horston. In Haley's words: "It will be great to be a part of a program that is always up there competing for national championships," Always competing for National Chamionships? When was the last time they were in the Championship game? According to Horston, “I also want a coach that knows how to push me and help me become a better player. I’m always just trying to work on everything, but I don’t want to be the same player in college I want to get better.” And, she chose Tennessee and Warlick?
Make no mistake, the choice is certainly theirs, and hopefully their choice turns out to be exactly what they wanted.
But, as any compettitor knows, the best way to respond to "adversity" or "naysayers", is simply to prove them wrong. And, to do that, all we need to do is win, and everything else will fall into place. Including, more top recruits.

 

[bballnut90]

Great get for Tara and staff. Stanford is going to be GOOD for the next several years. They appear to have a strong core next year with Williams, Dodson, Hull and Fingall all back, plus Belibi and Jones. After that they bring in Brink and will have Williams/Jones/Brink together for 2 years, Jones and Brink together for 3. That combo likely gives Tara her best shot at a title in quite some time.

 

[newsincerity]

This is the first time I’ve ever heard it suggested Bueckers would go to Stanford. Why do you think that would be the case?

Take it with a grain of salt, but on her Facebook page she facetiously lists her job as being a point guard in the WNBA and her education as "studied at Stanford University."

It is known she is a high academic student (4.0 or close to) so it appears she has a good chance of getting passed admissions.

 

[Dove]

"Haley, why???????????"

 

[bbballfan23]

Geno needs to give Coombs and ONO the bulk of the non-starting minutes. Let them play through whatever dumb stuff that young players do on the court. I would include Batouly in that mix, but she reminds me a bit of Doty where her body is trying to tell her to hang 'em up, so I won't be surprised if she retires from basketball at the end of the season.

You realize we have a GREAT chance to win a championship this year right? I’m all for developing ONO but Geno will do what’s best to make sure THIS TEAM is prepared for a championship run. He won’t sacrifice any success for this years squad to make sure a team that is a long shot to win next year, is prepared.

 

[meyers7]

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.

Since you asked. Other than injuries.
More than 3 ?
Montgomery/Greene/Williams/Kerns
Strother/Turner/Crockett/Wolff
Taurasi/Conlon/Valley/Moore/Battle
Williams/Bird/Cash/Jones/Walters

More than 2 ? (the above and)
Dangerfield/Irwin/Bent (so far)
Stewart/Jefferson/Tuck
Houston/Swanier/Thomas

 

[Carnac]

Haley Jones, the top women’s basketball recruit in the country according to ESPN, announced Wednesday that she will play next year at Stanford, choosing to stay close to home over making the cross-country move to UConn, Notre Dame or South Carolina.

Jones made her announcement short and sweet, thanking all of the teams who recruited her before saying that she would be going to Stanford and pulling on their hat.

“I think one of the main reasons I chose Stanford was because of the academic powerhouse that it is, and also it has the same level of prestige for its athletics as well,” Jones said on ESPN after her decision. “So I think that it’s close to home is just an added bonus, and it makes me happy that my parents, grandparents, and all my friends can come see me for home games and hopefully get season tickets.”

The announcement deals a major blow to UConn, which now has only one recruit signed for next year. The Huskies had landed the top-ranked recruit three of the last four years and have consistently had some of the highest rated recruiting classes in the country.

I agree with others that have said that Jones was never seriously considering UConn. She wanted to stay close to home. Stanford is 45 miles from her home. She already had a relationship with VanDerveer from attending youth basketball camps. Jones is not coming, fine. Good luck to her, but I'm done with reading anymore articles or BY comments about her or Boston. They chose not to come here, they can't help us. Let's move on.

 

[bbballfan23]

Are you kidding?? UConn will be in the top 5 teams, and that is not even debatable! A bad recruiting class (and this one was substandard for UConn) hurts down the road, but certainly not next season. Look at all the talent already on the team! UConn would need copious transfers to drop down that far, and those transfers would have to be starters. UConn will still have Danger and Meg and Chrystyn and ONO, plus Geno's coaching. There is no way they drop out of the top 5.

No I’m not. You realize we’re losing 2 of the top 5 players in college basketball that have been our go-to players the last 3 seasons. Both will end up top 5 in program history in scoring & you think you just plug in current players to replace them??

 

[meyers7]

No I’m not. You realize we’re losing 2 of the top 5 players in college basketball that have been our go-to players the last 3 seasons. Both will end up top 5 in program history in scoring & you think you just plug in current players to replace them??

We kinda did in 2016/17 and again in 2017/18. Granted didn't win a NC, but were a FF team. That's top 5.

 

[Fightin Choke]

No I’m not. You realize we’re losing 2 of the top 5 players in college basketball that have been our go-to players the last 3 seasons. Both will end up top 5 in program history in scoring & you think you just plug in current players to replace them??

I never said you could easily replace them. I said that UConn would be easily top 5, not ranked 10-15 as you suggested. Can you find 9 teams that should be better than UConn next season? No way! How many teams will have 2 #1 ranked players on their team? And have 2 others in the top 5? And none of them freshmen! That is a ridiculous amount of firepower, which will be coached by UConn's staff. And you are predicting a ranking between 10-15? I'll bet less than 10% of the members on this site agree with you (and it's not because they are homers).

 

[newsincerity]

Stanford fan? Congrats on the commitment... Jones is a star! Whenever players that I enjoy following along during recruitment commit to other schools it always draws me to those programs so I will definitely watch more Stanford WBB going forward!

Yes, one of the schools I root for the most. You could say I'm a Pac-12 fan.

I probably first knew about HJ the basketball star when she was in 7th grade! I remember being wowed by her dribbling then, since she had sort of a long loping stride more than shifty quickness and was already at or near her 6'1" size, yet so much control without any gangling awkwardness. It's almost puzzling that she started her high school career outside the top 20 since she seemed so polished so early.

People might not remember but HJ was one of the youngest at the 2015 USA Women’s U16 National Team Trials. I think she made it to the second-to-last cut, with Chloe Chapman (now two-sport star for hoops and soccer) the only other 2019 getting farther.

 

[CocoHusky]

Is UConn looking at Kylee Watson?
She's not the tallest but her ESPN profile says 6'2.. but I think she's much closer to 6'3 or a shade under 6'4 judging from a picture I saw of her standing next to A'ja.

Not for over a year now.

 

[bbballfan23]

We kinda did in 2016/17 and again in 2017/18. Granted didn't win a NC, but were a FF team. That's top 5.

Yes but we also had Collier & Gabby coming off the bench and Crystal stepping onto campus. Do you see any player like those 3 not playing much or at all right now? ONO is VERY raw. A ton of potential but very raw.

 

[bbballfan23]

I never said you could easily replace them. I said that UConn would be easily top 5, not ranked 10-15 as you suggested. Can you find 9 teams that should be better than UConn next season? No way! How many teams will have 2 #1 ranked players on their team? And have 2 others in the top 5? And none of them freshmen! That is a ridiculous amount of firepower, which will be coached by UConn's staff. And you are predicting a ranking between 10-15? I'll bet less than 10% of the members on this site agree with you (and it's not because they are homers).

Well considering many of the BYers has us ranked 4-5 coming into this year...

 

[Ex Nutmegger]

My wife and I ran into Monique and Patrick Jones downtown an hour ago. They were on their way back from the announcement ceremony. Patrick volunteered that it had been a tough choice between UConn and Stanford before I mentioned I was a UConn fan and had grown up eight miles from Storrs. Yes, Stanford is only 42 miles from here and only about ten miles from her high school. If she lived in Jefferson City Missouri she’d be headed to UConn.

 

[Ex Nutmegger]

Unfortunately, there is no silver medal for coming in second in a recruiting competition. However, it does mean that UConn and Geno still have a top recruiting position into the future.

 

[Shades]

Take it with a grain of salt, but on her Facebook page she facetiously lists her job as being a point guard in the WNBA and her education as "studied at Stanford University."

It is known she is a high academic student (4.0 or close to) so it appears she has a good chance of getting passed admissions.

If that’s her legit Facebook, it doesn’t look like she’s a heavy user of it. No posts since 2016.

 

[mbr33ct]

I want to comment, but not sure to which thread to reply to, seems all threads nowadays are predicting for dark days ahead for UConn. Unlike Tenn when Holly took over the helm...as far as I know, Geno is still the coach.

 

[Boreifs]

The top five players all went to different schools. It could have been much worse.

 

[Crazyhorse]

Tough. Not surprised.

Hey JordyG, what is your profile picture of? What movie?

 

[Dove]

I want to comment, but not sure to which thread to reply to, seems all threads nowadays are predicting for dark days ahead for UConn. Unlike Tenn when Holly took over the helm...as far as I know, Geno is still the coach.

Well, Geno and Co. only landed the #1 recruit in 3 of the last 4 years. So...I dunno. We might be Vanderbilt in 2 years.

 

[BroadwayVa]

That's easy: Yes.

Or have applied themselves less in the classroom? Yes. UConn's admission standards are lower, and there are many (most?) UConn athletes who did not meet the Stanford/Duke/Harvard admission standards.

The question was not about standards those are set by MAN. The question was about the intellect of the players choosing Uconn.
Is it not possible (of this I'm certain) that players choose Uconn for a multitude of factors other than name recognition or academic difficulty at Stanford or Harvard, MIT etc.
The other certainty is that ALL those that choose to play at Stanford are not there for the academics.
Selecting a school has to do with many factors. Stanford like Harvard, Yale, is not for everyone, even those that are academically qualified.
A Uconn grad as a Stanford grad depending on the Major in those academics will succeed. Name recognition gets you in the door to stay there depends what was impressed into the brains of the academians and the application thereof. This assumption should be dismissed by the transfer of Asura or Ms Hunter both of whom transferred TO Uconn from Duke after tasting the food there.

It is more than insulting to believe those that chose Uconn are either academically or intellectually inferior than ANY other school.

 

[hoopsfan22]

You realize we have a GREAT chance to win a championship this year right? I’m all for developing ONO but Geno will do what’s best to make sure THIS TEAM is prepared for a championship run. He won’t sacrifice any success for this years squad to make sure a team that is a long shot to win next year, is prepared.

Great, and when Collier or Megan pick up two quick fouls in the 1st quarter in the national semi-final or such a game becomes a whistle fest that requires heavy bench use early on, you can come back here and cry about why Geno didn't do more to cultivate a deeper rotation, again. Developing players for next season while positioning the team for a successful NCAA tourney run are not mutually exclusive goals.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Great get for Tara and staff. Stanford is going to be GOOD for the next several years. They appear to have a strong core next year with Williams, Dodson, Hull and Fingall all back, plus Belibi and Jones. After that they bring in Brink and will have Williams/Jones/Brink together for 2 years, Jones and Brink together for 3. That combo likely gives Tara her best shot at a title in quite some time.

I don't think Stanford has had a truly elite player since Chiney graduated, and even her Sr. year she was not surrounded by great talent. You have to go back to her Fr. and Soph year to find a Stanford team stacked like they could be the next several years. They might get back to annual trips to the Final 4. The Pac 12 is better top to bottom than it was during their last dominant period but they should rise to the top again. It's kind of hard to believe they haven't won a conference regular season championship since 2014, but that drought may end sooner than later.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Doesn’t Stanford have a higher SAT standard, or do they ignore that for athletes?

With the investigations of the last decade into the use of the SATs that's hardly a reference. But if you choose to believe Uconn kids are inferior intellectually that is your choice.