Haley Jones to Stanford

[MilfordHusky]

I think Aubrey becomes the 5th starter, unless Mikayla develops her shot.

Geno believed that 2020 was the better class, but I was hoping for 3-4 elite players from 2019. This is disappointing.

 

[dcfan]

Notre Dame is losing four starters, true, but they have a lot of talented back ups behind them and, unlike UConn, two potential stars in the class of 2019 coming in. Not true that their situation is nearly as dire as UConn’s right now.

 

[Shades]

Here’s a picture of Haley from years ago.

 

[BleedBlue72]

Just makes more room for 2020. With most of the top programs loaded now...players need to go somewhere.. Stanford loaded, South Carolina loaded, Louisville always loaded, Maryland, Mississippi State, Tennessee, all these rosters will have a lot of players, UCONN will be short and even shorter when Irwin, Bent, Dangerfield, and Camera all graduate that’s a lot of room to fill... Geno will have a huge 2020 class!!! Wouldn’t be surprised if we get a verbal or 2 come end of season.. Geno and the coaching staff will be recruiting huge ASAP mode... everyone complained about parity well it’s finally here!! More programs and more top recruits being spread out across the country... but I’m ok with jones going to Stanford ... Boston still hurts

 

[kenja]

Lastly ND is in the same boat.. losing 4 seniors all starters and only signed 2 .. theee roster will be 10-9 players. It’s not like ND bench is tearing it up .. Vaughn is having issues coming back from her injury so no one knows what her career will turn out. I think Sam will be a next Kate Westbeld type of player.. consistent but with a outside shot. So the sky isn’t falling A lot of top programs lose a lot ti graduation and a lot of young talent next season. Remember the new NCAA transfer rule no sitting out.. there is always several transfers come end of season so hopefully Geno will have some options...

I don't agree with regard to Brunelle. A Delle Donne reincarnation she ain't. But she's a much more gifted offensive player than Westbeld ever was. An excellent passer to boot. She'll fit there. And they'll have Young, who might be their best player right now. The 2020 and 2021 classes will be of enormous importance to UCONN.

 

[Orangutan]

You only missed one important factor. Proven coaching preparing player for the next step.yes. UCONN beat Stamford.

The Ogwumike sisters are doing fine in the WNBA. And having a Stanford education is a pretty nice fall back plan in case somehow basketball doesn't work out.

 

[Sakibomb25]

Feel your pain UConn fans free losing top recruits like Samuelson to you guys... so I can empathesize. Not looking forward to the huge gets Geno is going to get the next two years though... great coach and winning tradition is going to attract a lot of great players though.

Any chance UConn will move conferences in the next few years?

 

[MilfordHusky]

View attachment 36817

Here’s a picture of Haley from years ago.

Wow! Good find!

 

[Fightin Choke]

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!

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.

 

[UConnCat]

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....

Collier? Didn't UConn sign the #1 and #5 recruits after Collier de-committed?

 

[Carnac]

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Post of the day!!! Lots of real truth and honesty in your post. Thank goodness for Aubrey Griffin, or UConn would have "whiffed" on the 2019 class. 2020 or bust, I agree. UConn CANNOT go two classes in a row, as you said, without signing some height.

ONO will be "it" after this year. What happens if she starts off slow, or gets hurt, and misses a substantial amount of games? Who backs her up? Camara will be eligible to graduate after this season, and may not return. 2020 had better be a banner year for UConn.

Perhaps Geno will sign a Juco and/or a graduate transfer or two to get them through the 2019-2020 season. Mid-major programs find good (non top 100) players i.e., BIGS to fill their rosters every year. They never compete with the elite programs for the top 100 players. Only one AAC team (Memphis) signed a top 100 player from the 2019 class besides UConn.

I checked, St. Johns does not have a single top 100 player on its current roster, and they are very competitive.
I realize Geno usually doesn't go that route, but these are unusual circumstances, which call for a temporary change in philosophy and approach in obtaining players. Geno usually is able to pull a rabbit or two out of his hat when he needs to. It will be very interesting to see how he handles this.

Query: Can UConn be competitive next season with the present roster (minus Lou & Pheesa) and Griffin as the only addition?

I'm not doing a "Chicken Little" dance here, I don't do that, but things will be critical for UConn they don't get more bodies in here from somewhere for next season. What two reserve players currently on the bench can be counted on to step up to replace Lou and Napheesa? Maybe Geno will get lucky, and have a couple of graduate transfers drop in his lap over the summer. Keep hope alive.

How much help will freshman Griffin be?. I'm not expecting anything from Griffin until her sophomore year. Anything they get from her will be unexpected given how Geno feels about freshman. I want someone to tell me that we'll be OK if Griffin is the only addition we'll have for next year, and why.

If I'm missing something here, someone please point it out. Thoughts, concerns.....................

 

[OneTrickPony]

You simply can't feel bad about losing a recruit to Tara at Stanford...best wishes to Haley!

 

[Go/huskies]

Well if history repeats itself Uconn will probably miss out on Paige next year, but land Fudd the following year. Van Lith and Marshall for 2020 would be a good class, anyone else would be a bonus, I think Gusters likely heads to Tennessee or Baylor.

 

[Orangutan]

Well if history repeats itself Uconn will probably miss out on Paige next year, but land Fudd the following year. Van Lith and Marshall for 2020 would be a good class, anyone else would be a bonus, I think Gusters likely heads to Tennessee or Baylor.

Tweets certainly aren't definite proof of anything, but I'd be somewhat surprised if Marshall picks UConn over ND. (and there's more where this tweet comes from).

 

[Go/huskies]

Tweets certainly aren't definite proof of anything, but I'd be somewhat surprised if Marshall picks UConn over ND. (and there's more where this tweet comes from).

View attachment 36818

Well that would suck with Marshall being a elite player of size who if from NY, Uconn will definitely need some height next class.

 

[BroadwayVa]

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.

The question I MUST ask you is: What do you mean by "taking a back seat for the next few years"??

 

[Bayareahusky]

Congratulations to Haley and to Stanford.

 

[Sonofabeach]

 

[Orangutan]

Well that would suck with Marshall being a elite player of size who if from NY, Uconn will definitely need some height next class.

With ND and UConn both signing small classes, next year's recruiting just got hugely interesting. Obviously, there are some shared targets like Marshall and Bueckers.

I'm also seeing that some of ND's targets overlap with Oregon's and Oregon is also coming off a quiet recruiting season, too.

It should make for a very interesting 2020 recruiting season with arguably this year's top 3 teams each looking to score an elite class.

 

[Beachampion]

The question I MUST ask you is: What do you mean by "taking a back seat for the next few years"??

Exactly what it’s saids...final fours, national championships. Don’t expect less.

 

[BroadwayVa]

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Juco/Transfers? How well has Geno done with them? Azura was the best, as a scorer,
there were few better when Geno needed a true center. Grad transfers: It takes a typical player over a year to learn the Geno system; remember Nat Butler/Azura?

Geno historically has pulled some rabbits out his sombrero. Lean years for
Geno has been only 30 wins. If a teams fan base cannot accept a mere 30 wins maybe they are cheering for the wrong team.

 

[newsincerity]

A great day and really exciting time for Stanford.

I'll add that I expect ESPN #13 for 2020 6'4" forward Dalayah Daniels to ultimately join #2 6'4" F Cameron Brink and #37 5'7" PG Jana Van Gytenbeek. That would leave 1 scholarship left, and I do think Stanford is very much in the mix for Paige Bueckers. That would make Stanford "scary good" good.

Although Haley Van Lith is from "Pac-12 country" and said to have a 4.0 GPA, there has not been any chatter about her and Stanford (somewhat surprisingly). And with Jana Van Gytenbeek already committed, Tara might focus elsewhere position-wise anyway.

This infusion of talent looks like it could make Stanford a national championship contender in a way that it has not been since around the '08-'12 era.

I believe Stanford would have been a heavy favorite for ESPN #22/PN #11 and U17 USA Team Member PG Charisma Osborne, but did not have room. Though ranked lower, SG Hannah Jump very much has the outside shot Stanford is known to love and usually flourish with, and "jumped" on her Stanford offer with a relatively early commitment.

 

[JustinesGuy]

The Sky is falling !!!!!!

People on here can say they don’t want to read negative posts on recruiting or losing recruits but this is becoming a big problem. We are losing out on recruits that Geno clearly spent tons of time and efforts to bring them
Into our program. There is a problem here. From decommits in Collier, transfers AEH, missing on Boston that was such a LOCK to come here, and now a soft class for next year. Not good.
We have two premium players leaving to the WNBA, leaving us with one premium point guard and a bunch of yong kids that are completely unproven. Add in a bench with a few players ( That I will not name) that will never be great let alone solid players.
If u want to mix in an aging coaching staff, and don’t be surprised if shea leaves.
Not good! So what’s going to happen?
Next year is going to be a rude awakening. Do u think the underclassmen can step into prime time and fill pheese and lou’s Shoes? HA!
I’m not saying we’re going to be bad but it’s not going to be a typical uconn year. After that? Who knows? We need to get recruits in here pronto! Transfers to bridge a gap and 2020/21 premium talent. We will see what happens.

 

[triaddukefan]

 

[Shades]

Well if history repeats itself Uconn will probably miss out on Paige next year, but land Fudd the following year. Van Lith and Marshall for 2020 would be a good class, anyone else would be a bonus, I think Gusters likely heads to Tennessee or Baylor.

I have a feeling Fudd will go where Bueckers goes, unless Bueckers stays in Minnesota.

 

[j66kicker]

Geno historically has pulled some rabbits out his sombrero. Lean years for
Geno has been only 30 wins. If a teams fan base cannot accept a mere 30 wins maybe they are cheering for the wrong team.

I agree - if the team only wins 30 games then I'm cheering for the wrong team. Fortunately I don't see that happening - with or without Boston & Jones.

 

[DefenseBB]

I guess Haley Jones going to Stanford is logical from the point that Stanford is still relevant and one of the 3 strong programs on the left coast. That said, as a number 1 rated player, I wonder how much her skills will improved at Stanford. Tara's been to 4 Finals ('90,'92,'08,'10), and to 7 additional Final Fours ('91,'96,'97,'09,'12,'14,'17) so she is as consistent as you can get aside from Geno and Muffet. I look at her top recruits and I just don't see any real improvement. Yes, the two Ogwumike sisters had very good if not great careers at Stanford and other can probably opine better if Nneka or Chiney really improved their games during their time under Tara (my perspective is Nneka did and Chiney evolved a bit). That said, I just haven't seen any other players improve and maintain their lofty McDonald's AA status they had when they entered. For as much as we have watched Karlie Samuelson, she is still just a spot up shooter and did not really evolve her game under Tara.
I also know many have touted the "educational value" of Stanford, which is true for 98% of the students who go their. but for the elite athlete who is top ranked, their future is clearly in the pro's and along that end, did Haley Jones make the right choice? Her sole focus as a top dog is to stay dominant and make it a top 3 pick in the WNBA and stay relevant for USA and International Basketball.
l just think only a few programs offer a "Masters" degree in WCBB to elevate their game. ND, UConn for sure. Even mighty Baylor is questionable now. How much has Lauren Cox really developed? Is she held back by Kalani Brown, is it coaching, is it personal drive? Dawn has coached 1 player so the jury is still out on her.
All said, I can absolutely understand and respect this choice but do not wholly agree with it. Maybe she will evolve her game and stay as top dog. Best of luck to her.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Not every player has the same next step as a goal.

If the goal is to play for the WNBA or Europe then the EDucation of any school is of no consequence.
Then too even at Stanford, you can drive a player to classes but if those classes don't gel Podunk U is as good. If the player doesn't graduate, which happens with some playing sports, again Podunk is an equally great value.

If the goal is a high dollar education Stanford is great. The Major is important.

Do Uconn fans believe that those players that choose Uconn over Stanford, Duke, Harvard are less intelligent or capable in a classroom? As Geno once said: (Paraphrasing) There are as many working as "Waiting Staff" that graduate from those colleges as there are from Uconn; albeit, working high-class restaurants!"

Choke: We need more ND fans like you. Thanks.

 

[WNBA 09]

Haley did what was best for HALEY!

 

[BroadwayVa]

I think Aubrey becomes the 5th starter, unless Mikayla develops her shot.

Geno believed that 2020 was the better class, but I was hoping for 3-4 elite players from 2019. This is disappointing.

Coombs potential is very high and I believe she shall develop the ability to make the 3 consistently along with a driving layup. Still at this point it is : Potential!