Hannah Gusters???

[oldude]

Not seeing the excitement in this. What does it tell us, other than the fact that UConn is recruiting her -- which we already knew?

Perhaps, but didn’t Gusters just recently post something on one of the social media platforms indicating that she was going to be making an announcement soon?

 

[BigBird]

Not sure why it would compromise her as a recruit for college ball.

The ruling by the UIL (the governing body of Texas high school sports) was that she had transferred from Duncanville to Irving MacArthur for athletic purposes. Thus not eligible to play this past season.

Awkward for her high school career? Sure. But barely a blip on a the radar for her collegiate prospects.

Edit to add: Interestingly, it was in the course of the UIL hearings over Gusters' eligibility that some text messages supposedly implicating legendary Duncanville coach Cathy Self-Morgan in illegal recruiting activity were brought to light, ultimately leading to CSM's abrupt retirement at the end of the season.

I read it with a slight difference. Moving to another school district in order to maximize athletic opportunities is perhaps frowned upon, yet it’s done widely and somewhat openly. The blip in Hannah’s case is (alleged to be) that she was actively recruited by another high school. That is a different level of conduct on the part of the coach. It does not, in my opinion, cast any aspersions on Ms. Gusters. Perspectives may vary.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Not seeing the excitement in this. What does it tell us, other than the fact that UConn is recruiting her -- which we already knew?

UConn's been recruiting her for well over a year. Lister, who follows dozens of UConn targets and players of interest, just started following her today. Maybe it means nothing in the end but it feels like a positive sign. Especially considering Gusters appears down to three schools, UConn among them.

 

[Charliebball]

That's nice, but Gusters (and her parents) was at first night (six months ago). It was reported here that she was offered that same evening. Lister should have begun following her that evening.

CD appears to be the most active coach on social media from what I have observed............frankly I'm surprised how inactive Ms. Lister has been on twitter when compared to assistant coaches from many of the other competing programs............

 

[Plebe]

I read it with a slight difference. Moving to another school district in order to maximize athletic opportunities is perhaps frowned upon, yet it’s done widely and somewhat openly. The blip in Hannah’s case is (alleged to be) that she was actively recruited by another high school. That is a different level of conduct on the part of the coach. It does not, in my opinion, cast any aspersions on Ms. Gusters. Perspectives may vary.

This is not accurate, at least not according to anything I've read.

From the UIL eligibility standards (Eligibility Standards — University Interscholastic League (UIL)):

Eligibility for Athletic Contests

• meet all the requirements above,
• are less than 19 years old on September 1 preceding the contest or have been granted eligibility based on a disability that delayed their education by at least one year,
• live with their parents inside the school district attendance zone their first year of attendance (see your school administrator for exceptions),
• have not moved or changed schools for athletic purposes,
• have not violated the athletic amateur rule, and
• were eligible according to the fifteen day rule and the residence rule prior to district certification

Gusters was ruled ineligible because she was deemed to have violated the provision on changing schools for athletic purposes.

I think the waters got muddied in the Gusters case because from her hearings emerged allegations of recruiting by the Duncanville coach, but that was the school Gusters was moving from, not to.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

CD appears to be the most active coach on social media from what I have observed..frankly I'm surprised how inactive Ms. Lister has been on twitter when compared to assistant coaches from many of the other competing programs..

Lister adds IG accounts of UConn targets including some from as far out as the 2023 class. That's both US and international targets.

 

[Carnac]

Perhaps, but didn’t Gusters just recently post something on one of the social media platforms indicating that she was going to be making an announcement soon?

Yes...........here it is

 

[Charliebball]

Lister adds IG accounts of UConn targets including some from as far out as the 2023 class. That's both US and international targets.

I haven't seem much of her presence in the twiitersphere.................some of these programs have two assistant coaches following recruits in addition to the head coach and program accounts............

 

[DEpup]

If he gets Cooks for two years and loses Gusters to Baylor for 4 years, that’s a bad trade.

No matter what you say or how you spin it, 2 bigs is not enough so there needs to be at least a third and even better a fourth for us to be successful again. We need to get back to days where a stewie, stokes, and Dolson could be on the floor together. Then there was stewie, stokes, and tuck together. We need to have a big line up option to go along with a fast small ball line up. You can't give up having a strong team to get one player. Having basically 5 players is not working!!!

 

[Crossover]

I haven't seem much of her presence in the twiitersphere.......some of these programs have two assistant coaches following recruits in addition to the head coach and program accounts..

Sounds excessive to me. Some coaches also recruit 12 year-olds (cough Jeff cough Walz) and give offers to nine players per class. Btw, all social media are not equal. Just as teens abandoned Facebook once their parents and grandparents flocked to it, Twitter has become passe. No surprise that Jas is on the Gram.

 

[BigBird]

This is not accurate, at least not according to anything I've read.

From the UIL eligibility standards (Eligibility Standards — University Interscholastic League (UIL)):

Eligibility for Athletic Contests

• meet all the requirements above,
• are less than 19 years old on September 1 preceding the contest or have been granted eligibility based on a disability that delayed their education by at least one year,
• live with their parents inside the school district attendance zone their first year of attendance (see your school administrator for exceptions),
• have not moved or changed schools for athletic purposes,
• have not violated the athletic amateur rule, and
• were eligible according to the fifteen day rule and the residence rule prior to district certification

Gusters was ruled ineligible because she was deemed to have violated the provision on changing schools for athletic purposes.

I think the waters got muddied in the Gusters case because from her hearings emerged allegations of recruiting by the Duncanville coach, but that was the school Gusters was moving from, not to.

I wasn’t wrong, but being more right would have been OK too.

 

[oldude]

No matter what you say or how you spin it, 2 bigs is not enough so there needs to be at least a third and even better a fourth for us to be successful again. We need to get back to days where a stewie, stokes, and Dolson could be on the floor together. Then there was stewie, stokes, and tuck together. We need to have a big line up option to go along with a fast small ball line up. You can't give up having a strong team to get one player. Having basically 5 players is not working!!!

Let me jog your memory. Stokes did not get meaningful PT until the 2nd half of her junior year. During Stokes senior season, on occasion, Geno would play Stewie, Tuck & Stokes in the same lineup because UConn only went 6 deep (Sound familiar?). On those occasions, Stewie would sometimes play the 2 guard. Tuck was out with an injury for most of her sophomore season. After Stokes graduated it was just Stewie & Tuck.

To be clear, I have no problem with multiple Bigs, but Geno is only going to play multiple Bigs if they can pass and shoot within his 4-1 spread offense. The last thing Geno wants is a bunch of Bigs clogging up the paint on offense who also can’t switch and defend quicker players out on the exterior. As for Stewie, she was a generational difference maker. At 6’4”, she had the skills of a wing with her ability to shoot the 3, handle the ball and defend 1 through 5.

 

[CocoHusky]

Another Gusters question.
She didn't play much or any of her junior year after switching schools. The details of the switch SEEMED to be awkward.Is this situation any cause of concern?

A few of us expressed our concerns a few months go regarding this situation. These were my thoughts at the time:

Obviously can't and won't speak for Geno. For me the first red flag was her decision to transfer from what was obviously a historically successful program. I posted here about this being a red flag on two levels 1) Several of the recent UCONN transfers (Sadie , De'Janae, Courtney, AEH) were players that walked away from HS teams or transferred while still in HS. 2) At Least two recent Duncanville HS graduates (Zaay Green & Ciera Johnson) transferred or changed their college commitments.
There was a second red flag because being eligible at the new school should have been factored into the decision to transfer and clearly it was not resulting in the player losing her entire Junior year of HS basketball.
The last red flag (poison really) was the threat by the mother to release proof of recruiting violation by the head coach at Duncanville. It seems to me that a HS coach recruiting better players was good with the mother while her daughter was at that school. Once she decided to leave the school the mother suddenly have a problem with Duncanville recruiting. No evidence of good character in that scenario, but I may be wrong.
Having said all that, these are red flag against the parents, NOT THE PLAYER. Gusters appears to be an outstanding basketball player and an exceptional young woman. However, this is UCONN and it would not be the first time that Geno has walked away from a player because of the "quality" of the parents.

Clearly UCONN has moved on with recruiting Gusters since then, making my concerns completely irrelevant.

 

[CocoHusky]

Let me jog your memory. Stokes did not get meaningful PT until the 2nd half of her junior year. During Stokes senior season, on occasion, Geno would play Stewie, Tuck & Stokes in the same lineup because UConn only went 6 deep (Sound familiar?). On those occasions, Stewie would sometimes play the 2 guard. Tuck was out with an injury for most of her sophomore season season. After Stokes graduated it was just Stewie & Tuck.
To be clear, I have no problem with multiple Bigs, but Geno is only going to play multiple Bigs if they can pass and shoot within his 5-out spread offense. The last thing Geno wants is a bunch of Bigs clogging up the paint on offense who also can’t switch and defend quicker players out on the exterior. As for Stewie, she was a generational difference maker. At 6’4”, she had the skills of a wing with her ability to shoot the 3, handle the ball and defend 1 through 5.

Another heads up.

Just a heads up here. UCONN doesn't run a 5-0 motion offense. They normally run a 4-1.

 

[oldude]

A few of us expressed our concerns a few months go regarding this situation. These were my thoughts at the time:

Clearly UCONN has moved on with recruiting Gusters since then, making my concerns completely irrelevant.

Change noted. Thanks.

 

[Charliebball]

Sounds excessive to me. Some coaches also recruit 12 year-olds (cough Jeff cough Walz) and give offers to nine players per class. Btw, all social media are not equal. Just as teens abandoned Facebook once their parents and grandparents flocked to it, Twitter has become passe. No surprise that Jas is on the Gram.

I find that many recruits have private instagram accounts and I don't believe in following them so I go with what is meant for public access..............it seems there's still plenty of information to be found on twitter.........

 

[HopJim]

Let me jog your memory. Stokes did not get meaningful PT until the 2nd half of her junior year. During Stokes senior season, on occasion, Geno would play Stewie, Tuck & Stokes in the same lineup because UConn only went 6 deep (Sound familiar?). On those occasions, Stewie would sometimes play the 2 guard. Tuck was out with an injury for most of her sophomore season. After Stokes graduated it was just Stewie & Tuck.

To be clear, I have no problem with multiple Bigs, but Geno is only going to play multiple Bigs if they can pass and shoot within his 4-1 spread offense. The last thing Geno wants is a bunch of Bigs clogging up the paint on offense who also can’t switch and defend quicker players out on the exterior. As for Stewie, she was a generational difference maker. At 6’4”, she had the skills of a wing with her ability to shoot the 3, handle the ball and defend 1 through 5.

While there have been years where we had multiple bigs, now (and for the projected next few years) is not one of them. With transfers, injuries, and fouls always possible, Geno is smart enough to work in good rebounding talent. We cant run the UConn offense without the ball.

 

[oldude]

While there have been years where we had multiple bigs, now (and for the projected next few years) is not one of them. With transfers, injuries, and fouls always possible, Geno is smart enough to work in good rebounding talent. We cant run the UConn offense without the ball.

We ran UConn’s offense pretty darn well, setting an NCAA single season assist record in 2016-17, with two forwards who went 6’1” & 5’11”.

 

[DEpup]

We ran UConn’s offense pretty darn well, setting an NCAA single season assist record in 2016-17, with two forwards who went 6’1” & 5’11”.

I'm not about assists as much as championships. I still haven't heard anything to refute the need for multiple bigs and folks under appreciating Stokes isn't it either. I still haven't heard anyone refute that only essentially having 5 players is good enough either. Therefore I go back to my original thought that we need multiple bigs in an actual playing rotation. I think 3 would be optimum and a 4th would be utopia. On the other end, I also think we need a speedy mini PG and a PG with size and some physicality so we are versatile and can switch up the game when we want to. There needs to be 7-8 players in a real rotation to win #12. 5 or 6 isn't going to cut it so the thought of limiting recruiting for the hope of a particular fickle teenager to choose you is ridiculous in my opinion.

 

[victor64]

A few of us expressed our concerns a few months go regarding this situation. These were my thoughts at the time:

Clearly UCONN has moved on with recruiting Gusters since then, making my concerns completely irrelevant.

Thanks Coco. This is the post that I remember. I knew it was "messy". Follow up question. "Moving on?" Is UCONN still recruiting Hannah? It seems like it.

 

[CocoHusky]

Thanks Coco. This is the post that I remember. I knew it was "messy". Follow up question. "Moving on?" Is UCONN still recruiting Hannah? It seems like it.

UCONN is still definitely recruiting her,Geno went to her home in early March.

 

[Carnac]

The yard would explode like it's the opening night of Mardi gras if we get Gusters. The drought will be over.

 

[JordyG]

The yard would explode like it's the opening night of Mardi gras if we get Gusters. The drought will be over.

What drought?

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Shea Ralph just started following Hanna Gusters on Twitter.

Via UConnCat.

 

[Carnac]

What drought?

The drought of UConn having "multiple" BIGS (post players) on its roster lately. The drought UConn experienced so far this year having only 1 player (Griffin) signing up for next year from the 2019 class.
Geno and staff did their due diligence in their recruiting. The players they wanted simply chose to go else where. Thank God for ONO, or UConn would be in dire straights. The tallest players on the roster would be reserves Kayla Irwin and Batouly Camara at 6'2".

The basketball Gods (thus far) have not smiled down on the program as in recent years. I have a feeling that things are about to change for the better soon. I expect the basketball office to release news of UConn signing several players for next season in the coming weeks. When they do................