Hope it's not true

[Ctpaul0825]

"@jaltavilla: Apparently, the University of Maryland has emerged as a top contender to snag high school star #DiamondDeShields. #UConnwomen"

 

[Icebear]

"@jaltavilla: Apparently, the University of Maryland has emerged as a top contender to snag high school star #DiamondDeShields. #UConnwomen"

The potential waste of another excellent college career. She would be better off heading to Louisville to play for Walz. He does more with his talent.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

She is just right to fit the UCONN mold for a player of substance. I'm not buying any other choice at this point.

 

[connboy77]

I thought Diamond wanted to play with a great point guard! Who does Maryland have?

 

[JS]

Hope it's not true.

You seem to be reading this as though the Terps are the leader, Paul. "A top contender" says to me only what it says. If you want to read it that it's down to these two schools, I wouldn't quarrel, based on a lot of straws in the wind. And that's fine.

Notably, the schools are finally going to play the series Ms. Frese has been ducking for years. Judging by her past recruiting pitches, I can just hear it: "More of a challenge to beat them than join them." Yeah, well, good luck with that.

Best wishes to Ms. DeShields, in any event, wherever she ends up playing.

 

[pap49cba]

Rich has a slightly different way of putting it...

"The source also said that it is shaping up to be a battle between UConn and Maryland when it comes to star junior Diamond DeShields, a 6-1 wing from Norcross Ga."

 

[Icebear]

You seem to be reading this as though the Terps are the leader, Paul. "A top contender" says to me only what it says. If you want to read it that it's down to these two schools, I wouldn't quarrel, based on a lot of straws in the wind. And that's fine.

Notably, the schools are finally going to play the series Ms. Frese has been ducking for years. Judging by her past recruiting pitches, I can just hear it: "More of a challenge to beat them than join them." Yeah, well, good luck with that.

Best wishes to Ms. DeShields, in any event, wherever she ends up playing.

I think your point is very well taken, JS.

 

[alexrgct]

Personally, I think Maryland would be less beneficial for DD over the course of a college career than would UConn. She'll be allowed to develop bad habits that Geno won't tolerate, and she will far less developed defensively.

That being said, it's a good program, she'd get to play more more immediately, and some kids like to be the big star instead of one of a constellation of stars. Not saying that's what DD is thinking, but it's something that might draw a kid to Maryland over UConn. Additionally, College Park is in the DC area. Great town, especially for someone who's grown up in an urban area. Additionally, DD has been in environments with large African-American populations. Storrs is lacking in that regard. Again, I don't know if that's what's on DD's mind specifically, but generally, that could be the allure of Maryland.

So all that being said, UConn is the best place to develop her game and win national championships. I hope those factors win out in the end. Getting kids to understand this is one of the primary things Geno and CD get paid the big bucks for.

 

[AboutWeston]

Either way, we'll get to see a lot of her! IIRC we will be playing Maryland home and away beginning soon.

 

[turtlespeed]

Just to clear up a few facts about Maryland. They have a very good point guard in the making with Brene Moseley who is coming off an acl her senior year in high school. And, they have a verbal from the second ranked point guard for 2013 Lexie Brown. Also, Tianna Hawkins who was not ranked in the top 100 in 2009 has developed as the top FG% player in the country, averages 12.9 ppg, with 9.5 rbpg. So, players do develop very well at Maryland.

Oops, I forgot to mention that Alyssa Thomas has developed into one of the best players in the country and is only a sophomore.

So, I really wouldn't call going to Maryland a waste of talent.

 

[Tonyc]

Well I think its all for the papers and fans. I cant see DD going to MD. Her dad was a professional ball player. He knows the value of a coach who can develop you and make you the best. You know many fans were concerned Breanna would go elsewhere. That wasnt going to happen either. I really dont think UConn has much to be concerned with with DD coming. Geno was at her game for a reason and I dont believe it was to convince her to come, DD wanted to come to UConn 4 years ago and I dont think thats changed. She wants to follow in Mayas footsteps. WIth that said UConn is going to win alot of NCs over the next 6 years barring major injuries and I think she would want to be a part of that. With that said UConn will have the number 1 ranked team in the country and their next 5 could also be a top 5 team. If Geno backs off DD then you know shes going elsewhere. If Geno dosnt back off, as he wants players who want UCOnn then you know he's set her free to go elsewhere

 

[cferraro04]

Chill out turtlespeed we have a few posters here who are given to hyperbole. However, that being said you do understand why the general overall feeling on the Boneyard is that UConn would be a far better place for DD to spend her college career?

 

[turtlespeed]

I understand what you are saying cferraro, but I'm just trying to clear up some misunderstandings of a few. As far as I'm concerned, Diamond will make the choice that is best for her.

 

[EricLA]

i can't speak for Brene Moseley since i know nothing about her, but with a 93 rating per HG, she was probably in the 60-80 range. Doty tore her ACL her senior year of HS and ended up rated #10 or 11. my guess - she's not even in the same class as Banks, never mind Hartley or Jefferson. And Alexis Brown is rated #17 per HG and Blue Star. certainly solid but not spectacular. having said that she's from Georgia so maybe that's a draw for Diamond.

Maryland has recruited well lately. Thomas is a flat out stud, and IMHO, the best player in her class - it's either her or Chiney. and Howard is supposed to be quite good. but Maryland's not in the same class as UCONN when it comes to recruiting. in fact, they are also behind Duke, ND, Rutgers, aTm, L'ville and probably Tennessee off the top of my head.

so nothing wrong with wanting to go to Maryland. much better college town than Storrs. solid team. some very good to terrific players. but don't pretend they are anywhere near UCONN's class. they will find out next year just how far behind UCONN they are.

and by the way, that old adage of "kids will develop better at UCONN than elsewhere" - hogwash. EDD is one of the top 3 players in the country and she chose lowly Delaware over UCONN. do i think she'd have been "better" had she gone to UCONN? probably, but how much may well be negligible. i'd guess she'd be in better physical shape had she gone to UCONN, and she'd be developing more diverse skills being forced to play against better players, not to mention the male practice squad. i do think Geno is the best and the game and he has the best staff in the game, but other kids can develop into fantastic players even if they go elsewhere.

it's like pointing to Charde and saying UCONN isn't good at developing players since she was top 10 in HS but never reached her potential at UCONN due to lack of development. or Kaili who was top 15 but never contributed much numbers-wise, but has gone on to Europe to be one of the best players in her league.

 

[alexrgct]

Eric, no one is going to have a 100% success rate with players, but I don't think it's debatable that UConn does a better job developing players on balance than anyone else. Geno had to do just that in order to develop a powerhouse in the first place. It's not often talked about, but Bascom, Lobo, Jen, Kara, and Keesh, all had to reach their potential for 1995 to happen. Extraordinarily, they all did. And you look at what happened afterwards with Shea, Svet (who fought Geno on doing the little stuff- cant imagine how she would have been with other coaches), TASS, D, Tina (another player who really needed serious coaching to reach her potential), Maya, etc. And that's just at the top. Who knows what Kelly, for instance, becomes at another program.

Of course, other schools develop players, and a lot of it is self-motivated. One thing is for sure- EDD would be much better defensively if she played for UConn. And when I watch Maryland, they run a lot of individual offense. That's especially bad for a player like DD, who's likely to end up relying on individual athleticism rather than a team-oriented offense. UConn not only has quality PG play, but an entire offensive system that is designed around getting the best shot possible. No one else does that.

Ultimately, I believe DD will be a great player wherever she goes, but if that ends up being UConn, she has the best chance to be the best player she can possibly be.

 

[Ctpaul0825]

Not going to stress over this, I think all recruits should go to the school they are most comfortable at. This is a very tough decision for any kid to make, and whatever decision she does make will be right for her.

 

[Sonny44]

I would just add that her success depends more on us than our success depends on her.

 

[JS]

And Alexis Brown is rated #17 per HG and Blue Star. certainly solid but not spectacular. having said that she's from Georgia so maybe that's a draw for Diamond.

Am sure it is. I believe they're close friends, maybe even best friends.

But that's not a decisive reason to choose a college. I've seen enough kids, including a stepson, make the choice because they know others who are going there. It often works out that if the old HS-level friends aren't an actual detriment to a successful college experience (they were in his case), the more significant friends going forward are the new ones made while at college.

 

[HuskyMJ]

As a fanbase I think we are being way too cocky. We are used to winning recruiting battles but no coach gets every player they want that goes for Geno, Coach K, or anyone. There is no need to bad mouth schools like Tennessee, Maryland, or wherever else DD is looking. Tennesse has things UCONN cannot offer. UCONN offers things Tenn can't offer. Maryland offers things UCONN doesn't offer. It is all relative and subjective. And one aspect people never consider is outside of the basketball court. Maybe academic program at school A is better than school B. Maybe campus of school B is better than campus of school C. Maybe school A is closer to home than school C. Maybe school B has cooler uniforms than school A. No matter the reason the decision is more complex than just the basketball program.

 

[HuskyMJ]

And in the grand scheme of things every program DD is looking at is basically a top 25 program. Maryland top 5-10. This is not like she could pick Georgia State over Connecticut, wherever she picks whether its Duke, unc, maryland, uconn is considered a top 25 program. I realize UNC is not top 25 right now but overall as a program they are still highly touted.

 

[pinotbear]

MJ, if yer gonna be sensible about this, yer gonna screw up an entire belief system!

 

[HuskyMJ]

MJ, if yer gonna be sensible about this, yer gonna screw up an entire belief system!

And really this isn't anything new, it was basically already known that uconn, tenn, unc, maryland, duke were some of the main competitors, I believe she has visited all those schools in addition to maybe some more southern schools. The only difference is this unnamed source thinks maryland is uconns main competition but it doesn't say uconn isn't still the heavy favorite. if uconn has 90% and maryland has 10% odds it is still a uconn-maryland battle for instance, no one knows the percentages.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Seems like DD has been on the radar screen so long I have forgotten why she is....this tends to confirm my belief she'd be a fine addition.

From ESPN on Jan 11 K Yow game: " Picked up several silly fouls, must tone that down." But it would keep Geno energized!

http://espn.go.com/high-school/girls-basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/98672/diamond-deshields

 

[alexrgct]

Seems like DD has been on the radar screen so long I have forgotten why she is....this tends to confirm my belief she'd be a fine addition.

explosive, electric, huge personality, game is mature beyond her years, plays like a guard but is 6'2", youngest kid on the U19 team last summer. Watch her play for five minutes and you'll be sold.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

" I have forgotten why she is" Sucked you in but that was a very good snyopsis Wise Guy.