I Think It's A Little Jinxy | Page 2 | The Boneyard

I Think It's A Little Jinxy

uh-no said:
I mean....it's not a well guarded secret that hidalgo is a cancer on that team.
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Young people make mistakes. Hopefully, HH has learned from hers and will do everything in her power to be a better teammate in the future. But certainly, damage has been done and it’s not easily resolved.
 
oldude said:
ND hasn’t exactly been silent. Coach Ivie has indicated only that they have several “grad transfers” lined up, which would preclude Kayleigh Heckel as a possibility.
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By "silent" I meant that they have kept Heckel's decision to themselves. This is where people like Skim often get their info, from people associated with the program that know they aren't the choice.

So the various schools in this case have kept the decision to themselves (assuming that a decision has been made).
 
Bone Dog said:
Frankly, i was surprised Kayleigh decided to transfer in the first place given who was leaving. This led me to think there might be a deeper problem at USC, maybe in Lindsay’s locker room. Or maybe she didn’t want to be on a rebuilding team. Or maybe she just wanted to be closer to home.

Her reason for transferring would probably indicate where she’s going and I’m sure we’ve all rehearsed these. ND or Vandy look attractive in some scenarios. UConn looks attractive in others. Taking a long time to announce may also be an indicator.

At UConn she has a decent shot at winning at least one NC, if that’s a motivation. But it probably means playing behind/with KK for two seasons, and the rest of the roster looks very crowded. There were rumors that USC’s lineup had two tiers and was not fully open to competition for minutes. This might make her wary to choose UConn unless she’s confident in Geno’s reputation for hard-nosed fairness. She looks like she relishes competition.
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Bone Dog, a look at the minutes and games played seems to discount any rumours about USC's line-up not being open to competition for minutes, at least as it pertains to Kayleigh Heckel. She received quality minutes throughout the season and throughout the NCAA tournament.

That said, in three closely fought Big Ten tournament games, Heckel played sparingly in the first two and not at all in the championship loss to UCLA. 0-3 shooting, no assists, no rebounds and three turnovers in just nine minutes total. Maybe there was a back story there, but if so it should have been put to bed given her playing time and performance in all four games of the NCAAs.

Given the goofiness we have seen at ND and LSU, I acknowledge that there MIGHT have been issues in the locker room at USC. I say that not because of Kayleigh entering the portal, but because of Avery Howell (seemingly ahead of Kayleigh on the depth chart) also entering the portal. However, without any other indicators, I am not putting any stock in that theory.

IMO, Heckel's long-term competition for minutes at USC wouldn't be much different to her competition for minutes at UConn. At USC she would be looking at competing with a handful of HoopGurlz Top 100 guards even with Howell gone. Specifically, Kennedy Smith (#6), Rian Forestier (#54), Malia Samuels (#49 in 2023) and Jazzy Davidson (#1 in 2025). She is not replacing the 6'1 Smith, whose defense is exceptional, in the starting line-up. Since Kahleigh's stats were comparable to Samuels, the situation facing her is that for one year only she will be competing with Samuels and Davidson for the remaining starting spot next to Smith, and then for the following two years after JuJu returns, she will be simply be competing for the role of the second guard off of the bench.

I tend to think that once Jazzy Davidson committed to USC, the folks in Kayleigh's orbit started advising her to begin looking at other options to develop her skills and broaden her BB horizons. Those discussions were underscored by Lindsey choosing to hand the ball to JuJu and work everything through her. With two #1 players on the court in two years and a coach looking to keep both of them happy, where would that leave Kayleigh? I would contend the same discussions were had in Avery Howell's inner circle.

The closing argument happened when another 5'9 transfer came into UConn, earned playing time and a starter's role while contributing to the Huskies' 12th national championship, and then went on to be selected in the WNBA draft. Time to come back east.

If Heckel returns to USC I will be stunned. Three years developing at UConn - whatever her role - is her best bet. Going to ND (for starter's playing time) or Vanderbilt (for playing time and development) could be second options for her, IMO.
 
ec33 said:
By "silent" I meant that they have kept Heckel's decision to themselves. This is where people like Skim often get their info, from people associated with the program that know they aren't the choice.

So the various schools in this case have kept the decision to themselves (assuming that a decision has been made).
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I would be very surprised if Heckel hasn’t made her decision, pending final course completion and academic eligibility.
 
oldude said:
I agree with others that if Heckel was going back to USC, we would already know. Finals ended yesterday. Grades will be submitted in the next few days. I expect that everyone will know Heckel’s decision next week at the latest.
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Consistent with this thought. I saw this explanation/speculation on another site:

"In order to transfer as a freshman, student athletes need to have completed 20% of their undergrad degree, I believe? So unless she took a ton of units last summer Heckel is probably short. USC finals are this week if im not mistaken. If she aces those, her unit count should make her eligible to transfer.

UConn, or whomever, 'could have' just made the announcement regardless, assuming she'd get the work done, but looks like they want to wait for it to be official."
 
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MHD789 said:
Consistent with this thought. I saw this explanation/speculation on another site:

"In order to transfer as a freshman, student athletes need to have completed 20% of their undergrad degree, I believe? So unless she took a ton of units last summer Heckel is probably short. USC finals are this week if im not mistaken. If she aces those, her unit count should make her eligible to transfer.

UConn, or whomever, 'could have' just made the announcement regardless, assuming she'd get the work done, but looks like they want to wait for it to be official."
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What goes around comes around. I started a thread on the BY on May 3 making that very point (Waiting on Kayleigh Heckel). It was picked up by others and put forth on Reddit and perhaps other sites.
 
YKCornelius said:
MO, Heckel's long-term competition for minutes at USC wouldn't be much different to her competition for minutes at UConn. At USC she would be looking at competing with a handful of HoopGurlz Top 100 guards even with Howell gone. Specifically, Kennedy Smith (#6), Rian Forestier (#54), Malia Samuels (#49 in 2023) and Jazzy Davidson (#1 in 2025). She is not replacing the 6'1 Smith, whose defense is exceptional, in the starting line-up. Since Kahleigh's stats were comparable to Samuels, the situation facing her is that for one year only she will be competing with Samuels and Davidson for the remaining starting spot next to Smith, and then for the following two years after JuJu returns, she will be simply be competing for the role of the second guard off of the bench.
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I've been thinking about this same thing and largely agree. But I'm wondering about what you say about relative competition for minutes.

I have a few of caveats:
  • Kennedy Smith is not a guard. This season, she played the 3 next to Rayah and Kiki. My suspicion is she'll end up as a smallish 4 next to Iwuchukwu next season because of her physicality, unless some other bigs show up from the portal.
  • Other than Londynn Jones and Malia Samuels, USC has no PG candidates, and that's a competition Kalyeigh would very likely win.
  • Kara Dunn might have a better shot as SG, though her perimeter skills are no better than Kayleigh's.
  • Jazzy is also not a PG. Maybe she'd count as an SG, but at 6'1" I imagine she'll shade over into a wing, especially given her scoring abilities in the paint. In other words, she will not be a direct competitor for minutes with Kayleigh.
All in all, it looks like Kayleigh would have an inside track to better minutes at USC next season over last season.

By contrast, at UConn,
  • Kayleigh would have direct competition for minutes from KK, Kelis, one of whom is a settled veteran in the system whose talents largely overlap with hers.
  • At SG, Azzi and Ash will be a no-win prospect for her, given their perimeter shooting skills.
  • And there's no room for her whatsoever at the 3 what with Blanca, Caroline, Allie and Morgan.
  • And in a small lineup, though she could well get minutes at positions other than as a PG, she'll still likely enter the game in that capacity after KK, Ash, Azzi and Blanca. She could out-compete her way up that depth chart, but this will be challenging.
This all leads me to conclude that playing time wouldn't be a motivation for her to choose UConn. And by extension, it likely isn't the problem she had with USC's locker room. There could have been other kinds of problems. If I were her, I wouldn't expect to get more minutes under Geno next season than she got at USC last season. If she thinks long term, then UConn looks like a very good option for her. But in the short term, it's a harder calculus to make work... unless there was some other toxic problem she wants to get away from.
 
Bone Dog said:
I've been thinking about this same thing and largely agree. But I'm wondering about what you say about relative competition for minutes.

I have a few of caveats:
  • Kennedy Smith is not a guard. This season, she played the 3 next to Rayah and Kiki. My suspicion is she'll end up as a smallish 4 next to Iwuchukwu next season because of her physicality, unless some other bigs show up from the portal.
  • Other than Londynn Jones and Malia Samuels, USC has no PG candidates, and that's a competition Kalyeigh would very likely win.
  • Kara Dunn might have a better shot as SG, though her perimeter skills are no better than Kayleigh's.
  • Jazzy is also not a PG. Maybe she'd count as an SG, but at 6'1" I imagine she'll shade over into a wing, especially given her scoring abilities in the paint. In other words, she will not be a direct competitor for minutes with Kayleigh.
All in all, it looks like Kayleigh would have an inside track to better minutes at USC next season over last season.

By contrast, at UConn,
  • Kayleigh would have direct competition for minutes from KK, Kelis, one of whom is a settled veteran in the system whose talents largely overlap with hers.
  • At SG, Azzi and Ash will be a no-win prospect for her, given their perimeter shooting skills.
  • And there's no room for her whatsoever at the 3 what with Blanca, Caroline, Allie and Morgan.
  • And in a small lineup, though she could well get minutes at positions other than as a PG, she'll still likely enter the game in that capacity after KK, Ash, Azzi and Blanca. She could out-compete her way up that depth chart, but this will be challenging.
This all leads me to conclude that playing time wouldn't be a motivation for her to choose UConn. And by extension, it likely isn't the problem she had with USC's locker room. There could have been other kinds of problems. If I were her, I wouldn't expect to get more minutes under Geno next season than she got at USC last season. If she thinks long term, then UConn looks like a very good option for her. But in the short term, it's a harder calculus to make work... unless there was some other toxic problem she wants to get away from.
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Does she want to play say 20 minutes a game and go to the final 4 the next 3 nears or play 30 minutes a game and watch the final 4 at home?
 
jazz said:
Does she want to play say 20 minutes a game and go to the final 4 the next 3 nears or play 30 minutes a game and watch the final 4 at home?
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And play professionally. If you're marginal come draft night, having UConn on the resume certainly doesn't hurt. That's not to say you'll stick in the pros, but I think it improves your odds of at least getting a shot.
 
MHD789 said:
Consistent with this thought. I saw this explanation/speculation on another site:

"In order to transfer as a freshman, student athletes need to have completed 20% of their undergrad degree, I believe? So unless she took a ton of units last summer Heckel is probably short. USC finals are this week if im not mistaken. If she aces those, her unit count should make her eligible to transfer.

UConn, or whomever, 'could have' just made the announcement regardless, assuming she'd get the work done, but looks like they want to wait for it to be official."
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Actually you will find that explanation in the long. locked thread. I think it was put there by somebody with old in his handle. So we all may be hanging on a lazy TA finishing grading.
 
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RockyMTblue2 said:
Not to have an active Kayleigh Heckel thread going as we wait for the white smoke. I'd hate to think of her coming over here and finding apparently zippo interest. What do you think?
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Why does UCONN need Heckel? We have several real good guards. UCONN needs Williams and only Williams.
 
SVCBeercats said:
Why does UCONN need Heckel? We have several real good guards. UCONN needs Williams and only Williams.
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I don't think we need her. I like the way she moves on the court, but she needs (and may have) much more than that to get into UConn's rotation. UConn is the best place for her to go in order to grow her guard skills. Geno likes what he sees and we are all a hypercompetitive fan base, so ....
 
personally, I just think Heckel is better than Fisher right now. She has a year more experience. She played in an elite eight game. She was rated a bit higher in high school. (In the 2024 class with Sarah strong and Joyce Edwards; a class I think is better than the 2025 class.)

I think point guard is the only question mark this team has.
 
Bone Dog said:
I've been thinking about this same thing and largely agree. But I'm wondering about what you say about relative competition for minutes.

I have a few of caveats:
  • Kennedy Smith is not a guard. This season, she played the 3 next to Rayah and Kiki. My suspicion is she'll end up as a smallish 4 next to Iwuchukwu next season because of her physicality, unless some other bigs show up from the portal.
  • Other than Londynn Jones and Malia Samuels, USC has no PG candidates, and that's a competition Kalyeigh would very likely win.
  • Kara Dunn might have a better shot as SG, though her perimeter skills are no better than Kayleigh's.
  • Jazzy is also not a PG. Maybe she'd count as an SG, but at 6'1" I imagine she'll shade over into a wing, especially given her scoring abilities in the paint. In other words, she will not be a direct competitor for minutes with Kayleigh.
All in all, it looks like Kayleigh would have an inside track to better minutes at USC next season over last season.

This all leads me to conclude that playing time wouldn't be a motivation for her to choose UConn. And by extension, it likely isn't the problem she had with USC's locker room. There could have been other kinds of problems. If I were her, I wouldn't expect to get more minutes under Geno next season than she got at USC last season. If she thinks long term, then UConn looks like a very good option for her. But in the short term, it's a harder calculus to make work... unless there was some other toxic problem she wants to get away from.
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I concur with your conclusions in your last paragraph. And I concur with your assessments of the Trojans taking the court next season.

However, I wonder how much the roles of PG, SG, Wing, etc., really matter on this team. I think next year they do not.

Rather, I think the crisis that Lindsey faces this coming year is in scoring, which I believe places Dunn and Jones on the court as much as possible alongside Jazzy. Smith's shooting percentages were nothing to write home about, even with the opposing defenses focusing on JuJu, Kiki and to a lesser degree Reyah . Nonetheless Kennedy Smith will be starting. The three bigs Lindsey currently has (including Milton from Auburn via portal) are, to put it kindly, "unproven scorers".

Hence, I believe Kayleigh and her consiglieri have to assess her value in returning to USC as a scorer, not a facilitator. Her playing time in 2025-26 would be contingent upon whether she could score and take pressure off of Davidson.

On a side note, Jazzy is a relatively thin 6'1 - her physique reminds me of how Paige looked arriving on campus as a freshman. I think she will find scoring in the very physical Big Ten to be a lot more difficult than in eastern Oregon - especially in the paint. A lot of pressure will be on her as defenses focus on her in JuJu's absence.

I know there are some in the "Yard who think USC will be near the top of the Big Ten this year. I, however, think they will be middle of the pack, and struggling to maintain .500 in conference. My bold prediction: Unless they get additional players in between now and the start of the season to take pressure off of Jazzy, I think they will go down as a #1 seed who misses the tournament the following year. Hopefully, that does not translate to pressure on JuJu coming back too soon in order to save the season.
 
I think she committed to us while on her visit with Serah, but like other people have said shes waiting for all finals to completed which was supposedly yesterday. I'd expect the announcement in next couple days. :)
 
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SVCBeercats said:
Why does UCONN need Heckel? We have several real good guards. UCONN needs Williams and only Williams.
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How many PGs with college experience? One.
How many PGs has UConn been playing at one time the last few years? Two or three much of the time.
What was the problem when UConn failed to make the Final Four? Lack of ball handling under pressure (even if they were guards).
What happens when the one true PG with experience wants to test? I am hoping we won't have to find out or be forced to rely on a freshman to outperform her recruiting ranking (even if I think there is a fair chance that she does, it isn't something I want to bet a national title on).
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
Yeah, I saw one too. Did yours claim she had committed to UConn? Mine did. Why people do that nonsense is beyond me.
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Yes, the article I saw said she had committed to UCONN...( I didn't include that because of the thread talking about "jinxy stuff")...
 
oldude said:
The exact same question was raised last year relative to Kaitlyn Chen, and she proved to be a key contributor to the national championship as a pg, leader and with her all-around play.
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I do believe Kaitlin arrived at UCONN a far more skilled and polished player
 
Lambeau said:
I don't know why anyone thinks she would want to be part of the Notre Dame backcourt; if it was a tolerable job, Miles would not have abandoned it.
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Reminds me of the airplane scene where the lady asks for some light reading:

"oh yes, we have this pamphlet on ND women's backcourt playbook"
"play 1: pass the ball to hannah hidalgo"
 
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Posted 3 hours ago


IMG_3867.jpeg
 
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