If not UConn...

[triaddukefan]

The Baylor administration told Griner to tone it down. At 6-8 and with a voice deeper than Lou Rawls' it's not like she was really hiding her sexuality. Griner and her girlfriend were known to be seen all over the Baylor campus together and it was no secret that they were together. However, Griner was discouraged from discussing her relationship in the media.

At the end of the day, Mulkey is not "the decider" at Baylor. That honor still goes to the administration. No player or coach is bigger than the university.

I wonder if she told her girlfriend that "You''ll never find another love like mine"

 

[svetbird]

There is so much to say on this, but I'll refrain most of it: Have you ever recruited a "kid"? Discussions about their sexuality is not something that is talked about. They are recruiting for basketball - an athletic scholarship. Most coaches will talk about the pro's and con's of the school, the expectations of the recruit, etc. I don't know of any school coach that walks into a recruits home and asks what their sexual preference is...it's not ethical nor should you do it. Their preference is their own business, hence, the recruit should look into the school if they feel they have a special need. Mulkey is very straight forward with EVERYONE, which is the reason many don't like her.

completely agree with you on never asking that question. However Griner volunteered it and asked Kim if she was ok with it. at this point I think it is on her to volunteer that the school may have problems with Griner. You should never ask, nor should you care if a student is gay but when you know your trying to get a kid for your program and you know there may be problems for that kid on your campus you should at least worn them.

 

[easttexastrash]

completely agree with you on never asking that question. However Griner volunteered it and asked Kim if she was ok with it. at this point I think it is on her to volunteer that the school may have problems with Griner. You should never ask, nor should you care if a student is gay but when you know your trying to get a kid for your program and you know there may be problems for that kid on your campus you should at least worn them.

I would have told her that should be also be assistant coach if that is what it took to get her to sign with Baylor.

I doubt that Kim actually knew how the university would react as I doubt that any player before Griner had wanted to volunteer the details of her sexual preference. I would like to quit using "sex life" as that is an implication that she was having sex. We don't know that to be true any more than we know if any UCONN players are having sex.

I know, you did not use the phrase "sex life." Just made that part of my post.

 

[alexrgct]

If my sweet baby girl Lillian could get a full ride at Duke, Stanford, or Northeestern, how could I be prouder?

Georgetown is a pretty good school too, as are some of the UCs (Cal, UCLA, etc.). Virginia is very strong academically as well.

And of course there's Vandy.

Get my daughter into any top academic program, and I'd be overjoyed.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

If not UConn, then Princeton. They've done well in the past, and unlike Stanford, which is a sports factory and funnels its kids into weak courses (there's actually a course book of easy courses recommended by the athletic department), she'll get a real education. And look how EDD turned out at Delaware: you can go to a different non-UConn and prosper.

But UConn is the jewel in the crown.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

Stanford or Notre Dame. Great schools and two very good programs with excellent coaches.

 

[easttexastrash]

Bags - I agree completely, and a motivated student can get a fabulous education at almost any school in the country, but ...
The environment does make a huge difference for most students and the seriousness of fellow students is a huge part of that environment. The difference between walking out of a class and continuing a discussion of some interesting topic with classmates vs. discussing the keg party on Friday is real. And even if most of the time is spent with fellow athletes, that still makes a difference - a much higher portion of those athletes at Stanford are actually attending serious classes and doing serious academic work than those at Kentucky or Florida State, and it does make a difference in the level of temptation to slack off if you are not a athlete particularly driven to succeed academically. Uconn WCBB has academic competitions within the team every semester which I suspect is not a standard practice at all schools, and I am pretty sure is not a standard within all of the Uconn athletic programs either. But an academically inclined athlete will feel they are more in tune with the whole student population at a school with top flight academics and it will be easier for them to feel part of that whole community.

It isn't that you cannot find a group of similarly serious students as 'State U' it is that you are more of a minority there than at 'Super Academic U'.

By the way - it is the same in HS as well - I went to EO Smith in Storrs and 50+% of the student population was from a family connected to Uconn, and so I was surrounded by high achieving students and felt part of a large segment, perhaps the majority, that took grades and homework very seriously. That was unique amongst my freshman dorm when I got to college - everyone else had been seen as a fringe part of their high school classes because they took the school work seriously. And when I transferred from an Ivy to a non-ivy half way through school, there was a noticeable difference in the seriousness of students, I found my set, but it was a much smaller universe of the college population.

There's a keg party Friday? Was there a thread about that?

 

[Charliebball]

I agree with you, Coco. As someone who has taught many athletes (at least one of whom is currently playing professionally), I see this all the time. They even sit together (and often away from other students) in class. But I do believe that athletes need to have the opportunity for those interactions and they do exist--though certainly not to the extent as happens in the general student population.

But what frustrates me is the belief that going to the highest ranks colleges equates with getting the best education. Certainly, the very best, most highly motivated students do get the best opportunities offered them at the highest-ranked schools. Note my phrasing: "offered them." They are available everywhere, if you want it, though far easier to get at these schools. But precisely because D-1 athletes spend so much of their time in athletic endeavors, they do not nearly so often take advantage of what is "offered." Happy students learn the most. Go where you think you will be happiest.

Trust me the old boy network is still alive and well in the Ivy's plus Stanford, Duke etc.........