June 2020 UCONN recruiting thread

[hoophuskee]

Parade Magazine, which used to do a decent job of ranking players, had KML as the #5 player in the nation as a HS sophomore, #3 as a junior, and #1 as a senior. I don't recall who they had as #1 in K's junior year, but it was probably Chiney or Chelsea Gray. Though Kaleena wasn't ranked #1 as a junior, she was much closer than many #1 recruits.

I generally agree that all #1s are not the same. Maya, Griner, Elena, and Stewie stand out as a cut (or two) above. Both Paige and Azzi seem to be in that group.

Didn't Parade Magazine have Chong as the number 1 recruit one year and no else had her close? And didn't Parade not have Parker as the number 1 recruit?

Secondly, was KML a consensus number 1 as a senior? I thought EWilliams was also right there with her?

And while KML was closer -- could we say that in her senior year she was not the number 1 overall player?

 

[Sluconn Husky]

 

[Sluconn Husky]

I’m jumping on the San Antonio Finest 2022 class as I’ll get a chance to catch and update many of their players which include the #1 player in Texas, Ashlon Jackson




Jackson has WNBA written all over her, don’t if I called her a #D1Lock in the 3rd or the 4th grade but I said #BCSLock and throw away the key before middle school. Size, athleticism, high BB-IQ and just a scorers mindset that understands how to take over or get it in the flow but she also rebounds and defends and plays multiple positions, quite well

She’s Ballin Extravaganza preview pt 2 | Prep Girls Hoops

I’m jumping on the San Antonio Finest 2022 class as I’ll get a chance to catch and update many of their players which include the #1 player in Texas, , the #1 shooter and one of the top power forwards, and I’ll break down these players as well as the others I have ranked plus […]

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[bluedevil]

Chong was the Parade Magazine player of the year...she averaged over 30ppg that season...I've long since cancelled my subscription...

 

[SCspur]

And let's not annoint Boston too much either. Maxpreps had Bueckers rated higher. Paige got the MVP of the U19 FIBA not Boston. Paige is near equal or better than than the best senior when she was a junior as maxpreps indicated, and yet we're supposed to ignore all this? The NBA didn't "ignore" LeBron James, Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett when they chose them out of High School and were chosen ahead of more established college players. Yet we should with Paige?

In terms of value of the recruit how often is there ever a junior who is better than all but "Maybe" one wa sbtter than her? And we're supposed to ignore that? Well you can. I won't. I'm not "annointing" I'm just looking historically at what's happened in the past when you have than a junior that is is better than all seniors or maybe one is better then there is pretty darn good chance that player is going to be one helluva player. And we have sen in the past on the men's side the NBA "scouts" choose to go a lot with talent. SO yeah our Paige is a phenom recruit and what Paige';s coach said is pretty appropriate.

Boston was named NFOY, Lisa Leslie award winner, SEC DPOY, as well as All American. Not saying Paige won’t be good but she’ll have to live up to the same height as Boston did this past season in order for your argument to be valid.

 

[soxfan23]

But it appears those exceptions would be high qualifiers at 99% of the other schools in the country. They might not get into Harvard, but Duke,ND, UConn UCLA,,,, easey peasey

Maybe they would, but that was NOT the point I was making.

 

[Viet Vet]

Having officiated girls' (boys' too) hoops for many years in CT, I will say that assessing girls on their high school performance is a MUCH greater crap shoot than boys. Height is a much greater advantage for girls, as they do not have the leg musculature of boys to overcome a disadvantage of stature. So many high school "big" girls are accustomed to receiving a lob in the low post against shorter defenders, pivoting, and dropping in an easy layup. That does not easily translate to top-tier college ball, with similarly sized defenders. Olivia Nelson-Ododa is Exhibit 1 in my book. It has taken her two full years to understand that she cannot shoot OVER everyone, but needs to develop a horizontal game. Kudos to her, and the coaches, for her development. She still has a long way to go, however.

Also, defensive pressure in girls' high school is way below that in the boys' game, resulting in some outsized statistics for pure shooters. I have more confidence in the assessment of high school girl ballhandlers (not shooters, some of whom cannot create an opening to get off a shot without being wide open; eg: KML and KLS.

 

[soxfan23]

Your opinion is definitely biased if you don’t think Boston is good. She can be the player of the year this year in my opinion if not Rhyne Howard.

As for Paige, she is the closest thing to DT that I’ve seen with the talent, swag, the ability to make teammates better, etc. However, as Geno has said plenty of times, we just don’t know yet. We won’t know until she’s on the court. You can’t preordain players who haven’t played a collegiate game yet the NPOY especially at UConn. He will be on you like white on rice when he knows your potential and all the hype around her makes it no better. That can make or break you. It will not be so much as the players she’s competing against, it will be the pressure from the outside noise and Geno’s expectations for her. And as we have seen so many times before, there are not a lot of freshman that can come into Geno’s program and handle it like Maya Moore as a freshman. Let’s hope she does!

Boston is a good player, but she is NOWHERE near being a NPOY candidate! She is extremely overrated by most on this forum because she is viewed as "the one that got away".

Player A 13ppg 9rpg 86blks 34ast

Player B 11ppg 9rpg 100blks 89ast

Player A is Boston, Player B is Nelson-Ododa

 

[oldude]

Boston is a good player, but she is NOWHERE near being a NPOY candidate! She is extremely overrated by most on this forum because she is viewed as "the one that got away".

Player A 13ppg 9rpg 86blks 34ast

Player B 11ppg 9rpg 100blks 89ast

Player A is Boston, Player B is Neslson-Ododa

I love Liv, but let’s be honest. You are comparing stats between someone who played in the SEC with someone who played in the AAC.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Boston is a good player, but she is NOWHERE near being a NPOY candidate! She is extremely overrated by most on this forum because she is viewed as "the one that got away".

Player A 13ppg 9rpg 86blks 34ast

Player B 11ppg 9rpg 100blks 89ast

Player A is Boston, Player B is Neslson-Ododa

Edit:

Wouldn't using ONO's freshman stats be better for comparison sake?

 

[soxfan23]

Wouldn't using ONO's freshman stats being better for comparison sake?

Not when the poster stated that Boston was a legit NPOY next year. If that were to be true (which it is not), then ONO would be as well.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Not when the poster stated that Boston was a legit NPOY next year. If that were to be true (which it is not), then ONO would be as well.

Assuming there is basketball, I don't think the idea that either ONO or Boston could be candidates for NPOY is farfetched.

 

[Charliebball]

Have seen many Paige videos. Appears her team is strong, likely better than the group Azzi plays with. Any thoughts from the Boneyard if this is true? May not mean anything but typically a stronger team allows to point guard to focus more on running the team and assists versus strictly being a scorer. Suspect if Paige was on a weaker team, her scoring stats would be higher.

yes she had a very good surrounding cast which explains her non lofty scoring average but there is no explanation for her passing skills other then she has eyes in the back and possibly the sides of her head.......

 

[SCspur]

Not when the poster stated that Boston was a legit NPOY next year. If that were to be true (which it is not), then ONO would be as well.

ONO should very well be in the NPOY conversation as well as DPOY right along with Boston. She’s UConn’s best returning player IMO. But you can’t discredit the fact of what Boston did as a Freshman while ONO was a sophomore who had the College experience already.

 

[DEpup]

Can I say again, what does this banter have to do with June recruiting? Last time I checked, Liv and Boston were already on teams so no need for reruiting.

 

[donalddoowop]

Boston was named NFOY, Lisa Leslie award winner, SEC DPOY, as well as All American. Not saying Paige won’t be good but she’ll have to live up to the same height as Boston did this past season in order for your argument to be valid.

No way she will live up to Boston's height.

 

[HopJim]

Boston is a good player, but she is NOWHERE near being a NPOY candidate! She is extremely overrated by most on this forum because she is viewed as "the one that got away".

Player A 13ppg 9rpg 86blks 34ast

Player B 11ppg 9rpg 100blks 89ast

Player A is Boston, Player B is Neslson-Ododa

Don't disagree but she was likely the best center in the country as a frosh. We can all make our own minds up regarding how she was rated.

 

[Deuce]

Didn't Parade Magazine have Chong as the number 1 recruit one year and no else had her close? And didn't Parade not have Parker as the number 1 recruit?

Secondly, was KML a consensus number 1 as a senior? I thought EWilliams was also right there with her?

And while KML was closer -- could we say that in her senior year she was not the number 1 overall player?

I believe KML was ranked #1 by all but 1 service where she was ranked #2

 

[DeeHusky]

Boston is a good player, but she is NOWHERE near being a NPOY candidate! She is extremely overrated by most on this forum because she is viewed as "the one that got away".

Player A 13ppg 9rpg 86blks 34ast

Player B 11ppg 9rpg 100blks 89ast

Player A is Boston, Player B is Neslson-Ododa

How is she nowhere near being a npoy candidate? Are you sure? Are you not aware of the returning players next year? She was an all-American along with Rhyne Howard, Aari McDonald, Michaela Onyenwere, Elissa Cunane, and Dana Evans —the rest of the all-Americans were seniors or juniors that left college early. How can she not be in that conversation? I mean I get that some of us don’t like South Carolina, but dang. Give credit where it’s due. And also, they may have been close in stats but Liv did not have the year that Boston had. I’m just being honest.

I also do not think she’s overrated as well as I don’t view her as the one that got away. Any player that commits to UConn are the players that are supposed to be there. I don’t get into all the semantics about a decision that a young teenager makes about a college commit. However, had Boston chose UConn I can tell you’d be singing a different tune. Last year’s team with Boston would’ve been that much better honestly.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Didn't Parade Magazine have Chong as the number 1 recruit one year and no else had her close? And didn't Parade not have Parker as the number 1 recruit?

Secondly, was KML a consensus number 1 as a senior? I thought EWilliams was also right there with her?

And while KML was closer -- could we say that in her senior year she was not the number 1 overall player?

I believe the year that Saniya was ranked #1 was the year that Parade shifted to ranking only seniors. It was an unusual approach and unusual result. If you look at the prior years, Parade did a pretty good job. Keep in mind that Parade's approach was to acknowledge high school accomplishments, not rate players as college prospects.

I don't recall where Parade rated Parker, but note they were not rating college prospects--they were rewarding high school performances.

KML and Williams shared the #1 position/ranking/POY awards, I believe.

KML was the #1 recruit as a high school senior and would have been #1 in the draft if Loyd and AZB and not jumped early.

 

[ju6381]

Chong may have had as good a season as anyone in the country, still doesn't make her the best player.

 

[hoophuskee]

Boston was named NFOY, Lisa Leslie award winner, SEC DPOY, as well as All American. Not saying Paige won’t be good but she’ll have to live up to the same height as Boston did this past season in order for your argument to be valid.

No offense but I'm not sure you understand the argument. The argument of Paige vs Boston was who would be drafted 1st and who is/will be better. You're mentioning a SEC DPOY award? How is it that a DPOY in the SEC would matter if for example UCONN had a more successful season than SC? Further, regarding NFOY, I've mentioned maxpreps put Paige ahead of Boston. The FIBA U19 gave the MVP to Paige not Boston. Paige had a superior efficiency rating -- so if Paige were to win the NFOY, what makes you think Paige isn't better?

What if Paige leads her team in scoring and assists and gets UCONN to finals and loses in a tight game to SC (is what I've said preposterous?), how is that the SEC DPOY award or last yea'r's NFOY would automatically mean Paige is not as good?

If Paige doesn't win NFOY but she leads UCONN to a title does that mean anything? Didn't Jewel LLoyd get NFOY over Stewie? SO who was the better frehsman in your scenario?

Do you really think when it comes to drafting a player that scouts will say "I'm taking Boston over Paige because she won SEC DPOY?"

OFC defense matters but to what degree? If Boston doesn't dominate in E8, FF and Finals, how much do you think that DPOY is going to take her if she is shooting 43% form the floor in big games like she did in FIBA U18?

Alana Beard was NPOY in 2004. I'm sure she had more DPOY's than DT as well. Who was superior? DT or AB? The point is you replied to me the above information and yet so many other factors go into it, agree?

 

[hoophuskee]

I believe the year that Saniya was ranked #1 was the year that Parade shifted to ranking only seniors. It was an unusual approach and unusual result. If you look at the prior years, Parade did a pretty good job. Keep in mind that Parade's approach was to acknowledge high school accomplishments, not rate players as college prospects.

I don't recall where Parade rated Parker, but note they were not rating college prospects--they were rewarding high school performances.

KML and Williams shared the #1 position/ranking/POY awards, I believe.

KML was the #1 recruit as a high school senior and would have been #1 in the draft if Loyd and AZB and not jumped early.

Regardless Chong should never have sniffed number 1. I love Chong. Wow did she come though her senior year. Huge, huge year for us. As for Parker; Parade didn't put her at 1, they put Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood. That was ridiculous.

 

[uconnever]

Boston will be a NPOY candidate, As will ONO. No one is overrating her. Also the funny thing about Chong is that if you watched her at certain times, to me she did look like the best player on the floor. I always thought that something held her back and that she had so much more to give. I think UConn’s the best place for almost any recruit to develop, but in a weird way, I think she would have been better off somewhere else. I feel like she was too laid back and nervous playing with so much talent. She needed to be where she was always relied on.

 

[jabstep]

I've been watching Bueckers since her sophomore year in high school and I believe she could have started for the majority of college teams back then...........she has rarely played all out at the offensive end of the floor preferring to get her teammates easy baskets as opposed to scoring 35-40 points a game...........she is fully capable of averaging 25 points per game at the college level if Geno gives her the green light.............she's going to be living on the foul line for the next four years never mind her outside and mid range games which are top tier......

We lost our best two three point shooters. We have Anna back and Paige coming in. Those two could both shoot over 40%. Not sure if anybody else is capable to shoot that percentage. You never know, somebody could surprise us.