List of UConn Out-Transfers

[Vowelguy]

I was researching UConn transfers via Google, and found a Boneyard thread from 2012 (which I had started!).

Depending on whether you count EDD, Ekmark is - I believe - the 20th/21st transfer in the Geno era.

1994: Shea Matlock (Georgia Tech)
1994: Sue Mayo (Wake Forest)
1996: Amy Hughes (Xavier)
1997: Tammy Arnold (Oregon St)
1998: Jean Clark (TAMU - Corpus Christi)

1999: Marci Glenney (Clemson)
2001: Kennitra Johnson (Southern Indiana)
2003: Kia Wright (St Johns)
2004: Liz Sherwood (Vanderbilt)
2004: Kiana Robinson

2005: Rashidat Sadiq (Oklahoma St)
2006: Kristen Phillips (Richmod)
2008: EDD (Delaware)
2009: Jess McCormack
2011: Samarie Walker (Kentucky)

2012: Michala Johnson (Wisconsin)
2012: Lauren Engeln (BC)
2014: Brianna Banks (Penn St)
2014: Sadie Edwards (USC)
2015: DeJanae Boykin (Penn St)

2016: Courtney Ekmark (Arizona St)

​

 

[Mdoggie]

All those transfers and they still managed 11 NCs. How do they do it?

 

[RowdyFan]

Vowelguy, you could be up all night putting the list together of all the players that didn't transfer

 

[Checkmate]

Playing D1 basketball is 12 months of hard work. If there is no light at the end of the tunnel as far as playing time, then transferring makes sense.

I am not aware of anyone being forced out

 

[JordyG]

It's been a while but I'd like to again wish DeJanae the best of college careers at PSU.

 

[Vowelguy]

Another item of note, is the cluster of transfers from certain recruiting classes.

The class that started in fall of
1992: 2 of 4 -- Matlock & Mayo [Wolters & Berube]
1995: 2 of 3 -- Hughes & Arnold [Duran]
1997: 2 of 3? -- Glenney & Clark [Schumacher]
2003: 3 of 3 -- Wright, Sherwood, Robinson
2010: 3 of 5 -- Walker, Johnson, Engeln [Dolson, Hartley]
2014: 2 of 4 -- Edwards, Ekmark [Gabby, Nurse]

2 players had transferred in -- Sadiq, McCormack
That means 5 were singleton transfers -- KJ, Phillips, EDD, Banks, Boykin

 

[Vowelguy]

A few more additions:

1992: Heidi Law (left team/retired) - started fall 1989
1992: Hope Dixon -- fall 1991
1992/3: Nicole Woodall -- fall 90
1992/3: Heather Phillips (Kentucky, but not BB?) -- fall 92

 

[stamfordhusky]

A few more additions:

1992: Heidi Law (left team/retired) - started fall 1989
1992: Hope Dixon -- fall 1991
1992/3: Nicole Woodall -- fall 90
1992/3: Heather Phillips (Kentucky, but not BB?) -- fall 92

Not sure if Woodall was a transfer. She was a backup who left the team late in her junior year for personal reasons. May have just opted to not play her final year.

 

[Kibitzer]

Geno has commented to the effect that no outgoing transfer had any really big success (final four? AA?) after going elsewhere. Seems right, but the jury is still out on Edwards, Boykin, Banks, and Ekmark.

 

[ScarlettB]

Geno has commented to the effect that no outgoing transfer had any really big success (final four? AA?) after going elsewhere. Seems right, but the jury is still out on Edwards, Boykin, Banks, and Ekmark.

Does that mean he does not consider EDD as a transfer out? She did not go to any final fours, but she certainly has had success playing basketball.

 

[Checkmate]

Does that mean he does not consider EDD as a transfer out? She did not go to any final fours, but she certainly has had success playing basketball.

EDD never played at UConn. And attended how many weeks of summer school ? 1 or 2 ?

Yes, she never really arrived.

 

[Geew1992]

Geno has commented to the effect that no outgoing transfer had any really big success (final four? AA?) after going elsewhere. Seems right, but the jury is still out on Edwards, Boykin, Banks, and Ekmark.

Isn't Banks' career done? She didn't redshirt when she tore her ACL correct? And played this past year.

 

[CocoHusky]

Isn't Banks' career done?

Yes. NCAA career is over.

 

[Kibitzer]

I, perhaps stubbornly, concur with Geno's sentiments and admit to being less meticulous than VowelGuy when tracking transfers.

EDD was a special case. She just plain left UConn, then surfaced on the U. Delaware volleyball team. Subsequently she resumed her bb career and went on to glory in the WNBA.

Banks played well for PSU but her graduation went unnoticed by me.

Edwards seems to fit at USC; Boykin at PSU and Ekmark at ASU have time and seasons to disprove Geno. (Unlikely, IMO.)

In contrast, Nat has 2 NC rings and prospects for Batouly and Azura' are good.

 

[HGN]

All those transfers and they still managed 11 NCs. How do they do it?

Coaching my good friend..........Coaching.

 

[CocoHusky]

In looking at the list of transfers, one of the things that makes the list less significant is that it appears that only two of the transfers Kia Wright to St. John's & Samarie Walker-to Kentucky got a chance to play UCONN after transferring from UCONN. The Kentucky UCONN game NCAA '13 aka "40 minutes of dread per Mitchell" was for a regional championship & Walker was awful 2 points, 1 FGA, 3 Rebounds in 23 minutes. Of course that is a UCONN centric view of things. A Kentucky POV might be that since Kentucky has never made it to the FF that 2012-13 Kentucky team was the best in program history and a UCONN transfer (Walker) was a big part of KY's success that year.

 

[UcMiami]

One could I think add Keirsten Walters to the list - retired hurt after two years of medical red-shirts in 2002 (part of the Tassk force class)
A few players who have transferred out had very nice college careers but none transferred to really elite teams

 

[Samanthabrown3]

Don't you wonder if the transfers from '92 watched the NC game in '95 and thought, If only. . . ?

 

[Aluminny69]

"Asking for her release in May of 2004, Kiana Robinson signed with Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and was named third team NJCAA All-America for her play there.
Robinson helped Shelton State to a record of 27-4 while scoring 18.5 points per game, 21.5 against conference opposition. The former Parade All-American also averaged 6.1 assists per contest."

 

[Longtime fan]

All those transfers and they still managed 11 NCs. How do they do it?

With the exception of EDD, none of the UCONN "out transfers" was a top tier talent. Most were good enough to start, and have decent careers at Division I schools. But no national championships. In fact, only, walker ( Kentucky ) went to a team that performed pretty well.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

I was researching UConn transfers via Google, and found a Boneyard thread from 2012 (which I had started!).

Depending on whether you count EDD, Ekmark is - I believe - the 20th/21st transfer in the Geno era.

1994: Shea Matlock (Georgia Tech)
1994: Sue Mayo (Wake Forest)
1996: Amy Hughes (Xavier)
1997: Tammy Arnold (Oregon St)
1998: Jean Clark (TAMU - Corpus Christi)

1999: Marci Glenney (Clemson)
2001: Kennitra Johnson (Southern Indiana)
2003: Kia Wright (St Johns)
2004: Liz Sherwood (Vanderbilt)
2004: Kiana Robinson

2005: Rashidat Sadiq (Oklahoma St)
2006: Kristen Phillips (Richmod)
2008: EDD (Delaware)
2009: Jess McCormack
2011: Samarie Walker (Kentucky)

2012: Michala Johnson (Wisconsin)
2012: Lauren Engeln (BC)
2014: Brianna Banks (Penn St)
2014: Sadie Edwards (USC)
2015: DeJanae Boykin (Penn St)

2016: Courtney Ekmark (Arizona St)

​

I think it's safe to say that Connecticut's out-transfers in this decade have been more talented than those in previous years. But it's also safe to say that they left because they were being displaced by even more talented players. Michael Johnson was a good player who did well at Wisconsin, but just did not do enough to break into the major playing time category at UConn. Lauren Engeln proved to be a less than impressive player, though she managed to start at a bottom-rung ACC team. Sadie Edwards saw the writing on the wall that she just would not play much for Coach Geno. She went to USC where she's enjoyed a good deal of playing time (while her UConn teammates went on a record-challenging winning streak). Boykin? We really don't know. Injury, academic problems, then not traveling with the team. No good explanation yet. Courtney Ekmark was a good player who did not play up to either the coach's or her expectations. Samarie Walker was an enigma. Again, she refused to go into a game, while some sort of dispute with the team led Coach Geno to leave her home from an away game. She played well for Kentucky, perhaps getting her mind right once there.

Really, the one player who was not only respected, but a good player who left (EDD was a personal thing, as we all know) was Kia Wright. But she was just plain homesick, told the coach so, and the coach arranged for her to return to Queens, where she played well.

So far from being a program plagued by out-transfers, Connecticut has really never been beset by any significant wave of transfers.

Besides the 11 national championships and lots of other records, nothing about the transfers threatens Coach Geno's legacy. Duke, take note.

 

[UcMiami]

Fairfield fan - pretty good summary. I think there has been a lot of talent that has left, but it has been for the most part peripheral to the team's performance at the time of leaving. The exception in that regard was Walker, really the only player who was an integral part of the rotation during the year she transferred - there were certainly others who were integral to the future planning of the team, but had yet to become a significant part of its current dynamic.
And as far as transfers in, there has yet to be really significant contributions unless you include Rita from JuCo. Hunter would have been really significant if she had ever been fully healthy

 

[Wally East]

I think it's safe to say that Connecticut's out-transfers in this decade have been more talented than those in previous years.

I think it's been the same mix of talented players and back-up players for the duration.

Tammy Arnold was rated the #6 rated player/top post player in her class according to Blue Star. Shea Matlock was an honorable mention All-American. Kennitra Johnson was ranked #16 by Blue Star and a Parade 1st Team All-American. Liz Sherwood was two-time USA Today All-American and ranked #8 by Blue Star. Geno: "Liz was a top priority all summer and we feel like we signed the best post player in the country."

They were definitely regarded as top tier talent when they arrived.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I think it's safe to say that Connecticut's out-transfers in this decade have been more talented than those in previous years. But it's also safe to say that they left because they were being displaced by even more talented players.

So far from being a program plagued by out-transfers, Connecticut has really never been beset by any significant wave of transfers.

Besides the 11 national championships and lots of other records, nothing about the transfers threatens Coach Geno's legacy. Duke, take note.

Nothing wrong with your points, a couple of thoughts -

- transfers out do not threaten Geno's legacy because, after all, they left for reasons that don't reflect negatively on the program. While I don't think that the exact reasons for most players choosing to leave is definitively known, you have probably nailed it. Certainly, there were no overtones of dissatisfaction with the program.
- I thought very much that the dig that started this whole line of commentary was related to Geno taking transfers in, as opposed to transfers out. The remark made no sense, and there is absolutely no shame to be found (that I can see) in accepting transfers. Unless you are out enticing them (of which there are coaches that have been accused), but that is clearly not an issue wth UConn.

 

[BroadwayVa]

In looking at the list of transfers, one of the things that makes the list less significant is that it appears that only two of the transfers Kia Wright to St. John's & Samarie Walker-to Kentucky got a chance to play UCONN after transferring from UCONN. The Kentucky UCONN game NCAA '13 aka "40 minutes of dread per Mitchell" was for a regional championship & Walker was awful 2 points, 1 FGA, 3 Rebounds in 23 minutes. Of course that is a UCONN centric view of things. A Kentucky POV might be that since Kentucky has never made it to the FF that 2012-13 Kentucky team was the best in program history and a UCONN transfer (Walker) was a big part of KY's success that year.

Samarie Walker was a special case, if EDD fits that category, because ; according to stories reported Samarie's parents wanted her at Uconn, that was not her choice. She wanted to go to Kentucky to be with her friend. As I see it: it all worked out for everyone concerned.
So from a practical point of view--her's was a belated entry into Kentucky, not a transfer. EDD's appearing at Uconn for probably less than 24 hours can hardly fit the transfer mode.
I agree with your assessment--not many final 4's for the transfers out--but the "ins" have done well. In the Courant article on JPM and Geno--they mentioned Big Rigg--"I don't foul em, I roof 'em"!