Makurat to transfer | Page 7 | The Boneyard

Makurat to transfer

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I certainly hope Anna finds the perfect place for her to finish her college career. I believe UConn basketball, like virtually all college sports teams, has a meeting with Geno at the end of the season before they leave campus where discussions take place on things like what they need to work on prior to next season or how they are expected to fit into the teams future plans. I would think these discussions are frank and honest on both participants parts. I believe Anna turns 22 next year so it could be vital for her to showcase her abilities in case she has any thoughts of leaving to return home to play pro or stay in the US. Her health and COVID robbed her of that chance this year so I will be rooting for her to excel next year.
 
The college game is becoming less fun. This portal thing has made it incredibly easy for players to move around, and I wouldn't be shocked to hear there's some tampering going on behind the scenes now that we have this streamlined transactional system for players. It's like claiming baseball players off the waiver wire in August. How can you build a team much less a program if players are constantly on the move? I guess don't fall in love with any of the players, and don't expect loyalty. I guess the flip side is if players want this level of flexibility, then they're going to have to accept getting recruited over if better players become available at their position.
 
Rblack335 said:
Completely agreed. Not saying Saylor should have been an impact player from day one, but her performances compared to other early enrollments were incredibly underwhelming. I didn't think she showed us a whole lot, so she will have to improve by leaps and bounds to jump ahead of certain players in the rotation.

Anna leaving opens up extra minutes at the 4, where she played this season. I'd expect most of those 80 minutes at the 4/5 position to go to ONO & Aaliyah with about 15 or so for both Aubrey & Amari.

The biggest competition will be the backcourt. If Fudd is as good as advertised, it will be hard to keep her off of the court. I think that means a few less minutes for Paige, CW, and Nika to make room. But mostly from Nika, as the other two are our clear top players.

The wing can be shared by Evina, Ducharme, and Poffenbarger.

I expect McLean and Gabriel to struggle to get time.
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Other early enrollees got a lot more time to play than Saylor and some were not on teams competing for a NC. Also, there was more opportunity for them to get big minutes. UConn did not have the prime time minutes to give Saylor. No comparison to the opportunity other early enrollees got.
 
Shocking on face value, but she'd have been relying on garbage time in blowouts for her playing time next season with the caliber of players on the team. Smart, unsentimental move.
 
Ania came to UConn at a time when there seemed to be a drop-off in players wanting to come to Storrs. Geno went international to fill whatever gaps he felt existed, and turned up both Ania and Nika.
What made me/us feel good was that at least someone actually wanted to play on our team. What made me/us feel even better is that both young women made meaningful contributions both to the physical and psychological make-up of this year's squad.
Thanks, Ania. Best luck ahead.
 
UConniki said:
I believe the Evina Westbrook decision to return has everything to do with Anna deciding to leave. Makes sense especially with the timing of their announcements.
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If Anna had decided to leave a month ago, do you actually think she would have announced right after the decision? I don't. While Evina's decision may have been a factor in Anna leaving, the timing is because the season is over. There are hard dates where players must make certain declarations.
 
MooseJaw said:
If Anna had decided to leave a month ago, do you actually think she would have announced right after the decision? I don't. While Evina's decision may have been a factor in Anna leaving, the timing is because the season is over. There are hard dates where players must make certain declarations.
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I believe that a student can declare that they are transferring at anytime, it's just that if they are in a middle of a semester/quarter, it gets kind of messy on course completion. I agree that she wouldn't want to announce it if she had decided a month ago, not when the team could've won a NC if everything had worked out just right.
 
MSGRET said:
I believe that a student can declare that they are transferring at anytime, it's just that if they are in a middle of a semester/quarter, it gets kind of messy on course completion. I agree that she wouldn't want to announce it if she had decided a month ago, not when the team could've won a NC if everything had worked out just right.
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Transfer portal. Announce a month ago and your team tenure is over NC or not, what coach would carry a player that wants out of their program.
 
MooseJaw said:
Transfer portal. Announce a month ago and your team tenure is over NC or not, what coach would carry a player that wants out of their program.
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I agreed with you that she wouldn't announce it a month ago, not with UConn having a chance to get a ring.
 
Thank you for the two years, Anna. No surprise as I posted. Not aggressive enough shooting, had trouble keeping players in front of her when playing defense, and not a great rebounder. More than likely would have been buried on the bench. Hope wherever she goes she gets to play a lot.
 
PJCLaw said:
They don't! ;)
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I thought Samarie Walker started at least a few games before she transferred, but I could be wrong. Otherwise, I can’t think of anyone else who transferred after being a starter.
 
eebmg said:
Article in the Athletic ranking the top transfers . I have removed the descriptions and other stuff except for Anna at #7

theathletic.com

A new name enters the list at No. 1: Ranking the best players in the women’s college basketball transfer portal

The number in the Division I women's transfer portal already surpasses that of the past two seasons, and includes some elite talent.
theathletic.com theathletic.com

7. Anna Makurat, 6-2 guard, junior, UConn

Makurat had 20 career starts at UConn over two seasons despite injuries, but saw her minutes diminish as the UConn season went on and likely didn’t see much changing considering the Huskies will graduate no players (while also bringing in four top-30 recruits in the 2021 class). Makurat is a very skilled 3-point shooter. She connected on 41 percent of her attempts a season ago, and 32 percent of her attempts this season. For any team that’s looking to space the floor with a big guard who can see the floor well, she is an obvious pick and will have three years to develop in another team’s program. A lot of times we say that there are players sitting on the bench for the best teams in the country that could start elsewhere. We don’t often get to test that theory when it comes to UConn players, since they don’t often transfer. But, with Makurat, we’ll see if that’s true.
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Fair assessment
 
Anna, I wish you the best. I really like your game.

Life comes at you in a hurry.

I was at the AAC Final in 2020 against Cincinnati and I thought Anna was on her way. 35 minutes, 8 points, 8 assists. By the end of the 2020 season, and especially with Walker leaving, she looked like she was ready to take off.

She never got it going in 2020-2021, though, injury a major reason.

She will help somebody. When she is feeling confident, she can light it up. Great court vision and a very good teammate.

This is probably good for both Anna and for UConn. There was no realistic path forward for her at UConn. The window that was wide open a year ago had pretty much closed.

I wonder how Geno plays this, portal wise. The only thing we could arguably need is another banger inside. Is there anyone who fits the bill? I suspect he will pass and add two from the class of 2022, KK Bransford (hopefully) and one more.

There was a three year stretch where we recruited :

1. Walker, Coombs, Gordon, Espinoza-Hunter

2. Nelson-Ododa, Williams

3. Griffin, Makurat

Not great, but it opened up things for the next three years, which have been incredible!
 
donalddoowop said:
Other early enrollees got a lot more time to play than Saylor and some were not on teams competing for a NC. Also, there was more opportunity for them to get big minutes. UConn did not have the prime time minutes to give Saylor. No comparison to the opportunity other early enrollees got.
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The reason I pointed out Saylor, is because the original poster projected Aubrey to be behind Saylor in the rotation next year. Based on her limited court time, there is nothing to support the idea of that happening. I'd argue that she had the same opportunity as anyone else in D1 to earn time based on her play. It's not like our roster was perfect. It just didn't happen.
 
I'll definitely miss watching her because she had such good court awareness. The injury and quick development of Aliyah and Nika really hurt her chance of playing time. Best of luck to her!
 
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