Megan Walker Goes Pro [merged thread]

[Steelerone]

Thank you for the three years Megan. Hopefully with the players we have coming back and the ones coming in her loss will be minimal. I do truthfully believe that she will regret her decision. One more year would have moved her up much higher as a draft pick and she very well might have graduated with a national championship. As it is I am going to say she will go between seven and tenth in the draft,

 

[psconn]

Ouch! There goes our best offensive player. Geez. Well, I guess that cuts down some of the minutes logjam.

 

[Buckaroobanzai]

places even
Uconn is no longer a top 10 team without Megan .

Such prescience places even Cormac into a state of awe!

 

[Sluconn Husky]

We will still win the National Championship in 2021! No other team in the country will be better than us.

There is still the little problem of South Carolina. UConn losing its second-best rebounder will not make its job of beating the Gamecocks easier.

 

[BostonBay]

I'm not too surprised. I was one of those who predicted she would leave. She must have read the articles she would go Top 3 in the draft - published early in the year! She had a weird season - great start, but was very, very inconsistent for much of the rest of the year, until picking it up again late.

1). This is a big loss for the team next year. It appears Geno was caught off-guard as well. She was really the only consistent scorer that could be relied on for 20 or so every night. CD was next. so, in back-to-back seasons, we lose our most consistent top scorers. That has to catch up to you.

2). With all due respect, personally, I dont think she's WNBA ready. She definitely needed her 4th year. This year, she improved her outside shooting, and she really became a very good spot shooter. But, she couldn't create off the dribble, and was not a good finisher. She also can't post up. Average passer and court vision and defender. You also have to question her leadership ability as she looked aloof most of the time on the court, especially when the half-court game was struggling. Finally, she put up numbers against some very weak teams & she disappeared against good competition.

I see her as a 10-15 pick. I see her as a 2-guard. I dont think she has the game or the physical presence to play the 3 at the next level. I also dont think she'll be much of a contributor in her first year.

But, best of luck to her & thanks for the 3 years she gave the team.

 

[veryolddog]

I am shocked, shocked to hear about Megan Walker going pro. Where are my winnings? Thank you very much. Well, xxxxxxxxxxxxx happens. Lot's of potential for next year. Just like this year, lot's of folks will put on their big girl pants and take leadership roles for the team. For Geno, no problem.

 

[oldude]

Not suggesting that GENO scour anything! Geno can just wait in his office for those "impact players" you mentioned previously to give him a call. Maybe they already have. Or he can have one of the current players send out a tweet for walkons like Stewie had to. Unless those walkons would be too much competition for some of the existing players.

Any potential transfer will be looking at competing for PT with Liv, Aaliyah, Aubrey, Evina, Christyn, Anna, Paige & Nika, at a minimum. I seriously doubt Geno’s phone will be ringing off the hook.

 

[Steelerone]

Was she truly going to reach her "potential" playing another year at UCONN?

Good point Coco, I sort of had the feeling that she might have maxed out this season. Not sour grapes. It's just that she is the perfect example of a "tweener". Can't see her as speedy enough or that great a ball handler to play guard and she doesn't have the size or mobility to go against the "trees" in WNBA.

 

[oldude]

Uconn is no longer a top 10 team without Megan .

Really?

 

[BBallF]

I think the bottom line with the most recent group of college players is that they are much different psychologically than their predecessors. Geno talked all season long about the players being different and adaptation and that is why he called more sets on offense even with Crystal out there than ever before. Remember Crystal telling Geno the offense doesn't know the plays and that we couldn't run them. That is inconceivable in the Lobo, Taurasi, Moore, or Stewart eras. This move by Walker is symptomatic of that change in their constitutional make up. Anyone advising her would tell her that she is not going to be able to post up either in the WNBA or in Europe. She is 6'1" tall. Anyone advising her would tell her that her defense needs work unless all those times she didn't dive on the floor or take the charge( can't remember a single one where she did) was because she knew she was going and wanted to avoid injury. Anyone advising her would also tell her she needs a mid range game with a true pull up jump shot which CW has, but she doesn't. Not all players make the right decision by going pro early. There are plenty of NBA has beens trying to coach high school out there. She had her own agenda as did Stevens and it is hard for me to ever consider her as a UCONN great for that reason. Someone said there was nothing else for her to achieve. I couldn't disagree more. How about the true measures of greatness at UCONN - Naismith, Wooden, National Champion? She leaves with none of them. They didn't matter to her as we found out today. I often wondered why in most games she just seemed to let up and not score after she got her "average". I thought originally it was unselfishness. Now I think it was selfishness.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Any potential transfer will be looking at competing for PT with Liv, Aaliyah, Aubrey, Evina, Christyn, Anna, Paige & Nika, at a minimum. I seriously doubt Geno’s phone will be ringing off the hook.

If he's looking at a frontcourt player---which is the glaring hole--- you can narrow that list down to about ONO and Aubrey.

 

[oldude]

If he's looking at a frontcourt player---which is the glaring hole--- you can narrow that list down to about ONO and Aubrey.

Aaliyah will absolutely be in the regular rotation next year, assuming she doesn’t earn the starting PF job. She is that good.

 

[hoophuskee]

Uconn is no longer a top 10 team without Megan .

Yes they are.

 

[ME Husky Fan]

Betrayal? A kid is about to realize her dream and you see betrayal. PLEASE GET A GRIP!

You missed the point completely, as I knew some would. I'll refrain from an explanation. I'm 100% on board with hers and others dreams and I do hope for Megan it comes true.

 

[Newfie]

This is just my own feeling, but I think she had made up her mind awhile ago. If she waited to declare for the draft and they cancel the WNBA season, she would have no good reason to leave Uconn. Maybe she was done with college ball. She had to do it now or that would have been really awkward. We will likely never know. I wish her the best of luck and truly hope she does well.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Uconn is no longer a top 10 team without Megan .

How many other teams in America will have two #1 recruits on their roster next season?

 

[hoophuskee]

Betrayal? A kid is about to realize her dream and you see betrayal. PLEASE GET A GRIP!

The 1st few seconds -- absolutely. Remember this is a game for many of us. So for a few seconds as human beings we are allowed to be a little selfish (i.e fan is for fanatic.). Then whether it it is seconds or whatever you feel happiness for her and glad you had a chance to watch her play and represent the school terrifically. Unfortunately to some fans it is championship or bust. Not for most of us however.

 

[BostonCanuck]

I guess I look at this through the prism of how did it work out for Azura Stevens when she decided to forgo a final year of development at UConn and a very good chance at a national championship to leave for the WNBA. And my view is, not really all that well; she just kind of disappeared into the league, and I don't see her on a glidepath to ever becoming a marquee player in the pros.

That's why I thought Megan would stay. There is just something about being drafted into the WNBA as a senior who led her UConn team to a national championship. It brings with it certain intangibles, a prestige that can do to a lot to backstop a career for the longer term. That's a lot to pass up, in my opinion.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Aaliyah will absolutely be in the regular rotation next year, assuming she doesn’t earn the starting PF job. She is that good.

There is no bigger fan of Edwards than me, but that's a bit of a romantic theory. Megan Walker, Gabby Williams, Napheesa Collier, ONO, Morgan Tuck.....How many freshmen have made splashes much less started? Very, very few.

 

[hoophuskee]

Agreed.
She did get better each year, but just never seemed like she was having fun and enjoying the game. I think playing at UCONN brings incredible pressure both physically and more mentally. I do not think many players appreciate it until they age, mature and look back at what Geno was trying to accomplish. She may be a top 10 pick this year, and who knows - may have moved up just a few slots next year .

I thought she was POY candidate next year.

 

[oldude]

How many other teams in America will have two #1 recruits on their roster next season?

Slight change. I believe at least one rating service had Evina ranked ahead of Megan. So next year UConn will have three #1 recruits.

 

[BobbyJ]

On this point, UConn really needs a great season from Evina next year. Not only for the obvious reasons, but in this changing WCBB landscape Geno needs to show that a transfer can have success on his team.

The times they are a'changin'

Agree. Auriemma knows what he needs and with the immediate eligibility I believe he'd only take an impact player for that reason and yours.

 

[seeya27]

Uconn is no longer a top 10 team without Megan .

This won't age well...

 

[CTrefugee]

Shocking, especially as Geno said he thought no changes as of 26 hours ago...

Leaves me cold. I hope she regrets it.

 

[hoophuskee]

There is no bigger fan of Edwards than me, but that's a bit of a romantic theory. Megan Walker, Gabby Williams, Napheesa Collier, ONO, Morgan Tuck.....How many freshmen have made splashes much less started? Very, very few.

I disagree with you very often but on this point i agree.

I recognize however you and others know Edwards very well. I am just reluctant to believe until I see her play more.

UCONN will be very good next year.