Megan Walker: Monacan's National Treasure

[Sluconn Husky]

Walker scored 25 points, grabbed 18 rebounds, and added 3 blocks on Friday (1/30).

 

[Buzzyboy]

So she wants to watch football. Great. (Different attitude from Ann Strother, who said of her recruiting trips as the top-ranked player: "They kept taking me to football games. I'm a basketball player.")

Don't know if Ms. Walker is thinking about a school with (a) a good football team, or (b) one that plays against good teams (and maybe gets whumped all the time).

I know it's just a preference, and not a requirement, but let's look for a match.

Here are the current AP top-25 rankings in women's basketball with top-25 rankings (if any) of the same schools in football. So who does she want to play for?

Women's BB / Football

1 / South Carolina / --
2 / Connecticut / --
3 / Baylor / 7
4 / Louisville / 24
5 / Tennessee / --
6 / Notre Dame/ --
7 / Maryland /--
8 / Texas / --
9 / Oregon St / --
10 / Texas A&M /--
11 / Stanford /--
12 / North Carolina / --
13 / Arizona St /--
14 / Kentucky /--
15 / Duke /--
16 / Nebraska /--
17 / Florida St / 5
18 / Mississippi St / 11
19 / Princeton /--
20 / Iowa / --
21 / Minnesota / --
22 / Georgia /9
23 / Syracuse / --
24 / Western Kentucky / --
25 / Rutgers / --

Not a lot of pickin's if you want top 25 now. Top 25 in a couple of years may be different. Or maybe she'd settle for top 50 football with top 25 basketball.

Or maybe this whole exercise is ridiculous and she should go with the team that's best for her and go to the school's football games with her friends and have fun rooting for the home team.

If her friends are good enough basketball players, though, they may have to sign autographs before the football game.

Baylor, Louisville, Texas and Texas A&M have pretty darn good football teams and I guess Notre Dame isn't too bad but all are appreciably better than our Huskies. That might give her some of what she wants if football is a BIG KEY for her.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Just an update on Walker. Her Monacan team lost its regional final tonight (3/9). Walker had 22 points after scoring 25 the previous game. They will still play for their state title.

Here is the latest article on her from a few days ago.

http://www.chesterfieldobserver.com...ops_star_rises_projected_as_No_1_in_2017.html

 

[CocoHusky]

Just an update on Walker. Her Monacan team lost its regional final tonight (3/9). Walker had 22 points after scoring 25 the previous game. They will still play for their state title.

Here is the latest article on her from a few days ago.

http://www.chesterfieldobserver.com...ops_star_rises_projected_as_No_1_in_2017.html

Great read Sluconn. She sounds like a great kid.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Monacan survived in their 4A semis thanks to a Megan Walker block at the end on Thursday (3/11). Walker had 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 steals.

http://www.richmond.com/sports/high-school/article_98e7bdb9-b192-5983-adb9-33b6c6ef7a68.html

 

[Eggman]

Good football in 1-2 years? Hmm, maybe uconn should develop a good kinesiology or criminology dept.! If they don't have one now.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Monacan survived in their 4A semis thanks to a Megan Walker block at the end on Thursday (3/11). Walker had 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 steals.

http://www.richmond.com/sports/high-school/article_98e7bdb9-b192-5983-adb9-33b6c6ef7a68.html

That's the kind of play that Maya Moore would make. And Napheesa Collier.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Good football in 1-2 years? Hmm, maybe uconn should develop a good kinesiology or criminology dept.! If they don't have one now.

They have one of the best kinesiology programs in the nation.

 

[EricLA]

They have one of the best kinesiology programs in the nation.

IIRC UCONN advertises that the Kinesiology program is #1 in the nation.

 

[Eggman]

Very good to hear about the kinesiology program. Maybe Megan knows and that's an additional interest in uconn, besides championships.

 

[CocoHusky]

Not sure if this replay or live but Walker is on TV playing Midlothian. She is playing well getting double team on every touch. She has a double double already.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Not sure if this replay or live but Walker is on TV playing Midlothian. She is playing well getting double team on every touch. She has a double double already.

Yes, that was today's state title game which Walker and Monacan won. She had 25 points and 12 rebounds.

http://www.richmond.com/sports/high...cle_1e68b204-2587-5dce-bf51-14df8a3e1c28.html

 

[Geno-ista]

Right. She just needs t0 jump.

Gabby could play both ways- without a problem!

 

[MilfordHusky]

Congrats to Megan and her team!

 

[jsloanjr]

What a fit for UCONN.......Great smile, likes to play defense and likes a high power offensive team.......Can you spell UCONN?

 

[MilfordHusky]

There's already a "Walker" on the Wall, thanks to the great Kemba, but Megan has all-world potential. I sure hope we get her.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Couple highlights of Walker and others in yesterday's win:

http://wric.com/2015/03/14/monacan-upsets-midlothian-in-4a-state-final-65-57/

 

[CocoHusky]

Sluconn,
I was wondering what you thought of Megan' s game.
My thoughts that offensive she is college ready. Handle could use little tighten up shot is a little flat but she can flat out score and passes very well.
Defensively she got a ways to go to be NCAA ready and a longer way to be UCONN ready. She is a little too upright in her defensive stance and tends to play ole defense by swiping at the ball handler instead of staying in front of her person.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Sluconn,
I was wondering what you thought of Megan' s game.
My thoughts that offensive she is college ready. Handle could use little tighten up shot is a little flat but she can flat out score and passes very well.
Defensively she got a ways to go to be NCAA ready and a longer way to be UCONN ready. She is a little too upright in her defensive stance and tends to play ole defense by swiping at the ball handler instead of staying in front of her person.

I really haven't paid enough attention to Walker's defense to form an opinion. I've only seen her play a handful of times in AAU games prior to her sophomore year and didn't really notice her on that end. I'm not too concerned though considering she's athletic and smart enough to improve over the next few years. Let's face it, KLS will enter college with more defensive issues than Walker. Good coaching and experience should help her.

She's extremely gifted offensively. Very high BB IQ and lots of skill. Good outside shooter who'll never be on KML's level, but solid. Where I think she'll really excel is in midrange and driving to the basket. Really good athlete. A bit of a poor man's Maya Moore which is a huge compliment.

 

[JS]

A bit of a poor man's Maya Moore which is a huge compliment.

Except for the "poor man's" part.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Except for the "poor man's" part.

If you can be Maya Mooreish without quite being Maya Moore, that's pretty great in my eyes.

 

[JS]

If you can be Maya Mooreish without quite being Maya Moore, that's pretty great in my eyes.

At the risk of quibbling about language, "poor man's" implies a bigger gap, and seems more negative than "not quite" Maya. (One assumes we're comparing the players at the same age.)

More of an (unintended, no doubt) slap, put-down or backhanded compliment. It emphasizes the comparative inferiority a bit more it says "close race."

"Poor man's" defined:

"someone or something that is similar to a well-known person or thing but is not as good" - thefreedictionary.com

"something or someone that can be compared to something or someone else, but is not as good is a poor man's version; a writer who uses lots of puns but isn't very funny would be a poor man's Oscar Wilde." - usingenglish.com

"a knock-off of inferior quality, or something similar to something else, but not as good." - Urban Dictionary.

"cheaper than, simpler than, or inferior to." - Wiktionary.org​

Perhaps you sensed this, hence felt the need to explain that you intended a compliment.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Perhaps you sensed this, hence felt the need to explain that you intended a compliment.

Actually, I didn't sense it at all. You just seemed to take the comment in a way not intended so I tried to explain it.

The first definition you list is where I was going and it is a compliment. I don't know how it could be seen as anything else.

 

[JS]

You just seemed to take the comment in a way not intended so I tried to explain it.

I'm referring to your voluntary original explanation - "which is a huge compliment" - not to your subsequent response to me.

The first definition you list is where I was going and it is a compliment.

Meant as such perhaps, but not effectively expressed as such. Putting aside the other three definitions, in which the pejorative connotation ranges from mild to severe, let's expand your preferred one to include the usage examples:

"someone or something that is similar to a well-known person or thing but is not as good. He was only ever a mediocre singer - they used to call him 'the poor man's Frank Sinatra'. 'So what did you think of the film?' 'It was just a poor man's 'Pulp Fiction'." ​

Now the pejorative comes through there too, does it not?

I don't know how it could be seen as anything else [but a compliment].

Therein lies the problem, with which I tried (unsuccessfully it seems) to be of assistance. If I wince at an inappropriate choice of words, I'm confident others will too.

As they did in prior threads where they perceived your player comparisons as knocking the "lesser" player or even multiple players ("plays like a walk-on").

It's not a matter of ill intent, maybe just a tonal deaf spot. Perhaps you're doomed to be misunderstood in this regard.

But you do good work. Just excellent in many ways. So what's a little malaprop among friends?

 

[rvwsleep]

Actually, I didn't sense it at all. You just seemed to take the comment in a way not intended so I tried to explain it.

The first definition you list is where I was going and it is a compliment. I don't know how it could be seen as anything else.

FWIW, I took it as a compliment. "A bit" (a small piece,portion,or quantity) did precede " poor man's" which to me lessens the impact of "poor mans" even if you take "poor man's" in the pejorative sense. "A small piece" of "not as good as" equals almost as good as (i.e. Walker is almost as good as Moore at the same stage in their careers).
It seems to me that the intervention was splitting the thinnest of hairs.