Molly bent

[Geew1992]

Journal Inquirer

Serving towns east of the Connecticut River

www.journalinquirer.com

 

[Gabbyfan]

I like this story better than hearing about the other players on the Uconn team move on to professional BB in Europe.

 

[Sonny44]

I guess we can forgive her since LMM retired.

 

[eebmg]

I guess we can forgive her since LMM retired.

Ladyship Muffet McGraw?

 

[eebmg]

Nice story. A bit bittersweet that she could not really meet all her basketball goals (personal and team) but in the end, she will accomplish great things.

Maybe recruiter.

“They are so invested in us as people,” Bent said. “I don’t know if it’s the same everywhere else as it is at UConn. I think any high school kid (Azzi) that gets an offer to play at UConn, they should take it.”

 

[AmeriConn]

Thanks for posting. I enjoyed reading the article. All the very best to Molly. May she continue to grow in her faith and inspire others.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

This is a great story. She didn’t accomplish her basketball goals but she survived four years of Geno’s expectations and requirements while keeping an incredible GPA in a difficult major and also deepened her faith. That sounds like a successful four years to me.

 

[Steelerone]

We have been so blessed to have young ladies like this in our lives. To be able to watch their achievements while on the court is entertaining but to watch them become successes in the real world is just as satisfying. Thank you Molly for making your family, your university and your fans so proud of you. As I have stated previously in a post, teams do not win championships without Molly Bents because Molly is a Champion.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

It pains me to know that for 3 years Molly thought herself a failure. I find it remarkable that whille dealing with those feelings she was the consumate teammate. Molly is made of very good stuff and I suspect great fulfillment will come her way in the future.

 

[masshusk77]

I found myself feeling all sorts of emotions reading through this article (One of Carl’s best I think I’ve ever read). What struck me more than anything else, is just how the internal struggles of our players never really seemed to hit me when watching games or reading posts here on The Boneyard before today. I think back to myself as a 18-22 year old and wonder if I could handle it. I’m sure nobody is harder on themselves than our players in all aspects of their lives and having to live such a public life must be incredibly difficult. I’m sure many of our players read what fans write about them on social media or here on The Boneyard. I bet they appreciate the support of the fans and the positive comments, but the occasional negative comment or criticism must stick even harder as for many of them, that is what they are already thinking.

These players aren’t robots, they are far more than that and I’m sure bad games are sometimes caused by things that I, my family, and I’m sure all of you have gone through in your personal lives. Whether that be a bad test grade, a breakup, a family issue, or countless other personal issues. When that happens to us, we don’t have to go straight into interviews asking about our sub-par performance or go home to negative comments on the internet about us.

All of our players and coaches seem to be phenomenal people and I hope they (like Molly seems to have this past year) are able to find true happiness and purpose in their own lives.

I understand that the positives in many cases of playing for UConn far outweigh these negatives, but I know in my own life and fandom I will start to really think more about the person in the uniform and not just the basketball player.

 

[mmeade258]

Reading that article and your guys comments has me tearing up. I’m so happy for Molly I’ll never forget Geno’s post Game presser after the seton hall game this year “Molly is the happiest person in Connecticut”

I’m soooooo happy for her

 

[64Zcode]

I found myself feeling all sorts of emotions reading through this article (One of Carl’s best I think I’ve ever read). What struck me more than anything else, is just how the internal struggles of our players never really seemed to hit me when watching games or reading posts here on The Boneyard before today. I think back to myself as a 18-22 year old and wonder if I could handle it. I’m sure nobody is harder on themselves than our players in all aspects of their lives and having to live such a public life must be incredibly difficult. I’m sure many of our players read what fans write about them on social media or here on The Boneyard. I bet they appreciate the support of the fans and the positive comments, but the occasional negative comment or criticism must stick even harder as for many of them, that is what they are already thinking.

These players aren’t robots, they are far more than that and I’m sure bad games are sometimes caused by things that I, my family, and I’m sure all of you have gone through in your personal lives. Whether that be a bad test grade, a breakup, a family issue, or countless other personal issues. When that happens to us, we don’t have to go straight into interviews asking about our sub-par performance or go home to negative comments on the internet about us.

All of our players and coaches seem to be phenomenal people and I hope they (like Molly seems to have this past year) are able to find true happiness and purpose in their own lives.

I understand that the positives in many cases of playing for UConn far outweigh these negatives, but I know in my own life and fandom I will start to really think more about the person in the uniform and not just the basketball player.

I very much agree with everything stated above, especially the parts about demeaning and negative comments about a player's performance on any given night. Playing on a high-pressure team like UConn WBB leaves them wide open to criticism from anyone with a keyboard and an internet connection.
I have always enjoyed watching the games a little more when Molly and Kyla were playing, even if they weren't racking up the points.

Had I ever attended a live game I would have been one of the folks chanting Molly's name and going nuts when she scored or assisted with a thread-the-needle pass.
I loved watching her game improve her senior year, the fact that she and her teammates did not get a chance to 'finish' the season was a huge disappointment.

I've always thought, even before reading the referenced article, that Molly was a person of exceptional character and determination, mostly because throughout her entire time (and this applies to Kyla as well) she never gave up on herself or her team. She did not quit on any aspect of her college experience.

There were numerous times this past year when the ball movement and player movement were sluggish and I was wishing that the Coach would have turned to Molly and said "Go. Don't hold anything back, no matter what happens. Just Play". (Probably a very good example of why I don't coach any sports, eh?) I think it might have been very interesting to watch.

Like others, I think that Molly is destined to lead a meaningful life and impact the lives of others in a very positive way.

I really hope that both Molly and Kyla read the positive comments and take them to heart, I am grateful that I was able to watch them play and learn a little about them from the writers that had the chance to speak with them and pass those interviews on to us.

And one last thought - concerning the award for Ultimate Husky - others may win the award but Molly will always the the 1st recipient.....that will never change and no one else will ever be "The 1st". She will always have that distinction.

 

[Steelerone]

It pains me to know that for 3 years Molly thought herself a failure. I find it remarkable that whille dealing with those feelings she was the consumate teammate. Molly is made of very good stuff and I suspect great fulfillment will come her way in the future.

Rocky, one of the saddest things is that sometimes the most successful people constantly have this feeling of being a failure. I'm not a psychiatrist but I believe it is because they have set the bar so high that, in some cases, what they want is sometimes impossible to achieve. I believe Molly is enough of a realist to know where to set the bar.

 

[MilfordHusky]

This is a key: "She played behind WNBA draft picks Saniya Chong, Kia Nurse, and Crystal Dangerfield as a freshman, Nurse and Dangerfield as a sophomore, and Dangerfield and Christyn Williams as a junior." That's a lot of talent that was in front of Molly

 

[Bama fan]

What a wonderful young woman our Molly Bent is. I am thankful for the opportunity to watch someone like her give all she had and to see the appreciation she got from the team and the staff and the school. Kids such as Molly are what makes college sports so joyful.

 

[JoePgh]

I think that if Molly had played on the Mel Thomas teams or the 2003 and 2004 teams on which Maria Conlon was a starter, she could possibly have beaten out those players and might potentially have been a starter for multiple seasons. She is certainly faster and quicker than either of those players, and could shoot the 3 about as well as they could. I think she would have played better defense than either of them.

I also think that Molly's mental mistakes were attributable to the fact that she never played enough minutes to calm down on the court and have the game slow down for her. Mel also had this problem and overcame it after her freshman year, probably because of the copious minutes that she got.

It's a good thing for UConn, but possibly a bad thing for Molly's college career, that since 2009, UConn has always had multiple fast and talented guards. I think Geno learned his lesson from the experience of having to rely on players like Mel and Maria for so many minutes.

 

[Sonny44]

Ladyship Muffet McGraw?

Little Miss Muffet!

 

[masshusk77]

Katie Lou Samuelson on mental health: 'I was in denial about how I felt'

Former UConn star and current Dallas Wings guard Katie Lou Samuelson discusses her own struggles with mental health.

www.espn.com

It looks like Lou has also struggled with Mental Health issues. Hopefully both her and Molly can be a positive influence and an advocate for our current and future players to show them that it is ok to not be ok. I am proud of both of them for being open and honest, it will help more people than they ever will know.

 

[Crossover]

Katie Lou Samuelson on mental health: 'I was in denial about how I felt'

Former UConn star and current Dallas Wings guard Katie Lou Samuelson discusses her own struggles with mental health.

www.espn.com

It looks like Lou has also struggled with Mental Health issues. Hopefully both her and Molly can be a positive influence and an advocate for our current and future players to show them that it is ok to not be ok. I am proud of both of them for being open and honest, it will help more people than they ever will know.

Molly did not say that she has struggled with mental health issues. There is a difference between being situationally depressed and being clinically depressed. Plus, I think that we shouldn't put pressure on others to advocate for a cause in which they have a stake. That is an intensely personal decision, and people should be free to do what is best for them.