Nation's #1 Recruit Christyn Williams Chooses UConn!

[JustinesGuy]

So we'll have 3 #1s on the team next year?
KLS in 2015, Walker in 2017, and Williams in 2018. Has that ever happened before?

Soon to be BB for 2019 . Wishful thinking

 

[NewCorn]

UCONN will have three number 1 recruits and a number 2 recruit. Which other program can make that claim? You guys will really be struggling.

Any school can recruit as well. All they have to do is win 11 National Championships first. That's all.

 

[JustinesGuy]

I’m so over the CW commitment (JK) . On to Sam Burnelle!

This is the post of the year! From your computer to Gods ears

 

[HoopsFan21]

Soon to be BB for 2019 . Wishful thinking

Yeah hopefully but KLS will be gone by then.

 

[Dillon77]

We get a lot of top talent, but we certainly don't get ALL the top talent. Even if we get ONO, our class will be only #3 or so. We missed out on Charli Collier and NaLyssa Smith, among others. We failed to get Chiney, A'ja, and Lauren. Napheesa was about #3 to #6 in her high school class, but was #2 or #3 in the country as a college sophomore. That's player development.

Milford: I went back and checked the final class of 2015 rankings of both Prospects Nation and Hoopgurlz and Napheesa was #6 in both. Considering the senior-class rankings for both PN and HG usually go up to 150 players, how do you define "top?" A lot of schools -- including ND -- would've killed to get this "non-Top 5 slacker."

I'd expect there to be player development from a staff as talented as Geno's but they were not exactly working with chopped liver. Now if she was a "hidden prospect" at 46 or 66....

 

[CL82]

Welcome Christyn!

 

[Carnac]

Thank you! I’m pretty bummed, not just by today’s outcome.. but the past few to be honest. I trust in Dawn though. She’ll rebound.

I can appreciate your feelings at the moment. Remember UConn had cause to bummed out when they recently lost a prior commit.

Dawn has done the sane thing at South Carolina that Steve Spurrier did. He came in, and turned a fledgling football program that was a bottom feeder into one of the nation's top ranked/respected programs in the country.

Dawn is an experienced coach, having been around the block more than once. She's paid her dues while learning her craft.
She's also had the opportunity to learn at the feet of the master (Geno), during her time as an assistant coach with the USA Olympic teams. She has made South Carolina attractive to potential recruits. The hiring of Jolette Law as an assistant coach/recruiter was genius on her part. Law comes in with a proven record as a highly successful recruiter.

If Law was able to attract top rated/highly coveted recruits to TN (no disrespect intended), given their current coaching climate, imagine what she'll be able to do at USCe.

The sun is far from setting on the Gamecock program. South Carolina has become and remains one of the top ranked programs in WCBB, and should remain so for years to come. The Gamecocks remain on the come, and they now have reservations at the dining table when/where the elite teams of WCBB dine.

Being the defending national champions is an accomplishment you and your fellow fans can enjoy all year. You've got PG Destanni Henderson, and F Victaria Saxton coming in for 2018. That's two more than UConn had this morning. Share the wealth. You don't want to hoard ALL of the top recruits for 2018 do you? Of course not.

 

[dtbtbtb]

She wants to become legendary.

There is no better place than UConn to become legendary!

 

[iri10]

Looking forward to having her on the team!

That was certainly an elaborate little announcement rally. In the future I'd like to see some UConn recruit with knowledge of UConn WCBB lore go "meta." Sign their letter of intent on a prop car, on a stage in the school's auditorium. Make it happen, ambitious recruits.

 

[Shorty Dee]

Congratulations!! UConn Nation welcomes you!!
I am hoping Olivia Nelson-Ododa will follow.

 

[iri10]

Thank you! I’m pretty bummed, not just by today’s outcome.. but the past few to be honest. I trust in Dawn though. She’ll rebound.

Never feel bummed - or at least, not too bummed - by missing a recruit or three after winning the NC. Winning an NC is pretty much a permanent boost to a school's ability to recruit, at least as long as that coach is still there. As long as she wants to coach, Staley is going to get enough talent to make them competitive for frequent FF runs and beyond. Some years will be better than others, but there shouldn't be any long bad stretches barring some unusual or unfortunate circumstances.

 

[meyers7]

Now you have to live with the "UCONN gets all the top talent" tag for a little while longer.

 

[meyers7]

Orangutan I think you are the first person to ever inception themselves in a BY thread... I love it!

 

[Ron and Vida]

We're doomed, doomed. From what I've seen so far how are we ever going to get a nicer kid and nicer parents?

 

[trb123]

UCONN will have three number 1 recruits and a number 2 recruit. Which other program can make that claim? You guys will really be struggling.

How the steel is tempered counts for more than the recruit number.

 

[Carnac]

11,788 views of this thread in just 8 hours. That has to be some kind of record. Don't tell me the Boneyard is not popular, and the place to be.

 

[CMC'72]

No. 1 prospect Christyn Williams signs with Connecticut Huskies

ESPN interview!

 

[huskyd]

You are a real class act. I'm glad you're on this board.

I hope, at the very least, this will put to bed all the derogatory comments about how A'ja held a press conference and didn't sign her NLOI on a car.

Well said, Plebe! I haven't always been happy with gamecocky talk, but the 2 SC fans who post here are to be commended on their reactions to what must have been a very unhappy outcome for them. I'm not sure I'd have taken the news as well if I were they, but I hope I would be nearly as generous. Always liked Aja and Dawn and especially admire the enormous support you get from your fans--now I like you, too! Good losers are much rarer than good winners and far more special.
I might note, too, that Geno's retirement and my life expectancy keep getting pushed onward by the number of wonderful years of WCBB we have ahead of us. . .

 

[Kaizen]

Yeah hopefully but KLS will be gone by then.

Warning: KLS may stay for her Ph.D in UConn ....

 

[mbr33ct]

LOL. After landing one recruit, compared to Tennessee's "Fab Four" and Baylor's "Fab Five."

So, is it "Fab One"?

 

[Kaizen]

Look the happy face ...

 

[Plebe]

It's a burden, I tell you, but I'll see if I can bear it.

(It's also not accurate to say we get "ALL" the top talent, but we definitely get a lot, so that minor correction won't get much sympathy.)

I like the choice of the downsized font.

 

[Husky pride]

Congratulations to Christyn and the Huskies!

Video of Christyn's announcement

Well, I guess it’s sweet payback—-South Carolina got Wilson and we got Williams!!!!!! Now, it’s on to Nelson-Ododa!!

 

[oldude]

A few random thoughts about CW:

• She certainly doesn't lack for confidence. She wants to be "legendary" like DT & Maya, the two GOAT at the G/W spot. As it stands right now, she will arrive on campus next year behind no less than 7 returning G/W's, including 2 HS NPOY's. Geno has to love this young lady's confidence.
• Big assist, literally, to Danger. You can not underestimate the importance of CW playing on the Under 19 team with Danger as well as MW. For a big time scorer like CW, how could she not want to play with Danger. All CW has to do is run the court and get open, and somehow, some way, Danger will get her the ball.
• One thing missing from recent Husky teams was a player like DT & Maya who could just take the ball and score, 1 on 1, when the game came down to the last few possessions, against a tough defensive team. UConn clearly needed such a player in the MS St game. Now, it appears in both MW & CW the Huskies have two such players.
• UConn still needs a BIG. Last week I predicted a package deal with CW & ONO. I do think that CW coming here makes it somewhat more likely that ONO will also decide on Storrs. If we land both the Husky train will keep rolling for years to come.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Milford: I went back and checked the final class of 2015 rankings of both Prospects Nation and Hoopgurlz and Napheesa was #6 in both. Considering the senior-class rankings for both PN and HG usually go up to 150 players, how do you define "top?" A lot of schools -- including ND -- would've killed to get this "non-Top 5 slacker."

I'd expect there to be player development from a staff as talented as Geno's but they were not exactly working with chopped liver. Now if she was a "hidden prospect" at 46 or 66....

I agree that Geno had a lot to work with in terms of Napheesa, but I think she has over-performed. For someone who is #6 in her high school class, I'd expect her to be a 1x or 2x All-American during her career, on a 10-player AA team. Assuming that each class is roughly comparable, I'd expect that there would be at least 5-6 seniors and 5-6 juniors who are better than a sophomore who was #6 in high school. Thus, I would have expected that Napheesa to be a top-15 to top-20 player last year. Instead, she was clearly top-2 or top-3.

I agree that players like Alana Beard, Angel McCoughtry, and Tianna Hawkins jumped way more than Napheesa did. My point is that Pheesa performed like a #1 recruit last year, not a #6 recruit.

 

[Plebe]

Well said, Plebe! I haven't always been happy with gamecocky talk, but the 2 SC fans who post here are to be commended on their reactions to what must have been a very unhappy outcome for them. I'm not sure I'd have taken the news as well if I were they, but I hope I would be nearly as generous. Always liked Aja and Dawn and especially admire the enormous support you get from your fans--now I like you, too! Good losers are much rarer than good winners and far more special.
I might note, too, that Geno's retirement and my life expectancy keep getting pushed onward by the number of wonderful years of WCBB we have ahead of us. . .

The same SC fan did an exemplary job of maintaining classiness amid the chest-thumping and trash-talking of Baylor fans following the announcement of Aquira DeCosta.

If Christyn had gone the other way, the bitterness on this forum (from some quarters, not all) would have bordered on insufferable.