October 2020 UConn Recruiting Thread

[CocoHusky]

I believe that Piath will be ready to produce before DeBerry does in prime time.

I have to strongly disagree with that assessment mainly because of the caliber of AAU coaching that I know DeBerry is getting at the Philly Belles. These Belles coaches have a long and distinguished track record that included Crystal Langhore and Laura Harper back in the day and more recently EDD and Stewie.

 

[DaBball]

Shay Bollin committed to Duke:

 

[UConnCat]

Was a UConn POI

 

[visitingcock]

Good for Duke.

Shay had an offer from Dawn

 

[bluedevil]

Shay it aint so...

 

[donalddoowop]

That would be awesome. I've personally just decided not to expect or count on Piath since I know she is really raw. I think of just anything positive from her as icing on the cake.

My reasoning is that Piath will have experienced a year of UConn college basketball and will most likely know the system. I believe Piath will put in all the work she needs this season and during the Summer, knowing she wants to be an important part of the team. She is just as big as Natalie Butler and more athletic, quicker, and faster. I believe she will contribute in her sophomore season at least as much as Butler did in her first year at UConn. JMO.

 

[soxfan23]

My reasoning is that Piath will have experienced a year of UConn college basketball and will most likely know the system. I believe Piath will put in all the work she needs this season and during the Summer, knowing she wants to be an important part of the team. She is just as big as Natalie Butler and more athletic, quicker, and faster. I believe she will contribute in her sophomore season at least as much as Butler did in her first year at UConn. JMO.

I understand your reasoning, but you are starting with a very raw player in Gabriel, In DeBerry you are starting with a very polished consensus Top 15 recruit, that has played against the best of the best in AAU and while on Team USA.

 

[AFJ]

You'd like her committing to UConn even better! Call me crazy, call me irrational, or whatever, but I don't think it's a stretch to believe that she, Paige her and the rest of the team can win 2 championships the 3 years they'll play together if she comes.

Why not? They are going to have the best players on the floor

 

[AFJ]

Great point Coco. And Geno has had some pretty good luck recruiting players out of Georgia. She appears to be very physical and coachable.

The only way they can get Jillian is if they don't get Fudd, unless somebody leaves after this year.

 

[donalddoowop]

I understand your reasoning, but you are starting with a very raw player in Gabriel, In DeBerry you are starting with a very polished consensus Top 15 recruit, that has played against the best of the best in AAU and while on Team USA.

And just how good is the talent Piath will be going against all season long just in practice? Also, the talent on the teams UConn will play is better than the talent in AAU or the talent Team USA will face. What USA teams are better than Baylor, South Carolina, DePaul, or even Tennessee? I may not be right but I am NEVER wrong!

 

[Carnac]

I hope DeBerry is able to see time along side Liv next season, originally I thought Saylor would be our starting 4 down the line, but DeBerry can probably play the 4. UConn is going to be so deep in the future, it could be bad for game

THAT'S the target for THIS year and beyond....................to be "bad" for the game................again.

 

[uconnever]

Was a UConn POI

Was really hoping we got her, one of my favorite players in years, coming out of high school

 

[UConnCat]

There she goes, she's at it again. Kara Lawson landing another 6-3 quality forward from the 2022 class.

Another? Who was the first?

 

[Carnac]

Another? Who was the first?

Deleted the comment. Some quick research revealed my error. Off the top of my head, I confused Kara with Ivey at ND who landed a recruit right after being named HC.

 

[HuskylnSC]

And just how good is the talent Piath will be going against all season long just in practice? Also, the talent on the teams UConn will play is better than the talent in AAU or the talent Team USA will face. What USA teams are better than Baylor, South Carolina, DePaul, or even Tennessee? I may not be right but I am NEVER wrong!

Ddo you really think Piath will log serious minutes this year against the top competition. I certainly hope so because if she does it would be an overwhelming victory for the good guys.

 

[HuskylnSC]

I hope DeBerry is able to see time along side Liv next season, originally I thought Saylor would be our starting 4 down the line, but DeBerry can probably play the 4. UConn is going to be so deep in the future, it could be bad for game

Both will be behind Aaliyah at the 4 for 3 years. Then along comes Ice who will get time at the 4 and 5 when Aubrey(flashbang) is a senior, AE, Piath, and Mir are juniors, and Deberry is a soph. For the first time in a while Geno is going to have fresh legs all game long. Saylor will have to be content matching CD splashing 30 foot 3's for a while. Need a super point for 2022.

 

[soxfan23]

And just how good is the talent Piath will be going against all season long just in practice? Also, the talent on the teams UConn will play is better than the talent in AAU or the talent Team USA will face. What USA teams are better than Baylor, South Carolina, DePaul, or even Tennessee? I may not be right but I am NEVER wrong!

Gabriel will be lucky to play 3 minutes a game this year

 

[DEpup]

Gabriel will be lucky to play 3 minutes a game this year

It would be great if Piath can work up to a 5-8 minute average in BE games. Playing in the post is exhausting trying to hold your position all the time so those minutes combined with Aaliyah's minutes would mean Liv and Aubrey are averaging under 30 minutes and that supports an ability to be aggressive on defense.

 

[Charliebball]

Gabriel will be lucky to play 3 minutes a game this year

3:35.......................

 

[donalddoowop]

Ddo you really think Piath will log serious minutes this year against the top competition. I certainly hope so because if she does it would be an overwhelming victory for the good guys.

No, however, she will be practicing against some of the best talent in the country. Also, just because she starts out as a project, she may wind up a finished project by season's end. She's not a dummy, she will improve.

 

[JoePgh]

Gabriel will be lucky to play 3 minutes a game this year

I think that Geno will give Piath an opportunity to earn the role of backup to ONO. That is a weight-bearing role, since Olivia is unfortunately foul-prone and will often be on the bench for that reason.

If Piath can't handle it, then probably Aaliyah will be the de facto ONO backup, and Aubrey, Anna, and possibly Mir will get a shot at the 3-4 role, or perhaps Evina will shift out of a guard role into a front court role, which she has said she would be quite happy to do if that were the team's need. I think that is more likely than Piath being ready, but Geno will give her a chance to prove all of us wrong.

 

[donalddoowop]

I have to strongly disagree with that assessment mainly because of the caliber of AAU coaching that I know DeBerry is getting at the Philly Belles. These Belles coaches have a long and distinguished track record that included Crystal Langhore and Laura Harper back in the day and more recently EDD and Stewie.

Just how good is she? I read last season that she had a lot of work to do to be a really good college player and later that she is a similar player as Ono. What is true?

 

[BobbyJ]

Just how good is she? I read last season that she had a lot of work to do to be a really good college player and later that she is a similar player as Ono. What is true?

DeBerry does have a lot of work to do to be a good college player. And as a freshman Ono had the same work to do. Ono averaged 14 MPG on a team where she was the only real big and 3/4 of those games were against the pathetic AAC schedule which indicates a lot of mop up time. Ono was raw but at least aggressive. DeBerry at this point IMO is more skilled than Gabriel and similar to Ono at the same age. To approach Ono’s PT as a freshman, I believe DeBerry will need to learn to play with all out aggressiveness and urgency. We’ll see.

 

[oldhusky]

How much have you seen each of them play?

This is a good point, I have only been able to find a little bit of video on DeBerry, and even less on Piath and Mir, so it is hard to make many conclusions. Piath has a big body, a reputation for being fairly athletic, and supposedly can run the floor. Knowing just that, I would think the odds are decent she could be a good rebounder/defender.

The video in this thread on DeBarry doesn't tell me as much as I had hoped, because she largely is just using her height and mobility against far inferior competition. The one skill that stood out was her passing ability which looked quite good, for the other things I would need to see her against more talented players her own size.

I suspect that Piath needs to show something significant in terms of ability, if not playing time in her first year or she may be relegated to mop up minutes for her entire career, and could transfer. This year if healthy Geno could choose to use a three big rotation of Olivia, Aaliyah and Aubrey. Only one is a true center but I think Aaliyah can be a good if somewhat undersized backup to Olivia. Next year DeBerry comes on board, and the year after when Olivia departs, Brady arrives, and of course we are still in the hunt for Betts and other bigs.

If everybody is healthy and stays, Piath may need to be better than one of those players mentioned to get significant playing time. On the other hand as a possible specialist for certain match-ups, where a bulkier player that can bang a little would help, that could be a role for her. Olivia and apparently DeBerry as well are relatively slight not bangers. Could Piath help against a Boston on South Carolina for example?

 

[uconnever]

DeBerry does have a lot of work to do to be a good college player. And as a freshman Ono had the same work to do. Ono averaged 14 MPG on a team where she was the only real big and 3/4 of those games were against the pathetic AAC schedule which indicates a lot of mop up time. Ono was raw but at least aggressive. DeBerry at this point IMO is more skilled than Gabriel and similar to Ono at the same age. To approach Ono’s PT as a freshman, I believe DeBerry will need to learn to play with all out aggressiveness and urgency. We’ll see.

I have watched Deberry play twice, once she was way taller than everyone on the floor and did what we would expect. Then I watched her play against other girls her size and she didn’t play well AT ALL. Maybe just a bad game as I believe she was a sophomore and the contact really affected her and she was clearly frustrated with herself. I trust Geno and staff more than myself, but your right, she didn’t appear anywhere near as aggressive as ONO.