Olivia Nelson-Ododa Highlights

[RockyMTblue2]

Here is an entertaining article about her. Women's basketball recruit Olivia Nelson-Ododa leads Team USA to semifinals at U17 world championships

 

[oldude]

I am not suggesting that Hoopgurlz is the definitive source of which colleges are interested in which recruits, and vice versa, but if you check out Hoopgurlz 2018 recruits, ONO does not list UConn among her top choices, but UConn is listed for the following players:

#2 Christyn Williams - 5'11" G
#3 Izabella Nicoletti - 5'10" G
#4 NaLyssa Smith - 6"2" F
#5 Shakira Austin - 6'5" P
#7 Charli Collier - 6'5" F (verbal commit)
#11 Honesty Scott-Grayson - 5'10" PG

Any combination of 3 of the young ladies listed, inclusive of Ms Collier, would give Uconn the #1 recruiting class in the nation. In addition, while I have not heard much about Izabella Nicoletti, who is Brazilian, there has to be something appealing about her 4 sylable last name ending in a vowell. Must be some kind of Italian connection there.

 

[CocoHusky]

Here is an entertaining article about her. Women's basketball recruit Olivia Nelson-Ododa leads Team USA to semifinals at U17 world championships

I had almost forgotten until you reposted the article. ONO is and has been a Georgia WCBB season ticket holder for a while. Even before she began to blow up she was though to be a heavy Georgia lean. It might take a might effort to pry her out of Georgia.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Is the bench long enough to seat all these players?

Geno has ordered a double decker bench!!!

 

[Fairfield Fan]

ONO strikes me as another Tina Charles. Very good toughness underneath. Collier The Taller strikes me as much more of a Breanna Stewart type: strong from the outside, but can be quick to go inside. ONO can really go body-to-body with anyone underneath, judging by the highlight film. And that is what she did in USA Basketball, too.

I could see both being on the floor for UConn at the same time. Compliment each other, just like Stokes and Stewart.

 

[NewCorn]

Actually just got around to watching the Hilites NewCorn provided. Her HS team was mostly playing very small, overmatched opponents. I did not watch any USA ball with her team. I distrust scouting reports from the services.

I do think those highlights show Ododa moving too easily through players, no defense. This makes it impossible to gauge her true effectiveness. However we do see her athletic fluidity and speed. Somebody should make a highlight video of her U17 games.

 

[NewCorn]

I had almost forgotten until you reposted the article. ONO is and has been a Georgia WCBB season ticket holder for a while. Even before she began to blow up she was though to be a heavy Georgia lean. It might take a might effort to pry her out of Georgia.

I live in Athens Georgia, home of the University of Georgia. If ONO is not going to U"Conn, nothing would please me more than to have her join the bulldogs. UGA has lost so much in-state talent to schools with more successful basketball programs. It is difficult to even hope that ONO will stay home. The University is 20 minutes from her home.

 

[alexrgct]

Ono

 

[JordyG]

Got a story relating to this Ono. Paul McCartney for years refused to talk about his relationship with her and what went down. Once however he was on the Howard Stern show and was quite revealing. He said for years Yoko insisted she didn't know who the Beatles were before she met John, but previous to John she'd literally knocked on his door to meet Paul and establish a relationship. He said she poisoned John against him by telling him that Paul wanted to replace him with someone else in the band (untrue), that the band shouldn't be a democracy and that he, John, should be the leader. Also of course while attempting to push this pop band further into social activancy. He said after the bands breakup she poisoned John's ear with "Why do people think Paul is so great when you're the better songwriter?". John would later go on to tell one reporter how much he disliked "tunesmiths". It certainly didn't stop Paul from becoming the more popular and most successfull post Beatle, Beatle. After John's death Paul bought and owned the Beatles canon for awhile. He wanted to change the writers rubric to McCartney/Lennon only on the songs that he'd obviously wrote like "Yesterday". She refused to sign off on it. During these later years they've achieved a sort of detente, especially after the death of Paul's wife.

 

[CocoHusky]

I do think those highlights show Ododa moving too easily through players, no defense. This makes it impossible to gauge her true effectiveness. However we do see her athletic fluidity and speed. Somebody should make a highlight video of her U17 games.

This has already been posted.

 

[JordyG]

This has already been posted.

I watched all of those games and ONO for me was easily the biggest surprise. At that time I was more impressed with her against those European players than I was with Collier.

 

[NewCorn]

This has already been posted.

Thanks, Coco. I hadn't seen that.

 

[bags27]

I don't have the foggiest idea of how to judge high school talent. Obviously some folks do, because so many of the five stars end up being college stars as well. But I really wonder if it's possible to disaggregate talent more finely from a broad group of (say) the best 3-5 at any position nationally. After all: 1. high school coaching and high school competition will vary widely; 2. kids that age (and here we're talking about kids who've just started 11th grade, meaning we're judging them on how they played as sophomores) have so much going on mentally and physically. (I do agree that every couple of years, a kid comes along who is hors categorie (as they say in the Tour de France)--an entirely "can't miss" superstar.)

I have to believe (because I want to believe!) that UConn could take pretty much any of the top 3-5 players at any position, and, if the kid is coachable and committed, turn her into the top 1-3 at her position. Though maybe I've drunk too much of the Kool-Aid...

 

[NewCorn]

I don't have the foggiest idea of how to judge high school talent. Obviously some folks do, because so many of the five stars end up being college stars as well. But I really wonder if it's possible to disaggregate talent more finely from a broad group of (say) the best 3-5 at any position nationally. After all: 1. high school coaching and high school competition will vary widely; 2. kids that age (and here we're talking about kids who've just started 11th grade, meaning we're judging them on how they played as sophomores) have so much going on mentally and physically. (I do agree that every couple of years, a kid comes along who is hors categorie (as they say in the Tour de France)--an entirely "can't miss" superstar.)

I have to believe (because I want to believe!) that UConn could take pretty much any of the top 3-5 players at any position, and, if the kid is coachable and committed, turn her into the top 1-3 at her position. Though maybe I've drunk too much of the Kool-Aid...

I know nothing about scouting. but I suspect that when a girl is 6'5" , fast, agile, shows some basketball moves, and hits a few 3's, she is going to get a long look. Now how is she to be separated from others like her? Probably during in-game action. How does she react when things are going badly, she gets hit in the mouth, the ref makes a bad call, and the coach yells at her. Does she go up or down? But a scouts job cannot be simple. Apparently at UConn multiple coaches take a good look at any girl the team is considering.

This year with Molly, good golly, and Kyla, Geno gets two more chances to show that he is a better judge of talent than those who do the player ratings.

 

[UcMiami]

Bags - absolutely correct. Most of the ranking is based on limited viewings on flawed teams against flawed competition. Seldom does anyone get to watch players of similar talent at similar positions go head to head on similarly talented teams. AAU is a little better for the head to head and similar talent, but the coaching and teamwork generally leave a lot to be desired. The best chance is probably in watching the national team trials for age specific teams, but players like Wilson only got to the last one of those prior to starting college because of scheduling issues and the selection process for those trials is not perfect either.

And yes, there are occasionally players that do stand out from their age-mates, but even that can be a little misleading - HS is still developmental and kids develop physically and mentally at different ages. Some have just developed faster but reach their plateau faster and do not develop any more while their age mates catch up and then surpass.

And a lot of it is coaching at every level. And competition. The results coming out of college vary widely and while some of that is the input, a lot of it is coaching received while in college.

A parallel to the most widely analyzed 'ranking' system used by professional football with the college draft I think is instructive - and a prime example is the two greatest QBs of the last 20 years - Manning rated #1 and living up to it, Brady ranked #199 and blowing away expectations - just one of the many examples of boom (and bust) in an industry that invested millions in trying to get it right with a much smaller pool to rank and much better film to analyze.

 

[CocoHusky]

Bags - absolutely correct.

One specific example two years ago the top post prospect in the class of 2018 was Lindsey Jarosinski. Ever heard of her? Well Lindsey will turn out to be a very good college player but just at the post position she has been surpassed by about 15-20 kids.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Are there links to the USA games? I trust SLUconn's assessment (and others), so I had very high expectations when I watched the sophomore season highlights from ONO. I thought she looked good, but mostly she was running the floor and making layups. In comparison, Charli showed moves inside, a nice midrange jumper, and range to the arc. Does anyone think ONO's video is more impressive? If so, please explain the subtleties that I missed. Or is it simply that ONO really blew up this summer and passed Charli and everyone else in the ratings?

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Are there links to the USA games?

Videos are on the right. They're in reverse order so start with #10 and work upwards if you want to see them chronologically.

USA at the FIBA U17 Women’s World Championship 2016 - FIBA.com

 

[Kaizen]

Nope. Not the way it is. String beans stay stringy.

Like Megan and Lex.
Hope ONO and Christyn Williams can join her friend Charli to UConn....

 

[MilfordHusky]

Videos are on the right. They're in reverse order so start with #10 and work upwards if you want to see them chronologically.

USA at the FIBA U17 Women’s World Championship 2016 - FIBA.com

Thanks. I'll watch them in the next week or two. I'm curious. What did you think of her HS video?

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Thanks. I'll watch them in the next week or two. I'm curious. What did you think of her HS video?

Having already seen her play the vid didn't give me much in the way of information. One thing that stands out though is her mobility; she's built like a shorter Griner but moves like a guard. She can get anywhere she wants on either end of the floor in a heartbeat which I think is going to make her incredibly versatile and useful.

 

[CocoHusky]

Are there links to the USA games? I trust SLUconn's assessment (and others), so I had very high expectations when I watched the sophomore season highlights from ONO. I thought she looked good, but mostly she was running the floor and making layups. In comparison, Charli showed moves inside, a nice midrange jumper, and range to the arc. Does anyone think ONO's video is more impressive? If so, please explain the subtleties that I missed. Or is it simply that ONO really blew up this summer and passed Charli and everyone else in the ratings?

I think @Sluconn Husky hit the nail on the head. ONO's superior (Guard like) mobility is what separates her from the other
bigs in the class. See the 3:30 mark of this video that slash from the wing is priceless. ONO also has good touch on the mid range jumper. ONO is also a quicker more explosive leaper in traffic and also better at positioning her body at just the right angle to make the entry pass easier -very much like Napheesa does. See the 1:50 mark of the video how she seals the defender on the baseline to make the entry pass possible.

 

[SciHiGuy]

We would be Hopelessly Devoted to her.

Clever... She's the One that I Want...

 

[Sluconn Husky]

For those who may not delve into the '17 - '18 recruit thread....


Geno watched Nelson-Ododa score 27 points on Thursday (12/8).


Junior center Olivia Nelson-Ododa caused the main damage, scoring 27 points (including 11 in the second quarter) and wreaking defensive havoc on the other end of the floor.

...

Nelson-Ododa’s performance, in particular, came at a good time as legendary UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma was in the stands scouting.
“It was a big thrill for Olivia and she had a great night for us offensively and defensively,” Thomas said.


Lady Bulldoggs even record at 3-3; Boys win pair to go to 4-3 - MainStreetNewsSports

 

[MilfordHusky]

I guess UConn is indeed interested.