Recruiting Bigs

[Jim R]

Why don’t you go apply for the Recruiting Coordinator job? Then you can stop bitching and do something about your problem

HuskyNan - appreciate all you've done and do over the years, and realize, like, all of us, you have your sensitive spots. My admiration for the job Geno and the staff have done, and our athletes, over the years is second to none. But, if you don't think height matters on the hardwood, well, let's say we can agree to disagree. While we all love the 3-pointer, and great defense, its tough to win any game if you lose the battle of the boards. Thanks again for all you do for the Boneyard.

 

[darkstar1]

I peruse ( I assume like all of you)the ESPN women basketball recruits for future graduating classes. I focus on girls that are 6’5”, or taller… No UCONN??… either we are in the mix and not getting them, or we are not pursuing them in the first place. I always see South Carolina, LSU, Baylor, Stanford, Oregon… I realize that being tall does not make you a good player… I just think that these schools must believe that these girls are tall and impactful. Can you imagine the past four years if we had Boston?IMO…. Would you rather have exceptional bigs with good guards, or good bigs with exceptional guards ?

Of course I’d rather have exceptional players at every position, but if I had to choose, good bigs and exceptional guards.

 

[HopJim]

Suspect this is simply a focus issue. The transition of assistant coaches could also have had an effect. Several years ago, several posters and writers commented about Geno losing his recruiting touch. Since then, he gained commitments from two high school players of the year, several other Top20 players, and 2 of UConn's best transfers. Suspect if Geno focuses on bigs (and the Asst. Coaches do their job), Huskies will have the bigs they want and need.

 

[Barkin Out]

Seems funny that this thread is focused on the shortcomings of our Bigs. Through this point of the season our bigs have not been the driver of the losses UCONN has suffered. It’s been the guard/wing play and lack of outside shooting. It is understood that the lack of shooting is an availability problem.

 

[Fossil]

Of course there are, like Stef Dolson, Stewie, and Aaliyah Edwards. Or, to go back a bit further, Tina Charles. Olivia Nelson-Ododa got a lot of minutes as a freshman even though she didn't start. If a freshman post player has skills and a work ethic comparable to the upper-class alternatives, she will start and/or get significant minutes. But if she is a "project" (as DeBerry and Patterson are proving to be), that is a different story.

Patterson is only a freshman and expected to struggle a little in Geno’s system which he completely understands but clearly she’s putting forth the effort because she’s getting more playing time than Amari is. Amari has turned out to be the project and I still don’t know if she’s gonna get it completely or not. There’s just something missing. To her game and I can’t really say if it’s effort or basketball IQ or is she just physically not capable.

 

[HuskyNan]

Seems funny that this thread is focused on the shortcomings of our Bigs. Through this point of the season our bigs have not been the driver of the losses UCONN has suffered. It’s been the guard/wing play and lack of outside shooting. It is understood that the lack of shooting is an availability problem.

But, but, but, we need bigs! Big bigs! They have to be bigger than the 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, 6-5 kids that will be on the roster next year.

The fact Geno is already recruiting 6-5 Adhel Tac, 6-4 Kate Koval, 6-2 Sarah Strong and 6-2 Toby Fournier is irrelevant!

 

[cgshuskie]

In this day and time young Bigs often see themselves differently than traditional ( Russell, Chamberlain ) tall players. They want more outside game than lane play. ( Physical banging & rebounding) They want to make outside shots even threes. It is more positionless basketball. Uconn will be ok with their current group of 6'3" , 6'4" players. Remember Stewart had small forward/power forward skills.

 

[TCC Kid]

It's not from a lack of trying........many here thought Boston was headed here and Charlie Collier was headed here until a last-minute change of heart.........if I remember correctly UConn was also recruiting Amihere at least for a while and more recently Cunningham.......you'll see others currently being considered on the recruiting page.......

I just listened to Maya Moore, with her baby and her husband (Iron). She spoke of how Tough Geno was to play for, how demanding.
Dawn, Mulkey, others, have very good teams in very BIG schools, in very agreeable locations, and most are a bit warmer.
Dawn, for Boston was the connection for her mother--as DT's parents felt for Geno.
Geno is known in the industry as a Guard's coach, yes even with Tina, Dolson, Stewie, Stokes--he's a guards coach
The tangibles and intangibles tangle together and BIGS (you and I have moaned over for 10 years) go to other teams. The NIL should have made a difference--it has--for Uconn guards.

 

[RadfordRam]

Looking at their current starting lineup, they lose all 5 starters, ALL are seniors. [Link]

View attachment 83950

Each one except Saxton could come back.

 

[wingsfan055]

It's a short list every year, but UConn has two 6'5+ players on it's roster right now. And if you whittle down the list of HS players with skills that will carry over to college it gets very short. I think the question really being asked is why Geno didn't sign one post in particular. The discussion is really about Boston.

Good point. Boston is a legit "generational player" imo as she has dominated the post position her entire career more so than any of her recent peers. Incredibly productive & efficient. Move her to a UConn or Stanford & its those teams winning chips, not SC. She's the difference-maker.

 

[GoingPostal]

Of course there are, like Stef Dolson, Stewie, and Aaliyah Edwards. Or, to go back a bit further, Tina Charles. Olivia Nelson-Ododa got a lot of minutes as a freshman even though she didn't start. If a freshman post player has skills and a work ethic comparable to the upper-class alternatives, she will start and/or get significant minutes. But if she is a "project" (as DeBerry and Patterson are proving to be), that is a different story.

I wouldn't put Patterson in the "project' category just yet. She's going through the normal growing pains that happens when you transition from HS to college. Especially a program like UConn's. DeBerry on the other hand is a "project". Let's not forget that Ice Brady was supposed to play some significant minutes but will miss the entire season. We have bigs, they just need to have to stop playing 35-40 minutes a game. They need people to get healthy.

 

[Rowdy831]

Hard to believe Boston wouldn’t have seen strong minutes from the start if she had played here. There are other outstanding freshmen who come into UConn that start immediately.

She would have been a 4 year starter anywhere she went.

 

[asuwish]

My guess is some of the top recruiters are using the "Bigs don't develop and are not valued at UConn.." against us when they interview the top high school players. Justified or not, that seems to be the narrative that's growing the last several years.

Amari, Ice, Olivia, all HS All Americans. Patterson, Edwards big strong fours. The girl from Egypt is 6'4". If they live up to the high school hype then great if not then that's a problem. Olivia, Dolson, Charles, all current bigs in the W. If Ice was healthy and Patterson or Amari gave us more nobody would complain. It seems we are following a 6'6" big from Portugal. The strong kid is not as tall but a beast and I believe we are recruiting her. What else do you want them to do?

 

[Monte]

Bring Autumn back!

 

[Blond D.]

Bring Autumn back!

Autumn who?

 

[Blond D.]

It seems to me through out the years our biggest problems have been with tiny quick guards. This year weve had a problem with shooting the ball from 15 feet or more cuz our shooters are injured. Except for one...LOU...and she gets banged around and pounded on so she can't get a shot off. With the exception of South Carolina, weve done pretty good with rebounding.
And since our record says we're still an exceptionally great team year and year out, I'm not gonna question Geno or his recruiting methods.

 

[JellyBean]

In this day and time young Bigs often see themselves differently than traditional ( Russell, Chamberlain ) tall players. They want more outside game than lane play. ( Physical banging & rebounding) They want to make outside shots even threes. It is more positionless basketball. Uconn will be ok with their current group of 6'3" , 6'4" players. Remember Stewart had small forward/power forward skills.

So true. All summer at these travel games and AAU games, I would say 80% of the taller players at the high school level, the 5'10ish on up to 6'4", were on the perimeter more than in the post. I mean they would go in and bang a little but they would rather be on the perimeter showing off their handles and shooting range than be in the post area. Plus, like you said, it is positionless basketball, and as a high school girls coach, I try to develop my players skills so that they can play either area just in case there is a growth spurt. I do have a 5'4 guard who just loves to go into the post and mix things up a little. That rascal is tough!

 

[meyers7]

Seems funny that this thread is focused on the shortcomings of our Bigs. Through this point of the season our bigs have not been the driver of the losses UCONN has suffered. It’s been the guard/wing play and lack of outside shooting. It is understood that the lack of shooting is an availability problem.

Very true. You're not gonna outrebound Boston and Cardosa, don't matter who you have. (well maybe if we could bring back Charles or Stewart). But we can outshoot them. IF we have the shooters. Right now, our shooters are sitting on the bench in sweats.

 

[Charliebball]

I just listened to Maya Moore, with her baby and her husband (Iron). She spoke of how Tough Geno was to play for, how demanding.
Dawn, Mulkey, others, have very good teams in very BIG schools, in very agreeable locations, and most are a bit warmer.
Dawn, for Boston was the connection for her mother--as DT's parents felt for Geno.
Geno is known in the industry as a Guard's coach, yes even with Tina, Dolson, Stewie, Stokes--he's a guards coach
The tangibles and intangibles tangle together and BIGS (you and I have moaned over for 10 years) go to other teams. The NIL should have made a difference--it has--for Uconn guards.

Clearly, anybody that is being recruited by UConn knows that they are going to be worked hard although Geno himself says not as hard as in the past........I think considering Dawn was an accomplished guard herself you'd think she would be a guard's coach too, but she's had the good fortune of attracting two really excellent bigs in Wilson and Boston and now she's considered a big's coach........also over the years Geno may have determined that most of the bigs out there don't have the kind of skills or attitude he's looking for.......with Edwards, Brady and Jana in addition to Deberry I think UConn will be pretty good up front next season.........there also seems to be some mutual interest from several bigs in future classes so I expect more 6'5" signings ahead......

 

[oldhusky]

Good point. Boston is a legit "generational player" imo as she has dominated the post position her entire career more so than any of her recent peers. Incredibly productive & efficient. Move her to a UConn or Stanford & its those teams winning chips, not SC. She's the difference-maker.

I think you are right on about how rare a player like Boston is and how if she went elsewhere, it would change the balance of power significantly. Where I differ with some is I think it is more than just Boston. We have done pretty well, but not great recruiting bigs, probably better than 95% of the programs, but have missed on some major ones that wound up being major thorns in our side by winding up at our most serious competitors.

I am not critical of the effort, I know we are trying to recruit those players and get them here, I am just saying the results have been a mixed bag at least for a very high level program. Beyond Boston we also showed an interest in Brink and Betts at Stanford. I don't think it lasted for long but apparently some interest in Reese for awhile as well.

So right now the teams that are the biggest roadblocks to a championship have extremely good C types that we tried for and didn't get. Change any of those to Uconn, or one of the other top contenders and they become one of the top if not top favorites.

Now of course they might be saying thing about our guards. Maybe thinking theirr guards are pretty good, but if only they could have nabbed Paige or Azzi a title would be guaranteed.. It is what it is, I think we are currently considered the number 1 potential destination for a guard, but while we are still in the running for the top C's, a couple of programs may be more favored for the best bigs, partly because of their style of play, pound it inside vs. good team ball movement for example.

 

[wingsfan055]

I think you are right on about how rare a player like Boston is and how if she went elsewhere, it would change the balance of power significantly. Where I differ with some is I think it is more than just Boston. We have done pretty well, but not great recruiting bigs, probably better than 95% of the programs, but have missed on some major ones that wound up being major thorns in our side by winding up at our most serious competitors.

I am not critical of the effort, I know we are trying to recruit those players and get them here, I am just saying the results have been a mixed bag at least for a very high level program. Beyond Boston we also showed an interest in Brink and Betts at Stanford. I don't think it lasted for long but apparently some interest in Reese for awhile as well.

So right now the teams that are the biggest roadblocks to a championship have extremely good C types that we tried for and didn't get. Change any of those to Uconn, or one of the other top contenders and they become one of the top if not top favorites.

Now of course they might be saying thing about our guards. Maybe thinking theirr guards are pretty good, but if only they could have nabbed Paige or Azzi a title would be guaranteed.. It is what it is, I think we are currently considered the number 1 potential destination for a guard, but while we are still in the running for the top C's, a couple of programs may be more favored for the best bigs, partly because of their style of play, pound it inside vs. good team ball movement for example.

I think it goes beyond Center per se and gets to a physical style of play. Good teams have figured out how to beat us - play very tight perimeter defense, clog-up the passing lanes, shadow/double team our best shooter, and physically go after rebounds. We saw this the last 2 games - poor Lou didnt have a clear shot both games and she got beat up. Way too many forced passes and turnovers. Marquette shot a lower % than we did and still won (!) because they forced turnovers and killed us with steals. Its why Arizona beat us in the Final Four 2 years ago when we were clearly the more talented team (we were favored by 14 points I think). Poor Paige was beat-up.

Geno's 5-wide perimeter offense relies on lots of cutting, crisp passing, good decision-making, etc. A LOT of effort. But, it breaks down when we are physically/mentally exhausted, cant make perimeter shots, etc. In other words, its getting easier to defend us in a half-court game.

With a true center/forwards that can post up and get easy points, teams cant cheat on us by playing over-aggressive on the perimeter or shadow/double-team key players. We need to play more of a high-low post game, than perimeter game. Or, at least, more of a balance between the two.

 

[Zarathustra]

Autumn who?

Of course.... Autumn , the future M.D.

 

[Carnac]

Each one except Saxton could come back.

I hope they ALL leave for the WNBA. Boston is the one I'm most concerned about.

 

[TWG236]

If we were entirely healthy, we most likely would not be having this discussion. Stamford had all of their height last year and we beat them. Same with South Carolina this year and we only lost by 4. Would really like to see that game if both teams had been completely healthy. Just because you’re taller than other players, doesn’t mean you’re going to win. We have a fantastic team when healthy, you can’t expect our three non starters to equal the abilities of Paige, Azzi, Carolyn or Ice.

 

[Scrutineer]

Why don’t you go apply for the Recruiting Coordinator job? Then you can stop bitching and do something about your problem.

Is this the new standard for decorum on the Boneyard?

The poster didn't attack or demean any player or coach and,
in fact, expressed a positive view on the future, yet you saw fit to swear at and mock them and tell them they have a problem.

Please share with us what triggered that level of vitriol.