Recruiting update from Rich

[connboy77]

Geno and his staone concern (and it isn't for UConn, it's for WBB in general) is that a large majority of female post player are LAZY.

That has to be one of the dumbest statements I ever saw posted. Just because a post player doesn't come to UCONN doesn't make them lazy. UCONN can't get everyone and many post players decide to go elsewhere for one reason or another. It doesn't make them lazy if they choose to go to Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame or somewhere else.

 

[UcMiami]

I think you are a little unfair to 'post players' ucdt3. There are three issues I see -
1. 'You can't teach height' and there is just not that large a pool of women that are both >6'3" and athletically coordinated and within that pool basketball is competing with specifically VB, but also other interests. For every inch below that height the number of potential ballers increases exponentially. And therefore the bell curve of talent, heart, drive, athletic intelligence, etc. decreases greatly as height specifications increase as you go from guards to wings to forwards to posts.
2. They can't teach height - literally you do not have the same number of coaches that understand and can teach the unique skill set needed for strong post play. It is a relatively new concept to have tall players with guard/wing skills and it certainly doesn't hurt their game, but part of the reason for it is that the coaching on those skills is relatively easy to find.
3. Competition - in HS the height distribution is so thin that for games a player 6'5" or taller may only play one game in ten where she is challenged in terms of height and there maybe no-one on her own teams to ever challenge her in practice. Tough to truly develop in a vacuum and the skills to deal with being triple teamed in HS are different from the skills needed to play well one on one against someone of your own height/skill. And at the defensive end it is probably a worse situation for skills development.
I will concede that all of the above also can lead to 'laziness' - why work on it if you don't half to, and without the competition at the post position, most HS posts don't have to compete for playing time. I also think there is probably some holdover cultural clutter - being strong and aggressive and big are still not 'feminine' qualities and there is still pressure for girls to literally be 'girls'.

 

[Adesmar123]

ucdt3. I think you had a point to make until you threw out the L word. Players like people have different goals in life. Some want to succeed in basketball and it is their life's ambition. Some want to play for the joy of the game. Some are in between.

Its just like people in general. I don't know you at all, but I assume you are not a doctor. Is it because you are lazy? If you are a Uconn student, is it because you didn't want to work hard enough to get into ...(fill in the blank)? People choose certain paths in life for many reasons. I don't think we can label those who don't commit their lives to a specific endeavor as "lazy"

Uconn wants players that will commit their lives to excellency, not basketball but excellency. Its not for everyone and its a lot to ask. But for those who fit into that mold, its a great match. But I don't think its fair to criticize the remaining 99% of us as lazy.

 

[Bestiarius]

Until relatively recently, being female and tall was socially unacceptable. Tall girls stayed in their rooms, dateless, and they slouched when forced to go out in public. This has now changed, and Stef is a good example. Girls can now stand tall and be proud of it. Today, asking a tall female,"How's the weather up there?" may get your head spit on, and the comment, "It's raining".

 

[johnnyc]

I have no problem with UConn's recruiting tactics. Geno and his staff are the best at what they do and win with who they get to come. So I am not worried in the least. My one concern (and it isn't for UConn, it's for WBB in general) is that a large majority of female post player are LAZY. Which is why very, very, very, very few of the TOP posts choose to come to UConn. They do not want to work that hard. And they know Geno and his staff would push them HARD. Look at how many successful post players there are in the WNBA. A handful. And most of them are athletic forwards who have a tremendous amount of God-given talent and have been push to their limits by their collegiate coaches or got an extra push from being a member of the USA National Team. Very rarely does a post player who was label a post "project" out of college become a success (as in All-Star or All-WNBA member) in the WNBA. And the most notable one is Sancho Lyttle. The rest just fade into extinction. It's players like Tina Charles, Sylvia Fowles, Candace Parker, Candice Dupree, Nneka Ogwumike, Erika de Souza, Rebekkah Brunson, Swin Cash, Asjha Jones, Crystal Langhorne, etc. who are post players who became stars in the WNBA and really only Sylvia Fowles is a True Center from American college (de Souza never played college ball). No matter how bad the WNBA wants to make Griner a star, she isn't a true WNBA Star just yet (still adjusting). That's why a college post player like Stefanie Dolson is so special because she was doubted coming out of HS and she put in the hard work and dedicated herself to becoming the true All-American Center that she would've only become at UConn. Sure she could've followed in the lazy footsteps of Vaughn or Lavendar and gone to schools like Rutgers or Ohio State, respectively, but instead she chose to be pushed towards greatness. She, along with E. Williams of Duke are now the TWO best Centers in the game. So don't be so disappointed when you see post after post list UConn as a school on their list only to not end up here. Because in the end they would just not work out anyways. It takes a tremendous type of player to want to play for our program and very, very, very, very few can handle the pressure. Just ask all the players who transferred and who chose another school over UConn. If they're honest, most would probable say they didn't think they could handle the pressure or deal with the scrutiny. I hope A'ja and others we have interested in UConn come to us, but only if they really want it. Players that don't, best of luck elsewhere. Not ALL the Stars in the WNBA come out of 4 years from UConn, but a bunch of stars in the WNBA have. Just something to think about!!!!!!

Now you've done it! You have awoken a sleeping giant. It is going to be quite a tall order in justifying your remarks.

 

[arty155]

... My one concern (and it isn't for UConn, it's for WBB in general) is that a large majority of female post player are LAZY.... They do not want to work that hard.... Just something to think about!!!!!!

-Remarkable coincidence, since...
-My concern has been a large majority of female post players would regard guys spending hours on fan websites as LAZY, who do not want to work hard. But I'd rather not think about it.

 

[meyers7]

-Remarkable coincidence, since...
-My concern has been a large majority of female post players would regard guys spending hours on fan websites as LAZY, who do not want to work hard. But I'd rather not think about it.

You don't think all this typing and .....thinking is hard work??

 

[ucdt3]

I fully admit that I'm a lazy person. Many Americans are LAZY. Yes I'm generalizing, but the fact remains that it's true. Now if you can come up with a better word than lazy to describe these players, be my guest. Maybe I was too harsh to use the word lazy, but it wasn't meant to trash these players. And I never said "If a post player doesn't choose UConn, that means they ARE lazy." Pat Summitt and Tennessee have the same standards as UConn. And I'm sure Stanford, ND, Duke come close. I just simply trying to explain why so many POST players who list UConn in their final choices don't PICK UConn in the end. Many athletes are lazy, but lazy in the athlete sense of the word (not the sit on the couch and eat potato chip sense). Yes they train and practice and do what they're told, but only the GREAT ones but in the EXTRA work to become GREAT. UConn requires that kind of dedication out of their walk-ons as well as the stars. That's why the program has streaks of 70 str8 and 90 str8 wins. The word lazy wasn't meant to berate post players who choose not to come to UConn. I wouldn't be able to cut it myself. It's a LOT to ask of a 17yo who's leaving home for the first time. Which is why only NINE players this season are agreeing to it. Many of you want to jump down my throat, but yet you'd probably be the first ones screaming that Kiah Stokes isn't giving the team enough or living up to her potential after a loss (hence why she doesn't play more). Geno has high standards and all my point was is that it's easier for a guard/wing to live up to them than a post player because most post players haven't been pushed in HS to do anything more than stand under the basket and score over MUCH shorter and MUCH less talented opponents. Same goes for the men's game. I mean how many (almost) 7ft HS guys come to UConn and can't hit a LAY-UP (#2 recruit Andre Drummond ring a bell) against good competition.

 

[DobbsRover2]

You don't think all this typing and .....thinking is hard work??

I'll grant you the "typing" part, but where in heck did that "thinking" claim come from? There will be likely five more pages in this thread the way it is heating up, but finding any chunk of thunk is going to be mighty hard work, especially for all of us lazy guys.

 

[JS]

I have no problem with UConn's recruiting tactics. Geno and his staff are the best at what they do and win with who they get to come. So I am not worried in the least. My one concern (and it isn't for UConn, it's for WBB in general) is that a large majority of female post player are LAZY. Which is why very, very, very, very few of the TOP posts choose to come to UConn. They do not want to work that hard. And they know Geno and his staff would push them HARD. Look at how many successful post players there are in the WNBA. A handful. And most of them are athletic forwards who have a tremendous amount of God-given talent and have been push to their limits by their collegiate coaches or got an extra push from being a member of the USA National Team. Very rarely does a post player who was label a post "project" out of college become a success (as in All-Star or All-WNBA member) in the WNBA. And the most notable one is Sancho Lyttle. The rest just fade into extinction. It's players like Tina Charles, Sylvia Fowles, Candace Parker, Candice Dupree, Nneka Ogwumike, Erika de Souza, Rebekkah Brunson, Swin Cash, Asjha Jones, Crystal Langhorne, etc. who are post players who became stars in the WNBA and really only Sylvia Fowles is a True Center from American college (de Souza never played college ball). No matter how bad the WNBA wants to make Griner a star, she isn't a true WNBA Star just yet (still adjusting). That's why a college post player like Stefanie Dolson is so special because she was doubted coming out of HS and she put in the hard work and dedicated herself to becoming the true All-American Center that she would've only become at UConn. Sure she could've followed in the lazy footsteps of Vaughn or Lavendar and gone to schools like Rutgers or Ohio State, respectively, but instead she chose to be pushed towards greatness. She, along with E. Williams of Duke are now the TWO best Centers in the game. So don't be so disappointed when you see post after post list UConn as a school on their list only to not end up here. Because in the end they would just not work out anyways. It takes a tremendous type of player to want to play for our program and very, very, very, very few can handle the pressure. Just ask all the players who transferred and who chose another school over UConn. If they're honest, most would probable say they didn't think they could handle the pressure or deal with the scrutiny. I hope A'ja and others we have interested in UConn come to us, but only if they really want it. Players that don't, best of luck elsewhere. Not ALL the Stars in the WNBA come out of 4 years from UConn, but a bunch of stars in the WNBA have. Just something to think about!!!!!!

ucdt3, one way to snap out of your self-admitted laziness would be to do your readers a favor and study the following:

Please note that the suggested middle three sentences are not 25 sentences.

Not trying to bust on you, but it's very hard to summon up the determination to tackle such a slog of continuous writing without the writer having bothered to impose any organization on it.

 

[Buzzyboy]

I'm thinking you are tossing "lazy" out in a very broad and misguided way. There is something like a switch that turns on for the ultra-competitors. When that switch goes on they HAVE to make that play. You become possessed. Without that switch an athlete might still do everything required, may even be a hard worker, but they are not going to distinguish themselves in the way of athletes with that "switch." It's like the stories of people doing extraordinary things in dangerous situations. People with the "switch" are able to treat ordinary competition like dangerous situations.

As one who has had that "switch" I've been told that my "eyes looked scary" or I did indeed looked possessed. I also know I work hard even when that "switch" is not on, such as might be the case as in doing drills. I assume you either never had that "switch," and thus are unable to distinguish it from simply hard work or the absence of "laziness," or you are a natural that had it from birth, and were led to equate your "switch" as hard work. If the latter, I ask you to observe others a little closer.

That's not to say there are no lazy players. There may be, but not in the generic, broad brush sweep that you just made, particularly in regards to female student athletes that play the post. From everything I've read and personally observed, Griner may be an example of a hard worker, but still is missing that "switch." By all evidence I see Heather Buck was an extremely hard worker that lacked playing time because she lacked that "switch."

Very nicely put. I agree wholeheartedly with the entirety of your post.

 

[jplotinus]

"Lazy" is, indeed, a harsh word to describe women basketball players who are 6-3 and up. Perhaps there are certain factors that might help put the use of that word into a more understandable context.

At >6-3, a woman is 1ft taller than average (5-4). Human agility, coordination and stamina may be much more difficult for people who are that much taller than average. Indeed, unusual height is sometimes a by-product of some sort of gland problem or another (not a doctor). A person of that height who is also agile, well coordinated and full of stamina may simply be the rare exception among a cohort (extreme height) that is rare to begin with.

Because basketball is a game in which height is an advantage in and of itself, those who have it are valued even if they lack agility, stamina etc.

A person who is tall but lacking in attributes that may be inconsistent with being tall in the first place, is not fairly characterized as lazy IMO.

 

[Phil]

You don't think all this typing and .....thinking is hard work??

I do typing. I do thinking. But are you suggesting that they go together?

 

[huskie joe]

give the guy a break!
Think about this: If Griner went to Uconn would she be any better now? I know one thing she would have more than (1) National Championship.
If Stephanie went to another school would she be an All American?
I think what he is trying to say is some of the girls just do not want to put in 110% towards basketabll. Geno demands are very high, but with those demands comes proven success if your dedicated. Uconn and Geno have barriers to entry, its not for everyone. All of these choose others schools for various reasons. They are reasons that we will probably never know of. We all know ,don't believe everything you read.

 

[UConnCat]

If Geno shows up at Mater Dei I will let you guys know.

Both Muffet and Geno will be showing up at Mater Dei.

 

[UcMiami]

give the guy a break!
Think about this: If Griner went to Uconn would she be any better now? I know one thing she would have more than (1) National Championship.
If Stephanie went to another school would she be an All American?
I think what he is trying to say is some of the girls just do not want to put in 110% towards basketabll. Geno demands are very high, but with those demands comes proven success if your dedicated. Uconn and Geno have barriers to entry, its not for everyone. All of these choose others schools for various reasons. They are reasons that we will probably never know of. We all know ,don't believe everything you read.

I certainly think there are some basketball programs out there that do not demand the same intensity as Geno and Uconn, but I doubt you would find a hair's breadth of difference, between Geno and Kim and Muffet and JPMcC, Tara, and CViv, and Jeff and ....
I certainly wouldn't want to be the one that raised my hand during a practice run by any of those folks and said, 'umm, can we slow down a little bit here, I seem to be sweating too much'! And for the most part those are the programs that are signing the players we wanted.

 

[pinotbear]

I do typing. I do thinking. But are you suggesting that they go together?

Kinky!

 

[Icebear]

Kinky!

Only when the paper gets jammed and folded up in the sheet feeder.

 

[01Neaggrad02]

ucdt3, one way to snap out of your self-admitted laziness would be to do your readers a favor and study the following:

Please note that the suggested middle three sentences are not 25 sentences.

Not trying to bust on you, but it's very hard to summon up the determination to tackle such a slog of continuous writing without the writer having bothered to impose any organization on it.

Is this diagram common core accepted? Does it reflect the new smarter balanced testing?

 

[ochoopsfan]

Both Muffet and Geno will be showing up at Mater Dei.

I will let you know if Ms M. shows up too, but IMO, after today's news, its a waste of time. Although things can always change. The above is only my opinion and no knowledge of future events is actually known by me, just a guesstimate.

 

[doggydaddy]

I will let you know if Ms M. shows up too, but IMO, after today's news, its a waste of time. Although things can always change. The above is only my opinion and no knowledge of future events is actually known by me, just a guesstimate.

Why do you think this makes it a waste of time?

 

[cabbie191]

The discussion about UConn recruiting a Canadian, Nurse, has been of special interest to me because my beloved wife, Mrs. Kibitzer here, is indeed a Canadian nurse.

But on 9/11 she takes her US Constitution test, and unless she "takes the 5th," that is the final hurdle before she becomes sworn in as a US Citizen.



And I am very proud of my Canadian nurse.

Good for Mrs. K! And you, too, Kib. My brother also married a foreign nurse who is one step, so to speak, removed from being Canadian - she hails from England. They met while he was stationed at a NATO air base in Great Britain. She, too, eventually became a US citizen.

My brother plans to become a Husky WCBB season ticket holder this year and we are planning on meeting up in Nashville.

 

[JS]

Is this diagram common core accepted? Does it reflect the new smarter balanced testing?

No idea about its relevance to current educational methods. I grabbed it because it suited my purpose. I do notice the structure resembles a frequently recommended structure for an entire article, not just for a paragraph.

Personally, I like a lot of paragraphing, especially for online posting. One or two-sentence paragraphs are fine with me. When a paragraph gets to be more than three or four sentences, I get uneasy and start looking for ways to break it up.

I tell myself, "There must be more than one thought or topic in this paragraph." My feeling is that each paragraph should encompass discussion of one basic thought, and I search for the "seam" in the paragraph.

It is, of course, arguable that most of my paragraphs fail the test of containing one basic thought, and it isn't because they contain too many thoughts.

But in the absence of bona fide thoughts, I reserve the right to present a well-organized and tersely-stated series of inanities. The latest of which had best now end, not with a conclusion but with the notation that I have no thought what to say next.

.

 

[huskie joe]

UcMiami, I don't agree with you at all regarding the practices that Geno has and that others are no different. He has 8 championships and all the coaches you mentioned have maybe 3(correct me if necc.) total. My point which noboby seemed to comment on, was the growth and development of Griner and Dolson.
What would Griner be like now if she played for Geno? Where would Dolson be now if she did not attend Uconn? Geno is the best in the game and before you start throwing other names up there, lets see the championships first. Sure they are all very good coaches and recruiters and isn't true greatness measured by chamoionships? Geno, Summit, Jordan, Russell, Magic, Bird, Jeter, Brady, Aikman, Wayne G. etc

 

[UCONNfan1]

I certainly think there are some basketball programs out there that do not demand the same intensity as Geno and Uconn, but I doubt you would find a hair's breadth of difference, between Geno and Kim and Muffet and JPMcC, Tara, and CViv, and Jeff and ....
I certainly wouldn't want to be the one that raised my hand during a practice run by any of those folks and said, 'umm, can we slow down a little bit here, I seem to be sweating too much'! And for the most part those are the programs that are signing the players we wanted.

I disagree with this a little bit too. I've read numerous times other elite teams (Duke was the latest last year) to play UCONN and opine that they were not ready for the 40 minutes of intensity that UCONN puts on the court with all 5 players every minute of every game. I've also read comments (maybe from the UCLA coach, and possibly Walz?) when they attended a UCONN practice that they were shocked at how much fitness training there was and how intense the practices were. Or something like that...

As a side note, I'm disappointed we are putting all our eggs for size in one basket. We either lost out on, or stopped recruiting, every other post player in the class. Never understood why we never went after Jatarie White. Unless she just doesn't want to leave the south. All the schools on her list are down there... But still, and i know we will be fine if we don't land Wilson, it still seems like we are short in the post...

 

[01Neaggrad02]

No idea about its relevance to current educational methods. I grabbed it because it suited my purpose. I do notice the structure resembles a frequently recommended structure for an entire article, not just for a paragraph.

Personally, I like a lot of paragraphing, especially for online posting. One or two-sentence paragraphs are fine with me. When a paragraph gets to be more than three or four sentences, I get uneasy and start looking for ways to break it up.

I tell myself, "There must be more than one thought or topic in this paragraph." My feeling is that each paragraph should encompass discussion of one basic thought, and I search for the "seam" in the paragraph.

It is, of course, arguable that most of my paragraphs fail the test of containing one basic thought, and it isn't because they contain too many thoughts.

But in the absence of bona fide thoughts, I reserve the right to present a well-organized and tersely-stated series of inanities. The latest of which had best now end, not with a conclusion but with the notation that I have no thought what to say next.

.

LOL... sorry I meant nothing by it... just joking around with the ever changing educational world.

 

[UcMiami]

UcMiami, I don't agree with you at all regarding the practices that Geno has and that others are no different. He has 8 championships and all the coaches you mentioned have maybe 3(correct me if necc.) total. My point which noboby seemed to comment on, was the growth and development of Griner and Dolson.
What would Griner be like now if she played for Geno? Where would Dolson be now if she did not attend Uconn? Geno is the best in the game and before you start throwing other names up there, lets see the championships first. Sure they are all very good coaches and recruiters and isn't true greatness measured by chamoionships? Geno, Summit, Jordan, Russell, Magic, Bird, Jeter, Brady, Aikman, Wayne G. etc

I think Geno is a great coach and better than any of those I listed, but coaching is not the same as intensity. And I think what Geno teaches (his 'system') is superior to most if not all of them. And generally his game coaching is better. And I think those are the differences you see in the development of Uconn players and not the intensity of the coaching demands. And while players that actually practice for the various coaches might notice some intensity level variations I do not think any of the recruits have a clue until they go through the first week of practice at any of these programs, so saying they are making any decisions based on something they haven't experienced is probably wrong. And I doubt anyone of us would use 'lazy' to describe any player that goes through a year with any of these coaches.

 

[Scotter]

Is it possible that knowing they (UConn) only wanted to take "X" number of 2014 recruits (4) and knowing that A'ja Wilson was their #1 target left on the board, that both Westbeld and Rooks were offered "conditional" offers while the Huskies were waiting to hear from Wilson. Or that simply Westbeld and Rooks are getting pressured from the other schools they are looking at to make a decision or lose their offer, or else the recruits are anxious to make a decision and end this process, and they informed UConn they can't wait any longer, that they need a firm offer or else they don't wish to be considered by UConn any longer?

I am not all that knowledgeable with the inner workings of "offers" to recruits. Can anyone shed some light on my possible theories?

One thing that distinguishes UConn from most programs is that they do not make conditional offers. They only seriously recruit the same number of recruits that they have open scholarship offers. They do not offer the same scholarship to multiple players the way most schools do. If they have only 3 scholarships open, they will only actively recruit 3 players at a time.

Now Geno makes that work partly because he isn't afraid to make the determination that a recruit isn't interested enough to ultimately choose UConn. And he'll stop recruiting that player, and start actively recruiting a new player. But as long as Geno believes a recruit is seriously interested he'll hold that specific scholarship for the recruit until the very end.

 

[meyers7]

I do typing. I do thinking. But are you suggesting that they go together?

I would never suggest BY'ers did that.

 

[huskie joe]

Scotter, excellent post. A lot of other schools over recruit and hope for the best.