OK, about this freshman wall thing. I do think it's real and I would like to understand the causation for it assuming it is real. Maybe some contributing factors:
1. The accumulation of issues piling up from the change to playing in D1 vs. HS. Including, being away from home for an extended time, almost always for the first time, increased demands to practice and play at a much higher level (especially for the UConn kids), etc.. These issues are mostly mental IMO.
2. The longer season. Certainly a longer playing season will have an impact, that is clear if one knows anything about the human body and mind.. But, is it really a longer season, or a different season?. HS kids play a shorter HS season than they do in D1, but they also play an AAU season in HS, but not in college. A few college kids play for team USA, more likely in college than in HS but these kids are only a few and the best, in most cases.. These are mostly physical issues.
If I am right about this view of a different, not longer season we should expect the impact on a kid like KML to be temporary.. A few weeks, a month at most. I think this is what we have usually seen.
And what about Kiah, who seems to be contradicting both the freshman wall theory, as a well as the theory that says post players take longer to develop? Just like Stef last year? Can we shelve that "post players take longer to develop" theory for a while?