Rich: Official visit an enjoyable experience for Boykin

[Icebear]

I am certainly not here to diminish UConn players or anyone else for that matter. I am still trying to find the right level of self-censorship for my more partisan opinions. I apologize for any upset I may have caused.

No doubt, the Boneyard has many knowledgeable posters whose viewpoints are well-informed. It is the reason I am here. I am not here to be contradictory and upset anyone. There are other places to do that.

As I have said, I believe Nurse will be very good. I was just responding to the idea that Nurse may be better than Durr, which is contrary to most of what I have seen and read elsewhere.

As to the specific point of Hoopgurlz, I believe their standard practice is not to rate international players.

Hoopgurlz is not necessarily the best rating service to reference. It has had various incarnations in recent history.

 

[Buzzyboy]

I'll split hairs as well. I'm sure most Boneyarders side with you, more impressed with Durr than Nurse. Besides me and perhaps H29 who else on the Boneyard do you think overrates and favors Nurse? The conventional wisdom, the popular choice on the Boneyard, is Durr not Nurse.

I know that defensively Nurse gives veteran international players fits. Canada is not USA, nor is it Nigeria. Knowing that she gives veteran international players fits I'm confident she'll give college players fits, a la Faris. Durr's rep and potential is higher than Nurse's on offense, but I would not say it carries with it such certainty. She impressed at USA, but overall her shooting stats do not even match up to some of our other recruits. For example, 3 point % Durr is around 35%, Samuelson is over 50%. I believe the sophomore Boley has greater shooting percentages all across the board than Durr. Can she get her own shot better than those two? In high school competition, yes indeed. However, unlike with Nurse's defense, I'm not as confident that translates automatically to college. Maybe she'll be much superior to Nurse on offense, maybe only a little superior, or not at all, in which case Nurse's defense and savvy starts to give her the nod.

Exactly! Sometimes offense in high school or even in AAU doesn't manifest itself into putting up numbers in college. We had a freshman who most people will say did pretty well in her initial season but she was anything but the scoring machine that she was in high school. Obviously with UConn's talent, she didn't get nearly the playing time but you think Geno would stymie someone whose capable of "lighting up the board?" When you are playing international teams with appreciably older and more athletically developed women and you are shutting them down defensively, it speaks pretty highly of your abilities. There have been a number of wunderkins who have fallen short of what they were projected to be when they entered college. How about Elizabeth Williams? She's pretty good but nothing compared to what she was considered to be coming out of high school. What about Tennessee's #1 recruit, Mercedes Russell. I heard so many unbelievable things about her last year that I thought she'd average something like sixteen or more points a game along with a minimum of ten boards and dominate. She did nothing of the sort. I'm more inclined to have faith in Nurse's potential since she is older and more developed.

 

[Buzzyboy]

We are all 'assuming' that Geno will go with a traditional 2 forwards ; 2 guards ; and a post offense . What if he decides that he has a wealth of good guards on hand and goes with a 3 guard offense with 2 forwards ? Those 3 guards could be Durr , Nurse , and Mo. Or any other combination of guards.

I don't think its a far gone conclusion that that it will be this one , or that one starting. It could very well be ALL 3 of them starting in a 3 guard offense at times.
Geno favors versatility in his players. Players capable of playing more than one position if needed. Having 3 guards on the floor that can play the 1 or 2 , and all can score and handle , will provide a a lot of scoring opportunities and flexibility.

JMHO

The TASK force teams were anything but oversized and yet had marvelous success. Going small sometimes pays big dividends as shown by the men's team success throughout the NCAA tournament where they were always undersized and yet used their speed and athleticism to win their 4th national championship. There are always tradeoffs but speed and quickness often can be a big difference maker.