Carnac
That venerable sage from the west
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2015
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Oldhuskie, there is a lot of truth in this post. Some will agree with you, some will not. I read it slowly line by line. It makes perfect sense to me. It's funny how some programs (Oregon) attract BIGS like a magnet, and some like UConn can't/don't. Oregon had 3 players 6'7" or taller. They are now down to two. Sedona Prince suffered a season ending elbow injury and has decided to forego her remaining college eligibility, and pursue her professional career.I think you are right that Geno doesn't like to seek out disgruntled players from other programs, hence the completed their obligations preference. He also rarely needs to pursue that approach. If we have two good developments, he won't need to consider that route this time either.
If Amari shows enough this year, and we obtained El Alfy to provide depth and compete with Amari for the starting C spot, he won't need to pursue an emergency C type in the portal. If one of those happens, we could probably cover the lack of a second center with Ice playing backup minutes there. Then we would still have a need for another C, but not a desperate one.
If Amari looks like a bust and we miss out on El Alfy, then picking up whatever we can get at C in the portal becomes a critical need IMO. At that point Geno might prefer a one year rental of an experienced player who has fulfilled their obligations, but he probably would have to consider all possible transfers out of necessity.
Geno knew he needed another guard this offseason and got one in Lou that fit his needs and preferences. Then with Paige's injury he needed another, and pursued the only avenue left for him, namely the best foreign player willing to come to the states and make a quick decision on very short notice. Far from ideal, but Ines was probably a necessity at that point.
El Alfy and a productive Amari, great no problem. At the other extreme I could even see Geno looking for two C's in the portal, one to start, and another to be the backup instead of Amari. Obviously her development is pretty important for this year, but even more important looking to what the scenario will be the next one.
This could be an extremely stacked team at positions 1-4 next year. C is the main question mark, and Amari and the lack of a second C is the main reason why. Hopefully one piece comes on board in the next couple of weeks, and the other proves her worth quickly during the season.
In other news...........................while perusing Oregon's roster, I ran across a former UConn player..............Sadie Edwards who is now a full time assistant coach on Kelly Graves' staff.
I found it interesting that her bio makes no mention of her playing at UConn the first half of her freshman year before transferring to Univ. of Southern California during the holiday break in 2014. A Blair Academy HS graduate in 2014. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from USC in 2018. None the less, good luck to Sadie and the Ducks for 2022-23.
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