I'm surprised that so many of you seem to be unable to understand Dawn's point or to allow that it has any validity. In my opinion, it certainly does.
Even if there were no WNBA and no overseas professional basketball, isn't it obvious that nearly all of the players on this year's UConn team would have excellent chances (probably better than most college graduates) of having a successful professional career? Most of them are doing very well academically; they are well-spoken; they can relate to older adults such as their future bosses in an office; and they have learned to play as a good teammate long before they came to UConn. Those qualities, as much as their athletic ability, were what made them attractive to Geno and CD as recruits.
Of course, this has a lot to do with the strong families from which they all come -- no one on the team came from an impoverished background, and most (if not all) come from stable, two-parent families.
On the South Carolina roster, A'ja Wilson certainly fits a similar profile, which is probably a big reason why she was a UConn recruiting target. But I bet that several of their other players did not come from such a fortunate background, and I think that is what Dawn is talking about.
Nationally, I think Stanford, Notre Dame, and Duke (among major NC contenders) are able to attract enough students from relatively fortunate backgrounds, as UConn does. Most likely, other top teams have to choose between getting capable athletes and getting players who are fully prepared for the real (professional) world. That means that coaches such as Dawn have to deal with those issues much more than Geno / Muffitt / Tara do.
It's a significant issue that shouldn't be minimized or disregarded.
