Definitely no misunderstanding. There have been at least 2 Number 1 high school recruits who matriculated at UConn and are not on The Wall. there have been others who did not pan out according to the HS numbers. Whether that is the result of coaching, offensive system, personal motivation, injuries... One never knows. Or just maybe, the rating services just totally got it wrong. As far as players who have come to UConn unheralded and become outstanding ballplayers, that would certainly hold true for the likes of Maria Conlon. Are there others you could add? Stefanie Dolson, IIRC, came with a wide disparity of rankings but one of the services had her Top 25, and she was no worse than the 2nd best center; IMO, the most improved player from freshman to senior year that Coach Auriemma ever coached. She was needed right away and responded admirably. One might also think of Kara Wolters whom I do not recall as a freshman, but was part of, arguably one of the three best front courts at UConn. How she left UConn without grabbing 1000 rebounds astounds me.
Being on the wall at Uconn is not a very good criteria for determining development for a few reasons -
1. It is a voted on award, and that makes it to some degree a popularity contest.
2. Team make-up and team success has a significant effect on individual results and accolades
3. The national talent pool and individual seasons of that pool can influence the award - we are talking about 10 recipients out of 3500+ D1 participants each year - some of it is luck.
4. At Uconn their have often been 3 or more players capable of being an AA on the same team - that prohibits some of those players from consideration and may lessen the chance for others.
There are some great Uconn players who never made the wall. Looking at the TASSK force class - they played three of four years with two great players who arrived before them and their last two years with the GOAT DT. Great players like Williams, Jones, and Cash were extremely limited in the minutes they played throughout their careers because of the other talent on the team - their stats were not competitive on a national level because they were maying a third or a half less minutes than others in the conversation. Their development and skill level was clearly identified in their WNBA draft position. As another example, it is quite possible that Tuck could fail to be voted a first team AA through four years of her college career though a lot of people felt she should have made it last year - this year she doesn't have as much competition on her own team, but with some great forwards around the country the competition for inclusion this year will be fierce again, and the team make up will likely keep her minutes more limited than those of many of her national 'competition' for votes.
Just a question - I can think of Ann Strother and I think Tamika Williams as the two #1s not on the wall individually, though both are represented twice for their teams of which they were certainly integral parts. Are those the two you were thinking of?
