Transfer portal, Spring 2022 (merged thread)

[Charliebball]

42 % is not good for a "UCONN PG" which was kind of my point. 42% would have made Ashley the worse shooter among the 9 UCONN starters or rotation players on this past season. The current UCONN backup PG Nika is at 43% and even that needs to improve. Getting to the rim using the dribble is not a main feature of the UCONN offense and the offense is not going to change to accommodate 1 player. UCONN is a read and react motion offense and again not that Ashley can't play read and react is just not the strength of her game. I have no idea why she left Maryland but I highly doubt it had anything to do with playing time. She's been a day 1 starter for Maryland and average close to 30 MPG-which is about as many minutes as her conditioning allows her to play. She is not going to get 30 minutes per game at UCONN.

in addition to that, isn't UConn's weakness in the backcourt a lack of quickness? Owusu surely isn't the defensive presence that the team needs.........my question is whether there's a two way guard with real speed who wouldn't mind coming off the bench in the portal.........

 

[WFFL]

in addition to that, isn't UConn's weakness in the backcourt a lack of quickness? Owusu surely isn't the defensive presence that the team needs.........my question is whether there's a two way guard with real speed who wouldn't mind coming off the bench in the portal.........

Yeah im not sure how Owusu helps our cause for a natti next season. Our defense would take even more of a step back. She's not that attacking guard that Williams was and she needs the ball in her hands to be effective and we already have paige for that.

 

[Dillon77]

in addition to that, isn't UConn's weakness in the backcourt a lack of quickness? Owusu surely isn't the defensive presence that the team needs.........my question is whether there's a two way guard with real speed who wouldn't mind coming off the bench in the portal.........

Well, that's the conundrum, isn't it?

• But a player with that kind of talent in the portal is generally looking for more PT, not less. And, with all due respect UConn makes that a little more daunting when you look at just who is also there (you know, Paige, Azzi, Nika, etc.)
• ND now has a need for some backcourt help, but has a somewhat similar issue with 'Liv Miles, Sonia Citron and incoming frosh KK Bransford on board.
• I've scoured various lists and come to the conclusion: find a grad transfer who might be looking to upgrade her pedigree for the draft. Want tough defender: Audrey Warren of Texas? Want speedy guard? Brie Perpignan of Elon (coached by Charlotte Smith. She wants to play pro--year with Geno?)

 

[Charliebball]

Well, that's the conundrum, isn't it?

• But a player with that kind of talent in the portal is generally looking for more PT, not less. And, with all due respect UConn makes that a little more daunting when you look at just who is also there (you know, Paige, Azzi, Nika, etc.)
• ND now has a need for some backcourt help, but has a somewhat similar issue with 'Liv Miles, Sonia Citron and incoming frosh KK Arnold Bransford on board.
• I've scoured various lists and come to the conclusion: find a grad transfer who might be looking to upgrade her pedigree for the draft. Want tough defender: Audrey Warren of Texas? Want speedy guard? Brie Perpignan of Elon (coached by Charlotte Smith. She wants to play pro--year with Geno?)

you're right....it's a tough situation.......great minds think alike because I just posted about whether Warren would be an interesting get for UConn...........I haven't watched every Texas game but from what I've seen she is crazy competitive and would add great intensity at both ends of the court coming off the bench...........

 

[Dillon77]

you're right....it's a tough situation.......great minds think alike because I just posted about whether Warren would be an interesting get for UConn...........I haven't watched every Texas game but from what I've seen she is crazy competitive and would add great intensity at both ends of the court coming off the bench...........

Warren is a native Texan and don't really know what her future plans are, but every time I've seen her she plays at maximum intensity. Looking at the Irish, she combines Anaya Peoples' ability to work underneath with Abby Prohaska's grit and ball-movement.

She'd have Paige and Azzi's back....

 

[meyers7]

Well let’s see.

• Owusu follows Megan Rapinoe on social media.
• Rapinoe is engaged to Sue.
• Sue hangs out with DT
• DT attended the Espy’s
• Tom Hanks also attended the Espy’s
• Tom Hanks & Kevin Bacon appeared together in Apollo 13.

So based on 6-degrees of separation, the answer is clearly yes.

• Owusu follows Megan Rapinoe on social media
• Rapinoe played with Julie Ertz on USWNT
• Julie Ertz is married to Zach Ertz
• Zach Ertz won a Super Bowl with Phildelphia Eagles
• "Invincable" about Eagles player Vince Papale starred Mark Wahlberg
• Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Bacon were in "Patriot's Day"

Yea, that's the way I would have gone.

 

[Charliebball]

Warren is a native Texan and don't really know what her future plans are, but every time I've seen her she plays at maximum intensity. Looking at the Irish, she combines Anaya Peoples' ability to work underneath with Abby Prohaska's grit and ball-movement.

She'd have Paige and Azzi's back....

Warren has that crazy look in her eyes when she gets on the court.......very Nika like..........she will not be denied the basketball if it's loose on the floor.............you have to have a couple of those players on every successful team.............what about the other Texas guard in the portal..............for some reason I don't remember her as much........

 

[visitingcock]

• Owusu follows Megan Rapinoe on social media
• Rapinoe played with Julie Ertz on USWNT
• Julie Ertz is married to Zach Ertz
• Zach Ertz won a Super Bowl with Phildelphia Eagles
• "Invincable" about Eagles player Vince Papale starred Mark Wahlberg
• Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Bacon were in "Patriot's Day"

Yea, that's the way I would have gone.

Ah yes, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

 

[Longtime fan]

She is a guard, correct? If so, UCONN will be interested. They need a fifth guard. The problem, of course, is court time. This player is a starter and might be "a problem" if she is a back-up. It all depends upon her character. But Geno , and that team of Huskies, would make it work if she is willing to make it work. I think it is unlikely to happen.

 

[Biff]

Well let’s see.

• Owusu follows Megan Rapinoe on social media.
• Rapinoe is engaged to Sue.
• Sue hangs out with DT
• DT attended the Espy’s
• Tom Hanks also attended the Espy’s
• Tom Hanks & Kevin Bacon appeared together in Apollo 13.

So based on 6-degrees of separation, the answer is clearly yes.

• Owusu follows Megan Rapinoe on social media
• Rapinoe played with Julie Ertz on USWNT
• Julie Ertz is married to Zach Ertz
• Zach Ertz won a Super Bowl with Phildelphia Eagles
• "Invincable" about Eagles player Vince Papale starred Mark Wahlberg
• Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Bacon were in "Patriot's Day"

Yea, that's the way I would have gone.

Why go the long way around. The connection is more direct than that.

• Owusu follows Megan Rapinoe on social media.
• Rapinoe is engaged to Sue
• Sue Bird is so good she must be a mutant.
• Kevin Bacon played a mutant in the X-men movies.

Q.E.D.

 

[CocoHusky]

Why go the long way around. The connection is more direct than that.

• Owusu follows Megan Rapinoe on social media.
• Rapinoe is engaged to Sue
• Sue Bird is so good she must be a mutant.
• Kevin Bacon played a mutant in the X-men movies.

Q.E.D.

I think is called 6 degrees of separation not 4.

 

[Dillon77]

.what about the other Texas guard in the portal..............for some reason I don't remember her as much........

The other Longhorn that entered the portal yesterday was not a guard, but center Lauren Ebo. She also a grad xfer. One of Schaefer's post guardians: 8.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 27 blocks in 930 minutes or so of PT.

ND can get a pretty straightforward report out of Irish Assc. Head Coach Coquese Washington who successfully recruited and coached Ebo for one year at Penn State. Ebo played one year after Washington left and then hit the road to Texas. She's a DC native who played at Paul VI and Riverdale Baptist high schools. Could Brenda Freese also be making phone calls?

 

[NY Fan]

These thoughts came to mind when I read this paragraph, because I'm not sure if this could happen:

1) How would a school be able to approach Boston with an NIL if she is still attending South Carolina? Yes, I get people chat and "agreements are made", but schools still have to report they haven't had inappropriate contact. Is it worth it for it to possibly blow up in their face and have to deal with sanctions afterwards?

2) The NCAA sat on their hands for decades with respect to compensating players since the O'Bannon case. Heck, they dragged their feet on NIL until the last possible moment when states started to pass laws to allow it. If they can find a way to get some of their control back, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried. The NCAA is about profits in the end, not the athletes. Look at the disparity on the women's side of sports if anything.

3) Basketball has been professionalized in some aspects for years and it's trickled down to the HS level now. This isn't the fault of NIL, it's the culture and how we look at sports overall in my opinion.

4) I have a different thought about what fans signed up for. Yes it sucks when your favourite player leaves a program, but we see coaches leave for better opportunities and I don't hear the same cries about loyalty. We can't expect athletes to be held to a different standard if it's not expected out of coaches as well.

With #1 excepted, I think we could be in agreement on the others. As for #1, even top high schoolers are said to have a support staff and reps; so contact via 3rd parties could be made with plausible deniability. MY underlying premise in response to your 2 - 4: I'm with the players, I don't begrudge their receiving NIL deals, and NIL per se is not the cause of the current state of WCBB, but rather an accelerant. It is NIL being used as a recruiting tool - as Cornell Lt also points out in the above post - that's the issue.

 

[NY Fan]

Also, it's kinda laughable that UConn and Notre Dame, two of the most high-profile programs in the country, would be at a DISADVANTAGE in the NIL battlefield.

Even if Geno or Ivey are hands-off with securing NIL deals, the spotlight finds stars more easily at UConn and Notre Dame than at, say, Boston College or Ole Miss. And where the spotlight goes, endorsements will follow.

With the greatest respect either you missed my point vis NILs or I failed to make it clearly enough for you. Players absolutely have every right to pursue every economic opportunity period, full stop. And I agree with you that the spotlight finds stars more easily at UConn and Notre Dame than at some others. What I object to are NILs being used as a recruiting tool as Cornell Lt's post, just below yours, also points out.

As for UConn and Notre Dame being disadvantaged in the NIL battlefield, again let's define the battlefield. It's not the school platforms where top players like Paige, Azzi and Olivia Miles are being pursued by would-be sponsors. It's where a school's boosters arrange NIL deals for players such as Tennessee's $2 million deal to a high school QB - $8 million if he stays the full 4 years - or Texas A&M using NILs to attract the #1 recruiting class. Yes, I stand by my view that both UConn and Notre Dame would be at a financial disadvantage in that game, and I'll wager Geno wouldn't even want to be in that game! I don't believe Notre Dame would either, as their current travails might indicate.

 

[HuskyNan]

Does anyone know if Geno and staff would ever discuss potential transfers or recruits with the current roster? Ask for their feedback? Particularly someone like Paige?

Back in the day, Geno used to ask the team if they felt the recruit was a good fit. I don’t know if he still does that, though, because he’s offering earlier and the current players may not have a chance to meet them.

When Diana Taurasi was a freshman he was asked what he would have done if the team had voted no and he said he didn’t ask them. “I didn’t care what they thought. If Dee wanted to come, she was coming no matter what they wanted “

 

[Charliebball]

The other Longhorn that entered the portal yesterday was not a guard, but center Lauren Ebo. She also a grad xfer. One of Schaefer's post guardians: 8.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 27 blocks in 930 minutes or so of PT.

ND can get a pretty straightforward report out of Irish Assc. Head Coach Coquese Washington who successfully recruited and coached Ebo for one year at Penn State. Ebo played one year after Washington left and then hit the road to Texas. She's a DC native who played at Paul VI and Riverdale Baptist high schools. Could Brenda Freese also be making phone calls?

could be wrong but for some reason I thought Joannne Allen Taylor did too..........

 

[Audi1954]

Back in the day, Geno used to ask the team if they felt the recruit was a good fit. I don’t know if he still does that, though, because he’s offering earlier and the current players may not have a chance to meet them.

When Diana Taurasi was a freshman he was asked what he would have done if the team had voted no and he said he didn’t ask them. “I didn’t care what they thought. If Dee wanted to come, she was coming no matter what they wanted “

Good thing he didn’t ask. He knew exactly what he was getting with Diana. Geno may not have those discussions with his team any longer, but I just feel that Paige would kickstart a discussion.

 

[Sifaka]

Here's a different take on the NIL miasma.

1. Posit a high school girl ranked (by the usual suspects) in the top ten or top twenty. Assume she is of at very least average intelligence, in addition to being an outstanding athlete. Further, assume she is a person of good character, and that she values education as well as sports excellence. Her choice of college may be limited only by her academic abilities. If she is also articulate and “attractive” in any conventional sense of that word…

NIL offers will follow her to the school of her choice. She will pick the school that best meets her sports and academic goals.



2. Now change the assumptions slightly. Basketball skills are slightly less, with rankings in the 20 to 50 range. Academic proficiency is average, at best. Based on the other factors mentioned above being roughly equal, her college choices will be more limited, but still considerable.


She will probably receive some NIL offers, though not of the blockbuster caliber available to the people in N°. 1, above. NIL money will more likely affect her choice of schools IF, and it's a big IF, such offers or hints that they shall be forthcoming, are made prior to making a commitment. Oherwise, she will pick a school from the available offers, and then deal with the NIL opportunities as they may arise.

There is a third category, though we have no way of measuring its reach: The kid has basketball talents, and some unscrupulous coaches or programs try to win her over by dangling deals, or slimy boosters pass the word that big bucks will come her way if she signs with University of X.

If she is in category N°. 1, of good character, reasonably bright,
etc., she will probably not be impressed. If her intelligence and moral standards aren't quite up to her level of her athletic prowess, the outcome may be driven by $$. I don't believe Geno & Co. recruit such people.

 

[DefenseBB]

So a few observations on the dialogues that have rightfully morphed with the better communicated information that UConn is following Ashley which does indicate interest. @SARG 2011 Posted in the April Recruiting Thread Morgan is following Esmery Martinez and Kari Niblack from WVU, Ashley from Maryland, Abby Meyers from Princeton and Lauren Fields from Oklahoma State (5’9” Jr Guard).
So don’t shoot the messenger BUT it seems to me that “assistants suddenly following players in the portal” is a leading indicator of interest by the team. Why would an assistant just “randomly start following a player without an intent. Whether we, as fans agree is a moot point. So all due respect to many of the comments on here, the coaches see these 5 as viable roster additions. Does this list include everyone they have contacted, probably not but it seems to show at least something more than casual mutual interest.

I do thing tracking social media activity does give insight. But please feel free to spout off numerous reasons why these players shouldn’t be added or how illogical the staff might be. Just don’t indict me as a co-conspirator….

 

[Charliebball]

So a few observations on the dialogues that have rightfully morphed with the better communicated information that UConn is following Ashley which does indicate interest. @SARG 2011 Posted in the April Recruiting Thread Morgan is following Esmery Martinez and Kari Niblack from WVU, Ashley from Maryland, Abby Meyers from Princeton and Lauren Fields from Oklahoma State (5’9” Jr Guard).
So don’t shoot the messenger BUT it seems to me that “assistants suddenly following players in the portal” is a leading indicator of interest by the team. Why would an assistant just “randomly start following a player without an intent. Whether we, as fans agree is a moot point. So all due respect to many of the comments on here, the coaches see these 5 as viable roster additions. Does this list include everyone they have contacted, probably not but it seems to show at least something more than casual mutual interest.

I do thing tracking social media activity does give insight. But please feel free to spout off numerous reasons why these players shouldn’t be added or how illogical the staff might be. Just don’t indict me as a co-conspirator….

are those players following her?

 

[SARG 2011]

are those players following her?

Only see Lauren Fields and as noted on a separate thread yesterday new mutual follow Lou Lopez-Senechel. Owusu did post "good things are coming" on her IG. Recent follows for her are Kitley and Amoore as well as Coach Hicks from V Tech. Trying to read tea leaves can be silly but not much going on otherwise in the off season.

 

[oldude]

So a few observations on the dialogues that have rightfully morphed with the better communicated information that UConn is following Ashley which does indicate interest. @SARG 2011 Posted in the April Recruiting Thread Morgan is following Esmery Martinez and Kari Niblack from WVU, Ashley from Maryland, Abby Meyers from Princeton and Lauren Fields from Oklahoma State (5’9” Jr Guard).
So don’t shoot the messenger BUT it seems to me that “assistants suddenly following players in the portal” is a leading indicator of interest by the team. Why would an assistant just “randomly start following a player without an intent. Whether we, as fans agree is a moot point. So all due respect to many of the comments on here, the coaches see these 5 as viable roster additions. Does this list include everyone they have contacted, probably not but it seems to show at least something more than casual mutual interest.

I do thing tracking social media activity does give insight. But please feel free to spout off numerous reasons why these players shouldn’t be added or how illogical the staff might be. Just don’t indict me as a co-conspirator….

4/5 are 6’+ big guards/wings who could help to replace Christyn & Evina. Fields doesn’t appear to fit a UConn need with Paige, Azzi & Nika around for the next few years, along with Ashlynn & KK arriving in 2023.

 

[CocoHusky]

So a few observations on the dialogues that have rightfully morphed with the better communicated information that UConn is following Ashley which does indicate interest. @SARG 2011 Posted in the April Recruiting Thread Morgan is following Esmery Martinez and Kari Niblack from WVU, Ashley from Maryland, Abby Meyers from Princeton and Lauren Fields from Oklahoma State (5’9” Jr Guard).
So don’t shoot the messenger BUT it seems to me that “assistants suddenly following players in the portal” is a leading indicator of interest by the team. Why would an assistant just “randomly start following a player without an intent. Whether we, as fans agree is a moot point. So all due respect to many of the comments on here, the coaches see these 5 as viable roster additions. Does this list include everyone they have contacted, probably not but it seems to show at least something more than casual mutual interest.

I do thing tracking social media activity does give insight. But please feel free to spout off numerous reasons why these players shouldn’t be added or how illogical the staff might be. Just don’t indict me as a co-conspirator….

Not trying to shoot the messenger or indict anyone just that I find this disclaimer/warning unnecessary-kind of like stating that water is not dry. There have been no expressions that the staff pursuits of any player is illogical. There have been many expressions as to why players are a good, better or bad fit for UCONN. What would be illogical, pompous really, is to assume that the staff sees things the same way that us BY posters do. This particular thread is about Ashley. Regarding Ashley I and some others have stated why we believe her to be a poor fit for UCONN. Those opinions are based on what we think we know about her. The UCONN staff knows infinitely more and will inevitably come to conclusion that are different than ours.
Lastly this is a staff that likes to conduct business privately & always have. Be careful how much emphasis you put on a social media following regardless of how sudden. We are also in a weird period as it concerns players in the portal=an evaluation period. During this period no in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts shall be made with the prospective student-athlete. Given that scenario a social media following might be the staff reaching out to start a dialogue.

 

[Charliebball]

Only see Lauren Fields and as noted on a separate thread yesterday new mutual follow Lou Lopez-Senechel. Owusu did post "good things are coming" on her IG. Recent follows for her are Kitley and Amoore as well as Coach Hicks from V Tech. Trying to read tea leaves can be silly but not much going on otherwise in the off season.

Senechal can really shoot the three but did it against lesser opponents........that's all I know about her........is she willing to come in as instant offense off the bench? Fields is a volume shooter who played a heck of a lot of minutes............not sure why she'd be interested in a bench role at UConn unless she wants to feel what it's like to win a whole lot of basketball games that is.........

 

[SARG 2011]

Senechal can really shoot the three but did it against lesser opponents........that's all I know about her........is she willing to come in as instant offense off the bench?

Good question, from the limited video I watched she can def hit the three.