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Transfer Portal

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RockyMTblue2 said:
Some advanced the argument that NIL and the portal would advance parity over time. That may come to pass in time, but in the short term a good number of the players in teams on the rise have been headed to the usual suspects. I suspect that will always be the case.
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It's creates excellent parity among the top 7, maybe 10, even 16 schools! This has been a vintage year for NCAA women, and will be an amazing tournament.

Problem is there are 300 schools in D1 and when you get below the best 32 and 64 that are in the tournament, the quality drops off a cliff.
 
An athletic, long wing to help replace Aubrey and a PG who can play at a quick pace and with very good lateral quickness to stop opponents who are good drivers would be good
 
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huskyharry said:
An athletic, long wing to help replace Aubrey and a PG who can play at a quick pace and with very good lateral quickness to stop opponents who are good drivers would be good
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I'm pretty confident we have the athletic long wing department covered with Morgan, Blanca, Allie, Q, Caroline, and even Sarah, since that's one of the things her encyclopedic skill set covers.

PG is the issue, I think, but even that may already be covered between KK, Kelis, Azzi and Morgan, and even Sarah since that's one of the things her encyclopedic skill set covers.

In the end, I think it's not so much about a narrowly defined PG as it is about having lots of skilled ball handlers. This is what we've seen this season -- Paige mostly did a lot of what a PG does, but so did KK, Kaitlyn, Ash, Azzi, Morgan and sometimes Sarah. But Paige, Azzi, Morgan and Sarah each do a lot more than what a PG does -- this is what the many discussions of this topic seem to ignore.

I think this means that a portal addition is not an urgent need. But one could be useful. We're not going to replace Paige through the portal. But the risk is overloading the roster, not being understaffed. Another PG might be helpful, but not absolutely necessary.
 
topogigio said:
I said it numerous times the past two years, NIL will destroy college sports. Can't blame the kids who want to try to follow the money, but down the road NIL will explode and consume itself and take college sports with it!
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It already has in my opinion.... Losing interest at game speed. No longer an amateur sport.
 
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Plebe said:
Yes. She will be a great get for whoever gets her.
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When I heard about her in the early part of the season, I wondered how Coach Maria could get a better freshman post player than Geno. However, I knew the only way Geno would talk to her is if she wanted to enter the transfer portal and contacted him.
 
Dogdude said:
I can see it's time for my YFSA concept. It's Youth Feral Sports Association. Essentially, kids get together, play something with whatever they have. It could be capture the flag. It could be Calvinball.
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I’m sure everyone would be lining up to see the Calvin Knights vs the Princeton Tigers.
 
donalddoowop said:
When I heard about her in the early part of the season, I wondered how Coach Maria could get a better freshman post player than Geno. However, I knew the only way Geno would talk to her is if she wanted to enter the transfer portal and contacted him.
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She's a junior.

It would be an NCAA violation for him to contact her before she's in the portal.
 
Plebe said:
She's a junior.

It would be an NCAA violation for him to contact her before she's in the portal.
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I thought she was a freshman. That is even better because she would be at UConn for only one season. I know about the violation rule.
 
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hoopsfan22 said:
Why? If say Kim Mulkey offers me a cool mill to come play basketball, I'm gone. It's not my job to help schools/conferences/whatever. My job is to play basketball and secure the biggest bag I can.
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May I introduce you to some less popular concepts leading to happiness like: smelling flowers, hiking a mountain, sticking to a moral compass, helping out a somebody just because, and more? There are certain things that you could pay me trillions (sic!) to no avail.

It is a fact that some use $$ as a metric for most decisions about their life (which I find depressing). But not everybody. Let's move on.
 
Bone Dog said:
I'm pretty confident we have the athletic long wing department covered with Morgan, Blanca, Allie, Q, Caroline, and even Sarah, since that's one of the things her encyclopedic skill set covers.

PG is the issue, I think, but even that may already be covered between KK, Kelis, Azzi and Morgan, and even Sarah since that's one of the things her encyclopedic skill set covers.

In the end, I think it's not so much about a narrowly defined PG as it is about having lots of skilled ball handlers. This is what we've seen this season -- Paige mostly did a lot of what a PG does, but so did KK, Kaitlyn, Ash, Azzi, Morgan and sometimes Sarah. But Paige, Azzi, Morgan and Sarah each do a lot more than what a PG does -- this is what the many discussions of this topic seem to ignore.

I think this means that a portal addition is not an urgent need. But one could be useful. We're not going to replace Paige through the portal. But the risk is overloading the roster, not being understaffed. Another PG might be helpful, but not absolutely necessary.
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Did someone say: "You can never have too many ________"??? Fill in the Blank.
or was it: " It's the most wonderful time of the year"?? I'll not prognosticate!!!
 
donalddoowop said:
I thought she was a freshman. That is even better because she would be at UConn for only one season. I know about the violation rule.
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Maybe people are thinking of the Purdue "Center" Carter McCray who is
now also in the Portal. Carter is currently a sophomore, but is called
a "center" at 6'1", She is originally from Nothern Kentucky in the Horizon
League. At Wisconsin she played/started? in 29 out of 30 games with 25.4 minutes per game. FG%: .567, three point % .000 Free throws .625, scoring: 10.6 ppg,
7.1 rebounds, with 0.8 assists per game, 0.8 steals per game with 12 blocks.
She is nowhere in the same quality category as Serah Williams. Serah played
30/30 games, with 32 minutes per game. 19.2 ppg. So, all of Carter's stats
appear to have been achieved in Serah's shadow, so to speak. Clearly, it's
Serah for one year, and probably not at UCONN.
 
Williams is interesting for several reasons. The one year rental is ideal. She would not adversely affect 2026 or 2027 recruiting and provides an experienced proven big to a roster full of young still unproven and still developing bigs like Jana, Ice, Ayanna and Gandy. All of those four should be significantly better one year later when Williams is gone.

Also I suspect Williams could also play some at the 4, and since she averaged 32 minutes a game it looks like she is a big that could play heavy minutes, which some bigs can't. If she started with Sarah, the next question would be how the backup minutes play out. If you use 4 bigs in the rotation a more traditional split might have Ice and Ayanna competing for the backup 4, and Jana and Gandy fighting for the backup 5, with at least a third decent option at each position if injuries occur,

A three big rotation, however, might be possible if one backup was considerably ahead of the other options, perhaps similar to Liv, Aaliyah and Dorka. If Jana next year, for example, was clearly the third best big and substantially better than Ice, Ayanna or Gandy, they could go with 3 bigs and Williams could play some at the 4 next to Jana at the 5. Similarly if Ice wound up being clearly the third best big, she could be in a three big rotation, where Sarah could move to the 5 when paired with Ice.

At the other extreme, if multiple big prospects elevate their game, playing Sarah at the 3 becomes a more viable option as well, and of course if we wanted to go small ball Morgan or Caroline at the 4 could be an occasional strategic play. Mainly though the potential addition of Williams would insure that maybe 60 of the 80 minutes at the 4 and 5 would be very high quality. Then if a couple of the other candidates raise their game significantly we would be fine for depth as well. I think Williams should be pursued.
 
oldude said:
On a related note. Azzi was supposed to let Geno know her decision about whether or not she was returning a day or so after the Big East tournament. Presumably, this information would inform Geno’s actions relative to the transfer portal as well as providing important information to UConn’s returning players.

Do any of our Boneyard super sleuths have any information as to Azzi’s decision?
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Azzi should be allowed to take as long as she wants to make this very hard decision. Sorry Geno.
 
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boontonbomber said:
Azzi should be allowed to take as long as she wants to make this very hard decision. Sorry Geno.
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Why "sorry Geno"? I'm sure he's not pressuring her. This is just a foofaraw drummed up by an ill-informed network analyst. All he's said is he'd like to know before the portal opens. She has plenty of time.
 
boontonbomber said:
Azzi should be allowed to take as long as she wants to make this very hard decision. Sorry Geno.
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In theory I agree. But the longer Azzi takes, the more uncertainty it creates for the team, which is not a good thing. Azzi is an adult who is capable of making a very hard decision. For all we know, she has made that decision and communicated it to Geno. I along with the rest of the basketball world are curious as to what that decision is. Eventually we will all know.
 

oldhusky said:
Williams is interesting for several reasons. The one year rental is ideal. She would not adversely affect 2026 or 2027 recruiting and provides an experienced proven big to a roster full of young still unproven and still developing bigs like Jana, Ice, Ayanna and Gandy. All of those four should be significantly better one year later when Williams is gone.

Also I suspect Williams could also play some at the 4, and since she averaged 32 minutes a game it looks like she is a big that could play heavy minutes, which some bigs can't. If she started with Sarah, the next question would be how the backup minutes play out. If you use 4 bigs in the rotation a more traditional split might have Ice and Ayanna competing for the backup 4, and Jana and Gandy fighting for the backup 5, with at least a third decent option at each position if injuries occur,

A three big rotation, however, might be possible if one backup was considerably ahead of the other options, perhaps similar to Liv, Aaliyah and Dorka. If Jana next year, for example, was clearly the third best big and substantially better than Ice, Ayanna or Gandy, they could go with 3 bigs and Williams could play some at the 4 next to Jana at the 5. Similarly if Ice wound up being clearly the third best big, she could be in a three big rotation, where Sarah could move to the 5 when paired with Ice.

At the other extreme, if multiple big prospects elevate their game, playing Sarah at the 3 becomes a more viable option as well, and of course if we wanted to go small ball Morgan or Caroline at the 4 could be an occasional strategic play. Mainly though the potential addition of Williams would insure that maybe 60 of the 80 minutes at the 4 and 5 would be very high quality. Then if a couple of the other candidates raise their game significantly we would be fine for depth as well. I think Williams should be pursued.
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Sarah being a matchup nightmare for everyone (paraphrasing Geno) and the number of options at the 3 next season, unless there are injuries I dont see Sarah playing the 3. On the flipside, ideally Sarah would not play the 5 either, the combination of Jana/Ice both improve enough that Geno feels comfortable going with them at the at 5, with Ice potentially getting minutes at the 4 alongside Jana. Of course another option to rest Sarah like you suggest is to go small ball and play one of the big guards at the 4.
 
Bone Dog said:
Why "sorry Geno"? I'm sure he's not pressuring her. This is just a foofaraw drummed up by an ill-informed network analyst. All he's said is he'd like to know before the portal opens. She has plenty of time.
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Actually, the announcer during the Big East tournament specifically indicated that Geno was looking for Azzi’s decision within a day after the tournament ended. His clear implication was that Geno and Azzi had an understanding on that point.
 
Another comment on Azzi. She doesn’t have an indefinite time to make a decision about going pro. In order to be eligible for the WNBA draft college players need to declare their decision at least 10 days prior to the draft, or, if they are still playing in the NCAA tournament, within 24 hours after their last game.

You may recall that in 2016 Morgan Tuck was in the same position following UConn’s 4th straight national championship. The next morning Tuck went on ESPN’s Sportscenter to announce her eligibility for the draft.
 
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