U19 World Cup - Kayleigh Heckel | Page 3 | The Boneyard

U19 World Cup - Kayleigh Heckel

Bone Dog said:
I wonder how many cases there will actually be. With both of the Betts sisters on the floor, UCLA will be a slow team and transition defense will suffer. My guess is Cori will experiment with this, but it will not be common after February. Last season, Cori could put Dugalic or Barker on the floor with Lauren because they had much better foot speed and could get back in transition, and because both of them can score in the midrange. Gardiner could provide good scoring punch next to Lauren, but seemed slower on defense (perhaps due to injury), which meant she was mainly used with Dugalic instead by February. Could Kneepkens’ perimeter shooting change this equation a bit and allow Cori to use two slow moving bigs at once? Maybe.
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You realize Barker transferred to Tennessee and the $500k they offered her right? Kneepkens at 6’0 will play the wing and CLW the 2/SG. Gardner, when at OSU was clearly the second option inside after Beers and the top outside shooter at almost 40% from 3. However, at UCLA, Betts, Dugalic, Barker and even Jacquez were inside more. Timea still shot the 3 well but was the 5th option and got a lot less opportunities. While that OSU team had a nice run to the Elite 8 in 2024, it was not nearly as talented as last years Bruin team and will still be immensely talented this year with Gardner player a supporting actor role.
 
Israel’s top player is Gal Raviv, a guard who scored 17.9 per game as a first year at Quinnipiac in 2024-2025. She has scored 35 and 30 points in Israel’s two games.

I suspect Kayleigh will be matched up against her. That will be interesting.
 
Thanks so much for the link to today's live stream.
Impressions from the first half...
Just an amazing amount of talent on the US team, and, on the whole, they play unselfishly.
Jazzy looks electric and so much more under control than last summer.
Hall is a finisher and looks very strong.
Kayleigh is a really good no-frills point guard (except for her speed). She pushes the ball up, her passes are crisp, aggressive and accurate. Though she has no problem being deferential, she balances her assists with 3 level scoring. She sticks to her man well and fights through screens on defense.
Jersey looks strong, efficient and plays under control.
I hope that Bean gets good coaching in the next 2 years. There is a wealth of potential there, but,
right now, it seems like she rushes herself. Hopefully, in time the game will slow down for her.
Harpring & Bjorn are both impactful players.
Actually, everyone on the floor during the first half should have a good to great college career.
 
Basingstoke said:
Thanks so much for the link to today's live stream.
Impressions from the first half...
Just an amazing amount of talent on the US team, and, on the whole, they play unselfishly.
Jazzy looks electric and so much more under control than last summer.
Hall is a finisher and looks very strong.
Kayleigh is a really good no-frills point guard (except for her speed). She pushes the ball up, her passes are crisp, aggressive and accurate. Though she has no problem being deferential, she balances her assists with 3 level scoring. She sticks to her man well and fights through screens on defense.
Jersey looks strong, efficient and plays under control.
I hope that Bean gets good coaching in the next 2 years. There is a wealth of potential there, but,
right now, it seems like she rushes herself. Hopefully, in time the game will slow down for her.
Harpring & Bjorn are both impactful players.
Actually, everyone on the floor during the first half should have a good to great college career.
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There was a significant drop in efficiency when the second team replaced the first, as well as a significant rise in efficiency when the first team came back at the end of the second quarter.
 
I am excited about Kayleigh. She looks up court every time she gets th ball, something that KK did not do enough of. She has a sweet little pull up and knocked in a long 3 in the first 6 minutes. She is a pure PG, intent on setting up the offense and delivering the ball. Our bigs should flourish with her. She is so much better than she appeared to be last year and seems like a very heady, controlled player with a good handle left and right. Looks pretty, pretty good to me.
 
USA plays China at 08:30 EDT tomorrow, 7/16/25 in the round of 16 (which is actually 14). The bracket is here:
www.fiba.basketball

Standings - FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup 2025 | FIBA Basketball

Latest FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup 2025 groups and standings, bracket and classification
www.fiba.basketball www.fiba.basketball

Here is the link to the live game tomorrow (need to scroll down):
www.fiba.basketball

USA vs China - Round of 16 - FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup 2025 | FIBA Basketball

USA vs China - Browse boxscore, game information & live stats, team rosters, photos and video highlights
www.fiba.basketball www.fiba.basketball
 
BBallF said:
I am excited about Kayleigh. She looks up court every time she gets th ball, something that KK did not do enough of. She has a sweet little pull up and knocked in a long 3 in the first 6 minutes. She is a pure PG, intent on setting up the offense and delivering the ball. Our bigs should flourish with her. She is so much better than she appeared to be last year and seems like a very heady, controlled player with a good handle left and right. Looks pretty, pretty good to me.
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Virtually EVERY player looks better in a UConn uniform. ;)
 
Watching a few of the games, I could not be more pleased with Kayleigh’s play in the tournament. She’s running the point for USA with great poise. She makes good decisions at both ends of the court and she can score at 3 levels, seemingly whenever she needs to, although she clearly views her primary role as distributing to her teammates. KK & Kayleigh should give UConn the best PG combination anywhere in the country next season.
 
Bracket

As we can see from this morning's win, the USA will face the winner of the match between France and the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals. At the other end of the table, Spain are through to the quarter-finals. They have a day off today, due to the absence of Mali, who were unable to enter the tournament because of visa problems.
 
oldude said:
Watching a few of the games, I could not be more pleased with Kayleigh’s play in the tournament. She’s running the point for USA with great poise. She makes good decisions at both ends of the court and she can score at 3 levels, seemingly whenever she needs to, although she clearly views her primary role as distributing to her teammates. KK & Kayleigh should give UConn the best PG combination anywhere in the country next season.
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High praise for sure, and apparently justified. With the addition of K9 it looks like another 1-2 punch at point guard for our Huskies. Kayleigh brings what the Huskies lost with Chen's graduation, while KK will still be KK. The question remains, who replaces Paige?
 
BBallF said:
I am excited about Kayleigh. She looks up court every time she gets th ball, something that KK did not do enough of. She has a sweet little pull up and knocked in a long 3 in the first 6 minutes. She is a pure PG, intent on setting up the offense and delivering the ball. Our bigs should flourish with her. She is so much better than she appeared to be last year and seems like a very heady, controlled player with a good handle left and right. Looks pretty, pretty good to me.
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Somewhat of a combination of Nika Muhl and Kaitlyn Chen, with potentially more diverse offensive arsenal than either . Looks to push the ball aggressively up the court like Nika. Solid +defender like Chen (but not to the level of Nika or KK) Can get to the rim and finish pretty well like Chen. Comparable perimeter offensive game to Chen but perhaps somewhat better mid-range, and more willing to launch a long ball.
 
Brno is a great town; full of musical history
Nice Stadium; perhaps 8-10,000 capacity
Sees like there's a hundred or two spectators around...
If that many
No one interested in (young) woman's BB?
 
hookshot said:
Somewhat of a combination of Nika Muhl and Kaitlyn Chen, with potentially more diverse offensive arsenal than either . Looks to push the ball aggressively up the court like Nika. Solid +defender like Chen (but not to the level of Nika or KK) Can get to the rim and finish pretty well like Chen. Comparable perimeter offensive game to Chen but perhaps somewhat better mid-range, and more willing to launch a long ball.
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I don't know that Kayleigh has a better overall offensive game than Kaitlyn, though it's definitely comparable. If you watch Kaitlyn's last season at Princeton, when she was the go-to scorer, you see how aggressive and confident she could be scoring at all levels. Once she got to UConn, she didn't get nearly as many opportunities and the overall competition was stiffer than the Ivies. But in the toughest games, Kaitlyn definitely rose to every occasion.

By contrast, Kayleigh played in a very competitive conference and did well all season long. But she was never the go-to scorer. Personally, I think she wasn't used very well by Coach Gottleib, and that's probably an important reason she transferred.

One thing I would say is that neither Kaitlyn nor Kayleigh, nor KK even, has the offensive skills Ash has. But all of them are probably better passers than Ash, and among them Kayleigh may be the best passer. And all four of them are tremendous defenders.
 
With all due respect, no one is irreplaceable, including Paige. Individually it will be very difficult to replace Paige. But in the aggregate, there is more than enough talent on next year’s team to make up for the loss of Paige.

That starts with two potential NPOY candidates in Sarah & Azzi. Add in now seasoned veterans of a championship run: Ash, KK, Jana & Ice, who will all be even better next season. Throw in several players chomping at the bit to contribute: Caroline. Allie, Morgan, Ayanna along with super transfers Serah & Kayleigh. The freshmen, Gandy, Kellis and Blanca, my pick as the ultimate X-factor, are all waiting in the wings.

For me the question is not, “Who will replace Paige?” It’s how quickly will all the talent on next year’s team gel into yet another dominant Husky team that lays waste to every opponent they face?
 
Bottom line is NO ONE can replace Paige. Just look at what she's doing in the W. It's not by accident. It was like trying to replace Sue, Diana, Maya, Stewie, etc. It will be done by committee. And with the amount of talent on the team, combined with improvements from everyone coming back, WATCH OUT!

As @oldude pointed out, even tho they aren't getting national attention, I feel KK and Kayleigh will be the best PG combo in the nation. Then we have the sophomore leap for Sarah, the addition of Serah, and the junior leap for Ash. Boom. Starting 5 potentially of KK, Azzi, Ash, Sarah, Serah. Best quintet in the nation.

The scoring will come from all over. I suspect Sarah and Azzi will be between 18-20 PPG on average. Serah will probably average over 10 PPG. Maybe 13 or so. I could see Ash around 10 PPG. Then bring in the next group - Kayleigh, Morgan, Caroline, Blanca and Jana. Yikes.

I suspect Q4 will be dominated by Kelis, Allie, Ice, Ayanna and Gandy. you could move some up from group 3 to group 2, but bottom line is that Geno will have 15 players who, by skill and effort, "demand" playing time. I could see the team easily averaging 90+ PPG. I just hope, in fairness to the players lower on the depth chart, that Geno lets them play hard, intense, and score on fast breaks whenever they get one.

This is one of those seasons where I don't care about running up the score. I don't think we need to full court press the entire game, but pretty much all of Q1, half of Q2, and all of Q3. If opponents complain, too bad. IMHO it's not fair to decrease scoring opportunities for reserves because the other team is overmatched. ;)
 
EricLA said:
This is one of those seasons where I don't care about running up the score. I don't think we need to full court press the entire game, but pretty much all of Q1, half of Q2, and all of Q3. If opponents complain, too bad. IMHO it's not fair to decrease scoring opportunities for reserves because the other team is overmatched.
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It's never a good idea to tell any players not to try their hardest to score. All a responsible coach can do is to put in the bench, but they will be competing a hard as they can. It's unreasonable to expect anything else.
 
Bone Dog said:
It's never a good idea to tell any players not to try their hardest to score. All a responsible coach can do is to put in the bench, but they will be competing a hard as they can. It's unreasonable to expect anything else.
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I was more referring to letting them score on fast breaks and not pull the ball back out to "run offense". As well as stealing in bound passes, etc.
 
hookshot said:
Somewhat of a combination of Nika Muhl and Kaitlyn Chen, with potentially more diverse offensive arsenal than either . Looks to push the ball aggressively up the court like Nika. Solid +defender like Chen (but not to the level of Nika or KK) Can get to the rim and finish pretty well like Chen. Comparable perimeter offensive game to Chen but perhaps somewhat better mid-range, and more willing to launch a long ball.
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Good summary. I like her court smarts a lot as well and that will be very impactful with the players she will have at her disposal to pass to. Plus she is young and will only get physically stronger.
 
But no one "replaced" Stewie, Maya, Tina, DT, Sue, or Rebecca either.... It’s not about a position. It's about who is the next special talent that can be the 1st option and use her skills to lead and make everyone else better as a collective to win a championship. For me, Azzi and Sarah have to occupy that space by doing what they do best. It's not about replacing Paige per see.
 
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