U19 World Cup

[Sluconn Husky]

If Hall wasn’t a target before, she should be now. She was the only uncommitted player on that roster who consistently played well.

UConn offered her some time ago but indications suggest one or the other nixed the idea.

 

[Zarathustra]

Not sure if it's fair to compare Australia's Centre of Excellence against IMG and Monteverde. The Australian model is more similar to what France and Spain have in place as they operate under the national organization, where Monteverde and IMG are for profit organizations.

Good Point, I agree. Part of my reasoning was that the Centre of Excellence is
a pool of exceptional players and IMG and Monteverde also have teams noted for
above average (sometimes exceptional talent). For example, on the GEMS
team in the U19 FIBA tournament there were two players with a Center of
Excellence association: Sitaya Fagan, #12, 6'2" and Zana Russell, # 8, 6'1".
Fagan was on the ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM (if memory serves me correctly).
The tournament MVP was, of course, Saniyah #6, 6'1" who will be
a senior at Monteverde Academy this coming fall. Just in passing, some
stats by Kayleigh Heckel: Kayleigh was #2 in minutes per game with
25.0 minutes/game (second to Sienna Betts at 27.8 minutes per game...
Jordan Lee (Texas "rising sophomore" was third at 24.9 minutes).) While
Boneyarders have noted K9's low 3 point %: 27.3, the effect of eliminating those attempts gives Kayleigh a 54.3 two-point shot %. Also, Kayleigh's Assists per game was 3.6 a/g and her turnover rate was 2.7 per game. Her turnover number IMHO was hurt by the opposing teams utilizing a full court trapping zone
against the USA in a number of games, rather effectively. The USA
inbounders who pass into Kayleigh who immediately was attacked by two
opponents. This resulted in a number of various turnovers. My point is
the USA (again IMHO) did not do much to make adjustments to their
inbounding scheme. Some of these turnovers were more of a USA
"team" problem and less a reflection on Kayleigh. See the French Game as an example of this. This pressure came up a number of times in the last few games.
From the Free Throw line Kayleigh shot a very respectable 80.0% tying for
third on the team behind Jordan Lee at 88.2 % and Saniyah Hall at 82.4%.

 

[cancontent]

Good Point, I agree. Part of my reasoning was that the Centre of Excellence is
a pool of exceptional players and IMG and Monteverde also have teams noted for
above average (sometimes exceptional talent). For example, on the GEMS
team in the U19 FIBA tournament there were two players with a Center of
Excellence association: Sitaya Fagan, #12, 6'2" and Zana Russell, # 8, 6'1".
Fagan was on the ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM (if memory serves me correctly).
The tournament MVP was, of course, Saniyah #6, 6'1" who will be
a senior at Monteverde Academy this coming fall. Just in passing, some
stats by Kayleigh Heckel: Kayleigh was #2 in minutes per game with
25.0 minutes/game (second to Sienna Betts at 27.8 minutes per game...
Jordan Lee (Texas "rising sophomore" was third at 24.9 minutes).) While
Boneyarders have noted K9's low 3 point %: 27.3, the effect of eliminating those attempts gives Kayleigh a 54.3 two-point shot %. Also, Kayleigh's Assists per game was 3.6 a/g and her turnover rate was 2.7 per game. Her turnover number IMHO was hurt by the opposing teams utilizing a full court trapping zone
against the USA in a number of games, rather effectively. The USA
inbounders who pass into Kayleigh who immediately was attacked by two
opponents. This resulted in a number of various turnovers. My point is
the USA (again IMHO) did not do much to make adjustments to their
inbounding scheme. Some of these turnovers were more of a USA
"team" problem and less a reflection on Kayleigh. See the French Game as an example of this. This pressure came up a number of times in the last few games.
From the Free Throw line Kayleigh shot a very respectable 80.0% tying for
third on the team behind Jordan Lee at 88.2 % and Saniyah Hall at 82.4%.

I get where you're coming from, however from my perspective Monteverde and IMG don't develop talent the same way Australia's Centre of Excellence does. Australia's development strategy starts much younger where Monteverde and IMG are more focused on high school athletes. I don't believe they're charging $ 70K - $ 90K a year for tuition either.

And in some cases, do these schools really develop the talent or do they poach players when they become really good? For example, IMG were able to convince T'yanna Todd and Deniya Prawl to transfer to their program. Agot Makeer did the same this past season as well with her move to Monteverde. However, majority of their offers and opportunities came about prior to their transferring through their development as part of Canada Basketball's programs.

 

[visitingcock]

Good Point, I agree. Part of my reasoning was that the Centre of Excellence is
a pool of exceptional players and IMG and Monteverde also have teams noted for
above average (sometimes exceptional talent). For example, on the GEMS
team in the U19 FIBA tournament there were two players with a Center of
Excellence association: Sitaya Fagan, #12, 6'2" and Zana Russell, # 8, 6'1".
Fagan was on the ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM (if memory serves me correctly).
The tournament MVP was, of course, Saniyah #6, 6'1" who will be
a senior at Monteverde Academy this coming fall. Just in passing, some
stats by Kayleigh Heckel: Kayleigh was #2 in minutes per game with
25.0 minutes/game (second to Sienna Betts at 27.8 minutes per game...
Jordan Lee (Texas "rising sophomore" was third at 24.9 minutes).) While
Boneyarders have noted K9's low 3 point %: 27.3, the effect of eliminating those attempts gives Kayleigh a 54.3 two-point shot %. Also, Kayleigh's Assists per game was 3.6 a/g and her turnover rate was 2.7 per game. Her turnover number IMHO was hurt by the opposing teams utilizing a full court trapping zone
against the USA in a number of games, rather effectively. The USA
inbounders who pass into Kayleigh who immediately was attacked by two
opponents. This resulted in a number of various turnovers. My point is
the USA (again IMHO) did not do much to make adjustments to their
inbounding scheme. Some of these turnovers were more of a USA
"team" problem and less a reflection on Kayleigh. See the French Game as an example of this. This pressure came up a number of times in the last few games.
From the Free Throw line Kayleigh shot a very respectable 80.0% tying for
third on the team behind Jordan Lee at 88.2 % and Saniyah Hall at 82.4%.

Saniya will not be a senior at Montverde this year. She’s back in Ohio

 

[Zarathustra]

I get where you're coming from, however from my perspective Monteverde and IMG don't develop talent the same way Australia's Centre of Excellence does. Australia's development strategy starts much younger where Monteverde and IMG are more focused on high school athletes. I don't believe they're charging $ 70K - $ 90K a year for tuition either.

And in some cases, do these schools really develop the talent or do they poach players when they become really good? For example, IMG were able to convince T'yanna Todd and Deniya Prawl to transfer to their program. Agot Makeer did the same this past season as well with her move to Monteverde. However, majority of their offers and opportunities came about prior to their transferring through their development as part of Canada Basketball's programs.

Also, just FYI: Saniya Hall has transferred to Spire Academy in Geneva on the
Lake, Ohio. It is described as a "World Class Boarding School".... " With a
focus on Long Term Athletic Development". (The school includes Academic College Prep Program with an additional post H.S. year available).
The web page reports "200 students representing 35 countries and 25 states". Situated on a 750-acre campus it has 850,000 square feet of sports facilities and a 25,000 square foot "Performance Training Center". The video reports 6 Hardwood Basketball courts (another source says "eight".). The WBB team plays
in the Nike tournament in Phoenix, the Mecca tournament in NYC, and
"She's Got Game" in Washington, D.C. Geneva is 45 miles east of Cleveland
and is 78 miles from Saniyah's home in Loraine, Ohio (which is on the
west side of Cleveland). The Spire Institutes' expressed focus is to make their
Student/players "quicker, faster, and more explosive" with a commitment
to "preventing injuries". There was no information about tuition or
scholarships. I sense this move is for skill development and fitness training.
I found no reports of alumnae at MAJOR DIVISION I WBB programs, e.g.
they report an athlete playing at WESTERN KENTUCKY (!!!!!!! ?????). Z

 

[Zarathustra]

Saniya will not be a senior at Montverde this year. She’s back in Ohio

See web post #30 below for more information about THE SPIRE
INSTITUTE in Geneva On The Lake, Ohio.

 

[cancontent]

Also, just FYI: Saniya Hall has transferred to Spire Academy in Geneva on the
Lake, Ohio. It is described as a "World Class Boarding School".... " With a
focus on Long Term Athletic Development". (The school includes Academic College Prep Program with an additional post H.S. year available).
The web page reports "200 students representing 35 countries and 25 states". Situated on a 750-acre campus it has 850,000 square feet of sports facilities and a 25,000 square foot "Performance Training Center". The video reports 6 Hardwood Basketball courts (another source says "eight".). The WBB team plays
in the Nike tournament in Phoenix, the Mecca tournament in NYC, and
"She's Got Game" in Washington, D.C. Geneva is 45 miles east of Cleveland
and is 78 miles from Saniyah's home in Loraine, Ohio (which is on the
west side of Cleveland). The Spire Institutes' expressed focus is to make their
Student/players "quicker, faster, and more explosive" with a commitment
to "preventing injuries". There was no information about tuition or
scholarships. I sense this move is for skill development and fitness training.
I found no reports of alumnae at MAJOR DIVISION I WBB programs, e.g.
they report an athlete playing at WESTERN KENTUCKY (!!!!!!! ?????). Z

Appreciate the update, however prep schools like these need to be taken with a grain of salt. From my experience, some are stable programs where others exist for a brief period of time. I'm familiar with Spire, however the fact that they don't have a referenceable list of D1 players would be a red flag.

Basketball prep schools in North America are a business. Some schools will do it right, where others just care about the cash and aren't structured to benefit the athletes long term. I've seen enough examples in Canada where programs start only to close up within a few years after their stars have moved on. Time will tell if this move to Spire pays off for her.

 

[Boreifs]

Appreciate the update, however prep schools like these need to be taken with a grain of salt. From my experience, some are stable programs where others exist for a brief period of time. I'm familiar with Spire, however the fact that they don't have a referenceable list of D1 players would be a red flag.

Basketball prep schools in North America are a business. Some schools will do it right, where others just care about the cash and aren't structured to benefit the athletes long term. I've seen enough examples in Canada where programs start only to close up within a few years after their stars have moved on. Time will tell if this move to Spire pays off for her.

Did you consider the possibility that the move may be related to family instead of basketball? She is 16!

 

[Bone Dog]

One more comment on the game, Australia-USA was a good game, better and more organized than a lot of the earlier rounds. Both teams rose to the new level of competition. One thing that really struck me watching it is how tired team USA seemed in the second half. Australia also showed signs of fatigue, but it was simply more noticeable for USA. And yet, even with this, I thought both squads showed remarkable grit and determination. This was a very impressive final game for the tournament as a whole.

Hall in particular looked really gassed in the second half. I haven’t checked the stats, but I’m guessing she played a lot of minutes in the last few games.

 

[cancontent]

Did you consider the possibility that the move may be related to family instead of basketball? She is 16!

Totally fair, however the post I was responding to was listing a profile about the school along with it's lack of D1 alumni. That was focus of my response. It doesn't negate the fact that some of these schools aren't in it for the right reasons.

 

[visitingcock]

Totally fair, however the post I was responding to was listing a profile about the school along with it's lack of D1 alumni. That was focus of my response. It doesn't negate the fact that some of these schools aren't in it for the right reasons.

I thought it might be an academic prep school that does athletics on the side. However, it doesn't promote itself as such. It appears to focus (and recruit) for athletics in all sports. Oh, and do you mean "D-1" as in 360-something D-1 wbb programs or do YOU MEAN THE TOP 65 OR SO? The COULD be sending plenty of prospects to earn schollies in the remaining 255 programs for all I know

 

[cancontent]

I thought it might be an academic prep school that does athletics on the side. However, it doesn't promote itself as such. It appears to focus (and recruit) for athletics in all sports. Oh, and do you mean "D-1" as in 360-something D-1 wbb programs or do YOU MEAN THE TOP 65 OR SO? The COULD be sending plenty of prospects to earn schollies in the remaining 255 programs for all I know

My comment referring to the lack of D1 alumni could have been phrased better. That comment was in response to Zarathrusta's comment in their post "I found no reports of alumnae at MAJOR DIVISION I WBB programs, e.g.
they report an athlete playing at WESTERN KENTUCKY (!!!!!!! ?????). Z"

If they're focused solely on helping athletes gain a scholarship outright, that's great. However from my experience watching the prep school environment in Canada and some of the schools in the US, there is a lot of misrepresentation in what these schools have accomplished.

As a former coach who saw how this affected the families of kids I've coached and friends personally, I'm a tad more sensitive to this. Families are paying the equivalent of college tuition, along with other expenses, in the hopes of getting that scholarship and it's hard to watch when things don't work out. It shouldn't be this way, but this is the trend in youth sports as a whole from what I'm observing.