UConn always gets the best players

[CamrnCrz1974]

MCDAA for 2016-2017, by school:

Here is a listing of players (last name only) by team and year. The four numbers after the school name designate the number in each class. I did not list schools with fewer than three MCDAA players.

Eight:
Notre Dame (1,2,3,2) Allen:Westbeld, Turner:Mabrey, Ogunbowale, Patberg:Boley, Young

Seven:
Duke (4,1,1,1) Brown,Cooper,Chidom, Greenwell:Belton :Lambert:Odom

Six:
Louisville (0,2,2,2) :Hines-Allen, Moore: Durr, Fuehring:Johnson, Shook
Maryland (1,0,2,3) Small::Fraser, Gillespie:Charles, Watson, Slocum
Tennessee (3,2,1,0) DeShields, Reynolds, Russell:Middleton, Nared:Cooper:
Texas (0,2,2,2) Atkins, McCarty:Higgs, Hosey:Holmes, Sutton

Five:
tOSU (2,2,0,1) Harper, Mavunga : Calhoun,Mitchell::McCoy
South Carolina (2,3,0,0) Coates, Davis, Wilson:Cuevas, White::
Stanford (2,0,0,3) Johnson, McCall:::Carrington, Fingall, Wilson
Baylor (0,0,2,2): Jomes::Mompremier, Brown:Chou, Cox

Four:
UConn (0,1,2,1) Williams:Collier, Samuelson. Dangerfield
Kentucky (1,1,1,1) Epps:Rice:Murray:Corsaro

Three:
Cal (0,2,1,0) :Cowling, Green:Anigwe:
UCLA (0,2,1,0) Canada, Drummer:Hearn:

 

[EricLA]

By that list, UCONN should not be in the top 10 next year. Also I think for SC, Jatarie White has transferred out. That gives SC 4 AA's along with UCONN and Kentucky...

 

[rford53]

By that list, UCONN should not be in the top 10 next year. Also I think for SC, Jatarie White has transferred out. That gives SC 4 AA's along with UCONN and Kentucky...

Add current college All Americans (Nina Davis) to the list and Baylor jumps up in the top 3 after Notre Dame and Duke.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

MCDAA for 2016-2017, by school:

Here is a listing of players (last name only) by team and year. The four numbers after the school name designate the number in each class. I did not list schools with fewer than three MCDAA players.

Eight:
Notre Dame (1,2,3,2) Allen:Westbeld, Turner:Mabrey, Ogunbowale, Patberg:Boley, Young

Seven:
Duke (4,1,1,1) Brown,Cooper,Chidom, Greenwell:Belton :Lambert:Odom

Six:
Louisville (0,2,2,2) :Hines-Allen, Moore: Durr, Fuehring:Johnson, Shook
Maryland (1,0,2,3) Small::Fraser, Gillespie:Charles, Watson, Slocum
Tennessee (3,2,1,0) DeShields, Reynolds, Russell:Middleton, Nared:Cooper:
Texas (0,2,2,2) Atkins, McCarty:Higgs, Hosey:Holmes, Sutton

Five:
tOSU (2,2,0,1) Harper, Mavunga : Calhoun,Mitchell::McCoy
South Carolina (2,3,0,0) Coates, Davis, Wilson:Cuevas, White::
Stanford (2,0,0,3) Johnson, McCall:::Carrington, Fingall, Wilson
Baylor (0,0,2,2): Jomes::Mompremier, Brown:Chou, Cox

Four:
UConn (0,1,2,1) Williams:Collier, Samuelson. Dangerfield
Kentucky (1,1,1,1) Epps:Rice:Murray:Corsaro

Three:
Cal (0,2,1,0) :Cowling, Green:Anigwe:
UCLA (0,2,1,0) Canada, Drummer:Hearn:

Very good effort here. Surprised to see Duke still have 7 former McDonald's All Americans after all the transfers.

The two interesting thing about Maryland is their two best players for 2016-17 were not McDonald's All Americans but made Honorable Mention All American in college. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Brionna Jones. Also Jenna Staiti didn't make McDonald's All American or Jordan Brand but is rated as the 17th best player in HoopGurlz. She scored 51 points in her final game (state semifinals) with 22 rebounds. She shot 78% from the field for the season (I think this has to be a misprint. I have to double check)

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Very good effort here. Surprised to see Duke still have 7 former McDonald's All Americans after all the transfers.

The two interesting thing about Maryland is their two best players for 2016-17 were not McDonald's All Americans but made Honorable Mention All American in college. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Brionna Jones. Also Jenna Staiti didn't make McDonald's All American or Jordan Brand but is rated as the 17th best player in HoopGurlz. She scored 51 points in her final game (state semifinals) with 22 rebounds. She shot 78% from the field for the season (I think this has to be a misprint. I have to double check)

One of duke's players is Lexie Brown, someone who was a MCDAA and transferred from Maryland to Duke.

Last year, Azura Stevens was Duke's best player, but was not a MCDAA (though she had made USA Basketball teams). And Angela Salvadores was not a MCDAA player (she did not play high school ball in the US), but she was the FIBA junior POY.

Also, Connecticut has Kia Nurse, who was not a MCDAA but who has made the Canadian national team,

 

[noirwestern]

But, but, but UConn's best players are better than everyone else's best players!

 

[Lynx23]

UCONN takes SOME of the best players and helps them develop into the BEST players. Period.

 

[UcMiami]

Thanks for doing that Cam - it is an interesting list. I am not convinced that any HS ranking system is all that accurate and the McD list always throws in a few surprises - I think there is some weighting they do for publicity purposes chasing the big college program fan bases.
I too was surprised to see how many remain at Duke after transfers.
It would be nice for reporters to actually have this resource available to them prior to their writing the usual stories.
I will say in defense of many of those stories they look at college results more than HS rankings which speaks as much to developing the talent you get. And even in HS rankings the strength of Uconn is in the quality of their recruits and not the quantity.

 

[UcMiami]

UCONN takes SOME of the best players and helps them develop into the BEST players. Period.

The 'we take the cream off the top, and you all can have the skim milk' school of recruiting.

 

[Kaizen]

ND 2015-2016 also has 8 AA, Allen:Westbeld, Turner:Mabrey, Ogunbowale, Patberg, Cable, M Mabrey. But they cannot even enter the elite Eight.
A good coach is way more important than the number of AAs.

 

[Orangutan]

ND 2015-2016 also has 8 AA, Allen:Westbeld, Turner:Mabrey, Ogunbowale, Patberg, Cable, M Mabrey. But they cannot even enter the elite Eight.
A good coach is way more important than the number of AAs.

It also shows you that in a single-elimination tournament anomalous results can occur. Especially if you draw the best 4-seed (according to Massey and Sagarin) in the tournament.

For what it's worth, Cable was not a McDonald's All-American and Patberg was out all year with a torn ACL. So the real count was 6.

 

[Wally East]

ND 2015-2016 also has 8 AA, Allen:Westbeld, Turner:Mabrey, Ogunbowale, Patberg, Cable, M Mabrey. But they cannot even enter the elite Eight.
A good coach is way more important than the number of AAs.

If you're saying that Muffet isn't a good coach, is Geno the only good coach? (As a follow-up, was Geno not a good coach from '05 to '07?)

 

[Kaizen]

If you're saying that Muffet isn't a good coach, is Geno the only good coach? (As a follow-up, was Geno not a good coach from '05 to '07?)

Muffet is a good coach but not as good as Geno, This is why GENO with only 6 AA can win 2015 NC.
My conclusion is: good coach is more important than the number of AAs. Never said who is good and who is bad coach.

 

[UcMiami]

Orang - absolutely true.
No one has really talked about this yet, but Uconn just complete its 6th undefeated season. In some ways that speaks to just how dominant some of the Uconn teams have been, but it also speaks to something I think is unique in the Uconn coaching staff. They in many ways treat the whole regular season like a single elimination tournament. They are able to get teams comprised of 18-22 year old college students to remain completely focused on the next moment for 5 months straight in a way that no other coaching staff has been able to duplicate. And they do it year after year. The number of losses over the last 10 years is miniscule. But more than that the number of poor performances for a full 40 minutes by Uconn teams in the last decade is also very small, the number of quarters (or previously ten minute stretches) in games in which they lose focus is insignificant. People talk of 'breaking a game into 4 minute stretches' and trying to win those - in Uconn's seasons the number of those 4 minute stretches they lose are rare.

The consistency of Uconn is just unbelievable. We talk of 11 championships vs. 8 vs. all other active coaches, vs _____ . But 6 undefeated seasons vs. 3 teams with one each in the NCAA era - Uconn has twice as many as all other teams combined.

 

[BlueDevils]

UCONN takes SOME of the best players and helps them develop into the BEST players. Period.

I agree.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

UCONN takes SOME of the best players and helps them develop into the BEST players. Period.

UConn gets the best players...for UConn.

Yes, the Stewart/Tuck/Jefferson class had 3 of the top 6 recruits. TASS was an incredible recruiting class.

But look at players like Kia Nurse, etc. Perfect fit for UConn, in terms of being a player who can be a supplemental piece or a role player in the starting lineup next to stars or who can step up and be a great scorer/distributor when needed. She was not ranked in the top ten; in fact, ESPN/Dan Olson had her at 33.

On occasions, UConn does get the best players (e.g., Maya, Tina, KML, Stewart). But far more often, UConn gets the best players for UConn.

 

[UConnCat]

I liked what Scott Rueck said in the postgame press conference when asked whether UConn's success was simply a matter of getting the best players:

When you win as long as they have you create a momentum and an expectation that is innately conducive to winning. That's what you expect to do. So you know how to handle situations. The new class comes in and they learn from the people who have been there and done that. We all try to create that culture that's lasting and we've seen that in ours . . . Connecticut has been doing it on a national level forever. And so that's probably the biggest thing. Whether they get the best players or not, I think they get the best players that they want is what it seems to me. That team is built with not only extremely talented players but they're built with high character players and there's a maturity in that program and I don't think they put up with a lot of nonsense. So that's conducive to winning as well.

 

[hardcorehusky]

Talent, chemistry, culture and coaching makes a winning formula. Predicting most high school juniors and seniors future potential is best left to the coaches that do this for a living. Not recruiting services or popularity contests. Geno and CD have figured this out years ago and look what the results are.

 

[bbsamjj]

UConn gets the best players...for UConn.

Yes, the Stewart/Tuck/Jefferson class had 3 of the top 6 recruits. TASS was an incredible recruiting class.

But look at players like Kia Nurse, etc. Perfect fit for UConn, in terms of being a player who can be a supplemental piece or a role player in the starting lineup next to stars or who can step up and be a great scorer/distributor when needed. She was not ranked in the top ten; in fact, ESPN/Dan Olson had her at 33.

On occasions, UConn does get the best players (e.g., Maya, Tina, KML, Stewart). But far more often, UConn gets the best players for UConn.

I agree CamrnCrz that UConn gets players who fit their system, but it's by far more than "on occasion" when UConn gets the best players.

In fact, you'd have to maybe go to one of Geno's first championships (maybe not, Lobo and Walters and Risotti were all really good) when Geno's championship teams didn't have the very best player on its team.

Last four years: Stewart (#1 player out of HS); some of that overlapped with KML (#1 player out of HS). MJ would have been #1 player in her class, if not for Stewart.

Maya Moore and Tina Charles (both #1 players out of HS) won two championships together.

Diana Taurausi won 3 championships after coming out as the #1 player in the country (and no one will argue she willed the team to their final two championships)

Right there that's 9/11 UConn championships, when they were led by at least the very best, if not the top players in the nation.

This is not limited to UConn: If you look at the last 10 national champions: 6 were won by UConn, 2 by UT, 1 by Baylor, 1 by A&M. UT's two were when they had the very best player in the game (Parker). Baylor's 1 were when they had the very best in the game (Griner). A&M is the outlier in this scenario.

 

[Aluminny69]

bbsamjj is correct. It is the Number one player in a class that tends to be the game changer. Certain players just stand head and shoulders above other in their class. Just imagine if EDD had played 4 years at UConn......

Great post, bbsamjj! I would give it two thumbs up, if I could.

 

[UcMiami]

I agree CamrnCrz that UConn gets players who fit their system, but it's by far more than "on occasion" when UConn gets the best players.

In fact, you'd have to maybe go to one of Geno's first championships (maybe not, Lobo and Walters and Risotti were all really good) when Geno's championship teams didn't have the very best player on its team.

Last four years: Stewart (#1 player out of HS); some of that overlapped with KML (#1 player out of HS). MJ would have been #1 player in her class, if not for Stewart.

Maya Moore and Tina Charles (both #1 players out of HS) won two championships together.

Diana Taurausi won 3 championships after coming out as the #1 player in the country (and no one will argue she willed the team to their final two championships)

Right there that's 9/11 UConn championships, when they were led by at least the very best, if not the top players in the nation.

This is not limited to UConn: If you look at the last 10 national champions: 6 were won by UConn, 2 by UT, 1 by Baylor, 1 by A&M. UT's two were when they had the very best player in the game (Parker). Baylor's 1 were when they had the very best in the game (Griner). A&M is the outlier in this scenario.

Yes - quality over quantity. But interestingly of the three players you singled out for the 1995 championship, only one was a highly rated prospect. Kara was in the three/four star prospect range - an absolute project and probably one of the least anticipate NPOYs ever. Jen was a solid but not great prospect. Lobo was absolutely a national prospect and Sales who was a freshman was also nationally sought. Talent is absolutely necessary, but finding and developing mid-level recruits into great players is also really important.

 

[DaddyChoc]

Russell was a #1... so is Wilson at South Carolina

 

[bbsamjj]

No one is saying all #1 players win a national championship (furthermore, neither of their careers are finished), or that all #1 players are created equal, or that other teams don't also have talent. Tina Charles, a #1, didn't win a title until her junior year, when she had a sophomore #1 Maya Moore. My only point is that UConn receives the very best talent more often than on "occasion." In fact, I'd argue they've gotten more of the best players than anyone else.