UConn's 5-year Post Recruiting Drought

[oldude]

Not that long ago, Geno would sometimes put a team on the court that included 6’5” Steph Dolson, 6’4” Kiah Stokes and 6’4” Breanna Stewart. When those three athletic posts were on the court together it was difficult for opposing teams to get a shot off within 15 feet of the basket or even corral a rebound. But from the time Stewie was recruited out of the class of 2012 up until the 11th hour signing of Olivia Nelson Odada out of the class of 2018, UConn suffered through a 5-year recruiting drought when they were unable to sign a single true post player out of HS (No, Gabby wasn't a true post).

We all know about several high-profile misses by UConn, Wilson in 2014 and Cox in 2016 who both decided to stay closer to home. There were probably other posts on UConn’s short list during the last 5 years that went somewhere else for any one of a number of reasons. More recently, the decommit by Collier and the decision by Ezi to sign a contract to play in the Australian pro league will leave UConn with only one talented, but inexperienced post next year.

UConn did bring in 2 post transfers, 6’5” Nat & 6’6” Z. Nat worked hard and did provide some solid minutes off the bench from time to time, but she never developed into the dominant post we all hoped she would become. The improvement of Z in the post this year was phenomenal, so much so that she has elevated herself to the likely 2nd pick of the WNBA draft, and will forego her last year of eligibility.

It’s always been something of a mystery to me why UConn has struggled to land post players. While UConn has routinely signed many of the very best G/W/SF’s from all over the country, most of UConn’s top posts came from the Northeast: Rebecca, Tina, Steph & Stewie. Only Kiah Stokes from Iowa made the journey to play in Storrs. While I understand that there are a limited number of good posts around the country, and an even more limited subset of that group who can play for Geno at UConn, there’s only one #1 HS POY every year, and next season UConn will have 3 of the current 4 (Lou. MW & CW), along with the #2 player (Crystal) from the one year the Huskies didn’t sign the #1 (Cox)

I will never sell Geno and UConn short. They could win the championship next season, but it’s going to be tough if they must depend on a freshmen center to battle the squadrons of BIGS around the country at schools like ND (2), TX (4) & Baylor (2). What is extremely important for the Huskies is to backup ONO’s signing with the successful recruitment of additional BIGS. While there are some tremendously talented players in the class of 2019, imo UConn’s #1 priority should be to lock up Aliyah Boston, from just up the road in MA, and then go get Amihere out of Canada. Along with ONO, Boston & Amihere would create an extremely formidable front line for 3 to 4 seasons. Add in MW, CW, Haley Jones, Brunelle, Bueckers, Fudd or whomever and UConn will continue to dominate WBB for years to come.

 

[SVCBeercats]

But from the time Stewie was recruited out of the class of 2012 up until the 11th hour signing of Olivia Nelson Odada out of the class of 2018, UConn suffered through a 5-year recruiting drought when they were unable to sign a single true post player out of HS (No, Gabby wasn't a true post).

Maybe he has Stewieitis. Perhaps his aspirations are too high. Another Stokes for defense would be fine by me. Or anther project like Dolson who was ranked 39 by Hoopzgurls. Perhaps relative to posts Geno suffers from the Goldilocks Effect. Whatever it is, lately UCONN has had its problems attracting (and keeping) bigs.

 

[oldude]

Maybe he has Steweitis. Perhaps his aspirations too high. Another Stokes for defense would be fine by me. Or anther project like Dolson who was ranked 39 by Hoopzgurls. Perhaps relative to posts Geno suffers from the Goldilocks Effect. Whatever it is, lately UCONN has had its problems attracting (and keeping) bigs.

Interesting comment. It is noteworthy that during the 5 years after Stewie, the only 2 post players that UConn appeared to go hard after were consensus #1’s Wilson & Cox.

 

[Dillon77]

Not that long ago, Geno would sometimes put a team on the court that included 6’5” Steph Dolson, 6’4” Kiah Stokes and 6’4” Breanna Stewart. When those three athletic posts were on the court together it was difficult for opposing teams to get a shot off within 15 feet of the basket or even corral a rebound. But from the time Stewie was recruited out of the class of 2012 up until the 11th hour signing of Olivia Nelson Odada out of the class of 2018, UConn suffered through a 5-year recruiting drought when they were unable to sign a single true post player out of HS (No, Gabby wasn't a true post).

We all know about several high-profile misses by UConn, Wilson in 2014 and Cox in 2016 who both decided to stay closer to home. There were probably other posts on UConn’s short list during the last 5 years that went somewhere else for any one of a number of reasons. More recently, the decommit by Collier and the decision by Ezi to sign a contract to play in the Australian pro league will leave UConn with only one talented, but inexperienced post next year.

UConn did bring in 2 post transfers, 6’5” Nat & 6’6” Z. Nat worked hard and did provide some solid minutes off the bench from time to time, but she never developed into the dominant post we all hoped she would become. The improvement of Z in the post this year was phenomenal, so much so that she has elevated herself to the likely 2nd pick of the WNBA draft, and will forego her last year of eligibility.

It’s always been something of a mystery to me why UConn has struggled to land post players. While UConn has routinely signed many of the very best G/W/SF’s from all over the country, most of UConn’s top posts came from the Northeast: Rebecca, Tina, Steph & Stewie. Only Kiah Stokes from Iowa made the journey to play in Storrs. While I understand that there are a limited number of good posts around the country, and an even more limited subset of that group who can play for Geno at UConn, there’s only one #1 HS POY every year, and next season UConn will have 3 of the current 4 (Lou. MW & CW), along with the #2 player (Crystal) from the one year the Huskies didn’t sign the #1 (Cox)

I will never sell Geno and UConn short. They could win the championship next season, but it’s going to be tough if they must depend on a freshmen center to battle the squadrons of BIGS around the country at schools like ND (2), TX (4) & Baylor (2). What is extremely important for the Huskies is to backup ONO’s signing with the successful recruitment of additional BIGS. While there are some tremendously talented players in the class of 2019, imo UConn’s #1 priority should be to lock up Aliyah Boston, from just up the road in MA, and then go get Amihere out of Canada. Along with ONO, Boston & Amihere would create an extremely formidable front line for 3 to 4 seasons. Add in MW, CW, Haley Jones, Brunelle, Bueckers, Fudd or whomever and UConn will continue to dominate WBB for years to come.

Interesting question and enjoyed the pondering. Looking at this through Irish eyes, there are most certainly a lot of folks that were wondering the same thing about the Irish and bigs just last spring. At the time, there was no Shepard and Christina "Koko" Nelson hadn't taken the quantum leap from "oh please don't pass her the ball" to very capable substitute and calming presence. But, of course Jessica did come aboard, Koko hit the switch and for awhile, Mikayla Vaughn showed why not all centers are not always the ones ranked up high on the recruiting boards.

So, where are all these folks who can take over the post position?

-Quite a few very athletic tall young woman are now playing volleyball, according to reports that we've all read.
- A lot of very tall young ladies, a la Stewie, play all over the court and don't want to be defined as centers.
- Teams like UConn and Notre Dame demand a fair amount of basketball IQ in their centers.

Given that there is a smaller talent pool for the gifted posts, a lot of schools fight for the ones who can step in and (maybe) start making contributions, from Wilson and Turner to Cox. In the Class of 2019, you have Boston and the power forward Amihere.

So the next group coaches look at are the "slightly under the radar" posts who fit "our system" and at ND, that's the case of Mik Vaughn and Danielle Cosgrove. In the six games she played, Mik Vaughn played like Bri Turner's slightly less agile but stronger younger sister. And Cosgrove has a decent left and right inside game, an accurate three pointer and high basetball IQ. Some of these players are hit and miss (Diamond Thompson for the Irish) and some take a long(er) time to develop (Nelson). But I suspect, you'll see coaches like McGraw and Scott Rueck of Oregon State, who have the knack and/or good post coaches (Carol Owens at ND) to continue to do this.

So, beside the frosting...look at other ingredients of the post cake.

 

[oldude]

Interesting question and enjoyed the pondering. Looking at this through Irish eyes, there are most certainly a lot of folks that were wondering the same thing about the Irish and bigs just last spring. At the time, there was no Shepard and Koko Nelson hadn't taken the quantum leap from "oh please don't pass her the ball" to very capable substitute and calming presence. But, of course Jessica did come aboard, Nelson it the switch and for awhile, Mikayla Vaughn showed why not all centers are not always the ones ranked up high on the boards.

So, where are all these folks?

Quite a few very athletic tall young woman are now playing volleyball, according to reports that we've all read.
A lot of very tall young ladies, a la Stewie, play all over the court and don't want to be defined as centers.
Teams like UConn and Notre Dame demand a fair amount of basketball IQ in their centers.

Given that there is a smaller pool for these posts, a lot of schools fight for the ones who can step in and (maybe) start making contributions, from Wilson and Turner to Cox. In the Class of 2019, you have Boston and the power forward Amihere.

So the next group coaches look at are the "slightly under the radar" posts who fit our system and at ND, that's the case of Mik Vaughn and Danielle Cosgrove. In the six games she played, Mik Vaughn played like Bri Turner's slightly less agile but stronger younger sister. And Cosgrove has a decent left and right inside game, an accurate three pointer and high basetball IQ. Some of these players are hit and miss (Diamond Thompson for the Irish) and some take a long(er) time to develop (Nelson). But I suspect, you'll see coaches like McGraw and Scott Rueck of Oregon State, who have the knack and/or good post coaches (Carol Owens at ND) to continue to do this.

So, beside the frosting...look at other ingredients of the post cake.

It is perhaps with the “under the radar” posts where UConn has fallen short, ever since recruiting Steph. As an example, Geno looked at 6’3”+ Olivia Owens (ESPN #33) from nearby Albany, NY a couple years back, but decided not to aggressively recruit her. Owens was all in on UConn had they offered, which they didn’t, so the class of 2019 post is heading to Miami.

In Geno’s defense, at the time the Huskies passed on Owens, they had a verbal from Collier and were actively recruiting ONO.

 

[Charliebball]

Not that long ago, Geno would sometimes put a team on the court that included 6’5” Steph Dolson, 6’4” Kiah Stokes and 6’4” Breanna Stewart. When those three athletic posts were on the court together it was difficult for opposing teams to get a shot off within 15 feet of the basket or even corral a rebound. But from the time Stewie was recruited out of the class of 2012 up until the 11th hour signing of Olivia Nelson Odada out of the class of 2018, UConn suffered through a 5-year recruiting drought when they were unable to sign a single true post player out of HS (No, Gabby wasn't a true post).

It’s always been something of a mystery to me why UConn has struggled to land post players. While UConn has routinely signed many of the very best G/W/SF’s from all over the country, most of UConn’s top posts came from the Northeast: Rebecca, Tina, Steph & Stewie. Only Kiah Stokes from Iowa made the journey to play in Storrs. While I understand that there are a limited number of good posts around the country, and an even more limited subset of that group who can play for Geno at UConn, there’s only one #1 HS POY every year, and next season UConn will have 3 of the current 4 (Lou. MW & CW), along with the #2 player (Crystal) from the one year the Huskies didn’t sign the #1 (Cox)

I will never sell Geno and UConn short. They could win the championship next season, but it’s going to be tough if they must depend on a freshmen center to battle the squadrons of BIGS around the country at schools like ND (2), TX (4) & Baylor (2). What is extremely important for the Huskies is to backup ONO’s signing with the successful recruitment of additional BIGS. While there are some tremendously talented players in the class of 2019, imo UConn’s #1 priority should be to lock up Aliyah Boston, from just up the road in MA, and then go get Amihere out of Canada. Along with ONO, Boston & Amihere would create an extremely formidable front line for 3 to 4 seasons. Add in MW, CW, Haley Jones, Brunelle, Bueckers, Fudd or whomever and UConn will continue to dominate WBB for years to come.

Like you said there are a very limited number of mobile post players that would fit the UConn system and unfortunately the one's UConn have gone after other then ONO (thankfully) have decided to stay close to home...........Boston should be priority number one, as I have written earlier, I do hope she wasn't insulted by all of the "Ezimania" that took place recently........she shouldn't be because she has an offer that could have been accepted for quite a while now........frankly I could live without a true plodding post if Geno can come up with a couple more recruits like Naphessa ............

 

[Dillon77]

It is perhaps with the “under the radar” posts where UConn has fallen short, ever since recruiting Steph. As an example, Geno looked at 6’3”+ Olivia Owens (ESPN #33) from nearby Albany, NY a couple years back, but decided not to aggressively recruit her. Owens was all in on UConn had they offered, which they didn’t, so the class of 2019 post is heading to Miami.

In Geno’s defense, at the time the Huskies passed on Owens, they had a verbal from Collier and were actively recruiting ONO.

Good example. Muffet McGraw saw Owens on the same trip she saw Cosgrove in Long Island and decided that Cosgrove was more of a fit for the Irish offense. Katie Meier of Miami pursued Owens, but she ultimately chose Maryland, where she'll be coming in with highly-ranked forward Shakira Austin, so Brenda Freese got her cake and can have some frosting, too. (That's the last time I pull out the metaphor... )

Speaking of Katie Meier of Miami (another coach I like, btw), not only did she travel to upstate New York to find a post, she went to the Netherlands a few years back to find rising senior Emese Hof. Since the Irish play Miami year-in, year-out, I see her a lot and thin she's a very serviceable center, plus some. So, coaches will look beyond the ponds, as well.

 

[oldude]

Like you said there are a very limited number of mobile post players that would fit the UConn system and unfortunately the one's UConn have gone after other then ONO (thankfully) have decided to stay close to home......Boston should be priority number one, as I have written earlier, I do hope she wasn't insulted by all of the "Ezimania" that took place recently...she shouldn't be because she has an offer that could have been accepted for quite a while now...frankly I could live without a true plodding post if Geno can come up with a couple more recruits like Naphessa ..

Agree completely, but there is always the example of Steph who had good hands, footwork and played hard, but could hardly be classified as a mobile post player in HS.

 

[bbsamjj]

I feel like post players often develop later than guards/wings--so have much more potential for "diamond in the rough" finds. Examples off the top of my head:

Teaira McCowan (Hoopgurlz #45)
Megan Gustafson (Hoopgurlz #80)
Stefanie Dolson (Hoopgurlz #40)

(Caveat: being ranked in the top 100 is only a diamond in the rough for the very best schools)

And to go way back to the Big East days, I believe both Rebekkah Brunson and Ruth Riley were fairly unheralded coming out of HS?

 

[oldude]

Under my “wacky theory” explanation of why UConn struggles to recruit posts outside of the Northeast, I’m blaming the airlines for continuously stuffing row after row of seats into Coach in order to increase their revenue per flight.

Any WBB player 6’4” or greater has to think twice before deciding to go somewhere that requires several round trip flights between college and home each year with her knees jammed in her face.

 

[BostonCanuck]

Yep. If I may paraphrase Espinoza-Hunter, "The Geno post recruiting drought is a thing, it's definitely not a myth."

 

[HuskylnSC]

Great thread. So many salient comments!

 

[bballnut90]

So, where are all these folks who can take over the post position?

- A lot of very tall young ladies, a la Stewie, play all over the court and don't want to be defined as centers

I think this is definitely an understated factor. I think with the emergence of Parker, Stewart and EDD....being a versatile big player is what a lot of players strive to be. More often than ever we see big HS players come in an are described as all around threats because they have above average ball handling for their size and have played some on the perimeter in AAU or HS. Just from the 2014 class you had people describing A'ja Wilson, Brianna Turner and Azura Stevens all being described as capable perimeter players or as G/F. I think all 3 thought they'd be more perimeter oriented in college than they've been, too. Same with other top 5 recruits Joyner Holmes, Rellah Boothe, Lauren Cox, and Jessica Shepard.

You really don't see a whole lot of classic back to the basket post players getting high ratings from HG anymore. Examples of this include Tiera McCowan, Kalani Brown, Alaina Coates, Brionna Jones, etc. The main exception I can think of is Mercedes Russell, but there definitely seems to be a trend where post players want to be viewed as all around players rather than true posts.

 

[CocoHusky]

It is perhaps with the “under the radar” posts where UConn has fallen short, ever since recruiting Steph. As an example, Geno looked at 6’3”+ Olivia Owens (ESPN #33) from nearby Albany, NY a couple years back, but decided not to aggressively recruit her. Owens was all in on UConn had they offered, which they didn’t, so the class of 2019 post is heading to Miami.
In Geno’s defense, at the time the Huskies passed on Owens, they had a verbal from Collier and were actively recruiting ONO.

I'm not sure that was the case with Owens. While it is fair to question the result (UCONN not signing a contribution post out of high school for a minute now) it is hard to question the effort and impossible to question the evaluation process.
The effort: UCONN staff evaluated the following post players in the class of 2018:

1. Charli Collier-UCONN unofficial visit to UCONN
2. Shakira Austin-home visit
3. ONO-
4. NaLyssa Smith-home visit
5. Andrea Aquino- AAU tournament Summer of 2016
6. Sedona Prince- US basketball summer of 2016
7. Olivia Owens- Geno visit her HS practice
8. Danielle Cosgrove-confirmed by @CoachBill for BY

The result:

1. Collier- offered accepted then not
2. Austin-unknown but likely not offered
3. ONO-offered and accepted
4. NaLyssa Smith- unknown
5. Aquino-unknown
6. Prince- likely offered since UCONN made her down select top 3?
7. Owens-likely not offered
8. Cosgrove-likely not offered

Summary: UCONN evaluated 8 post players in the class of 2018. UCONN made offers to at least 3 of the 8 players. Of the 3 UCONN offered players 2 accepted (originally) and one had UCONN top 3 down select.
I suppose UCONN could go to the Louisville model and offered all 8 players- (I really didn't mean that, I was just venting) but I'm OK with an evaluation process that says: look at 8 kids and determined to offer only 3.

 

[Dillon77]

I think this is definitely an understated factor. I think with the emergence of Parker, Stewart and EDD....being a versatile big player is what a lot of players strive to be. More often than ever we see big HS players come in an are described as all around threats because they have above average ball handling for their size and have played some on the perimeter in AAU or HS. Just from the 2014 class you had people describing A'ja Wilson, Brianna Turner and Azura Stevens all being described as capable perimeter players or as G/F. I think all 3 thought they'd be more perimeter oriented in college than they've been, too. Same with other top 5 recruits Joyner Holmes, Rellah Boothe, Lauren Cox, and Jessica Shepard.

You really don't see a whole lot of classic back to the basket post players getting high ratings from HG anymore. Examples of this include Tiera McCowan, Kalani Brown, Alaina Coates, Brionna Jones, etc. The main exception I can think of is Mercedes Russell, but there definitely seems to be a trend where post players want to be viewed as all around players rather than true posts.

For sure. Like you said, they want to be thought of as all-round court threats, but many of them flourish in the "back to the center" mode. Shepard, forced into the low post role, actually flourished there and I'm of the belief that her best move is the "seal out" from the right side and the bank jump shot and/or jump hook that follows (although that spin move against McCowan in the NC game was a keeper). I suspect we'll see Shepard out at the foul line/elbow a bit more next year, but that will take advantage of her court vision and passing ability. Plus, she'll be pitching it down low to Turner, who is most certainly a low-post, half-court threat (albeit one that runs the break well).

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Agree completely, but there is always the example of Steph who had good hands, footwork and played hard, but could hardly be classified as a mobile post player in HS.

Yep. Indeed, Steph did not have good hands or footwork in high school. The UConn coaching staff turned an overweight, slow, and jump-less post player into an All-American. In the McDonald's AA game, Dolson looked completely outclassed.

 

[CocoHusky]

For sure. Like you said, they want to be thought of as all-round court threats, but many of them flourish in the "back to the center" mode. Shepard, forced into the low post role, actually flourished there and I'm of the belief that her best move is the "seal out" from the right side and the bank jump shot and/or jump hook that follows (although that spin move against McCowan in the NC game was a keeper). I suspect we'll see Shepard out at the foul line/elbow a bit more next year, but that will take advantage of her court vision and passing ability. Plus, she'll be pitching it down low to Turner, who is most certainly a low-post, half-court threat (albeit one that runs the break well).

Not picking on your post but can I say how much I hate how people are viewing Jessica's recent success, acting as if it were not predictable, and trying to rewrite history.
Newsflash: Jessica was #3 player in her class coming out of HS. The #1 (KLS) and #2 (A. Durr) player in that class have already achieved AA status.
Jessica made a commitment early on to stay home and play at Nebraska. This essentially killed her recruiting options very early on-I think it was her Freshmen year of HS when Nebraska offered. Every top 10 program (including UCONN) should have been in on Jessica coming out of HS.
When she decided to transfer every top 10 program (including UCONN) should have immediately jump back in.

 

[oldude]

I'm not sure that was the case with Owens. While it is fair to question the result (UCONN not signing a contribution post out of high school for a minute now) it is hard to question the effort and impossible to question the evaluation process.
The effort: UCONN staff evaluated the following post players in the class of 2018:

1. Charli Collier-UCONN unofficial visit to UCONN
2. Shakira Austin-home visit
3. ONO-
4. NaLyssa Smith-home visit
5. Andrea Aquino- AAU tournament Summer of 2016
6. Sedona Prince- US basketball summer of 2016
7. Olivia Owens- Geno visit her HS practice
8. Danielle Cosgrove-confirmed by @CoachBill for BY

The result:

1. Collier- offered accepted then not
2. Austin-unknown but likely not offered
3. ONO-offered and accepted
4. NaLyssa Smith- unknown
5. Aquino-unknown
6. Prince- likely offered since UCONN made her down select top 3?
7. Owens-likely not offered
8. Cosgrove-likely not offered

Summary: UCONN evaluated 8 post players in the class of 2018. UCONN made offers to at least 3 of the 8 players. Of the 3 UCONN offered players 2 accepted (originally) and one had UCONN top 3 down select.
I suppose UCONN could go to the Louisville model and offered all 8 players- (I really didn't mean that, I was just venting) but I'm OK with an evaluation process that says: look at 8 kids and determined to offer only 3.

Appreciate the detailed analysis. But let’s say that rather than offering the top 3 posts in the Class of 2019, UConn offered 2 of the top 3 + Owens as kind of a safety net. Owens was likely a lock and certainly would be a better player in the long run than either Kyla or Touly.

 

[Dillon77]

Not picking on your post but can I say how much I hate how people are viewing Jessica's recent success, acting as if it were not predictable, and trying to rewrite history.
Newsflash: Jessica was #3 player in her class coming out of HS. The #1 (KLS) and #2 (A. Durr) player in that class have already achieved AA status.
Jessica made a commitment early on to stay home and play at Nebraska. This essentially killed her recruiting options very early on-I think it was her Freshmen year of HS when Nebraska offered. Every top 10 program (including UCONN) should have been in on Jessica coming out of HS.
When she decided to transfer every top 10 program (including UCONN) should have immediately jump back in.

No offense taken. I'm well aware of Jessica Shepard's background and development, from high school and AAUs to Nebraska and the Connie Yow situation. I know you know this, too, because we've written many posts (along with a few other informed and/or diligent posters) on that situation.

However, going to another of my posts in this thread: when looking for posts, it's good to aim high and also in unexpected places. Shep -- even with the early commit -- was out there for everyone to see. Her backup, Koko Nelson, is on the opposite end of the spectrum. But gosh knows this Irish team needed both in the mix. Not saying we didn't need Shep more, but Koko helped (with good minutes against tall, low-post oriented centers). That's one the points I've come to with posts: got to look all over for them. But with Ms. Shepard, it's all right in front of you, I agree. And will be next year, too.

 

[CocoHusky]

Appreciate the detailed analysis. But let’s say that rather than offering the top 3 posts in the Class of 2019, UConn offered 2 of the top 3 + Owens as kind of a safety net. Owens was likely a lock and certainly would be a better player in the long run than either Kyla or Touly.

That's just it, UCONN did not just offer the top 3 post in the class. Per ESPN Austin is ahead of ONO and Aquino is ahead of Prince. UCONN evaluated and determined that the three best player for UCONN were Collier, ONO and Prince. As far a Owens being a "safety net" , keep in mind I have no idea how she was evaluated, but the question I would ask myself is this: Was Owens good enough to be UCONN's primary if the other two offers say no?
IMO Collier , ONO, or Prince would have been good enough to become UCONN primary if any of the other two said no. If all three players said no then you correct it in the next recruiting class, which would have been obviously better if Azura stayed around.

 

[oldude]

That's just it, UCONN did not just offer the top 3 post in the class. Per ESPN Austin is ahead of ONO and Aquino is ahead of Prince. UCONN evaluated and determined that the three best player for UCONN were Collier, ONO and Prince. As far a Owens being a "safety net" , keep in mind I have no idea how she was evaluated, but the question I would ask myself is this: Was Owens good enough to be UCONN's primary if the other two offers say no?
IMO Collier , ONO, or Prince would have been good enough to become UCONN primary if any of the other two said no. If all three players said no then you correct it in the next recruiting class, which would have been obviously better if Azura stayed around.

We can speculate about this year’s class, but probably a better example of what happens when you don’t have a Plan B was the scenario that unfolded during 2016.

For some time, BY fans were giddy with the thought of reprising the Stewie/Mo signing by getting Cox & Crystal. But then UConn lost out on Cox, Tuck declared for the draft and Nat was the only post left on the roster.

UConn went into full scramble mode, signing Kyla late and securing Z & Touly via transfer even later. Of those 3 players, only Z has been a significant contributor and only for one season.

Everybody has a subpar recruiting year from time to time, but surely a school as prominent as UConn is in WBB, can do a little better job than they have recruiting post players over the past 5 seasons.

 

[meyers7]

Yep. Indeed, Steph did not have good hands or footwork in high school. The UConn coaching staff turned an overweight, slow, and jump-less post player into an All-American. In the McDonald's AA game, Dolson looked completely outclassed.

Completely disagree with you. When I saw her in the McD's game, I thought she could be very very good. Wasn't surprised she became an AA.

 

[Charliebball]

Completely disagree with you. When I saw her in the McD's game, I thought she could be very very good. Wasn't surprised she became an AA.

isn't the fact that she was at the McDonald's game enough to prove she was very talented? Unless of course she was just there to watch............

 

[huskyrob1]

Not that long ago, Geno would sometimes put a team on the court that included 6’5” Steph Dolson, 6’4” Kiah Stokes and 6’4” Breanna Stewart. When those three athletic posts were on the court together it was difficult for opposing teams to get a shot off within 15 feet of the basket or even corral a rebound. But from the time Stewie was recruited out of the class of 2012 up until the 11th hour signing of Olivia Nelson Odada out of the class of 2018, UConn suffered through a 5-year recruiting drought when they were unable to sign a single true post player out of HS (No, Gabby wasn't a true post).

We all know about several high-profile misses by UConn, Wilson in 2014 and Cox in 2016 who both decided to stay closer to home. There were probably other posts on UConn’s short list during the last 5 years that went somewhere else for any one of a number of reasons. More recently, the decommit by Collier and the decision by Ezi to sign a contract to play in the Australian pro league will leave UConn with only one talented, but inexperienced post next year.

UConn did bring in 2 post transfers, 6’5” Nat & 6’6” Z. Nat worked hard and did provide some solid minutes off the bench from time to time, but she never developed into the dominant post we all hoped she would become. The improvement of Z in the post this year was phenomenal, so much so that she has elevated herself to the likely 2nd pick of the WNBA draft, and will forego her last year of eligibility.

It’s always been something of a mystery to me why UConn has struggled to land post players. While UConn has routinely signed many of the very best G/W/SF’s from all over the country, most of UConn’s top posts came from the Northeast: Rebecca, Tina, Steph & Stewie. Only Kiah Stokes from Iowa made the journey to play in Storrs. While I understand that there are a limited number of good posts around the country, and an even more limited subset of that group who can play for Geno at UConn, there’s only one #1 HS POY every year, and next season UConn will have 3 of the current 4 (Lou. MW & CW), along with the #2 player (Crystal) from the one year the Huskies didn’t sign the #1 (Cox)

I will never sell Geno and UConn short. They could win the championship next season, but it’s going to be tough if they must depend on a freshmen center to battle the squadrons of BIGS around the country at schools like ND (2), TX (4) & Baylor (2). What is extremely important for the Huskies is to backup ONO’s signing with the successful recruitment of additional BIGS. While there are some tremendously talented players in the class of 2019, imo UConn’s #1 priority should be to lock up Aliyah Boston, from just up the road in MA, and then go get Amihere out of Canada. Along with ONO, Boston & Amihere would create an extremely formidable front line for 3 to 4 seasons. Add in MW, CW, Haley Jones, Brunelle, Bueckers, Fudd or whomever and UConn will continue to dominate WBB for years to come.

Maybe his greatest team ever didn't have a post either, at least a starting post. The 2001 team...Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Tamika Williams, Aisha Jones, and Taurasi. Ashley Battle was first off the bench IIRC. He had Jessica Moore who was a redshirt freshman that he was bringing along slowly because of a prior torn ACL. Moore did play a lot the following year as did 6'3" freshman Ann Strother, after the FAB four graduated.

 

[HuskyNan]

Completely disagree with you. When I saw her in the McD's game, I thought she could be very very good. Wasn't surprised she became an AA.

I was told by a highly respected AAU coach that Stef was good enough to be a valuable role player at UConn. A lot of smart folks didn’t see her postential as a high schooler