USA 16U Team Trials - General | Page 4 | The Boneyard

USA 16U Team Trials - General

HuskyFan1125 said:
Kenny Kallina can be somewhat annoying at time but eveyone can be at an extent.
I will say he isn't wrong about PG play. That's exactly what cost the U17 team last year and he makes a very good argument.
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Kenny is annoying. PG play, post play and coaching were all poor last time around. I would like to see Kenny thank the committee for what are some clearly hard decision instead of taking multiple shot at people who were not part of the process. He threw multiple jabs a Mike Flynn and Bluestar because of how many Philly Belles made the team. If multiple Belles kids are making these teams and we have been already assured by 'a reliable source" that Kevin Lynch doesn't get to vote on Belles players then just maybe the Belles are preparing their kids better than anyone else.
 
Alydar said:
His argument is good only if you agree with him that Paige Bueckers isn't a pg. I think she is and that gives the team 2 pg's on a 12 player roster.
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Exactly! There are three premium PGs (Paige Bueckers, Zia Cooke, Azzi Fudd) left among the 18 finalist.
 
Why am I not surprised? They should go the opposite way and list them all as 5-8. Mess everyone up.
 
Kalina did a podcast with some other AAU guy after the U19 team was selected and they complained incessantly about Christyn Williams making the team as a rising high school senior even though USA BB has included similar players on previous U19 teams. They said it was all Geno's doing and the U19 coach Jen Rizzotti although they eventually realized Jen is not the coach of the team (and Geno has nothing to do with the U19 team).

Kalina is a gadfly and the only people who care what he thinks are those who are looking to be critical of USA BB.
 
j66kicker said:
Kenny complains about USA Basketball "hating Florida," and ne might be right. And he might be the main reason.
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Hating Florida? Really?
Of the 133 kids that tried out for U16 team only a handful (FIVE!) were from Florida.
Number of FL prospect in ESPN Terrific 25 for the class of 2019=ZERO!
Number of FL prospects in Prospectsnation top 50 or the class of 2019=ONE!
Number of FL prospect being tracked by ESPN for the class of 2020=TWO!
How is this hating on Florida?
 
  1. Nicc Jackson‏ @niccdontcare 5h5 hours ago
    You can be a NO NAME coming in Ball Out and get cut or be a BIG NAME coming in PLAY average and make the cut. #SadTruth
    Nicc Jackson‏ @niccdontcare 5h5 hours ago
  2. The power of association and affiliation is real. Politics kills everything
    1f44e-1f3ff.png


    Nicc Jackson‏ @niccdontcare 6h6 hours ago
  3. Let's see if Cali will have any on the team when it's all said and done. Knocking us off the team slowly but surely lmao #Politics
Nicc Jackson‏ @niccdontcare 5h5 hours ago
Replying to @KennyKallina
As good as these trials were bro it's hard to believe certain players got cut this am. Some were flat out balling since day one.
 
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CocoHusky said:
Hating Florida? Really?
Of the 133 kids that tried out for U16 team only a handful (FIVE!) were from Florida.
Number of FL prospect in ESPN Terrific 25 for the class of 2019=ZERO!
Number of FL prospects in Prospectsnation top 50 or the class of 2019=ONE!
Number of FL prospect being tracked by ESPN for the class of 2020=TWO!
How is this hating on Florida?
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Have to agree, he makes no sense. There's nobody here to hate. And living in Florida, I can attest that the girls BB is very poor here. A prospect here and there but that's it. The coaching is very weak in general and other than AAU teams, the kids don't go anywhere near a gym in the offseason. If they don't have a father or someone to teach them fundamentals they don't get any.
 
UConnCat said:
Kalina did a podcast with some other AAU guy after the U19 team was selected and they complained incessantly about Christyn Williams making the team as a rising high school senior even though USA BB has included similar players on previous U19 teams. They said it was all Geno's doing and the U19 coach Jen Rizzotti although they eventually realized Jen is not the coach of the team (and Geno has nothing to do with the U19 team).

Kalina is a gadfly and the only people who care what he thinks are those who are looking to be critical of USA BB.
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Agree. Just another wannabe guru who can't understand why they don't let him help pick the teams.
 
"Now, the team will cut down to 12 and leave next Sunday for Argentina"

Aren't these kiddies supposed to be in school!!!!;)
 
UConnCat said:
They said it was all Geno's doing and the U19 coach Jen Rizzotti although they eventually realized Jen is not the coach of the team (and Geno has nothing to do with the U19 team).
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She is the chair of the selection committee though.

I don't buy conspiracies to somehow reward UConn. UConn isn't the only school after Williams.
 
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Charliebball said:
"Now, the team will cut down to 12 and leave next Sunday for Argentina"

Aren't these kiddies supposed to be in school!!!!;)
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Two New Jersey players (Miller and Watson), still in the running and Celeste Taylor must be overcoming/developing that mid-range jumper pretty nicely to make the finalist grouping. That's three Belles (Watson, Taylor, Burke) in the final 18, right? Perhaps Mr. Lynch and his staff are developing their talent very well....I know ND has one Belle in the Class of 17 (M. Vaughn) and '18 (Ms. Cosgrove).
 
Dillon77 said:
Two New Jersey players (Miller and Watson), still in the running and Celeste Taylor must be overcoming/developing that mid-range jumper pretty nicely to make the finalist grouping. That's three Belles (Watson, Taylor, Burke) in the final 18, right? Perhaps Mr. Lynch and his staff are developing their talent very well....I know ND has one Belle in the Class of 17 (M. Vaughn) and '18 (Ms. Cosgrove).
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Nice to see NJ players make some noise.............there are at least three more coming 7th/8th grders Justine Pissot, Sophie Sabino and Destiny Adams.........all should be top 100 nationally in the next few years and all have received serious interest from top 20 programs already.......should be fun too watch
 
blakeon18 said:
BTW: a report from Bret McCormick says that Boston is probably the best post in her class [2019].
Mike Flynn calls her the best post in high school.

Aliyah and Samantha have very different skill sets....they would flourish together in Storrs.
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Maybe they would be something like Stewie and Tina - could you imagine both of them on the Huskies at the same time?!!!
 
I wonder if Owusu didn't make it on name recognition. Heard absolutely nothing about her all weekend, not one tweet from any observer. Kallina was the only one who spoke about her and said she wasn't all that good.
 
Sluconn Husky said:
I wonder if Owusu didn't make it on name recognition. Heard absolutely nothing about her all weekend, not one tweet from any observer. Kallina was the only one who spoke about her and said she wasn't all that good.
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She may not have played all that well over the weekend but she had an outstanding high school year........as one of the experts said, they may judge some players on their recent seasons not just their play over several days in Colorado............
 
Sluconn Husky said:
She is the chair of the selection committee though.

I don't buy conspiracies to somehow reward UConn. UConn isn't the only school after Williams.
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Isn't it interesting that when it was the national team the talk was that the coach actually picks the team and the selection committee just rubberstamps their picks and now with the U16 team it's the selection committee that is deciding everything and the coach is uninvolved. :rolleyes:
 
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Alydar said:
Isn't it interesting that when it was the national team the talk was that the coach actually picks the team and the selection committee just rubberstamps their picks and now with the U16 team it's the selection committee that is deciding everything and the coach is uninvolved. :rolleyes:
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And when the senior national team is chosen next year it will be the special advisor who picks the team. It's tough to keep up.
 
Like I said before these trials started, picking a team of 12 from 130-140 very talented players, many with similar skill sets, over a couple of days is extremely difficult and will inevitably lead to some questionable choices
 
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  1. Kenny Kallina‏ @KennyKallina 3h3 hours ago
    Replying to @jasonni53764732 @MikeFlynn826 @niccdontcare
    Everyone trying to promote kids who come to their events & affiliated with to drive revenue it makes sense but very real it's happeningKenny Kallina‏ @KennyKallina 3h3 hours ago
  2. Replying to @MikeFlynn826 @Derek_A1779
    You keep addressing me ... stupid is questioning the main stream and jealous is identifying the major bias and politics involved

    Kenny Kallina‏ @KennyKallina 3h3 hours ago
    Replying to @MikeFlynn826 @niccdontcare
    There are huge biases in USAB everyone sees but no one will point out I know you spend a lot of time calling me stupid but it's real

 
Kallina's biggest beef seems to be with the three Philly Belles on the team but he himself loved Celeste Taylor's play and acted like Maddie Burke would be a fine addition as well. Which leaves just Watson. And I should add Kallina was about the only onlooker not to praise Watson over the weekend.
 
Sluconn Husky said:
Kallina's biggest beef seems to be with the three Philly Belles on the team but he himself loved Celeste Taylor's play and acted like Maddie Burke would be a fine addition as well. Which leaves just Watson. And I should add Kallina was about the only onlooker not to praise Watson over the weekend.
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That may be true and I'm no fan of Kalina due to his anti-UConn attitude but I do think it's fair that those choosing the team should have no outside interest in selecting certain players over others.........I'm sure they could have come up with one more nonaligned talent evaluator to add to the mix
 
Charliebball said:
That may be true and I'm no fan of Kalina due to his anti-UConn attitude but I do think it's fair that those choosing the team should have no outside interest in selecting certain players over others....I'm sure they could have come up with one more nonaligned talent evaluator to add to the mix
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I was under the impression that Flynn wasn't involved in the selection process.

The fact of the matter is that the Philly Belles often have loads of talented players that go on to future success elsewhere. Kallina is constantly miffed that the players he coaches don't make it but how many of them are high-level prospects? His drumbeat that everyone hates Florida---and the south??---doesn't cut it.
 
Some of the "men" involved in big roles with recruits these days spend more time attacking/belittling each other in defense of their egos versus actually promoting the girls that are making them money off of claiming to be recruiting and talent experts.

With that said, there is a lot of truth to the politics at play with USAB. However, the 18 players left are all great selections. My only surprises are Nyah Green, Te-Hina Paopao and Rickea Jackson omissions. With Nyah and Rickea a logical argument can be made for their omissions because there is a lot of talent at the wing positions. But there is not a lot of pure point guards nor is there depth at the 5 spot (although Boston, Brink and Baldwin are all outstanding prospects). The lack of depth at point guard made it all the more confusing that they chose a number of combo guards over some of the few quality point guards like Paopao or Deja Kelly. To be fair though Zia Cooke will lead this team at the point guard spot and I think it has been unanimously agreed upon that she dominated the trials and Paige Bueckers along with Jordan Horston will probably the back up point guards.

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned but the youngest player, Azzi Fudd, is named after Jennifer Azzi. She is a 2021 but is definitely a player to keep an eye on. Early interest from a large number of major programs.
 
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