Waiting on Kayleigh Heckel | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Waiting on Kayleigh Heckel

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Huskee11 said:
Great post, I learned a lot. Well researched, even down to knowing when USC holds exams!

Maybe we heard about some other players like Koval and Howell before it became "officially official". In most cases, it is not much of a limb to go out on.

Probably wishful thinking, but the fact that we haven't heard might be a tea leaf favoring the i dotting and t crossing Huskies? Also possibly creating distance from Serah's announcement? We can hope.

I check in on X with Talia Goodman and Skim Milkey more often than I should and they have both been pretty quiet in recent days, not much to report.

Obviously waiting for word on Heckel, but I am also hoping to hear some good news about Q at some point. I think the biggest other name still out there is Iyana Moore of Vanderbilt. The other big names have found new homes.

I am all in favor of getting Heckel, additional depth at the point - especially since KK is prone to foul trouble. It will give KK more freedom to play her aggressive style of defense and the option to utilize a better three point shooter at the point. Kelis should be great but there will be a learning curve.

The only downside I see to adding Heckel is that it would limit UConn to three scholarships/portal entries for the class of 2026. Assuming no UConn players entering the portal, that is.
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For grins and yucks, I got a subscription to Skim's Burner Ball Discord server to check out the chatter. It's been fascinating to see fans from a lot of schools in there.
 
Maybe she is just a bit of an indecisive young adult who needs to deliberate a bit before deciding. Azzi has admitted to having a hard time making decisions.

UConn is also quite deliberate and knows how to manage communications so I also think it is quite plausible that they are maximizing exposure by spacing out the announcements. Let the older Serah have her week news cycle and Heckel can finish her finals and then make her announcement. That then leads to at least 2 weeks of UConn in the news which is great for the brand. A strong brand leads to NIL opportunities for all the players which also helps recruiting. It's all connected.
 
Centerstream said:
I asked this question in another thread that swerved to a discussion of Heckel committing to UConn.
Other than having Paige flex on her after Kayleigh's "and one" foul in the Elite Eight game, what has she done during her freshman season that indicates that she is going to the starting PG? She was a reserve player at USC even after JuJu went down. It seems to me after looking at some box scores that most of her playing time and points came after the game was pretty much in hand for USC.
Are you expecting a huge sophomore leap, even in a new, harder system?
Just would like to know...
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I will take a stab at this, but I wouldn't expect Heckel to start either. What I do think is Kayleigh, Kaitlin, KK and Ashlynn are not far apart as overall players although they bring different traits to the table. When you look at comprehensive stats like PER or Box Plus Minus adjusted for competition they are close.

Kayleigh was generally slightly better than KK and Ashlynn's freshmen numbers, but a little behind their sophomore levels, where both improved. All three are pretty close to Kaitlin's as well. KK would seem to have the edge or starting mostly because she fits the definition of a PG a little better than Kayleigh who seems more like a 1/2 to me, Kaleigh's turnovers were a little high etc..

KK could also show a significant improvement because this is the first year she will play almost all the time at her best position. In her first year Nika had the ball all the time, and KK had to mostly play as a 2. In her second year Kaitlin was given the starting role and KK played some at the point, but generally not when she was in with Kaitlin. And both years had another PG ability player on the floor with Paige.

My main point is this year KK gets to spend most of her time where she should be, and presumably will be a better player at her natural position. Kayleigh if she comes would presumably get first dibs on backup PG ahead of Kelis, and could compete for playing time off the ball, but of course there is tremendous competition there.
 
One Kayleigh stat that I had missed: (in "THE ATHLETIC " from
April 16 and updated April 17). This was a review of the players
available in the transfer AT THAT TIME and Kayleigh was listed
as #13 (i.e. you'll need to scroll down to get to her discussion). Anyhow, the Athletic
called Kayleigh: "A solid backup ballhandler and perimeter
defender"... " a strong (transfer) pickup". Sounds good, huh?
NOW THE STAT: Kayleigh had a 46% field goal percentage!!...
to go with her 6.1 ppg, 1.4 reb per g, and 1.9 assists per game.
There is also a very short video embedded in the article of
"K9" playing against Miss St (?). She is bringing the ball up
(as any good PG would do) and blows by the defenders for
a nice layup. To me, all the stars are in alignment...
"Let the shoe drop!" GO KAYLEIGH.... we're (I am) ready!!
 
I think Heckel is coming. I think maybe it is her dream to play at UConn. She would be close to home. Maybe she looks at the roster and it is a crowded roster. But she is a confident player and she thinks she can beat some people out and get the playing time she wants.

If she does come. I am getting ready to write some sort of message about what I think it means for our 2026 recruiting strategy.
 
Blond D. said:
Do we really need Kayleigh? It wasn't like she burned up the court in any category.
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Reasonable question considering who we have coming back. however my take is that if Geno & Chris want her on the team, and they've discussed the impact of that with the current roster, then it's good enough for me. IMO there's no way that Geno will upset the chemistry cart for one player.
 
Imo, we should concentrate on next year's Kayleigh Heckel. That would be Kate Harpring. She would be the PG for the future for the Huskies. I wouldn't want to discourage her in the least amount by piling up PG's this year. Harpring, Vukosa and Robinson in the 2026 class and Geno rides off into the sunset with 4 more National Championships.
 
I just worry that UConn has a lot of talented guards already, and will have a hard time allocating playing time. I;m also skeptical of claims that Heckel walks on water (or perhaps dribbles on water is more accurate).
 
Kayleigh might very much want to play at UConn, but is leery of committing due to a more difficult route to playing time than what Serah will likely be facing. It is a big decision.

Serah is also farther along in her career. This was a one-year commitment for her, whereas Kayleigh is far closer to a standard high school recruit at 3 of the 4 years).

Giving herself a week is not a big ask.
 
rvwsleep said:
Imo, we should concentrate on next year's Kayleigh Heckel. That would be Kate Harpring. She would be the PG for the future for the Huskies. I wouldn't want to discourage her in the least amount by piling up PG's this year. Harpring, Vukosa and Robinson in the 2026 class and Geno rides off into the sunset with 4 more National Championships.
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Our interest in Heckel may be us tipping our hand a bit. We know we aren’t getting Kate Harpring.
 
visitingcock said:
Are her semester grades in?

It’s May 3. I had several professors who didn’t have everything graded and posted by May 3 ( back in the a middle Ages)
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It is always helpful to read the thread before commenting. Her Finals are next week.
 
I don't see the interest in Heckel at all. She is a good player but she plays the same position as your best defender and leader, and she also is not very tall. Do you really need three guards under 5'8? But more than all of that I wouldn't risk losing the loyalty I have currently to add players that weren't loyal to me in the first place. If UConn gets too addicted to the portal it will end up ending what they have built over the decades.
 
My hunch is that all roads lead to Q. Geno probably told Q she can come back to UConn if she can't find a suitable landing place in the portal, so actually, there isn't a scholarship available for Kayleigh. This creates a bottleneck for all other schools who desperately wanted Kayleigh signed and they themselves are saving one for her (except Notre Dame, they have enough for 2 squads, lol!). .

Until Q finds a place there will be no news from Kayleigh. Just my guess, but I think it is a pretty good one :p:p
 
Goodgood said:
My hunch is that all roads lead to Q. Geno probably told Q she can come back to UConn if she can't find a suitable landing place in the portal, so actually, there isn't a scholarship available for Kayleigh. This creates a bottleneck for all other schools who desperately wanted Kayleigh signed and they themselves are saving one for her (except Notre Dame, they have enough for 2 squads, lol!). .

Until Q finds a place there will be no news from Kayleigh. Just my guess, but I think it is a pretty good one :p:p
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So I'm not the only one who thought of this, probably at 3 am one day.
 
Goodgood said:
My hunch is that all roads lead to Q. Geno probably told Q she can come back to UConn if she can't find a suitable landing place in the portal, so actually, there isn't a scholarship available for Kayleigh. This creates a bottleneck for all other schools who desperately wanted Kayleigh signed and they themselves are saving one for her (except Notre Dame, they have enough for 2 squads, lol!). .

Until Q finds a place there will be no news from Kayleigh. Just my guess, but I think it is a pretty good one :p:p
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Wouldn't it be ironic (karmic?) if Q came back, discovered a new resolve, and then won a starting position and led the team to #13?
 
Rowdy831 said:
I don't see the interest in Heckel at all. She is a good player but she plays the same position as your best defender and leader, and she also is not very tall. Do you really need three guards under 5'8? But more than all of that I wouldn't risk losing the loyalty I have currently to add players that weren't loyal to me in the first place. If UConn gets too addicted to the portal it will end up ending what they have built over the decades.
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kinda agree with your post (not so much from the loyalty part) i always go by the eye test and Kayleigh Heckel
while certainly a good player who has has some sucess at a high level but in isn’t a “difference maker” and certainly doesn’t move the needle
on a 14 player roster
on the surface it seems to be saying that GA
doesn’t have confidence in some of the roster
 
visitingcock said:
So, she can’t officially sign until next week??????
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It’s more the case that a freshman transfer can’t officially be accepted into their transcript indicates that they have completed 20% of their degree requirements, which likely includes their 2nd semester grades being submitted by their professors, who hopefully don’t sit on them before submitting them to the academic dean’s office.
 
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