Waiting on Kayleigh Heckel | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Waiting on Kayleigh Heckel

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Stagnant said:
Totally disagree. Heckel would make the rotation at UConn. She would be one of the top 10 players.
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u made my point
being one of the top 10 players doesn’t make the team substantially better and puts an existing player out of the rotation
 
Bone Dog said:
I'm pretty sure we don't have any guards under 5'8". KK is listed as 5'9", Ash at 5'10", Kelis is listed anywhere from 5'9" to 5'11", Azzi at 5'11", Allie at 6'0", Morgan at 6'2". K9 would be another 5'9" guard if she comes. If she doesn't, it's impossible to tell how tall she might be.
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Have you been reading about Quantum Mechanics? :cool:
 
Centerstream said:
Very interesting and informative post @oldude . But wouldn't the same degree requirements be in play for the portal entrant freshmen that committed to their new schools last month? Wouldn't they be in the same position as Heckel? Just wondering.
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I addressed that question in another post on this thread. There is nothing to keep a school from announcing a transfer based on a verbal commitment without all the necessary documentation. UConn won’t do that. But certainly a school like LSU would, considering that they embarrassed themselves by releasing a photo of Serah Williams in an LSU uniform in front of a big neon tiger right after her visit to Baton Rouge.
 
Goodgood said:
Well, Avery Howell got accepted immediately to Washington and she was a freshman classmate of K9 at U$C...
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This is the 3rd time I have addressed this question on this thread. A school could announce a transfer based on a verbal from the player. While UConn would never do that, LSU certainly would, considering that they put out a photo of Serah in an LSU uniform immediately after her visit.

In addition, do we know if Howell or the University of Washington announced her transfer on social media? In Serah, case she announced her transfer to UConn several days before the University officially announced it.
 
Gus Mahler said:
?

I'm not very plugged in but this is the first I've heard of any drama surrounding Q. Would you please elaborate?
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It happened last year and it’s really not worth dragging through the mud again. Q seemed to genuinely enjoy all the post season celebrations and we all wish her the very best wherever she ends up.
 
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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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Obviously, I'm just speculating. Watching Kayleigh play, she appears to have all of the tools to provide a steady hand at the point, plus she has 3 years yet to go. Distribution is her signature, not gaudy numbers. She is not yet aboard.
When people argue for KK, they forget the impact she has coming off the bench. Playing the point requires a different style and mind-set, more like Chen. The combo of KK and Ashlyn usually arriving at the same time gives UConn a big energy boost. Stick with that, I suggest.
A big variable is how the newbies pan out. Will any among them make a statement for playing time? I'm especially interested in the hybrid concept, in which a player can be both a guard and a small forward (like Morgan).
Right now we have an abundance of riches. Coach will sort things out as he usually does.
 
Stagnant said:
That Q theory is fan fiction. Wasting Heckel’s time like that would be a terrible look for the UConn program.
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Not to mention the fact that they play different positions.
 
oldude said:
KK will be the starting pg next season. If Kayleigh comes to Storrs she will get a lot of PT.
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I disagree. Kayleigh won't be coming to Storrs to have a seat on the bench! If she comes, she may not start the first few games, but I believe she will be the starting PG. She left USC because she didn't start last season (and she averaged 17-18 minutes per game). Additionally, the chemistry of having KK come off the bench is way too strong to mess it up.
 
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RockyMTblue2 said:
I'm all for this transfer but I think we have conflated the two portal players here. Kayleigh is a freshman and was not a starter at USC. With the minutes she got she was a solid contributor and for all we know she may leave UConn an AA if she comes. Yes she was in a big time program but UConn is next level, which should excite here. Kaitlyn recently gave an interview and said something that surprised me initially. She said at UConn her body was transformed; that's a big word. But in the NCAAs UConn was playing with the same intensity in the 4th as they were in the 1st. That is very hard to do and speaks to the level of physical and mental conditioning when you are a Husky. I think there is much to be drawn out of Kayleigh and I hope she accepts the challenge.
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A little bit of a stretch to say Uconn is next level when compared to another final 4 team that we lost to earlier in the year
 
Zonepress said:
u made my point
being one of the top 10 players doesn’t make the team substantially better and puts an existing player out of the rotation
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This is UConn women's basketball. Injuries happen. Being the 4th player off the bench can turn into being a vital reserve far too readily.

I would suspect that Geno found coaching the season that preceded this past one very frustrating and he doesn't want to have that happen again in the near future.
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
I'm all for this transfer but I think we have conflated the two portal players here. Kayleigh is a freshman and was not a starter at USC. With the minutes she got she was a solid contributor and for all we know she may leave UConn an AA if she comes. Yes she was in a big time program but UConn is next level, which should excite here. Kaitlyn recently gave an interview and said something that surprised me initially. She said at UConn her body was transformed; that's a big word. But in the NCAAs UConn was playing with the same intensity in the 4th as they were in the 1st. That is very hard to do and speaks to the level of physical and mental conditioning when you are a Husky. I think there is much to be drawn out of Kayleigh and I hope she accepts the challenge.
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hookshot said:
A little bit of a stretch to say Uconn is next level when compared to another final 4 team that we lost to earlier in the year
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Wow! You both got somethings wrong here. First, Kayleigh played for USC, not UCLA. Second, USC was not a final 4 team.
 
sno-cat said:
Maybe Geno told her she would not be the starting PG and she is having a hard time dealing with that thought vs going to a lesser school and definitely starting. That would not be an easy decision IMO.
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The only player Geno ever told she would be starting when she arrived at UConn was Paige, and Heckel is no Paige. Surely she knew that Geno would not guarantee her a starting position when she expressed an interest in UConn, particularly after she attended Kelsey Plum’s camp with KK who was recognized as the “top dawg” in the camp.
 
Kieran Culkin Photo GIF by Searchlight Pictures

Me, constantly checking for any updates on all my families' phones cuz THERE has to be news sometime, right? And knowing immediately will make all right in my world... I think I have a problem....
 
Overall, we didn't necessarily need Serah Williams either but it makes the margin for error wider by having another quality front court player in case Jana or Ice don't continue their improvement or an injury occurs. We didn't really need Kaitlyn Chen last year either but she certainly found a way to contribute. I would actually say losing Paige creates more of a need for a known ball handling guard than we ever had last years as we really only have KK and can rely on Azzi and then would have to hope Kelish is all that we hope. I prefer to not have to have Azzi bring the ball up if I had the K9 option.
 
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First of all, Kayleigh is no Kaitlyn, at least not yet. KC was a proven offensive player when she arrived with all the tools, a 3 point shot, a pull up J, a left and right hand drive move, and the mentality of a scorer. She developed however almost exponentially it seemed as the season progressed. She found her shot from the arc, and became a true part of the flow and when that happened, the team changed. We went into another gear offensively. You had 4 dynamic threats from anywhere on the court. She was also a solid defender though no KK.

Here is the thing about Kayleigh that is not being mentioned. She can defend well. Having said everything above about our offense, the beauty of this team was its defense. The numbers mentioned, specifically 73 halftime points given in our last 3 games, all against #1 seeds, attest to a great defensive team. The Geno metamorphosis every February/March is a defensive ratcheting down, and this year it was scintillating. Kayleigh will back up KK at point and will hold the fort on defense. A freshman Kelis cannot be expected to be able to maintain that intensity, it just won't happen right away. Geno loves good/great defensive guards like Moriah and Kia among others and that is a powerful reason to want her. She will come here if she really wants to be great and to be a part of greatness and to always be clothed in the nobility of being a UCONN player.
 
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DEpup said:
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.
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DEpup- - -K. Heckel was taking finals at USC last week so she had a lot on the stove so she should make her decision pretty soon after the weekend!
 
Can anyone tell me what others schools she visited ?Is it possible that she could return to USC?
 
ConnecticutBB said:
Can anyone tell me what others schools she visited ?Is it possible that she could return to USC?
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It would be a surprising move in my mind. An ACL is a year long in basketball injury usually so if JuJu comes back next year at all it will be towards the end of the season. So you play but not on a likely FF team. The right move, the smart move, is to become a Huskie.
 
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