What a recruiting season | Page 2 | The Boneyard

What a recruiting season

EricLA said:
Geno is going to have some tough decisions to make. Assuming Evina is not available this season, he basically has a rotation of 6 with whatever contributions he can get from Adebayo, Camara, Irwin and Bent.

Next year tho... Assume a core 3 of Williams, Walker and ONO. the other starters could realistically come from Westbrook, Makurat, Griffin, Bueckers, Muhl or Edwards. McLean is athletic but a bit raw. Gabriel is really raw. In big games, I could see a core rotation 7-9 depending on how good the newbies are and how fast they pick things up. Realistically, tho, in big games, I suspect it won't be 9. It's a great "problem" to have ("too much" depth).

This year is gonna be tough, no doubt about it. A LOT will need to come from the 2 freshmen. But next year I think they will all appreciate being asked to play less PT in games so the new studs can have a chance to grow and learn without being thrown into the deep end...

And the year after that, holy cow. @MilfordHusky and I were chatting and he shared the story from back in the days when Shea was a senior and they had Hansmeyer, Sveta, Schuey, Big Rig, Cash, Bird, Jones, Williams and Kennitra Johnson. I forget who they were playing but in the 4th quarter, UCONN was continuing to blow out the other team, and a fan yelled out "Geno put in your subs". Another fan turned to him and said "All 5 of those players on the court ARE the subs"!!!
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I'd be beyond shocked if Bueckers wasn't an instant starter...................as far as I'm concerned the minute she laces up her sneakers as a college freshman she'll be the very best point guard in the college game...........
 
Eric, Paige Beckers will Start as Point Guard next year replacing Dangerfield! The other starters will be Williams, Walker, ONO, and Westbrook.
 
Charliebball said:
I'd be beyond shocked if Bueckers wasn't an instant starter...................as far as I'm concerned the minute she laces up her sneakers as a college freshman she'll be the very best point guard in the college game...........
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connboy77 said:
Eric, Paige Beckers will Start as Point Guard next year replacing Dangerfield! The other starters will be Williams, Walker, ONO, and Westbrook.
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You both are probably right. However remember Geno does not like to start freshmen. Neither Diana nor Maya started until injuries forced them into the starting lineup. But just for kicks...

Starters: Bueckers, Williams, Westbrook, Walker, ONO
Core Bench: Muhl, Makurat, Griffin, Edwards
Reserves: McLean, Gabriel

I need a bigger "wow" emoticon...! :eek:
 
EricLA said:
You both are probably right. However remember Geno does not like to start freshmen. Neither Diana nor Maya started until injuries forced them into the starting lineup. But just for kicks...

Starters: Bueckers, Williams, Westbrook, Walker, ONO
Core Bench: Muhl, Makurat, Griffin, Edwards
Reserves: McLean, Gabriel

I need a bigger "wow" emoticon...! :eek:
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remember Bueckers will also be the best pure shooter on the team other then CW............that will be an area of some weakness if Fudd chooses to go elsewhere...............Griffin, Muhl, Edwards and McLean bring instant energy and athleticism at both ends of the court...............defensively they are going to drive other teams crazy...........
 
I agree that Bueckers will probably start the minute she steps foot on campus. It is just hard to imagine that Makurat and/or Griffin, who will undoubtedly make the sophomore leap, aren't in the starting lineup somewhere.

My only other scenario is that if Bueckers struggles initially like most of Geno's freshmen, then maybe Westbrook starts at point and Makurat or Griffin become the fifth.
 
victor64 said:
I agree that Bueckers will probably start the minute she steps foot on campus. It is just hard to imagine that Makurat and/or Griffin, who will undoubtedly make the sophomore leap, aren't in the starting lineup somewhere.

My only other scenario is that if Bueckers struggles initially like most of Geno's freshmen, then maybe Westbrook starts at point and Makurat or Griffin become the fifth.
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a struggling Bueckers would make her the third best point guard in women's college basketball..................... :rolleyes:
 
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Charliebball said:
I'd be beyond shocked if Bueckers wasn't an instant starter...................as far as I'm concerned the minute she laces up her sneakers as a college freshman she'll be the very best point guard in the college game...........
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That’s perfect because Geno will just happen to have an opening at pg next season. Great timing.
 
Charliebball said:
I'd be beyond shocked if Bueckers wasn't an instant starter...................as far as I'm concerned the minute she laces up her sneakers as a college freshman she'll be the very best point guard in the college game...........
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No, no, no, no!
 
pvdoggy said:
who are the 1st and 2nd best?
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that guard from Oregon seems to be pretty good and with the fine guard from Syracuse sadly unable to play this season I'll throw in the 5'5" point from Storrs as second best right now ..............
 
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Just a reminder that both Walker and Westbrook will be draft eligible next May. The last 2 UConn players to be in that position (Tuck & Stevens) left for the pros.
 
Alydar said:
Just a reminder that both Walker and Westbrook will be draft eligible next May. The last 2 UConn players to be in that position (Tuck & Stevens) left for the pros.
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Why would either of those players be eligible? Neither will have completed 4 years of college or be 22 at the time of the draft.
 
Alydar said:
Just a reminder that both Walker and Westbrook will be draft eligible next May. The last 2 UConn players to be in that position (Tuck & Stevens) left for the pros.
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Walker and Westbrook are WNBA draft eligible April 2020.
The last UCONN players to be draft eligible prior to exhausting their NCAA eligibility was Napheesa Collier.
who was WNBA draft eligible April 2018 with a DoB of Sept 1996.
 
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CocoHusky said:
It is not 22 at the time of the draft. The rule is turns 22 in the year the draft is conducted.
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That's the vast majority of rising seniors in college. Great rule that.
 
Sluconn Husky said:
Bueckers and Fudd will both fall under this absurd requirement.
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As did Jewell Loyd and Jackie Young and Chennedy Carter..... I'm surprised that you seem surprised by this.
The players don't have to leave. Sabrina decided to stay.
 
CocoHusky said:
As did Jewell Loyd and Jackie Young and Chennedy Carter..... I'm surprised that you seem surprised by this.
The players don't have to leave. Sabrina decided to stay.
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Most people were stunned Ionescu returned.

I'm surprised because I thought the deadline date was draft day. Most high-quality players are going to forgo.
 
CocoHusky said:
As did Jewell Loyd and Jackie Young and Chennedy Carter..... I'm surprised that you seem surprised by this.
The players don't have to leave. Sabrina decided to stay.
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Jewell Loyd really was a turning point. I believe she was the first to declare for the W only three years out of high school. (Epiphany Prince had left Rutgers after three years for European pro ball.) As I recall, Jewell's departure was predicted by no one. Since then, we're all furiously looking up the birthdays of current juniors to see if they might declare in April.

I consider the cases like Morgan Tuck and Candace Parker to be different, where a player spends 4 years in college but only plays 3 due to injury.
 
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veryolddog said:
Keeping all of the recruits is a very good question. Geno has traditionally complained year after year that the bench does not contribute. This may be the fact. However, Geno and his coaching staff picked that bench and the other outstanding recruits that became the starters and perhaps the one person off of the bench.

In terms of playing people that have been recruited, I kind of like the approach that Doug Bruno has taken with respect to platooning five players at a time. If UConn has chosen such a large group of elite players, then these players should be given an opportunity to perform. Just my opinion which is just worth Sh......t from the cow pasture.

Let's face, it the recruits who transferred were once regarded as very good players prior to their acceptance of a scholarship to UConn. Something happened along the way. Anyone can speculate. Unless a recruit is a top 5, nothing is guaranteed. But if a recruit is a top 20 why is that recruit potentially discarded? Why are not the flaws known before the scholarship offered? Say what you want, but why are offers made to Kyla and Molly? I do not know the answers and the only one that does is Geno, so your comments are not worth any more than mine on this subject.

Bottom line: people want to learn; people want to excel; people want to PLAY! They do not want to languish on a bench and be a spectator.
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I've never heard of Geno "discarding" a recruit in his 34 years of coaching.

Notwithstanding the lower rated recruits who left (Phillips, Engeln, Gordon, etc), the "mid level" recruits (15-30 range) left for a host of reasons. Several were totally personal (Delle Donne, Walker) and the rest mostly because of lack of playing time...

  1. Michala Johnson was injured, then behind Dolson, Stokes, and Tuck/Stewie.
  2. Brianna Banks simply never developed the ability to score and ended up behind Hayes, Doty, Faris, Hartley, then Jefferson, and Chong.
  3. Ekmark was supposed to be a great 3-point shooter. She was not, and wasn't fleet of foot either. Playing behind KML, Jefferson, Chong, Williams, Nurse, etc. there was no room for her to earn PT
  4. Edwards was a bit of a "problem child" as Geno was quoted as saying something along the lines of "If i tell a player to do something over and over and over again, and they don't do it, eventually they won't be here"
  5. Boykin was also not really healthy, and simply couldn't carve out a role on the team of more talented players.
  6. Coombs and Gordon - neither developed enough to earn PT
  7. Andra Espinosa Hunter - lots of stories swirled around regarding her departure and no one has officially told the entire story.
All the kids who transferred enjoyed some to moderate success at their new schools with the exception of Edwards who was a starter for USC and was a big time scorer for them. It remains to be seen how well AEH does at Mississippi State.

Nobody "languishes" on the bench unless either they haven't put the effort forth in practice, or they simply aren't good enough. IMHO there will always be debates over PT for players at UCONN. It's a common theme of people who complain about it here on the BY. Personally, I'd rather see the reserves play more, but i have 0 national championships and Geno has 11.

Additionally, not a single player who left was a starter and not already behind someone better on the depth chart. Some players develop in college, others not so much. The cream rises to the top. IMHO we will always be susceptible to kids in the 15-30 ranking range deciding to transfer - they feel they should be good enough to start, or play lots of minutes, but with so much talent at UCONN, it doesn't always happen.
 
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CocoHusky said:
It is not 22 at the time of the draft. The rule is turns 22 in the year the draft is conducted.
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Right. Do you know how old they are? If they turn 22 by 12/31/20 they are eligible.
 
Alydar said:
Right. Do you know how old they are? If they turn 22 by 12/31/20 they are eligible.
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Who is "they"?
Megan Walker: 23 Nov 1998
Evina Westbrook: 28 Sep 1998
 
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CocoHusky said:
Who is "they"?
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any one who turns 22 in 2020. Look, I read a post in another thread that listed eligible for the draft players. Westbook and Walker were listed as eligible and I trust the source. I tried to verify the birth dates of them both but USABB, that lists current team DOB's doesn't keep them for past teams. I had read another source that confirmed that Westbrook will turn 22 this year though. I wondered about Walker and maybe I'm wrong but you or someone needs to find proof that they don't turn 22 this year before telling me I'm wrong.
 
Alydar said:
any one who turns 22 in 2020. Look, I read a post in another thread that listed eligible for the draft players. Westbook and Walker were listed as eligible and I trust the source. I tried to verify the birth dates of them both but USABB, that lists current team DOB's doesn't keep them for past teams. I had read another source that confirmed that Westbrook will turn 22 this year though. I wondered about Walker and maybe I'm wrong but you or someone needs to find proof that they don't turn 22 this year before telling me I'm wrong.
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USA doesn't lsit DoB, you have to go to the FIBA profiles. Megan Walker, Chennedy Carter,Evina Westbrook, & Satou Sabally are among the most notable college juniors that are 2020 WNBA draft eligible.
 
CocoHusky said:
USA doesn't lsit DoB, you have to go to the FIBA profiles. Megan Walker, Chennedy Carter,Evina Westbrook, & Satou Sabally are among the most notable college juniors that are 2020 WNBA draft eligible.
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Thank you.
 
Charliebball said:
that guard from Oregon seems to be pretty good and with the fine guard from Syracuse sadly unable to play this season I'll throw in the 5'5" point from Storrs as second best right now ..............
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When you included a struggling Paige, I was thinking you are comparing next year's PG in WBB.
 
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