What happened to New England basketball?

[Vowelguy]

Thinking back to the 90s, it's easy to come up with a list of 10 great college players who came out of New England. UConn obviously had a bunch -- Bascom, Lobo, Wolters, Sales, Rizzotti, R Williams, Berube, but also Jamila Wideman (Stanford), Cindy Blodgett (Maine), Nadine Domond (Iowa). Many of those were All-Americans, the rest were significant players.

What happened since?

It seems the talent has almost all-but-dried-up.

No one close to All-American.
Maria Conlon is the only one I can think of who is comparable to the above list. Maybe the current St John's player whose name escapes me.
Saona Chapman was a decent player at RU. The Valleys were ok too, though not on the level of the 90s players. I may be forgetting a player or two, but overall, quite a decline in talent.

Odd.

 

[speedoo]

Yeah, good thing UConn's recruiting went nation/worldwide.

 

[Icebear]

Bria Holmes would be considered by many to be on that level.

 

[Vowelguy]

Bria Holmes would be considered by many to be on that level.

Talk to me in 4 years.

 

[Icebear]

Talk to me in 4 years.

That's fair enough but coming out of high school she is #28 for Hoopgurlz.

 

[rington]

Thinking back to the 90s, it's easy to come up with a list of 10 great players who came out of New England. UConn obviously had a bunch -- Bascom, Lobo, Wolters, Sales, Rizzotti, R Williams, Berube, but also Jamila Wideman (Stanford), Cindy Blodgett (Maine), Nadine Domond (Iowa). Many of those were All-Americans, the rest were significant players.

What happened since?

It seems the talent has almost all-but-dried-up.

No one close to All-American.
Maria Conlon is the only one I can think of who is comparable to the above list. Maybe the current St John's player whose name escapes me.
Saona Chapman was a decent player at RU. The Valleys were ok too, though not on the level of the 90s players. I may be forgetting a player or two, but overall, quite a decline in talent.

Odd.

 

[rington]

When I saw your post, I thought of Boston College. They had some really good and competitive teams when they were in the Big East. I have not been following them recently, so I am not familiar with the strength of their teams in the past few years.

 

[Vowelguy]

That's fair enough but coming out of high school she is #28 for Hoopgurlz.

There have been other top 20 HS players from New England (Buck, both Valleys). They have not been top 20 in college however.

 

[asuwish]

Thinking back to the 90s, it's easy to come up with a list of 10 great players who came out of New England. UConn obviously had a bunch -- Bascom, Lobo, Wolters, Sales, Rizzotti, R Williams, Berube, but also Jamila Wideman (Stanford), Cindy Blodgett (Maine), Nadine Domond (Iowa). Many of those were All-Americans, the rest were significant players.

What happened since?

It seems the talent has almost all-but-dried-up.

No one close to All-American.
Maria Conlon is the only one I can think of who is comparable to the above list. Maybe the current St John's player whose name escapes me.
Saona Chapman was a decent player at RU. The Valleys were ok too, though not on the level of the 90s players. I may be forgetting a player or two, but overall, quite a decline in talent.

Odd.

Conlon was not highly regarded coming out of hs and was really only a solid role player at uconn. Nobody wanted Walters including her fathers school BC. Rizzotti and Berube were considered solid kids, but in no way stars. You also forgot about Tracy Lis in the early days. Buck was probably rated higher than many of them. The girl from east catholic who went to BC then transfered to Southern CT was rated high as is the current kid from around there who I think is going to ST Johns. The holmes kid rated #28 is rated higher than probably 1/2 the players you mentioned above.

 

[Vowelguy]

Conlon was not highly regarded coming out of hs and was really only a solid role player at uconn. Nobody wanted Wolters including her fathers school BC. Rizzotti and Berube were considered solid kids, but in no way stars. You also forgot about Tracy Lis in the early days. Buck was probably rated higher than many of them. The girl from east catholic who went to BC then transfered to Southern CT was rated high as is the current kid from around there who I think is going to ST Johns. The holmes kid rated #28 is rated higher than probably 1/2 the players you mentioned above.

Perhaps I should've been clearer, I'm talking about players who had great college careers and were from NENG My point being that no one from the area has been successful at the next level in a long time.

Why is that?

 

[alexrgct]

Not that this is the only explanation, but it raises an interesting question:

If UConn was currently in a position where it could only recruit locally, are there players over the last several years that Geno and CD could have developed into the stars Rizzotti and Wolters became despite not being considered blue chip high school players? Or was that a lightning in a bottle moment?

 

[VAUConnFan]

Let's not forget Tonya Cardoza.

 

[rocky rococo]

DaShena Stevens has done pretty well at SJU.

 

[Blakeon18]

Shamika Jackson was the East Catholic player who wound up at Southern Ct.....they won the national championship [D2] in one of her years there. Anyone know what she is doing? DC...any idea?

 

[VAUConnFan]

Coach Auriemma has been critical of the youth basketball programs in New England; Basically stating that they were not conducive to developing top D-1 recruits. There does not appear an issue on the men's side.

 

[tzznandrew]

Coach Auriemma has been critical of the youth basketball programs in New England; Basically stating that they were not conducive to developing top D-1 recruits. There does not appear an issue on the men's side.

It's cyclical on the men's side. There was a long period where there weren't many good players from inside CT. Your top level guys were solid, like Craig Austrie, but that's it. Recently, though, there's been a resurgence.

Maybe its the same on the women's side.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Nicole Wolff was the McDonalds NPOY in high school and had a great start to her UConn career, but she was never the same after her injuries.

 

[DaddyChoc]

It's cyclical on the men's side. There was a long period where there weren't many good players from inside CT. Your top level guys were solid, like Craig Austrie, but that's it. Recently, though, there's been a resurgence.

Maybe its the same on the women's side.

the talent on the men's side has always been there... its the grades, attitudes etc. (Doug Wiggins)

Farmington kid that went to ND
UConn alum nephew from Torrington went to Maryland

 

[MarlboroughMike]

Carolyn Swords of Boston College ( first team all ACC 2010 & 2011) who played her high school ball in MA and is now with the Chicago Sky, at 6'6" may yet develop into a better than average center.