In one sense, the situation would be similar to Geno’s good friend Doug Bruno giving his blessing to promising young coach Jasmine Lister leaving his staff to go to UConn. Jose and Geno are good friends and golfing buddies, but of course it would be a much different situation for Jose to give his blessing to his best player transferring.
I agree with your post but respectfully suggest that you might have omitted the last line. We can all disagree without being disagreeable.
Would love to see her in a UConn uniform but wonder how realistic it would be with her injury for her to get in the basketball shape needed to meet Geno's standards.
Well, she has a full year from the date of her injury last Nov to get back into playing shape. As others have pointed out, she seems to be walking OK. For a young, healthy individual it’s doable. If I had that injury, I’d probably milk it for 4-5 years.
I think Geno can be flexible with injury, like he was with Brittany Hunter.
A comparison I would offer is Anriel Howard who played for Gary Blair yet went to MSU with his good buddy Vic Shaeffer. As Jose has said, he wishes her luck with whatever she decides so that would include playing for Geno (or ESPECIALLY for Geno!).
Laksa and a post player! I guess you want the whole Kit(ija) and caboodle, Eric.
Would Geno try for Laska and risk injuring his friendship with Jose Fernandez?
Geno would not go after Laksa unless she first makes it clear that she is interested, which may have already happened for all we know. Subsequently, I'm sure that Geno would contact Jose to discuss the issue. From Jose's comments already, I think he's resigned to the fact that Laksa will either transfer or turn pro and play in Europe next year. If she decided to transfer to UConn, I don't think it would affect Geno and Jose's friendship at all. They have great respect for each other.
Except for last year, Azura, Geno does not seem to get a lot of help from transfers. It could be him or the player just does not have the time to adjust to his disciplined way of doing things.
I think the world is changing, even for Geno. Clearly, he’s following the trend to go after international players with at least one and hopefully more talented international players. He’s been a little slow to embrace transfers, but hopefully that will also change.
I've never been a Laksa fan. She chucks 'em up there as well as anyone -- she really is a good shooter. But does she play any defense at all and can she play within a system? I'm just not sure. I know that UConn needs bodies, and she's a lot better than jus6t anyone, but still....
At 6'5" Elizabeth Dixon is an intriguing possibility. If rumor will help, let's spread it.
Re-read that last line... then think how UConn would get the same treatment.
Well said!
Yes, Kitija is a great offensive player and won the AAC ROY award over KLS. That said, it's not like she's divorcing Jose and leaving him and kids. She's a college athlete who has an opportunity. Jose has said he wishes her well in whatever she decides. If this is true, Jose and Geno had to have talked during their European jaunt about this. I absolutely think Jose would be ok with this and would immediately feel another FF is a real possibility.
