Who was most thwarted by injuries?

[diggerfoot]

Which UConn player was most hampered by injuries. I will not state my preference but will give a brief rundown of the choices.

Shea Ralph would not appear to be thwarted much. After all she still managed to become first team All-American and MOP of a Final Four. Yet this poor woman had something like 4 ACL injuries (I lost count), and never was able to play in the pros despite being drafted.

Tamika Williams was the highest ranked recruit of the TASSK force, number one in fact. She did well enough, ending her career as still the all-time leader in FG %. She also was noted as a tenacious rebounder and defender, both in the post and on the perimeter. However, back trouble limited her minutes all throughout her college career. She was drafted 6th (or was it 4th), but could not last in the pros due to her injuries.

Brittany Hunter was yet another number one player who seemed to have all the tools. Yet she was injured early at Duke and never quite recovered even after transferring to UConn. Consequently she does not have much of a college resume, but this might be evidence in support of voting her the most thwarted by injuries ... or not.

Caroline Doty started off in a blaze of glory, one of the few non point guards to start as a freshman. Yet in the same game she went 8/8 from three by half time she also got her first ACL injury, her second injury overall. Add a second ACL injury later to the first and here's another player thwarted.

Morgan Tuck, like Shea Ralph, had an impressive enough career. She was drafted high and still plays in the pros .... when not injured again. Since she is the most recent I do not feel like providing much of a briefing beyond that.

So who do you have as the player most thwarted by injuries?

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Keirsten Walters

 

[Plebe]

Gotta have Batouly as one of the choices, IMO.

She was certainly more thwarted than Tuck, inter alia.

 

[diggerfoot]

I've changed the poll to add Walters and Camara, though I think my poll question did not reflect what I wanted to poll. I'm interested in the largest gap between performance realized and highest potential ceiling. That makes Walters problematic, as there is not much information at all in terms of gauging a ceiling for her. There is more information for Camara, but assessing her ceiling would still be a mystery to me.

 

[bballnut90]

Hard to say...we talking UCONN career specifically or pro career too?

Ralph won a couple of POY awards in 2000 and just wasn't the same player in 2001 before she went down with another ACL. I thought she had the making of being a really solid pro back then and it all went up in smoke.

Hunter is a big one. Promising freshman, former #1 recruit. Athletic 6-3 girl who had a solid freshman campaign at Duke. Had her weird injury/surgery situation and never really did much at Connecticut.

Doty is another big one. She looked really good coming out HS and had a strong freshman season before the ACL. Came back, had a solid 2010 season where she started the whole year for an undefeated team and got injured again. I thought she would've been a 12-15 point scorer for UCONN as an upperclassman based on her freshman season. Also thought she'd take over PG duties in 2011 and 2012 for the Huskies.

Those would be my top 3.


Tamika Williams had a good career and a couple of good pro seasons, but her game never really developed outside of the paint and around the basket. I don't think that was a product of injury as much as it was skill set. She likely wasn't accurately ranked coming out of HS.

Tuck was an AA in college and has had a 4 year pro career so far. I don't think injuries have really held her back much.

Walters we never really go to see much from, although her numbers as a frosh weren't all that promising tbh. She was highly ranked out of HS though.

Camara was the least heralded of the bunch so I wouldn't pick her. She could've developed into a nice role player but I don't think her potential was as high as the others.

I'd definitely add in Nicole Wolff. She was very highly touted and missed most of her freshman and sophomore seasons due to injuries, then never really developed beyond that. No way to tell if she was as good as her HS ranking suggested, but she likely would've been a productive player for the Huskies in 04, 05, and 06 if healthy.

 

[mkwstar23]

healthy for four years and Shea is probably is mentioned in the same conversation with DT, Maya and Stewie....just my opinion....

 

[diggerfoot]

Well, this already has paid dividends for me. I did not vote because I did not know how to choose. I could have been persuaded to support any of the first five I listed. The feedback here has clarified my thinking. Though I added other names from the feedback I would have to say I still believe the first five are the only ones for which there was enough information to conclude their ceiling would be a decent pro career. That may be true for Walters, Wolff or Camara as well, but I still don't think there was enough information to come to that conclusion.

Given this argument someone could throw Hunter back at me as not having performed enough to conclude she had a ceiling somewhere in the pros. I think there is, but I now have narrowed the choice for me down to three of the first five I listed. I knew I could count on the BY to help out with this!

 

[UcMiami]

I voted Hunter because she was a phenomenal player in the few minutes she got to play at Uconn, but was never able to play without pain and was constantly limited in minutes and games.

Nicole Wolff was a good mention as well - she started the first ten games of her career, was injured and started her senior night game as the her 11th start. Her first ten games were as good as any freshman point guard at Uconn, but after her second injury at the start of her sophomore season she never regained her form.

Shea, Caroline, Morgan all got to experience excellence and success on court during their college years. Tamika's minutes were limited on court by the fact that Uconn was stacked during her four years not injuries. Kiersten and Batouly never displayed the excellence on court of the others.

 

[Steelerone]

I think out of the eight players only Shea, Tamika and Morgan were pegged to be a "go to" on the floor. The others were more or less role players. While Shea was a contributor on the floor she was one of Geno's first national recruit. Rebecca was well known in New England but Shea was on the radar in California, Texas and Connecticut. She was an idol for most young women coming up behind her in high school and her coming to Ct. really put us on the map.

 

[stamfordhusky]

I think out of the eight players only Shea, Tamika and Morgan were pegged to be a "go to" on the floor. The others were more or less role players.

Sadly Brittany Hunter ended up in that category. But prior to her injury, Hunter was anything but a role player. She was the #1 HS recruit in the nation.

 

[Waquoit]

I nominate Kalana Greene. I think injuries kept her from her true potential.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Walters, because she barely had a career. She was supposed to be about as good as Sue Bird, but never got a chance to show it.

Nicole Wolff won one NPOY award in high school. Her start as a freshman was very, very promising, but she was never the same player again after multiple injuries.

We saw glimpses of what Brit Hunter could do during her freshman year at Duke and in roles at UConn. Her potential was close to that of Tina Charles or Candace Parker, which was NPOY, WNBA All-Star, and Olympian level. She was ridiculously good.

Jackie Gemelos (UConn commit but defection) also had phenomenal potential--maybe the next Taurasi, probably better than Chennedy Carter.

Tuck would have had a better career, but she was still an All-American and #3 draft pick. As a freshman, she was the #1 player in her class, before injury. Plus, when she arrived at UConn, Morgan was reportedly the only player in the country who could guard Stewie.

Caroline had a lot of potential, but did actually accomplish a lot. She was part of multiple championship teams and became a master of trick shots. The Honey Badger was pure Badass!

I don't recall Tamika being limited by injuries. She was part of the great 2002 team and the #6 draft pick.

Touly had some nice performances at Kentucky, but her UConn success was unfortunately limited.

Shea had a great career, but spent too much time in surgery. She could have been even better and likely a decent pro. But her name is deservedly on the Wall.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I nominate Kalana Greene. I think injuries kept her from her true potential.

Kalana had a really good career, but was not so uber-athletic after her surgery. I believe her injury was a very nasty one.

 

[diggerfoot]

I don't recall Tamika being limited by injuries. She was part of the great 2002 team and the #6 draft pick.

Don't take this as lobbying for Williams, though I see from your post and her lack of votes that her situation perhaps needs elaboration. She had ongoing back problems, not an injury that required surgery. Those back problems kept her out of only a handful of games, but it limited her minutes throughout. Considering that she had the highest FG% for UConn all-time, and considering she was a good rebounder, both those numbers would have been higher if her back problems did not limit her minutes. Who knows how much higher, but as it was she still was drafted 6th overall. Also, considering her FG%, it should be noted that her offensive rebounds were not coming off her own misses on offense, a la Cash or Charles, but off her teammates, a valuable asset.

Perhaps it should also be noted that she was not in competition for minutes at the center spot, that was between Jones and Schumacher. Cash would have been the main competition for her role, but mainly their freshman years. Outside of her freshman year, and perhaps some of her sophomore, her back problems limited her minutes more than her teammates.

 

[TheFarmFan]

As a bit of an aside, Ralph's playing days were before my time as a fan (and before I had even graduated high school!), so learning this from her wikipedia page made me love her AND Geno even more than I already do:

Ralph was the subject of a spirited recruiting battle, a natural consequence of her abilities leading to national high school player of the year honors. Many programs pursued her, but two schools appeared to have better chances than Connecticut. Ralph's mother, Marsha (Mann) Lake, was an All-American basketball player for the University of North Carolina. The North Carolina program was one of the better programs in the country. Ralph was growing up in North Carolina and her name was a "household word since she was eleven years old".[12] Another premier program, the University of Tennessee, was also very interested in Ralph. The head coach of Tennessee, Pat Summitt, was good friends with Marsha, so many felt one of those two schools would have the inside track.

Ralph called Geno Auriemma, the Connecticut coach, to ask what kind of role he envisioned for her at UConn. It is not uncommon for coaches to promise starting positions and a minimum number of minutes playing time for highly promising recruits. However, Auriemma responded, "I don't know. If you are really, really good, then you'll have a chance to play a lot. But if you suck, you won't play at all." Shortly thereafter, she made a recruiting visit to UConn, and told the coach she was ready to commit to Connecticut. She went on to have a great senior season in high school. After she earned the USA Player of the Year award, she was interviewed by USA Today, who asked about her recruiting decision. She explained, "Coach Auriemma was the only coach that told me if I was really good I'd play a lot, and if I sucked I wasn't playing." Auriemma read the quote in the paper and "almost [fell] off his chair". He called her to say, "Geez, Shea. Did you have to say that in the paper?".

Love it. Geno with his truth bombs, separating those with true grit from those who just want their egos flattered.

 

[cohenzone]

As a bit of an aside, Ralph's playing days were before my time as a fan (and before I had even graduated high school!), so learning this from her wikipedia page made me love her AND Geno even more than I already do:



Love it. Geno with his truth bombs, separating those with true grit from those who just want their egos flattered.

I voted Hunter mainly because I think she was the best player in that whole group who never really got to shine. But Shea is my favorite player ever and with her knee issues still had plenty of great moments. Shea came in the year after Rizzotti graduated. Jen’s game was marked by hustle and leaving it all on the floor and most people thought she would be sorely missed for those qualities. So I saw Shea play her first exhibition game as a frosh and thought, we won’t forget Jen, but we might not miss her as much as I thought. Shea could score in many ways and was very strong. She understood the game. But her fearlessness and determination set her apart.

 

[UcMiami]

Don't take this as lobbying for Williams, though I see from your post and her lack of votes that her situation perhaps needs elaboration. She had ongoing back problems, not an injury that required surgery. Those back problems kept her out of only a handful of games, but it limited her minutes throughout. Considering that she had the highest FG% for UConn all-time, and considering she was a good rebounder, both those numbers would have been higher if her back problems did not limit her minutes. Who knows how much higher, but as it was she still was drafted 6th overall. Also, considering her FG%, it should be noted that her offensive rebounds were not coming off her own misses on offense, a la Cash or Charles, but off her teammates, a valuable asset.

Perhaps it should also be noted that she was not in competition for minutes at the center spot, that was between Jones and Schumacher. Cash would have been the main competition for her role, but mainly their freshman years. Outside of her freshman year, and perhaps some of her sophomore, her back problems limited her minutes more than her teammates.

Williams was only a starter in her senior year - Swin and Asjha were both starters in their junior year. Her last two years she averaged 20 and 22 minutes/game while Swin was averaging 24 and 28 and Jones was averaging 20 and 25 and Moore was averaging 18 in 2002.

Williams and Jones were pretty interchangeable in the roles they played in college both being undersized centers playing either center or power forward interchangeably at either end of the floor.

Geno once commented that Swin was the first of the three to start, because when he called for the starters to take the floor in practice Swin was the one who ran onto the floor.

I don't remember Williams back problems, but take your word for it. She did miss a few games each year, and her senior season was the first time she started and averaged more than 20 minutes per game, but the rosters those four years were packed - 2001 I think was 15 scholarships for the last time.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Really a tough choice. However, I decided to go with Brittany Hunter.

Went with Brittany as UConn didn't win a National Championship while she was on the Roster. I have to believe a Completely healthy Brittany, UConn wins at least one National Championship if not two. Brittany's senior year was Maya's freshmen year and and UConn went to the Final Four but lost in the semi-finals to Stanford.

 

[diggerfoot]

I don't remember Williams back problems, but take your word for it. She did miss a few games each year, and her senior season was the first time she started and averaged more than 20 minutes per game, but the rosters those four years were packed - 2001 I think was 15 scholarships for the last time.

Now there are two reasons I am glad for this thread. Once again I do not want to be seen lobbying for Williams, so I will just come out to say that, while I think that a good argument can be made for several, my own biases would not have me voting for Williams. Also let me admit my brain fart in associating Abrosimova's injury, thus opening the three for Cash, as occurring in William's sophomore year. I knew better than that and it's a pretty big distinction going from less than half to more than half of someone's career. My bad ....

.... but you did not think I was going to give up easily, did you? And, once again, this is not to lobby for votes so much as to revive forgotten lore. Let us use some logic. As you cited she missed a few games each year. Why would that happen to her as a senior, as a starter with no motivational problems, with no surgeries? Certainly back problems could be an answer, as it was for why Okafor needed to be sidelined occasionally.

Now if whole games are missed due to back problems could it also be that minutes were "missed" in games because of back problems? Personally, I'm not going so much by logic here but by the fact that Culmo stated in broadcasts that they would have to monitor Williams back for this and that game.

Now if Williams is going to miss games and minutes within games does that not correlate with Auriemma's tendency to play players with recurring problems less, even less than their actual physical problems might warrant? He has a penchant for wanting to know what he is going to get; that applies to physical surprises as well as mental surprises. That means even less minutes over the course of her career.

Yet she did get enough playing time for people to know that her FG%, the best ever at UConn, was not a fluke. Both her scoring and rebounding numbers certainly would be significantly higher had not back problems led to less games, less minutes per some games and less minutes per games because of unreliability due to no fault of her own. How much? Who knows. Certainly her ceiling lies in the pros because she did make the pros, drafted 6th, even though her most playing time was 22 per game with some games missed.

As for being interchangeable with Jones, not exactly. On offense Jones was much more versatile while Williams, as bballnut cited, actually had a somewhat limited skill set. Yet it was a skill set she did very well, better than anyone else. When she was in the game she was the preferred option for the four, while Jones or Cash could play more of a wing, and Jones was better suited at center than was Williams.

On defense the opposite was true. Consider this, in her senior year we had a starting backcourt of Bird and Taurasi, with Conlon coming off the bench. Who was the defensive stopper on the perimeter in our backcourt? Answer: no one. However, Williams had a versatile defensive skill set and she was called upon, not Jones or Cash, to stop a perimeter player when Bird and Taurasi were not up to the task.

This latter case is what I suspect is being overlooked the most, as there are no numbers involved for those that for fans not current to her era to gauge. I believe in the Wisdom of Crowds in this kind of poll. There's probably a good reason for her to get very few votes. But a testament to the Wisdom of Crowds working are the outliers. As of this discourse there still is no outlier in favor of Williams. That to me suggests she has become somewhat a forgotten player.

 

[metsfan2323]

The answer is Shea Ralph. She would have been Diana Taurasi if not for the injuries.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Sadly Brittany Hunter ended up in that category. But prior to her injury, Hunter was anything but a role player. She was the #1 HS recruit in the nation.

When she got on the floor, she was tremendous. But she was in pain, and I recall Coach Geno's saying that she couldn't go more than 10 minutes a game, or work out more than every other day.

She was a truly phenomenal talent, who was abused at Duke. I recall the story about Duke's forcing her to play, giving her injections that were wrong for her. I'm sure the article is available somewhere. But she left Duke because of her treatment. Coach Geno, true to his loyalty to players, took her as a transfer because he wanted her in the first place. He didn't care that she was literally hobbled by her injuries.

She was the player with the most tremendous talent who lost the most in terms of her career.

 

[afanincny]

Nicole Wolff was a freshman starter and then not. Very sad and lost potential.

 

[Steelerone]

Sadly Brittany Hunter ended up in that category. But prior to her injury, Hunter was anything but a role player. She was the #1 HS recruit in the nation.

I really don't remember her as being the number one on any services. I believe Shea was on the cover of SI as a high school player. I may be wrong, and I'm sure the BY's will let me know, but at the time Shea was playing in high school women's basketball wasn't even on the radar but she was still becoming know nationally. I can't think of another player who, prior to that time, had received that much attention.

 

[Husky40]

Tamika did have back issues, but she also suffered from thoracic outlet syndrome, resulting in severe pain in her arm and shoulder. I remember they considered surgery on the blood vessel in her neck, but don't think she ever had it, at least not while at UConn. She missed a number of games and her playing time was limited in those in which she played. I distinctly recall her coming off the court with her arm hanging as though it was dead weight.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I really don't remember her as being the number one on any services. I believe Shea was on the cover of SI as a high school player. I may be wrong, and I'm sure the BY's will let me know, but at the time Shea was playing in high school women's basketball wasn't even on the radar but she was still becoming know nationally. I can't think of another player who, prior to that time, had received that much attention.

I think Brit was a consensus #1, but I recall that Candace Parker won some NPOY awards as a high school junior.