2024 Recruiting: Liam McNeeley

[FfldCntyFan]

Wasn't this thread about something other than youth travel soccer at one time?

 

[Fishy]

That never occurred to me. I always think he would have been better off leaving as a freshman. But yeah, once he got hurt late as a soph he likely would have been better off staying.

Remember - he left after his junior year.

He had some really basic deficiencies as a point guard that were less obvious in college than they were in the NBA. He was very small and he really struggled to get the ball inside against big NBA defenders…and they’re all big. Could not see over them, could not get around them.

So he was really destined to play overseas from birth.

I think Calhoun thought that he had gotten everything he could out of the El-Amin era and really wanted to move on. That likely helped us down the road in 2004, but I really wish I could have seen what would have happened if Khalid had been paired with Caron and that group for one season.

 

[TheHorde]

Wasn't this thread about something other than youth travel soccer at one time?

Wait this isn’t the Khalid El Amin thread?

 

[kobebeanbryant]

At the risk of derailing further…

Do the people that have sunk serious money into their children’s sports careers feel it was a worthwhile investment?

I have a 1 year old and another on the way, so will potentially be dealing with this over the coming years.

After having a very athletics focused childhood myself, I am now of the opinion that local rec/travel leagues are probably sufficient to get the benefits of sports (kids learn how to work as part of a team, deal with adversity, etc).

I don’t see the value in the high end travel leagues. I suppose the benefit there is either the prestige associated with it, or the desire to get a college scholarship out of it?

 

[Fishy]

Yes, of course. But in addition she played D1 basketball so she probably has more knowledge of the process and is more interested. Remember how Flagg's mother, who played D1 basketball at Maine, ran her son's recruiting process? And yes, mothers should be involved in their sons' recruiting, but you don't hear much about the mother's involvement in most recruitments.

I am sure that being a low major recruit decades ago in women’s basketball has made them experts in recruiting. They probably wrote letters for their sons and then mailed those with a floppy disk of their sons’ highlights, the way they did back in 1996.

 

[UCFan1513]

At the risk of derailing further…

Do the people that have sunk serious money into their children’s sports careers feel it was a worthwhile investment?

I have a 1 year old and another on the way, so will potentially be dealing with this over the coming years.

After having a very athletics focused childhood myself, I am now of the opinion that local rec/travel leagues are probably sufficient to get the benefits of sports (kids learn how to work as part of a team, deal with adversity, etc).

I don’t see the value in the high end travel leagues. I suppose the benefit there is either the prestige associated with it, or the desire to get a college scholarship out of it?

My opinion is don't waste your money. Build well-rounded kids with many interests. Competitive sports at the high school level often are more toxic than they are helpful to development. Unless your kid has league potential.

Also, there are plenty of better ways to pay for college (and alternative / lower priced colleges) than on an athletic scholarship - all my D1 athlete friends hated their lives

 

[444JR]

We’ve beaten Mexico, but we don’t have the results against top teams consistently under Gregg. We don’t create enough chances through build up, it’s only really on the wings. I don’t think his philosophy fits our strengths.

He’s gotta play Gio and show that he’s working on tactics to build attack minded football. Too many talented players to play the way we did at the last world cup, even against the best teams.

Very fortunate to get that result vs Jamaica thanks to an own goal in stoppage time.

 

[AllHusky]

Silly take.

Coached HS Soccer in MD in a brand new program, 1978. FB coach said it was a Communist sport. He was more serious than he was kidding.

 

[UCfor3]

Best sport in the world. Just because Americans aren’t good at it dont make it untrue.

It's not whether we are good at it. It's that the majority of people just don't find it very entertaining. We are a ratings/money driven society. Believe me, if enough people liked it and it was profitable, it would be on tv like the NFL. Part of that is the actual sport itself. 1-0 games? We are an impatient society. Baseball isn't as popular either anymore. Other reason is in most countries, it is part of their culture from birth. It's their #1 sport by a mile. A lot of competition here. Our best athletes play other sports as well which was also mentioned already.

 

[AllHusky]

I appreciate that. My experience was a little different sitting on bleachers at Hall High in March shivering and waiting for the half mile and 4x4

Half mile? You are dating yourself.

 

[Matrim55]

Hard Disagree. We have the best generation of players ever. He IS NOT above replacement level as a coach. We dont need someone for 2026 that is also learning on the job. He does not have one signature win. We've beaten the teams we're supposed to beat and that is it.

I like the Jimmy/Jesse/Charlie pod, too.

Anyway, here’s what some folks without skin in the game thought of the US under Berhalter:

WK-Podcast: “De positieve coachingsstijl van Gregg Berhalter, dat willen we” | sporza

Met de VS en Nederland kennen we een nieuwe affiche in de 1/8e finales. In de WK-tribune zijn Aster en Filip vooral fan van het voetbal dat de Verenigde Staten op de mat leggen. Er wordt ook al vooruitgeblikt op de ontknoping in groep C én de levensbelangrijke wedstrijd van de Duivels.

sporza.be

We were the youngest team ever to get out of the group stage of the World Cup, and we did it by playing with the ball, not against it. We’re better now than we were 18 months ago.

I’m excited about the whole thing.

 

[nomar]

Now this is a soccer thread?

 

[FlexOnEm]

Now this is a soccer thread?

Did you actually expect the Liam McNeely thread to be about Liam McNeely? You must be new here

 

[Matrim55]

Now this is a soccer thread?

Took 25 pages to derail, which is probably a boneyard record!

Anyway, I’ll stop posting about soccer. I just hope the folks who are USMNT fans here keep an open mind about what’s happening on the field. Because it’s been really, really good.

 

[Fishy]

At the risk of derailing further…

Do the people that have sunk serious money into their children’s sports careers feel it was a worthwhile investment?

I have a 1 year old and another on the way, so will potentially be dealing with this over the coming years.

After having a very athletics focused childhood myself, I am now of the opinion that local rec/travel leagues are probably sufficient to get the benefits of sports (kids learn how to work as part of a team, deal with adversity, etc).

I don’t see the value in the high end travel leagues. I suppose the benefit there is either the prestige associated with it, or the desire to get a college scholarship out of it?

Define serious money.

I have extended family who have their kids in sports and they’re traveling out of state every month. I have been to games and watched their kids play and I think they are being sold a bill of goods by their coaches. The expectation of which colleges are going to come calling is disconnected from reality. That whole scenario is driven by the adults who are doing this for a living.

For that reason, let me advocate swimming….the clock is the judge, not some coach.

Our daughter swam since she was eight years old with USA Swimming affiliated clubs. The Metro region is great and there’s no real travel for meets. If there is travel, it’s likely to a championship meet and kids need to qualify on time to go. The furthest we had to travel was Virginia Tech. Outside of that, it was usually to one of the Ivy campuses in NY, Mass or RI. (Even UConn a few times.)

Our coaches never tried to upsell us on a dream. Basically, just, if she works hard, she can swim DI if she wants to. (She did not want to - she swims in the NESCAC.) It was such an atypical experience to what I hear about other youth sports…a few of her former club teammates and her were all swimming at a college meet in Maine last year. The entire club coaching staff took a day off work and drove to Maine to watch them.

I don’t know what I paid, but I would have paid double.

 

[nomar]

Took 25 pages to derail, which is probably a boneyard record!

Anyway, I’ll stop posting about soccer. I just hope the folks who are USMNT fans here keep an open mind about what’s happening on the field. Because it’s been really, really good

Oh, I think very few people here can complain about a thread being derailed. Judge not, lest ye be judged.

 

[aburks41]

Track athletes are the best pure athletes on the planet.

I would argue that it’s NFL players, specifically WR’s and DB’s. Tyreek Hill could be an olympic track star if he trained for it. UConn’s own Byron Jones broke the broad jump world record.

 

[nomar]

Define serious money.

I have extended family who have their kids in sports and they’re traveling out of state every month. I have been to games and watched their kids play and I think they are being sold a bill of goods by their coaches. The expectation of which colleges are going to come calling is disconnected from reality. That whole scenario is driven by the adults who are doing this for a living.

For that reason, let me advocate swimming….the clock is the judge, not some coach.

Our daughter swam since she was eight years old with USA Swimming affiliated clubs. The Metro region is great and there’s no real travel for meets. If there is travel, it’s likely to a championship meet and kids need to qualify on time to go. The furthest we had to travel was Virginia Tech. Outside of that, it was usually to one of the Ivy campuses in NY, Mass or RI. (Even UConn a few times.)

Our coaches never tried to upsell us on a dream. Basically, just, if she works hard, she can swim DI if she wants to. (She did not want to - she swims in the NESCAC.) It was such an atypical experience to what I hear about other youth sports…a few of her former club teammates and her were all swimming at a college meet in Maine last year. The entire club coaching staff took a day off work and drove to Maine to watch them.

I don’t know what I paid, but I would have paid double.

I swam in HS and would have continued with it had I gone to a DIII school instead of DI, and I didn't hate it but, man, what a solitary sport. At practice, your head's under water 90% of the time and when it's not, you're gasping for breath.

I hear what you're saying and if my kids are into it when they get older, that'll work for me. Unfortunately, so far their ceiling looks less like Michael Phelps/Katie Ledecky and more like this:

 

[Waquoit]

It's not whether we are good at it. It's that the majority of people just don't find it very entertaining. We are a ratings/money driven society. Believe me, if enough people liked it and it was profitable, it would be on tv like the NFL.

"We" have a game coming up on CBS at 3pm today. Not CBSSN, CBS. That counts as being on TV.

 

[HooperScooper]

McNeeley, a 6-foot-7 shooter out of Montverde Academy in Florida, is slated to take an official visit to UConn on Monday and Tuesday. A five-star recruit, he is the No. 15 overall prospect in the Class of 2024, per 247Sports.com's composite rankings.

Top high school recruit will visit UConn men's basketball team

Liam McNeeley, a 6-foot-7 shooter and national top-15 recruit, will take an official visit to the NCAA champion UConn men's basketball team.

www.nhregister.com

 

[JMick]

At the risk of derailing further…

Do the people that have sunk serious money into their children’s sports careers feel it was a worthwhile investment?

I have a 1 year old and another on the way, so will potentially be dealing with this over the coming years.

After having a very athletics focused childhood myself, I am now of the opinion that local rec/travel leagues are probably sufficient to get the benefits of sports (kids learn how to work as part of a team, deal with adversity, etc).

I don’t see the value in the high end travel leagues. I suppose the benefit there is either the prestige associated with it, or the desire to get a college scholarship out of it?

It depends how good the kid is and what they want to get out of it. A lot of teams and programs are a joke and aren't worth the money but the counter argument is that the best competition is mostly in those leagues. If I played local travel baseball I wouldn't have seen pitching higher than the low/mid 80s except for a couple high school games a year. In AAU I was facing guys throwing 90 every tournament.

The flip side is that local is more fun. Kids have more time to do things other than "sport" every day of the week. You see your other friends more often and you're not missing things like 4th of July parties. If I went back and did it again I'd have just played on my town team. I didn't even want to play in college and looking back I'm not sure why I bothered with AAU.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

McNeeley, a 6-foot-7 shooter out of Montverde Academy in Florida, is slated to take an official visit to UConn on Monday and Tuesday. A five-star recruit, he is the No. 15 overall prospect in the Class of 2024, per 247Sports.com's composite rankings.

Top high school recruit will visit UConn men's basketball team

Liam McNeeley, a 6-foot-7 shooter and national top-15 recruit, will take an official visit to the NCAA champion UConn men's basketball team.

www.nhregister.com

What's a post about Mcneely doing in this thread?

 

[jimva]

At the risk of derailing further…

Do the people that have sunk serious money into their children’s sports careers feel it was a worthwhile investment?

I have a 1 year old and another on the way, so will potentially be dealing with this over the coming years.

After having a very athletics focused childhood myself, I am now of the opinion that local rec/travel leagues are probably sufficient to get the benefits of sports (kids learn how to work as part of a team, deal with adversity, etc).

I don’t see the value in the high end travel leagues. I suppose the benefit there is either the prestige associated with it, or the desire to get a college scholarship out of it?

Depends on kids talents and desire/commitment. I had one son who was a very good hockey player. He went to a private high school to play and then played in college. My daughter was the same with soccer and was being heavily recruited until she tore ACL at end of junior year. My youngest boy was an okay hockey player and for him it was just fun so he didn’t play high end club with a lot of travel.

I always told my kids that we are happy to provide them opportunities, but they had to take initiative. Parents also need to be realistic about their kids abilities and not put them in a place where they can’t be successful.

 

[2014DualCs]

I’m sitting here trying to get the latest on McNeeley and getting soccer talk/travel sports good for your kid content instead lol figure it out people

 

[Fishy]

I swam in HS and would have continued with it had I gone to a DIII school instead of DI, and I didn't hate it but, man, what a solitary sport. At practice, your head's under water 90% of the time and when it's not, you're gasping for breath.

I hear what you're saying and if my kids are into it when they get older, that'll work for me. Unfortunately, so far their ceiling looks less like Michael Phelps/Katie Ledecky and more like this:

Much more social than people think. You’re in lanes with folk and you’re chatting after sets. During meets, you’re racing for maybe ten minutes total and socializing the rest of the time. My daughter has life long friends that I struggle to recognize if they’re not wearing a swim cap and goggles.

Key to swimming is starting them young. A very average club swimmer is a killer against high school-only swimmers.