Transfer portal, Spring 2022 (merged thread) | Page 12 | The Boneyard

Transfer portal, Spring 2022 (merged thread)

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To me it seems she'd be better off the ball making plays rather than shooting or ball-handling out on the perimeter.
She is a good ball handler, and she doesn't turn the ball over a lot. Dawn said she was the best passer on the team. That is why she was at the point. She can play off the ball, but we needed her at point.
 
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Wow! The number 3 player in her class! Either she was incredibly overrated or there’s a story here! Probably one we won’t (and shouldn’t) know but I don’t think this is a particularly good look for a program that is trying to assume the top program title. It’s one thing to lose players who were a bit of a reach or who are developmental players but top 3 players don’t normally transfer after one year.
She was suspended by Dawn for 3 games during the NCAA tournament, you know. Not sure a lot of the ppl commenting in this thread are aware of that having happened.
 

Tonyc

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Just my feeling. We have alot of top 5 players. If Geno gets someone from the portal who on the bench gets less playtime and will they enter the portal. We have Dorka Amari Brady and Patterson. Getting someone from the portal imo may not be a good idea because these kids are our future. I dont see anyone coming in from the portal and getting playtime over them and nobody is going to see alot of playtime over Paige Azzi and Caroline.
 

Tonyc

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It will be interesting to see if Rivers goes to UNC. Toomey was suppose to come to UConn and ended up going to UNC which was a shock to many and many were in disbelief. I remember a few years back when UConn had thought there were a bunch of kids that would commit and they went to Maryland to many fans surprise. Lets wait and see what happens.
 
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I think Sara would be a great pickup. She can absolutely light it up and another top 3 point shooter would really benefit us. Don't think she's strong defensively but she would be a sub for us and we could use her. She can't carry a top team as that is a tall task for any player but she would be a solid supplement.
In general, would like to see another guard with point guard and defensive skills. Our best defensive players, Muhl and Aubrey, have struggled against quicker guards that can drive to the basket. Having Anna come back from injury and run the team in Paige's absence demonstrated how valuable a true point guard is. Seems like we always have a point guard injured or slowed in the playoffs from Nurse to Dangerfield to Paige. Big scorers often make the pros; good point guards often make great coaches and would appreciate learning the UConn way.
 
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This account has been known to lie so take it as you may.......
 

Dillon77

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Ms. Rivers went from 12 finalists to, well, South Carolina. From what I'm reading, she played point for Dawn, which may explain why her shooting was so off.

As @triaddukefan pointed out, there are a lot of schools in North Carolina. And for some reason, the one I keep thinking of also has a "State" at the end of it. Coach Moore lost 4 out of his five starters, but has Diamond Johnson to run the the point and Mimi Collins coming from Maryland/Tennessee. Rivers could slide back to off-wing/wing and get playing time. Lots of it.

At North Carolina, Deja Kelly is the alpha dog and UNC did very well with that approach.

(And this from the fan of a school that was also a finalist -- Notre Dame. Don't see her leaving the confines of her home state.)
 

meyers7

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Not UConn's choice. We have enough guards.
No actually that is exactly where we are short next year. As of right now we have 4 guards for 3 positions. AND only 10 players total. (with 2 coming back from injury)

I imagine they are probably mostly looking for a grad transfer as some depth at 1/2/3 positions for 1 year.
 

Carnac

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Sara is a guard at Minnesota averaged 14.5 pts a game and shot 42% from 3. She has played with Azzi and against Paige. Her range is deep. Funny thing my daughter bought me 23 and me a genealogy site and I googled a bunch of DNA relatives and her dad got back to me and we cant figure out how yet but we are DNA relatives. So the Scalia's are my cousins Sara in less then 48 minutes had over 40 offers including LVille AZ and Indiana. Ive watched her on the BTN network and she has range. View attachment 75294
Happy birthday Tony. :)
 
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Ms. Rivers went from 12 finalists to, well, South Carolina. From what I'm reading, she played point for Dawn, which may explain why her shooting was so off.
Why? If she is open playing pg she is more likely to miss shots than if she is a wing? Unless you are suggesting less opportunities for layups and some ORebounds as the wing?
 
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I could see Rivers going to lots of school options. Tennesse, Louisville, one of the North Carolina schools. My guess would be Louisville.
 

Dillon77

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Why? If she is open playing pg she is more likely to miss shots than if she is a wing? Unless you are suggesting less opportunities for layups and some ORebounds as the wing?
It's not really her natural position and you tend to think more about it, particularly when you're also running the team's half-court sets. Plus, as you point out, there are a lot fewer of her normal scoring opportunities. I only saw her half-dozen or so times this year, but she looked tentative.
 

Carnac

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I could see Rivers going to lots of school options. Tennesse, Louisville, one of the North Carolina schools. My guess would be Louisville.
I see her going to a top ten school that she is almost "guaranteed" to get lots of minutes. I think she would fit in well at LSU, Tennessee or Arizona.

dip

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Thanks Doggie. Like Gus I had no idea what "DIP" meant. I am not of this era that I understand its slang.
I my youth, we would have used the term "bounce" to suggest leaving. :cool:
 
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No actually that is exactly where we are short next year. As of right now we have 4 guards for 3 positions. AND only 10 players total. (with 2 coming back from injury)

I imagine they are probably mostly looking for a grad transfer as some depth at 1/2/3 positions for 1 year.
I agree completely that this guard would only be a one year filler and would like to see a more defensive player than offensive player. Connecticut has shooters that need to live up to their hype and if they do the offense will be fine from the outside. I still believe Connecticut needs help of an experienced grad transfer big just in case Amari doesn’t flourish and the two freshman act like freshman. Gino has always said it’s more difficult for a big to acclimate than a guard. So someone with experience would be a valuable asset.
 
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I agree completely that this guard would only be a one year filler and would like to see a more defensive player than offensive player. Connecticut has shooters that need to live up to their hype and if they do the offense will be fine from the outside. I still believe Connecticut needs help of an experienced grad transfer big just in case Amari doesn’t flourish and the two freshman act like freshman. Gino has always said it’s more difficult for a big to acclimate than a guard. So someone with experience would be a valuable asset.
Agree with one year filler concept, but wouldn't necessarily prefer defense to offense for that player. Lou would seem to be more of an offensive option, but it sounds like if defense is the priority a player like Warren from Texas would be a possibility. If healthy Aubrey could be a situational defender of guards although she might not be an offensive fit there. I think the same might be true of Ayanna.
 
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While I look forward to Aubrey's return, I agree with the comments regarding how SC played back from our bigs in the Championship game, creating difficulty for our shooters. Having Aubrey in there on offense just expands this issue. One of our other problems in the playoffs were quick guards constantly driving past our defenders. Created issue for our bigs since they had to come over to help and lost their rebounding position on missed shots, in particular against SC. Aubrey is a great wing defender but not so much against quick offensive guards. Am not counting on her to solve some of the key upgrades UConn needs to win a Championship.
 
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The people who watch the the portal and the players who enter it seem to think that there really aren’t any game changers in it. Players who would solve the issues mentioned on this board. If there is a player in the portal with WNBA hopes, that player would want to go to a program where she was sure to be a starter. That probably won’t happen for anyone joining UCONN.

So, we are probably not going to get a “savior” but, hopefully, a player who can contribute positive minutes when needed. That’s probably good enough to be the #2 team in the Country.
 

oldude

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While I look forward to Aubrey's return, I agree with the comments regarding how SC played back from our bigs in the Championship game, creating difficulty for our shooters. Having Aubrey in there on offense just expands this issue. One of our other problems in the playoffs were quick guards constantly driving past our defenders. Created issue for our bigs since they had to come over to help and lost their rebounding position on missed shots, in particular against SC. Aubrey is a great wing defender but not so much against quick offensive guards. Am not counting on her to solve some of the key upgrades UConn needs to win a Championship.
The idea that Aubrey is not a great defender against quick guards is not entirely correct. Aubrey was a guard out of HS. While she has primarily defended the 3/4 in college, including shutting down SC’s 6’4” Amihere in last year’s Husky win in Storrs, Aubrey has also successfully defended quicker guards.

Chief among them was SH’s Lauren Park-Lane in last year’s matchup. Park-Lane was torching UConn, while single-handedly keeping the game close. Enter Aubrey, who’s length and athleticism forced Park-Lane to take a bunch of tough shots, while UConn pulled away.

IMO, Aubrey is capable of defending 1-5. The last Husky that had that kind of defensive versatility was Gabby.
 
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The idea that Aubrey is not a great defender against quick guards is not entirely correct. Aubrey was a guard out of HS. While she has primarily defended the 3/4 in college, including shutting down SC’s 6’4” Amihere in last year’s Husky win in Storrs, Aubrey has also successfully defended quicker guards.

Chief among them was SH’s Lauren Park-Lane in last year’s matchup. Park-Lane was torching UConn, while single-handedly keeping the game close. Enter Aubrey, who’s length and athleticism forced Park-Lane to take a bunch of tough shots, while UConn pulled away.

IMO, Aubrey is capable of defending 1-5. The last Husky that had that kind of defensive versatility was Gabby.
AG was really missed last season and I really hope she is able to play at her best again........if she's close to one 100% then that will be as good or better than getting somebody out of the portal.......
 
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The idea that Aubrey is not a great defender against quick guards is not entirely correct. Aubrey was a guard out of HS. While she has primarily defended the 3/4 in college, including shutting down SC’s 6’4” Amihere in last year’s Husky win in Storrs, Aubrey has also successfully defended quicker guards.

Chief among them was SH’s Lauren Park-Lane in last year’s matchup. Park-Lane was torching UConn, while single-handedly keeping the game close. Enter Aubrey, who’s length and athleticism forced Park-Lane to take a bunch of tough shots, while UConn pulled away.

IMO, Aubrey is capable of defending 1-5. The last Husky that had that kind of defensive versatility was Gabby.
How did she shut down Amihere? Amihere played 13 minutes in that game and scored 4 points. It is weird that you would pick Amihere to prove your point, since she was not a starter and was not a double figure scorer for SC. Saxton nor Beal were double figure scorers, so to say she shut down anyone other than Boston is not a good example of her defensive prowess. SC out rebounded UConn 52-39, so maybe she would have grabbed a few more boards for UConn. In her two years did Aubrey make any defensive teams? In her two games against SC, she had not done anything special. Hopefully she comes back 100% and we will see what difference she will make.
 
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How did she shut down Amihere? Amihere played 13 minutes in that game and scored 4 points. It is weird that you would pick Amihere to prove your point, since she was not a starter and was not a double figure scorer for SC. Saxton nor Beal were double figure scorers, so to say she shut down anyone other than Boston is not a good example of her defensive prowess. SC out rebounded UConn 52-39, so maybe she would have grabbed a few more boards for UConn. In her two years did Aubrey make any defensive teams? In her two games against SC, she had not done anything special. Hopefully she comes back 100% and we will see what difference she will make.
Her best game to date of her career was the freshmen year game against Tennessee...Other than that i think people just miss her presence on the court and since she's been gone so long they forget lol. She's UCONN's most effective defender on smaller posts. No way she's shutting down the likes of Boston , Lee , Brink etc....
 

oldude

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How did she shut down Amihere? Amihere played 13 minutes in that game and scored 4 points. It is weird that you would pick Amihere to prove your point, since she was not a starter and was not a double figure scorer for SC. Saxton nor Beal were double figure scorers, so to say she shut down anyone other than Boston is not a good example of her defensive prowess. SC out rebounded UConn 52-39, so maybe she would have grabbed a few more boards for UConn. In her two years did Aubrey make any defensive teams? In her two games against SC, she had not done anything special. Hopefully she comes back 100% and we will see what difference she will make.
In the game last year at Storrs, Aubrey, who is all of 6’1, was critical in UConn’s upset win. She played 22 minutes, pulled down 5 critical rebounds, blocked 3 shots, including 2 point blank rejections of 6’4” Amihere and 1 on Boston at the end of regulation, along with 2 steals while also pressuring Amihere into a critical turnover that turned into a pick-6 by Paige.

I realize that SC fans haven’t watched a lot of Aubrey. But for UConn fans, Aubrey has provided a huge lift off the bench in games against Seton Hall, TN & SC to name a few. Aubrey doesn’t provide a lot of offense. But to suggest she hasn’t done “ anything special” would be like me suggesting that Beal or Saxon haven’t done anything special either, and we both know that’s not the case.
 
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