Hailey Van Lith & LB transfer predictions

[southie]

I wonder if the Longhorns will take notice of TCU maybe competing for in state recruits now. Better coach.

You never know. Right now Texas is selling playing in the SEC to its 2024 and beyond high school recruits. TCU won't have that to sell.

 

[mbr33ct]

I'm in the camp of leaving current/expected roster as is, unless LB wines and dines Geno and Chris and then throws a hissy fit....PLEEEEEASE COACH I WANT TO PLAYYYY FOR UUUUUUUCONNNNNN!

 

[IArick]

But she played the full game against UConn, all of 40 minutes.....with likely with great motivation because it is UConn with a healthy Azzi (never mind that Paige was on the bench). If you do points per minute, what happens? - never mind the motivation part. Played only 21 min against Rutgers.....did score 18 in 36 min 2nd game against Maryland (big 28-pt blowout loss) after an Iowa blowout over Maryland where she scored 42 in 39 min in their 14-pt win....in the Big Ten tournament, she did 22 in 37 min for a 5-pt win.....UConn limited her in the first half, she did recover later (give her credit instead of suggesting that UConn defense let up).

I don't think I said UConn's defense let up I was just pointing out the points.

 

[tower1]

For me its pretty simple when talking about UConn and who would be interested in coming. UConn is preseason number 1 with the best backcourt in the country and it aint even close. With Aaliyah Edwards an AA and everybody Geno has on the roster and coming it I would think that if Betts truly wants to win a NC she will come. Lets face it if UConn is healthy and stays healthy they have so many weapons inside and out its gonna be pretty hard to lose a game let alone a NC. I think they could go undefeated and if Paige plays another year maybe 2 years undefeated.

Now with that said we dont know who Geno has coming in over the next couple of years as he referred to in his comments. Does he have Koval and/or Vucosa in the wings both 6'4 out of NY or manybe the 6'6 girl from Portugal or Forurnier from Canada and if he does how will that effect their decision coming to UConn if Betts is already here. Remember Betts did not get much playtime at Stanford and I wouldve thought at 6'7 Tara wouldve found her time. So why didnt she play? Then theres the question of how much playtime does Betts want and can she earn it at UConn. We have bigs in Edwards Deberry Ice Brady and El Alvy who have paid there dues. If Betts comes what happens with them????? UConn has a great roster with 2 generational guards. They are the favorite to win it all. I say dont mess anything up now. We have everything it takes with depth. Bringing in another player could cause problems and that player may not be what some think. You cant teach height I know however height without fundamentals at UConns level is not what we need.

What happens, Ill tell you what happens they have to play harder and improve like always. This is Uconn you have to win your spot every year.

 

[Bjbod]

If you aren't from Iowa and have options, why would anyone want to go to school on Iowa?

1) The coaching staff, especially if you're a post player. Jan Jensen turned a #80 national recruit, Megan Gustafson, into National Player of the Year. Turned Monika Czinano (no national accolades) into an All-American who got drafted in the WNBA 3rd round yesterday. What might she do with a highly-rated player?

2) Play a fast-paced fun brand of basketball.

3) Iowa women will most likely sell out with season tix next year. Who wouldn't like to play in front of 15,000 fans EVERY night.

4) Iowa City perennially on multiple top 10 lists for Best College Towns.

5) No professional sports in Iowa, which means college athletics #1 game in town, WHICH OPENS MORE NIL OPPORTUNITIES.

6) Roster with multiple outside shooters, which helps eliminate opponents' defenses from packing the paint around you.

7) Legitimate chance of Final Four/Title game.

8) Oh, almost forgot: the chance to play with Caitlin Clark.

 

[bballnut90]

If you aren't from Iowa and have options, why would anyone want to go to school on Iowa?

Lol the same could be said about Storrs, South Bend or Baton Rouge, yet those programs still get plenty of recruits.

 

[bballnut90]

FWIW, this is an Iowa sportswriter who covers Iowa WBB

 

[Zarathustra]

1) The coaching staff, especially if you're a post player. Jan Jensen turned a #80 national recruit, Megan Gustafson, into National Player of the Year. Turned Monika Czinano (no national accolades) into an All-American who got drafted in the WNBA 3rd round yesterday. What might she do with a highly-rated player?

2) Play a fast-paced fun brand of basketball.

3) Iowa women will most likely sell out with season tix next year. Who wouldn't like to play in front of 15,000 fans EVERY night.

4) Iowa City perennially on multiple top 10 lists for Best College Towns.

5) No professional sports in Iowa, which means college athletics #1 game in town, WHICH OPENS MORE NIL OPPORTUNITIES.

6) Roster with multiple outside shooters, which helps eliminate opponents' defenses from packing the paint around you.

7) Legitimate chance of Final Four/Title game.

8) Oh, almost forgot: the chance to play with Caitlin Clark.

Spoken like a loyal Hawkeye fan!!! Maybe UCONN and IOWA will meet in the 2024
final four!!

 

[cancontent]

Spoken like a loyal Hawkeye fan!!! Maybe UCONN and IOWA will meet in the 2024
final four!!

You don't need to be an Iowa fan to know a lot of this. Not to mention Jensen just won the Assistant Coach of the Year too.

 

[BlueSkyGLW]

I don't think I said UConn's defense let up I was just pointing out the points.

True except you only mentioned one game against Maryland. They had three and if you work all of them out, they did not do better than UConn because they gave up 42 in one of the games. And, if you do Rutgers on per 40 min that she played against UConn, it would be more than 25.

The numbers you quoted then would lead to misleading interpretation of the relative performances.....

 

[CardsWBBfan]

Hailey Van Lith to stanford... lb to louisville

There is some recent social media activity that makes this an interesting statement.
Betts started following Walz, Olivia Cochran and Emily Engster. I’m not mad.

 

[BlueSkyGLW]

I mean the TWO who are coming off significant injuries and have much to prove, and as I said I hope they do. We are not talking about past performance, we are talking about future. Agree it is not the dark ages of medicine, but when players are coming back from multiple injuries, the odds are a little longer. I just struggle to understand why some UConn fans have to proclaim our greatness, and in absolute terms, BEFORE the games are played. Not sure why we can’t just enjoy the ride. These
players have enough pressure already!

I am merely pointing out that this is NOT the dark ages of medicine and returning to past levels of performance is no longer impossible, given recent examples over more than 15 years....their return to form is almost entirely depending on their determination to play at the level they know they can, especially when they love the game as these, Paige and Azzi, do. No pressure from me, just watching and seeing who they are.......they themselves cut down the odds far more than any pressure placed on them by fans.

Besides, do you think that by implying that Caitlin Clark all by herself would be equal to the entire collection of UConn guards next year would diminish pressure or, in this case, their desire? No, sir or ma'am, what they want for themselves as a team overrides all. Geno won't have to push the guards much next year, except coaching the freshmen.

 

[IArick]

True except you only mentioned one game against Maryland. They had three and if you work all of them out, they did not do better than UConn because they gave up 42 in one of the games. And, if you do Rutgers on per 40 min that she played against UConn, it would be more than 25.

The numbers you quoted then would lead to misleading interpretation of the relative performances.....

True, I only pointed out which games were the lowest point totals as that was what was referenced. Not which team held her to the least amount of total points. Maryland absolutely frustrated Caitlin in that game that she was even lucky to score 18 points. She was so frustrated that Lisa pulled her from the game at the end. That didn't happen to her during the UCONN game. she was pretty much composed. During the UCONN game she had 25 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 turnovers. In the Maryland game I was referencing she had 18 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 turnovers.

I did mention in my earlier post that Caitlin only played 1/2 of the Rutgers, which I thought implied that it would have been more had she been in longer.

Since Iowa only played UCONN once why would you average the others to figure out which team held Caitlin to the lowest point total. That is making alot of assumptions that the other games would have followed the same trajectory. We don't know so not fair to make assumptions.

 

[gold2323]

A spot now in Iowa
Shateah Wetering enters the NCAA transfer portal, roster spot opens for Iowa

 

[Zarathustra]

A spot now in Iowa
Shateah Wetering enters the NCAA transfer portal, roster spot opens for Iowa

If Iowa next get two roster slots... then, do they get TWO transfers in? (She (X2) who must not be named??).
Apologies to Harry Potter.

 

[BRS24]

GM sportsfans - now that the WNBA draft is done, I'm thinking we'll see a bit more portal announcements. As of last night, here are some stats on the poll form from the 1st post of this thread:

LB & Hailey Van Lith land at same school? - 3 (LSU, ND, UConn)

For the 30 No votes of them going to same school (single votes or multiple schools listed not shown):
Betts:
UCLA - 11
Notre Dame - 8
UConn - 4
Iowa - 3

Hailey Van Lith:
LSU - 12
Indiana - 6
SC & UCLA - 2

 

[Zarathustra]

GM sportsfans - now that the WNBA draft is done, I'm thinking we'll see a bit more portal announcements. As of last night, here are some stats on the poll form from the 1st post of this thread:

LB & Hailey Van Lith land at same school? - 3 (LSU, ND, UConn)

For the 30 No votes of them going to same school (single votes or multiple schools listed not shown):
Betts:
UCLA - 11
Notre Dame - 8
UConn - 4
Iowa - 3

Hailey Van Lith:
LSU - 12
Indiana - 6
SC & UCLA - 2

Looks like UCLA has the best chance of getting at least ONE !

 

[oldhusky]

I beginning to come around to the concept of " leave the roster alone", for team chemistry and playing time.
That said... IF ... Lauren Betts is ready for a " Sophomore Leap", and Geno sees that coming??, she would be
with UCONN for THREE productive years. The "bigs" on our roster IMO all can/could also play #4, so giving
one year to Aaliyah, of course, won't there be enough time (in years at UCONN) to work out the
successful development of most everyone ?? ( I assume the weakest of the others, unfortunately becomes
a minor contributor / insurance team member ).

I am pretty close to your views. Your point on playing time for the other bigs is important too. If Betts came and locked up a starting position for the next three years, players like Ice and Jana would be affected, but as you indicated they can play the 4 as well. After next year one of those two could start with Betts and either could get backup 5 minutes behind Betts.

Put another way, after Aaliyah departs (assuming she doesn't take the Covid year), if Betts was here a minimum of two more bigs would get significant time in the rotation if Geno had a limited three big rotation, or hopefully three more if he had a designated backup at both big positions. Right now those candidates would be Ice, Jana, Ayanna and Amari. On paper Ayanna might need four bigs in the rotation to get playing time, and it is hard to see how Amari factors at all.

That seems to be a pretty crowded situation and of course that assumes no big additions in the 2024 class. Any addition there would be added to the 4 players competing for 2-3 rotation spots after this year, so it could hurt the chances of Koval, Tac or others. Having said that we don't know how many years Paige will play. Her best chance and the team's best chance at a championship might be this year, with a roster loaded at 1-4, and expecting to be good at the 5, but with the chance with Betts to be great there as well, and have a championship level C for two years after that.

At this point I suspect we are among the teams she would consider, but that we are underdogs to get her. If not, back to Koval, Tac, perhaps Okot, and hope that Ice and Jana will be good enough in their first year to get us to the promised land. I think they will be good from the start, but not nearly as good as they will be by their junior and senior years. Still waiting and hoping.

 

[jonack]

Do you think Geno will reach out to LB? Do you think he reached out to Cardoso?
imo: sheer negligence not to..

 

[UcMiami]

Do you think Geno will reach out to LB? Do you think he reached out to Cardoso?
imo: sheer negligence not to..

I think he probably didn't reach out to Cardoso - he had just signed Dorka and had a really solid roster with one vet post and one freshman post coming in.

I don't know about Betts - I hope he has, but I don't know anything about Ice and Jana and he obviously knows a lot. If he is confident about those two, I think he may not want to go to a 15 player roster. That is a lot of players to coach and keep happy. And it creates a crowd at every position on the court, that could well end up stifling development and future recruiting.

It is always nice as a fan to want to grab all the talent, but we don't have to live in the locker room once it is all assembled.

 

[oldude]

Do you think Geno will reach out to LB? Do you think he reached out to Cardoso?
imo: sheer negligence not to..

Well we know he reaches out to certain transfers, as he did with Dorka & Lou. We also know that UConn recruited Betts out of HS, so there is a previous relationship.

I have said before that Betts makes UConn a championship contender/favorite for the next 3 seasons. Geno & his staff have probably discussed Betts along with several other players currently in the portal.

A decision has likely been made as to whether or not to pursue Betts. If so, Morgan probably contacted her first to gauge her interest. If Betts is interested in UConn, Geno calls next, asking the question he asks of all potential transfers, “What’s wrong with you?”

 

[BlueSkyGLW]

True, I only pointed out which games were the lowest point totals as that was what was referenced. Not which team held her to the least amount of total points. Maryland absolutely frustrated Caitlin in that game that she was even lucky to score 18 points. She was so frustrated that Lisa pulled her from the game at the end. That didn't happen to her during the UCONN game. she was pretty much composed. During the UCONN game she had 25 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 turnovers. In the Maryland game I was referencing she had 18 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 turnovers.

I did mention in my earlier post that Caitlin only played 1/2 of the Rutgers, which I thought implied that it would have been more had she been in longer.

Since Iowa only played UCONN once why would you average the others to figure out which team held Caitlin to the lowest point total. That is making alot of assumptions that the other games would have followed the same trajectory. We don't know so not fair to make assumptions.

Why not? The points/min performance is usually the true measure. One is never sure with these multiple games encounter whether it's the opposing team responsible by adjusting its defense and effort level or whether the young lady is diminished physically by a condition, whatever it is - mental or otherwise. So, choosing one game among the three encounters between them is just as unfair as choosing to average on minutes played which, all other things equal, is the true measure.

Just watch the first half against UConn as it unfolded into the 3rd......she recovered sometime in the 2nd half against an undermanned UConn team basically playing 6 (Ayanna was on court only 6 min; lucky for them Caroline found form for the first time since returning from injury). Her moments like those you point out....that frustration came knowing that she scored 42 against them in a earlier game and seeing defensive adjustments against which she did better overall in the following game.

That said, I would wager that if Iowa played UConn 3 times (or more) at same strength (without Dorka, you remembered that, didn't you?) as that game, she would never get near 42 in any game. With Dorka before they got worn down as the season progressed? I leave that to your imagination.....

 

[cancontent]

What has you thinking Morrow would go to Indiana? I'm not sure if she'd fit their style of play from what I've seen over the years.

 

[Twolf]

In today’s world of big time college sports I would add a C to your post which would be from the athlete’s point of view- ” how does it meet my expectations for NIL endorsements? JMO