Qadence Samuels commits!

[HuskyNan]

 

[UCinsider]

Anyone remember where Kara Wolters was ranked when she committed to UConn? How about Jamelle Elliott or Carla Berube? They won the National Championship in '95. I think Geno knows talent.

 

[HuskyNan]

Anyone remember where Kara Wolters was ranked when she committed to UConn? How about Jamelle Elliott or Carla Berube? They won the National Championship in '95. I think Geno knows talent.

Kara was unranked. Although tall, she was too heavy and out of shape to dominate in high school. BC, where Kara wanted to go, wouldn’t recruit her because she was considered a project.

Jamelle was pretty highly regarded, around 10-12, I believe. But you need to remember rankings were regional and didn’t cover every are of the county. High school girls recruiting wasn’t widespread at that time.

 

[Bone Dog]

Now I really want to hear what's happening with Delaney Thomas

 

[EricLA]

For all the hoopla about the "rankings", I did some research and here is how all our players stack up:

Hoopgurlz

• 6 Shade
• 7 Arnold
• 35 Samuels

Prospects Nation

• 3 Shade
• 8 Arnold
• NR in the top 25 Samuels

Blue Star

• 9 Shade
• 7 Arnold
• 32 Samuels

ASGR

• 9 Shade
• 7 Arnold
• 42 Samuels

JR All Star

• 5 Shade
• 16 Arnold
• NR top 100 Samuels

Prep Girls Hoops

• 33 Shade
• 8 Arnold
• NR top 50 Samuels

Some of my info is older - especially for ASGR - so i'm not sure if AS or KK's rankings have changed. In this thread ASGR listed Samuels' ranking so that was easy. Some of the rankings are way outliers - Prep Girls for Shade at 33? JR All Star for Arnold at 16?

Either way it looks like both Ashlynn and KK are squarely in the top 10 consensus. Quadence seems to be in the 30's for those who ranked her, but composite much lower since she's not in the top 100/50 for a pair of services.

But let's be honest. We beat out local Maryland, elite Louisville, up and coming Tennessee/UNC for a kid who a lot of teams apparently wanted. And bottom line, she will either be great and start eventually, good and be a solid reserve off the bench, decent and be a role player at the end of games, or some combo. We read that she runs like a gazelle, has a solid mid-range game (Mir never did), and has been working on her 3-point shot. Tons of upside. How will she develop? No idea. Fingers crossed that she develops a lot!

The staff will do all they can to help her develop and not only be a as good as she can be, but also a great kid and teammate. If she ends up unhappy and doesn't progress/develop enough to be a contributor as she envisioned, maybe she will transfer out. OBVIOUSLY I'm not projecting anything, but good players like Espinosa-Hunter, Poffenbarger and McLean weren't able to make it work at UCONN. AEH ended up having a very nice career at Seton Hall, McLean was really solid on a dreadful Virginia team, and it remains to be seen what Saylor does at Arkansas.

Anyway not trying to hijack the thread to talk about other players. Just to point out that we ALL should be super excited. We got a kid who WANTS to be at UCONN, and to me that means she wants to work hard, is aware of the challenges based on who else is coming/here, and is ready to rock and roll! Now she's one of ours, and I am pumped, like MOST of the folks on here.

Welcome to the basketball capital of the world, Quadence. I hope all your personal and basketball dreams come true!

 

[CL82]

Well, not to your face or anything…Are you calling me odd?

Well, not to your face or anything…

 

[HuskyNan]

For all the hoopla about the "rankings", I did some research and here is how all our players stack up:

Hoopgurlz

• 6 Shade
• 7 Arnold
• 35 Samuels

Prospects Nation

• 3 Shade
• 8 Arnold
• NR in the top 25 Samuels

Blue Star

• 9 Shade
• 7 Arnold
• 32 Samuels

ASGR

• 9 Shade
• 7 Arnold
• 42 Samuels

JR All Star

• 5 Shade
• 16 Arnold
• NR top 100 Samuels

Prep Girls Hoops

• 33 Shade
• 8 Arnold
• NR top 50 Samuels

Some of my info is older - especially for ASGR - so i'm not sure if AS or KK's rankings have changed. In this thread ASGR listed Samuels' ranking so that was easy. Some of the rankings are way outliers - Prep Girls for Shade at 33? JR All Star for Arnold at 16?

Either way it looks like both Ashlynn and KK are squarely in the top 10 consensus. Quadence seems to be in the 30's for those who ranked her, but composite much lower since she's not in the top 100/50 for a pair of services.

But let's be honest. We beat out local Maryland, elite Louisville, up and coming Tennessee/UNC for a kid who a lot of teams apparently wanted. And bottom line, she will either be great and start eventually, good and be a solid reserve off the bench, decent and be a role player at the end of games, or some combo. We read that she runs like a gazelle, has a solid mid-range game (Mir never did), and has been working on her 3-point shot. Tons of upside. How will she develop? No idea. Fingers crossed that she develops a lot!

The staff will do all they can to help her develop and not only be a as good as she can be, but also a great kid and teammate. If she ends up unhappy and doesn't progress/develop enough to be a contributor as she envisioned, maybe she will transfer out. OBVIOUSLY I'm not projecting anything, but good players like Espinosa-Hunter, Poffenbarger and McLean weren't able to make it work at UCONN. AEH ended up having a very nice career at Seton Hall, McLean was really solid on a dreadful Virginia team, and it remains to be seen what Saylor does at Arkansas.

Anyway not trying to hijack the thread to talk about other players. Just to point out that we ALL should be super excited. We got a kid who WANTS to be at UCONN, and to me that means she wants to work hard, is aware of the challenges based on who else is coming/here, and is ready to rock and roll! Now she's one of ours, and I am pumped, like MOST of the folks on here.

Welcome to the basketball capital of the world, Quadence. I hope all your personal and basketball dreams come true!

Rankings can be dependent on how many times a player is viewed. Or, as sometimes happens with a team that has a lot of D1 prospects, details about a player can be overlooked.

 

[Forego]

Kia Nurse was ranked 33 by Hoopgurlz, although this might be because ranking services normally spend a lot more time evaluating US players.

 

[UConnCat]

 

[hookshot]

She is a four star recruit listed at #35. I’m surprised UConn would recruit a player at that ranking unless they see something no one else does.

check out the video and you may want to add yourself to the someone else list - ultra quick, leaper, big hands with a high release on jump shot (hard to find that high release, something that is missing on most current recruits or on Uconn roster)

 

[LarryLegend]

people are going to have to get used to spelling her name correctly. I was about to suggest just calling her “Q” but realized that wouldn’t be good

 

[oldhusky]

Well, Vols,Terps and Cardinals saw something also. So there’s that.

I agree, those three schools recruiting her plus Uconn suggests that #35 might be to low.

 

[Forego]

Any interesting overlap with Azzi and/or the Fudds?

According to the UConn Blog, Qadence’s high school team, Bishop McNamara fell to Azzi’s team , St Johns, in the Maryland state championship game.

 

[oldude]

For what it’s worth Qadence at 35 is ranked higher than another UConn recruit by the name of Stephanie Dolson, who was ranked 39th out of HS. Now how did Steph turn out?

 

[Purchase1]

I like lockdown defender!!!!!!!

 

[Mdoggie]

Wouldn’t surprise me if you guys got Thomas. I know Maryland (and possibly ND) are also looking into her. Don’t know who else though.

I know right? Delaney looks so happy on campus!

 

[JordyG]

Years ago, I worked for Scout recruiting and helped put together Scout’s rankings. They are pretty much a best guess as to how the player will be in college and are very much an inexact art, as opposed to a science.

We had a great deal of discussion regarding rankings - are we ranking players in order as we see them today or are we ranking them on how we believe they’ll be in college? There are many players with mad skills that can’t/won’t play well with a team. And the reverse, there are fabulous “glue“ type players (think Kelly Faris) that don’t show anything spectacular in any particular aspect of the game.

Keep in mind, some ranking services love athletic players more than skilled ones, and vice versa. There are those who have subtle biases, for example preferring guards over posts. I used to argue we should rank by position because it made no sense to compare a point guard with a center but was overruled.

So, rankings are very subjective. I refuse to get too wound up when I see a number next to a girl’s name because it‘s just the ranking committee or person’s opinion, no better or worse than mine.

Agreed. I prefer my own eyeball test, especially when I can see players against other highly ranked players, such as in the FIBA U competitions before they matriculate.

 

[AmeriConn]

Stephanie Dolson was ranked as the 39th-best recruit nationally and rated as the second-best center in the country by ESPN Hoopgurlz back in 2009, or 2010. I watched her play for the Tennessee Flight(AAU) team at Nike Nationals in July 2009. I said to my self what does Geno see in her, other than a very good post up center. Geno knows what he can do and what potential players have, or what he can teach them to do.

Rankings, or ratings are something for the Bio page on the college roster link and for parents and grandparents to brag about. "Oh look what my Sally Sue is ranked and what award she won" Means nothing if you cant move up a level and improve your game, in all facets.

Ok, so what’s going on here? I never heard of this Sally Sue either!

 

[rbny1]

For what it’s worth Qadence at 35 is ranked higher than another UConn recruit by the name of Stephanie Dolson, who was ranked 39th out of HS. Now how did Steph turn out?

I remember when Steph committed, a lot of Boneyarders said "who's she" and thought she was an out-of-shape underperformer with little upside potential. As you note, it didn't turn out that way.

Greetings to Steph, one of my favorite players!

And welcome to Qadence! If Geno sees you as a high-level player who will fit well with the Huskies, I think so too.

 

[Bone Dog]

She's listed variously as 6'1" or 6'2" -- I guess that's the usual zone. Anyway, that puts her at the same height as Caroline. But she looks a bit more athletic. From the videos I've watched, she's nowhere near as big as Ayanna in the shoulders and arms. People like to imagine Ayanna at the 3, but Qadence and Caroline are a more natural fit for that spot.

 

[rvwsleep]

She's listed variously as 6'1" or 6'2" -- I guess that's the usual zone. Anyway, that puts her at the same height as Caroline. But she looks a bit more athletic. From the videos I've watched, she's nowhere near as big as Ayanna in the shoulders and arms. People like to imagine Ayanna at the 3, but Qadence and Caroline are a more natural fit for that spot.

She has physical attributes similar to Griffin.

 

[Bone Dog]

She has physical attributes similar to Griffin.

Yup, it's true. A more confident shooter, but a similar build, maybe a little slighter.

 

[Mdoggie]

Qadence is built like Swin Cash. We should be so lucky to get the same results we got from Swin.

 

[hoophuskee]

Stephanie Dolson was ranked as the 39th-best recruit nationally and rated as the second-best center in the country by ESPN Hoopgurlz back in 2009, or 2010. I watched her play for the Tennessee Flight(AAU) team at Nike Nationals in July 2009. I said to my self what does Geno see in her, other than a very good post up center. Geno knows what he can do and what potential players have, or what he can teach them to do.

Rankings, or ratings are something for the Bio page on the college roster link and for parents and grandparents to brag about. "Oh look what my Sally Sue is ranked and what award she won" Means nothing if you cant move up a level and improve your game, in all facets.

I always thought the ranking with Dolson were looney (and with Faris). But with Dolson I can specifically remember some ranking service saying Dolson is the best center in the class. And either I watched a game of hers or highlights - or just the comments - showing/saying she is 1.) good in the low post, 2.) has a mid-range game (I'm almost positive I saw her shooting), and is 3.) a very good passer. And I thought "How the hell can she only be 39 with that size and skill?

You just know sometimes- the heck with the rankings. And rankings ofc can be extremely volatile as Nan pointed out and BobbyJ says - so what - if you like a player Geno isn't going by rankings.

I’m excited - her athleticism seems tremendous if what I am reading is correct -and that hasn't been UCONN's strong suit recently. Now after this year - looking forward - unsure about Griffin but Patterson and Samuels are two amazing athletes. They fit in well with ultra-skill from the guard spots with Azzi and Ducharme even without getting into Arnold and Shade.

Also her committing in which she is a 35 rank recruit – she must think that is nonsense. Along with she knows who her teammates will be in terms of competition and is still committing this early. She’s gotta be bleeding Husky Blue!!! And that is a tremendous sign!!!! Did I say I am excited with her potential? I am.