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ridor
Joined: 18 Oct 2005
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 Posted: 04/17/14 3:51 am ::: |
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Folks, A'ja Wilson is not going to be a post player. She made it clear that she is into wing guard/forward type player. Even at 6'5, she's going to be fun to watch - just like watching EDD doing everything for Delaware.
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bullsky
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: 04/17/14 7:33 am ::: |
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Congrats to A'ja in making her decision. South Carolina will be a major player for years to come.
I do find her reasoning for picking SC funny though. "I want to win championships." Sweetheart, UNC, Tennessee and UCONN have as many titles combined as you do years of your life. Just say you wanted to stay home!
Also, does anyone think Geno's comments about Stewie signing her LOI on a car maybe turned her off of UCONN. He seemed to insinuate that he didn't like players who made a spectacle of everything.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 04/17/14 8:08 am ::: |
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| bullsky wrote: |
Also, does anyone think Geno's comments about Stewie signing her LOI on a car maybe turned her off of UCONN. He seemed to insinuate that he didn't like players who made a spectacle of everything. |
I don't. I think this decision was made many months ago.
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coffy73
Joined: 24 Sep 2009
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| Posted: 04/17/14 9:26 am ::: |
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| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| bullsky wrote: |
Also, does anyone think Geno's comments about Stewie signing her LOI on a car maybe turned her off of UCONN. He seemed to insinuate that he didn't like players who made a spectacle of everything. |
I don't. I think this decision was made many months ago. |
I do as well and I must say I hate the signing day spectacles as well; just very cheesy and unnecessary to make a big brouhaha over it.
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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| Posted: 04/17/14 10:02 am ::: |
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| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
A'ja Wilson would have developed into a floor running, inside-outside superstar at UConn, but going to South Carolina is likely much better for her situation and for the competitiveness of the sport as a whole.
As to Bianca Cuevas, I've seen her many, many times in person since the eighth grade, and I think she may be the most talented shooting point guard to come out of New York City since Sue Bird. Cuevas has never had much coach or school stability -- Apache Paschall having moved schools and then died -- and I think Dawn Staley is exactly the right person to tame and shape her natural shooting and passing gifts.
I expect the Gamecocks to be strong Final Four contenders the next three years. |
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Phil
Joined: 22 Oct 2011
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| Posted: 04/17/14 10:24 am ::: |
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| Should make the Gamecocks the team to beat in the SEC for the next few years. Maybe they will follow up their SEC Championship with a tournament title as well.
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Oldfandepot2
Joined: 05 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 04/17/14 10:29 am ::: |
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| ridor wrote: |
| Oldfandepot2 wrote: |
| At the McDonald's AA game, Cuevas when interviewed by ESPN told the interviewer she told Dawn Staley she doesn't play defense. Hellooooo Mr. Bench. |
Not necessary. TAMU Head Coach Gary Blair once told the press that he always recruited players who knew how to play offense, he does not care if these players do not know how to play defense. Why? Because Gary said he prefers to TEACH defense to his players from day one on his own so that they can be effective defensive players under his tutelage.
And knowing Dawn Staley since she was a senior at Dobbins Tech HS, that is what Staley would wanted as well. Staley wanted her players to come in with offense-minded but let her and her assistants teach the players how to defend effectively in the long run.
R- |
No, no, no it not that she doesn't know how, she just doesn't want to play it. Honest.
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sammieee
Joined: 17 Jan 2009
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| Posted: 04/17/14 10:32 am ::: |
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I think USC CAN win national championships. Maybe not next year, but with the roster Dawn is putting, and adding Wilson, they will be VERY VERY good.
If UConn strikes out with Durr and Samuelson next year, 2015-2016 season will be VERY interesting. UConn will lose KML and Stokes, of course they still have Stewert and Jefferson, but the majority of the roster will be guards/wings, and Tuck.
ND will have Loyd, Allen, Reimer and Turner. UNC's class will be Juniors and USC will still have Mitchell (Sr), Coates (Jr), Wilson and White (Soph). It should be fun and exciting in 2 years.
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Howee
Joined: 27 Nov 2009
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Location: OREGON (in my heart)
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| Posted: 04/17/14 11:21 am ::: |
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| bullsky wrote: |
Congrats to A'ja in making her decision. South Carolina will be a major player for years to come.
I do find her reasoning for picking SC funny though. "I want to win championships." Sweetheart, UNC, Tennessee and UCONN have as many titles combined as you do years of your life. Just say you wanted to stay home! |
Hmmm....I remember her quote to be more along the lines of "I want to be part of Dawn's goals to win a Nat. Ch.". Which I admire. It speaks a lot more about one's ambition to want the challenge of striving for something yet unattained, as opposed to going someplace for 'yet another one'.
| bullsky wrote: |
| Also, does anyone think Geno's comments about Stewie signing her LOI on a car maybe turned her off of UCONN. He seemed to insinuate that he didn't like players who made a spectacle of everything. |
LOL! Yeah, Geno doesn't like his players to upstage him in the Making Spectacles Dept.  I don't care much for the "spectacle" that these things can become, but I thought she was very measured and cool in what she did. And I hadn't really thought about it before, but....NOW is an ideal time to do it, after the NCAA tournament and so many more things are evident.
I dunno how anyone CAN'T believe that this acquisition doesn't greatly help Dawn's chances at a NC. Look at her current team: she just made a #1 seed out of a team that didn't have the highest-ranking recruits. She KNOWS HOW TO DEVELP TALENT, and with primo talent, look out!
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Last edited by Howee on 04/17/14 11:25 am; edited 2 times in total |
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GlennMacGrady
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
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| Posted: 04/17/14 11:23 am ::: |
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In retrospect, Wilson's choice of SCar should have been obvious. In fact, I have now posited a new Truth of the Universe:
If a high school player (a) decides to announce her college decision in front of a rabid hometown crowd at her high school, and (b) one of her college choices is a nearby college in her home state, she (c) will be announcing that nearby school as her choice. Otherwise, she would sign her NLI on the hood of a mobile vehicle so she can vamoose quietly out of town.
As I recall, Seimone Augustus had such an announcement, peeling off a teasing Tennessee jersey to reveal Tiger purple.
It was very surprising to me that, from a 2014 high school class that perhaps had more quality bigs than any class since 2004, UConn couldn't attract any of them in a key year when AA center Dolson was graduating. In the past two years now, UConn's recruit tally is five guards who (after applying some Pants on Fire height calculus adjustment) are between 5-8 and 5-11.
A'ja "Pearls" (never without them) Wilson said "there is no place like home." Here is one reason why, her 92 year old grandmother, who is her biggest fan and confidant:
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beknighted
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 04/17/14 11:37 am ::: |
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| Oldfandepot2 wrote: |
| ridor wrote: |
| Oldfandepot2 wrote: |
| At the McDonald's AA game, Cuevas when interviewed by ESPN told the interviewer she told Dawn Staley she doesn't play defense. Hellooooo Mr. Bench. |
Not necessary. TAMU Head Coach Gary Blair once told the press that he always recruited players who knew how to play offense, he does not care if these players do not know how to play defense. Why? Because Gary said he prefers to TEACH defense to his players from day one on his own so that they can be effective defensive players under his tutelage.
And knowing Dawn Staley since she was a senior at Dobbins Tech HS, that is what Staley would wanted as well. Staley wanted her players to come in with offense-minded but let her and her assistants teach the players how to defend effectively in the long run.
R- |
No, no, no it not that she doesn't know how, she just doesn't want to play it. Honest. |
Diana Taurasi didn't want to play defense, either, and mostly got away with it even playing for Geno. She eventually became an okay defender, which was kind of impressive considering where she started out.
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summertime blues
Joined: 16 Apr 2013
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| Posted: 04/17/14 11:59 am ::: |
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I'm not the least bit upset about A'ja's decision to stay in SC and play for Dawn. Why should I be? It's HER decision! But I guess some fan boards are lighting up about it, and it's not at all pretty.
People who trash 18 year old kids for stuff like this are beneath contempt. I have seen some of the most godawful stuff posted on fan boards. I used to participate in GoVols 24/7 until it went pay-to-play, and I will admit to getting in some heated discussions over that very thing. The same people who said horrible things about certain Lady Vol players (Simmons usually got the worst of it, but she wasn't the only one) would go ballistic if anyone said anything even remotely like that about *their* daughters..yet it's somehow perfectly okay for them to talk that way about a player, who is, after all, someone else's daughter. ARGH!
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scfastpitch
Joined: 21 Dec 2009
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| Posted: 04/17/14 1:57 pm ::: |
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| beknighted wrote: |
| Oldfandepot2 wrote: |
| ridor wrote: |
| Oldfandepot2 wrote: |
| At the McDonald's AA game, Cuevas when interviewed by ESPN told the interviewer she told Dawn Staley she doesn't play defense. Hellooooo Mr. Bench. |
Not necessary. TAMU Head Coach Gary Blair once told the press that he always recruited players who knew how to play offense, he does not care if these players do not know how to play defense. Why? Because Gary said he prefers to TEACH defense to his players from day one on his own so that they can be effective defensive players under his tutelage.
And knowing Dawn Staley since she was a senior at Dobbins Tech HS, that is what Staley would wanted as well. Staley wanted her players to come in with offense-minded but let her and her assistants teach the players how to defend effectively in the long run.
R- |
No, no, no it not that she doesn't know how, she just doesn't want to play it. Honest. |
Diana Taurasi didn't want to play defense, either, and mostly got away with it even playing for Geno. She eventually became an okay defender, which was kind of impressive considering where she started out. |
As far as Bianca Cuevas playing defense goes , I can tell you that LaKeisha Sutton used to say that she never even thought about playing defense in high school . At South Carolina , she became Dawn's defensive stopper .
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Rock Hard
Joined: 02 Aug 2010
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| Posted: 04/21/14 11:14 am ::: |
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| Next season SC will have the greatest collection of post players 6 feet four inches tall and up. Will Dawn Staley be able to improve her guards skill level to challenge a spot in the Final Four next season? Could they challenge UCONN for a championship?
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GlennMacGrady
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
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| Posted: 04/21/14 1:04 pm ::: |
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| Rock Hard wrote: |
| Next season SC will have the greatest collection of post players 6 feet four inches tall and up. Will Dawn Staley be able to improve her guards skill level to challenge a spot in the Final Four next season? Could they challenge UCONN for a championship? |
Sure, why not, although I don't think anyone would give them the odds over UConn. UConn will have lost two AA starters in Hartley and Dolson, and their four entering freshman guard-wings are of uncertain contribution levels, for various reasons, and none is over 6-0 (or probably even 5-11). Meanwhile, SCar loses no one and enters three McD AA's and Kaydra Duckett, two of whom have great height to complement the Cocks already good size.
The odds for SCar will be even more favorable against UConn the following year, when KML, Stokes and Banks graduate from UConn while the Cocks retain all of their stars. UConn does not yet have any freshman commits from the 2015 high school class, so it's hard to predict how strong UConn will actually be in 2015-16. However, in that year, SCar's biggest tussle could be a very strong UTK team lead by Diamond DeShields, Mercedes Russell, Jannah Tucker, Alexa Middleton, Jaime Nared, Te'a Cooper and company.
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Shades
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
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| Posted: 04/21/14 1:17 pm ::: |
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| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| Rock Hard wrote: |
| Next season SC will have the greatest collection of post players 6 feet four inches tall and up. Will Dawn Staley be able to improve her guards skill level to challenge a spot in the Final Four next season? Could they challenge UCONN for a championship? |
Sure, why not, although I don't think anyone would give them the odds over UConn. UConn will have lost two AA starters in Hartley and Dolson, and their four entering freshman guard-wings are of uncertain contribution levels, for various reasons, and none is over 6-0 (or probably even 5-11). Meanwhile, SCar loses no one and enters three McD AA's and Kaydra Duckett, two of whom have great height to complement the Cocks already good size.
The odds for SCar will be even more favorable against UConn the following year, when KML, Stokes and Banks graduate from UConn while the Cocks retain all of their stars. UConn does not yet have any freshman commits from the 2015 high school class, so it's hard to predict how strong UConn will actually be in 2015-16. However, in that year, SCar's biggest tussle could be a very strong UTK team lead by Diamond DeShields, Mercedes Russell, Jannah Tucker, Alexa Middleton, Jaime Nared, Te'a Cooper and company. |
If UConn doesn't land a star forward by the time Stewart graduates, they could be in for a drought. I wonder if Geno is pondering his retirement when Stewart graduates. It could explain how he was so especially sentimental after this last championship.
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Howee
Joined: 27 Nov 2009
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| Posted: 04/21/14 4:10 pm ::: |
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| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| UConn does not yet have any freshman commits from the 2015 high school class.... |
They do now. Collier just did.
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linkster
Joined: 27 Jul 2012
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| Posted: 04/21/14 4:42 pm ::: |
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| Howee wrote: |
| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| UConn does not yet have any freshman commits from the 2015 high school class.... |
They do now. Collier just did. |
Hell, you just spoiled the fun all the "anyone but UConn" crowd were having fantasizing about the fall of their enemy. LOL
I expect to hear any minute that she is 5'9", slow and that UConn got the verbal by telling her lies about every other program in the running. Of course that info will be from an unimpeachable but secret source.
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beknighted
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 04/21/14 5:28 pm ::: |
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| linkster wrote: |
| Howee wrote: |
| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| UConn does not yet have any freshman commits from the 2015 high school class.... |
They do now. Collier just did. |
Hell, you just spoiled the fun all the "anyone but UConn" crowd were having fantasizing about the fall of their enemy. LOL
I expect to hear any minute that she is 5'9", slow and that UConn got the verbal by telling her lies about every other program in the running. Of course that info will be from an unimpeachable but secret source. |
5'8-1/2"
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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| Posted: 04/21/14 6:19 pm ::: |
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| beknighted wrote: |
| linkster wrote: |
| Howee wrote: |
| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| UConn does not yet have any freshman commits from the 2015 high school class.... |
They do now. Collier just did. |
Hell, you just spoiled the fun all the "anyone but UConn" crowd were having fantasizing about the fall of their enemy. LOL
I expect to hear any minute that she is 5'9", slow and that UConn got the verbal by telling her lies about every other program in the running. Of course that info will be from an unimpeachable but secret source. |
5'8-1/2" |
Not slow, very, very good. And Incarnate Word was No. 2 in the nation this year.
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Oldfandepot2
Joined: 05 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 04/21/14 8:59 pm ::: |
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| beknighted wrote: |
| linkster wrote: |
| Howee wrote: |
| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| UConn does not yet have any freshman commits from the 2015 high school class.... |
They do now. Collier just did. |
Hell, you just spoiled the fun all the "anyone but UConn" crowd were having fantasizing about the fall of their enemy. LOL
I expect to hear any minute that she is 5'9", slow and that UConn got the verbal by telling her lies about every other program in the running. Of course that info will be from an unimpeachable but secret source. |
5'8-1/2" |
From various recruiting websites who list her anywhere from 6'1" to 6'2" with an exceptional wingspan. But then again they have Jefferson listed at 5'7" (gotta be kiddin me, she has to push up to flush a toilet) and Wilson listed at 6'5"( no she is not. 6'3 to 6'4" and 6'4" is a stretch-literally)
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We must listen to each other no matter how much it hurts. Bishop Desmond Tutu.
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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| Posted: 04/22/14 9:42 am ::: |
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| Oldfandepot2 wrote: |
| beknighted wrote: |
| linkster wrote: |
| Howee wrote: |
| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| UConn does not yet have any freshman commits from the 2015 high school class.... |
They do now. Collier just did. |
Hell, you just spoiled the fun all the "anyone but UConn" crowd were having fantasizing about the fall of their enemy. LOL
I expect to hear any minute that she is 5'9", slow and that UConn got the verbal by telling her lies about every other program in the running. Of course that info will be from an unimpeachable but secret source. |
5'8-1/2" |
From various recruiting websites who list her anywhere from 6'1" to 6'2" with an exceptional wingspan. But then again they have Jefferson listed at 5'7" (gotta be kiddin me, she has to push up to flush a toilet) and Wilson listed at 6'5"( no she is not. 6'3 to 6'4" and 6'4" is a stretch-literally) |
I consider all published heights, especially in high school, lies until proven otherwise.
The problem is, though, that some of the lies are true and when a player who's listed as 6-2 but is actually 6-0 runs up against a player listed as 6-2 who's actually 6-2, the truth only sets one of them free.
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Oldfandepot2
Joined: 05 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 04/22/14 4:24 pm ::: |
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| ClayK wrote: |
| Oldfandepot2 wrote: |
| beknighted wrote: |
| linkster wrote: |
| Howee wrote: |
| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| UConn does not yet have any freshman commits from the 2015 high school class.... |
They do now. Collier just did. |
Hell, you just spoiled the fun all the "anyone but UConn" crowd were having fantasizing about the fall of their enemy. LOL
I expect to hear any minute that she is 5'9", slow and that UConn got the verbal by telling her lies about every other program in the running. Of course that info will be from an unimpeachable but secret source. |
5'8-1/2" |
From various recruiting websites who list her anywhere from 6'1" to 6'2" with an exceptional wingspan. But then again they have Jefferson listed at 5'7" (gotta be kiddin me, she has to push up to flush a toilet) and Wilson listed at 6'5"( no she is not. 6'3 to 6'4" and 6'4" is a stretch-literally) |
I consider all published heights, especially in high school, lies until proven otherwise.
The problem is, though, that some of the lies are true and when a player who's listed as 6-2 but is actually 6-0 runs up against a player listed as 6-2 who's actually 6-2, the truth only sets one of them free. |
I agree, Clay. I was looking at the photo of the previous U-19 team. There in the middle is Candice Agee who everyone pretty much agrees is really 6'6". Standing on her left facing the camera is Breanna Stewart, a good two inches smaller than Agee, so 6'4" not 6'5" as many said. On Agee's immediate right facing the camera is A'ja Wilson, clearly much shorter by 3" inches at least, so 6'3" Then standing next to A'ja is Brianna Turner and the same height as A'ja -6'3" pretty much what everyone says she is with the occasional 6'4" or even 6'2".
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We must listen to each other no matter how much it hurts. Bishop Desmond Tutu.
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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| Posted: 04/23/14 9:30 am ::: |
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I remember one year at USA Basketball they had the girls line up by height, and I almost pulled a hamstring rushing over to see how tall they actually were.
That's when I realized Jasmine Dixon and Brooklyn Pope were really 5-11 and not 6-2, as they had often been listed.
And as I've said before, I don't get why players and coaches lie about their height. If Dixon and Pope had accepted being 5-11, they would have worked more on perimeter skills and maybe been more prepared for the next level.
Of course, both got college scholarships, and presumably degrees, so they did more than OK for themselves.
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beknighted
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 04/23/14 10:03 am ::: |
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| ClayK wrote: |
I remember one year at USA Basketball they had the girls line up by height, and I almost pulled a hamstring rushing over to see how tall they actually were.
That's when I realized Jasmine Dixon and Brooklyn Pope were really 5-11 and not 6-2, as they had often been listed.
And as I've said before, I don't get why players and coaches lie about their height. If Dixon and Pope had accepted being 5-11, they would have worked more on perimeter skills and maybe been more prepared for the next level.
Of course, both got college scholarships, and presumably degrees, so they did more than OK for themselves. |
In Pope's case, I wouldn't have counted on it, but it's an interesting point. Is there the same kind of height inflation on the men's side? I've always assumed there is.
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