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AJMMs
Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 139
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 Posted: 06/19/15 2:32 pm ::: |
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| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| ClayK wrote: |
One of the biggest issues is figuring out the best fit ...
1) It's very difficult to determine just how good a high school player is off of her young career. Elite players have been stars all along, and they, their families and friends naturally think they're better than they are -- and it's very hard to find someone they will listen to who will point out that maybe, in this case, Canada was a better player.
So part of the equation is an unrealistic estimate of ability coming out of high school, and that's a very tough one to solve. Consider that many coaches make bad evaluations, and they try very hard to evaluate dispassionately.
2) The key to any recruiting/drafting is guessing when a player will stop improving. Some players are as good as they will be at 15; others improve until their mid-20s.
So maybe Caldwell had reached her peak at 17, and while others improved around her, she stayed the same. (I have no idea if this is true in this case.)
Put together a) slightly unrealistic estimation of talent coming in; and b) faster improvement by others on the same college roster, and you have a basketball reason to transfer.
Add in social, family, academic and other late-teen stresses, and I think it's pretty clear why many young players decide the grass will be greener somewhere else. |
I don't know her personal situation, but I keep reading that she has a dad who is very, shall we say, "involved".
And in these situations I always wonder who is actually unhappy - the girl, or dad, or both. It's a shame if daddy is uprooting his daughter from friends and a school she loves just because he's unhappy about how her basketball has progressed. But that does happen. I've seen it happen in football and basketball. And it rarely works out for the best. Daddy may be pushing her into a situation for which she is ill suited based on his unrealistic assessment of her place in the basketball universe. And basketball isn't necessarily the most important thing to or for her, but it may be to daddy's vicarious ambitions.
You're certainly right about unrealistic evaluations, which result in a sense of entitlement and unrealistic expectations, which I think are fed by the AAU prima donna culture and by social media. And parents are often even less realistic in their assessments and expectations than the players themselves. In my experience players more often recognize that someone else is simply better than they are than mommy and daddy do. |
When it is the case that the parents, family, coaches, whatever, don't just let the player be and pressure her/him to leave a relationship in which they are at peace being in, I just find that really, really sad when it ends up destroying the player's passion for the sport. I'm not saying this is the case with the Caldwell's and maybe RC was simply not at peace being at UCLA or didn't form a bond with coaches or players or style or her role on the team, etc. etc.
I brought up the Kaz incident because I think that was one of the most famous cases of a parent destroying his/her kid's love of the game. When I read those tweets by her and saw that her heart was still a Bruin, it broke my heart to think that she'd rather just give up playing the sport she grew up loving, then have to deal with all the stress pops was putting on her. To quit playing is the ultimate way to get back at pops for all the stress caused. It's really sad that some players aren't allowed to just be themselves.
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PhillyCat
Joined: 18 Jun 2012
Posts: 226
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| Posted: 06/19/15 3:33 pm ::: |
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Caldwell didn't play high school ball as a junior and senior. I'm sure she played AAU ball for her father's team after her junior year and I know she played for USA BB. But, assuming she'll transfer to a Div 1 school and sit out a year, that a lot of time without playing in organized games.
This is a highly unusual path. . .
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
Posts: 14550
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| Posted: 06/19/15 4:08 pm ::: |
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| PhillyCat wrote: |
Caldwell didn't play high school ball as a junior and senior. I'm sure she played AAU ball for her father's team after her junior year and I know she played for USA BB. But, assuming she'll transfer to a Div 1 school and sit out a year, that a lot of time without playing in organized games.
This is a highly unusual path. . . |
I wonder whose decision it was that she would only play for daddy's AAU team and wouldn't play with her friends and schoolmates for her school in front of her friends and fellow students with them cheering her on.
How many people who played in high school didn't have a total blast. I know I did. I can't imagine having passed up that opportunity.
A number of year's back there was a WR who went to ND. When he didn't start the very first game as a freshman (he wasn't even close to being on the depth chart) his daddy took him out of school and he transferred to Northwestern. Ok, much easier to get on the field and still a great prestigious education. Great second chance. So after sitting out he spent the next year on the bench. Couldn't get on the field there either (which should have been a pretty stark message about the lack of pro potential). But daddy still didn't believe it so he transferred again, this time to Central Michigan, where he sat out again and then played very sparingly. So not only no pro ball, but he tossed away not one, but two opportunities for a free Notre Dame or Northwestern degree (not many kids get a second chance like that) for one from Central Michigan. All because daddy was delusional about his kid's talent and pro prospects. What a waste. Way to screw over your kid.
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dtrain34
Joined: 17 Aug 2010
Posts: 409
Location: Lacey, Washington
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| Posted: 06/19/15 7:56 pm ::: |
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At the risk of overly personalizing the issue, I know of a pretty good D1 player who came to a crossroads twice, one in high school, once in college, didn't transfer, with the same positive result both times.
It was never a matter of individual glory with this player, she got plenty of it, but her sophomore year her high school played a slowdown, ineffective offense and other schools (I know you will all be shocked, shocked you say that this goes on at the prep level  ) began to try to get her to transfer. For a variety of reasons, she did not and the coaches freed up their style, a key player moved to town and, voila, 23-2, first ever trip to State for the school.
In college, after a couple of years the team seemed stuck in the mud, coaching changes elsewhere made for some potential opportunities though she never asked for a release or talked to another school. Again, that one more year together made the difference and her team made its first NCAA appearance in decades.
Doesn't mean there aren't valid reasons to change schools, but sometimes not leaving can seem like a bullet dodged.
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AJMMs
Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 139
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| Posted: 06/19/15 8:45 pm ::: |
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| dtrain34 wrote: |
At the risk of overly personalizing the issue, I know of a pretty good D1 player who came to a crossroads twice, one in high school, once in college, didn't transfer, with the same positive result both times.
It was never a matter of individual glory with this player, she got plenty of it, but her sophomore year her high school played a slowdown, ineffective offense and other schools (I know you will all be shocked, shocked you say that this goes on at the prep level ) began to try to get her to transfer. For a variety of reasons, she did not and the coaches freed up their style, a key player moved to town and, voila, 23-2, first ever trip to State for the school.
In college, after a couple of years the team seemed stuck in the mud, coaching changes elsewhere made for some potential opportunities though she never asked for a release or talked to another school. Again, that one more year together made the difference and her team made its first NCAA appearance in decades.
Doesn't mean there aren't valid reasons to change schools, but sometimes not leaving can seem like a bullet dodged. |
I just think a parent needs to ask the kid one question. "Are you happy where you are?" If the kid answers, "yes, I am happy." Smile and then walk away and thank god for this. Pretty simple.
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