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Phil
Joined: 22 Oct 2011
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 Posted: 07/08/14 9:13 am ::: |
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That being said, once Stewart figured it out, ND lost by 18 and 21 the last two times they met. I don't understand the fear.
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One of those was without Achonwa, who is not worth 21, but may be worth 15, which makes it a close game. Is it impossible for Stewart to have a bad game? I'm not predicting that ND will beat UConn, but I'm saying that the game is not a gimme. Being realistic is not the same as evincing fear.
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IM in OC
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
Posts: 999
Location: Orange County, CA
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| Posted: 07/08/14 9:29 am ::: |
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| ClayK wrote: |
I fully support the Ekmark family's ability to make a decision -- that doesn't mean I agree with the decision.
It may turn out to be the right one, it may not. When kids transfer, sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn't.
"Wasted her senior year" ... so does that mean every girl who plays basketball for an inferior high school team is "wasting her senior year"?
Maybe so, but to me there's more to playing in high school than winning games and advancing your career. To the Ekmarks, clearly, that was not the case, and that's fine -- that's their decision.
I think it was the wrong decision for a variety of reasons, but I won't repeat that discussion.
And the Knights were 4-22 last year. Do you think they could have played .500 basketball with a UConn recruit on the roster? |
I totally agree with Clay on this issue.
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Nixtreefan
Joined: 14 Nov 2012
Posts: 2539
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| Posted: 07/08/14 9:59 am ::: Second that |
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| Me too.
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TheLoneGranger
Joined: 03 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 07/08/14 10:53 am ::: |
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| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
I also thought Ekmark's "year off" was odd. I really don't recall any other top recruit with good grades doing that.
I do think it's very out of the ordinary. |
Innovation, man, innovation! Because it is out of the ordinary or different or never seen before does not automatically mean it will be wrong. She may be women's basketball's Jobs, Ellison, or Dell. We can only wait and see the results.
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linkster
Joined: 27 Jul 2012
Posts: 5423
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| Posted: 07/08/14 12:58 pm ::: |
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| Nixtreefan wrote: |
Everyone on the west coast who follows club knows thats why she left, same reason she stopped playing club!!! The last time anyone saw her play was at the Rose Classic, ask those guys what they thought!! |
Could you enlighten those of us on the East coast?
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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| Posted: 07/08/14 1:16 pm ::: |
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Another player I can recall took her senior year off -- Erika Arririan from Southern California.
I think it's fair to say her college career at Texas didn't quite live up to the high school expectations, though whether that had to do with her taking her senior year off is another question.
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TheLoneGranger
Joined: 03 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 07/08/14 5:09 pm ::: |
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| ClayK wrote: |
Another player I can recall took her senior year off -- Erika Arririan from Southern California.
I think it's fair to say her college career at Texas didn't quite live up to the high school expectations, though whether that had to do with her taking her senior year off is another question. |
I think it is fair to say Erika Arriaran's college career at Texas Univ. was impacted adversely by two major knee injuries. I believe she blew out her left ACL in back to back years. I think her freshman and sophomore years. Also we don't know if her activities for the year off revolved around becoming college ready through competition with male basketball players, weight training, and training with professionals. Former Phoenix Suns coach Frank Johnson is one of people training her. Ah ha! Here is a link: http://articles.courant.com/2014-01-20/sports/hc-uconn-women-0121-20140120_1_courtney-ekmark-uconn-women-kia-nurse
Last edited by TheLoneGranger on 07/08/14 6:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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themick1952
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 07/08/14 5:29 pm ::: |
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| ClayK wrote: |
Another player I can recall took her senior year off -- Erika Arririan from Southern California.
I think it's fair to say her college career at Texas didn't quite live up to the high school expectations, though whether that had to do with her taking her senior year off is another question. |
They are both blond. That has as much to do with it as not going to her high school to finish her classes.
Unbelievably dumb question.
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TheLoneGranger
Joined: 03 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 07/08/14 6:45 pm ::: |
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| themick1952 wrote: |
| ClayK wrote: |
Another player I can recall took her senior year off -- Erika Arririan from Southern California.
I think it's fair to say her college career at Texas didn't quite live up to the high school expectations, though whether that had to do with her taking her senior year off is another question. |
They are both blond. That has as much to do with it as not going to her high school to finish her classes.
Unbelievably dumb question. |
Why do you have to be so rude? Are you a genius? Would you say to someone's face what write? People have opinions. So they don't agree with your opinion, why blast people?
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TheLoneGranger
Joined: 03 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 07/08/14 6:50 pm ::: |
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| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| No one knows what she really did all year. |
Ekmark Working Hard To Prepare For UConn Women
http://articles.courant.com/2014-01-20/sports/hc-uconn-women-0121-20140120_1_courtney-ekmark-uconn-women-kia-nurse
"People ask me all the time if I miss playing basketball. But I am playing it every day. I play more than I ever did in high school, but the only difference is that the competition is consistently good now."
Ekmark repeated that choosing the path she did was a decision designed to prepare her as much as possible for what Auriemma and his staff have in store for her, Gabby Williams, Sadie Edwards and Kia Nurse next year.
"I just wanted to enhance what skills I already had," Ekmark said. "My first three years of high school were great because I got the chance to play against future collegians every year in practice. It was good for me. But I just wanted to spend one last year to get ready to go [to UConn]."
Last edited by TheLoneGranger on 07/08/14 6:54 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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TheLoneGranger
Joined: 03 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 07/08/14 6:53 pm ::: |
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| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
I also thought Ekmark's "year off" was odd. I really don't recall any other top recruit with good grades doing that.
No one knows what she really did all year. If she played some street or club ball, those things aren't significant learning experiences. They're just mainly unstructured games with no teaching component.
I just assumed one of the key reasons for her hiatus was that her father, Curtis Ekmark, quit as coach of her high school team and all the other good players graduated. Coco Miller quit as St. Mary's replacement coach after four days last summer. Everyone seemed to know the team was going to be very weak, but perhaps something else was going on there.
That always raised the question in my mind as to why Ekmark didn't just enroll at UConn last summer. She was apparently eligible. What could be a better learning experience? One seemingly obvious answer is that she knew she would be riding the low bench for a year. That may not have appealed to her either, even on a championship team.
I don't have any reason to care about her decision, and respect it, but I do think it's very out of the ordinary. |
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themick1952
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 07/08/14 7:23 pm ::: |
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| TheLoneGranger wrote: |
| themick1952 wrote: |
| ClayK wrote: |
Another player I can recall took her senior year off -- Erika Arririan from Southern California.
I think it's fair to say her college career at Texas didn't quite live up to the high school expectations, though whether that had to do with her taking her senior year off is another question. |
They are both blond. That has as much to do with it as not going to her high school to finish her classes.
Unbelievably dumb question. |
Why do you have to be so rude? Are you a genius? Would you say to someone's face what write? People have opinions. So they don't agree with your opinion, why blast people? |
Sorry, but asking if Arririan didn't live up to expectations because she took off her senior year is a dumb question. I didn't say the poster was dumb.
And I'd certainly say that to his face. And we would both laugh.
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GlennMacGrady
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
Posts: 8233
Location: Heisenberg
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| Posted: 07/08/14 7:38 pm ::: |
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| Just what we need to drag down the level of conversation and quality of discourse on RebKell: Doggdaddy-Mick arriving to hurl personal insults at anyone who says the slightest thing negative about anything UConn. |
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themick1952
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 07/08/14 7:42 pm ::: |
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| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| Just what we need to drag down the level of conversation and quality of discourse on RebKell: Doggdaddy-Mick arriving to hurl personal insults at anyone who says the slightest thing negative about anything UConn. |
I didn't know Arririan went to Uconn.
And it wasn't a personal insult. I thought it was a dumb question. So I said so.
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GlennMacGrady
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
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| Posted: 07/08/14 7:55 pm ::: |
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| themick1952 wrote: |
| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| Just what we need to drag down the level of conversation and quality of discourse on RebKell: Doggdaddy-Mick arriving to hurl personal insults at anyone who says the slightest thing negative about anything UConn. |
I didn't know Arririan went to Uconn.
And it wasn't a personal insult. I thought it was a dumb question. So I said so. |
You think people here can't see through your transparent personality and history. You're in this thread whining and insulting because you interpret statements about Arriaran as being indirectly aimed at sacred UConn's Ekmark.
People are here to get away from your low class type of posting. |
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Oldfandepot2
Joined: 05 Jul 2013
Posts: 996
Location: Northeast
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| Posted: 07/08/14 8:59 pm ::: |
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| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| themick1952 wrote: |
| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| Just what we need to drag down the level of conversation and quality of discourse on RebKell: Doggdaddy-Mick arriving to hurl personal insults at anyone who says the slightest thing negative about anything UConn. |
I didn't know Arririan went to Uconn.
And it wasn't a personal insult. I thought it was a dumb question. So I said so. |
You think people here can't see through your transparent personality and history. You're in this thread whining and insulting because you interpret statements about Arriaran as being indirectly aimed at sacred UConn's Ekmark.
People are here to get away from your low class type of posting. |
Well, we do have some posters, one that especially comes to mind but for the most part, yes people are civil, albeit vehemently disagree sometimes but civil. The Dumb question thing is an anomaly with a few rare exceptions; I don't owe the place, just an occasional post, but yes I like it here because of the absence of what my kids call flaming which we find on other boards.
With that said, hello Mick, good to see ya.
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We must listen to each other no matter how much it hurts. Bishop Desmond Tutu.
Last edited by Oldfandepot2 on 07/08/14 10:45 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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linkster
Joined: 27 Jul 2012
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| Posted: 07/08/14 9:51 pm ::: |
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| ClayK wrote: |
"Wasted her senior year" ... so does that mean every girl who plays basketball for an inferior high school team is "wasting her senior year"?
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I was talking about Ekmark so no. In her case though the goal is preparation for competition with other elite level players at UConn for minutes and IMO Ekmark would have wasted her senior year running layup drills and practicing basic zone defenses while being triple teamed in every game she played.
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Oldfandepot2
Joined: 05 Jul 2013
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Location: Northeast
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| Posted: 07/09/14 6:43 am ::: |
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| linkster wrote: |
| ClayK wrote: |
"Wasted her senior year" ... so does that mean every girl who plays basketball for an inferior high school team is "wasting her senior year"?
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I was talking about Ekmark so no. In her case though the goal is preparation for competition with other elite level players at UConn for minutes and IMO Ekmark would have wasted her senior year running layup drills and practicing basic zone defenses while being triple teamed in every game she played. |
lso she had but one credit course remaining to graduate so decided to complete it at home and went so far as to consider either fully focusing on her training and playing basketball with her brother on his AAU team or taking college level courses (smart young lady).
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Cave Canem!
We must listen to each other no matter how much it hurts. Bishop Desmond Tutu.
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themick1952
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
Posts: 51
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| Posted: 07/09/14 7:25 am ::: |
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| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| themick1952 wrote: |
| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| Just what we need to drag down the level of conversation and quality of discourse on RebKell: Doggdaddy-Mick arriving to hurl personal insults at anyone who says the slightest thing negative about anything UConn. |
I didn't know Arririan went to Uconn.
And it wasn't a personal insult. I thought it was a dumb question. So I said so. |
You think people here can't see through your transparent personality and history. You're in this thread whining and insulting because you interpret statements about Arriaran as being indirectly aimed at sacred UConn's Ekmark.
People are here to get away from your low class type of posting. |
We all have our history.
Whining and insulting is your interpretation. I did no such thing.
Clay laid out a question that asked if Arririan struggled in college because she didn't attend HS for her senior year.
With her injury issues, anyone that follows WCBB would know that was the reason she didn't play to her billing.
I apologize if saying it was a dumb question offended your prim and proper sensibilities.
But it is what it is. And it had nothing to do with UConn.
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themick1952
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 07/09/14 7:36 am ::: |
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Arririan was home schooled her sophomore year and returned for her final two years of HS. She did this to get a jump start on her education, not to focus on basketball. It couldn't have been more different than the Ekmark situation.
http://www.gballmag.com/hero-arriaran.html
I think that any question that doing that impacted her basketball career is answered.
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IM in OC
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
Posts: 999
Location: Orange County, CA
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| Posted: 07/09/14 11:29 am ::: |
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| Oldfandepot2 wrote: |
| linkster wrote: |
| ClayK wrote: |
"Wasted her senior year" ... so does that mean every girl who plays basketball for an inferior high school team is "wasting her senior year"?
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I was talking about Ekmark so no. In her case though the goal is preparation for competition with other elite level players at UConn for minutes and IMO Ekmark would have wasted her senior year running layup drills and practicing basic zone defenses while being triple teamed in every game she played. |
lso she had but one credit course remaining to graduate so decided to complete it at home and went so far as to consider either fully focusing on her training and playing basketball with her brother on his AAU team or taking college level courses (smart young lady). |
A couple of questions for Linkster and oldefandepot2
In her case though the goal is preparation for competition with other elite level players at UConn
Based on this sentence would either of you be upset if after Ekmark's, or any other UConns players, junior year at Storrs, they decided not to play their senior year so they could prepare for the '"elite level" players they will face in the WNBA or Pro ball overseas. After all wouldnt they get better if they played with men pro level players in open gyms then play in 50 point blow out games at UConn where there opposition cant cover them?
and playing basketball with her brother on his AAU team
Explain to me what boys AAU teams she played on. Perhaps I am not aware of the boys game as I follow the girls game. Most states, if not all states, have rules stating that "during HS basketball season" if you are on a HS team you may not compete for another team(i.e. club or travel team). I dont believe you can practice with them either. Since nearly all elite players, boys and girls, play on their HS team, who exactly was she playing with on an AAU team and who was she playing against?
AAU teams to me are formed in March, after a HS season is over, and start play during April running thru the end of July. Some regroup for the view weekend in early October, but thats it. So from November thru March, a period of approx 5 months there is no team to play on.
Perhaps playing against 45-55 year old men at the YMCA is where she got her in game elite training in?
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sammieee
Joined: 17 Jan 2009
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| Posted: 07/09/14 11:55 am ::: |
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I don't question her drive at all. I am more shocked on her decision to forgo her senior year. She missed out on all the senior-related activities. From just hanging out with friends, senior prom, senior activities (picnic, our senior trip, having a year book), etc.
I just hope she doesn't regret it later, looking back. Senior year in HS, along with senior year in college were some of the best times in my life. She's still a kid! Then again, maybe she didn't enjoy school as much or have close friends at St. Mary. But I have fond memories of my senior year.
As for her impact, I think she'll produce at UConn. I think she's rated a bit too high in the rankings (Top 10). She's an elite complimentary player. High IQ, good all around skills, great shooter. She won't make dumb mistakes, and should have plenty of open looks at UConn. However, put her on a team where there isn't a lot of talent, and where she is the best, then I can see her putting up empty stats. But on UConn, she'll play off of Stewert/Jefferson (for 2 years), and then Collier, Samuelson, after that. Then again, she might ride the bench if Gabby Williams returns healthy, and UConn adds like Asia Durr or Arike Ogwunbole.
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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| Posted: 07/09/14 11:59 am ::: |
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| themick1952 wrote: |
| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| Just what we need to drag down the level of conversation and quality of discourse on RebKell: Doggdaddy-Mick arriving to hurl personal insults at anyone who says the slightest thing negative about anything UConn. |
I didn't know Arririan went to Uconn.
And it wasn't a personal insult. I thought it was a dumb question. So I said so. |
Actually, it wasn't phrased as a question ...
And thanks for the info. I vaguely recalled Arririan had one knee injury but I didn't know of two.
Someone asked if anyone else took her senior year off, so I replied. As I said, I had no idea if it impacted her play in college.
One of the values of these kinds of forums is that things can learned, information can be shared -- but there are ways of communicating that enhance that value, and there are ways that work against it.
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PhillyCat
Joined: 18 Jun 2012
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| Posted: 07/09/14 12:49 pm ::: |
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There will be 3 incoming freshmen players (counting Ekmark) who chose to stop playing High School basketball. There's been very little discussion of Recee Caldwell, a highly touted recruit who quit her high school team in December of her junior year to train with her father. She, of course, is part of UCLA's highly ranked 2014 recruiting class. Mikayla Venson, another highly touted guard, stopped playing HS ball after her freshman year yet received offers from Tenn, SoCarolina, etc., and eventually signed with UVa. Venson suffered at least one concussion and I recall an interview in which she said HS opponents were playing her too physically and she wanted to avoid another concussion. She's been training with her father and a personal trainer.
It'll be interesting to see how the time away from high school ball impacts their transition to Div I ball.
Last edited by PhillyCat on 07/09/14 12:59 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Nixtreefan
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