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Post by storygordon on Feb 25, 2024 16:48:10 GMT
Allie Ziebell (Slam Summer Classic)
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Post by storygordon on Feb 25, 2024 16:54:44 GMT
Allie Ziebell (U19 v Argentina)
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Post by storygordon on Feb 25, 2024 16:57:40 GMT
Morgan Cheli (Nike Bracket Play)
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Post by momandapplepie on Feb 25, 2024 17:21:48 GMT
Awesome. Two excellent backcourt players. Just what we needed....NOT! It is great that we keep getting highly ranked guards (Paige and Azzi both former HS POYs) but why cant we recruit post players? The top ranked 2024 Post Player on HoopGurlz, 6'4" Kateryna Koval, played High School ball on Long Island...a mere 3 hour drive from Storrs. How is it she is going to our rival Notre Dame, an 11 hour drive away, instead of Storrs? Same with Aliyah Boston, who played HS ball in nearby Worcester, MA but ended up choosing South Carolina.
Why do high school bigs hate us? Does Donovan Clingan have any sisters who play ball?!
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Post by storygordon on Feb 29, 2024 15:30:19 GMT
Allie Ziebell scores 2,000th point
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Marco
Husky4ever
Posts: 2,590
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Post by Marco on Mar 2, 2024 15:30:10 GMT
Allie Ziebell scores 2,000th point
With respect to recruiting Bigs: maybe there aren’t many that want to work that hard. If you go to Connecticut, you are expected to work hard. To behave yourself well. Do well academically. To behave Well off the court. To work really hard and play really hard. I really doubt that those kind of standards apply with Mulkey. Don’t know about Staley. I suspect Tara is similar. |
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Post by storygordon on Mar 2, 2024 15:44:05 GMT
Marco wrote, "With respect to recruiting Bigs: maybe there aren’t many that want to work that hard. If you go to UConn, you are expected to work hard. To behave yourself as well. Do well academically. To behave Well off the court. To work really hard and play really hard. I really doubt that those kind of standards apply with Mulkey. Don’t know about Staley. I suspect Tara is similar."
I think you're on to something, Marco, but I don't think it's limited to Bigs, although it may seem so because there are so few versus the countless number of Norms. I can't speak for WCBB, but in my 45 years as an IT geek I saw the same situation... so many supremely talented who preferred coasting on their intelligence instead of becoming fully immersed in the technology.
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Post by momandapplepie on Mar 2, 2024 17:38:09 GMT
I am pretty sure dawn Staley made Boston work and is making Cardoza work now. I mean...she doesn't strike me as being a softy and willing to indulge a player being lazy. Same with Tara, which may be why she lost Lauren Betts to UCLA via the portal. The 'reluctance to work hard' excuse seems too nebulous to me. I think there might be some sort of a reputational thing going on here. For whatever reason, bigs do not feel they will be happy at UConn...or be developed at UConn. I guess that is a pretty nebulous theory as well.
But hey...we had to go out of country to do it but we got Aaliyah! Same with El Alfy, although her ultimate contributions to the program remain unwritten. Dorka didn't start out with us but he eventually came around. Maybe that is the answer to recruiting bigs....do so internationally where UConn is known globally as the gold standard in WCBB even though that title may have gotten a little cloudy domestically over the past 5 years or so.
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Post by Oldfan (Joe) on Mar 6, 2024 19:19:08 GMT
Allie Ziebell scores 2,000th point
Cheli is a 6’2” combination forward/guard. She has been named one of the five finalist for the Naismith. They need bigs!! |
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Post by ismhuskyfan on Mar 7, 2024 14:56:44 GMT
Awesome. Two excellent backcourt players. Just what we needed....NOT! It is great that we keep getting highly ranked guards (Paige and Azzi both former HS POYs) but why cant we recruit post players? The top ranked 2024 Post Player on HoopGurlz, 6'4" Kateryna Koval, played High School ball on Long Island...a mere 3 hour drive from Storrs. How is it she is going to our rival Notre Dame, an 11 hour drive away, instead of Storrs? Same with Aliyah Boston, who played HS ball in nearby Worcester, MA but ended up choosing South Carolina. Why do high school bigs hate us? Does Donovan Clingan have any sisters who play ball?! I can only guess that our people saw something in those recruits you mentioned that just wouldn’t fit with UCONN. We have had many players including post players who could have averaged 25+ points. That’s not the team ball UCONN plays. But I am hoping Buckets averages 30+ during the upcoming big dance! |
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Post by momandapplepie on Mar 7, 2024 17:59:42 GMT
Awesome. Two excellent backcourt players. Just what we needed....NOT! It is great that we keep getting highly ranked guards (Paige and Azzi both former HS POYs) but why cant we recruit post players? The top ranked 2024 Post Player on HoopGurlz, 6'4" Kateryna Koval, played High School ball on Long Island...a mere 3 hour drive from Storrs. How is it she is going to our rival Notre Dame, an 11 hour drive away, instead of Storrs? Same with Aliyah Boston, who played HS ball in nearby Worcester, MA but ended up choosing South Carolina. Why do high school bigs hate us? Does Donovan Clingan have any sisters who play ball?! I can only guess that our people saw something in those recruits you mentioned that just wouldn’t fit with UCONN. We have had many players including post players who could have averaged 25+ points. That’s not the team ball UCONN plays. But I am hoping Buckets averages 30+ during the upcoming big dance! If we are to have any hope, I think Paige is going to HAVE to average 30+ in the tourney! But c'mon...NONE of those bigs from our part of the country would fit in?! ALL of them are bad fits?! That may be true for some of them but I don't think it explains all of them. That goes for Koval in particular. She is from Ukraine. There is a decent history with international players at UConn. Post players like Svet, Dorka, and Anna Makurat as well as back court players like Lou and Nika. I feel Koval would have made a good addition. |
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Marco
Husky4ever
Posts: 2,590
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Post by Marco on Mar 7, 2024 20:28:59 GMT
I’m hoping that getting Chelli gives us a better shot at getting her teammate. McKenna Woliczko. who was the most valuable player in this tournament. And she’s two years away from being in college!
UConn women's basketball recruit Morgan Cheli healthy and raising her game in senior season
Carl Adamec
But with time running down and her Archbishop Mitty girls basketball team from San Jose, Calif., trailing by one in the final of the Nike Tournament of Champions on Dec. 21 in Mesa, Arizona, the 6-foot-2 senior guard and UConn women's basketball Class of 2024 recruit knew it was her time to rise to the occasion.
"I wanted the ball and do whatever I could to help our team and step up for them," Cheli said Tuesday night. "I'm the point guard and one of the leaders. I wanted to be that calming presence for everyone else and be a court general. I wanted to stay focused on getting the defensive stops we needed. When I got fouled and went to the line, I wanted to make sure that I stayed confident."
Cheli sank two free throws with 16.4 seconds left for the 10th lead change of the fourth quarter and then helped the Monarchs get two defensive stops to preserve the advantage as Mitty, ranked third in the nation by MaxPreps, edged No. 1 Long Island (N.Y.) Lutheran 73-72 in a nationally-televised (ESPNU) contest that has to be the game of the year of the young season.
The win gave the Monarchs (7-0) the title of the top division of the TOC named after Vincent Cannizzaro, who was former UConn and WNBA star Sue Bird's high school coach at Christ the King in New York, and elevated them to the top of the MaxPreps rankings as they head to Oregon to start play in the Portland Holiday Classic Thursday.
Cheli, who sat out the 2022 TOC because of a foot injury, had a triple-double of 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. She was named to the all-tournament team along with teammates McKenna Woliczko, the Most Valuable Player and one of the top recruits in the Class of 2026, and Belle Bramer, who has signed with Lehigh.
"I didn't play in the tournament last year but that made me more excited to play this year," Cheli said. "It was so much fun and a great experience. I mean, we won so it couldn't get much better than that.
"The championship game was so much fun. The intensity was at an all-time high I would say. It was loud. The pace was fast. It was great competition between two really good teams."
Mitty used a 7-0 run to erase a five-point deficit and it stayed a one-possession game over the final six minutes. Michigan recruit Syla Swords gave Long Island Lutheran a 72-71 lead with a three-point play with 29.8 seconds remaining before Cheli was fouled on the perimeter and sank two free throws to put Mitty in front.
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The Monarchs forced a jump ball to regain possession but turned it over on the inbounds pass. Long Island Lutheran's bid to go the length of the court in the final 2.6 seconds fell short with Swords missing an off-balance shot at the buzzer.
"Credit to LuHi," Cheli said. "They have so many strengths. They shoot the ball well from outside and have great size inside. On our team we had a variety of players step up and contribute and bring something to the table. We couldn't have won it without everybody playing a role.
"We've had a lot of growth and made a lot of steps forward. We've proven ourselves a little bit already but we're looking forward to playing again and what's next on our schedule to see where we're at. I'm really proud of the group."
Cheli missed much of her junior season with the foot injury but returned in time to help Mitty to a third straight Northern California Open Division title. She then had 24 points, six rebounds, five assists, and four steals in a 69-67 loss to Etiwanda in the state final.
She stayed healthy through the summer and played 64 games with her EYBL club team, CalStars, to get ready for her senior year. In the first seven games, she is averaging 16.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 10.1 assists, and 3.1 steals. She had double-figure assists in the TOC wins over Miami Country Day (62-35), Xavier College Prep (72-42), Crestwood Prep (69-55), and Long Island Lutheran.
"Morgan was paramount to our success," Mitty coach Sue Phillips said. "She's our floor general and play maker. She constantly fills the stat sheet and is one of the top two-way guards in the country."
Cheli, from Los Altos, Calif., is ranked the No. 18 recruit in the Class of 2024 by ESPN. She committed to UConn coach Geno Auriemma on an unofficial visit in February and announced her decision in April. She had more than 40 scholarship offers including from South Carolina and nearby Stanford.
Before signing her letter of intent in November, she took her official visit and was in the Gampel Pavilion stands for the Huskies' First Night festivities. She was joined in Storrs by the other member of UConn's recruiting class at this point, guard Allie Ziebell from Neenah, Wisc.
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"The best part of First Night? All of it," Cheli said with a laugh. "The crowd, the energy, when the lights went out and everyone had their phones out ... It was so cool. And Coach Auriemma's dance was great.
"I was able to spend more time with the players and coaches, specifically the players. It was so much fun getting to know them. Allie was awesome. It was enjoyable to watch how hard they play and work and how they want each other to succeed. It's a special group and I can't wait to be a part of it."
UConn (9-3 and ranked No. 15) has been off since Dec. 20 but has returned to campus to begin preparations for Sunday's Big East contest against No. 18 and unbeaten Marquette at the XL Center in Hartford.
Cheli watches the Huskies on television every chance she gets, but in a different way since last February when she committed.
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"Having relationships with the players makes a difference," Cheli said. "Obviously, I rooted for them before. But it's on a deeper level now. I want them to succeed and play well. When I'm able to watch, I try to envision myself in different scenarios and find things that I could add and try to help them win."
While she plays point guard for Mitty, that won't necessarily be where she plays in college. Her size and versatility will give Auriemma flexibility with the lineups that include her.
"I can play wherever Coach Auriemma needs me to be besides center," Cheli said. "Whether I'm a point guard, a trail four, rebound-and-run situations, I'll do whatever he wants and whatever it takes to win. I think my versatility will help me next year."
There's one other decision she needs to make before she arrives in Storrs.
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Her uniform No. 33 at Mitty belongs to junior Caroline Ducharme. Her uniform No. 12 from AAU belongs to freshman Ashlynn Shade. She's not sure what number she'll ask for yet but one option hangs on the Gampel Pavilion wall in the Huskies of Honor program for Maya Moore and for fellow Californian Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis.
"I'm leaning towards 23 because in EYBL I wear 12 and I wear 33 with Mitty," Cheli said. "So if I take 23, that's one number from each. Those will be some big shoes to fill wearing that number at UConn but that makes me even more excited."
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