[TheFarm07]

It seems like we potentially have some good guard recruits and that has been our strength lately, which is a complete reversal of the last few years where our strongest players (the Ogwumikes, Appel, Pedersen) have been post players.  Our weakness at the guard position prevented us from winning a national title despite our All-American post players.  Hopefully we can find some premiere post/interior players or have McCall and Kaylee Johnson develop further to complement our guards.

[TheFarm07]

It seems like we potentially have some good guard recruits and that has been our strength lately, which is a complete reversal of the last few years where our strongest players (the Ogwumikes, Appel, Pedersen) have been post players.  Our weakness at the guard position prevented us from winning a national title despite our All-American post players.  Hopefully we can find some premiere post/interior players or have McCall and Kaylee Johnson develop further to complement our guards.

[TheFarm07]

ESPN gives her 3 stars and a 90 rating, says she is the 18th best guard.  That is certainly an outlier of a rating.
http://espn.go.com/high-school/girls-bas...linn-konig

Didn't ESPN under-rate Alanna Smith as compared to other rating sites as well?  Let's hope ESPN is wrong and that we have some hidden gems in our midst.

[TheFarm07]

ESPN gives her 3 stars and a 90 rating, says she is the 18th best guard.  That is certainly an outlier of a rating.
http://espn.go.com/high-school/girls-bas...linn-konig

Didn't ESPN under-rate Alanna Smith as compared to other rating sites as well?  Let's hope ESPN is wrong and that we have some hidden gems in our midst.

[81alum]

Word has it Ionescu is a UConn lean. Via friend who knows her in the EastBay.

Somewhere a gpa was published that made me think that Stanford was not likely--recognizing all the unreliability of such information.  She is a terrific player.

[81alum]

Word has it Ionescu is a UConn lean. Via friend who knows her in the EastBay.

Somewhere a gpa was published that made me think that Stanford was not likely--recognizing all the unreliability of such information.  She is a terrific player.

[CompSci87]

ESPN ratings have been done by just one guy for the last couple of years (unless they've expanded the operation again). Easy for him to be wrong especially about players he hasn't seen as often.

[CompSci87]

ESPN ratings have been done by just one guy for the last couple of years (unless they've expanded the operation again). Easy for him to be wrong especially about players he hasn't seen as often.

[BostonCard]

[quote author=81alum link=topic=11153.msg112451#msg112451 date=1423013403]
ESPN gives her 3 stars and a 90 rating, says she is the 18th best guard.  That is certainly an outlier of a rating.
http://espn.go.com/high-school/girls-bas...linn-konig

Didn't ESPN under-rate Alanna Smith as compared to other rating sites as well?  Let's hope ESPN is wrong and that we have some hidden gems in our midst.
[/quote]

It's hard to know if she's been underrated or not, since she hasn't played for us yet.  Maybe she'll be a star and we will conclude that the ESPN rating was an underrating, or maybe (though obviously I hope not), she will not be a meaningful contributor, and ESPN will have been spot on.

BC

[BostonCard]

[quote author=81alum link=topic=11153.msg112451#msg112451 date=1423013403]
ESPN gives her 3 stars and a 90 rating, says she is the 18th best guard.  That is certainly an outlier of a rating.
http://espn.go.com/high-school/girls-bas...linn-konig

Didn't ESPN under-rate Alanna Smith as compared to other rating sites as well?  Let's hope ESPN is wrong and that we have some hidden gems in our midst.
[/quote]

It's hard to know if she's been underrated or not, since she hasn't played for us yet.  Maybe she'll be a star and we will conclude that the ESPN rating was an underrating, or maybe (though obviously I hope not), she will not be a meaningful contributor, and ESPN will have been spot on.

BC

[BobK]

ESPN is one person, PN is many and they rate Smith top 10 or so. 

[BobK]

ESPN is one person, PN is many and they rate Smith top 10 or so. 

[JasonJT]

Yet, Olson was the only one to rate Kaylee Jonhson high.  It's really a crap shot a lot of times.  Taylor Rooks was our most highly rated recruit out of the freshman class, and she has been the least productive.

[JasonJT]

Yet, Olson was the only one to rate Kaylee Jonhson high.  It's really a crap shot a lot of times.  Taylor Rooks was our most highly rated recruit out of the freshman class, and she has been the least productive.

[BostonCard]

It doesn't mean that the one person isn't right, and that PN can't be wrong.  I hope that Smith truly has been underrated by ESPN.  There is good reason to think that a foreign player would have been.  But we won't know until she starts playing.

BC

[BostonCard]

It doesn't mean that the one person isn't right, and that PN can't be wrong.  I hope that Smith truly has been underrated by ESPN.  There is good reason to think that a foreign player would have been.  But we won't know until she starts playing.

BC

[81alum]

It doesn't mean that the one person isn't right, and that PN can't be wrong.  I hope that Smith truly has been underrated by ESPN.  There is good reason to think that a foreign player would have been.  But we won't know until she starts playing.

BC

Well, we do have a few videos of her play, so we have a little to go on.  She seems a little Ruef-like to me.  She boxes out extremely well, seems to be an aggressive rebounder, defender, and shot-blocker.  She is fast for a big and moves laterally well, which makes her an excellent defender.  Putting her and Kaylee on the floor together would give us a h.u.g.e rebounding advantage over just about any team.

On offense we can find one reverse layup on these tapes that looked nifty, but I did not see many back-to-the-basket moves.  She misses a couple of times but goes after and converts her own O-boards.  I think I read somewhere that she was described as a solid face-up post which is more prevalent in international play.  She says she has been working on her perimeter shot, and there is one nice stroke on these tapes.  If so, she could be just the person for the stretch four on offense--and she would certainly be an excellent defender--better against bigs than Bonnie or Taylor surly. surely.

One thing is absolutely clear--from the first day she sets foot in Maples, she will have the best accent!  I wonder if any of you have lived in Australia--this accent seems softer than the stereotypical variety we Americans hear in the movies.  Are there regional differences in Australia?  She drops the Rs like almost all commonwealth people, but the Ls are really interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JKtO7addys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7XVJbSuAW0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-gjc7zxdU0

[81alum]

It doesn't mean that the one person isn't right, and that PN can't be wrong.  I hope that Smith truly has been underrated by ESPN.  There is good reason to think that a foreign player would have been.  But we won't know until she starts playing.

BC

Well, we do have a few videos of her play, so we have a little to go on.  She seems a little Ruef-like to me.  She boxes out extremely well, seems to be an aggressive rebounder, defender, and shot-blocker.  She is fast for a big and moves laterally well, which makes her an excellent defender.  Putting her and Kaylee on the floor together would give us a h.u.g.e rebounding advantage over just about any team.

On offense we can find one reverse layup on these tapes that looked nifty, but I did not see many back-to-the-basket moves.  She misses a couple of times but goes after and converts her own O-boards.  I think I read somewhere that she was described as a solid face-up post which is more prevalent in international play.  She says she has been working on her perimeter shot, and there is one nice stroke on these tapes.  If so, she could be just the person for the stretch four on offense--and she would certainly be an excellent defender--better against bigs than Bonnie or Taylor surly. surely.

One thing is absolutely clear--from the first day she sets foot in Maples, she will have the best accent!  I wonder if any of you have lived in Australia--this accent seems softer than the stereotypical variety we Americans hear in the movies.  Are there regional differences in Australia?  She drops the Rs like almost all commonwealth people, but the Ls are really interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JKtO7addys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7XVJbSuAW0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-gjc7zxdU0

[CTcard]

She drops the Rs like almost all commonwealth people, 

Don't think we Canajans drop our Rs, eh.

That's for the Hahvahd folks.

[CTcard]

She drops the Rs like almost all commonwealth people, 

Don't think we Canajans drop our Rs, eh.

That's for the Hahvahd folks.

[kuz]

One thing is absolutely clear--from the first day she sets foot in Maples, she will have the best accent!  I wonder if any of you have lived in Australia--this accent seems softer than the stereotypical variety we Americans hear in the movies.  Are there regional differences in Australia?  She drops the Rs like almost all commonwealth people, but the Ls are really interesting.

Yep, there are regional differences in Australian accents. I'm from Melbourne, same as Alanna, and judging by that interview of her, we have pretty much the same accent. Over here in the US, I get mistaken for having a British accent all the time, as my Aussie accent seems so much milder than what most Americans would expect. It doesn't help that my housemate is also Australian, but has a more rural accent that's extremely broad (and in fact so broad that a lot of the time, very few people can understand what he's saying).

[kuz]

One thing is absolutely clear--from the first day she sets foot in Maples, she will have the best accent!  I wonder if any of you have lived in Australia--this accent seems softer than the stereotypical variety we Americans hear in the movies.  Are there regional differences in Australia?  She drops the Rs like almost all commonwealth people, but the Ls are really interesting.

Yep, there are regional differences in Australian accents. I'm from Melbourne, same as Alanna, and judging by that interview of her, we have pretty much the same accent. Over here in the US, I get mistaken for having a British accent all the time, as my Aussie accent seems so much milder than what most Americans would expect. It doesn't help that my housemate is also Australian, but has a more rural accent that's extremely broad (and in fact so broad that a lot of the time, very few people can understand what he's saying).

[BostonCard]

My parents lived in Melbourne (Black Rock, to be specific, in case you are wondering kuz), while I was at Stanford.  I agree that just like the US, there are variations in accent (though, at least to my ears, not as noticeable as differences between, say, the South, Midwest, and Northeast in the US).  The strength of the accent varies by region, as well as socioeconomic status and urbanization.  The accent tends to be most noticeable amongst the lower educated, less well-off Australians (and, as per kuz' example, rural Australians).

More cosmopolitan cities (Melbourne and to a lesser extent Sydney) have less noticeable accents.

BC

[BostonCard]

My parents lived in Melbourne (Black Rock, to be specific, in case you are wondering kuz), while I was at Stanford.  I agree that just like the US, there are variations in accent (though, at least to my ears, not as noticeable as differences between, say, the South, Midwest, and Northeast in the US).  The strength of the accent varies by region, as well as socioeconomic status and urbanization.  The accent tends to be most noticeable amongst the lower educated, less well-off Australians (and, as per kuz' example, rural Australians).

More cosmopolitan cities (Melbourne and to a lesser extent Sydney) have less noticeable accents.

BC

[BostonCard]

ADD: I just found a wikipedia entry on Australian accents.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variation_...an_English

BC

[BostonCard]

ADD: I just found a wikipedia entry on Australian accents.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variation_...an_English

BC

[pefloresjr]

My wife and I stayed in a homestay in an underground opal mine/house (known as a dugout) in Coober Pedy and the woman who ran the place was able to wring about four syllables out of the word "no."  It sounded kind of like "Nao-o-oh-a."  Reminded me of a cat howling in an alley in the middle of the night.  Still, she and her family were very kind and we truly enjoyed our stay with them.  Coober Pedy is in the Outback, but not so far that it isn't an easy, long drive for anybody who is used to driving longer distances in the Western or Central U.S.  We drove out from Sydney to Canberra, the long run to Coober Pedy, then down to Adelaide, Melbourne, Great Coast Road, and back to Sydney.  Fantastic roadtrip that took a couple weeks. 
Cheers,
Pete F.

[pefloresjr]

My wife and I stayed in a homestay in an underground opal mine/house (known as a dugout) in Coober Pedy and the woman who ran the place was able to wring about four syllables out of the word "no."  It sounded kind of like "Nao-o-oh-a."  Reminded me of a cat howling in an alley in the middle of the night.  Still, she and her family were very kind and we truly enjoyed our stay with them.  Coober Pedy is in the Outback, but not so far that it isn't an easy, long drive for anybody who is used to driving longer distances in the Western or Central U.S.  We drove out from Sydney to Canberra, the long run to Coober Pedy, then down to Adelaide, Melbourne, Great Coast Road, and back to Sydney.  Fantastic roadtrip that took a couple weeks. 
Cheers,
Pete F.

[Jskass]

really makes me want to get back to Australia. I used to go there annually for business in the mid-late 90's but it was always all business - 1-2 days in Sydney, 1 in Canberra, 1 in Melbourne and once I got to Adelaide for a day. The extent of the touring I did was an afternoon at the zoo across from Sydney (and great ferry ride over there)...That road trip sounds great, perfect for the (bucket) list!

Almost as exciting as the annual winter road trips I'm planning for 1 week each to see several different women's basketball games at different schools in different regions of the U.S.

[Jskass]

really makes me want to get back to Australia. I used to go there annually for business in the mid-late 90's but it was always all business - 1-2 days in Sydney, 1 in Canberra, 1 in Melbourne and once I got to Adelaide for a day. The extent of the touring I did was an afternoon at the zoo across from Sydney (and great ferry ride over there)...That road trip sounds great, perfect for the (bucket) list!

Almost as exciting as the annual winter road trips I'm planning for 1 week each to see several different women's basketball games at different schools in different regions of the U.S.

[titantwin]

I believe there may be another Aussie in the 2016 recruiting mix! This one has a similar accent to Alanna.

[titantwin]

I believe there may be another Aussie in the 2016 recruiting mix! This one has a similar accent to Alanna.

[TheFarm07]

I believe there may be another Aussie in the 2016 recruiting mix! This one has a similar accent to Alanna.

I hope she's a post or forward.  As I mentioned before, we are pretty low on top-end posts/forwards going forward.  By the time, the Class of 2016 enters Stanford, McCall will be a senior and Johnson will be a junior.  We'll need someone to start backing them up and replace them, so we won't have this gap where we have now where Alyson Beebe was supposed to be the bridge between Chiney and McCall.  But it seems all of the top candidates for this year are guards now that Erin Boley committed to N.D. and we are not (or no longer) on Cox's list.

[TheFarm07]

I believe there may be another Aussie in the 2016 recruiting mix! This one has a similar accent to Alanna.

I hope she's a post or forward.  As I mentioned before, we are pretty low on top-end posts/forwards going forward.  By the time, the Class of 2016 enters Stanford, McCall will be a senior and Johnson will be a junior.  We'll need someone to start backing them up and replace them, so we won't have this gap where we have now where Alyson Beebe was supposed to be the bridge between Chiney and McCall.  But it seems all of the top candidates for this year are guards now that Erin Boley committed to N.D. and we are not (or no longer) on Cox's list.

[81alum]

I believe there may be another Aussie in the 2016 recruiting mix! This one has a similar accent to Alanna.

Thank you for the info, Titan!  We will wait to find out more.  And, if you are able, say hello (gooday?) to Alanna for us.  The coaches describe her as a very positive, happy individual and her warmth and smile comes across in those interviews.  She is going to be a joy to have around Stanford!

[81alum]

I believe there may be another Aussie in the 2016 recruiting mix! This one has a similar accent to Alanna.

Thank you for the info, Titan!  We will wait to find out more.  And, if you are able, say hello (gooday?) to Alanna for us.  The coaches describe her as a very positive, happy individual and her warmth and smile comes across in those interviews.  She is going to be a joy to have around Stanford!

[Jskass]

yes can you imagine Wilson-Chou-Carrington-Konig, all guards, vying for 3 scholarships, right?
I sure hope at least one of the 2015 post players turns out to be a gem.

[Jskass]

yes can you imagine Wilson-Chou-Carrington-Konig, all guards, vying for 3 scholarships, right?
I sure hope at least one of the 2015 post players turns out to be a gem.

[TheFarm07]

If I am not wrong, doesn't football target potential recruits and advise them about improving test scores and taking the right classes?  Couldn't we do this with potential basketball recruits as well and see if we can get more impact recruits more often that hopefully cross our fingers and wait every few years to get two uber-talented sisters who have awesome basketball skills with the academic prowess to be admitted?

Considering how much Brianna Turner is making an impact her freshman year at N.D. (and not saying admissions was the reason she did not choose us), attempting to expand the pool would help recruiting potentially.

[TheFarm07]

If I am not wrong, doesn't football target potential recruits and advise them about improving test scores and taking the right classes?  Couldn't we do this with potential basketball recruits as well and see if we can get more impact recruits more often that hopefully cross our fingers and wait every few years to get two uber-talented sisters who have awesome basketball skills with the academic prowess to be admitted?

Considering how much Brianna Turner is making an impact her freshman year at N.D. (and not saying admissions was the reason she did not choose us), attempting to expand the pool would help recruiting potentially.