Mays and Harris to transfer

Regardless of the success our women's basketball program has had in the Fennelly era, I still feel we aren't totally capitalizing on that success or the overall support for the program. With the facilities, crowd support, past success, Big 12, etc., why aren't we getting better talent? Why does Manning from Ankeny sign with Oklahoma? Does Fennelly have a reputation of being too hard on his players? Does he only recruit players that fit our "system?" Does it have anything to do with having a "family-friendly" program? (Seriously)
 
Mixed bag I guess. If these two don't posess Big 12 skills, then it is good that they are moving on. But on the other hand, as TornadoMan suggests, the continuing recruiting whiffs are of concern.

It would be interesting to see the "whiff rate" of other Big 12 schools, and how ISU compares.

You raise an interesting point here about how ISU compares to other schools with regard to transfers and/or recruiting whiffs, jbh. I don't have any info about other Big 12 schools, but I can relate an event that occurred in the Rutgers women's program that relates to your concern. Stringer brought in five McDonald All-Americans for her 2008 freshman class at Rutgers. Two of those five transferred by the end of the school year, and in fact one, Brooklyn Pope, ended up at Baylor. Obviously I don't know all the circumstances, and so I could not say whether the coaching staff made mistakes in making the offers, or the recruits, highly talented ones, made mistakes in accepting the offers.
 
Regardless of the success our women's basketball program has had in the Fennelly era, I still feel we aren't totally capitalizing on that success or the overall support for the program. With the facilities, crowd support, past success, Big 12, etc., why aren't we getting better talent? Why does Manning from Ankeny sign with Oklahoma? Does Fennelly have a reputation of being too hard on his players? Does he only recruit players that fit our "system?" Does it have anything to do with having a "family-friendly" program? (Seriously)

First she does not fit our style of play. I do not see her playing that much at OU till she is a senior and then maybe not even then. Second we have gotten some good talent over the years but people have to want to come to Ames, IA and want to play the style of ball we play. In our program we only play 6-7 players on a regular basis during the conference season and todat to many players leave a program if they do not start the first year or so and go to a less competitive level. I want players on the team who have bought into ISU Cyclone bb and are willing to work as long & hard as it takes to get playing time. We have had a number of players who in their last two years were great players for us.
 
Seems reasonable and needed. Without Harris, we have 0 guard depth. Vanloo may make it here, may not. If she doesn't, as it stands, we have 4 guards, 2 soph, 2 frosh, to spread across 3 positions(not considering walk-ons), with Vanloo, 2 soph, 3 frosh. One injury and we are up a creek.

Who knows with Mays gone, maybe we could snag both Lang and Trapp. Killer!

That's why losing Jess will hurt more next year than this. Cole filled the defensive stopper this year. I figure that was Jessicas job for next year as a big guard/small forward. Quick enough for guards and big enough for bigger guard/small forward. We don't have that person on the roster right now and it's been improtant to us as we have evolved into a defense team.
 
The team needs strong defenders at guard. While some players are naturally hard-nosed defenders, good defense can be learned, skills can be practiced, and smarts can be acquired through video and scouting reports.

There are a number of examples of ISU wbb players who did not start out strong on defense and matured into great defensive players. It does take a certain personality and attitude though.

As for players who have persisted through little playing time and inconsistency early in their careers and finished with some outstanding performances in their last year or two... Brittany Wilkins might be the best example. Jocelyn Anderson might be in that category also albeit under different circumstances. Amanda Nisleit didn't play many minutes in her first two years, but performed when called on her junior year, and had a great senior season, including becoming a great defender and quiet team leader.
 
I suspect CBF will try to add signees in the April period. Lots of guards already here or will be this summer. Need an athletic wing/SF as Brynn is the only one that we have now and we have not had many over the years. Probably need to take a look a a Big also with Mays leaving, as that also will be the big recruiting issue in 2013. Maybe CBF will look at Jucos in April.
 
You raise an interesting point here about how ISU compares to other schools with regard to transfers and/or recruiting whiffs, jbh. I don't have any info about other Big 12 schools, but I can relate an event that occurred in the Rutgers women's program that relates to your concern. Stringer brought in five McDonald All-Americans for her 2008 freshman class at Rutgers. Two of those five transferred by the end of the school year, and in fact one, Brooklyn Pope, ended up at Baylor.

I think the concern originally stated by TornadoMan was that of offering players who don't have sufficient talent to play at the Big 12 level, and was the concern I was alluding to. The Pope example probably doesn't fit this category, since she got an offer from Baylor. We should be able to see if Mays and Harris were "talent whiffs" based on where they end up.
 
I think the concern originally stated by TornadoMan was that of offering players who don't have sufficient talent to play at the Big 12 level, and was the concern I was alluding to. The Pope example probably doesn't fit this category, since she got an offer from Baylor. We should be able to see if Mays and Harris were "talent whiffs" based on where they end up.

I would suspect Mays may end up back at Houston. She had verbally committed there before signing with us.
 
...offering players who don't have sufficient talent to play at the Big 12 level... . The Pope example probably doesn't fit this category, since she got an offer from Baylor. ...

To some extent, it does not matter if the poor match is due to player expectations or to team expectations for the player. The player has left and leaves a hole. An elite player leaving could be more of a loss because the team was actually counting on her to play a significant role. In the latter case, the departure almost has a double penalty for the team.

Fennelly seems willing to take risks on players with potential. Many of these have paid off for ISU. Some of them have not.

ISU has also gotten some elite players. The team has been very productive with the talent it has brought in. All it will take is a couple of elite players to come and make an impact to get ISU to the next level.
 
It's always hard to lose kids that wanted to be here. I wish them the best of luck. I hope they find somewhere where they can thrive. Arlen did, Yackley did, Williams did.

This program needs an infusion of quickness, though. Especially on the perimeter. I think Harris is a good player, and probably can stroke it from three, but couldn't here because she couldn't create separation. She hits everything in warm-ups. We're going to miss having a guard that can drive like Loz next year. I hope these recruits can do that, it's really going to be needed for this team. I watched Green Bay, even in their zone, and I was so envious of their quickness and ability to cover court. It's an attitude and shape thing, too.

Posted in another thread, but Jack was supposed to be coaching the bigs, I thought. In my view, those three girls ( HC, CP, AP) really haven't progressed over their time, sans Pop. I think in the latter case that's just determination. I wonder if that's some of his leaving? We need better recruiting and player development there. I'm sure he's a great person, and that's the hard part of coaching, but there's a need there. Those three all played minutes early in their career. If Mays was the real deal, she would have hit the court, given the kind of year we had.
 
spoke with vanloo the other day. she is planning on coming here she cant wait. hoping that her grades and ncaa will let her.

i do expect BF to get a jucco player in april. im excited about next years team and the recruits coming up.

i wish mays and harris the best in where ever they land. wish we could have seen more of harris.
 
This program needs an infusion of quickness, though. Especially on the perimeter.

I think they have enough quickness, what has gone downhill is the lack of shooters surrounding post players like Pop. The offense has been paralyzed at times in recent seasons with the likes of Cole, Schroll and Stuckey. Bill's best teams have had at least 4 good outside shooters on the floor at once to space the floor and make it much easier to score the ball.
 
I think they have enough quickness, what has gone downhill is the lack of shooters surrounding post players like Pop. The offense has been paralyzed at times in recent seasons with the likes of Cole, Schroll and Stuckey. Bill's best teams have had at least 4 good outside shooters on the floor at once to space the floor and make it much easier to score the ball.

We played 4 on 5 with Chas on the floor. She was a tremendous defender, but most teams sagged off her and she wouldn't shoot the ball consistently.
 
WOW, WBB has be an ISU bright spot more consistent than anyother Sport with Top National Attendance in top 10 yearly (3rd this year) besides annually top of the B12 and Tournament elgible for nearly each year. Yah I'm on the FB and MBB bandwagon and lovin it, but I'm also a WBB ticket holder and damn proud of them and what they've done for ISU.
 
spoke with vanloo the other day. she is planning on coming here she cant wait. hoping that her grades and ncaa will let her.

i do expect BF to get a jucco player in april. im excited about next years team and the recruits coming up.

i wish mays and harris the best in where ever they land. wish we could have seen more of harris.

Certainly hope you are right about Vanloo; we surely need additional strength and numbers at guard.
 
WBB Div I allows 15 scholarships. If the team stands pat and Vanloo shows up, we will have 12 on scholarship, including Elly. It seems like we never have a full 15.

Is that done to save on the budget, or because BF knows he doesn't need that many, and it would only lead to unhappy campers riding the bench? As long as you find quality recruits it seems like a little competition would be good, even if it leads to a few transfers every year.
 
Is that done to save on the budget, or because BF knows he doesn't need that many, and it would only lead to unhappy campers riding the bench? As long as you find quality recruits it seems like a little competition would be good, even if it leads to a few transfers every year.

He's said that's exactly the reason.
 

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