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threadkiller1201
Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 415
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Posted: 02/22/15 6:22 pm ::: Have you ever.... |
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Just curious.
Has anyone here ever gone to a college game, and saw a player that was so much head-and-shoulders better than anyone else that you wondered how the hell they were on that team?
I ask because I have seen wnba games, Division I games, Division II games-- and it seems like people kind of end up where they are *about* level with the other players around them.
I was just wondering, and I apologize if this has been asked before, if anyone has seen-- a player on the court that really seems like they should be somewhere else, maybe on another level, or a different, more talented, team or conference. Something on the order of -- you couldn't believe your eyes that this player was in the game you were watching, they really shouldn't be here.
I ask because I was wondering the other day what it would have been to watch a game with, say, Yolanda Griffith, in college. If I'm not mistaken, she transferred into Florida Atlantic, which was a Division II team at the time. I'm wondering what it must have been to watch this future Hall of Famer, playing at a Division II team, people's jaws must have been dropping. Were they wondering: how the hell is a player like that doing here??
Or maybe not, I don't know...basketball is such a team game....
Anyway, I was just wondering....
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dtrain34
Joined: 17 Aug 2010 Posts: 409 Location: Lacey, Washington
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Posted: 02/22/15 6:36 pm ::: |
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Many times. There are a lot of reasons people don't always end up at the level they may "deserve."
Sometimes its just happenstance -- I was at a public high school basketball practice once when I D1 coach watching a recruit said that he had never seen a player who was so much better than the rest of her team mates. She was at the school because that's where the district map said she belonged.
Sometimes a great talent doesn't get to where they can until after the choosing up of sides has taken place -- a small college where I was the AD boasted of two eventual MLS players, one a star at our place, the other a guy who finished his NAIA career then decided to get seriously about soccer. He was a much better pro than a small college player. Had he started a year or two sooner on his self-improvement plan he'd have been deadly as a small college guy.
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threadkiller1201
Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 415
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Posted: 02/22/15 7:37 pm ::: |
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thanks for the response, dtrain!
yeah, I can see it in high school, luck of the draw....
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Stephen Shirley
Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 787
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Posted: 02/23/15 10:03 am ::: Easy one |
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EDD at Delaware.
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summertime blues
Joined: 16 Apr 2013 Posts: 7745 Location: Shenandoah Valley
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Posted: 02/23/15 10:54 am ::: Re: Easy one |
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Stephen Shirley wrote: |
EDD at Delaware. |
Bingo. I know why she went there, and she certainly made everyone else around her better. It was nice being able to see her as much as I did (being a sort of JMU fan) but awful too since they crushed JMU.
Sydney Moss when she went to St. Thomas More after she was denied a transfer.
_________________ Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohows permanent.
It takes 3 years to build a team and 7 to build a program.--Conventional Wisdom
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readyAIMfire53
Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 7354 Location: Durham, NC
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Posted: 02/23/15 5:12 pm ::: Re: Have you ever.... |
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threadkiller1201 wrote: |
Just curious.
Has anyone here ever gone to a college game, and saw a player that was so much head-and-shoulders better than anyone else that you wondered how the hell they were on that team?
I ask because I have seen wnba games, Division I games, Division II games-- and it seems like people kind of end up where they are *about* level with the other players around them.
I was just wondering, and I apologize if this has been asked before, if anyone has seen-- a player on the court that really seems like they should be somewhere else, maybe on another level, or a different, more talented, team or conference. Something on the order of -- you couldn't believe your eyes that this player was in the game you were watching, they really shouldn't be here.
I ask because I was wondering the other day what it would have been to watch a game with, say, [b]Yolanda Griffith, in college. If I'm not mistaken, she transferred into Florida Atlantic, which was a Division II team at the time. I'm wondering what it must have been to watch this future Hall of Famer, playing at a Division II team, people's jaws must have been dropping. Were they wondering: how the hell is a player like that doing here??
Or maybe not, I don't know...basketball is such a team game....
Anyway, I was just wondering.... |
[/b]
If I recall correctly, Yo first went to JC in Florida after giving birth to her daughter. After finding great care for her daughter, she didn't want to leave so went to the school where her daughter could continue with the same care provider. Yo is my shero! She ended up with a beautiful daughter and a brilliant pro career. (note that she later gave birth to another daughter and chose to give her up for adoption - something everyone involved may have a lot of different feelings about).
_________________ Follow your passion and your life will be true down to your core.
~rAf
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FrozenLVFan
Joined: 08 Jul 2014 Posts: 3510
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Posted: 02/23/15 8:25 pm ::: |
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Yes. I've seen a lot of Ivy and Patriot League games over the years, and I do remember times with 1 or 2 players on a team that really stood out. My theory is that they went to those schools for academic reasons, rather than attending academically lesser mid-majors, or sitting on the bench for a ranked team.
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GEF34
Joined: 23 Jul 2008 Posts: 14102
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Posted: 02/23/15 8:28 pm ::: |
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FrozenLVFan wrote: |
Yes. I've seen a lot of Ivy and Patriot League games over the years, and I do remember times with 1 or 2 players on a team that really stood out. My theory is that they went to those schools for academic reasons, rather than attending academically lesser mid-majors, or sitting on the bench for a ranked team. |
I'd have to imagine Allison Feaster falls into this category for you and others who have followed Ivy League women's basketball for a long time.
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GEF34
Joined: 23 Jul 2008 Posts: 14102
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Posted: 02/23/15 8:30 pm ::: |
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Lauren Ervin at Mt. Sac (a JC in California) against quite a few teams, but against the higher ranked teams that also had DI players she wasn't head and shoulders above her competition.
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CompSci87
Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 812 Location: Palo Alto, CA
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Posted: 02/23/15 9:26 pm ::: |
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Watching a Stanford open practice in Chiney Ogwumike's junior or senior year (I forget which), she was just on a whole different level than the rest of the players. It wasn't as extreme as this thread is asking for, but it was something to see.
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snichols
Joined: 24 Mar 2010 Posts: 84
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