Mandy posted a story on instagram of Kylee and KK scootering around campus both had crutches. Obviously Kylee tore her knee up but i had no idea kk was injured or to the extent to need crutches and an electric scooter. I hope she heals and has a fantastic career. I think her injuries this summer and whatever she was dealing with greatly hindered her development and she could be really a solid player
I thought she looked hampered by some type of leg injury all year. She just didn't look comfortable running. I wish she was staying but hope she is successful wherever she ends up. I actually hope she doesn't go to another ACC school so we don't have to face her.
I wish her well, but hope she doesn't go within the conference. There are opportunities to work with new coaches (Clemson, Miami), join teams that are on the bottom hoping to move up (Pitt, Wake Forest) or fill out rosters that are hit with churn (BC, Va. Tech, UVA). Or newcomers like SMU.
This is one where I'd love to see her stay in the Midwest and go with the B1G or schools like Marquette or DePaul.
have committed so far? It takes time on the part of the
coach, player and school admissions. I don’t understand
fans impatience, these are important decisions,
I saw something about Timea Gardiner recently following coach Ivey and some players, so I went and snooped out Nat and KK's recent follows. (Yes, I felt creepy doing so.)
Nat recently followed a few of the staff and players at Miami (Florida), and Georgetown. KK recently followed a few of the staff and players at Florida State.
That's not to say that each player will go to those places, but they've definitely been actively looking.
My thoughts: KK would fit in well at FSU, I think she would take the starting spot that Sara Bejedi left behind, but provide a bigger body for them. She wouldn't be top billing, that would still be Ta'Niya Latson, but FSU's offense lets everybody eat who shows up to the table. Plus, the two of them were on the All-ACC Freshman team a few seasons ago, and KK can definitely hang with them.
Meanwhile, Nat at Miami with the Cavinders is an interesting prospect. They are losing Kyla Oldacre, Latasha Lattimore, and Lazaria Spearman. They need height and Nat would probably start - plus, it's a new coach, so any players they get are absolutely necessary. Georgetown is an interesting idea, she would still get to play at her favorite opponent (UConn) and hopefully help the Hoyas continue their upward trajectory that they started in this year's Big East tournament. She would certainly be a bigger fish in a smaller pond, but presumably Georgetown/DC provides her with ample opportunity to do whatever she wants off the court, which as we know is a huge part of her character.
----
AGAIN, just because they followed those people doesn't mean anything, so this is entirely speculative.
While we're on the topic, yes, Timea Gardiner did recently follow some players and Coach Ivey. The only other big transfer prospect who follows coach Ivey is Janiah Barker. Kiki Iriafen follows a few players. Liatu King follows only Hannah Hidalgo. Only in Gardiner's case were most of these follows recent, the rest just seem like holdovers from previous connections.
On the topic of Gardiner, it seems (also from Instagram) that she is currently in Provo with the BYU team. That's only about an hour away from where she grew up, so it's very very possible that she is merely there visiting friends.
- Yes, I could see KK Bransford at LSU, as well. Team likes to push it and KK could add an aggressive inside element to the guard-based attack.
- Miami? The need bigs. Heck, they'll need players given the transition to Tricia Culluop, who is a very good coach at pulling together players from different backgrounds.
- G'Town. Big East seems to be in transition (under/after UConn, and Georgetown -- under their interim/now-head coach played well at the end of the year).
- UVA? While the Wahoo's have some excellent young guards and wings, that does not appear to be the case at center/foward. She could get a year of grad work while playing...a lot.
- Duke (god no). They've lost their centers, who mostly rebound, set screens and play defense in the guard-oriented attack. To give them credit, she'll find a good grad course there, but still....(my mens lax background is coming out...)
Seems to fit in with some of the academic pursuits she's discussed previously. Glad she graduated, but so sad to see her go. She's such a high character individual - seemingly a wonderful teammate and friend from a fan's vantage point.
other people recently follow... i thought you could just do it for yourself. I have also been doing IG searching and trying to remember who they followed last time i looked to see if they had added someone new... teach me! LOL
When you look at the accounts someone follows, they automatically appear in order of recency. The exception is that anyone you also follow gets pushed to the very top. So if you want to see if anybody has recently followed coach ivey, for example, you need to not follow coach ivey yourself and then look at the top of the list (it takes awhile to move your follows down out of the special section)
the USC coach so ship may have sailed there...
It's hard not to be reactionary. We all want things to happen as fast as possible but just because Kiki (or anyone) expressed interest in one school doesn't mean they won't continue to explore other options. IG can be a bread crumb but it could also be a red herring. We don't know until we know.
On Twitter they all went berserk because all the UConn players followed Raegan Beers on IG, but Beers hasn't followed a single one of them back.
All we're doing here is speculating. We'll know soon enough.
across the street is a coach as ASU and she is good friends with some of the UCONN staff and said they are heavily going at Beers to replace Edwards. This was also the same coach that told me Soni was going to be special when she came in and jeez was she right
A reverse Anna DeWolfe. In NYC, close to family and friends, good school, could be a major player and still face some high level competition on occasion. No idea what kind of graduate school programs that they offer.
I believe her parents have moved back to Milwaukee. Also, I thought that Niele could pick up the phone to Megan Duffy and give a good report. But, Duffy takes the job at Va. Tech, and most of her best Golden Eagles are in the portal; including Liz Karlen who, ironically, is talking about filling a role that Nat had.
Still, I can see her going to fine schools like Fordham, Marquette, Georgetown (sense a pattern here...).
and follows Vanderbilt as a school (on LinkedIn). Hmmm. Maybe a sibling go there?
Would love to see her at Marquette. They have Skyler Forbes already who is more of a banger. That would be an interesting twosome as she could concentrate more on offense and blocking shots and Forbes do more of the dirty work on rebounding.
maybe where her parents are.
Maybe she wants one more shot at big time development (and WNBA/Europe) or maybe she wants to be closer to where she will launch her career. And ideally she can do both.
Too bad she can't go to Columbia (Ivies don't let grad students play as I recall). They are pretty decent with a good coach and she could get a Master's.
I can't see her going to a top place to be #7 in a national championship rotation. This move has to be about something other than seeking a team championship.
Was thinking Columbia would be pay dirt for a Nat, both athletically and academically. (Didn't Troy Murphy eventually graduate from there.)
a great job and should be on many folks' rising star card. But she is also an alum of Columbia. I wonder if Marquette called her (or Berube).
Her senior year, Fordham played Columbia when the Lions went to the WNIT final. The Lions beat Fordham in a really good game. Anna and Abby Hsu of Columbia wanted the ball like all stars should
Megan G. is a really good coach and they're going to have to pay her a boatload of cash to leave there because, as you pointed out, she's an alum.
(unlike Banghart of Princeton who is a Dartmouth alum).
I could see Northwestern giving her a call when Uncle Jo retires at Northwestern.
than Princeton or Columbia.
- Think KK looked at the roster and thought "I'll back up Soni and/or the #2 this year....maybe." And that leaves her a senior year.
- I brought Nat up in a post just below on Nat getting a taste of starting and wanting to pursue it, because it wasn't going to happen this year behind Maddy, Kate and/or an incoming transfer also being there. In fact, her time might diminish.
However, as you also noted, we haven't seen any white smoke for incoming transfers yet. If best plans don't work out for ND and the Irish still need a front-court person to rotate in, well, Nat can play both positions.
Plus, as a liberal arts major (American Studies and Poly Sci, I believe), she'd be able to find a good grad course of study, I'm sure.
One never knows the talks she had with Niele, but I'm sure they were civil, respectful and straight-forward. Stay tuned.
decision. I have to think she put a lot of time and consideration before deciding to enter the portal.
would see less time. There were times this past season where she played solid for 5-10 minutes. Then be a non factor in another game.
I keep checking daily looking for that proverbial "Smoke" or confirmation.