Caveat - To quote Gregg Easterbrook "All predictions wrong or your money back"
Her final 8:
Kentucky
Connecticut
Virginia
North Carolina State
Duke
South Carolina
Wake Forest
Notre Dame
Virginia - There's no doubt in my mind that Sam would commit to UVA's men's basketball team if she were a similarly talented young man. As a young woman, the women's team is a more dubious proposition.
To me, the fact that she is committing so early and that UVA has no coach means it will not be UVA. This announcement comes 7 months before the early signing period. If she were leaning towards UVA, why not wait until the coach is named and at least have a conversation with the new coach. She has plenty of time.
I wonder if Boyle's resignation didn't in part prompt this announcement. The coach she had a relationship with leaves and that's the final nail in the coffin for the hometown program.
UConn - Per a poster on the Boneyard who appears to have some amount of inside info, UConn has been out of contact since the beginning of the year. One of the veteran BY posters, UConnCat, regularly is ahead of the curve on UConn recruiting issues and she seems to believe this info is legit. Also, Sam's twitter likes seem to indicate she was rooting for ND in the Final Four game. She liked score updates in the 1st quarter when ND was ahead but none when UConn gained control in the 2nd quarter. Then, she started liking score updates again when ND made it close in the 3rd quarter.
South Carolina - Cynthia Jordan is SC's director of basketball operations. She posted a tweet on April 7, one day after Sam announcing her ceremony, that reads in relevant part "Y not SC? Y not @dawnstaley? #Asking4friend". I found this through the SC forum Cocky Talk. The poster who mentioned it noted that similar posts were made when Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa chose UConn. The timeline fits perfectly with Sam calling SC that day and telling them "no thanks".
Wake Forest - I have read that Wake's coach Jen Hoover was the earliest major program to recruit and offer Sam. I think that's why Wake is in the final 8. Hard for her to imagine her choosing lowly Wake over multiple blue blood programs and the hometown team. Not much Wake-related social media stuff from her either.
Kentucky, NC State, Duke - Haven't seen much social media activity (likes) towards any of these programs. Think they are just also-rans. Kentucky makes no sense to me (program seems to be a downward trend).
Notre Dame - I'm borrowing this from poster on a Duke forum *** "Unless she had been trolling ND for 3 months she's going there. She has liked every ND WCBB for 3 months straight Her choice is the worst kept secret or she is an absolute game player." ***
Not much else to say. It's either Notre Dame or one heck of a troll job based on her twitter.
Lots of folks liked the clips of Arike's game-winning shots or stuff like that. Sam has liked tweets not just from major media outlets, ND players, and the official NDWBB acount but also from ND alumni, Mendoza, ND player's family members, the NDWBB managers. A vast and diverse array of ND-related accounts.
She's not liking tweets like that for any other school. It's ND or this has all been an elaborate ruse. I don't think she's that kind of kid. So I conclude she'll be Irish. That won't stop me from being nervous until it goes official, though.
why would she be inviting local fans, today by Twitter, to come hear her announcement. To disappoint them?
high school team, her fans, and not UVA fans. In that regard, it makes a lot of sense.
Presumably the adults in attendance will realize this about her celebrating a major life moment with the community that has supported her and not about what their favorite team is.
I hope you guys are right
Is based on most of the comments I have read on this board. It is my hope that Samantha is reacting to the National Championship. The proximity to that event and not taking any official visits makes the most sense to me.
school coaches have been informed of her decision. Is this normal for women’s recruiting that no Info is out on where the recruit will most likely commit to. I’m use to football recruiting where most of the time, Info gets out on where a recruit is going b4 he officially announces.
Kudos to all who know and have not leaked the info to not spoil her announcement
says ND but I am guessing Virginia. Her admiration for Della Donne makes me nervous. Della Donne put U Delaware on the map after leaving UCONN. I believe Brunelle would like to do the same for her home state Virginia WBB. Sorry for the negative vibes!
posted article about her long standing love affair with UVA and the UVA women's BB program, I think there is a good chance that that sentiment may prevail. Unlike with football, MM and staff keep everything to themselves, as it should be, so we don't have much to go on in terms of trying to understand how she may feel about ND. Of course, there is playing for a national championship program and being coached by the best in the game to be considered.
afternoon. It is green, of course.
If she surprises us and picks another school, we learn how blindly narrow-minded we are at interpreting clues, and how unschooled we are in reading a recruit's mind.
If she chooses Notre Dame, we can celebrate our good fortune and conclude that McGraw's Bench is not bogus. It may, at times, be spurious, but “the spurious [that] pours forth as fish and circuses.”
Paige, and Mr. Fudd (father of Azzi)standing outside a Red Robin. All of them were wearing ND gear after a basketball skills camp in northern Virginia. Some of us were hoping that this was a prophetic moment for future commitments by the three friends and USA teammates.
Yes, some fans on other teams' sites are already conceding Sam, Paige, and Azzi to Notre Dame. I was going to write a separate post about this, but I'll say it here. It's all about the Red Robin Prophecy.
There's no greater event than the improbable, breathtaking NCAA tournament and championship. But if I had to pick a second event which released, and is still releasing, seismic waves throughout women's basketball and specifically, Notre Dame's women's basketball, it would have to be that gray, October 28th Saturday, when someway, somehow, the Notre Dame coaching staff assembled the finest collection of high school basketball talent on one football field. (To Rock's House: Notre Dame football is still relevant!) Hopefully those two events will herald a rise to even greater heights in Irish Women's Basketball!
She is slippery smooth on the court and has a nice jumper that is effortless even from 3 pt. range. I also love the way she fires those no look passes to her teammates. She is the real deal and it would be nice to see her in gold and blue.
...sees the court, smart, and I like her resolve. Geesh, teaming her with Sam and Anaya, whew! And if you can get Buckers to add some frosting to the cake. Shouldn't be too greedy.
I’m pretty optimistic about her decision tomorrow. Virginia and South Carolina worry me the most, even with UVA not having a coach. I did see Sam’s mom is streaming the decision live on Twitter tomorrow. Hope she dons the ND hat tomorrow!
we will have at least one fan from this board at her announcement.
Arti -- Congrats on SB commitment.
The Irish are very happen that Sam chose to join our team!
Via her mother's Twitter account, @sam33mom
..was interesting in that it showed me where a bunch of the genes came from, both athletically and from a leadership perspective (her mom coached for years). But the fact that her mom is now principal at William Monroe also caught my attention...academics are obviously key in this family.
My head feels good about this decision, but there may be some factors that we don't know about. If she decides to stay east coast, I could see Duke, UVA and even Wake Forest being factored, given their academic reputations; even though one coach's best post transferred, UVA has no coach and Wake is always pushing the rock up the hill.
Well, I'll get my (green) mint chocolate chip ice cream out, hit the link and touch base with the Bench later. Cross fingers, think good thoughts and Go Irish!
I would think if any other team was in play, we’d hear something by now - I think she’s all Irish ☘️ ☘️☘️