Women's bball transfer

[cease10]

Looks like Kyla Nelson is in the portal and I don't think it was her choice. Nelson was treated for cancer last season.



She later retweeted this



Trib story on her transfer and Mountain West freshman of the year may be coming to Pitt.

https://triblive.com/sports/pitt-womens-basketball-gains-player-loses-another-via-transfer-portal/

 

[Chescat]

Jayla Everett transfers to Pitt. She appears to be legit. A four star
out of h.s. and was a frosh league all star at New Mexico. She's
a guard. Pitt will be strong at the guard position with Harris,
Gabbie Green, and now Everett. They also have a few subs
who are decent guards (Knight, Hayford, Prapa).
This will still be a young team, but they now have some experience.
There's now definite talent on this team, and with talented recruits
and a redshirt coming on board. They should be a lot better.

This team isn't upper level ACC, but IMO Coach White has been
bringing in ACC level players. How much can they win in the
ACC?.... That remains to be seen, but I would expect a few to
several league wins this coming season.

 

[MajorMajors]

Looks like Kyla Nelson is in the portal and I don't think it was her choice. Nelson was treated for cancer last season.

View embedded media

She later retweeted this

View embedded media

Trib story on her transfer and Mountain West freshman of the year may be coming to Pitt.

https://triblive.com/sports/pitt-womens-basketball-gains-player-loses-another-via-transfer-portal/

Kayla would not have gotten much playing time next season — that became evident this season. She just doesn’t fit the mold of the type of player Coach White is building this team with. Kayla can shoot threes, but the rest of her game struggles against ACC competition.

I hope she finds a team where she can play a lot and have success.

As for the transfer in from New Mexico, she’s a 5-10 guard who hopefully will provide some much needed outside shooting — sounds like several players have been bailing on the Lobos...

Another big influx of talent next season with the 3 recruits, the red-shirter, and now this transfer.

Go Pitt.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Kayla would not have gotten much playing time next season — that became evident this season. She just doesn’t fit the mold of the type of player Coach White is building this team with. Kayla can shoot threes, but the rest of her game struggles against ACC competition.

Yeah, I have a feeling this was one of those "well if you want to play you are going to have to do it somewhere else" kind of transfers. She seems like a great young lady, and I met her parents at a game two seasons ago and they were really nice people, but I just don't think she has the talent or athleticism to play at this level.

 

[4Mark_Marty]

If I’m not getting the job done, and I’m working my hardest, it’s the universe telling me that it’s time to move on to the next chapter.

Change is neither good nor bad, it just is. I wish KN well.

 

[MajorMajors]

Looks like as of now, the Women’s roster would be at 14 for next season. All but Knight, Judkins and Prapa recruited by Coach White.

Three seniors next season in Judkins, Green, and Lamark.

Really need Knight, who is an excellent athlete, to develop into at least a bit of a shooting threat in the offensive game as the backup PG to Day Harris... Otherwise maybe we see one of the other guards (Green or Hayford?) used in that role...

Go Pitt.

 

[Chescat]

Looks like as of now, the Women’s roster would be at 14 for next season. All but Knight, Judkins and Prapa recruited by Coach White.

Three seniors next season in Judkins, Green, and Lamark.

Really need Knight, who is an excellent athlete, to develop into at least a bit of a shooting threat in the offensive game as the backup PG to Day Harris... Otherwise maybe we see one of the other guards (Green or Hayford?) used in that role...

Go Pitt.

Knight is a decent backup. If Harris were playing less, it would be more
important. My guess is Harris is going to see 30+ minutes per game at
the point. If Knight came in for a few minutes each half that would be ok.
Your point however is a good one concerning Knight's lack of offense.
If she develops a shot, she'll be more valuable.

They're loaded at the guard position right now. Given her size and
quickness, Hayford IMO would be a great choice for backup pg, if
and it's a big IF....she had pg skills. I have no idea whether she does
or not. There was no indication this past season that she does.

 

[Knowthegame2]

What about Prapa in the backup pg role or is she just a shooter? She had a decent Acc tournament. I would like to see more of her. Knight would be the ideal backup if she could give 5 points a game. She plays defense and the offense runs smooth. Hayford isn't a pg at all. I would compare her to Trey on the mens side. With the take coming in they're trending up. Harris junior year i expect them to make the ncaa tournament

 

[Chescat]

What about Prapa in the backup pg role or is she just a shooter? She had a decent Acc tournament. I would like to see more of her. Knight would be the ideal backup if she could give 5 points a game. She plays defense and the offense runs smooth. Hayford isn't a pg at all. I would compare her to Trey on the mens side. With the take coming in they're trending up. Harris junior year i expect them to make the ncaa tournament

Knight will be ok as the backup, but with the recruits and the transfer
there might be someone else with pg skills. Hayford.....my take was she's
athletic and quick....pg skills, I have no idea. Prapa IMO is a pure shooter
and someone who hustles and plays hard. Does she have pg skills? Again,
no idea as we haven't seen here there, but my guess is no.
I would think that Green or Harris might play pg for a few minutes giving
Harris a rest. However, as of now....it's Knight. I hope she acquires some
offensive skills (specifically, scoring) in the off season.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Looks like as of now, the Women’s roster would be at 14 for next season. All but Knight, Judkins and Prapa recruited by Coach White.

Three seniors next season in Judkins, Green, and Lamark.

Really need Knight, who is an excellent athlete, to develop into at least a bit of a shooting threat in the offensive game as the backup PG to Day Harris... Otherwise maybe we see one of the other guards (Green or Hayford?) used in that role...

Go Pitt.

Even in women's hoops 14 players is a lot to have on ship on a roster. The NCAA women's limit is 15 ships but if you actually have more than 12-13 on the roster it is very likely you will have a few transfers very soon who will be looking for more PT elsewhere.

 

[MajorMajors]

Even in women's hoops 14 players is a lot to have on ship on a roster. The NCAA women's limit is 15 ships but if you actually have more than 12-13 on the roster it is very likely you will have a few transfers very soon who will be looking for more PT elsewhere.

Agree with you. But that being said I get the impression that Coach White would like to have a team that could press and run the whole game...

 

[Knowthegame2]

I would like to see that with both the mens and women's teams. From the recruits that's being brought in i don't see why they can't.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Knight will be ok as the backup, but with the recruits and the transfer
there might be someone else with pg skills. Hayford.....my take was she's
athletic and quick....pg skills, I have no idea. Prapa IMO is a pure shooter
and someone who hustles and plays hard. Does she have pg skills? Again,
no idea as we haven't seen here there, but my guess is no.
I would think that Green or Harris might play pg for a few minutes giving
Harris a rest. However, as of now....it's Knight. I hope she acquires some
offensive skills (specifically, scoring) in the off season.

This is all well and good to debate our pg situation. However, IMHO at least, this teams biggest weakness wasn't the lack of point guards. It was the lack of ACC-level wing players and off-guards. By that, I mean players who can play other than at Point Guard or in the Post who have all the attributes for success vs ACC-level competition. That is, players with athleticism (quickness and hops), decent height, ball skills and outside shooting ability in a single package.

On last year's squad the only player that, IMHO, came close to meeting the criteria was 6-0 Amber Brown (but she didn't try to shoot 3s at all (0 for 1 on the season--so that seems a weakness). This coming season, in addition to Amber Brown returning, we have the incoming Hoop Gurlz 100 (#78) player, 6-2 Tracey Hueston, and the less highly rated 6-0 Liatu King, both Forwards/Wings. Our guard transfer in, Jayla Everett, is 5-11 and a former Hoop Gurlz top 100 (#94) player (eligible 2nd semester). We also have the less highly rated but tall and athletic guard 5-11 Taisha Exnor coming in as a freshman.

It seems clear (IMHO) that the coach wants to transition the roster to the point where, except at point guard, we normally won't need to play anyone under about 5-10/5-11 and he wants those 5-10 to 6-2 range guard/wing players to be athletic and, hopefully, also able to shoot the 3-ball.

 

[Knowthegame2]

This is all well and good to debate our pg situation. However, IMHO at least, this teams biggest weakness wasn't the lack of point guards. It was the lack of ACC-level wing players and off-guards. By that, I mean players who can play other than at Point Guard or in the Post who have all the attributes for success vs ACC-level competition. That is, players with athleticism (quickness and hops), decent height, ball skills and outside shooting ability in a single package.

On last year's squad the only player that, IMHO, came close to meeting the criteria was 6-0 Amber Brown (but she didn't try to shoot 3s at all (0 for 1 on the season--so that seems a weakness). This coming season, in addition to Amber Brown returning, we have the incoming Hoop Gurlz 100 (#78) player, 6-2 Tracey Hueston, and the less highly rated 6-0 Liatu King, both Forwards/Wings. Our guard transfer in, Jayla Everett, is 5-11 and a former Hoop Gurlz top 100 (#94) player (eligible 2nd semester). We also have the less highly rated but tall and athletic guard 5-11 Taisha Exnor coming in as a freshman.

It seems clear (IMHO) that the coach wants to transition the roster to the point where, except at point guard, we normally won't need to play anyone under about 5-10/5-11 and he wants those 5-10 to 6-2 range guard/wing players to be athletic and, hopefully, also able to shoot the 3-ball.

 

[Knowthegame2]

Good point. Can't depend on our pg to score and take 20 shoots and I'm not saying it was her fault. We just didn't have a true wing that can create and score.

 

[Chescat]

This is all well and good to debate our pg situation. However, IMHO at least, this teams biggest weakness wasn't the lack of point guards. It was the lack of ACC-level wing players and off-guards. By that, I mean players who can play other than at Point Guard or in the Post who have all the attributes for success vs ACC-level competition. That is, players with athleticism (quickness and hops), decent height, ball skills and outside shooting ability in a single package.

On last year's squad the only player that, IMHO, came close to meeting the criteria was 6-0 Amber Brown (but she didn't try to shoot 3s at all (0 for 1 on the season--so that seems a weakness). This coming season, in addition to Amber Brown returning, we have the incoming Hoop Gurlz 100 (#78) player, 6-2 Tracey Hueston, and the less highly rated 6-0 Liatu King, both Forwards/Wings. Our guard transfer in, Jayla Everett, is 5-11 and a former Hoop Gurlz top 100 (#94) player (eligible 2nd semester). We also have the less highly rated but tall and athletic guard 5-11 Taisha Exnor coming in as a freshman.

It seems clear (IMHO) that the coach wants to transition the roster to the point where, except at point guard, we normally won't need to play anyone under about 5-10/5-11 and he wants those 5-10 to 6-2 range guard/wing players to be athletic and, hopefully, also able to shoot the 3-ball.

Well actually there were a number of "weaknesses" on last year's
team starting with experience, or lack thereof. Harris is actually a
strength talent wise, but her over the top pace often got us into
trouble. I believe that gets fixed as she adjusts to the college game.
The wings as you said were a problem. The recruits and the
transfer coming in will help fix that problem, but still...they're all
new, and will have to adust to this level. I like what I see with
what's coming. I agree that White seems to be addressing this
issue with what he's bringing in here..
We also need a big improvement inside. Judkins is who she is, and
at the ACC level struggles inside. Igbokwe has real potential IMO.
If she improves (as I think she will) we have a force in the paint.
The redshirt hopefully can come in and add to this. LeMark may be
6'4" but she's a liabiity if she's in for more than two minutes at a
time.
We're still young, but Coach White seems to be adding ACC level
players to this roster.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Well actually there were a number of "weaknesses" on last year's
team starting with experience, or lack thereof. Harris is actually a
strength talent wise, but her over the top pace often got us into
trouble. I believe that gets fixed as she adjusts to the college game.
The wings as you said were a problem. The recruits and the
transfer coming in will help fix that problem, but still...they're all
new, and will have to adust to this level. I like what I see with
what's coming. I agree that White seems to be addressing this
issue with what he's bringing in here..
We also need a big improvement inside. Judkins is who she is, and
at the ACC level struggles inside. Igbokwe has real potential IMO.
If she improves (as I think she will) we have a force in the paint.
The redshirt hopefully can come in and add to this. LeMark may be
6'4" but she's a liabiity if she's in for more than two minutes at a
time.
We're still young, but Coach White seems to be adding ACC level
players to this roster.

Pretty much agree with your assessment of things. Certainly this team had multiple deficiencies last season.

I would add the thought that perhaps freshman Hueston (6-2) and Redshirt FR Ezeja (6-3), who sat out due to NCAA paperwork issues, being taller forwards, may be the key to supporting Igbokwe and Judkins on the boards and with our relatively weak inside offense. Of course, we don't know how talented Ezeja may, or may not, be and Hueston will be a true freshman. Both will need to adjust to ACC-level college play.

 

[MajorMajors]

Hueston and Ezeja, at 6-3 and 6-2, will allow 6-footer AB Brown to move to small forward instead of being out of place at a power-forward-type position. This will upgrade two positions, IMHO.

King sounds like she might be a clone of AB...

Be great if AB and Knight both showed up next season with a decent jumper...

Congrats to the coaches on how they have transformed the roster. We’re getting stocked with athletic players, but another “big”, a big-time 3-point shooter, and a developmental PG would be great in the next recruiting class.

Go Pitt.

 

[Chescat]

Congrats to the coaches on how they have transformed the roster. We’re getting stocked with athletic players, but another “big”, a big-time 3-point shooter, and a developmental PG would be great in the next recruiting class.

Yup, we need 3 point shooters. Right now we have Green who as an
off guard can hit threes. Prapa is a sub who can hit threes. We beat
ND in the tourney because those two caught fire from three land. We
were 9-16 on threes (56%). You do that and you're gonna win.
That shooting performance was a one time event, not the norm. If
we did what we usually do from three, we lose that game.
I also agree about "another big and a developmental pg."

 

[Tony Zimmermans Dennys Adversary]

Women Basketball players aren’t fazed by the corona. They are used to playing in completely empty arenas.