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Post by beavershoopsfan on Jun 26, 2018 7:29:48 GMT -8
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Post by 411500 on Jun 26, 2018 9:02:24 GMT -8
Haley Van Lith - - YES. This is good news on 2 counts... First, Haley is on campus, once again....A good sign. Second, her high school team is with her, which means that OSU is not only in touch with Van Lith, but her entire h.s. program. Good connective links !!
If we step back for a second and take a look at the players who are connected in one way or another with WBB it is obvious that OSU is now a national destination for Elite players.
Elite players don't show up in your gym by accident. This is not to say Haley is a done deal. Far from it. It is to say that the very best players in the country are giving the Beavers a close, close look.
Very impressive.
P.S. Haley has been playing a lot of ball the past 4 months - which always takes a toll in one way or another. I imagine it would have been easy for her to take a pass on Corvallis if she were inclined to do so...Just thinking out loud here.
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Post by beavershoopsfan on Jun 26, 2018 9:51:54 GMT -8
Both Hailey Van Lith and Cameron Brink are shown in good company with the other members of the 2018 USA Girls U-17 World Cup Team in the Tweet below from USA Basketball on May 30.
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Post by newduke2 on Jun 26, 2018 9:53:19 GMT -8
I wouldn't get too excited just yet. Both Van Lith and Brink are being courted by UCONN and many other top programs. Fun to dream, but....
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Post by beaverwbb fan on Jun 26, 2018 10:02:03 GMT -8
Another prospect I've noticed Rueck follows and follows Rueck is Paige Bueckers. She is also a really impressive 2020 PG, many are predicting Notre Dame for her. Would be really nice to get either her or Van Lith, but I think Stanford, UCONN, and Notre Dame are all in the hunt for those two.
Also worth noting Stanford has already picked up a 2020 PG
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Post by beaveragain on Jun 26, 2018 10:02:59 GMT -8
Checking out Van Lith on video and her picture and it's kind of funny. About the most extreme example of sweet innocent looking kid and hard nosed player as I've ever seen.
And about "UCONN and many other top programs. Fun to dream, but....", you do realize that OSU IS one of those top programs now right?
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Post by beaverwbb fan on Jun 26, 2018 10:09:48 GMT -8
I think OSU would be a really great fit for Van Lith. She'd probably be behind Slocum for a season, but she could step right in to fill the point for the next three seasons.
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Post by newduke2 on Jun 26, 2018 10:17:18 GMT -8
Checking out Van Lith on video and her picture and it's kind of funny. About the most extreme example of sweet innocent looking kid and hard nosed player as I've ever seen. And about "UCONN and many other top programs. Fun to dream, but....", you do realize that OSU IS one of those top programs now right? One could argue top 12 or even top 10 based on several recent end of year rankings, but not top 5. More than 1 final 4 appearance is needed to.
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Post by beaverstever on Jun 26, 2018 10:31:47 GMT -8
Checking out Van Lith on video and her picture and it's kind of funny. About the most extreme example of sweet innocent looking kid and hard nosed player as I've ever seen. And about "UCONN and many other top programs. Fun to dream, but....", you do realize that OSU IS one of those top programs now right? One could argue top 12 or even top 10 based on several recent end of year rankings, but not top 5. More than 1 final 4 appearance is needed to. OSU's Coach's Poll finishes: '18: 8 '17: 8 '16: 6 '15: 8 '14 25 Looks to me like we've trended to a top 10 program. Really only South Carolina, Notre Dame, UConn and Miss State have been consistently higher during that same period. We don't have the sustained history over time and of course the titles, but during that period we're right finished right there or ahead of the next tiers of Maryland, Stanford, Baylor, Tenn etc.
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Post by rmancarl on Jun 26, 2018 12:16:02 GMT -8
Being an Oregon State fan, I'd love to consider the Beavers as an elite team. Truth is though, for most people, the four year run just isn't long enough. Keep winning and landing players like Destiny Slocum and Taylor Jones, and it won't be long until everyone considers the Beavers an elite program. The Beavers have been good long enough now, (Three straight Pac12 titles and then the elite eight this year), that most high school girls that follow college basketball are going to know the Beavers are among the best in the country, especially anyone who follows the Pac 12, most in Texas (because of beating Baylor twice), and now most who follow Tennessee.
Interesting enough, to show a little lack of belief in the Beavers being elite, look at the preseason polls the past 4 years: 2014-2015---AP 20, USA coaches 21-------------ESPN postseason final 13 2015-2016---AP 10, USA coaches 9--------------ESPN postseason final 2 2016-2017---AP 25, USA coaches 17-------------ESPN postseason final 9 2017-2018---AP 19, USA coaches 17-------------ESPN postseason final 8
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Post by 411500 on Jun 26, 2018 13:12:54 GMT -8
Some good points rmancarl....
I'll just add a few minor points to toss around... There is no clear definition for an "Elite" team.. If pressed, most fans would come up with several teams they consider Elite..
The thing is that it is not necessary for everyone everywhere to consider a team "Elite" for it to yield elite consequences. If only half of the top 30 players in the country think of the Beavs as an "Elite team", that unto itself, would create a pipeline of outrageous talent into the program. If only half the sportswriters think of OSU as an elite program that is enough to generate a wealth of sports promo and name branding.
My point: a program does not need to be universally recognized as "Elite" - even partial recognition as elite yields tremendous benefits to every aspect of the program.... GO BEAVS !!
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Post by rmancarl on Jun 26, 2018 13:40:42 GMT -8
I agree 411500. No matter what the 'experts' may consider the Beavers, girls that are currently considering college choices know how good the Beavers are. A girl like Hailey Van Lith, a west coast girl, who no doubt knows the Pac12, has seen this the last few years:
When she was in 7th grade, the Beavers won the Pac12 When she was in 8th grade, the Beavers won the Pac12 and made it to the final four When she was a freshman, the Beavers won the Pac12 and had a first round draft pick. When she was a sophomore, the Beavers came in 3rd in the Pac12, but advanced to the elite eight, and had a first round draft pick.
There are not a lot of teams with a recent history as good as that, and that is what the 2019 and 2020 girls are seeing in Oregon State.
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2ndGenBeaver
Sophomore
Posts: 1,827
Grad Year: 1991 (MS/CS) 1999 (PhD/CS)
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Post by 2ndGenBeaver on Jun 26, 2018 14:57:39 GMT -8
Hailey Van Lith might also be aware of Jamie Wiesner, Mik Pivec and Taya Corosdale, all being players from the state of Washington. Cashmere, WA is not a very big town, which might make Hailey feel quite comfortable in Corvallis (especially since she will have gotten some exposure to it through camping here already). The fact she and the team are here is a good sign. I also like how we stack up to the traditional elites of late: We beat Tennessee, have eliminated Baylor twice, had four recent WNBA first round picks (at both guard and post positions), been a tournament fixture (NCAA, Pac 12, take your choice) and won several recent Pac-12 conference titles. We have a coach who is as well thought of as the coaches at those other elite schools, and he is a nice person and not prone to outbursts, poor sportsmanship, coat tossing or the like. And he is likely nor retiring nor moving on soon. The coaches and players have created a winning, nurturing, academically achieving culture, scoring perfect APR scores 3 years running. OSU facilities are comparable to most, we get more attendees to games than any other West coast program, etc. etc.
Beyond that, talented young women like Hailey have plenty of choices - depends on what they are looking for in life. And just like Kemerey Martin, some players will find other schools appealing for their own reasons. But I content myself by realizing that there are clearly many young women for whom OSU/Corvallis/SR hold appeal, and we have been and will continue to get some number of them.......what more can you ask for?
Go Beavers!
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Post by bvrbooster on Jun 26, 2018 19:43:54 GMT -8
I would also point out that players like Van Lith and Brink are not just aware of what has been happening here; thanks to the PAC 12 Network, they SEE IT WITH THEIR OWN EYES every weekend. They SEE players like Pivec, Weisner, and Corosdale from the Northwest, just like them, come to Corvallis and become stars. They SEE the crowds that we draw, just as they SEE the crowds that other programs don't draw. They SEE Notre Dame coming to play at Gill. They SEE the excitement this program has created.
And, as was pointed out in other posts, they've been seeing this since about the time they were old enough to really get serious about basketball. They only have an active memory that goes back 4 or 5 years for college basketball, and we've accomplished more in that time period than any other team in the conference. We've also led the conference in attendance by a wide margin each of the last 4 years.
What will they SEE this year, their all important junior year? More of the same. We're going to lead the conference in attendance again. If Scott chooses to, they're going to see a 5 star recruit starting at every position, with plenty of 4 stars backing them up. They're going to see that the team is only losing one of those 5 star players, with at least one more coming in to fill those shoes. They're going to see a program that has been loaded, and will continue to be loaded for the foreseeable future.
And let's not forget - Tennessee, Connecticut, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Baylor, the closest one is probably 1,500 miles from home. How often can friends or family come to your games? Or even see you on TV? I'd speculate that 'Three Fingers' Brown could count on one hand the number of times Westbrook's family saw her on TV last year - and one of them was when we beat them at their gym in the tournament.
Don't sell us short recruiting against anybody based on reputation, particularly here in the Northwest. We have 2 top ten recruits in the program right now. There's no reason in the world we couldn't add a few more.
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Post by 411500 on Jun 27, 2018 12:29:38 GMT -8
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