Changes Swirling As UConn Adds Juhasz
The Story: The women’s basketball team landed a highly coveted transfer yesterday afternoon when Dorka Juhasz, a 6-foot-4 forward from Hungary by way of Ohio State, announced she will continue her career in Storrs.
Go Huskies!💙🐺 pic.twitter.com/FxL9ZoY98h
— Dorka Juhász (@Dorkajuhasz14) April 12, 2021
WHO IS SHE? Juhasz was one of the best post players in the Big Ten last season and is a massive addition for the Huskies. One of the top players who has decided to transfer, she will be a senior athletically but has earned her undergraduate degree and has two years of eligibility remaining. Juhasz averaged a team-high 11.1 rebounds and scored 14.6 points per game last season, her second on an all-Big Ten first team.
WHAT TO EXPECT: The addition of Juhasz is intriguing in so many ways. First, how will she earn minutes? The Huskies will return nearly everyone next season, including a three-year starting center in Olivia Nelson-Ododa and a budding star in sophomore-to-be Aaliyah Edwards, another natural center. What’s different about Juhasz, though, is she has the range to knock down shots from the perimeter. Now, she only made 20 percent of her attempts from beyond the arc last season and took about 3.5 per game, but … yeah, Nelson-Ododa and Edwards cannot be asked to do that the way Juhasz was.
Edwards only started down the stretch with Nika Muhl injured, and she and Nelson-Ododa formed a pretty good frontcourt tandem with Nelson-Ododa allowed to drift more into the high post and facilitate. Does Juhasz fill that fifth starter role, pushing Edwards and Muhl back to playing reserve minutes? Heck, dare we say it: Does she even challenge Nelson-Ododa for her starting role? Nelson-Ododa took a heck of a leap after her freshman season once she became a starter after Napheesa Collier‘s graduation, but there are still aspects of the game that seem to be completely mystifying to her. It’s not likely, but it’s not … unlikely, we’ll say. Juhasz’s presence, in any form, is good for Nelson-Ododa.
All that being said, we have to imagine Geno Auriemma had a long talk with Juhasz about her role and her fit before extending a scholarship offer, but Ohio State is no slouch. He’s not going to take one of the Buckeyes’ best players and ask her to fill in for just 18 minutes a game. Her on-the-court fit is going to be fascinating to watch, and that’s not to mention how much Juhasz can bring from an experience and leadership standpoint.
MAKURAT FINDS HOME: The Huskies add one European player as another one departs, as Anna Makurat decided last week she will transfer. And she said yesterday she is not transferring but instead heading back home, where she will begin a professional career in Europe, likely in her native Poland. Makurat, remember, was playing in the Polish professional league as an amateur before heading to UConn, so she can now resume her career — and finally get paid to do so.
AND ANOTHER ONE FLIES THE COOP? It appears that assistant coach Shea Ralph has emerged as the top contender to fill the vacancy at Vanderbilt left by Stephanie White, who was fired earlier this month after five seasons. Ralph reportedly would take her husband, Tom Garrick, the coach at UMass-Lowell, to Nashville to serve as one of her assistants. If she does, she will be the third assistant coach to leave Geno’s staff in three years. Dare we suggest the move could set her up to take over for him at UConn in a few years?
Ollie Emerges As Elite Player Coach
The Story: Former men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie, still embroiled in a lawsuit against UConn, will become the head of player development for Overtime Elite, a basketball league for 16- to 18-year-olds that aims to turn high school players into professionals.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: College basketball is problematic for many players, especially those who need or want to make money and don’t want to needlesssy put in time at school. There are opportunities for players to go overseas or to the G League out of high school, but Overtime Elite will allow players as young as 16 to earn money playing basketball and turn professional. The concept isn’t anything new, though it is the first foray into the murky nexus of underage pro athletes in American sports.
OLLIE’S BACKSTORY: Ollie was a rising star in coaching circles after taking the UConn job and then winning a national title. The three years after the Huskies won were dreadful and things collapsed at UConn for a player whom fans loved. Ollie was fired by the school for cause, yet we still don’t know what went on behind the scenes. It nearly obliterated the program. Ollie and the school are locked in a bitter dispute about his contract and he hasn’t coached in three years with the lawsuits still raging.
WHY OLLIE? He still has strong connections in the pro game and his mentoring of players such as Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook, as well as going from South Central L.A. to Storrs and then onto more than a dozen NBA stops, gives him a unique position.
WILL IT WORK? We don’t know. The concept is paying 30 players about $100,000 per year and allowing them to monetize their image and likeness. It would make them ineligible for college since they are pro players. There are supposed to be some protections put in place for players who don’t turn pro, including payments for college. It seems like a gamble, but players clearly want to have something like this available. Is there a market, and who pays for the business? No top player has committed to playing in the league and we are skeptical that there is a culture in the United States that will allow high school athletes to be professionalized. The NBA won’t get behind it and college programs will look at it as competition. That said, it will beat AAU summer teams that are essentially pro teams anyway.
Morning Reads
LORENZEN ON TOP OF PEA WORLD: Former quarterback Tyler Lorenzen has turned Puris into one of the top producers of pea protein in the world as its CEO. (St. Paul Business Journal)
BRYANT GAME OFF: The baseball team’s game against Bryant this afternoon has been called off due to a COVID-19 outbreak. (The UConn Blog)
