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Saso's departure
As Andrew Leo Lopez so kindly pointed out, I did miss breaking the story on Morgan Saso's departure from the Lobos. I tip my hat to the Journal for catching it. Here is a link to follow-up story I wrote for today's Trib.
I have to say that Saso's departure didn't exactly come as a surprise. I think she was a very strong high school player, but a ton of time with Aaron Day didn't help her develop the kind of speed she needs to compete at UNM. I know Lobos fans love every player who joins the team, but you also pine for big wins in March. Saso's departure makes room someone who can step up the talent level and help make that happen. In exchange, she gets a chance to play in her hometown on a team that will showcase her skills.
Saso once told me she spoke to her parents and brothers easily three times a day. That's three calls to each person, illustrating just how close they are to each other. She took her redshirt year very well, but the fact that she had mastered the physical skills in the offense but still was being passed up by younger players obviously was taking its toll. University of California-Bakersfield, her new school, is an independent school transitioning to Division I basketball. The team will play its first all-Division I schedule next season. The UNM coaches helped her find a good school and arrange the transfer. It seems like a really good fit for her, and I know we all wish her the best.
Now, how are the Lobos going to use that nice extra scholarship?
UNM coach Don Flanagan said he has his eyes on one high school player who could step up and make an immediate impact. He sounds almost as confident in her skills as he did in Amy Beggin, but I'm only getting tiny hints because NCAA rules preclude him talking about a specific recruit and definitely bans naming names. He also said he is more than comfortable just using the scholarship next year. We won't have to wait very long to figure out who he is looking at because signing day is next week.
In other news, Flanagan said he's excited to see all of next year's players in summer school come June. The current Lobos are heading home or are already there enjoying a brief post-finals break. The school year runs a little later for Washington recruits Amanda Best and Nikki Nelson, overlapping with the start of UNM summer school. Flanagan said they are making arrangements to leave high school early and jump right into the college ranks.
That's all for now. Post any thoughts about Saso's transfer or questions in the comments section.
Posted by ilimon at 08:59 AM | Permalink
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Posted by: ThickLobo | May 12, 2007 10:39 AM
I already think that the incoming recruiting class has the chance to be the best in UNM history boasting a couple of players who might play significant minutes right away. If Flan adds another top flite recruit, the likelihood of this being the best class since Montgomery, Briody, et al, will increase.
Posted by: AndrewLeoLopez | May 12, 2007 08:20 PM
In thirteen recruiting years, Phlanagan has recruited only two impact players.
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Their names: Jordan Adams and Lindsay Arndt
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Go Lobos!
Posted by: ThickLobo | May 12, 2007 08:59 PM
I guess that Montgomery (1st team all MWC) and Marsh (1st team all MWC) don't count as impact players in the jealous, jaded eyes of AndrewLeoLopez. It must be pure hell having to watch the object of his disdain win tourney after tourney and churn out so many model citizens.
Posted by: AndrewLeoLopez | May 13, 2007 02:34 PM
Montgomery and Marsh became mainstays, but only after working themselves into the lineup.
As and aside, Montgomery has been quoted more than once that if she had been healthy at the time of her recruitment, she would have gone to Nebraska.
Also, nobody recruited Marsh, but the Lobos until much later in her senior year and she almost went to TCU.
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By standard criteria neither Montgomery nor Marsh were impact players and both became favorites of mine albiet for very different reasons.
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Ole One and Done Phlanagan and the other High Schoolers have turned facilities, fans and finances into a D 1/2 program.
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Winning Mountain West Conference Championships seems pretty cheap and hardly worth consideration when followed by early exits from the Big Dance.
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Go Lobos
Posted by: CyMom | May 13, 2007 09:37 PM
For the millionith time, Katie would have never gone to Nebraska!!!! She never said that, she didn't want to do that, she wanted to leave and experience new things!!! Believe what you want, but it was never a dream of hers. They were the first to offer her a scholarship in April of her Junior year, but she never accepted. She wanted to see what was out there! She was thrilled with UNM, and has never regretted her decision. Now she is leaving and Lopez can't kick her around anymore!
Posted by: AndrewLeoLopez | May 14, 2007 05:54 AM
There are published quotes in this and the other local rag and on air commentary of Montgomery's answers to qustions about where she would have gone to play had her health been different.
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Go Lobos!
Posted by: ThickLobo | May 14, 2007 11:01 AM
Dear CyMom:
Thanks for setting the record straight. The moronic Mr. Lopez never met a fact that he could not change in order to match his illogical hatred of the people who built UNM LL BB to what it is.
For the record, Montgomery was "established" in her frosh year. Lest any jaded "fans" forget that she was the primary impetus of the second half blow-out of UT for the MWC tourney championship . . . when she was a frosh. Who did she replace? Mandy Moore (another Flan recruit) who got injured but who had started at the point since she was a frosh and went on to be the all time conference leader in assists, etc. . . .
BTW, I am going to miss Katie "Money" Montgomery, one of the best all-around bballers I have ever had the pleasure to watch play the game.
Posted by: Iliana Limon | May 14, 2007 03:58 PM
You can pick apart the women's basketball program for failing to sign a major, five-star recruit. Coach Don Flanagan and his assistant coaches are the first to say they have yet to attain the elite athlete who could take the program to the next level.
But you can't reasonably dismiss Dionne Marsh and Katie Montgomery as players who merely developed over time. Both saw significant playing time as freshman, with Marsh starting the majority of the time. Montgomery turned in a pivotal performance at point guard against Utah in the Mountain West Conference tournament her rookie year, and Marsh was named MWC tournament MVP in her first season. They were impact players from day one and got better over time.
To be clear, it was always Flanagan who said the Lobos would have lost Montgomery to Nebraska if she never tore her ACL. Montgomery spoke of wanting to play well against the Huskers last season, in part, because they backed off of her following her injury. But she never professed anything but happiness from about her decision to attend UNM. And in case you haven't figured it on your own, I don't think I'm revealing any big secrets by pointing out CyMom is Montgomery's mother and obviously is a far more reliable source on the subject.
Posted by: AndrewLeoLopez | May 14, 2007 08:52 PM
Never dismissed Katie or Dionne. Merely spoke the facts. Neither fit the standard notion of impact player. Both became stalwarts.
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Montgomery's quotes on the subject of Nebraska are in the record. Katie's mom lives a long way from here.
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Nothing I wrote ever implied that Katie was unhappy to come to UNM.
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Note the fair weather fans were handing Beggin Katie's job before Beggin had even played a minute of D-1 ball. I clearly on the record scoffed at the notion.
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Phlanagan and the other high schoolers will never sign four and five star recruits.
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They should at least beat conference rivals more often than not, but they rarely do. The league is full of players who chose other than the Lobos. Especially if they go 6'2" plus.
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Go Lobos!
Posted by: ThickLobo | May 14, 2007 11:46 PM
Let me get this straight. If a player ends up being an MVP-type contributor as a frosh and an all conference performer, she can't be considered an impact player because there were no stars on her recruiting report? Further, if that player was not a great player coming in, her development into a superb contributor can't be due to good coaching?
And, Katie's mother, who has always been well-connected to the boards and media reports, does not know her own child whom she obviously follows closely?
If the team keeps winning conference titles, but it does not have any good players, how does Mr. Logic explain the program's success over all these conference foes who keep getting all the talent? (That was the most rhetorical of the questions posed and underscores the flawed logic of the Scarecrow that is generated by insane jealously of coaches who have done a marvelous job).
Did Flanagan kill one of your relatives? Or did he just tell you to take a hike when you tried to tell him how to coach? Do you also hate New Mexico voters? Do you hate your professional accreditation groups as well?
Posted by: AndrewLeoLopez | May 16, 2007 06:52 AM
Hysterically Dense Lobo lacks the synapses to get anything straight.
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Neither Jordan nor Lindsey had stars on evaluation lists, but both were impact players for the Lobo women's team.
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No stars are necessary to be an impact player.
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The trainer helps improve footspeed, reduce injury, and improve conditioning.
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A frequent comment from the fans in the chairbacks is that players leave pretty much as they came. In other words their games improved little over the years.
Jordan, for example, improved her game only after her father coached her. Still she did not stick with the Canadian National team.
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There is an acute shortage of coaches, umps, and refs in New Mexico for our youngsters' athletics. The major reason I hear is that the kids are great, but the parents are a huge deterent. Anything less than effusive praise meets with a torrent of vituperation from parents. Who needs it?
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Never said the Lobo women's basketball team has no good players. Have said that Phlanagan and the other High Schoolers will never recruit 4 and 5 star players. Phlanagan has admitted the obvious.
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Regular season titles are different from conference tournament titles.
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One and done in the Big Dance makes the value of conference titles very suspect.
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Never said that Lobo women had no good players. There are only about 950 D-1 slots per year and 10s of thousands high school graduates each year.
So blessed with facilities, fans, and finances, Phlanagan and the High Schoolers will always get a few good ones, but lack the resumes to land the really, good ones and the really, good tall ones.
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Pointing out the shortcomings of a coach and his mediocre staff is an American privilege granted by Divine Right.
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Dense Lobo, who I suspect is too hystericall and unbalanced to be an alum, may move at anytime to a society where the theocracy or a government bureaucrat determine the parameters of public discourse.
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If fans were recruited, Dense Lobo would not make the roster.
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Go Lobos!-----
Posted by: ThickLobo | May 16, 2007 07:03 AM
As recommended by Ilian, it is time to move on from this thread of comments. I'd hardly call it a debate, though. Scarecrow just can't support anything he posts with facts and each succeeding post further illustrates his inane thought processes which are controlled by an insane hatred for for the very staff that built the "advantages" (except for the facility) that should supposedly result in even greater success than already being acheived and continually improved upon by that staff. What a maroooooon!
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Posted by: Old Lobo | May 11, 2007 12:37 PM