Freshman guard Gianna Kneepkens an instant success for Utah women’s basketball

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www.deseret.com

Utah women’s basketball: Having five older brothers gave Utes freshman Gianna Kneepkens a running start in competitive fire

Utah women’s basketball: Freshman guard Gianna Kneepkens could be the Utes next big star
www.deseret.com www.deseret.com

The fourth-leading scorer in Minnesota prep basketball history has already won Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors four times
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How does the fourth-leading scorer in Minnesota prep girls basketball history end up at Utah, of all places?

Kneepkens — it is a Dutch name, with her great grandparents having migrated to the United States from the Netherlands — said she got a phone call from a Utah assistant after she played well in an AAU tournament early in her high school career. She visited the campus before the pandemic hit, and when the time came to make a choice between the Utes and home state favorite Minnesota, she picked Utah.
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I knew Lynne Roberts when she was coaching in California. Great coach, awesome person! Really enjoyed watching her teams play and watching her at morning shoot-arounds, on game day when I got the chance.
 


After seeing the highlights you have to wonder how she only won freshman of the week four times.
 

This is hilarious. Shades is doing this form as a way to point out another MN kid the staff missed out on (cause he is happier when they lose or whalen looks bad..true fan there)

BUT he is also helping prove the point for 2022s.

All four played in higher level competitions in a high School and all four are higher rated. So clearly freshman can come in and contribute right away despite all the Whalen haters saying the 2022s will be Flops. And to everyone complaining..make sure to keep your mouths shut if and when the freshman and team do well.
 


Did you know? The fifth-leading scorer in Wisconsin prep basketball history is on Minnesota, Caroline Strande. Given all the poor shooting performances (Hubbard, Winters, Smith, and Scalia) this year, this staff could not play her more than a few minutes (especially in the 20-50 point blowouts). That stood out for me this year. The lack of minutes for such a prolific HS scorer when we needed scoring in games. Especially Hubbard and SMith.
 

Chico Gopher said:
I knew Lynne Roberts when she was coaching in California. Great coach, awesome person! Really enjoyed watching her teams play and watching her at morning shoot-arounds, on game day when I got the chance.
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Looks like she's gonna make her 1st NCAA tournament this year after being a d1 coach for 16 years and 7 years at Utah.
 

Bunyan said:
Did you know? The fifth-leading scorer in Wisconsin prep basketball history is on Minnesota, Caroline Strande. Given all the poor shooting performances (Hubbard, Winters, Smith, and Scalia) this year, this staff could not play her more than a few minutes (especially in the 20-50 point blowouts). That stood out for me this year. The lack of minutes for such a prolific HS scorer when we needed scoring in games. Especially Hubbard and SMith.
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Her HS had 124 students.
 

Bunyan said:
Did you know? The fifth-leading scorer in Wisconsin prep basketball history is on Minnesota, Caroline Strande. Given all the poor shooting performances (Hubbard, Winters, Smith, and Scalia) this year, this staff could not play her more than a few minutes (especially in the 20-50 point blowouts). That stood out for me this year. The lack of minutes for such a prolific HS scorer when we needed scoring in games. Especially Hubbard and SMith.
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As I understand some of the talk is her foot speed is to slow and she has trouble getting her shot off. Sometimes small school players just aren't used to the speed of the game at this level. I have not seen her play though and am only relaying what I have heard in other circles. We will know her intentions soon if she decided to enter the portal.
 



Bunyan said:
Did you know? The fifth-leading scorer in Wisconsin prep basketball history is on Minnesota, Caroline Strande. Given all the poor shooting performances (Hubbard, Winters, Smith, and Scalia) this year, this staff could not play her more than a few minutes (especially in the 20-50 point blowouts). That stood out for me this year. The lack of minutes for such a prolific HS scorer when we needed scoring in games. Especially Hubbard and SMith.
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Literally she had played in a super small school. Basically a minnesota Class A school. Rarely do they do well at power five level.
 

bball_craz_26 said:
Literally she had played in a super small school. Basically a minnesota Class A school. Rarely do they do well at power five level.
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They said that about Megan Gustafsun (Iowa, Wing Port, WI). Her HS had 50. She did pretty well. School size means nothing anymore. Recruiting at high school ended decades ago. The college recruiting occurs at the highest level of AAU. There are lots of girls that succeed at P5 from small schools.
 

Bunyan said:
Did you know? The fifth-leading scorer in Wisconsin prep basketball history is on Minnesota, Caroline Strande. Given all the poor shooting performances (Hubbard, Winters, Smith, and Scalia) this year, this staff could not play her more than a few minutes (especially in the 20-50 point blowouts). That stood out for me this year. The lack of minutes for such a prolific HS scorer when we needed scoring in games. Especially Hubbard and SMith.
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Strande had injury issues with an ankle, and needs to get stronger to play in the Big 10. Give her and this staff a little bit of time will you. She will help the Gophers, just let it play out, the kid can score just needs confidence and health that is all to get going. I think the staff trust she can play, just give it a little bit of time for the strength and conditioning and workouts to kick in. I think this kid will put the work in, and can shoot, don't lose faith just yet.
 

Strande might have been a great offensive player in HS but that doesn't always translate to D1 right away. The coaching staff obviously does not feel that she makes the team better on the floor today. In today's world of instant gratification, no one has the patience to let players develop.

In football, superstar high school running backs sometimes don't play in their first year or two. Not because they can't run the ball but because they don't effectively block for the QB in the passing game. A coach will NOT put that player out there and risk injury to the QB.

Basketball is a team game and if a player is lacking in any area, there are often very good reasons why that player is not getting as much court time.
 



Channel surfing... Jenna Johnson and Kneepkens, MN freshmen at Utah lead the team in scoring on the season. They trail by 2 at halftime to Stanford in the conference championship game.

Czinano avg 21 and 6 for Big Ten champ Iowa. She had 30 in the title game. Freshman from Minnesota.

How many more are there on other teams?
 

60's Guy said:
Channel surfing... Jenna Johnson and Kneepkens, MN freshmen at Utah lead the team in scoring on the season. They trail by 2 at halftime to Stanford in the conference championship game.

Czinano avg 21 and 6 for Big Ten champ Iowa. She had 30 in the title game. Freshman from Minnesota.

How many more are there on other teams?
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Czinano is a senior
 



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