BASKETBALL Courtney Blakely snubbed by Arizona coach after loss

[MTFAN61]

For those interested, the following is an example of the transfer portal not necessarily being the greenest of valleys for everyone. K Doss of SB Nation reported "Arizona women's basketball second half collapse results in biggest loss of season".
Arizona had a let down at the half against Washington State. A missed 3 point shot by Courtney Blakely followed by a foul by Blakely resulted in 2 free throws giving Washington State a 34-31 halftime advantage.
"We had momentum & when we subbed, we lost the lead" said Arizona coach Adia Barnes. "We have to be able to sub, & we have to have everybody coming in contributing with the same intensity."
Important to note: bloggers showed anger towards the coach in the comments section pointing out Blakely only played 4 minutes the whole game, but was the one player pointed out by the coach. Arizona went on to lose by 21 points due to a 3rd quarter collapse that apparently Blakely played little part in.

 

[Blue Raider Lightning]

For those interested, the following is an example of the transfer portal not necessarily being the greenest of valleys for everyone. K Doss of SB Nation reported "Arizona women's basketball second half collapse results in biggest loss of season".
Arizona had a let down at the half against Washington State. A missed 3 point shot by Courtney Blakely followed by a foul by Blakely resulted in 2 free throws giving Washington State a 34-31 halftime advantage.
"We had momentum & when we subbed, we lost the lead" said Arizona coach Adia Barnes. "We have to be able to sub, & we have to have everybody coming in contributing with the same intensity."
Important to note: bloggers showed anger towards the coach in the comments section pointing out Blakely only played 4 minutes the whole game, but was the one player pointed out by the coach. Arizona went on to lose by 21 points due to a 3rd quarter collapse that apparently Blakely played little part in.

I hated to see her go but I didn't really blame her either. From many accounts, when Jada Harrison steps on the court, she will be the best player on it. Courtney likely felt her role would diminish this year. Certainly, none of us knew Harrison would be hurt and Courtney would have probably been in CRI's small rotation off the bench. I don't even try to keep up with the ever changing portal but if she can transfer again without sitting out, we'll probably see her at a lesser program where she can make a solid impact for her senior year.

 

[MTFAN61]

I hated to see her go but I didn't really blame her either. From many accounts, when Jada Harrison steps on the court, she will be the best player on it. Courtney likely felt her role would diminish this year. Certainly, none of us knew Harrison would be hurt and Courtney would have probably been in CRI's small rotation off the bench. I don't even try to keep up with the ever changing portal but if she can transfer again without sitting out, we'll probably see her at a lesser program where she can make a solid impact for her senior year.

Tuned in for the coaches show Monday, & heard Jada speak while being interviewed for the 1st time. Really like her demeanor. Good natured but a serious personality concerning her responsibilities as a point guard. Favorite comment was when asked about being physically and mentally prepared on getting back to work when recovered she confidently spoke of her athletic abilities on the court, but acknowledged she's spending all of her time in rehab working with coaches learning all of our sets & plays preparing herself mentally. Even CRI acknowledged prior to injury she was the first & only freshman to successfully run a particular drill perfectly the very first time in his 20 years of coaching college. Said he knew immediately he had someone very special to work with. Hope she gets a clean bill of health on her upcoming check up. Can't wait to see her next year.

 

[MTOleBlue]

Tuned in for the coaches show Monday, & heard Jada speak while being interviewed for the 1st time. Really like her demeanor. Good natured but a serious personality concerning her responsibilities as a point guard. Favorite comment was when asked about being physically and mentally prepared on getting back to work when recovered she confidently spoke of her athletic abilities on the court, but acknowledged she's spending all of her time in rehab working with coaches learning all of our sets & plays preparing herself mentally. Even CRI acknowledged prior to injury she was the first & only freshman to successfully run a particular drill perfectly the very first time in his 20 years of coaching college. Said he knew immediately he had someone very special to work with. Hope she gets a clean bill of health on her upcoming check up. Can't wait to see her next year.

Agreed. She's gonna be special. And that drive to learn means we are gonna have a senior-level leader who is a FRESHMAN. That is unheard of

 

[Tomorrow299]

This annoys me, at around the 10:00 minute mark the Arizona coach basically says that CAB transferred back to MT because of lost credits. I mean, I would imagine she knew how many credits she would lose when she transferred to Arizona initially?

 

[MTFAN61]

Immediately after the '22 season CAB & CRI posted a happy photo of her announcing her intentions of returning to MT the following year. Within days of that announcement Courtney announced her intentions of entering the portal.
This of course is all very legal. However what was very unique IMO was almost everyone who enters the portal usually is in it for at least 3-4 weeks prior to finding a new team to call home.
CAB literally entered the portal, & within the next day announced her transfer to Arizona.
It sounds like it all happened so quickly the Arizona head hunters weren't totally forthcoming & transparent to her about the consequences of her actions.

 

[blue rai]

No doubt there was some tampering going on behind the scenes to get her to leave MT. She entered the portal very late at Az this season and was back here pretty quickly? What goes around comes around……..

 

[MTOleBlue]

Glad we have her back. It was certainly a learning experience and I hope it goes to show others who may be considering transferring how you could be treated where you end up.

 

[MidTennFootball]

Unless CAB decided to change majors, hard to buy the credits not transferring over, Middle has a pretty good academic reputation. Pretty easy to see that she wasn't getting the playing she thought she would.

Don't think any new legislation is gonna slow down the rate of transfers, maybe from her POV at Arizona, but it doesn't exactly have alot going for it.

Definitely a cautionary tale that players need to do their homework on a transfer and not take coaches at their word, some of them will say anything to get you to sign.

We'll probably lean on CAB alot early in the season as Jada gets back up to full speed, or at least I hope so