Class of 2023 Alyssa Latham (IL) transferring to Tennessee

[Cheriehoop]

Frankly, the monetary issue for men and women needs to be addressed if SU wants to be a serious national contender. At least football is enjoying a resurgence. I hope HCFB can keep the momentum building there. Keeping players like Latham and on the men's side Freeman, for more than one year is required to build and sustain a winning program. We just do not have the donor base, I know of no one who can or will give 10 or 15 million to the sports program so we can play on the big kids' playground.

Wonder if basketball will take a hit because football is going to be the university’s focus to keep us at the big boy’s table. We need some big corporate sponsorships- no way we can beat sponsors like the FedEx’s, Walmart’s, Tyson Foods, Phil Knight of Nike, T Boone Pickens, etc. that underwrite costs at a number of huge public universities. SU has some very famous and successful alumni who I hope can and will help support us in this new era. Hopefully corporations like Micron, JMA Wireless, Turning Stone etc will help or continue increasing their support. It would be nice to get firms like Anheuser Busch (InBev), Amazon, Byrne Dairy, Tessy Plastics, Wegmans etc to get more involved. Hopefully our reach will extend to beyond Syracuse to the Rochester, Utica, areas.

List of Syracuse University people - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[JRHEETER]

Wonder if basketball will take a hit because football is going to be the university’s focus to keep us at the big boy’s table. We need some big corporate sponsorships- no way we can beat sponsors like the FedEx’s, Walmart’s, Tyson Foods, Phil Knight of Nike, T Boone Pickens, etc. that underwrite costs at a number of huge public universities. SU has some very famous and successful alumni who I hope can and will help support us in this new era. Hopefully corporations like Micron, JMA Wireless, Turning Stone etc will help or continue increasing their support. It would be nice to get firms like Anheuser Busch (InBev), Amazon, Byrne Dairy, Tessy Plastics, Wegmans etc to get more involved. Hopefully our reach will extend to beyond Syracuse to the Rochester, Utica, areas.

List of Syracuse University people - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It’s shocking to me that Wegmans and Visions FCU (whose CEO is Fran Browns 2nd cousin or something) haven’t taken a large role in Syracuse University Athletics

 

[CoopSwoop]

Latham was missing from Tennesee game last night. Did not warm-up and was not on bench. Coach Caldwell stated she was missing for personal reasons and no timeline for return.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Latham was missing from Tennesee game last night. Did not warm-up and was not on bench. Coach Caldwell stated she was missing for personal reasons and no timeline for return.

Alyssa Latham out for Lady Vols basketball's home game vs Belmont

Lady Vols basketball forward Alyssa Latham was not warming up with the team before Tennessee's home matchup with Belmont on Nov. 13.

www.knoxnews.com

From the article:
“Latham has played 13 minutes per game in three games this season for Tennessee (2-1).
Latham has only averaged 2.7 points and 3.0 rebounds, but she's an important piece of Tennessee's rotation on both ends of the court, especially on defense. She is also an efficient scorer and doesn't force her shots. Latham has shot 50% from the field this season.”

Weird - not high usage and she’s a junior who may not be happy. Talented player who I imagine along with her family thought that she would be a bigger piece of their program. Appears that she’s not getting many offensive opportunities compared to her freshman year here.

 

[Marsh01]

What a waste

 

[baggerbob]

Alyssa Latham out for Lady Vols basketball's home game vs Belmont

Lady Vols basketball forward Alyssa Latham was not warming up with the team before Tennessee's home matchup with Belmont on Nov. 13.

www.knoxnews.com

From the article:
“Latham has played 13 minutes per game in three games this season for Tennessee (2-1).
Latham has only averaged 2.7 points and 3.0 rebounds, but she's an important piece of Tennessee's rotation on both ends of the court, especially on defense. She is also an efficient scorer and doesn't force her shots. Latham has shot 50% from the field this season.”

Weird - not high usage and she’s a junior who may not be happy. Talented player who I imagine along with her family thought that she would be a bigger piece of their program. Appears that she’s not getting many offensive opportunities compared to her freshman year here.

Leaving a starting position to go sit at a place like Tennessee was not a good long term idea. Even though Tennessee hasn't been as good as the Pat years, the talent has been very good. South Carolina, Tennessee, Uconn, now UCLA, USC are places where if you aren’t among the top 40 players you can be an afterthought.

 

[llandz]

Blame the parents...She didn't want to leave

 

[sufan59]

Blame the parents...She didn't want to leave

I understand, it must’ve been a significant amount of money. On an even playing field, how many coaches would players rather want to play for over FLJ.

 

[Cuse4455]

Blame the parents...She didn't want to leave

Yep her dad is a Helicopter parent. He's always right, and the coaches are always wrong.

 

[Lukeyloo]

Blame the parents...She didn't want to leave

Hope for her sake that she uses her senior year to play where she wants to play and tells dad to butt out.

 

[llandz]

Yep her dad is a Helicopter parent. He's always right, and the coaches are always wrong.

And he wanted to NIL money for the family to open a daycare center.

 

[orangefog]

And he wanted to NIL money for the family to open a daycare center.

That's why we have kids, right? To use them at the expense of their future.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Come back home, Alyssa!

 

[Dr. Bill]

Come back home, Alyssa!

She would have been a star here! Sometimes, these parents are short sighted. I wonder if she would consider coming back? She would make a nice Power forward to go with Uche!

 

[Cheriehoop]

She would have been a star here! Sometimes, these parents are short sighted. I wonder if she would consider coming back? She would make a nice Power forward to go with Uche!

I imagine it would depend on what she prioritizes. She probably thought getting more money, more exposure from being on a bigger name team was a no brainer believing money equated to how much she was valued and how important she was to the team. I imagine it was difficult for her last year seeing her minutes halved and only starting 5 games after such a successful freshman year here. Not starting in her junior year and playing even slightly less minutes per game in their early non conference schedule had to really hurt. Imagine she’s just trying to figure out what she really wants and where she thinks she’ll best achieve it. Hope she remembers us.

 

[baggerbob]

I imagine it would depend on what she prioritizes. She probably thought getting more money, more exposure from being on a bigger name team was a no brainer believing money equated to how much she was valued and how important she was to the team. I imagine it was difficult for her last year seeing her minutes halved and only starting 5 games after such a successful freshman year here. Not starting in her junior year and playing even slightly less minutes per game in their early non conference schedule had to really hurt. Imagine she’s just trying to figure out what she really wants and where she thinks she’ll best achieve it. Hope she remembers us.

Starting here and improving would have at least got her a look at the WNBA, that chance at the current time is gone.
She needs to transfer somewhere where she can show her talent.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Starting here and improving would have at least got her a look at the WNBA, that chance at the current time is gone.
She needs to transfer somewhere where she can show her talent.

We did a great job showing her talent and potential her freshman year, it’s why Tennessee wanted her.

 

[CoopSwoop]

Latham back for today's game. Thought she would enter portal mid-year or redshirt.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Latham back for today's game. Thought she would enter portal mid-year or redshirt.

I thought maybe the exact same thing. Guess not. I wonder in these type situations if they have to return money when leaving early?

 

[Cheriehoop]

Alyssa played more minutes her freshman year here at SU vs 2 years at Tennessee. She’s started more games this year (9) but isn’t a focal point of the offense at all. She’s scored in double digits just 4 of the 19 games she’s played in this year. She averages just 3.4 fga this year vs the 7.9 she averaged her freshman year here. Just rather sad seeing that talent being underutilized. Her and her family’s choice.

Alyssa’s career stats:

Alyssa Latham College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Alyssa Latham - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

 

[Dr. Bill]

Alyssa played more minutes her freshman year here at SU vs 2 years at Tennessee. She’s started more games this year (9) but isn’t a focal point of the offense at all. She’s scored in double digits just 4 of the 19 games she’s played in this year. She averages just 3.4 fga this year vs the 7.9 she averaged her freshman year here. Just rather sad seeing that talent being underutilized. Her and her family’s choice.

Alyssa’s career stats:

Alyssa Latham College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Alyssa Latham - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

Imagine her and Uche in the front court. She showed great promise as a freshman at SU. She would have been the building block that our team would have been built around. If you remember, her Freshman year, there was all that hype in Women's college hoops with Angel Reese and all her publicity and NIL deals etc! I think her family saw that as a possibility for Alyssa... and I am sure an SEC power like Tennessee was more than willing to encourage and support that fantasy!

 

[ar inj]

Maybe she is not as good as her parents and fans thought she would be. Maybe she is happier at UT.

My question: Why is UT ranked? They have more big losses than SU and by larger margins.

 

[Dr. Bill]

Maybe she is not as good as her parents and fans thought she would be. Maybe she is happier at UT.

My question: Why is UT ranked? They have more big losses than SU and by larger margins.

She looked very good as a freshman! She had size, athleticism, she rebounded and blocked shots...Lac k of playing time will stunt your development. It is hard to get better sitting on the bench! Yes, I understand you grow as a player in the off season and practice...but playing in games is a crucial part of developing as a player... She averaged more points as a freshman than she does as a junior. I have no doubt that if this was her third year starting at Syracuse, that she would be scoring more than 3 points per game.. Come on now!!

 

[Cheriehoop]

She looked very good as a freshman! She had size, athleticism, she rebounded and blocked shots...Lac k of playing time will stunt your development. It is hard to get better sitting on the bench! Yes, I understand you grow as a player in the off season and practice...but playing in games is a crucial part of developing as a player... She averaged more points as a freshman than she does as a junior. I have no doubt that if this was her third year starting at Syracuse, that she would be scoring more than 3 points per game.. Come on now!!

She’s not taking many shots at Tennessee so I figure she’s way down the chart there for sets run for her to score. I recall her father and maybe Alyssa herself saying she wanted to be more of a perimeter player taking 3’s than an inside the arc player like she was here. She had six 3 point attempts at SU her freshman year and 10 attempts so far her next 2 years at Tennessee. She’s still not a 3 point shooter. It all had to be about the $. Perhaps she’s happy there though, made friends etc putting less priority on development. It will be interesting to see if she stays and finally becomes a player they start and rely upon or chooses a new destination. Sad for us because she certainly would have been a factor here coupled with Uche, Sophie, Dominique, Laila etc unless chemistry would have been effected, She seemed like a nice person though leaving people surprised when she left.

 

[llandz]

Maybe she is not as good as her parents and fans thought she would be. Maybe she is happier at UT.

My question: Why is UT ranked? They have more big losses than SU and by larger margins.

She was happy at SU. Dad interferred. She left SU in tears. Probably too much parent involvement still and she can't handle it.