[calbearsfan]

Originally Posted by OBear073akaSMFan

Guess wanting to play nearer to home wasn't the issue. You can see she had potential but if you looked at her play..she still played like a wide eyes freshman..kind of tentatively. Wonder with Foo out if she would had gotten more of an opportunity to had played this weekend. Instead coach had to bring Mikayla in to the 3 to relieve Lindsay.

Coach Park said in the chalk talk before the OSU game when he made the announcement it was wanting to be closer to home and playing time. Maybe that's what she told the coaching staff. I think your right that if she had just waited one more week she would have played against the Oregons with Foo hurt. Oh well...time to move on.

[OBear073akaSMFan]

Just noticed that Trisha Stafford -Odom is a 1st yr coach at NC. Wonder if she was the person who recruited her to NC.

http://www.tarheelblue.com/sports/w-..._trisha00.html

[wvitbear]

And has a monster class coming in next year. suppose she doesn't get any playing time with this team.

[dfineguy]

Seems to me UDub could have used her right away.

[dtrain34]

In fairness to Erika, the only mention that she wanted to be closer to home was in a quote from Lindsey Gottlieb. I have yet to see a direct quote from Erika giving her reasons for leaving Cal... or for choosing the Tar Heels.

[calbearsfan]

Originally Posted by dfineguy

Seems to me UDub could have used her right away.

Especially since ex-cal assistant Kevin Morrison is there now and he may have been the main one to get her to come to Cal.

[GOCAL73]

Originally Posted by dtrain34

In fairness to Erika, the only mention that she wanted to be closer to home was in a quote from Lindsey Gottlieb. I have yet to see a direct quote from Erika giving her reasons for leaving Cal... or for choosing the Tar Heels.

Follow her on Twitter. She rarely tweets. But, a lot of her tweets were about missing home. So, if she told the staff she was homesick that excuse would fly with them. Gray also gets homesick, but she has a strong support group that helps her through it.
Was Erika really missing home enough for that to be a reason she left Cal? Going to NC makes it pretty clear home was not the real issue.
Will be interesting to see how she does at NC or if she stays there.

[dtrain34]

Thanks for the background, GoCal, I wasn't aware of Erika's tweets.

I haven't gotten into the habit of "following" college players. I have Twitter, Facebook and all that but kind of look at teenagers' "tweets" as their "young folks' business," particularly those I have seen grow up, like Erika.

Probably leaves me woefully short on common knowledge AND inside info around college sports. I do follow my daughter's coach-to-be and he tweets about once a week which more often than not is a playful dig at one of his assistants because their alma mater lost in football.

Facebook I am on daily, but Twitter will have to do something more to pull me in.

[stu]

Originally Posted by wvitbear

North Carolina is a top 25 team
And has a monster class coming in next year. suppose she doesn't get any playing time with this team.

And NC looks to have another monster class with a 5-star wing coming in 2013.
http://espn.go.com/high-school/girls...153/class/2013

IMHO this transfer isn't looking auspicious for Erika, for Cal, or for NC.

[dfineguy]

Well, if she wanted more playing time, she can kiss that goodbye. It's sad really. She seemed like a great kid. If she could been more patient, events would have fallen for her at Cal. Not on her, as they did today at North Carolina. Good Luck, EJ.

[CalWBBFan]

Yeah, I think sometimes kids are too anxious and don't realize that it takes a while to adjust to D1 college ball even if one was a star in high school. Had she stayed, I think she would have had time to learn the game, mature, and ultimately seen more playing time. Of course I don't have a crystal ball so it's all conjecture.

I was sad to see her go, but I hope she finds what she wants at NC.

[dfineguy]

Well, in my opinion, she won't. Not now. Hatchell is about Hatchell. This is the coach that didn't even give her players a chance to go to the WNIT. She didn't understand why she didn't make the NCAAs. I'll bet EJ has 1 more transfer in her. To UDub. It's been said on another board Sherb coudn't go another Pac12 school. Definitely true for Rohde. The no compete clause. She can be a very good player. Hatchell runs and guns. I don't see that as EJ's strong suit.

I think she would flourish at Washington. Players she knows. Collier, Heather Corral and Wetmore. IMHO.

I just read on Rebkell (CamrnCrz) that Allisha Gray is also NC bound. This leads me to believe that 2 or 3 players have already been told to look elsewhere if they ever want to set foot on a court in college. It makes sense. NC wouldn't dare stick its neck out unless all the ducks were in a row already. I really would like to see Erika play.

[dtrain34]

Erika might shoulda gone to The Dub to start with, but that was still Tia's recruiting class when the signing was going on, don't forget.

Also, the only players she would know closely at UW would be Aminah Williams and Katie Collier, who were her AAU team mates on Tree of Hope. Another Tree player, Airashay Rogers, has also signed with the Huskies but she did not play for them the years Erika did. Meanwhile, Heather Corral played at the other end of the state and did not meet Erika in the championship game with Holy Names as she had blown out her knee. I'm sure she may have a passing acquaintance with Mercedes Wetmore, but they never played together in AAU or against each other in high school.

In talking with a parent of another Holy Names player at a recent All-Star game, he mentioned that Erika's shortcoming has always been her outside shot, which may have been her downfall at Cal in terms of PT. A post/four at HNA I believe Cal wanted to make her a wing where a shot would be needed.

[stu]

Originally Posted by dtrain34

In talking with a parent of another Holy Names player at a recent All-Star game, he mentioned that Erika's shortcoming has always been her outside shot, which may have been her downfall at Cal in terms of PT. A post/four at HNA I believe Cal wanted to make her a wing where a shot would be needed.

It looked to me like Erika does not have the frame to bulk up and play inside on a half-court team, and I agree it was clear that Cal wanted her to play on the perimeter. I think she would do well at the 4 spot on an up-tempo team with her length, skills, and mobility. Oregon comes to mind.

If and when her outside shot develops she could become a dynamite wing. I wonder if there's any chance of her returning to Cal. Would she want to? Would the rules allow it? Is there any precedent?

[Schroeder71]

The Bears need a wing or SF that can defend the likes of USC's Gilbreath. Cal had nobody that could match up against her last season and paid the price.

Cal had exactly what they needed *potentially* in Erica Johnson. She was a selfless player who wanted to contribute to the team. If the Bears needed defense, rebounding, entry passes to the post or a player to get out on the fast break, the state of WA prep POY could have responded...I just don't understand how the coaching staff allowed her to become the odd "man" out in the player rotation. Cal basically had three SFs and was two-deep everywhere else. One would think that Afure Jemerigbe (5'11") could have been the 2nd shooting guard ahead of Mikayla Lyles. If that move would have been made, then Erica Johson (6'1") could have split minutes with Lindsay Sherbert (6'0") @ SF. Those moves would have given the team more height at every position while simultaeously putting more athleticism on the floor.

Oh well-back to the drawing board Gottlieb & Co...GO BEARS!