Lexi Donarski entering transfer portal

[CYdTracked]

I have no problem with any young adult who transfers...it is their choice! Their choice to deal with the fallout as well. I won't follow her much but may occassionally check in on her performance but if this move leaves her happier for whatever reasons...good for her! As a Cyclone fan I wish she had stayed...but she doesn't owe my fandom anything. I would like to hear her reasons for wanting to move on but she doesn't really even owe me that! She played hard, repped the program and University well...she moved on.

I agree for the most part but I guess if someone is leaving on good terms I think for their own reputation or how fans will view them it would be nice for the athlete to answer questions or explain their reason for transferring. Fans can be bitter but I think their perception of that person might change if they just come out and say I left because of XYZ it maybe changes some of the negativity surrounding their departure? Silence can be more damaging than being transparent in many cases. That's just my opinion at least. In some cases if someone leaves because of NIL money then just say it because we all probably are going to assume it anyways in those situations. I would have more respect for someone that just flat out says "yeah I transferred to _____ because I got more money" than giving us some other BS reason that we know is just lip service. If I were to take another job because it paid more than my current one I wouldn't have any hesitation saying that but then again what I do for a living will never make news and headlines like an athlete does either LOL.

That being said I have no issues with Lexi's transfer regardless of the reasons. From everything I've heard she is leaving on good terms and she represented ISU well while she is here. Even more glad she chose a school in a different conference that we'd only possibly play against in a tournament. We take in transfers from other schools too so can't be too harsh on those who leave ISU when we benefit from someone leaving another school to come to ISU too.

 

[cytor]

UNC. Will she have to go to class?

Classes are optional there. Roy Williams made sure of it.

 

[allfourcy]

Hoping we eventually hear her talk about why she transferred so there is some closure with her leaving.

Not sure how accurate the story I heard is but her transfer possibly had more to do with her academics and going to a school with a good program than it was for basketball reasons. It looks like her major is in marketing and management so the 2 schools we heard the most buzz around were UNC and Indiana which just happen to have strong business schools and MBA programs. Take it for what it's worth I guess but I have no issue with someone wanting to transfer when it benefits their academic goals. Same source I heard this story from also heard that Iowa wanted her bad too but I don't think we ever heard anything tied to her considering them which again would support the notion if she was only looking at schools with certain academic programs Iowa isn't going to fit that criteria for a top business college.

I realize we'll never know and the player isn't usually going to be transparent, nor want to burn any bridges. But if it had mostly to do with academics as your heard story implies, I think the farewell tweet would have thanked the head coach/staff at least or even a mention about the previous years...and it was glaringly nonexistent.

 

[Stormin]

I realize we'll never know and the player isn't usually going to be transparent, nor want to burn any bridges. But if it had mostly to do with academics as your heard story implies, I think the farewell tweet would have thanked the head coach/staff at least or even a mention about the previous years...and it was glaringly nonexistent.

Lexi is history. Whatever her reasons for history. Let it rest. We need to stop with the mindless posts blaming Bill. And not blame Lexi. If Lexi has issues with Bill it is her business and Bill’s. I am sure Bill did not want Lexi to transfer. And if it was curriculum related, so be it. Don’t care at this point.

 

[allfourcy]

Lexi is history. Whatever her reasons for history. Let it rest. We need to stop with the mindless posts blaming Bill. And not blame Lexi. If Lexi has issues with Bill it is her business and Bill’s. I am sure Bill did not want Lexi to transfer. And if it was curriculum related, so be it. Don’t care at this point.

I basically had let it rest. But when someone posts about 'heard story', I thinks its fair to throw out what many others have said in this discussion. After all, this is a message board. Nobody has hard will against Lexi, or Bill for that matter. Its just unfortunate or maybe we should say surprising when it went down. I don't think several posts on this were 'mindless' at all, plus my statement didn't have to be interpreted as Bill 'blame', but rather a possible seeing things in a different light between him and Lexi, and I'm 95% a CBF supporter.

 

[Royalclone]

Hoping we eventually hear her talk about why she transferred so there is some closure with her leaving.

Not sure how accurate the story I heard is but her transfer possibly had more to do with her academics and going to a school with a good program than it was for basketball reasons. It looks like her major is in marketing and management so the 2 schools we heard the most buzz around were UNC and Indiana which just happen to have strong business schools and MBA programs. Take it for what it's worth I guess but I have no issue with someone wanting to transfer when it benefits their academic goals. Same source I heard this story from also heard that Iowa wanted her bad too but I don't think we ever heard anything tied to her considering them which again would support the notion if she was only looking at schools with certain academic programs Iowa isn't going to fit that criteria for a top business college.

MBA, I’ll buy, but Anna Florzak has done pretty well with her ISU marketing degree.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-florzak

 

[hiltonisheaven]

MBA, I’ll buy, but Anna Florzak has done pretty well with her ISU marketing degree.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-florzak

Great to see Anna doing well at Nike. Thanks for sharing, Royal.

 

[acoustimac]

Did not see this posted and it provides a little insight to the process…

College women's basketball: How North Carolina was deemed the right fit for Lexi Donarski

The net cast when Lexi Donarski’s name hit the transfer portal was huge.

lacrossetribune.com

 

[StClone]

This is a recent article and a video from UNC's Coach Courtney Banghart talking about Lexi Donarski. I am paraphrasing one part where Banghart noted Lexi needs to learn to make her own decisions and would have more freedom than Lexi was used to. That kind of makes me sad that the talent some players bring to make decisions may be undercut by following what is expected in game situations instead of their natural instincts.

Lexi Donarski Brings Competitive, Midwest Spirit To Carmichael

The Iowa State transfer has occupied the same arena as UNC in the past, but will take the court as a member of the Tar Heels in 2023-24.

247sports.com

 

[acoustimac]

This is a recent article and a video from UNC's Coach Courtney Banghart talking about Lexi Donarski. I am paraphrasing one part where Banghart noted Lexi needs to learn to make her own decisions and would have more freedom than Lexi was used to. That kind of makes me sad that the talent some players bring to make decisions may be undercut by following what is expected in game situations instead of their natural instincts.

Lexi Donarski Brings Competitive, Midwest Spirit To Carmichael

The Iowa State transfer has occupied the same arena as UNC in the past, but will take the court as a member of the Tar Heels in 2023-24.

247sports.com

That’s an interesting take from her comments. She essentially said they are coaching her up in regards to recognizing opportunities. That doesn’t imply she or other players are somehow shackled in the ISU program and not allowed to make decisions or that it somehow eliminates or degrades their use of natural instincts.

 

[theshadow]

This is a recent article and a video from UNC's Coach Courtney Banghart talking about Lexi Donarski.

Didn't realize this was Tar Heel Fanatic.

 

[StClone]

That’s an interesting take from her comments. She essentially said they are coaching her up in regards to recognizing opportunities. That doesn’t imply she or other players are somehow shackled in the ISU program and not allowed to make decisions or that it somehow eliminates or degrades their use of natural instincts.

Yes, it is about seeing opportunities, however, I saw the word "freedom." This is not a knock on Fennelly. It is to note differing styles of coaching and what works for whom.

 

[ISC]

Yes, it is about seeing opportunities, however, I saw the word "freedom." This is not a knock on Fennelly. It is to note differing styles of coaching and what works for whom.

(Sorry for the long rambling post - I tried to make it less wordy and still failed - and the first sentence below is half a "joke"/half "truth")

Wait, if your name was Bridget, Ashley, or Emily you had all the freedom you wanted . I would agree with the assessment that we didn't utilize Lexi's or Fritz's talent set as well as we should - and yes, it is a coaching philosophy.

But the coaching staff's philosophy is still evolving, they signed such talented players so quickly, I think they didn't quite know how to best utilize them all at once. The philosophy on offense had always tried to best utilize players who were not as talented of all-around players and focus on one player and let the other wait for the pass to shoot set shots.

I think BF and staff know they need to keep changing things up, it's just the growing pains of doing so we are feeling more than some other programs. I'm hoping we see less of the days of us only relying on one player and having everyone else sit on the 3 point line. This year may be a bit more rough as without the transfers, we are down on experience, but the offensive philosophy has to keep evolving. The bright side is look at the offense we ran before Bridgett got here and you can see it evolving and changing. It just takes longer I feel when you have the same staff and don't have the new blood coming in to force that change (I'm not saying it's a bad thing to have the same staff - just that some things take longer if you do).

This year could be a really fun year, or it could be a growing pains year with all of the young talent on the squad. Either way, fun times should be ahead again soon.

 

[ScottyP]

With Bridget and Ashley, our offense seemed like it was very iso-oriented. It honestly wasn't very fun to watch compared to what it used to be.

 

[ISC]

With Bridget and Ashley, our offense seemed like it was very iso-oriented. It honestly wasn't very fun to watch compared to what it used to be.

I agree. I think we still had a lot of that last year with Emily running the show. It just looked a bit different as she passed a little more - but she still had a lot of ISO / ball dominant handling.

And yes, I know we were still very good, it's just I think we could have utilized the other player's skill sets a bit better is all I'm saying.

 

[CYdTracked]

I agree. I think we still had a lot of that last year with Emily running the show. It just looked a bit different as she passed a little more - but she still had a lot of ISO / ball dominant handling.

And yes, I know we were still very good, it's just I think we could have utilized the other player's skill sets a bit better is all I'm saying.

I thought our offense move the ball around more before the Soares injury then reverted back to more iso with Ashley again. Soares was a nice safety valve as teams had to guard her and it allowed Ash to do a lot more off the ball knowing Soares was a capable post scorer that could spread the defense. I'm excited to see how this year's team operates with the influx of talent and depth in the post. Should be a lot more balanced approach on offense without a proven goto player. Would have loved to had some expirience on the perimeter with Donarski and Fritz but time to move on and wish both the best with their new teams other than the 2 times we play Fritz this season.

 

[Cyforce]

Objectivity isn't a strong suit when it comes to BF. I understand where he brought the program from but that doesn't change the fact he promoted letting Ashley into the lane with her back to basket to repeatedly her her shot rejected. Honestly in conference she had to average a minimum of having 3 shots blocked per game. The only explanation I can see is to pad her stats towards AA status.

 

[psycln11]

MBA, I’ll buy, but Anna Florzak has done pretty well with her ISU marketing degree.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-florzak

Anna Florzak also has an MBA from Univ. Of Central Florida!

 

[dirtyninety]

Was Lexi the Little Red fan at the Men's game that was giffed? I can't remember if that was her. Certainly similar looking.

 

[acoustimac]

With Bridget and Ashley, our offense seemed like it was very iso-oriented. It honestly wasn't very fun to watch compared to what it used to be.

There were some years where we had talent inside and out that were very fun to watch. There were also years where the inside talent was so-so and that meant posting up the three point shooters around the perimeter. That was deathly boring and had me pulling my hair out (which is now permanent). I remember the days of watching players like Bolte standing...no movement...standing at the three point line waiting for a chance to put up a three. The coaching philosophy has changed...sometimes very very slowly...but it has changed. Going to be interesting to see how things adapt this fall when your main star is the point guard and not a volume shooter.