I have seen her play. While she is a fine player, she is not even close to Cockett or Kuehu. She is obviously skilled, but she cannot impose her will mentally or physically like Cockett or Kuehu. She does not have the tools to take over a game by herself. Everyone will say that Cockett or Kuehu played on stacked teams. But that is only half-truth. Nani never got the chance that girls have today. Today the girls have way more exposure. In today's game, Nani would have gotten way more exposure and probably got a chance to go to a bettrer program.
Kuehu played for Kalakaua that beat the Cal Storm when they traveled to Hawaii. When Cal Storm played without Kuehu they were average on the national scene. When they only added her, she took an average club team and made them elite. That is how good she is.
Honestly, that is an insult. Nani Cockett before her 100 knee injuries in high school was inbelievable. Nani put girls basketball on the map. She attended clinics and I think she is one of the pioneers that got high school girls to start attending off-season clinics and camps. She is a big reason why girls basketball is at the level it is nowdays. She could have been the player of the year as an 8th grader. That is how good she was when she was known as Nicole Cockett dominating the intermediate scene. Kuehu led a Punahou team that lost the year before with the exact same team. As only a sophomore, Kuehu made the 1st team with the Cal Storm getting the 2nd most votes for Most Outstanding Player in the Nike Summer Tournament only behind Maya Moore of UCONN who is probably the best player in the nation right now. In that tournament, while Maya Moore outplayed everyone throughout that tournament, a strong case can be made that Kuehu outplayed Moore straight up. At least statistically, she outplayed Moore in my opinion.
So Awa is alright, but c'mon dude, you really think she is at that level. Galderia has way more upside than Awa. I think part of having great debate is to be realistic. I don't think you are being realistic here. You really think that Coach Summitt and Coach Geno will be calling the Awa's to offer a scholarship or show interest in her?
I think she will get a Div 1 ride possibly, but she will not have the top schools calling. And she will not have the opportunity to pick what school she wants and have them all chasing her.
When I played with the Villas, we would often watch a healthy Nani play at Kamehameha with Boo and Goods. She would go 20+ points, 10-15 boards, 3-4 assists, 1-3 blocks, 2-4 steals, and maybe 2-4 TO's. Kuehu during states before her injury would put up similar numbers against far superior teams, not the weak overmatched ones in the BIIF. You remember, Coach Apo and Taylor would often rest Cockett and Kuehu against the weak teams to get others playing time and put more credibility to their statistics.
How impressive is it to run up your stats against teams that are overmatched?
I think Galderia is the most legit player in the state from what I seen.
So please while we all value your opinion, let's be real. Can you back up your argument with data to make your opinion more concrete? Cockett's Warriors and Kuehu's Buffs were #1 for the entire season as a freshman. Awa hasn't cracked the #1 ranking yet.
