UConn’s Cole turning pro
After five years and over 2,000 points in college basketball, R.J. Cole is moving on.
Cole announced that he is forgoing his extra year of eligibility with the UConn men’s basketball team and will declare for the 2022 NBA draft.
“Love you always, UConn Nation,” Cole said in a Twitter post on Monday evening.
In a message, Cole thanked the UConn coaching staff, his teammates, UConn’s support staff and his family.
“To my parents, your love and support is what has helped me push through all of the adversity that I have faced up to this point,” Cole wrote. “I have always been overlooked throughout my career, but you guys have always reminded me that God has a plan, to trust in His plan, and to always pursue my dreams. With that in mind, I will pursue another lifelong dream of mine of playing the game I love on the professional level and declare for the 2022 NBA Draft.”
Cole was UConn’s leading scorer this past season at 15.8 points per game, while also leading the team in assists (136) and charges taken (20). He had several huge games this season: scoring nearly half the Huskies’ points (25) in a 57-50 win over DePaul; pouring in 24 points in a double-overtime win over Auburn; scoring the go-ahead basket and taking a game-clinching charge in the final seconds of an emotional win over Villanova.
Cole was named to the All-Big East first team, along with sophomore center Adama Sanogo.
Cole played high school ball at St. Anthony High in Jersey City, New Jersey, under Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley Sr., Dan Hurley’s father. As a junior, Cole led St. Anthony to a 32-0 record and a state championship, but he didn’t have many Division 1 scholarship offers out of high school and began his college career at Howard University.
Cole was a scoring star at Howard, leading the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in scoring as a freshman (23.7 ppg) and sophomore (21.4). He was MEAC Rookie of the Year as a freshman and Player of the Year as a sophomore.
When Cole announced he was transferring following the 2018-19 season, Dan Hurley immediately made it a priority to get him to UConn, Cole’s dream school. Cole transitioned to be more of a natural
and Lily Woodworth, a sophomore on Glastonbury’s junior varsity. Woodworth’s dad, Mark, is head baseball coach at Wesleyan. The two met last summer while attending the Girls Baseball Breakthrough Series for youth development.
Evidently, lilies grow on diamonds in Connecticut.
While girls of a certain age typically switch to softball, Martineau was decidedly uninterested.
“Softball and baseball are different games,” Martineau said. “Different rules. Different sport. I was used to playing baseball. I was used to playing with the boys. Switching, the atmosphere would be completely different. I didn’t want it to be that way. I wanted that same competitive atmosphere that baseball is providing for me.”
In 2018 in Connecticut, most would have assumed a seventhgrade girl signing up for tryouts for the baseball team at Har-Bur Middle School wouldn’t have been a problem. That, unfortunately, would be an incorrect assumption.
She was called into the nurse’s office. Martineau thought she was going for a Blue Card to clear her for the season. Instead, the nurse told her she could not play baseball.
“I never had that happen to me,” Martineau said. “It was more of a shock than anything. You don’t think you’re going to be told you can’t do something you want
to do. You don’t expect it. Really shocking.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be perfect, a seamless transition, but I didn’t expect immediately there was no possibility to be able to play, to even try out.”
Hey, Lilli was welcome to play softball.
Who knows how much pressure was applied by a few parents worried that a 12-year-old would take a roster spot from their own little Johnny? Or by a general lack of enlightenment? What was sure was that Lilli’s parents, Chad and Katie, paid a visit to the (former) superintendent. Lawyers were called. The district was welcome to a Title IX investigation.
“This may have all happened in a week,” Martineau said. “It wasn’t a super long time. Tryouts were right around the corner. They had to come up with a quick resolution.”
Quickly enough, the district changed course. Martineau tried out. She made the team.
“My parents are the reason the school decided to change their original thought on this,” Lilli said. “They are so supportive.
“I’ve never had a major issue with anyone I’ve ever played with. I’ve played with these guys since I was younger.”
Her younger sister, Brooke, decided on softball.
Martineau played junior varsity as a freshman last year and will again this season. New coach Ron Cyr said he is stacked with 11 seniors and 11 juniors. Lilli will wait her turn.
At 5-foot-8, 135 pounds, first base is her primary position. As a pitcher, Martineau says she’s starting second in the rotation for junior varsity. She works on her off-speed stuff. She has worked several months with a personal trainer with weight training to gain strength to best compete. The girls on the softball team only joke with her now about joining them. They know her mind is set.
“She is a baseball player,” Cyr said. “She’s a good teammate. We are excited to have her and watch her development.”
Tireless worker? Check. Resilient? Check. Outgoing to form bonds with her teammates? Check. The LM on her cap stands for Lewis Mills,
not Lilli Martineau.
She goes to a couple of hitting coaches. Same for throwing. She’ll have one-on-one lessons. And then there are team practices. She goes to Glenn Katz for hitting at the Integrated Sports Training facility and stays there for pitching. Her travel team works out at D-Bat in Cheshire. Since he is out of state, Ken Cherryhomes gives her on-line instruction.
In the winter, this is a kid who goes from basketball practice to baseball workouts to the books. There is one number at the top of her Twitter account: 4.436. That’s her GPA. Lilli loves to be busy. In the summer, with all the baseball, she’ll still play in a basketball league.
Martineau has played for the L7s travel baseball team and will continue this summer and in the fall. She is the only girl on the team.
“A lot of girls tend to play just in all-girl baseball leagues in the summer, softball in the spring,” Martineau said. “Or even a boys baseball travel team in the summer, but not high school baseball.”
After the COVID quarantine in 2020, Martineau went on a Zoom call about recruiting. How to get in contact with college coaches. How to get yourself out there.
“One of the recommendations was Twitter,” Martineau said. “I’m like, ‘This is fairly easy. Just post videos on Twitter.’ I really wasn’t expecting much. I started posting that spring. My dad and I and one or two friends. There was no season. We were just shooting video by ourselves in a field.”
She was surprised by the growing views and by the feedback. Jeff Frye, player agent and former major leaguer; Missy Coombes, former Silver Bullets baseball pitcher and softball All-American; Wade Boggs … yes, Chicken Man, Hall of Famer.
“Lillian,” Boggs tweeted, “make sure you don’t lean too much on your left foot on your follow through.”
She is diligent. She is focused. She is determined. She is looking to major in communications in college. Broadcasting would be cool. Kelly Nash of MLB Network has given her encouragement.
“My big goal is to be able to play college baseball,” Martineau said. “There are maybe five women in college baseball. I think I can do it. I believe if someone puts in enough work over time, and if I keep going on the trajectory I’m on, there is a school out there I will be able to play for.
“I’ve seen progress. I’m hitting the ball harder off the tee. My exit velo has gone up. I can throw farther. The more strength and muscle, the more it will help me playing baseball at a more competitive level.”
And with that, Lillian Martineau, one of two lilies of the Connecticut diamond, went back to work.
“I’m working on shortening my bat path and extending through the ball,” she said. “More consistent contact, but not just singles. More doubles is a goal.”