I watched some of Piath's above game film. Help me understand. What did she show in that game that makes her "UConn worthy"? I am staying on safe ground here.
I don’t know exactly when the film was taken, or how long Piath had been playing basketball at that time. There is another game highlight film on the internet taken by the father of a guard from Simsbury who attacks Piath in the paint throughout the game scoring or getting fouled frequently. As I watched that film, it struck me that Piath did not yet understand how to move her feet or use her size to defend the paint.
With the exception of a handful of Bigs (Stewie) almost all Bigs come to college with significant shortcomings. When I watched Liv in UConn’s 1st exhibition game last season, she was so raw I thought it might take 2 seasons or more before she became a solid player for the Huskies. But after watching her develop over the course of the season as well as this summer, along with her new muscled frame, I have no doubt that Liv will be very good this season.
Piath is still learning the game. To get some idea how she might develop, we can look at her brother Wenyen. In 2 seasons at KY he averaged a pedestrian 5 minutes per game. As an undrafted free agent, Wenyen signed a joint NBA/G-League contract with Sacramento/Stockton. Watching a highlight film of Wenyen in a summer league game vs Golden State, I was struck by his exceptional athleticism and tremendous potential to ultimately be a solid professional in the NBA.
Geno is the best evaluator of ability in WBB. I’m sure the scholarship offer he extended to Piath was not done on a whim, and is based on a continuing evaluation over several years. I’m going to trust Geno on this one. I look forward to seeing Piath’s development over the next few seasons and sincerely hope she accepts UConn’s scholarship offer.
I think there are a lot of bright and sunny days ahead (in the near future) for the Huskies and us.
