26-27 season

[dtbtbtb]

Jana's problem is that most of the teams UConn plays against (and in the BE, all of them) are small, fairly quick with a lot of movement and she is just too slow (reaction time) to handle those kind of players. Now, clearly on the other side if Jana catches the ball close to the basket and does not miss layups, those same team got very little they can do against her...so, the best scenario is that Jana works hard during the summer on conditioning, catching the ball and finishing with authority. She is (and has been for the last 2 seasons) the best rebounder on UConn but for UConn to be a real Championship contender, Jana needs ot be one of the top 5 centers in WBB and i believe she can do it.

 

[BobbyJ]

you can say that her injury before her UConn career set her back and she hasn’t fully recovered from that. You can’t say she didn’t have the skills as the videos of her in the FIBA U19 games (and others) showed her talent. She was able to make plenty of threes, drive past folks and was actually considered a PF not center. Your comment of her floor and ceiling is not accurate IMO. I think Geno is too bought into a small lineup and he puts “Bigs” in a box and all he wants is rebounds, some def (in limited minutes) and a layup or two. Maybe that is the reason that high potential bigs don’t choose UConn. If something doesn’t change we will win a lot until late in the tournament and get out muscled and out played by more aggressive strong interior players.

Skills and performance against undersized HS post players in HS competition doesn’t indicate readiness to handle high level D1 competition. At 6-5, if she was good enough and quick enough to play more than 11 mpg, especially against the BE schedule, Auriemma would be playing her more. But she’s not. As I said, she has a lot of work to do to get regular PT and we’ll see if she does it this summer. And you mean high potential bigs like Vukosa don’t choose UConn?

 

[GetReal2day]

Skills and performance against undersized HS post players in HS competition doesn’t indicate readiness to handle high level D1 competition. At 6-5, if she was good enough and quick enough to play more than 11 mpg, especially against the BE schedule, Auriemma would be playing her more. But she’s not. As I said, she has a lot of work to do to get regular PT and we’ll see if she does it this summer. And you mean high potential bigs like Vukosa don’t choose UConn?

Competition Stats - FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup | FIBA Basketball Events

Discover detailed statistics of FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup - players leaders and games highs, teams leaders and game highs

www.fiba.basketball

 

[cleobel60]

Skills and performance against undersized HS post players in HS competition doesn’t indicate readiness to handle high level D1 competition. At 6-5, if she was good enough and quick enough to play more than 11 mpg, especially against the BE schedule, Auriemma would be playing her more. But she’s not. As I said, she has a lot of work to do to get regular PT and we’ll see if she does it this summer. And you mean high potential bigs like Vukosa don’t choose UConn?

Practice, practice, practice. This is necessary, however, practicing against the same players all the time does not always equate to improvement. Playing in games help improvement because you have to adjust to so many different players and styles. When we are winning by 20-30 points in some games, why not let Jana play more. Like anything in life, the more you do something, the easier to adapt. She needs more time in game like situations. I could guarantee you that if she had gone into transfer portal that she would have been taken quickly. She would be a starter on many teams.

 

[BobbyJ]

Practice, practice, practice. This is necessary, however, practicing against the same players all the time does not always equate to improvement. Playing in games help improvement because you have to adjust to so many different players and styles. When we are winning by 20-30 points in some games, why not let Jana play more. Like anything in life, the more you do something, the easier to adapt. She needs more time in game like situations. I could guarantee you that if she had gone into transfer portal that she would have been taken quickly. She would be a starter on many teams.

1) This is true. However, she needs to show Auriemma that she can be successful over time against players she's familiar in practice before he'll use her much against players she's not.
2) That's fine with me in blowouts but in those games she's going against competition that's not as good as what she sees in practice. You'd have to ask Auriemma about his reasoning in that.

 

[BobbyJ]

Competition Stats - FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup | FIBA Basketball Events

Discover detailed statistics of FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup - players leaders and games highs, teams leaders and game highs

www.fiba.basketball

Reread my first sentence. And you didn't answer my question at the end.

 

[GetReal2day]

Reread my first sentence. And you didn't answer my question at the end.

Even though her team was not that strong or deep, she still put up impressive numbers against every team she played against and not all of them where undersized HS players. Did you watch any of her pre UConn videos? As far as NOT getting bigs to come to UConn, I meant like Okeke and Beers and none so far this portal season. I bet they don’t want to be in the UConn big player box. I do hope Vukosa (not really a Center but a 4) gets used better than Ice or Jana have. I hope Jana is able to win the starting C spot and give us the toughness that was missing last year.
Geno’s preference for small ball has challenges against teams like SC and UCLA.

 

[towerman]

A lot of wishful thinking going on here.

 

[hoophuskee]

You play with the players you have. That rule hasn’t changed. Call it “old school”. If the team has a dominant center you’re gunna win ALWAYS. It’s a geometry lesson. The basket is situated 10’ above the ground. Put it on the ground and we can talk about guards dominating.
More than once, Geno’s motion offense has screeched to a halt. Geno was furious that his offense was stymied. I’m pissed too. Gotta have an answer. Maybe KK could have broken down SC’s “grabbing defense”.
Going Big doesn’t mean going slow. Phi Slamma Jamma.

Not true unless the definition of "a dominant center" is only after they win, we call them a dominant center. Teams need some height -- but they don't need a dominant center to win. Last year was proof of that. Last year "the dominant center from UCLA" got embarrassed by small-ball.

And when you mention "more than once . . ." -- what does that mean? More than once Dawn has been blown out (twice)e in the finals (the past 2 years.). More than Once Vic doesn't see the Finals as the Texas coach etc.

Geno was furious that the Refs stymied his Offense too. That can't be brushed under the table.

The Phi Slmma Jamma Team you want to hold up never won a title. And the team that beat then was led by guards and Thurl Bailey- a perimeter scorer. As a result, the point you made Bigs always win, - have shown to be that they don't. Even when their talent is beyond extreme vs another opponent. Definitely questions for next year but when you have a returning NPOY, a probable All-American, a ton of experience with a ton of winning pedigree, and three potential core players in OV, Jovana, and Cheli, it's hardly no shot to win it all as a few psoters made mention and maybe some agreed with.

As an old timer that I am, imo the fundamentals of basketball are better for team than height (H) or athleticism (A), as long as you have enough of H and A. UCONN showed in 2024-205 that a Big isn't needed just as NC State showed that Phi Slamma Jamma needed more than "Just a Big."

 

[hoophuskee]

Even though her team was not that strong or deep, she still put up impressive numbers against every team she played against and not all of them where undersized HS players. Did you watch any of her pre UConn videos? As far as NOT getting bigs to come to UConn, I meant like Okeke and Beers and none so far this portal season. I bet they don’t want to be in the UConn big player box. I do hope Vukosa (not really a Center but a 4) gets used better than Ice or Jana have. I hope Jana is able to win the starting C spot and give us the toughness that was missing last year.
Geno’s preference for small ball has challenges against teams like SC and UCLA.

IMO you are putting too much value in an overseas exhibition tournament that wasn't competing against USA players. We’ll knock our team for playing in a weak conference, but yet we're supposed to put Jana on a very-high-pedestal playing in a thrown-together summer-league tournement lineup but not going against the best? As far as Beers, imo this highlights to me that you only want to see low post basketball. Beers never won a thing while Auriemma goes to FF's and wins titles. IMO you are holding too much value in the wrong things.

 

[Cuango]

I’m not buying the “doom & gloom” of some posters. Yes, we have some things that need to be tweaked, improved, and/or changed but this team has plenty of returning talent to win #13! I think there’s almost no chance that KK, Ash, Allie, and K9 don’t come back greatly improved with fire coming out their nostrils! Ditto Blanca, Sarah, Jana, Morgan. I think Jana is very hungry and I will be shocked if she does not come back in the best shape of her life! Then we have “O”, Gandy, & Kelis. I believe Morgan will be, at some point, a big contributor. She has a lot in her toolbox and I believe we will see it next season!

“O” is obviously a big key. She could fundamentally change how Geno decides to play or she could be a “developing” player. Kelis and Gandy are big unknowns. They probably will not be “gamechangers” but I don’t completely rule either one of them out. I could see Gandy becoming a defensive asset with her height and size and I could see Kelis becoming a factor with her speed. Not counting on it but I do think it is possible if they both put in the work over the summer.

I have no doubts as to this team’s ability/likelihood of being a dominant/Final Four team next season and, depending on the attitude/desire of the players after one of the most disappointing losses in many years, (plus the fact that I anticipate that Geno will be on an absolute mission next year) I personally believe we could be more dominant than last year. Obviously, things have to go a certain way for this to happen but I am very optimistic that Geno will not be the only one on a mission! Finally, I think Sarah in particular, is going to show everyone that her POY awards this season were no fluke and that she is intent on adding another title to the one she already has.

Last thing: I believe Geno will certainly put a lot of focus next season in preparing this team to handle physical play without fouling. As much as he loves the beautiful, flowing game he’s taught for so long, and that he will continue to teach, I think he realizes that Dawn, at the very least, and perhaps others as well, will always try to turn their game with UConn into what he calls a “wrestling match”, “not basketball” as he calls it. If the refs allow that kind of game, which seems to happen more and more, then there are only two ways to win. One; shoot the lights out and play good defense, two; play physically yourself.

Last year we were able to shoot the ball well enough that they simply could not keep up! This year, it was the opposite.(One wonders what would have happened if several of our players had not been in shooting slumps going into that game but they were.) By the way, I take nothing away from Dawn for her style of play. She has a strategy that works and kudos to her! I personally don’t like that style of basketball but I do respect it.