I think you have this one nailed. Her best opportunity comes this season if there is going to be a season. At a minimum Piath needs to be ONO backup and capable of spelling her 7 minutes per game. BTW. Stewie was not named BE or National freshman of the year in a season when she was FF Most Outstanding player and NCAA champion. That distinction went to Jewell Loyd.
Yes, I’m thinking Steph can teach Piath how to set a pick, and then Geno can bring in Stef to work with her on her 3-pt shooting....Could not figure out how Steph Curry was going to help with a pick.
Do you doubt for one moment that the coaches will work with her to raise her release point? They certainly have lots of experience doing so with other players. A low release point is common for players who tower above everyone in highschool.
Pretty sure she won’t be shooting from more than 2-3’ from the basket. And I’m much more interested in her defense and rebounding. She will not have much of a role offensively.
Olivia comes to mind. She, like several posts before her, had a bad habit of bringing the ball down after rebounding and before going back up. Not the same thing as changing release point, but same general principle. Re Pheesa, she and Alex began changing her shot after her junior year.
Natalie Butler did the same thing at first until the coaches worked with her to change that habit.
If you watch DeBerry I really like it when she catches the ball high, it stays high and she shoots at the pinnacle of her reach. Liv still brings the ball down and it gets slapped away. Hope to see an improvement this year.
DeBerry has been well schooled in AAU by the same coaches that worked with Laura Harper, Crystal Langhorne and Stewie. Amari has also benefited from two years of USA basketball trials where the instruction is supurb. Piath did not have the benefit of any of that. I have no doubt the UCONN staff will work with Piath and she will improve. Keep in mind that the staff also has 5 other new players that need to be integrated into the team this year.
I don't remember this being an issue with Natalie Butler. Keeping the ball high above her head and snapping the two handed outlet pass to start the break was among Natalie's best strengths. Although she did have a thumb injury at the start of her UCONN eligibility.
If you take a look at Nat’s play her 1st year actually playing at UConn in offense, she would get a rebound or receive an entry pass, bring it down to her waist, then set herself, and seemingly take forever to put it back up again. In the meantime, opposing defenders would swarm on her, tie her up or strip the ball from her. It used to drive me crazy when 5’8” guards could tie her up under the basket.
I did take a look at Natalie's play. Her debut was against Cincinnati and as I mention before she was still recovering from the thumb injury (thumb was bandaged). Despite the injured thumb she consistently held the ball above her head. Natalie did not play in many competitive games for the remainder of that season and I don't doubt she had an occasional lapse of bringing the ball down to her waist. Generally speaking though this (bringing the ball to her waist) was not a habit of Natalie before or at UCONN. The UCONN game replays from this time verify this and there is also film from her 1 year at Georgetown which also verify. If this were a bad habit it would have been corrected by the staff in the year Natalie was sitting out after transferring from Georgetown. The UCONN staff would not have wait until 2 years after she had been at UCONN to correct it. The way Natalie held the ball above her head is what every coach teaches bigs to play and notice she was doing this at Georgetown.
