About the topic of Q

[sun]

While at the Big Y supermarket in Plainville, CT yeaterday. I saw a CT license plate that only had the letter Q on it.
Speaking of Q, do you think that she'll be able to get out of the doghouse this year?
Will she be playing more or less than last year, or about the same amount?
Could Q provide enough of a presence to make up for Aubrey's absence?

 

[Bone Dog]

She wasn't in the doghouse. That implies she was being punished. Qadence was still finding her way, like most freshmen. She got minutes, scored some points, grabbed some rebounds, made some mistakes on D. This is all typical of a decent freshman year. It only looks different because injuries pushed Ash and KK into the limelight early. Qadence will get there soon enough, maybe this season.

 

[Majic Hands]

Q really makes me think of Aubrey with a better outside shot as a freshman.

We all get excited about Aubrey coming in and causing instant havoc for our opponent. Creating points and mismatches galore. But I don’t think so much, as a freshman and most of her sophomore year.

I seem to remember a kid being directed to where she was supposed to be on the floor by other players. Aubrey struggled for quite a while. My memory isn’t the best but I think it was around the time she started figuring it out that she got hurt the first time.

If she keeps working Q will be more than fine. I’ve seen what appeared to be Q ready to go after an opponent a couple times. She seems to me to have a little chip on her shoulder. Once she figures it out and the game slows down for her we’ll be pulling out our Pompoms when she’s on the floor

 

[Bone Dog]

Q really makes me think of Aubrey with a better outside shot as a freshman.

We all get excited about Aubrey coming in and causing instant havoc for our opponent. Creating points and mismatches galore. But I don’t think so much, as a freshman and most of her sophomore year.

I seem to remember a kid being directed to where she was supposed to be on the floor by other players. Aubrey struggled for quite a while. My memory isn’t the best but I think it was around the time she started figuring it out that she got hurt the first time.

If she keeps working Q will be more than fine. I’ve seen what appeared to be Q ready to go after an opponent a couple times. She seems to me to have a little chip on her shoulder. Once she figures it out and the game slows down for her we’ll be pulling out our Pompoms when she’s on the floor

I agree on both counts. The struggle for Aubrey that still lingers is with her ball handling. She still makes the mistake of picking up her dribble without knowing where she intends to go with the ball. Often this happens to her in the paint and then she's stuck looking for someone to bail her out, and this sometimes turns into a 3 second violation. This isn't her strength. But she has others that outweigh it, like rebounding, defending at the top of the key, slashing to the rim, and finishing in transition. Above all, as one TV commentator said, "she is the queen of all the little things." There's just a creative ingenuity about her, especially on defense, that can really surprise opponents and fans.

Q shares some of Aubrey's strengths and weaknesses. She's a great finisher in transition and she can really motor down the length of the court. Her defense and rebounding is still a work in progress, but she seems to have good potential in these areas. With her long arms, she can block shots, and when she figures out how to box out as well as Ash, she can become an excellent rebounder. And she seemed to make progress in mastering defensive positioning toward the end of last season. Her perimeter shooting is better and she is more confident with it. Her ball handling may be a little more advanced than Aubrey's.

I watched a few replays of her HS games, and you could see that she was mainly taught to be a spot-up shooter, and she was good at it. She'd occupy the wing and wait for a pass. Geno still uses her in this way. But she has other talents that could be developed, and I suspect Geno is working on this now. I'd like to see her slash to the rim more often in the half court set, though this is clearly Geno's call. Finally, I hope she inherits Aubrey's tiara and becomes queen of all the little things.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Geno said that Q had a couple of really good practices in a row about a week ago. I hope she keeps it up.

 

[oldude]

Q is one of those X-factors we tend to overlook when we discuss UConn WBB. She is an excellent shooter with some length who became a much better finisher as the season progressed. On the few
videos I’ve seen of Q during the offseason, it’s pretty clear that she’s added some muscle to her lean frame. That should serve her well under the boards and on defense.

I have no doubt she will improve significantly from last season. Q has a good opportunity to become part of the Huskies regular rotation as the season starts with a number of freshmen trying to figure things out and veteran players still working their way back from injuries.

 

[oldhusky]

She could be better and play less. I think she was substantially better than Ice last year. In fact she blocked shots at about the same pace, rebounded better than Ice, and offensively was more efficient. But with her thin frame she was not able to bang with bigs and is more of a 3 anyway.

She was the 6th best player in the rotation at year end, and Ice was 7th IMO. the only reason she was behind Ice in minutes was Geno had no choice with the bigs. Ice just had to be better than the alternative of Amari to get substantial minutes. With Q, Geno could keep rotating short rests for the perimeter players and supplement that with a few minutes from Q.

This year Q might be significantly better and play less. Some very good players on the perimeter are going to be dissappointed in their minutes. The question is who is she clearly ahead of on the perimeter. Allie and Morgan were both considered better prospects than Q. Azzi and Caroline when healthy have performed better than even last year's starters of KK and Ashlynn who were obviously ahead of q last year, and Kaitlin comes in with experience and far higher credentials.

Obviously health is still an issue, but Q needs to be better than at least a couple of those players to be a member of the rotation, and even if you look at her as a 3/4 type, when Aubrey returns she will be the obvious choice ahead of Q, and Caroline (if healthy) or Morgan could be contenders for that role too.

The path to playing time for her is not an easy one even if she is better, and I would not be very surprised if she did perform better than some of her competitors, but when you think about it, we have 6 players competing for the 3 perimeter positions that are used to being starters, before even considering the freshmen or Q. Paige, KK and Ashlynn are incumbent starters, Azzi and Caroline were starters before injuries, and Kaitlin is a longtime starters at Princeton. The floor for getting playing time on the perimeter if everyone is healthy is very high, just the way it is, but if you beat the competition all of the contenders have a chance.

 

[oldude]

She could be better and play less. I think she was substantially better than Ice last year. In fact she blocked shots at about the same pace, rebounded better than Ice, and offensively was more efficient. But with her thin frame she was not able to bang with bigs and is more of a 3 anyway.

She was the 6th best player in the rotation at year end, and Ice was 7th IMO. the only reason she was behind Ice in minutes was Geno had no choice with the bigs. Ice just had to be better than the alternative of Amari to get substantial minutes. With Q, Geno could keep rotating short rests for the perimeter players and supplement that with a few minutes from Q.

This year Q might be significantly better and play less. Some very good players on the perimeter are going to be dissappointed in their minutes. The question is who is she clearly ahead of on the perimeter. Allie and Morgan were both considered better prospects than Q. Azzi and Caroline when healthy have performed better than even last year's starters of KK and Ashlynn who were obviously ahead of q last year, and Kaitlin comes in with experience and far higher credentials.

Obviously health is still an issue, but Q needs to be better than at least a couple of those players to be a member of the rotation, and even if you look at her as a 3/4 type, when Aubrey returns she will be the obvious choice ahead of Q, and Caroline (if healthy) or Morgan could be contenders for that role too.

The path to playing time for her is not an easy one even if she is better, and I would not be very surprised if she did perform better than some of her competitors, but when you think about it, we have 6 players competing for the 3 perimeter positions that are used to being starters, before even considering the freshmen or Q. Paige, KK and Ashlynn are incumbent starters, Azzi and Caroline were starters before injuries, and Kaitlin is a longtime starters at Princeton. The floor for getting playing time on the perimeter if everyone is healthy is very high, just the way it is, but if you beat the competition all of the contenders have a chance.

Generally agree with your comments except that from the BE tournament on, when Ice was forced to step up due to Aaliyah’s injury, Ice played her best basketball of the year, and was more critical to UConn’s BE championship and run to the FF than Q. Certainly Q had her moments off the bench. But Ice was thrust into the starting center role on a team with no size, and she played exceptionally well.

 

[Bone Dog]

The path to playing time for her is not an easy one even if she is better, and I would not be very surprised if she did perform better than some of her competitors, but when you think about it, we have 6 players competing for the 3 perimeter positions that are used to being starters, before even considering the freshmen or Q. Paige, KK and Ashlynn are incumbent starters, Azzi and Caroline were starters before injuries, and Kaitlin is a longtime starters at Princeton. The floor for getting playing time on the perimeter if everyone is healthy is very high, just the way it is, but if you beat the competition all of the contenders have a chance.

There may also be chemistry issues. I remember noticing moments last season when she seemed like an outsider in team huddles and celebrations. On more than one occasion, Aaliyah seemed to be trying to draw her in. Geno's teams have a very family style culture and Q may not have found a way to get comfortable with this yet. I hope she finds it soon.

 

[Bills Fan]

I know there are a few Q lovers in the Yard, but I see her minutes as being very limited when/if all 14 players are able to play. Q's biggest problem is her limitation of position. She is never an option at the 1 or the 5. Likewise she will not see any minutes at the 2 based on who is ahead of her for minutes there (PB, Ash, KK, Chen, Azzi, Allie and Morgan). She will be a low option at the 4 after Ice, Sarah, Aubrey and Patterson. All of this leaves her main opportunities at the 3 and my view is that Sarah, Aubrey, Caroline and Morgan will be in front of her on the depth chart at that spot.

I know there are many problems relying on recruiting rankings coming out of high school, but the only recruit ranked in the same area as Q , was Aubrey. I am excluding Chen and Jana as unique with regard to these rankings. All the rest of the team were top 10 and Q came in rated pretty far behind them. The main, maybe only, reason Q got the minutes she did last year was the depleted bench at positions (2-4) (Azzi, Caroline, Aubrey and Yanna) that provided her playing time.

 

[DefenseBB]

There may also be chemistry issues. I remember noticing moments last season when she seemed like an outsider in team huddles and celebrations. On more than one occasion, Aaliyah seemed to be trying to draw her in. Geno's teams have a very family style culture and Q may not have found a way to get comfortable with this yet. I hope she finds it soon.

You are delusional. There is ZERO EVIDENCE of this observation. In fact my observation as a season ticket holder with seats directly behind the bench, I completely refute your reckless comment as pure fodder.

 

[Charliebball]

Q didn't show enough consistent play at either end of the floor to warrant serious playing time last year.....her outside shot was all over the place.....she's one of the few players on the team that could swish a three-pointer and then fire an airball all in the course of one minute......she's clearly got talent but a healthy Aubrey is a far better defender and rebounder at this point in their careers.....time will tell......

 

[Tufkas]

In the post-game, outside the locker room interview, Coach did make a point after their semi-final "loss" to Iowa of declaring he probably made a mistake not playing Q more. Compelling since he rarely, if ever, acknowledges mistakes, unless his family forces him to.

 

[Bone Dog]

You are delusional. There is ZERO EVIDENCE of this observation. In fact my observation as a season ticket holder with seats directly behind the bench, I completely refute your reckless comment as pure fodder.

Thank you for better information. I was only going on stray glimpses of tv and worrying.

 

[tchalla1]

You are delusional. There is ZERO EVIDENCE of this observation. In fact my observation as a season ticket holder with seats directly behind the bench, I completely refute your reckless comment as pure fodder.

Thank you for your strong refute of the notion that Q is an outsider on the team based on a single, broadly interpretive observation. I usually believe that everyone's opinion adds value, but when you throw something out here that has no apparent substantive credibility and/or no statistical significance, especially a statement that tends to mischaracterize a player, your "hammer time" response is most appropriate!

 

[Cornell Lt]

Q will carve out her niche on this team. She was and is an important part of this team. You can tell by the videos that she has been working hard on her body composition. I have been a fan of Q's since she arrived on the scene and I have high expectations for her.

 

[Monte]

Thank you, everyone who contributed their opinion on Q's presence on this year's squad. There is no doubt that this girl has basketball talent. She seems like a great kid who clearly wants to put forth her best effort on the court.
Yes, she does have things to work on: defense, and being more consistent on her 3-point shots. She does seem a little nervous and unstable at times. Last year, I was waiting to see her improvement guided by the coaching staff. I am unaware about what goes on in practices, but I felt she should have been given more playing time
I wish her the best of luck this year!

 

[Majic Hands]

I didn’t include this in my earlier post.
But.

I felt that last year whenever Q entered the game she was a spot up shooter. That’s what she was good at. As the season progressed and towards the end I felt that she was working so much on her defense, being a facilitator, setting screens, that her offense/3 point shot suffered. She was a freshman.

 

[Skeets]

OK, here's a post that Nan is likely to bounce. First off, I really like Q. She has good upside. But those Afro Puffs? At first night they were enormous. Biggest I've ever seen. I got to believe that if she doesn't trim them a little the wind resistance will slow her down just a little bit. Then again, the defense might be mesmerized when she has the ball by those puffs,

 

[oldude]

Several BY’ers have suggested that Q was “inconsistent” or “needs to work” on her 3-pt shooting, which has me scratching my head? Q had the 4th highest shooting percentage from the arc for the Huskies, shooting a very respectable .354, on 35/99 shots. She trailed only Paige (.416), Nika (.402) and was just behind Ashlynn (.356), all starters.

Now seriously, I challenge anyone to come off the bench, take almost 100 x 3’s and shoot over 35%. I know everyone believes that Ashlynn is an excellent 3-pt shooter. Well, if Q hit just 1 more of her 3’s last season, she would have shot a better percentage than the CFOY.

 

[donalddoowop]

I didn’t include this in my earlier post.
But.

I felt that last year whenever Q entered the game she was a spot up shooter. That’s what she was good at. As the season progressed and towards the end I felt that she was working so much on her defense, being a facilitator, setting screens, that her offense/3 point shot suffered. She was a freshman.

I believe Q was doing what Geno told her to do early in the season. I believe as she played more, she was asked to expand her game. She will improve just like most other UConn freshmen do.

 

[Stagnant]

If the team is healthy and Aubrey and Azzi come back into the team. It may be hard for her to crack the rotation this season.

One thing injuries have taught us is that bench players need to stay ready.

 

[oldude]

If the team is healthy and Aubrey and Azzi come back into the team. It may be hard for her to crack the rotation this season.

One thing injuries have taught us is that bench players need to stay ready.

It will be interesting to see how the rotation plays out. The one thing I would note is that Q has the benefit of being healthy and would likely get the opportunity to earn a spot in the rotation before Azzi & Aubrey are back at 100%.

 

[Bigboote]

Sometimes, one problem cascades into other aspects of the game, and fixing that fixes most issues.

To me it seemed that all that was wrong with Q's game originated from her not having picked up the speed of the game, or UConn's complex read-and-react system on offense and defense. How many post-mortems last year included something to the effect, Q didn't know where she was supposed to be on defense (or offense)? I dunno, but it was quite a few.

It seemed to me that she improved that quite a bit over the season, but it's hard to tell because Geno as usual tightened up the rotation toward the end. But suffice to say, she has a year under her belt, she's a hard worker and willing to learn, and I'll bet the system is internalized now. With all that, there will be fewer butterflies and less hesitation. I'm expecting a big improvement from Q this year.

 

[Majic Hands]

We have enough of an issue here on the BY of an opinion/thought that a poster should’ve kept to themselves but post anyway.

Let alone bringing in something from outside the BY.

Just Say-N

 

[darrell]

Look, I don't really care. I just said what I saw. There was friction. It's young person drama and I'm not a part of it, I don't care about it and it's between a bunch of girls who got it sorted out so it's no longer an issue. That's it. That's the end of it for me. I won't discuss it further.

I saw it, I know what you’re referencing and it’s hopefully something that was resolved.

I don’t really care about the young person drama either, but she’s still apart of the team, so here’s to another great season.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Might be time to wrap up this thread. It's fallen and can't get up.