Adamec: Andra Espinoza-Hunter with a big game in a big game

[Blakeon18]

https://www.sny.tv/uconn/news/noteb...ght-at-end-of-regular-season-tunnel/164538504

Scroll down a bit and Carl reports that our 2017 verbal had 31 in a close win to take the Prep Championship in Blair's area....63-56. I believe she is more a shooting guard than point....combining her with Crystal for 3 years...sweet!

Wonder how Fee Aiyeotan did in that game...the 6'9" senior...with a spring commit coming up?

 

[Huskies Rule]

Andra is definitely NOT a point guard. Honesty Grayson-Scott plays the point for Blair. I saw Andra play 4 times this year, and she has a beautiful outside shot with great range- she is a flat-out, pure shooter. Andra was forced to play the point when Grayson-Scott didn't play (vs. Paterson-Eastside), and while she did a commendable job, she was not in her comfort zone trying to be the distributor. She isn't afraid to drive the basket, has great intensity, and while she has a pretty good handle, it certainly isn't point-guard-good.

Andra has good size, and when she gets stronger and matures, I think she's going to be a really outstanding Husky.

As for Aiyeotan, while I'm certainly no expert, it's clear the kid is a multi-year project of epic proportions. Some D1 program likely will not be able to resist recruiting her solely based upon her great length, but she is so raw, so new to the game, and her play is so passive that it's hard (without a vivid imagination) to see her as anything more than a D2 player.

 

[Blakeon18]

Huskies Rule: appreciate your insights.

 

[CocoHusky]

Blake & Huskies Rule FYI Brief summary of the Blair Rutgers Prep Game last night.

Great win for Blair since Rutgers Prep was the #2 team in the State and undefeated prior to this loss. AEH was the show in the first half of the game but spent much of the second half disengaged and lethargic. Honesty is finally healthy and played well at times wildly at other times spending most of the first half in foul trouble. Fee has shown no basketball skills improvement and is still largely the same player she was at Neumann-Goretti two years ago. Side Notes: Maya Moore has a step sister playing for Rutgers Prep and Rutgers Prep is one of the best coached HS teams I have seen in quite a while.

 

[Huskies Rule]

Blake & Huskies Rule FYI Brief summary of the Blair Rutgers Prep Game last night.

Thanks, Coco. Prep's Klinger is well respected. If I remember right, she coached USA Girls Basketball, on some level. Surprised she didn't go after Aiyeotan- she likes 'em really tall, having previously recruited that 6'11" Anderson kid from Jamaica (went to Pitt; don't think she ever played due to knee problems.)

As for Andra, in the games I've seen her play, her conditioning was not the best, and she looked somewhat gassed at game's end. Perhaps what some saw as lethargy and disengagement was, in fact, fatigue, and tired players often do look and play 'unfocused.' We shouldn't forget that she's very young, and as she gets older and stronger and works hard on her conditioning, she'll become a special player. (I think.)

 

[Sluconn Husky]

As for Andra, in the games I've seen her play, her conditioning was not the best, and she looked somewhat gassed at game's end. Perhaps what some saw as lethargy and disengagement was, in fact, fatigue, and tired players often do look and play 'unfocused.'

According to someone who was there, Espinosa-Hunter was suffering from an intestinal virus that is going around her campus.

 

[Papa33]

Thanks, Coco. Prep's Klinger is well respected. If I remember right, she coached USA Girls Basketball, on some level. Surprised she didn't go after Aiyeotan- she likes 'em really tall, having previously recruited that 6'11" Anderson kid from Jamaica (went to Pitt; don't think she ever played due to knee problems.)

As for Andra, in the games I've seen her play, her conditioning was not the best, and she looked somewhat gassed at game's end. Perhaps what some saw as lethargy and disengagement was, in fact, fatigue, and tired players often do look and play 'unfocused.' We shouldn't forget that she's very young, and as she gets older and stronger and works hard on her conditioning, she'll become a special player. (I think.)

As I watched the YouTube broadcast of the game, it brought to mind some recent Boneyard discussions of touted high school players and the gap between their skill sets and expectations and Geno's. As Geno said after the Cincinnati game, “The modern day player jogs, and everybody tells them that they’re running. When they come to college, they jog and want to be told ‘good hustle’. Someone like Moriah or Stewie plays 100% every game. That’s the challenge of taking in players from high school nowadays.”

Andra will have to ramp up her investment in defensive effort and also adapt to the heavy emphasis on movement and passing— as opposed to one-on-one, make-your-own-shot— on the the offensive end if she wants to meet UConn standards for playing time. Nothing new or exceptional there, as we well know.

 

[CocoHusky]

As I watched the YouTube broadcast of the game, it brought to mind some recent Boneyard discussions of touted high school players and the gap between their skill sets and expectations and Geno's. As Geno said after the Cincinnati game, “The modern day player jogs, and everybody tells them that they’re running. When they come to college, they jog and want to be told ‘good hustle’. Someone like Moriah or Stewie plays 100% every game. That’s the challenge of taking in players from high school nowadays.”

Andra will have to ramp up her investment in defensive effort and also adapt to the heavy emphasis on movement and passing— as opposed to one-on-one, make-your-own-shot— on the the offensive end if she wants to meet UConn standards for playing time. Nothing new or exceptional there, as we well know.

I hear what your saying but I think Slu's explanation- AEH had stomach virus -makes the most sense. I have seen AEH play live a couple of times now and this summer she was among the most active perimeter defenders for USA basketball. AEH is not a jogger and she has been around the UCONN program enough to realize what the UCONN standards are for effort. Let's just say her second half effort was not typical and leave it at that.