Additional (Interesting) Observations from Yesterday

[UConnCat]

from Jim Fuller in his blog: http://elmcitytoeaglevillenhr.blogspot.com/

Bria played off the ball a lot and was both aggressive and impressive. Geno thinks she's more aggressive offensively when she's not expected to set up her teammates and he wants her to be aggressive on the offensive end. Fuller thinks she could be the team's leading scorer if she plays off the ball most of the season.

Kelly was draining 3s and was looking for her shot. Great news.

Tiff was posting up, KML hit open shots and grabbed rebounds, BB drove to the basket and hit jump shots and Kiah impressed on defense but needs to work on her offensive game.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I am still hoping to see Hartley start at the 2 spot. I think that's the position that most suits her game. I've said that since midway last season. That's just one of the reasons that Doty is so important this year.

 

[bruinbball]

Finally something on Faris! Glad to know she is still ont he team

 

[UConnCat]

Finally something on Faris! Glad to know she is still ont he team

Here's a brief Q & A with Kelly (from the team website) from yesterday's media day:

#34 Kelly Faris, Jr., G, Plainfield, Ind.


On the UConn team after Maya Moore:
"It is a lot different this year. Maya Moore was the key player and the member of the team that bailed us out. The dynamics of the team have changed. The rest of the team cannot sit around and give the ball to one player. It will be a test to see if we can adjust to that. We've got to go back to everyone on the team moving again. This is our team now and we have to do what we can with our team."

On the team playing as a collective unit:
"This year is definitely going to be collective. We're adjusting and we'll see how we can play as a team again."

On being an upperclassmen:
"This year I am trying to encourage and let people know where they need to be. I've done that a little bit. I have to be a scorer. I need to get back to scoring. I did it a little bit here and there last year, but I need to be more consistent. There are no excuses. I am going to be put to the test and see if I can be an offensive threat. Defensively, I need to always have energy and pressure the ball."

On her confidence:
"I feel more confident than this point last year. I have looked a lot at my shot all offseason. I need to be consistent and I have the confidence that I can be."

 

[Icebear]

I am still hoping to see Hartley start at the 2 spot. I think that's the position that most suits her game. I've said that since midway last season. That's just one of the reasons that Doty is so important this year.

+1

 

[Wbbfan1]

If Bria is playing the 2 guard, does this mean Brianna starts the season as the Point Guard?

I guess the Point Guard, could be Caroline if she is healthy. Geno and the coaching staff have to be wondering about Caroline with her injuries and relapses.

Is the starting lineup Brianna (PG), Bria (2G), Tiff (Wing) Kelly (Forward) and Steff at Center?

 

[Icebear]

Caroline.

 

[VAMike23]

I think the best guess is still Caroline as the starting PG, captain, leader, etc., and except for Stef, the rest is just going to be in flux, filled by committee. Much will depend on the number of minutes that Geno feels comfortable with for CDoty. If the knee performs well, this number will likely be higher come tournament time than it is in November.

Relative to most years and most teams, this year's team will exhibit a much weaker relationship between 'starting' and things like minutes/points/stats/impact for positions 1-4. IMHO.

 

[bruinbball]

Agreed, if Caroline is 100%, she will be the PG.

 

[doggydaddy]

If Bria is playing the 2 guard, does this mean Brianna starts the season as the Point Guard?

I guess the Point Guard, could be Caroline if she is healthy. Geno and the coaching staff have to be wondering about Caroline with her injuries and relapses.

Is the starting lineup Brianna (PG), Bria (2G), Tiff (Wing) Kelly (Forward) and Steff at Center?

Doty will start at point guard. God willing, she will stay healthy.

 

[EricLA]

one other thing i thought was interesting was that Jim said "Personally, I think if Hartley can play the entire season at shooting guard, I have no question that she will end up as UConn's leading scorer this season. Hartley downplayed the switch off the ball."

Now, in order for that to happen, Caroline most likely starts at the 1 spot as many have noted on here. but also, when she comes out, most likely Brianna would come in at the 1. i don't see Kelly ever playing there, and the only other option if it's not Bria would be Tiff.

my point is that if Ms. Banks is good enough to be the back up PG, that's saying something really special about her skill set as well as her mind set. really impressive indeed...

 

[VAMike23]

one other thing i thought was interesting was that Jim said "Personally, I think if Hartley can play the entire season at shooting guard, I have no question that she will end up as UConn's leading scorer this season. Hartley downplayed the switch off the ball."

Now, in order for that to happen, Caroline most likely starts at the 1 spot as many have noted on here. but also, when she comes out, most likely Brianna would come in at the 1. i don't see Kelly ever playing there, and the only other option if it's not Bria would be Tiff.

my point is that if Ms. Banks is good enough to be the back up PG, that's saying something really special about her skill set as well as her mind set. really impressive indeed...

I think Geno would be very comfortable with Bria&Tiff sharing the point, so to speak, when Caroline is on the bench. BBanks will be brought along at a more traditional pace, not like Bria last year. She will be part of 'the Committee' at guard but not looked at as CDoty's immediate backup at the point, IMO.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Lots of info and residual questions.

Who played PG yesterday? I assume it was Brianna. Both Caroline and Sue were not participating.

Quote on the frosh:

"I saw what I thought I'd see from the freshmen. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis hit shots when she was open but also mixed it up inside going after rebounds, Brianna Banks continued to impress with her slashing drives to the basket as well as the range on her jumper. Kiah Stokes is very active on defense but will have to continue to work on her offensive game."

There is nothing surprising or particularly negative there. We know Kiah needs work on her offensive game. That will take time. Her reach on defense and rebounding should be a big asset. Brianna continues to impress--and she playes defense. Kaleena makes shots--at a very high rate--and does other things. She does not shy away from contact.

Tiffany posting up--interesting. I expect to see KML doing that.

Classic Geno:

"There are two hours a week where you can get together for 30 practices in a 40-day period before your first game and all that other [expletive deleted]," Auriemma said. "All I know is we start practice on Saturday October 15. This was part, you can have workout with your team for a very limited time during the course of preseason. You can do an hour or two hours, I don’t even know because I don’t ever do it. I just did this so you knuckleheads could talk to them afterward."

 

[VAMike23]

Lots of info and residual questions.

Who played PG yesterday? I assume it was Brianna. Both Caroline and Sue were not participating.

Quote on the frosh:

"I saw what I thought I'd see from the freshmen. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis hit shots when she was open but also mixed it up inside going after rebounds, Brianna Banks continued to impress with her slashing drives to the basket as well as the range on her jumper. Kiah Stokes is very active on defense but will have to continue to work on her offensive game."

There is nothing surprising or particularly negative there. We know Kiah needs work on her offensive game. That will take time. Her reach on defense and rebounding should be a big asset. Brianna continues to impress--and she playes defense. Kaleena makes shots--at a very high rate--and does other things. She does not shy away from contact.

Tiffany posting up--interesting. I expect to see KML doing that.

Classic Geno:

"There are two hours a week where you can get together for 30 practices in a 40-day period before your first game and all that other [expletive deleted]," Auriemma said. "All I know is we start practice on Saturday October 15. This was part, you can have workout with your team for a very limited time during the course of preseason. You can do an hour or two hours, I don’t even know because I don’t ever do it. I just did this so you knuckleheads could talk to them afterward."

One of my very favorite plays from last year was in a game where Tiff posted up hard on the right block, got the defender on her back, and then IIRC fired a sweet bounce pass to a cutter for a layup. I want to say it was Kelly but I don't remember, and I don't even remember which game it was. I just remember that it was so cool (and rare) seeing Tiff post up as part of what appeared to be a called play, rather than just exploiting a mismatch or something on the fly. And I remember how excited she was after making the pass

 

[MilfordHusky]

One of my very favorite plays from last year was in a game where Tiff posted up hard on the right block, got the defender on her back, and then IIRC fired a sweet bounce pass to a cutter for a layup. I want to say it was Kelly but I don't remember, and I don't even remember which game it was. I just remember that it was so cool (and rare) seeing Tiff post up as part of what appeared to be a called play, rather than just exploiting a mismatch or something on the fly. And I remember how excited she was after making the pass

Tiff will have options, including Kelly, Bria, Kaleena, and Stef. I like the idea. Exploit the matchups as much as possible. Put players in positions not expected by the defense.

 

[magical2]

I am sure a # of us have note book pages filled with potential lineups for this season and mins, as well
as 2012 and beyond! If healthy CD will probably spend most of her time at the one. As to how many minutes she will play is an unknown. My guess has been she will not be playing anywhere near 30 minutes per game. If she stays healthy<praying> figure up to 20 min a game. Bria,Tiff, and Banks will likely be PG by committee depending on game situations.
Kelly has the ability to play 1-4,but unless Johnson steps up she may be spending most of her time at the 4. If not her then who? Against lower level opponents Geno's options are easy,but against upper echelon teams the 4 becomes limited to a very skilled,under rated.5'11" do everything KF! <This is all based on the knowns from the past season and the unknowns as of today>What we would consider traditional 4s/5s are Johnson 6'2",Stokes6'3",Buck 6'4",and Dolson6'5". Buck limited mins and Dolson** seem to be 5s to me. Stokes is a FR who may develop beyond a very intriquing defensive player. That leaves us with Johnson who is an unknown due to knee surguries.
We could very well play a lineup and style of play of the mens 64 NCAA Champions the UCLA Bruins!

 

[CTyankee]

This will be an interesting year... I want to see who takes over a leader role... Who will be go-to player... Whether they will spread the scoring around or depend on one person...

 

[Scotter]

Bria Hartley is an interesting case. She was definitely more of a scorer than a playmaker coming into UConn. Which you would normally want off the ball, but she also would tend to get lost off the ball and not make much of an impact. She is obviously can make spot up shots, but moving off the ball wasn't natural to her. She tended to be much more effective with the ball in her hands. I'll be tracking her progress playing off the ball this season.

I think lessening the burdens of the management responsibilities on playing point guard is the bigger benefit than actually taking her off the ball to score. Bria will still spend plenty of time functioning as the point guard, and even if Caroline starts as I expect Bria will still have the bulk of the point guard responsibilities when Caroline is off the floor. Bria playing point guard is not going to suddenly disappear. I would be surprised to see Brianna play significant minutes at point guard on offense this season. Geno is more likely to use in her ways that let her make an immediate impact with her athleticism without the burden of processing more information.

 

[Icebear]

Scotter, Geno's comments would seem to indicate otherwise. Preferring Bria off the ball this year.

 

[Kevin G]

Another poster brought up a good point. Who will step up to be Stef's back up if she gets in foul trouble. My intuition leans toward Kiah but who really knows. I would love to have nothing more than to have Michala, Heather, & Kiah all rotate in with Stef as back up or side by side.

 

[Scotter]

Scotter, Geno's comments would seem to indicate otherwise. Preferring Bria off the ball this year.

I think you may have misunderstood my comments. I have no quarrel with Bria being moved off the ball. I would do the same as a coach. As I said, removing the management responsibilities to allow her to be more mentally focused on scoring is a positive. I was merely observing that while scoring is a natural strength, playing off the ball isn't and that I would be watching to see how Bria improves her instincts for playing off the ball. Geno compared her to Renee in mentality and I think that is fairly apt. Playing off the ball helped Renee score more even though she was never a natural shooting guard in terms of off the ball instincts.

 

[pap49cba]

I think you may have misunderstood my comments. I have no quarrel with Bria being moved off the ball. I would do the same as a coach. As I said, removing the management responsibilities to allow her to be more mentally focused on scoring is a positive. I was merely observing that while scoring is a natural strength, playing off the ball isn't and that I would be watching to see how Bria improves her instincts for playing off the ball. Geno compared her to Renee in mentality and I think that is fairly apt. Playing off the ball helped Renee score more even though she was never a natural shooting guard in terms of off the ball instincts.

I believe Geno also said that her natural position is not point guard.

 

[Scotter]

I believe Geno also said that her natural position is not point guard.

Geno has also compared her to Sue Bird as a point guard in the past so he's not exactly consistent. He's right that she's not a natural point guard. Her natural position if we have to define it would be combo guard. She's neither the extremes of a point guard or shooting guard naturally. And she has plenty of company, particularly in contemporary times where the prevailing philosophy has become letting your best player completely dominate the ball in order to win games starting already at the youngest ages. So there is a legion of guards that are neither point guards because they are scorers nor shooting guards because they lack off the ball instincts in both men's and women's basketball from the youth levels all the way up to the NBA and the WNBA. The NBA particularly has an entire generation of elite young players like this playing point guard including the most recent MVP from my hometown NBA team. That is simply the reality of today's basketball.

 

[UConnCat]

Geno has also compared her to Sue Bird as a point guard in the past so he's not exactly consistent. He's right that she's not a natural point guard. Her natural position if we have to define it would be combo guard. She's neither the extremes of a point guard or shooting guard naturally. And she has plenty of company, particularly in contemporary times where the prevailing philosophy has become letting your best player completely dominate the ball in order to win games starting already at the youngest ages. So there is a legion of guards that are neither point guards because they are scorers nor shooting guards because they lack off the ball instincts in both men's and women's basketball from the youth levels all the way up to the NBA and the WNBA. The NBA particularly has an entire generation of elite young players like this playing point guard including the most recent MVP from my hometown NBA team. That is simply the reality of today's basketball.

But Derrick Rose is so much fun to watch!

The thing about Bria is that she was so far superior to any of her teammates in high school that she had to handle the ball and do most of the scoring. The odds of the ball going in the basket were so much greater when Bria shot the ball that there was little reason for her to do a lot of passing to her teammates. I don't know much about Bria's AAU teams but I heard that she mostly played off the ball and of course didn't receive any coaching on how to that effectively.

 

[Scotter]

I certainly didn't say he wasn't fun to watch . Trust me I wasn't sitting there complaining about the point guard scoring too much during the 100 or so Bulls games I watched last season.

But Derrick Rose is so much fun to watch!

The thing about Bria is that she was so far superior to any of her teammates in high school that she had to handle the ball and do most of the scoring. The odds of the ball going in the basket were so much greater when Bria shot the ball that there was little reason for her to do a lot of passing to her teammates. I don't know much about Bria's AAU teams but I heard that she mostly played off the ball and of course didn't receive any coaching on how to that effectively.

It is a legitimate conundrum coaches face. The best way to win is absolutely to give the ball to your best player, and at the lower levels it is the best way to win by miles. On the other hand skills that players fail to learn at an early age can't necessarily be learned later in life in college or the pros with the same success. Athletics to some degree isn't that different from language acquisition. As a Bulls fan I'm grateful that Dean Smith forced Michael Jordan to essentially play in a box, but I also think UNC would have been more successful in 1983 and 1984 if Smith had actually taken full advantage of his best player. It is a difficult position coaches are in, and a situation that doesn't necessarily have a correct answer.

And your assessment of Bria's HS versus AAU experiences matches the limited knowledge I have.