And UCONN has several things the others don't, but to your point, Breanna Stewart, who already is better than Parker (as of right now, not Parker in college) in every aspect with the exception of strength and post moves. Stewie has the better perimeter game, the better mid range game, and is light years ahead of Candace in ball handling ability. I'm not sure if Parker has the left handed AND right handed baby sky hook, but if she did I doubt she had it in college. Bottom line, like it or not, Stewie is the superior player comparing them in college, and even superior comparing them now. So if A'ja really wants to be the best she can be, Parker is ancient history. Stewie is current history.
Your living in the past VolFan. Tenn was a was and to get back to where they were and not only them but all WCBB programs you are 20 years away. It took Geno over 20 years to get to this point. What makes you think that Tenn or any other team can get there soon especially with all the parity now in WCBB. ND LVille have a chance if they get the players. Tenn now has the talent, they have a 6'6 freshman who isn't starting and who needs to be developed for Tenn to have a chance. What Pat did for WCBB was unmatched in her era. Geno is at a different level then any program in WCBB. We are now in the Geno Era and everybody else is playing catch up. Other programs are trying to make the FF, UConn is taking that for granted and trying to Win NCs. With Stewart, Tuck and Jefferson and their incoming class they are the favorite to win the NC for the next 3 years. What will it take for Tenn to be the favorite to win the SEC the next 3 years. I don't mean that to be mean I'm trying to bring reality to you and show you where UConn is compared to all the other programs. With the verbal's to UConn the influx of top players over the next 4 years will allow Geno to choose the cream of the crop. UConn is at a point where top players who want to win NCs will come to play at UConn and those who are not willing to pay the price will go elsewhere. At UConn there are no should've been or could've been there are only winners who are willing to pay the price to win a NC.
So, now we are looking at 1987-88 to compare the programs? That is the last time Uconn didn't make the tournament. Really dumb.
Your history facts of Tennessee's woman's success,remind me of an eighty year old man on a park bench shouting....back in, my day.......That was then and this is now.Taking nothing away from Tennessee's recent recruiting success,until Connecticut slides back to the pack,or Tennessee vaults to the front,all the talent in the world by the ratings of the rating services means little,if the results are Connecticut,then everyone else.
Well everybody needs a Dream and I guess thats yours. As I said your living in the past and now your explaining everything with a lot of "IF's". Fact is Tenns development of players has not been good. Tenns showing in the NCAAs over the past few years has not been great. Now your talking about dethroning UConn. Tenn lost to who was it Middle Tenn and Louisville a team UConn beat by 30+. You have a long way to go to accomplish that. I don't think you understand how long it takes to build chemistry and get the right players and get them all on the same page. Tenn has always had HS AAs and Tenn has struggled with them. Remember when Maya Caroline and EDD told Tenn and Pat NO. Tenn had a lot of talent and lost to Ball State. I kept saying Pat just grabbed everybody she could and lacked a point guard as well as ball handlers to run the offense. Her teams lacked perimeter defense. You need more then talent in todays WCBB games. Everybodys got talent. Its what you do with that talent that seperates the UConn from everybody else. Tenn has not shown me that yet. Look at this years team. You have Stanford and ND on your schedule and UNC. The SEC is as weak as the AAC. I will give you this. IF you get Wilson you have a chance to compete but a lot depends on the development of Russell and building team chemistry. Let me give you an example about development. Stef Dolson. Compare her to other top teams post players. Genos done a great job with her and is doing a great job getting Breanna better. Now why would a great HS player go any place other then UConn if Basketball is a priority? If BB is not a priority then maybe they don't belong at UConn.
UConn has made every NCAA tournament since 1989. There's a kind of desperation in claiming to be, as judged now, the "greatest program ever" based on results from before UConn came on the national scene courtesy of Geno Auriemma.
Faulty logic. Tennessee doesn't have Candace Parker. That train has pulled out of the station. Perhaps she could play with Candace some day, and the best chance of that happening would be four years with Geno. Not 4 years with Holly.
Great point, Bestie.....
I'll be the contrarian - I think we doth protest too much on this particular issue re: Maya
Maya's ballhandling & dribbling is, at the WNBA level, "OK" but certainly nothing special in and of itself, and these skills are much improved since she came into the league. She's gotten especially good at the behind-the-back dribble when utilizing screens on the perimeter or when starting the fast break. And in general she is *much* more assured with the ball now than she was as a rook. But when facing the basket, she makes hay with the size of her first step and the threat of her pull-up, not with her lateral quicknes, change of direction, or out-and-out ball skills. Against many 2's and 3's in the W, she's has neither the handle nor the lateral quickness to break them down off the dribble in the classic sense, the way Seimone Augustus does (both are about 6' tall). This is simply never going to happen. But it's not a big deal. Seimone is never going to do some of the things that (only?) Maya can do, either. Each has their own particular set of athletic gifts, and they have worked hard to maximize them via a particular style of play. Maya has refined a few very good ball-fakes, crossovers, etc. to get space for her jumper. Seimone will more often use these initial moves to get space and then dribble into traffic - which is not Maya's forte. Maya would much prefer to take two power dribbles and then elevate over everyone
Although it would have been fun to watch Maya morph into Marques Haynes while at UCONN (just kidding), it's not terribly surprising that she didn't. For all her 3-point and fast-break prowess, she self-identified as a post (power forward) while in college, plain and simple, *not* a guard in any way, shape or form. As I've said before, I think Maya's ballhandling will continue to improve in the pros.....mostly because at her current position it makes a bigger difference than it used to at UCONN. But Maya Moore is very likely the best player in women's basketball "off the ball." This requires completely different instincts than being a great player "with the ball" (DT would be on the short list here). Why would anyone be surprised that the greatest(IMO) 'off the ball' player is not a super ballhandler?
Having said all this, Candace Parker is a superb ballhandler, full stop, and anyone who thinks that Maya's handle -- taken in isolation -- is anywhere close to CP3's is simply not watching the game very closely...at all. Their games are very different. We diminish the genuine compliments we pay to our own favored players when we understate the level of the competition with such unnecessarily broad strokes.
Consider yourself woken. She won the China Women's League Championship last February.
Exactly, as I said tell me how many times Maya had the ball stolen from her off the dribble. It didn't happen. She used the skills she needed. She has developed more now as needed but she was vastly better than "could barely dribble."
