Amari? Did we forget about her?

[Longtime fan]

I have never forgotten about Amari. Folks have mocked me for my optimism about her. She’s got excellent skills. But she’s yet to show the sort of energy we need to see. I can hardly wait to see what her decision to spend the summer in Storrs means for next season.

In the video, she says she wasn’t used to playing against kids her size in high school. I think that says a lot about why her first year at UConn unfolded the way it did.

I'm not sure how to interpret Amari's reason for not having a productive or explosive first year at UCONN ( " I wasn't used to playing against kids my size in HS." ). So, she did well because she was 6 inches taller than everyone and had longer arms? All she had to do was stand under the basket and put in a lay-up? What we are left to conclude is that this was a player who gained notoriety due to her size. And that once that advantage was neutralized( i.e. she arrived in college ) , she went limp and into a shell? The kids she has to now play against in college won't have gotten any smaller. So I hope there is a lot lost in the translation here. Because this suggests she may not be a competitor at all. Hope that is wrong. We need her to be a star.

 

[Longtime fan]

I just said this in another post. I believe that Amari will shut the pie holes of all the naysayers and perform at least on a BE all conference player level. Clearly skill wise she's at that level, and last year showed her the benefits of a proper mindset and the folly of poor conditioning, poor preparation, poor application, and poor decision making. IMO Amari is going to be the seasons biggest surprise.

 

[cancontent]

I'm not sure how to interpret Amari's reason for not having a productive or explosive first year at UCONN ( " I wasn't used to playing against kids my size in HS." ). So, she did well because she was 6 inches taller than everyone and had longer arms? All she had to do was stand under the basket and put in a lay-up? What we are left to conclude is that this was a player who gained notoriety due to her size. And that once that advantage was neutralized( i.e. she arrived in college ) , she went limp and into a shell? The kids she has to now play against in college won't have gotten any smaller. So I hope there is a lot lost in the translation here. Because this suggests she may not be a competitor at all. Hope that is wrong. We need her to be a star.

This is more common than some may realize for a variety of reasons (lack of viable competition in area, family ability to pay fees for competitions, etc.). I was a little surprised at the comments myself however, considering her AAU and USA Basketball experience.

Players get a large dose of reality once they get on campus as freshmen. I've seen tweets and IG posts from other players from different programs talking about how they didn't realize how important things like nutrition, sleep, and proper conditioning are at this level.

Based on how I've read her comments in articles, it sounds like she's learned some lessons from last season. Time will tell if translates on the court.

 

[cgshuskie]

We need to bring Tina Charles back to inspire Amari!

 

[socal613ws]

I just said this in another post. I believe that Amari will shut the pie holes of all the naysayers and perform at least on a BE all conference player level. Clearly skill wise she's at that level, and last year showed her the benefits of a proper mindset and the folly of poor conditioning, poor preparation, poor application, and poor decision making. IMO Amari is going to be the seasons biggest surprise.

why is she shutting the pie hole of anyone? Her own coach said that she didn't think she was giving effort. That's on her, why would any poster give her the benefit of the doubt when her own head coach came out and said that.

 

[Alydar]

I suspect we’ll get most of our blocks from the smaller bigs — Ayanna Aubrey Ice Caroline. I don’t care for pushing Dorka and Amari to get blocks just because that’s a path to foul trouble. They can intimidate players with only a few blocks and drive them to the other bigs who will do the actual blocking.

+1 I remember Okafer. He was the best shot blocker UConn ever had. He would block a few and then the shooters would be intimidated to the point that they stopped driving. I think Patterson is a block machine. She has a strong upper body, a huge wingspan, great elevation and those fast twitch muscles that let her wait for the shooter to go up. And she's smart enough to know that a block needs to end with a change of possession so while swatting it into the 5th row is a crowd-pleaser, the opponent still has the ball.
It would be huge if DeBerry could become part of the rotation. I actually think she's 6'6. She was taller than ONO, always at the end of the line for the anthem before games. And they always line up by height. With her playing UConn becomes a tall team.

 

[Bone Dog]

It would be huge if DeBerry could become part of the rotation. I actually think she's 6'6. She was taller than ONO, always at the end of the line for the anthem before games. And they always line up by height. With her playing UConn becomes a tall team.

I’ve wondered this before. But the camera angles make it so hard to tell from the TV. Is Dorka also taller than Liv?

 

[Alydar]

I’ve wondered this before. But the camera angles make it so hard to tell from the TV. Is Dorka also taller than Liv?

I never saw a difference. 6'4,6'5. Those numbers are wrong as often as they are right.

 

[Bone Dog]

I never saw a difference. 6'4,6'5. Those numbers are wrong as often as they are right.

Prolly. Though I remember Geno saying in a preseason interview last year how he was impressed when Dorka first showed up that she was exactly as tall as listed.

 

[BBallF]

I could never forget about Amari. She’s like the moon, a glowing effervescent presence, striking every time you see her, as comforting as your favorite pizza.

Yep, when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that’s Amari.

When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine, that's Amari.

As comforting as your favorite pizza? Sicilian with pepperoni for home games, thin crust with sausage for away. More agita in away games.

 

[hoophuskee]

I'm not sure how to interpret Amari's reason for not having a productive or explosive first year at UCONN ( " I wasn't used to playing against kids my size in HS." ). So, she did well because she was 6 inches taller than everyone and had longer arms? All she had to do was stand under the basket and put in a lay-up? What we are left to conclude is that this was a player who gained notoriety due to her size. And that once that advantage was neutralized( i.e. she arrived in college ) , she went limp and into a shell? The kids she has to now play against in college won't have gotten any smaller. So I hope there is a lot lost in the translation here. Because this suggests she may not be a competitor at all. Hope that is wrong. We need her to be a star.

IMO you have made an extremely way too harsh post. Extremely. Why would you automatically expect all freshmen to perform well in their 1st year? Just because she wears a UCONN jersey she is supposed to be good enough to play for a team that wound up going to the Finals?

The prior year UCONN went to the FF they had 3 players (I'm excluding Aubrey) back that were an enormous part of getting to FF in Liv, Edwards, and Evina. Then this year they picked up Dorka, and when they want to go small instead of Evina, they have Ducharme who was a higher recruit and better player. We know UCONN has zero zero issues playing small.

We know that Geno plays his best players. So with Amari being 6th on the depth chart, the expectation should have been muted/caution.

And your point of saying that we need her to eb a star imo is way way way off base. You're never going to be satisfied with her because you have put up extremely high expectations. Kiah Stokes is doing fine in the WNBA and she was never a star.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Prolly. Though I remember Geno saying in a preseason interview last year how he was impressed when Dorka first showed up that she was exactly as tall as listed.

Geno said Dorka is a legit 6'5". I forget the order at the national anthem last year, but I think Amari was the tallest, and Dorka was next. Liv and Piath were right behind. All looked to be 6'5" or close.

 

[Skeets]

Prolly. Though I remember Geno saying in a preseason interview last year how he was impressed when Dorka first showed up that she was exactly as tall as listed.

Geno is impressed with everyone's height

 

[Carnac]

To me it was never about the skills, it was about the physicality and the toughness. If she progresses in the strength department, which I am sure is being worked on now, we may hopefully see an improvement which can make her a consistent contributor under the basket. We already know that she can shoot. A lot of upside for her.

Amari has been in the UConn program now for 15 months. More than enough time to assimilate to the customs and norms of the program and Geno’s way of doing things. When you associate, you assimilate. The other players all work hard trying to improve their game. Amari does not want to be the team’s weak link. I think she has changed her mindset and approach to being an active and productive member on this team.

She has lived with and played with other players that have a vigorous work ethic. She has seen and experienced what a lackluster or non-exsistent aggressive mental approach will get you in Geno’s program. The coaches have been in her ear from day one. We will see this year if her “want to” and physical conditioning catches up with her
Skillset.

 

[Rixxx]

I watched the video again and one thing stands out, namely that she knows how to shoot quickly without bringing the ball down. That's just instinctive for her I suppose. How many times did we see Olivia and Aaliyah bring the ball down and then get caught by smaller players stripping it or forcing a jump ball? That's not going to be Amari's problem. The question for her, I think, is can she play energetic, ball-hawking defense? I hope so.

I think of someone like Monika Czinano, a bit undersized, but if she gets the ball in the low post, she turns and shoots so quickly that larger players often don't have time to react. Brink does something similar.

Gustafson (SP) is another example.

 

[Stymie]

Amari has been in the UConn program now for 15 months. More than enough time to assimilate to the customs and norms of the program and Geno’s way of doing things. When you associate, you assimilate. The other players all work hard trying to improve their game. Amari does not want to be the team’s weak link. I think she has changed her mindset and approach to being an active and productive member on this team.

She has lived with and played with other players that have a vigorous work ethic. She has seen and experienced what a lackluster or non-exsistent aggressive mental approach will get you in Geno’s program. The coaches have been in her ear from day one. We will see this year if her “want to” and physical conditioning catches up with her
Skillset.

Geno’s commentary on Amari’s practice performance thus far.
“She comes and she goes.”
Doesn’t exactly sound like a rave review.
Nor does it sound hyper critical.
Sounds to me (hopefully) that she shows flashes of “getting it” just not for prolonged periods of time.
Inconsistent?
ADD (like me?)
If she wasn’t showing heart, Coach would be much more pointed in his remarks.
As always, JMHO.

 

[Carnac]

Geno’s commentary on Amari’s practice performance thus far.
“She comes and she goes.”
Doesn’t exactly sound like a rave review.
Nor does it sound hyper critical.
Sounds to me (hopefully) that she shows flashes of “getting it” just not for prolonged periods of time.
Inconsistent?
ADD (like me?)
If she wasn’t showing heart, Coach would be much more pointed in his remarks.
As always, JMHO.

One of the many "Geno-isms" that he has said over and over through the years......."if a player hasn't gotten it by their sophomore year, they never will." If the light is going to come on for Amari, it will have to be THIS year. I just successfully came back in from going out on a limb (I predicted as far back as a month ago that Geno would bring in another player before classes resumed, and that player (Ines Betancourt) would be from outside of the US).

So being no stranger to shaky limbs (and being unafraid) , I'm going back out, but only a few steps. This is an easy call. Something tells me Amari does not want to sit on the bench yet another year. She wants to play. She stayed on campus over the summer to better prepare herself for the up coming season. The same thing that told me Geno was bring another player in is telling me Amari will be a rotation player this year. She gets it. I have no idea at this time how many minutes per game she will earn, but we will see Amari in every game BEFORE the game has been decided. When this comes to fruition, remember you heard it from Carnac first, way back in August. The turban and cape are not just for show.

 

[sun]

Sometimes there's no replacement for height.
When jumpers try to block shots they can get faked out and can also foul.
Players can have more specialization now days, and not many big players excel at doing it all.
Amari will probably never be a banger, but she can be an important contributor & teammate.
She has a quickness that others don't have, and it's not with her feet.
If she can exhibit good premonition & smart shot selection then she'll find a way to contribute.
She needs to be able to play to her strengths, and if Dorka ever gets hurt then Amari with her height will become even more important.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Amari sure looks like a center. But that is still all we know about her. Every time I see her my mind is flooded with I Hope, I Hope, I Hope, but that is all we have right now.

 

[Stymie]

As is often said, “ From your mouth to God’s ears.”
No ringing endorsements from Coach like:
“her hard work is paying off”
Or
“she’s certainly put in the time”
Or
“she’s getting it”
Only:
“she comes and she goes”.
Hey , for this team to kick *$$, I certainly want to see the teams tallest player swatting away shots and ripping down rebounds every quarter in every game.
Aayliah started last season flat , even after a stellar freshman season.
Also often said “hope springs eternal”.
Hey, I’d love to see your projection become reality.
We’ll know in about 12 weeks, 12 painfully long weeks.

 

[Notyetready]

Amari, as we saw in the recent twitter feed, led the stadium cheer for the football team. That is not the action of a wallflower, nor of a player of little ambition. It is the act of a leader and the team members who were there followed her lead. This is recent. All that other stuff is history. I look forward to her play this year and expect she will deliver.

 

[MooseJaw]

One of the many "Geno-isms" that he has said over and over through the years......."if a player hasn't gotten it by their sophomore year, they never will." If the light is going to come on for Amari, it will have to be THIS year. I just successfully came back in from going out on a limb (I predicted as far back as a month ago that Geno would bring in another player before classes resumed, and that player (Ines Betancourt) would be from outside of the US).

So being no stranger to shaky limbs (and being unafraid) , I'm going back out, but only a few steps. This is an easy call. Something tells me Amari does not want to sit on the bench yet another year. She wants to play. She stayed on campus over the summer to better prepare herself for the up coming season. The same thing that told me Geno was bring another player in is telling me Amari will be a rotation player this year. She gets it. I have no idea at this time how many minutes per game she will earn, but we will see Amari in every game BEFORE the game has been decided. When this crt of Huskyomes to fruition, remember you heard it from Carnac first, way back in August. The turban and cape are not just for show.

I'm on board, as a Husky fan I care about all our players, wanting the best for all of them. I can't wait to cheer for Amari in meaningful minutes. She is part of Husky Nation and a player who hopefully makes a difference.

 

[cancontent]

Man.........................we've got one more long weekend before summer is over. And it will still be a few weeks before the season starts. Going to do some mediation to get back in to relaxation mode.

 

[Florida Fan]

I have never forgotten about Amari. Folks have mocked me for my optimism about her. She’s got excellent skills. But she’s yet to show the sort of energy we need to see. I can hardly wait to see what her decision to spend the summer in Storrs means for next season.

In the video, she says she wasn’t used to playing against kids her size in high school. I think that says a lot about why her first year at UConn unfolded the way it did.

 

[Florida Fan]

I have NOT forgotten Amari. But until she develops post scoring skills, she will remain just another 6'5" player with potential. Will she be another Tina Charles, getting so much better she became the best center in the country? Right now, Amari enlivens the bench; her swooning and having to be revived, is good comedy, we all laugh with her and the other reserves. But she needs to get better. That's the player I'll remember.

 

[Alydar]

It's more than just scoring and defensive skills. She needs to run offenses and know whether her teammate is cutting or faking a cut. UConn is all about integrating yourself into the system. You have to practice like the life of your first-born is at stake. I have no idea what went on last season but when they could have used her she wasn't used.

 

[hoophuskee]

It's more than just scoring and defensive skills. She needs to run offenses and know whether her teammate is cutting or faking a cut. UConn is all about integrating yourself into the system. You have to practice like the life of your first-born is at stake. I have no idea what went on last season but when they could have used her she wasn't used.

Are you saying Geno made a mistake in not playing her?

 

[Alydar]

Are you saying Geno made a mistake in not playing her?

No.

 

[TCC Kid]

I really hope she has a “breakout” season.

Thank you McDoggie. She needs to have her name brought up in the conversation of this team.
Will she meet her potential? Will she be an effective Post for Geno? She obviously has "something" that Geno likes, you can can be certain she'd be gone if that were not true. My hopes are for her to be more than she can be, she shall meet most expectation. My personal expectation is for her to be a good, around the hoop rebounder and score some. lf she tandem's well with Edwards that could be effective.

 

[TCC Kid]

It's more than just scoring and defensive skills. She needs to run offenses and know whether her teammate is cutting or faking a cut. UConn is all about integrating yourself into the system. You have to practice like the life of your first-born is at stake. I have no idea what went on last season but when they could have used her she wasn't used.

This not a negative, it is an honest question. First, I know as a player DeBerry must know all you say. I'm wondering, what you read that leads to believe this is a weakness for her? Guards, in my limited knowledge, typically are required to KNOW their scorers--i.e. where and how hard or soft all guards, forwards, posts want to receive the ball.