All I'm saying is that it's a bit premature to write her off after one game...............she clearly has a laid-back personality and that works against her............still there aren't that many 6'5" players that have real offensive skills, and she does........
I thought it was strange that when she did get in...Amari played the wing. Hard for that kind of height to get out on perimeter shooters. And on offense, when she received the ball in the high post it appears she knows what to do, but the timing with the cutters is off just a bit. She shouldn't have to put the ball on the floor out there. And there were at least two passes she made where the finish wasn't completed.
I'm not saying to write Amari off but it not based on one game as you have stated. It has been a full season and a summer that she dedicated to improvement. That game was an exhibition game against a Division II opponent with UCONN missing a post player in Ice Brady. It is all up to Amari to capitalize on her opportunity and get into the rotation.
Amari did not play the wing. UCONN played a lot of zone defense 1 X 2 X 2 and some 3 X 2. In those alignments when Amari is at base of the defense she has to get out and guard the corner jumpers. She actually did a nice job and recorded a block on the baseline. On offense she was mostly back to the basket on the right nail and she had one face up jumper. She definitely has to put the ball on the floor in those situations because the object is to get her slower defender switched onto the cutters. It is not like the offense is asking her to take the ball to the basket. The offense requires her to make two or three dribbles and if she can't do that then she is further behind than many of us are fearing.Call it whatever you want...she had to defend perimeter players out at the 3 at her height. This is Kutztown. Better teams will just attack her on the closeout, and she will be out of position for rebounding. On offense in the low post, she did better with passing because she could see cutters. When at the foul line area that was problematic. If she's doubled...or its congested she tried dribbling, and the outcome wasn't good. I didn't think some of the cutters took the best angles to create a passing lane or the timing was off. Could have been spacing or something else, but it wasn't pretty.
Understood...........Geno recruited her for a reason so I'm going to assume that she has the ability to be a UConn player..........nobody is more disappointed in losing Brady than me.........I think she will be a 3-4 year starter and possible All American
I'm calling it what it was not what I want. Amari did not play wing. Post players are asked to contest deep shots all the time regardless of the defense the team is playing. You are making excuses for Amari's poor play & embellishing greatly. Amari is a 25% shooter-what team in their right mind is going to "double team" her? Post player dribbling from that position is SOP in the UCONN offense. The offense is not going to change because Amari can't do it consistently. Once again the requirement is two or three dribble- are you suggesting that is asking too much of Amari?
She's 25% because...she was shooting from the outside last year taking 3 pointers. In this particular game I'm not talking about double teams in the post, but at the foul line distributing area. She's not the only post player that wasn't decisive with the ball. Aaliyah stood out to me as making the best reads. She's also a threat to score from the foul area and Amari isn't (hence 25% shooting). Try someone else to distribute from that area and post Amari. Here's what I'm suggesting. Move her closer to the basket on both ends. She actually had a couple of good seals in the post and they didn't get her the ball. Why? I don't know.
All good points. A lot of people have overestimated her abilities. Some of the skills you list are ones that Brady and Patterson don't have yet either but they were/are developing them week by week. If DeBerry had made any progress on them over a season plus a summer, she'd be rotating with the other 3 bigs right now. Her lack of development in HS is water under the bridge, this is now and it's decision time for her on what her UConn career is going to be. I don't think Auriemma is going to wait around too long for her to make it.
A link to the replay is in the post tacked to the top of the board
Just because she didn’t play significant minutes does not mean she is in “Geno’s Dog House”. it just means she is number 10 or 11 on the depth chart. It’s up to her to improve and make the coach have to play her.
Huskie02- -Great minds think alike!
I’m optimistic that Amari will pick things up eventually, but this is hardly a good comparison. Before being “elite”, Tina averaged almost a double-double in each of her first two seasons and was the Big East ROY.
I like, but don’t share, your optimism.
I'm not sure you are remember correctly. Tina Charles was a day 1 starter and recorded 10 rebounds in her first UCONN game. In her second game she recorded 5 blocks, 17 Rebounds and 18 points. At the start of Tina's sophomore year she had two notable games to start the season agains #4 Stanford (13 Points, 11 Rebounds) and # 9 Duke. (13 Points, 8 Rebounds). If Tina was sleep-walking during her first two years then Amari must be -comatose?
