Amari: New Leaf Just Budding? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Amari: New Leaf Just Budding?

JellyBean said:
Great points. We all can only hope she finds that inner motivation. Like I said, I think that she will find that inner drive and motivation.
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I wonder if peer pressure can help her find it.
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
I wonder if peer pressure can help her find it.
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With Piath gone(-ish?!?), all the bigs around Amari are in the top ten of the hardest-working women in College Basketball.

Combine that with the coaching staff, trainers, conditioning coaches and the practice squad, Amari has all the help necessary to succeed. Now it is up to Amari to flip the switch on self-motivation to become the best she can be every DAY.

I hope she "flips" that switch and "duck tapes" it in the "ON" position with Gorilla tape!

I believe she can do it, and be a trusted, vital piece of the National Championship run this season!
 
AmeriConn said:
We sure could use Amari’s 6’5” frame, but she has to show up at practice and be motivated to improve her game. I believe she has the potential and she’s a great teammate. Her team really needs her.
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Oldude hit the nail on the head with his take on Amari........."Amari has to step up or step aside." You're right. Her team really needs her this year. Geno IS NOT going to coddle or prod her. If she's not ready, he has other options.
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
Geno on what he's seeing.

"Auriemma said Amari DeBerry “comes and goes,” and is therefore considered half a player.

“Some days she’s good to go, some days she’s not,” Auriemma said of DeBerry’s frequency working out with the team. When asked about whether the sophomore forward could fill a bigger support role in the post next season, he remarked: “That remains to be seen. I would love to see that happen. Right now, I’m not one way or the other. I am not definitively saying yes I see or no I don’t, I’m just waiting to see more.”

Whether there has been a change I wouldn't know from that. We need to send positive energy this Husky's way and hope for her being a whole player sometime later.

www.courant.com

Three takeaways from UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma as the Huskies continue summer workouts

As the UConn women’s basketball team reconvened in Storrs last week to begin summer workouts, coach Geno Auriemma spoke on Thursday about how workouts are going and players on the 2022-23 roster.
www.courant.com www.courant.com

Lots of good stuff in this article. Geno has asked Paige to stay on campus this summer and get stronger. Dorka is doing great and he expects her to go 5 or 6 in the WNBA draft.
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Good stuff, yes. But it is not what I would like to hear him saying about Amari. He has said, by way of contrast, that Lou is " everything he expected." We need Amari to be that. Sounds like she is still trying to decide if she wants to give that much.
 
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Anybody remember the things Geno said about Tina Charles her first two years... Look how she turned out...

Auriemma said. "When a lot of kids go to college, they want it to be great right away, they expect it to be great right away. When they don't have that success right away, they are looking for somebody to blame. They are looking for reasons why it didn't happen right away or they are transferring. I think Tina is a great story in that you have to fight through a lot of things to get what you want.

STORRS, Conn. -- When the girl was young, the game was a dalliance. She was all arms and legs and smiles and two-handed set shots, but from one outing to the next it was never quite clear what she would bring to her basketball team.

Auriemma believes Charles could prove to be one of the best -- if not the best -- players he's ever had in his storied program.

"But she needs a push," Auriemma said. "If you left it up to her, she'd take her sweet old time."

Some outside the program might look at Charles and see a seamless, stress-free journey to basketball greatness. But Charles was constantly being pushed and prodded to reach her potential by Auriemma, associate head coach Chris Dailey and the rest of the UConn coaching staff.

"Sometimes you have to go through painful experiences to experience the joy and that is what I am doing now,"

"Anytime I went into office good or bad, but usually bad, I would sit in that chair across from him," said Charles, who received the key to the city of Middletown and had May 20 declared "Tina Charles Day" in Middletown. "I really like the chair. He said I could only get the chair if I become the two-time All-American and the national player of the year. I achieved all of this and just recently I went (to visit). He was talking about a new facility that is supposed to be at UConn and he said you can take that chair but one last thing, you have to be a starter on the Olympic team. Coach Auriemma, he is still continuing the challenge me and that is the best thing about UConn."
 
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cferraro04 said:
Anybody remember the things Geno said about Tina Charles her first two years... Look how she turned out...

Auriemma said. "When a lot of kids go to college, they want it to be great right away, they expect it to be great right away. When they don't have that success right away, they are looking for somebody to blame. They are looking for reasons why it didn't happen right away or they are transferring. I think Tina is a great story in that you have to fight through a lot of things to get what you want.

STORRS, Conn. -- When the girl was young, the game was a dalliance. She was all arms and legs and smiles and two-handed set shots, but from one outing to the next it was never quite clear what she would bring to her basketball team.

Auriemma believes Charles could prove to be one of the best -- if not the best -- players he's ever had in his storied program.

"But she needs a push," Auriemma said. "If you left it up to her, she'd take her sweet old time."

Some outside the program might look at Charles and see a seamless, stress-free journey to basketball greatness. But Charles was constantly being pushed and prodded to reach her potential by Auriemma, associate head coach Chris Dailey and the rest of the UConn coaching staff.

"Sometimes you have to go through painful experiences to experience the joy and that is what I am doing now,"

"Anytime I went into office good or bad, but usually bad, I would sit in that chair across from him," said Charles, who received the key to the city of Middletown and had May 20 declared "Tina Charles Day" in Middletown. "I really like the chair. He said I could only get the chair if I become the two-time All-American and the national player of the year. I achieved all of this and just recently I went (to visit). He was talking about a new facility that is supposed to be at UConn and he said you can take that chair but one last thing, you have to be a starter on the Olympic team. Coach Auriemma, he is still continuing the challenge me and that is the best thing about UConn."
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Not sure Amari is into chairs? May have to update the carrot
 
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eebmg said:
Not sure Amari is into chairs? May have to update the carrot
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I am hoping Amari is NOT into chairs, as she spent a lot of time in the CHair Force (bench) during the past season while the games were being decided.

I hope her goal is to spend more than 15 minutes in the game while it is being decided from the exhibition game onward for 2022-2023 season. I also hope she gets some one-on-one time with Tina Charles (conversation and practice time (if possible) to understand her remarkable transition to her current greatness, which could be Amari's future as well.

Being able to learn lessons from others tends to be a less painful journey in the long run...
 
JellyBean said:
Nice article. It really is going to be interesting to see how Dorka plays this season, considering she is coming off that hand injury. Many players come back from an injury and play tentative. Hoping that is not the case for Dorka. As for Amari. She will get there. Just gotta keep giving her some love and support. She will get there.
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The good news is, the injury was to her non shooting hand. So, as long as she can catch the ball, she can shoot it. It may take a little while longer on defense, however.
 
JellyBean said:
True but I ain't giving up on her. I got faith in Amari.
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I didn't give up on Kiah Stokes or Olivia Nelson-Ododa, neither of whom (in my opinion) came close to reaching their potential.

If I didn't give up on them, I won’t give up on Amari. The light has to come on at some point for Amari, the question is when. :eek:
 
ccwarrior said:
I believe he was talking about attention and effort, but I could be wrong. He has mentioned those areas before about her.
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I think you are right. It is about attention and effort. We'll know more in a couple of months, of course. But we all hope Amari finds the motivation to be the best that she can be.
 
Carnac said:
I didn't give up on Kiah Stokes or Olivia Nelson-Ododa, neither of whom (in my opinion) came close to reaching their potential.

If I didn't give up on them, I won’t give up on Amari. The light has to come on at some point for Amari, the question is when. :eek:
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No disrespect. But the fact that " you didn't give up on Kiah or Olivia" had no impact, did it ( neither came close to realizing their potential)? I was a fan of both players as well. And mildly disappointed. But they both did well.
 
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RockyMTblue2 said:
Geno on what he's seeing.

"Auriemma said Amari DeBerry “comes and goes,” and is therefore considered half a player.

“Some days she’s good to go, some days she’s not,” Auriemma said of DeBerry’s frequency working out with the team. When asked about whether the sophomore forward could fill a bigger support role in the post next season, he remarked: “That remains to be seen. I would love to see that happen. Right now, I’m not one way or the other. I am not definitively saying yes I see or no I don’t, I’m just waiting to see more.”

Whether there has been a change I wouldn't know from that. We need to send positive energy this Husky's way and hope for her being a whole player sometime later.

www.courant.com

Three takeaways from UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma as the Huskies continue summer workouts

As the UConn women’s basketball team reconvened in Storrs last week to begin summer workouts, coach Geno Auriemma spoke on Thursday about how workouts are going and players on the 2022-23 roster.
www.courant.com www.courant.com

Lots of good stuff in this article. Geno has asked Paige to stay on campus this summer and get stronger. Dorka is doing great and he expects her to go 5 or 6 in the WNBA draft.
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I saw the interview. Geno was positive about nearly every other player, Lou and Dorka got Geno's encouragement. DeBerry, I was less informed after listening than before. If Geno isn't "sending a message", if that be the case, DeBerry isn't going to help the team this year. Dang, she is really needed.
 
oldude said:
Here’s the deal. Amari has a tremendous upside. But the clock is ticking. Two freshmen will be on campus this season and they are beasts. Amari has to step up or step aside.
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Geno in tone seemed more the latter than the former. I truly hopes she steps up big time. Geno has enough fans seated in the stands.
 
Carnac said:
This is the "State of the team" report I've been waiting for. The latest on the physical condition and conditioning of each player. Since Amari is not recovering from an injury, I'm a little concerned about her being perceived as a "half a player." I want to be an Amari fan and supporter, but she hasn't done anything yet to give me a reason to think she has improved or that she will, come November.In

She's been in the program for 12 months now. More than enough time to learn and adapt. The light will come on for her at some point. I'm hoping it's sooner rather than later. UConn needs all that she can bring to the table this season.
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In an earlier posting, you mentioned too late to get another "big" and I didn't agree--seems you have a conduit into Geno's thoughts, he said the same thing--he has nothing and sees nothing in the portal that meets his needs/standards. I bow to your observation.
 
The situation with DeBerry continues to be baffling. Was a very highly ranked recruit. As others have said above, this season is make or break for her.
 
I think that an afternoon visit and workout with Ms. Tina Charles would do wonders for this young lady. Throughout high school, at 6'5", all she had to do was show up, and she was considered "the star". Freshman year at UConn, where most are not relied upon for major minutes, she was not concerned. Now, with the 2 freshmen that we have, only her effort in practice will get her on the court. She needs to change her mindset.
 
There's a big difference between blaming Amari's problems on a lack of motivation & effort and blaming them on a lack of skills & talent.
Every player can have weaknesses with their skills because no player is perfect.
A player does their best to fill the needs of the team that they play for, and conversely the team can also try to adapt to the skillset of the player in development.
Maybe when a player is in development there needs to be enough flexibility for the team to adjust to benefit from whatever assets the player can offer.
If a player doesn't perform well enough that doesn't mean that it's the player's fault and someone should be blamed.
That doesn't make any more sense than blaming the UConn staff for recruiting the player in the first place.
We know that UConn tries to recruit the best available players that want to play for UConn.
If some can't perform as well as expected then maybe UConn should have recruited more players, different players or better players.
UConn either wins or loses with the players they have, so it makes more sense to try to work with the players they have and help develop them then to blame it on the player's lack of effort or talent.
Maybe the scouts don't have enough talent to properly assess players, or they trusted someone else to tell them who to make an offer to.
That happens all of the time in the pros.
Some prospects are better than others just like some scouts are better than others.
 
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LarryLegend said:
The situation with DeBerry continues to be baffling. Was a very highly ranked recruit. As others have said above, this season is make or break for her.
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I understand the "make" part plz explain the "break" part, and who decides said part, you or the other coaches?
 
I don't find it baffling at all. In a recent interview, she said she wasn't used to playing against kids her size. She showed up in Storrs, and there was Olivia and Dorka and Aaliyah and Piath challenging her in practice. I'm sure that took some getting used to, and may have been a bit intimidating. When she got into games last year, she looked tentative, even a bit timid. If she gets a bit stronger now, she might find working out against Aaliyah, Ayanna, Ice and Dorka a welcome challenge and start developing game toughness. That's the optimistic view.
 
Is Piath still in the portal or did someone pick her up? Or did she even enter the portal at all? I can't keep up.
 
Bone Dog said:
I don't find it baffling at all. In a recent interview, she said she wasn't used to playing against kids her size. She showed up in Storrs, and there was Olivia and Dorka and Aaliyah and Piath challenging her in practice. I'm sure that took some getting used to, and may have been a bit intimidating. When she got into games last year, she looked tentative, even a bit timid. If she gets a bit stronger now, she might find working out against Aaliyah, Ayanna, Ice and Dorka a welcome challenge and start developing game toughness. That's the optimistic view.
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Hope you are right. She was a McDonalds All American, ESPN 15 overall/3 position (5 overall at the time she committed), Prospects Nation #3, and played for Philly Belles which is top level competition, but did all of this not playing against kids her size. IMHO whoever does these rankings should have taken that into account.
 
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