Another Replacement Guard ?

[CocoHusky]

I just saw this post. Wish I saw it earlier but oh well;

College is not the pros. There has to be an understanding of this.
Now if you or anyone else thinks any of the following then yes you cherry-picked:

1-- If you were not proud of this past year's team this year and used Paige's and Geno's one line comments as justification, then yes you cherry-picked.. (See youtube comments from Paige at 20 second mark how proud she is, and next video Geno stating at about 59 second mark how incredibly proud he is that his team got there.)
2--- If you believe there is only one trophy in College Basketball then yes you cherry-picked.
3-- If you believe that here is only one goal from Geno (the coach who runs the team), then yes you've cherry-picked.

“We haven’t had any problems in terms of what our goals are to win a national championship. That hasn’t been an issue at all. Will it become one? Not as long as I’m there.”

Geno Auriemma

After Geno Auriemma’s Reign, UConn Could Lose Clout (Published 2015)

The presence of Auriemma may compensate for now, but eventually Connecticut’s lack of affiliation with a Power 5 football conference could spell an end to the Huskies’ dominance.

www.nytimes.com

 

[oldude]

To put it another way, my model for the classic point guard is MoJeff — dazzling speed, the quickest first step, an arsenal of finishing moves at the rim, a 3 point shot to force opponents to cover her up close allowing her to blow by them, all of which opens up the passing lanes.

Paige doesn’t have that level of speed, but she has the rest of the package to an even greater degree. From the top of the key, if Paige goes left the entire defense tilts that way, and then she knows how to find the open shooter on the right. Azzi hasn’t shown us this ability yet, but it’s coming.

I wouldn’t sleep on Paige’s speed. She mostly plays under control, but absolutely has an extra gear when necessary. I still remember a play from her freshman season in a BE game when Evina caught an outlet pass near half court on the left side with Paige trotting up the right side near half court.

Paige and Evina caught each other’s eyes and a split second later Paige exploded by 2 defenders, towards the basket. Evina dropped a perfect dime, hitting Paige in stride for an easy layup. I remember being dazzled by Paige’s speed, while also recognizing that Paige & Evina were completely in sync.

 

[hoophuskee]

“We haven’t had any problems in terms of what our goals are to win a national championship. That hasn’t been an issue at all. Will it become one? Not as long as I’m there.”

Geno Auriemma

After Geno Auriemma’s Reign, UConn Could Lose Clout (Published 2015)

The presence of Auriemma may compensate for now, but eventually Connecticut’s lack of affiliation with a Power 5 football conference could spell an end to the Huskies’ dominance.

www.nytimes.com

How does that eliminate his other stated goals?

 

[CocoHusky]

How does that eliminate his other stated goals?

Though it is not a team rule - associate head coach Chris Dailey asked the starters on the bench in the final seconds if they wanted to do it - they maintained their tradition that started in 2009 that the only time they cut down a net is after the national championship is secured. “That is what our program is about,” UConn All-American forward Gabby Williams said. “We don’t want to settle.

New Britain Herald - UConn women's basketball saving net cutting for championship game

BRIDGEPORT - Their newest T-shirts read âCut the Netâ and the players on the UConn womenâs bas...

www.newbritainherald.com

 

[hoophuskee]

Though it is not a team rule - associate head coach Chris Dailey asked the starters on the bench in the final seconds if they wanted to do it - they maintained their tradition that started in 2009 that the only time they cut down a net is after the national championship is secured. “That is what our program is about,” UConn All-American forward Gabby Williams said. “We don’t want to settle.

New Britain Herald - UConn women's basketball saving net cutting for championship game

BRIDGEPORT - Their newest T-shirts read âCut the Netâ and the players on the UConn womenâs bas...

www.newbritainherald.com

Again how is that not eliminating what Geno said? In 2022 to boot? How can you disregard a Geno video I provided you before and pretend like it doesn't exist?

Well here is yet another video:

At 4:43 or so of this video Geno clearly states "You have a goal to win the Regular Season." This comment from Geno is undisputable.
And then he says "Then you have to prove it again over 3 days." This is undisputable.
And at about 8:47 in the video he goes on to say that he "is really proud of them." This is undisputable.

You have quoted Geno before. But now all of sudden you don't want to quote him?

Read below.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Geno has been playing about 8 players as long as I’ve watched the team with the exception of 1999-2000. We are short a guard after losing Paige, obviously, but mostly because it’s Paige. There would be a lot less hand wringing if it had been Nika that had gone down.

'There would be a lot less hand wringing if it had been Nika that had gone down.'
this is an ez one to agree with.

obviously. no, wait, too many letters...
clearly. nah, still too many letters.
hmmm..i got it,
duh!

 

[ballerfan]

Plenty of French players have tons of visibility before college (too much in the eyes of their federation in fact). Lou just was not at the level of prospect at a young age to be playing above the local team level in the third division, hence the Ireland choice, but her hard work there and in college have paid off nicely. I do wonder if she has ever considered playing for Mexico because that could have also helped her get recruiting attention earlier.

Are you an American who follows French women’s basketball? Your identifier says "From United States." Or are you from Europe? Anyway, it’s great that you are familiar with French basketball players.

I don't feel like getting into a back and forth about your response to my post. I'll say just a few things and leave it at that. But feel free to respond again. We’re here to share ideas.

There is considerable interest in French men's basketball. We could argue about how much attention French girls get from U.S. colleges, but it doesn't matter. My point is that if Lou had gone to high school in the United States, she would have had a lot more visibility (not debatable, I think) and would have likely been on a higher ranked team than Fairfield (my opinion). I have no idea why Lou would have considered playing basketball in Mexico, even though she spent her first five years in the country. It would not have been a wise move, either for her basketball development or for her visibility.

BCTM, Lou's French team from an early age, plays, as you mentioned, in NF1 (the highest amateur league behind the two professional leagues, LFB and LF2). It does not mean that she was “not at the level of prospect at a young age to be playing above the local team level in the third division.” Lou also competed with l'Université Grenoble Alpes in the Melty Basket Ligue Universitaire. No doubt her year at the NABA Academy in Dublin helped. But these facts do not have much to do with the first two sentences of my post.

For those who are curious, there are a couple photos of Lou from 2016 on page 2 of the attached file.

 

[Sifaka]

Too bad that schools cannot do "trades". Amari Barry for some top guard from another school.

Careful there, VOD. It's a slippery slope. If you were to get your wish, somebody might suggest trading fans as well. I think @triaddukefan would look dashing in national flag blue. How would you feel about wearing High Point colors?

 

[Zarathustra]

Oh, my! Get them both!

Spain beat France 54 to 36 in the U 18 European Championship today 8/13
Spain has upbeat tempo guards who play well in a transition game and
very tenacious defense! Buenavida Esteves did not score many points but
is one of these guards. (She had 3 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Brito is the scorer: 13 points and 8 rebounds.
There was a lady with a GT (Georgia Tech T shirt) in the stands behind
the Spanish bench!!! Lithuania and Juste Jocycte is playing now against Germany to
see who plays Spain in the final tomorrow. Is there a point guard that Jamelle is
following now?? GT seems interested in the Spanish team (Spain has a 6' 6'
and a 6' 3" rebounding team, out rebounding France 40 to 28.

 

[oldhusky]

Spain beat France 54 to 36 in the U 18 European Championship today 8/13
Spain has upbeat tempo guards who play well in a transition game and
very tenacious defense! Buenavida Esteves did not score many points but
is one of these guards. (She had 3 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Brito is the scorer: 13 points and 8 rebounds.
There was a lady with a GT (Georgia Tech T shirt) in the stands behind
the Spanish bench!!! Lithuania and Juste Jocycte is playing now against Germany to
see who plays Spain in the final tomorrow. Is there a point guard that Jamelle is
following now?? GT seems interested in the Spanish team (Spain has a 6' 6'
and a 6' 3" rebounding team, out rebounding France 40 to 28.

The players I am aware of that Uconn seemed to have an interest in from those tournaments are Raina Tomasicka from Latvia, Tilda Trygger from Sweeden, Ines Bettencourt from Portugal and Matilde Villa from Italy. Bettencourt and Villa are point guards. Trygger is a slim 6-6 and although the brief clips of her looked pretty impressive, her individual stats from that tournament and her team's performance was not that good. I don't think she is Uconn material and is not a position of the most need.

Tomasicka looked interesting as more of a SG that could also pass. I watched a previously played game between Latvia and Italy so I could watch Tomasicka and Villa in the same game. Overall I liked Villa better and feel her stats for the tournament were also better, but both are possibilities. Tomasicka has some shake and bake in her game and uses a hard change of direction to free herself for shots. Villa uses her speed to drive into the middle of the defense and kick back effectively or drop it inside to a big. Skilled passer and good floor general.

Bettencourt I watched for part of a game as well. She played like a point guard as well but there was another on her team that was the principle ballhandler. It seemed like they played two point guards to me. Anyway she looked like a good ball distributor as well, pretty good scorer, and was very aggressive on the defensive end. Her stats revealed a-lot of steals but also quite a few personal fouls, but overall her numbers were pretty good but against the B level competition. The others were playing at the A level in the U18 tournament.

There may be others of course, and I have no idea if any of these would consider being an emergency fit for our guard shortage this season, but those are players that I would inquire about.

 

[Zarathustra]

The players I am aware of that Uconn seemed to have an interest in from those tournaments are Raina Tomasicka from Latvia, Tilda Trygger from Sweeden, Ines Bettencourt from Portugal and Matilde Villa from Italy. Bettencourt and Villa are point guards. Trygger is a slim 6-6 and although the brief clips of her looked pretty impressive, her individual stats from that tournament and her team's performance was not that good. I don't think she is Uconn material and is not a position of the most need.

Tomasicka looked interesting as more of a SG that could also pass. I watched a previously played game between Latvia and Italy so I could watch Tomasicka and Villa in the same game. Overall I liked Villa better and feel her stats for the tournament were also better, but both are possibilities. Tomasicka has some shake and bake in her game and uses a hard change of direction to free herself for shots. Villa uses her speed to drive into the middle of the defense and kick back effectively or drop it inside to a big. Skilled passer and good floor general.

Bettencourt I watched for part of a game as well. She played like a point guard as well but there was another on her team that was the principle ballhandler. It seemed like they played two point guards to me. Anyway she looked like a good ball distributor as well, pretty good scorer, and was very aggressive on the defensive end. Her stats revealed a-lot of steals but also quite a few personal fouls, but overall her numbers were pretty good but against the B level competition. The others were playing at the A level in the U18 tournament.

There may be others of course, and I have no idea if any of these would consider being an emergency fit for our guard shortage this season, but those are players that I would inquire about.

thanks for the overview.!!! I have not watched nearly as much but was impressed by the play
of Matilde Villa. Villa is very tenacious, but I wish she were physically bigger. Elena Buenavida
Estavez has exceptional games and then some less so!! However, the offensive and defensive
style of Spain appears very compatible with UCONN's style. Maybe a one-year trial player? I've
noticed that a number of the European players do not stay for their full 4 years at U S Schools.
Juste Jocyte is remarkable. If Spain can beat Lithuania and if the Spanish guard again
show their skill set in this game I think that we will be seeing one or both of the Spanish
guards in an American College Uniform (i.e. Brito for Spain, the scorer, and Buenavida, a
somewhat all-purpose ball handler. Prognostication: SPAIN in an upset! Spain again shows
their poise, hustle, determination, and " grace under pressure" (in the fourth quarter). Spain has
some height, 6'6" ' 3".... But how will they handle Juste? Let the games continue! Find a backup
point guard, please!
how can they handle Juste!!!!

 

[SARG 2011]

Both Brito and Asensio of Spain are signed to play for Jose at USF this upcoming season.

 

[socal613ws]

It's mid August what is getting someone at this point gonna accomplish? People just look at this as a basketball decision it's not, that means they possibly have to move states and transfer to new school and if their major fits Uconn. People make it seem like it's so easy.

 

[awhom111]

The players I am aware of that Uconn seemed to have an interest in from those tournaments are Raina Tomasicka from Latvia, Tilda Trygger from Sweeden, Ines Bettencourt from Portugal and Matilde Villa from Italy. Bettencourt and Villa are point guards. Trygger is a slim 6-6 and although the brief clips of her looked pretty impressive, her individual stats from that tournament and her team's performance was not that good. I don't think she is Uconn material and is not a position of the most need.

Tomasicka looked interesting as more of a SG that could also pass. I watched a previously played game between Latvia and Italy so I could watch Tomasicka and Villa in the same game. Overall I liked Villa better and feel her stats for the tournament were also better, but both are possibilities. Tomasicka has some shake and bake in her game and uses a hard change of direction to free herself for shots. Villa uses her speed to drive into the middle of the defense and kick back effectively or drop it inside to a big. Skilled passer and good floor general.

Bettencourt I watched for part of a game as well. She played like a point guard as well but there was another on her team that was the principle ballhandler. It seemed like they played two point guards to me. Anyway she looked like a good ball distributor as well, pretty good scorer, and was very aggressive on the defensive end. Her stats revealed a-lot of steals but also quite a few personal fouls, but overall her numbers were pretty good but against the B level competition. The others were playing at the A level in the U18 tournament.

There may be others of course, and I have no idea if any of these would consider being an emergency fit for our guard shortage this season, but those are players that I would inquire about.

Matilde Villa is a relentless slasher who is still working on improving her decision-making. She has signed what is a reported multi-year agreement with Reyer Venezia so she will have to fight for playing time on a higher-level team. Her former team, where she played with her twin sister Eleonora, who is more of a natural shooter given her need to defer to her sister, decided to sell their top division spot to a team in the second division this season.

Tomasicka was born in 2005, albeit on January 1st so it seems like college would still be a year away. Unfortunately, the competition that she will face this season is not at the same level as her club TTT Riga has faced in recent years.

Trygger is certainly an interesting stretch five prospect, but as someone who could easily be a 2024 in recruiting terms, her next couple of years carry some interesting choices. She was playing in the second division on a team of all young players where playing time was split pretty evenly. I would think that playing limited minutes with a club in the top division might be preferable.

 

[Zarathustra]

Both Brito and Asensio of Spain are signed to play for Jose at USF this upcoming season.

Nice for Jose! Maybe USF will replace UCF at the top of the AAC!

 

[Zarathustra]

It's mid August what is getting someone at this point gonna accomplish? People just look at this as a basketball decision it's not, that means they possibly have to move states and transfer to new school and if their major fits Uconn. People make it seem like it's so easy.

Nothing is easy. But because the discussion was started on the Blog, one can dream! " When you look upon a star" ... (Player, that is, not as in Pinocchio!)

 

[veryolddog]

what a shameful post. So trade a player that comitted to Uconn for no reason just cause you don't like her? Unreal
Also learn to spell her name.

First off lighten up. Did you not see the little smile emoji. Second, don't lecture me or anyone else. And third, do not come across as the almighty elitist who can do no wrong.

 

[oldude]

what a shameful post. So trade a player that comitted to Uconn for no reason just cause you don't like her? Unreal
Also learn to spell her name.

A couple things to consider when responding to posts on the Boneyard and social media in general:

1. Whimsy, sarcasm & irony are endemic to the Boneyard, and very much appreciated by those of us who truly value the wit and wisdom of posters like veryolddog.
2. On social media, it’s not considered appropriate to call out someone for misspelling a word or name. Nobody is writing a term paper here.

 

[ballerfan]

First off lighten up. Did you not see the little smile emoji. Second, don't lecture me or anyone else. And third, do not come across as the almighty elitist who can do no wrong.

I do think your post about Amari was a bit odd, even with the smile emoji. But I can think of at least a couple posts I wrote on the BY that I now regret, so I’m not lecturing you.

Anyway, social613ws probably shouldn’t have used the word « shameful » or criticized you for misspelling a name, and maybe attacking social613ws as an « almighty elitist who can do no wrong » wasn’t necessary. I hope you and social613ws and everyone else here, all anonymous UConn fanatics, can « lighten up, » as you said, and get along. We’re on the same team.

 

[hoophuskee]

Anyway, social613ws probably shouldn’t have used the word « shameful » or criticized you for misspelling a nam. . .. We’re on the same team.

But you can't go by what socal says. He or she is not "on the same team." That poster has twisted comments from me and olddude (and probably others) to fit his or her own negative narrative in the past as well. Any chance that poster gets to take a swipe at UCONN or posters, he or she relishes it.

Veroolddog's post was a simple comment made that we should trade a frontcourt player for backcourt player (in context with the thread too.). That's all nearly all of us would take from it in context. Not this poster. Heck, recently he or she got one of his posts pulled on the thread- "Silver linings to Paige's injury." It was a pro-UCONN positive post thread but ofc he or she chimed in right away with a negative. Other positive threads he or she interjects negative too.

So no not all of us are on the same team. We have to understand the context from some, that's all. Nothing wrong with it. Some posters want to be negative near all the time - so be it. Just understand/recognize it is what it is.

​

 

[ballerfan]

But you can't go by what socal says. He or she is not "on the same team." That poster has twisted comments from me and olddude (and probably others) to fit his or her own negative narrative in the past as well. Any chance that poster gets to take a swipe at UCONN or posters, he or she relishes it.

Veroolddog's post was a simple comment made that we should trade a frontcourt player for backcourt player (in context with the thread too.). That's all nearly all of us would take from it in context. Not this poster. Heck, recently he or she got one of his posts pulled on the thread- "Silver linings to Paige's injury." It was a pro-UCONN positive post thread but ofc he or she chimed in right away with a negative. Other positive threads he or she interjects negative too.

So no not all of us are on the same team. We have to understand the context from some, that's all. Nothing wrong with it. Some posters want to be negative near all the time - so be it. Just understand/recognize it is what it is.

​

Thanks for the explanation. I didn’t know. I hope most of us are on the same team, and I hope most of us can get along.

 

[Skeets]

A couple things to consider when responding to posts on the Boneyard and social media in general:

1. Whimsy, sarcasm & irony are endemic to the Boneyard, and very much appreciated by those of us who truly value the wit and wisdom of posters like veryolddog.
2. On social media, it’s not considered appropriate to call out someone for misspelling a word or name. Nobody is writing a term paper here.

Oldude, can I add a 3rd thing?

3. Consider who might be in the audience, the kid, her parents, etc. before posting. The "smiley" helps people to understand that the post is intended to be humor, sarcasm, or whatever, but if you have to add a "smiley" maybe the post should be reconsidered, especially if it's about a player.

 

[CocoHusky]

It's mid August what is getting someone at this point gonna accomplish? People just look at this as a basketball decision it's not, that means they possibly have to move states and transfer to new school and if their major fits Uconn. People make it seem like it's so easy.

The right player will add guard depth which was/is needed. Paige's injury was early August. UCONN is not were just now "starting" to think replacement. Getting a replacement at this point is a longshot but definitely worthwhile exploring.

 

[oldhusky]

The right player will add needed guard depth which was/is needed. Paige's injury was early August. UCONN is not were just now starting" to think replacement. Getting a replacement at this point is a longshot but definitely worthwhile exploring.

Agree completely, and going further it is a basketball decision born out of necessity, not easy at all, and from the potential recruit's standpoint probably very stressful. It could be a foreign player who never thought about leaving her country to go to school and play in the states, faced with needing to make a life changing decision in a few days because of the school year starting soon.

It's just the reality. 2022 recruits have committed, as have the portal prospects that could make a difference. Paige's injury happened after that, leaving the only available option for an emergency fit being a 2022 foreign player who had not committed to playing in the US, with the clock ticking on the decision.

I feel for how difficult this is for both team and recruits, but agree with Coco that it is definitely worthwhile pursuing.

 

[oldude]

Oldude, can I add a 3rd thing?

3. Consider who might be in the audience, the kid, her parents, etc. before posting. The "smiley" helps people to understand that the post is intended to be humor, sarcasm, or whatever, but if you have to add a "smiley" maybe the post should be reconsidered, especially if it's about a player.

While I absolutely agree that all of us should consider the possibility that players, their family and their friends might read our posts, considering how such posts are received before we hit send, this is not such a case imo. Not only did the poster attach a humorous emoji, but he also made a farcical trade proposal that was clearly intended to be humorous.

Lets not overly analyze one humorous post, that was taken out of context by one BY’er. This thread is about adding another replacement guard to the roster for the upcoming season, something that’s not going to happen anyways. Time to move on to other subjects. How about another GOAT debate?