April 2021 Recruiting Thread

[HuskylnSC]

I love Aubrey’s effort and some of the incredible defensive plays she’s had but the offense comes to a screeching halt with her on the court. Unless she can score on a fast break, I dont’ have a lot of confidence in her ability to get the ball in the basket. That HAS to change or teams will double Paige.

I want to stress Nan's last point. I think we all agree Aubrey is fun exciting player to watch, a great teammate and a wonderful young woman. Yes, we have had players who weren't offensive threats that have played a lot. The difference is that our past defense oriented players facilitated other players offense while Aubrey's deficiencies choke the offense and hinder 4 other players..

 

[Sluconn Husky]

With the U16 trials beginning next month I've nailed down 19 of the 20 invitees. There will be only 30 total players trying out due to Covid restrictions.

Known UConn POI bolded:

Delaney Thomas
Madison Booker
Zoe Brooks
Riley Stack
Olivia Anderson
Aubrey Shaw
Mary Ashley Groot
Chloe Spreen
KK Arnold?
Jada Williams
Judea Watkins
Jayden Donovan
Tatum Greene
Milaysia Fulwiley
Corey Allen
Kendall Dudley
Breya Cunningham
Kennedy Ume
Taliyah Parker

UConn POI Jordyn Griggs ('23) also a U16 trial invitee.

 

[huskiemaniac]

My sincere hope is Aubrey learns to utilize a head fake, when appropriate, before shooting in the paint.

 

[BobbyJ]

For those who thought the Jenica Lewis class of 2026 video up earlier in this thread was impressive, she has some good news for UConn fans in this interview:

 

[Alydar]

I want to stress Nan's last point. I think we all agree Aubrey is fun exciting player to watch, a great teammate and a wonderful young woman. Yes, we have had players who weren't offensive threats that have played a lot. The difference is that our past defense oriented players facilitated other players offense while Aubrey's deficiencies choke the offense and hinder 4 other players..

And her work on the boards affords her team mates (and herself) more possessions. That is a different type of facilitation.
She has limitations but I don't think she is anywhere near her ceiling and she has ben repeatedly described as a hard worker. Learning to hit spot up 3's, like learning to shoot fts, is matter of putting in the work.

 

[oldhusky]

And her work on the boards affords her team mates (and herself) more possessions. That is a different type of facilitation.
She has limitations but I don't think she is anywhere near her ceiling and she has ben repeatedly described as a hard worker. Learning to hit spot up 3's, like learning to shoot fts, is matter of putting in the work.

Agree on the extra possessions. Offensive rebounding is offense, and an easy put back from an offensive rebound is an efficient shot. Having watched the championship Bulls for many years, the most valuable offensive player on the floor, once a shot was released, was not Jordan or Pippin, but Dennis Rodman. He was the one player most likely to create an extra possession for the team if the shot missed. Granted he was one of the worst offensive players before a shot is taken, but afterwards one of the best.

 

[HuskylnSC]

And her work on the boards affords her team mates (and herself) more possessions. That is a different type of facilitation.
She has limitations but I don't think she is anywhere near her ceiling and she has ben repeatedly described as a hard worker. Learning to hit spot up 3's, like learning to shoot fts, is matter of putting in the work.

You are correct. Your statement stands alone on offensive rebounding and it becomes all the more important when someone screws up the offensive set resulting in a bad shot. The issue is not what she is able to do, but what she has been doing. Yes she works hard and still doesn't know the offense or when to switch on defense. Believe Geno when he says in five minutes you wonder why she isn't playing 40 minutes and in the next five minutes you wonder why she is playing at all. It is that inconsistency that frustrates me.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

NSCA All-American Strength and Conditioning Athletes of the Year

PARKVIEW SPORTS MEDICINE PERFORMANCE

Ayanna Patterson
Junior

Ayanna exemplifies every quality a coach dreams about she has a work ethic second to none, a positive attitude, and an unrelenting desire to get better every day. In the last year Ayanna's hardwork, consistency, and discipline on and off the court has allowed her to collect division 1 offers from every major school in the country including UCONN, Louisville, South Carolina, and Notre Dame just to name a few. Ayanna used her strength and physicality to become one of the most dominant post players in the country. She is currently ranked in the top three of players for her class in the country. The highlight of the summer had to be her throwing down her first career dunk. ~Tyler Palmer

https://www.nsca.com/contentassets/44fb2f6ca0d344d7a335c0dfe15d61d1/basketball--high-school.pdf

 

[oldude]

NSCA All-American Strength and Conditioning Athletes of the Year

PARKVIEW SPORTS MEDICINE PERFORMANCE

Ayanna Patterson
Junior

Ayanna exemplifies every quality a coach dreams about she has a work ethic second to none, a positive attitude, and an unrelenting desire to get better every day. In the last year Ayanna's hardwork, consistency, and discipline on and off the court has allowed her to collect division 1 offers from every major school in the country including UCONN, Louisville, South Carolina, and Notre Dame just to name a few. Ayanna used her strength and physicality to become one of the most dominant post players in the country. She is currently ranked in the top three of players for her class in the country. The highlight of the summer had to be her throwing down her first career dunk. ~Tyler Palmer

https://www.nsca.com/contentassets/44fb2f6ca0d344d7a335c0dfe15d61d1/basketball--high-school.pdf

Ayanna’s strength and athleticism in only her jr year of HS is off the charts.

 

[jazz]

I want to stress Nan's last point. I think we all agree Aubrey is fun exciting player to watch, a great teammate and a wonderful young woman. Yes, we have had players who weren't offensive threats that have played a lot. The difference is that our past defense oriented players facilitated other players offense while Aubrey's deficiencies choke the offense and hinder 4 other players..

This is just not true.

The overall offensive output on an analysis I did and showed in several games this year was no (or little) different when AG was in or out of the game. Total offensive production was approximately the same and many times, UConn stretched the lead when she was in the game. Saying she 'chocks the offense and hinders 4 other player is just not true.

 

[HuskylnSC]

This is just not true.

The overall offensive output on an analysis I did and showed in several games this year was no (or little) different when AG was in or out of the game. Total offensive production was approximately the same and many times, UConn stretched the lead when she was in the game. Saying she 'chocks the offense and hinders 4 other player is just not true.

Comparison is one thing and analysis is another. I would hope in your analysis there would some factors such as overall defensive strength of the opponent and offensive strengths of the teammates on the court with Aubrey. Whether the points were scored during a crucial part of the game or in garbage time. You might remember that the head coach looking to shake up the team first started Aubrey this year and when that didn't work as well as he wanted he tried Nika. Evidently Nika was his preferred choice.

 

[jazz]

Comparison is one thing and analysis is another. I would hope in your analysis there would some factors such as overall defensive strength of the opponent and offensive strengths of the teammates on the court with Aubrey. Whether the points were scored during a crucial part of the game or in garbage time. You might remember that the head coach looking to shake up the team first started Aubrey this year and when that didn't work as well as he wanted he tried Nika. Evidently Nika was his preferred choice.

I dont remember AG ever getting a start. what games were these? You are thinking of AE not AG. So NM was the preferred choice over AE. I am a huge NM fan but thought the head coach gave up a little too soon on AE in the starting lineup. She had a 4 minute audition and then back to the bench.

Yes there are different variables to take into account. For instance, in the Baylor game, we lost a few points on the lead when AG was in but yet we played a very small line-up for long stretches since Liv was on the bench. Hard to expect us to play so long with a small line-up and then blame that on AG. You have to also think of that too. AG often plays when Liv gets into foul trouble, which in general, especially against a big team, will make things more difficult, but yet we still kept it close. I actually thought AG helped us tremendously in that game. Then there is CW who gave up 15 points in the first half by herself, including a throw away pass a the end of the half leading to another 2 easy points for Baylor. Alongside AG's offense, which I know isn't proficient, she creates opportunities for teammates with her defense and also slows down the opposing team as well. She did a pretty nice job on the kid from Ark, holding her to 7 points when she was guarding her.

 

[Alydar]

You are correct. Your statement stands alone on offensive rebounding and it becomes all the more important when someone screws up the offensive set resulting in a bad shot. The issue is not what she is able to do, but what she has been doing. Yes she works hard and still doesn't know the offense or when to switch on defense. Believe Geno when he says in five minutes you wonder why she isn't playing 40 minutes and in the next five minutes you wonder why she is playing at all. It is that inconsistency that frustrates me.

I think the issue is her potential, not her history. If she was not a hard worker I'd discount potential but she is so I give her (and others) the benefit of the doubt. There have been very few 4 year stars at UConn. UConn has so many players with so much potential who seem to be dedicated to improving their games. I'll wager that at least a few will succeed. It's going to be interesting finding out who they are.

 

[CocoHusky]

I dont remember AG ever getting a start. what games were these? You are thinking of AE not AG. So NM was the preferred choice over AE. I am a huge NM fan but thought the head coach gave up a little too soon on AE in the starting lineup. She had a 4 minute audition and then back to the bench.

Good lord! Aubrey actually started 5 consecutive games for UCONN this season beginning with Butler and ending with DePaul. Those 5 starts also included TN and Arkansas. How could your thorough analysis have missed this? Peep this, Aubrey is actually a slightly better player as as starter than she is coming off the bench. Again I'm not sure how your analysis could have possibly missed that. As several people have pointed out to you her overall impact on the offensive end is why Aubrey's play does not justify more minutes. You actual have to watch the game to notice this because the box score can be very deceiving. Did you watch the clip of Aubrey whiffing on several screens that I previously pointed out or do I need to repost it.

 

[Steelerone]

It's sort of like we've gone from famine to feast in terms of size in the next few years. The young lady from Ohio State will serve as sort of a buffer between the class's we now have and the ones coming in for the next two years. I can honestly say that I feel the coming seasons will be happy ones for the Boneyarders and unhappy ones for our opponents.

 

[HuskylnSC]

I think the issue is her potential, not her history. If she was not a hard worker I'd discount potential but she is so I give her (and others) the benefit of the doubt. There have been very few 4 year stars at UConn. UConn has so many players with so much potential who seem to be dedicated to improving their games. I'll wager that at least a few will succeed. It's going to be interesting finding out who they are.

I would like to believe you are right. But it appears she is being recruited over and may not get the chance to shine in practice. Amari, and Caroline will possibly be taking minutes after January. I didn’t see a sophomore jump in understanding the offense. Hopefully her junior year will be different. I think all of us who have been disappointed in her play want nothing more than for her to have a monster season. Hoping I’m wrong

 

[HuskylnSC]

I dont remember AG ever getting a start. what games were these? You are thinking of AE not AG. So NM was the preferred choice over AE. I am a huge NM fan but thought the head coach gave up a little too soon on AE in the starting lineup. She had a 4 minute audition and then back to the bench.

Yes there are different variables to take into account. For instance, in the Baylor game, we lost a few points on the lead when AG was in but yet we played a very small line-up for long stretches since Liv was on the bench. Hard to expect us to play so long with a small line-up and then blame that on AG. You have to also think of that too. AG often plays when Liv gets into foul trouble, which in general, especially against a big team, will make things more difficult, but yet we still kept it close. I actually thought AG helped us tremendously in that game. Then there is CW who gave up 15 points in the first half by herself, including a throw away pass a the end of the half leading to another 2 easy points for Baylor. Alongside AG's offense, which I know isn't proficient, she creates opportunities for teammates with her defense and also slows down the opposing team as well. She did a pretty nice job on the kid from Ark, holding her to 7 points when she was guarding her.

Good job with the ‘analysis’. You need to recheck some bad scores

 

[hoophuskee]

I think the issue is her potential, not her history. If she was not a hard worker I'd discount potential but she is so I give her (and others) the benefit of the doubt. There have been very few 4 year stars at UConn. UConn has so many players with so much potential who seem to be dedicated to improving their games. I'll wager that at least a few will succeed. It's going to be interesting finding out who they are.

The issue with her though is she is not such an amazing offensive rebounder vs the tougher teams. Looking at the 4 games which UCONN was threatened or lost (excluding AZ because she didn't play much), she got 2 OREB's vs Tennessee, 1 vs Arkansas, 2 vs South Carolina, and 1 vs Baylor. That's not much of an impact.

One poster on here spoke of "Dennis Rodman." Yes of course- if she was "Dennis Rodman" in terms of production vs the elite teams then that's one major asset UCONN has. But she isn't.

As a result, the expectation of how productive she'll be vs the elite teams getting OREB's vs how the opposing team will pack the paint when she is in- in which they are cutting off passing and driving lanes - may very well mean she could very well get surpassed.

And I think her shooting will have to come down to more than just hard work. Shooters need mental/ a confident mindset too. Sometimes players can't develop that well enough. I'm sure many players that never were very good shooters did try to work hard at it but they couldn't achieve that type of shooting success.

 

[Mdoggie]

Is it at all possible to talk about potential recruits on the recruiting thread? Or is that asking too much?

 

[JordyG]

My sincere hope is Aubrey learns to utilize a head fake, when appropriate, before shooting in the paint.

My sincere hope is that Aubrey utilizes a consistent shot from anywhere next year.

 

[jazz]

Good job with the ‘analysis’. You need to recheck some bad scores

I don't need to recheck anything.

 

[jazz]

Good lord! Aubrey actually started 5 consecutive games for UCONN this season beginning with Butler and ending with DePaul. Those 5 starts also included TN and Arkansas. How could your thorough analysis have missed this? Peep this, Aubrey is actually a slightly better player as as starter than she is coming off the bench. Again I'm not sure how your analysis could have possibly missed that. As several people have pointed out to you her overall impact on the offensive end is why Aubrey's play does not justify more minutes. You actual have to watch the game to notice this because the box score can be very deceiving. Did you watch the clip of Aubrey whiffing on several screens that I previously pointed out or do I need to repost it.

Damn i forgot this. by bad. but it has nothing to do with my analysis. If you read more closely, which obviously you didnt, my analysis wasnt about her as a starter vs AG coming off the bench. It was just the minutes she played compared to the scoring output the team had and the point discrepancy . So Good Lord back to you Coco - why don't you try reading more carefully before responding or are you so anxious to say something inflammatory behind the protection of your keyboard that you just can't help yourself. If you are going to challenge me, then try to take note of the actual original post not some small point that you 'cherry picked' so that you can become the 'keyboard warrior' you are always so anxious to be.

She didn't whiff on several screens. It was two and we had a discussion about this before. Within the same video clip you gave me, AE whiffed completely on a screen but again you chose to ignore this. I also don't think PB runs her man off the screens very well either - I believe GA mentioned this as well but it doesn't matter to me if he has or hasn't. It takes two to screen. Nice try at cherry picking and blowing something that had nothing to do with the original post out of proportion. Also, you know that I watched the clips you sent to me because I responded to it.

Would you like me to repost my original post back to you and explain what each word means to make it easier for you to understand?

Obviously I know the box score can be deceiving which is why I, and GA alike dont think that CW or Liv quite had the great AA season that many here think they did. To further your point, AG does a lot of things that don't show up in the box, so yes the box can be deceiving in that way as well. But of course I think you have conveniently chose to ignore that too.

 

[HuskylnSC]

I don't need to recheck anything.

Sorry that post spell checked. It should have said 'box' scores. If you don't know that Aubrey started for 5 games then your whole 'analysis' falls apart. just saying.

 

[HuskylnSC]

One poster on here spoke of "Dennis Rodman."

Good point. But the other point if Rodman did not run the plays. Did not know where to be and where the ball was supposed to move. If he clogged the middle and ruined floor spacing. He too would have had a lot of potential.

Definition - Potential: You could be able to do something, but you haven't done anything.

 

[CocoHusky]

Damn i forgot this. by bad. but it has nothing to do with my analysis. If you read more closely, which obviously you didnt, my analysis wasnt about her as a starter vs AG coming off the bench. It was just the minutes she played compared to the scoring output the team had and the point discrepancy . So Good Lord back to you Coco - why don't you try reading more carefully before responding or are you so anxious to say something inflammatory behind the protection of your keyboard that you just can't help yourself. If you are going to challenge me, then try to take note of the actual original post not some small point that you 'cherry picked' so that you can become the 'keyboard warrior' you are always so anxious to be.

She didn't whiff on several screens. It was two and we had a discussion about this before. Within the same video clip you gave me, AE whiffed completely on a screen but again you chose to ignore this. I also don't think PB runs her man off the screens very well either - I believe GA mentioned this as well but it doesn't matter to me if he has or hasn't. It takes two to screen. Nice try at cherry picking and blowing something that had nothing to do with the original post out of proportion. Also, you know that I watched the clips you sent to me because I responded to it.

Would you like me to repost my original post back to you and explain what each word means to make it easier for you to understand?

Obviously I know the box score can be deceiving which is why I, and GA alike dont think that CW or Liv quite had the great AA season that many here think they did. To further your point, AG does a lot of things that don't show up in the box, so yes the box can be deceiving in that way as well. But of course I think you have conveniently chose to ignore that too.

It is very unfortunate that your analysis "forgot" to include the games Aubrey started because her first start against Butler where she dropped 17 and 10 was perhaps her best game of the season. You also seem determined to to elevate Aubrey by pointing out the flaws of the other players-good luck with that. This thread is supposed to be about recruiting. The thread you started to big up Aubrey did not end so well so please don't put this one on the same path.

#44 Aubrey Griffin (6'1" Forward)

Although I "might" forgive you for confusing Paige with MJ this version of UCONN WBB does not have anyone who could possibly equate to Scottie Pippen. Dennis Rodman was able to specialize because on those Bulls teams because he was HoF specialist sharing the floor with at least two other HoF...

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