Aubrey Griffin Making an Early Impression

[diggerfoot]

Yea Jingo has brought this up before. (He's not willing to back it up though.) As I've replied to him before, IF Griffin is leading UCONN in scoring, that's gonna be a very, very bad thing. At the very, very best Griffin is going to be the 5th scoring option. That would mean Westbrook didn't get her waiver and Makurat is struggling. And if our 5th option is leading the scoring, that means options 1-4 (Williams, Walker, ONO, Dangerfield) are either having very bad years or are injured.

So, hopefully, it will not happen.

I disputed Jingo as well, but now let me play devil's advocate. If Griffin is really, really terrific as a freshman she could get the most points and that would be good news. Of course, she would have to be even better than Taurasi, since there was too much seniority ahead of Taurasi for her to even start right away. She would have to be even better than Stewart as well. Even though she started and led in scoring for awhile, opponents figured out how to neutralize her until tournament time. But if Griffin is as good as Moore as a freshman, well then, we got ourselves a championship team in the making. The early comments from Auriemma, while promising, do not indicate she's as good as Moore, so you're probably right.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Why does everyone talk about AG 'down the road' .. what's wrong with 'right now' as I see it?

Shes an un tried and not so true Freshman and historically Geno need Frosh to build trust with him---no trust no start. That's Geno.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Isn't Geno known to love and cherish a kid that can play defense? Defense is what's the engine for fast break opportunities and if the other team is stopped defensively, more than half the battle is won, isn't it? He has kept kids on the bench who had good offensive tools because they didn't or couldn't play defense.

Read the second line you have commented on. DEFENSE IS ADDRESSED THERE. DEFENSE IS ONLY PART OF THE GAME SHE MUST PLAY

 

[MilfordHusky]

I disputed Jingo as well, but now let me play devil's advocate. If Griffin is really, really terrific as a freshman she could get the most points and that would be good news. Of course, she would have to be even better than Taurasi, since there was too much seniority ahead of Taurasi for her to even start right away. She would have to be even better than Stewart as well. Even though she started and led in scoring for awhile, opponents figured out how to neutralize her until tournament time. But if Griffin is as good as Moore as a freshman, well then, we got ourselves a championship team in the making. The early comments from Auriemma, while promising, do not indicate she's as good as Moore, so you're probably right.

I saw Ossining play a good team from Baltimore in Virginia last December. Ossining eventually lost by a few in a high-scoring affair. I believe that Aubrey had 38 points. For a 6-minute stretch in Q3, Aubrey WAS Maya Moore. She took over the game with steals, blocks, layout, jumpers, etc. It was a glimpse of her potential.

 

[meyers7]

I disputed Jingo as well, but now let me play devil's advocate. If Griffin is really, really terrific as a freshman she could get the most points and that would be good news. Of course, she would have to be even better than Taurasi, since there was too much seniority ahead of Taurasi for her to even start right away. She would have to be even better than Stewart as well. Even though she started and led in scoring for awhile, opponents figured out how to neutralize her until tournament time. But if Griffin is as good as Moore as a freshman, well then, we got ourselves a championship team in the making. The early comments from Auriemma, while promising, do not indicate she's as good as Moore, so you're probably right.

Probably???

 

[Bama fan]

Eristic...

That is surely a stretch! Like the pot to the kettle, I think you might be projecting with that comment.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Shes an un tried and not so true Freshman and historically Geno need Frosh to build trust with him---no trust no start. That's Geno.

Ahh, finally the one word I have been looking for this entire post. Trust. Trust is the operative word in Geno's offense. As you all know Geno does not run the typical sequential options offense, but a read and react offense. Everyone must see and respond appropriately. You get to play offense when your teammates can TRUST you to respond and be in the right place and do the right thing at the right time. It's hard for freshmen players to grasp. If AG can learn to play defense and offense in the flow of the team so that her teammates trust her responses, she will play and if not , not. Athleticism will only get you so far. The delightful Gabulous One was the most athletic player for 4 years, but her playing time was limited in the beginning. I expect AG to play superbly. Just not at the beginning. Hopefully by February.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Ahh, finally the one word I have been looking for this entire post. Trust. Trust is the operative word in Geno's offense. As you all know Geno does not run the typical sequential options offense, but a read and react offense. Everyone must see and respond appropriately. You get to play offense when your teammates can TRUST you to respond and be in the right place and do the right thing at the right time. It's hard for freshmen players to grasp. If AG can learn to play defense and offense in the flow of the team so that her teammates trust her responses, she will play and if not , not. Athleticism will only get you so far. The delightful Gabulous One was the most athletic player for 4 years, but her playing time was limited in the beginning. I expect AG to play superbly. Just not at the beginning. Hopefully by February.

Going back just a few years---and prior to that there many cases of this trust issue--Moriah Jefferson as a Frosh at the end of that Frosh year going into the NCAA's tourney the team's guards all went to Geno and said TRUST her. He played her more and in some game was rewarded for that trust . If it took him that long to trust Moriah---why think he'd be more trusting of Griffin??
My best guess is he shall TRUST Griffin long before the tourney.

 

[BroadwayVa]

That is surely a stretch! Like the pot to the kettle, I think you might be projecting with that comment.

While the bulge may be large, I prefer not to call it a pot---nor do I like kettle. Call it what it is --overeating.

 

[Bama fan]

While the bulge may be large, I prefer not to call it a pot---nor do I like kettle. Call it what it is --overeating.

While you may battle your bulge, as most of us do, I would not classify the struggle
as "eristic".

 

[BroadwayVa]

While you may battle your bulge, as most of us do, I would not classify the struggle
as "eristic".

I am trying very hard to not be that way this season. But I'd rather bulge than fight I'd do more deferring than presenting an eristic attitude. but that's just me not being me.

 

[Bama fan]

I am trying very hard to not be that way this season. But I'd rather bulge than fight I'd do more deferring than presenting an eristic attitude. but that's just me not being me.

"To thine own self , be true." B'way. Polonius would not steer you wrong.