Azura Stevens Leaving | Page 9 | The Boneyard

Azura Stevens Leaving

oldude said:
...The one potential immediate impact, although I consider it remote at best, is if Ariel Howard from A&M, who will be immediately eligible as a graduate transfer, might possibly share a mutual interest in coming to UConn. Considering she's a 5'11" forward who averaged 12+ rebounds a game this past season, with some Gabulous leaping ability, it might just be a great one year plug-in player for the frontcourt.
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Do you think that Geno would, after all he’s been through, be interested in Howard or any other one-year player? Just wondering.
 
BigBird said:
Do you think that Geno would, after all he’s been through, be interested in Howard or any other one-year player? Just wondering.
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I hope he rethinks taking in transfers and certainly I wouldn't take any that have already played more than one season. The whole thing is just too disruptive, and I really have yet to ever see a huge upside to players transferring in. Z could have changed my mind, but she didn't.
 
BigBird said:
Do you think that Geno would, after all he’s been through, be interested in Howard or any other one-year player? Just wondering.
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Yes. Howard could easily be in rotation for UCONN next year.
 
BobbyJ said:
If she thinks her future as a pro is as a 3/wing, I believe she will be very disappointed. She has basically no perimeter skills to speak of and should find herself the best post coach she can and get to work with them IMO.
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She'd get eaten alive banging down low with WNBA bigs, unless somebody can figure out how to put at least 50 pounds of muscle on her frame. That's not happening. Her future is as a big wing player that can still get rebounds around the basket, not posting up WNBA bigs.
 
HoopsFan21 said:
I hope he rethinks taking in transfers and certainly I wouldn't take any that have already played more than one season. The whole thing is just too disruptive, and I really have yet to ever see a huge upside to players transferring in. Z could have changed my mind, but she didn't.
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You don't think she made a positive impact on this year's team?
 
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UConnCat said:
She can not defend on the wing and her 3-point shooting was terrible this season. Wherever she goes there will be an expectation that at 6-6 she score in the lane. Not exclusively, of course, but enough. She'll need to defend in the lane and rebound.
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If she can't defend the wing she sure as heck can't defend in the lane against WNBA bigs. She will have to develop as a wing player in the WNBA. There's no way she can mix it up down low with pro bigs.
 
skilz said:
As said by Aaron Rodgers - RELAX!!! Last I heard, Geno is still the coach. He will figure it out.
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He did not figure out how to stop Young on Friday, a player who scored less than 10 points against MS.
 
UConnNick said:
She'd get eaten alive banging down low with WNBA bigs, unless somebody can figure out how to put at least 50 pounds of muscle on her frame. That's not happening. Her future is as a big wing player that can still get rebounds around the basket, not posting up WNBA bigs.
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While I'm rooting for her big time, I wonder if her pro career will be closer to Iciss Tillis or Brit Griner. Most likely somewhere in between, but Griner's a great example of a post player who is very thin, but who has thrived and is an Olympian...
 
HoopsFan21 said:
I hope he rethinks taking in transfers and certainly I wouldn't take any that have already played more than one season. The whole thing is just too disruptive, and I really have yet to ever see a huge upside to players transferring in. Z could have changed my mind, but she didn't.
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What could she have done that would have changed your mind?
 
I am shocked to hear Z is going pro.

I think Geno is too, back in Jan he told me he fully expected her to be back and stressed she's was NOT ready for the rigors of the WNBA. I guess something changed since that Jan convo.

I did mention I was concerned about next years team and I got laughed off the internet. I was right to very concerned. Actually we are in big trouble with no guard to replace Kia and no center to replace Z. CW is going to be great but msny need to adjust to college pace. Ono is really good but is a bit behind due to injury and needs some work until she's ready for prime time.

You will see KLS really take on the scoring load. She might go for 30 plus a night. Next year will be interesting.
 
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Maybe we can get the NCAA to grant Morgan Tuck a waiver to come back and use the year of eligibility she forwent.
 
It's always "about the money.".......Well. they lost with her, and they can lose without her.
 
bbballfan23 said:
Why is this height argument such a big deal? We lost last year because of lack of ball handling/toughness. This year we lost because Jackie Young decided she was Maya Moore for a game. All those height issues & we haven’t lost a game in the last 2 years to the bigger team. Everyone is overreacting with a couple of fluke games. It happens.
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Whether it was a fluke or not is debatable, but regardless and to your point, we didn't play our best and it took a top team to beat us in overtime. Everyone was spoiled with Stewie and big 3 because it is rare that one team is that much better than the rest of the field for that long. I thought it was tremendous season and we beat the best of the best, unfortunately we slipped when it mattered most.

My hope is now it will force Lou and Pheesa to become go to players while others develop and are complimentary to them. I was most disappointed that they did not run more plays for especially Lou in the 4th or OT. Just like end of 1st quarter, sometimes your best player taking not the best shot is better than indecisiveness of the whole team. Also didn't understand the defense allowing Young wide open. Didn't really see them play that defense all year except the last two games. Against a team like SC it made sense because their talent for perimeter shooting was deficient.

I know I am not even .00001% of what Geno is but part if the fun of being a fan is having an opinion.
 
HoopsFan21 said:
I hope he rethinks taking in transfers and certainly I wouldn't take any that have already played more than one season. The whole thing is just too disruptive, and I really have yet to ever see a huge upside to players transferring in. Z could have changed my mind, but she didn't.
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After what happened to Z, why would a player want to transfer to UCONN unless they don't mind sitting a lot? Z did not come to UCONN to sit as much as she did. After the impact she had early in the semi's and then have to sit as much as she did in the second half may have had a negative impact on her. Especially after watching other players make the mistakes they made and did not contribute as much on offense as she did. Those same players made those same mistakes all season but did were no taken out of the game.
 
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CocoHusky said:
What could she have done that would have changed your mind?
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Come back for a second year starting for UConn and absolutely dominating. In the end what did she really get done here? OK her (and Megan) bailed us out of the ND game in December, but otherwise her time here was largely inconsequential. She was a bench player for a team that won most of their big games by 20 and most of their conference games by 40. That would have happened with or without her, just like it did last year.
 
HoopsFan21 said:
Come back for a second year starting for UConn and absolutely dominating. In the end what did she really get done here? OK her (and Megan) bailed us out of the ND game in December, but otherwise her time here was largely inconsequential. She was a bench player for a team that won most of their big games by 20 and most of their conference games by 40. That would have happened with or without her, just like it did last year.
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In the end what Azura accomplished at UCONN was to turn herself into a likely top 2-4 player in the WNBA draft. I'm not sure that happens for at Duke because at Duke she was not helping to beat that ND team you mentioned. I'm also not sure if you noticed that it was Azura that help carry UCONN from 13 down to go up 11 in the first half of the FF game on Friday. Hopefully you will learn to wish Azura well.
 
I really can't blame Z at all. If I was her, I don't think I could have Geno in my sight ever after that game. She literally brought them back in the second quarter and what does he do? Put her on the bench to start the 3rd. Stupid. She scored 19 in 27 minutes. She should have played 37 minutes at least. They had no answer for her.
 
She watched a stacked UConn team last year and a stacked UConn team this year lose to teams they should have beat by 10+. She knew that there was no chance they will get close to the final 4 next year so she went to the wnba. This was just the first show to drop for UConn unfortunately
 
ucalum said:
She watched a stacked UConn team last year and a stacked UConn team this year lose to teams they should have beat by 10+. She knew that there was no chance they will get close to the final 4 next year so she went to the wnba. This was just the first show to drop for UConn unfortunately
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You must be just a blast to hang out with.
 
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DEpup said:
I really can't blame Z at all. If I was her, I don't think I could have Geno in my sight ever after that game. She literally brought them back in the second quarter and what does he do? Put her on the bench to start the 3rd. Stupid. She scored 19 in 27 minutes. She should have played 37 minutes at least. They had no answer for her.
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Despite the obvious fact that Z should have played most if not all of the 2H on Friday evening, I seriously doubt that was the deciding factor regarding her decision to go pro. I imagine she'd already made that decision some time before the Final Four took place. She doesn't strike me as the type of person who makes a decision like that on the spur of a moment.
 
EricLA said:
While I'm rooting for her big time, I wonder if her pro career will be closer to Iciss Tillis or Brit Griner. Most likely somewhere in between, but Griner's a great example of a post player who is very thin, but who has thrived and is an Olympian...
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Griner is trim, but she is very big and strong. I’ve met her face-to-face and she is ripped. I told her I was a UConn fan, but I will confess I was scared. VERY large person.

I’m bummed that we lost, but not too discouraged about Z moving on. We have 3 returning starters including 2 AAs, plus some really nice other pieces. We had one off recruiting year (the rising juniors), but we have a returning HS #1 with a year of UConn under her belt, and 2 more super-elite recruits coming in. To me the wild card is health. If KLS (foot & ankle), Pheesa (feet), Crystal (shins) & Batouly (knee) all come back at 100% then I don’t think another undefeated regular season, #1 seed and FF appearance is out of the question at all. Really, we will have THREE HS #1’s - who else has this level of elite talent?
 
VillageHusky said:
And you know what, if Geno Auriemma believes that Megan and Mikayla do not deserve to play, then they will not. We all understand you firmly believe Geno made a fatal mistake in not playing Megan Walker a minimum of 20 to 25 minutes a game throughout the season. We also know you have been calling for Geno to do so from virtually the beginning of the season. Last, we all believe you are saying that this season would have had a better outcome than a 36-1 record and a final four appearance had Geno played Walker (and presumably others) the way you wished. I get it. I just don’t agree with you. More to the point, neither does Geno. Put another way, you are not the man in the arena, he is and your judgments and opinions will never be put to the test as have been his for 37 years. And, yes, 11 National Championships, 11 straight (and 19 total) Final Four Appearances, and a 1027-136 record means he is right and your opinion is just that, an opinion!
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X 1000000. I’ve been thinking exactly the same thing. Geno may not be perfect, but his approach works better than any other coach in the country...in history.
 
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