Azura

[wes33]

She going to be special.

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn...s-huge-talent-to-huskies-20170626-column.html

 

[HGN]

She going to be special.

http://www.courant.com/sports/UConn...s-huge-talent-to-huskies-20170626-column.html

Yep ...............She already is. With the talent that will be around her she certainly will be Special.

 

[SVCBeercats]

She going to be special.

http://www.courant.com/sports/UConn...s-huge-talent-to-huskies-20170626-column.html

She was special her first two years at Duke. As a sophomore she was an All-American Honorable Mention. She will be better the next two years. UCONN lucked out when she decided to leave Duke. I cannot comprehend how anyone could think she will not start. Mobile, coordinated height is what this team needs. Expect from Stevens the following:

 

[bizarro aj]

Z and KLS will battle it out for NPOY!

 

[iamcbs]

Z and KLS will battle it out for NPOY!

Kelsey Mitchell may have something to say about who the NPOY is?

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Z and KLS will battle it out for NPOY!

UConn has four potential contenders for that award with A'ja Wilson likely being the biggest competition. Maybe Kalani Brown too. The latter two will be needed to dominate for their teams which might give them the edge.

 

[ricky]

UConn has four potential contenders for that award with A'ja Wilson likely being the biggest competition. Maybe Kalani Brown too. The latter two will be needed to dominate for their teams which might give them the edge.

I expect Collier to easily earn that award.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Z and KLS will battle it out for NPOY!

I don't know about that. Collier and Williams got a lot of ink and air coverage last season. We could be wrong and could be some player on another team but I DON'T THINK SO! (Sorry, Mr. Monk.) Not a bad dilemma to have. Which of 4 players on your team will be NPOY? Of course they could cancel out each other and Mitchell waltzes in as NPOY. NAHHHHH!

 

[bags27]

When Coates went down last year, opening up the middle, Wilson showed why she is the most dominating force in WCBB. I do think UConn fields 3 incredible pro prospects in Gabby, Z, and Pheesa, and potentially a 4th in Lou, but if I could choose just one player right now, it would be Wilson. She is one very, very tough and unstoppable ball player. Mitchell doesn't rank in that same discussion, IMHO, at least.

 

[meyers7]

Kelsey Mitchell may have something to say about who the NPOY is?

She gets to vote???

 

[CocoHusky]

I expect Collier to easily earn that award.

Easily?
I don't think so.

 

[bizarro aj]

I don't know about that. Collier and Williams got a lot of ink and air coverage last season. We could be wrong and could be some player on another team but I DON'T THINK SO! (Sorry, Mr. Monk.) Not a bad dilemma to have. Which of 4 players on your team will be NPOY? Of course they could cancel out each other and Mitchell waltzes in as NPOY. NAHHHHH!

I would agree if either of them could make a foul shot when the game is on the line but we all seen what happened against a weak miss. st team in the semi finals.
Lets be real the only reason aja is in the conversation is because miss st knocked uconn out of a chance for #5 in a row.

 

[CocoHusky]

I would agree if either of them could make a foul shot when the game is on the line but we all seen what happened against a weak miss. st team in the semi finals.
Lets be real the only reason aja is in the conversation is because miss st knocked UConn out of a chance for #5 in a row.

A'ja was "the" NPOY favorite before the season began.

 

[bizarro aj]

As i said many times npoy shouldn't be judged by what they do against cupcakes. Z is going to dominate aja when uconn blows out SC. Why would Mitchell be in the running because all she can do is score by taking a ton of shots. The npoy should be judged by their complete game not just scoring.

 

[tower1]

Kelsey Mitchell may have something to say about who the NPOY is?

Forget Mitchell , How about Collier ????? What a freaking Team Geno has assembled!

 

[CocoHusky]

She was special her first two years at Duke. As a sophomore she was an All-American Honorable Mention. She will be better the next two years. UConn lucked out when she decided to leave Duke. I cannot comprehend how anyone could think she will not start. Mobile, coordinated height is what this team needs. Expect from Stevens the following:

Very glad to have Azura at UCONN but "luck" had nothing to do with it. UCONN has only lost two games since Azura left HS= a lot of hard work to make the program attractive enough for talented players to want to join.
An speaking of attractive programs Duke with Sophomore Azura missed the NCAA tournament. Duke without Azura not only made the tournament but they also beat #1 (at the time) South Carolina.

 

[CocoHusky]

As i said many times npoy shouldn't be judged by what they do against cupcakes. Z is going to dominate aja when UConn blows out SC. Why would Mitchell be in the running because all she can do is score by taking a ton of shots. The npoy should be judged by their complete game not just scoring.

Go look up A'Ja numbers against Miss State including during the National Championship game and get back to me. Unless you though Miss State was a cupcake. Stanford?
Kelsey Mitchell will be in the conversation for NPOY because last year the NPOY was the leading scorer for last year and all-time NCAA. Mitchell will be in the conversation because she has a chance to do the same thing this year. There is a reason they keep score-because those that can, do!

 

[SCspur]

As i said many times npoy shouldn't be judged by what they do against cupcakes. Z is going to dominate aja when UConn blows out SC. Why would Mitchell be in the running because all she can do is score by taking a ton of shots. The npoy should be judged by their complete game not just scoring.

Since your name is bizarro do you speak in opposite language? Lol but really I like your enthusiasm and the fact that you think Stevens will totally crush Wilson. But lets think logically, in their first two matchups Wilson dominated Stevens in every category. Its not hard to think Stevens won't be a much better player in a UCONN jersey, but to say she'll completely dominate a'ja is a bit ludicrous. Also I'm quite confident our girls wont get blown out, we ight not win the game but we have the players to compete and the game will be in Columbia likely in front of a sold out crowd so that's a little more incentive for them to play harder.

 

[Geew1992]

As i said many times npoy shouldn't be judged by what they do against cupcakes. Z is going to dominate aja when UConn blows out SC. Why would Mitchell be in the running because all she can do is score by taking a ton of shots. The npoy should be judged by their complete game not just scoring.

I said this before. The NPOY should be judged on their all around skills. I understand why Plum received it this past year. With that being said, I don't think there is a clear front runner.

 

[Alydar]

Go look up A'Ja numbers against Miss State including during the National Championship game and get back to me. Unless you though Miss State was a cupcake. Stanford?

Wilson had Coates carrying the load inside for most of the season and had a lot left in the SEC tournament and the NCAA's. This year she will have do a lot more during the season. Banging under the glass all season can wear down anyone.

I think she is the best player in wcbb right now but by next March that might not be the case.

 

[UConnCat]

With so much All-American talent it will be very difficult for a UConn player to stand out on next season's team and even more difficult to stand out as the best in all of WCBB. That alone will give Wilson an edge.

Taking into consideration all aspects of the game -- scoring and non-scoring statistics, defensive ability and leadership -- the most complete and dominant player in WCBB last season was Gabby Williams. Jay Bilas described her as the most complete player in college basketball. Gabby averaged 14 ppg, grabbed 205 defensive rebounds, dished out 190 assists, blocked 52 shots and came up with 100 steals. She was WBCA Defensive POY. The only thing she didn't do on the court was shoot and make 3-pointers.

With the presence of Stevens I'll be curious to see how Gabby's role changes. She'll be more of a perimeter player defensively and hopefully her offensive perimeter game will continue to develop.

 

[ricky]

Forget Mitchell , How about Collier ????? What a freaking Team Geno has assembled!

Exactly!! Collier!! That's what I keep saying. Yes, what an assembly of not just 1st team AA but NPOY candidates.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Very glad to have Azura at UConn but "luck" had nothing to do with it. UConn has only lost two games since Azura left HS= a lot of hard work to make the program attractive enough for talented players to want to join.
An speaking of attractive programs Duke with Sophomore Azura missed the NCAA tournament. Duke without Azura not only made the tournament but they also beat #1 (at the time) South Carolina.

Bovine scatology! If she remained at Duke or choose another college UCONN would be without an experienced not to mention a very talented big for the next two seasons while next season Collier version 2 gets acclimated to the UCONN way. Now UCONN is the lead dog to win the national championship this season and next season. Without Azura I don't believe they would be as heavy favorites. Even Geno considered 2016-17 season a most fortunate anomaly. Not having a big cost UCONN the NCAA championship not to mention not having a MoJeff or a Kelly F to shutdown a guard with a hot hand. Perhaps one of the freshmen will emerge as a shutdown defender Coombs? Gordon? One of them is supposed to like defense. A shutdown defender at guard would be nice. Last season UCONN's team defense was very good but they had no consistent shutdown defender particularly at guard. Nurse is a good defender but not in the class of MoJeff or Kell F. With such a defender Vivians or Williams would have been held to single figures or taken completely out of the offense thus disrupting Miss St's offense. With Azure Duke might have won the NCAA championship last season. The luck was Azura deciding to leave Duke making her available to UCONN. We shall see how all these opinions pan out.

 

[SCspur]

Wilson had Coates carrying the load inside for most of the season and had a lot left in the SEC tournament and the NCAA's. This year she will have do a lot more during the season. Banging under the glass all season can wear down anyone.

I think she is the best player in wcbb right now but by next March that might not be the case.

This is very much true. I felt that Wilson should have been rebounding a lot better during the season. She averaged around 7 rpg while Coates was averaging around 11 before she went down. After Coates wasn't on the floor Wilson rebounding went up to 10 pg and she also had outstanding rebounding games agaisnt Stanford and Miss St.
This coming year she won't have to play as much because their is depth in the post. 6'3" Alexis Jennings, 6'5" LaDaziah Williams, 6'3" Kiki Herbert Harrigan, as well as 6'3" guard LeLe Grissett will all provide help to Wilson in the post and allow her to get some rest during games

 

[MilfordHusky]

She was special her first two years at Duke. As a sophomore she was an All-American Honorable Mention. She will be better the next two years. UConn lucked out when she decided to leave Duke. I cannot comprehend how anyone could think she will not start. Mobile, coordinated height is what this team needs. Expect from Stevens the following:

Because the returning players include an Olympian, 3 first-team All-Americans, and a point guard who was ahead of the great Moriah Jefferson as a freshman. Z will get lots of PT, whether she starts or not.