The luck may be walking away from a Duke degree going into her junior year, very few have done that.
Geno lured Azura to UConn by having Sue and DT take her for a ride to Wendy's.
Last year, as great as UConn was, they did not have anyone who could consistently block shots or defend the drives the best guards killed them with. Z will likely do all the dirty work needed for a championship. With so many great UConn scorers, unlikely her offensive performance will be POY level, but predict Z will be one of the great "Geno type players."
So any transfer then would be luck, right?
I admit that I'm one of the world's worst pedants, even while criticizing others for the same, which means you can throw in the charge of hypocrisy. But here goes:
I'm certainly happy you cleared that up.
Stewie allowed MoJeff a lot of leeway, by being the last line of defense on those last 2 UConn teams. Last year there wasn't someone to wipe out misses, with Azura you have that big.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.
Don't disagree, but, would also add, especially on re-watching the game...Miss State seemed to be a bit more hungry...just seemed like they got a lot of the rebounds, & loose balls, that we normally get...and, let's be honest, it would have helped to have some height in the post...just saying'.
LoL. Yes I would gladly take 2 Colliers (Gabby and Napheesa) over 1 Wilson. The WNBA GM will get to make the choice of Wilson over Gabby next April.
Agreed Collier had two and sometimes three defenders on her in the post. Azura will take this heat off because she can do some of Colliers stuff. Then Collier can also roam more and hit from the outside. Who do you check?
The post that you were replying to asserted that last year, UConn did not have a perimeter defender in the class of Moriah or Kelly to limit a hot guard on the opposing team, and that this cost them in the Mississippi State game. I agree that was a factor, but it should be noted that the reason for that was that Gabby had to defend the post (as best she could). With Azura and Batouly in the mix, Gabby will not need to play in the paint on defense, and that will allow her to be the perimeter defender at the level of Moriah or Kelly that she is certainly capable of being.
Does Kelsey get to vote too?? Dang!
The development of Ms Stevens at Uconn will have JPM and Dukies screaming FOUL--By Azura's own words she was never asked to play so fast with such precision at Duke. I do feel a TINY bit of sorrow for Duke losing this great talent (to be seen).
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Player of the Year? Not in the Geno system. If the requirement is to be a 30 per game scorer--with Z, KLS, Walker, Danger, Gabby, Kia etc ---. On teams where ONE or 2 do all the scoring--POY becomes attainable.
This year's front runner is also last years front runner in A'Ja Wilson. Plum did not come out of no where to win the award last year-she was WBCA all American in 2016. There are Front Runners every year. One of the reason Gabby may have lost last year is because she was not a front runner. There are Seven 2017 WBCA AA players returning to play this year (Collier, Mitchell,Wilson, Brown, Samuelson, Williams, & Turner (TBD).
Did you express the same sentiment about Kelsey Plum this time last year?
She votes with her play, being a 3-time AA and within striking distance of the NCAA scoring record for WCBB is worth a vote or two don't you think?
I stated that she was out played by, not matched up against.. As I believe Gabby came away with Player of the game.. Not that it matters but they were a few plays in that game where Aja attempted to guard her as well due to switches, with pretty much the same results..
