Baloney ! Most Impressive ? I think not

[BlueSkyGLW]

I think not, since many of us (ok, maybe mainly me) expected exactly this from Lou over the summer. With Azzi as her "shooting mate" I said she'd get lots of open looks -- which she did. Once Azzi went down, it got a bit tougher to find those open looks.


Similarly, many folks here had sky high expectations for Ayanna over the summer -- have you forgotten about the dunk predictions? -- and she hasn't quite exceeded these. So, more impressive maybe, but not exceeding expectations. Perhaps, like Lou, she's been hampered by the injury to her running mate in the post, namely Ice. But I love her progress so far, and can't wait to see what she'll be in March.

You're going in the right direction. In order to compare, you look at where they were (where they start), how well the are equipped to meet the challenges they would face in both physical and mental performance, in order to help the team and how they performed when given the opportunity.

Aaliyah has been spectacular: you would expect what she is doing from a junior who also has experience with Canada national team and went to the Olympics, now familiar with what is required of her at UConn, stayed at UConn in the Summer instead of playing for Canada....hence, lots of preparation. It includes the mental part, given the determination to improve. Her goal was to perform at a high level consistently. She has done that.

Aubrey has been outstanding with a balance performance between offense and defense. She quickly showed mental improvement. The Princeton game show her at peak contribution. She is in her fourth year and she knows more than anyone what is expected of her. Even in her lost year she was part of the team mentally, watching film....and she probably put up hundreds of shots a day to work on her offense. Undoubtedly she worked on the mental side in order to perform at a high level consistently. She has done that in defense and rebounding. Although she has been scoring at an efficient rate, there are two situations she needs to work on some more: not to hesitate when open for her outside shot, especially outside the arc and meet the challenge when the Coach puts it on her. The difference between the Princeton game and Maryland was noticeable on offense - I couldn't tell whether Maryland just defended her well or she felt a little more pressure because Geno asked more of her (to do it again).....probably both.

Caroline is still getting over her injuries and the mental hurdle it put on her. Some games you can see the Caroline of last year, some others not quite there yet. I am sure it will come - she is a fighter.

Amari is showing progress relative to her biggest weakness: ability to play fast the way UConn wants to play and is now beginning to show the skills Geno has been talking about.

Ines? We all have taken turns in describing where she came from both the level of basketball she was playing in and the mental gear-shift in coming to UConn so late. Was her FIBA tournament experience with the Portuguese national youth team? I don't think so. Crowd exposure (maybe 200, biggest?) I would wager that there would be many high school and AAU youth teams that would beat her Azores teams. She was basically a blank slate when the UConn classes began, learning on the fly as she adjusted to the academics and life in the US (good thing her teammates embraced her wholeheartedly). Etc., etc. First meaningful minutes late in the game against Princeton. Coach starts her in Maryland game, a ranked team which beat Notre Dame earlier. She could easily have had a serious case of nerves and Geno would have had to find a different solution. How did she do? Certainly not like a high school girl that someone said she looked..

It is pointless to say who the most impressive is. The frame of reference in comparing them are not the same. The writer was expressing his opinion, mentally making an imperfect comparison, performance optics included. Likewise, the views expressed herein elsewhere are all opinions, not anchored in a fair reference for comparison.

Not need for some of us to red thumb other's opinions, yes? But a lively debate can be fun.....

 

[TeamFirst!]

Aubrey has been serving essentially the same functions as CWE last year, who was a first round WNBA draft pick, and putting up BETTER numbers. Aubrey has been the surprise of this year.

 

[MSGRET]

I believe that Ines arrived at UConn on the first day of class which was around the first week of September. She was already a couple of months behind in team workouts and weight training. She has had to not only has to learn the system while also going to classes, but also is has to do her studies in a new language and culture. For her to start in the ninth game of the season as the PG and to have only 3 T/O's while others who have been in UConn system and has played 1-4 years of college ball had just as many or more T/O's, I think that is very impressive, especially for someone that was supposed to be going the JUCO route, before accepting a scholarship to UConn.

 

[Zarathustra]

The article specifically mentioned Aubrey Griffin. Aubrey's performance has exceeded even the most optimistic expectations all season long. If we are really talking about performance exceeding expectations shouldn't it be Lou- UCONN go to scorer averaging 17 PPG?

I love everybody! Lou, Aubrey, Aaliyah, Yanna, and INES! That list is in order of
age /class) just to eliminate any sibling rivalry! Z

 

[Zarathustra]

You're going in the right direction. In order to compare, you look at where they were (where they start), how well the are equipped to meet the challenges they would face in both physical and mental performance, in order to help the team and how they performed when given the opportunity.

Aaliyah has been spectacular: you would expect what she is doing from a junior who also has experience with Canada national team and went to the Olympics, now familiar with what is required of her at UConn, stayed at UConn in the Summer instead of playing for Canada....hence, lots of preparation. It includes the mental part, given the determination to improve. Her goal was to perform at a high level consistently. She has done that.

Aubrey has been outstanding with a balance performance between offense and defense. She quickly showed mental improvement. The Princeton game show her at peak contribution. She is in her fourth year and she knows more than anyone what is expected of her. Even in her lost year she was part of the team mentally, watching film....and she probably put up hundreds of shots a day to work on her offense. Undoubtedly she worked on the mental side in order to perform at a high level consistently. She has done that in defense and rebounding. Although she has been scoring at an efficient rate, there are two situations she needs to work on some more: not to hesitate when open for her outside shot, especially outside the arc and meet the challenge when the Coach puts it on her. The difference between the Princeton game and Maryland was noticeable on offense - I couldn't tell whether Maryland just defended her well or she felt a little more pressure because Geno asked more of her (to do it again).....probably both.

Caroline is still getting over her injuries and the mental hurdle it put on her. Some games you can see the Caroline of last year, some others not quite there yet. I am sure it will come - she is a fighter.

Amari is showing progress relative to her biggest weakness: ability to play fast the way UConn wants to play and is now beginning to show the skills Geno has been talking about.

Ines? We all have taken turns in describing where she came from both the level of basketball she was playing in and the mental gear-shift in coming to UConn so late. Was her FIBA tournament experience with the Portuguese national youth team? I don't think so. Crowd exposure (maybe 200, biggest?) I would wager that there would be many high school and AAU youth teams that would beat her Azores teams. She was basically a blank slate when the UConn classes began, learning on the fly as she adjusted to the academics and life in the US (good thing her teammates embraced her wholeheartedly). Etc., etc. First meaningful minutes late in the game against Princeton. Coach starts her in Maryland game, a ranked team which beat Notre Dame earlier. She could easily have had a serious case of nerves and Geno would have had to find a different solution. How did she do? Certainly not like a high school girl that someone said she looked..

It is pointless to say who the most impressive is. The frame of reference in comparing them are not the same. The writer was expressing his opinion, mentally making an imperfect comparison, performance optics included. Likewise, the views expressed herein elsewhere are all opinions, not anchored in a fair reference for comparison.

Not need for some of us to red thumb other's opinions, yes? But a lively debate can be fun.....

But did not the jerseys worn by Ines and her teammates at the FIBA tournament this summer say
Portugal?? Check again with the FIBA website. I will!!

 

[HuskyNan]

some of you are tough yikes I thought the football board was tough but this board is a SMH

You have no idea.