Before You Even Think of Giving Up on Natalie...

[Jonathan Husky]

I have two words for you... Stefanie and Gabby.

Natalie's 'impressive' freshman year stats at Georgetown just serve to emphasize the vast difference between playing for UConn and playing anywhere else. The demands, expectations and competition at UConn are unique, and the proof is in all the National Championships.

When I first saw Stefanie play, I couldn't believe her lack of conditioning. She could barely run, getting from one end of the court to the other measured with a sundial. She was big and soft, lacking strength and aggressiveness. If she was going to be our 'big girl' for the next 4 years- yikes, we're in trouble, I thought. But Stef worked incredibly hard to change all that, improving her skill sets and her body strength and conditioning. And though it took a while, because of her tremendous desire and work ethic she eventually became a National Champion and an all-time Husky great (for me, at least.)

Gabby came with the rep as a great athlete, but having missed almost 2 years with knee surgeries, she arrived at UConn to lots of hopeful fanfare. She didn't live up to all the hype her freshman year. Many were disappointed and bemoaned all her 'limitations.' And just like Stef, Gabby worked really hard on her game, and her freshman shortcomings are now among her many strengths- mid-range jumper, foul shooting, hard-nosed defense, successfully adjusting to her new demands of the frontcourt. She is a Husky favorite and well on her way to becoming great (for me, at least.)

Geno, CD, Shea and Marisa are the best coaches in the game, but a player MUST have that spark, that desire to become the best they can be, inside of them. If it isn't within them to do whatever is required to become their best, well, even the greatest coach can't instill that trait.

Natalie has a long way to go, but if she is willing to work as hard as Stefanie and Gabby did, there is no reason to believe she won't achieve great things here, too. She is not expected to be another Stewie (or Stef), but if she can become just a little stronger, a little quicker, a little tougher and a little more confident, she can become an important part of the team moving forward. The only question is if she is willing to do the work.
I'm betting that she is.

What I have seen so far is that Natalie's biggest issue is that she doesn't have good hands. She has difficulty grabbing rebounds and holding passes. If this is due to her bad thumb it can be corrected If not, she will have difficulty playing at the UConn level.

Her conditioning and footwork will improve as will her familiarity with the UConn offense and defense. She has a decent
shot but has a long way to go to get to GENO level. Kara Walters and Steph's biggest issues were conditioning which were corrected thru hard work. Don't know what Natalie an do if bad hands are the problem.

 

[PalPa]

I think most of my concerns about Natalie will be resolved with more playing time. She just doesn't seem to have good court awareness, like when she receives the ball in the low post she will try to turn and shoot with a defender right on her back. She can't avoid fouling when she does that, bumps the defender when turning every time. I wonder if the hand issue is a mental problem? She may be afraid of re-injuring the thumb thus trying to catch one handed and/or not applying pressure on the ball with both hands. I know the coaching staff is well aware of these issues and is working to correct them. Like I said earlier, playing time is key.

 

[CocoHusky]

This is Natalie's 3 year of practicing and/or playing DI college basketball but a comparison to even a HS Dolson is off base IMO. The comparison does not hold up with the hands, feet, help defender and passing. Dolson was supreme at all four and I have yet to see Natalie show potential to be very good and any of the four. Keep in mind this is coming from a guy who saw Dolson play in AAU and predicted that she would NOT be a UCONN contributor.

 

[CTyankee]

"breaking stairs"? huh?

US National Team training course...

 

[iamcbs]

Yes and no. Courtney Ekmark is a perfect example - the kid works her butt off but is simply not athletic, tall, nor skilled enough to break into the rotation for anything other than "reserve player" minutes at the end of blow outs. I will admit I'm disappointed Natalie is not getting into games and having a more meaningful impact. I can see not putting her in for the SC game - the #2 team in the nation, blah blah, but she's hardly getting any scratch even against other teams. To a degree I get Temple as they are a small and quick team, but the game vs. ECU where she had butter hands, was at least a full step slow, turnover prone, and seemed somewhat lost on the court does not bode well for her.

To my completely untrained eyes, and as a total couch potato, it seems like she's regressed since earlier in the year, not improved, and for that, I have absolutely no explanation. She's had over a year to get acclimated to UCONN - she worked hard on getting into shape. By all reports, she works very hard in practice. But lately, she's more than just a non factor - she's a non-contributor to the team when she's on the court. In fairness, if you look at Collier, she's barely earning more minutes than Natalie, and maybe both have hit the freshman wall...

I can see people wanting to compare her to freshman Stef, but this is her 3rd year in college. She spent her first year putting up great numbers at Georgetown. She's had a whole season to acclimate herself to UCONN. Just like people have been critical of Diamond at Tennessee - when you have an entire season watching games on the bench, sure you don't develop quite as much, but you get to practice every single day with the team. I hope she can become a solid contributor. The team will surely need her next year...

I get all of that ESD, but she's working hard, what I see in the past few games is a player that is trying too hard. She just needs to relax and play her game on offense, what I also see is a team that like most college teams has trouble entering the ball into the post, how many times have you seen Natalie post hard and show her numbers to a wing player and then not get the ball. The skill that is the most difficult for guards and wings to learn in their transition to the college game is post entry passing, because many of them don't do very much of it in HS.

She has shown in past games that she has soft hands, posts hard, has good post presence and moves, and a decent shot from 15-feet. She hasn't lost those skills. Defensively she has work to do, the Huskies are limited to a zone when she's in the game, because she can't guard smaller players on the switch and UConn switches everything in their man D. I just believe the sample size is too small on Natalie to make a cogent evaluation.

 

[stamfordhusky]

Gabby was competing for a spot on an Olympic team, and Dolson was heavily recruited by the top programs in WCBB. I don't think you can compare Butler to Gabby and Dolson.

Competing for a spot on a high jump team is irrelvant to basketball. And Dolson was recruited for her potential, not for her H.S. ability.

 

[Geno-ista]

Steph's footwork around the hoop was always great. Even at her initial freshman weight. And Steph wasn't initially great at going after rebounds- but Steph's hands were exceptional day one. Players either have those "hands- soft hands", or they don't. I hope Natalie's are because of her recent injury.

 

[UcMiami]

I think one of her biggest issues is with her hand, and that is something that will take the summer to truey get back to full strength. Being 'cleared' to play is never the same as being at 'full strength' and it shows in her ability to maintain control of the basketball on contested rebounds. Given that weakness, I think it is having an impact on the rest of her game mentally as well. She will never be the fastest big in the game, but her effort and desire is clear, and she is getting up and down the court well.
I look forward to seeing what she can bring next year.
Another note - Stokes, struggled more than others her first three years because she seemed to always miss time with nagging injuries early each year. That can really leave a player a step behind her teammates. And Natalie's injury was much more serious than anything Stokes had to deal with.

 

[uconnfan68]

Competing for a spot on a high jump team is irrelvant to basketball. And Dolson was recruited for her potential, not for her H.S. ability.

Competing for her high school team would be irrelavant. Olympic-class athlete, different game.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

6 games, 44 points (7.33 ppg), 16-46 (.3478) from the floor, 5 assists vs. 12 turnovers.

These were the last six regular season games of Breanna Stewart's first season. And then we saw what happened in the postseason that year...

Players have bad stretches. Players take time to develop (some more than others). Players are not all going to be superstars or even stars. And in some cases, a player's contributions may never show up in a box score (e.g., setting screens, hockey assists, locker room leadership, etc.).

Even one the greatest players in the history of WCBB had her struggles. She worked through them. She put in the time, hard work, and effort to improve.

I think that worked out just fine.