Boston University Postgame Thread

[The deacon]

Good points, DefenseBB, but, as I recall, Paige was "only a freshman,' as Sarah is now, and was NPOY that season.

No argument about Geno's loyalty, yet looking smooth in warmups and playing in games at a high level are very, very different. One point that tends to be forgotten about Azzi is that she often didn't get after it in big games. Yes, she had that flurry of threes vs. Texas, and was on a roll that autumn, but we BYers often were frustrated because she ceded her place as a scorer too frequent to Paige or others.

That said, I'm rooting hard for Azzi to be brilliant. If she is, the Huskies will be headed for greatness.

If we look back, in Azzi's one opportunity against the best teams, on the biggest stage, she shot 15 of 39 vs. Baylor and Ohio State in the '23 NCAAs, including just 5 of 21 from three.

That's not to say she wouldn't do better now, but her track record and the expectations many of us hold for Azzi are quite disparate.

 

[victor64]

It's going to be KK's team next season........for this season she should be working on improving all aspects of her play in anticipation of the leadership role she will have to play in the future.........I'm sure she will fully embrace that.....

I agree but this year, she will have to accept that her minutes may be significantly less than last year. Tough for kids sometimes to be patient. I hope she is.

 

[Bone Dog]

Geno has and will always be loyal to his top upperclassman players and Azzi is one of them.

I think you're right. Geno has said in interviews over the years that he tells returning seniors he won't favor them over the underclassmen because he has to think of the team and the future. But I can't recall any time when a senior who'd started in previous years lost a spot this way. Maybe it's loyalty -- and this matters to a team -- or maybe it's his way of telling them they'll have to compete for minutes as usual, or maybe it's just that he values experience more than other things and this looks like loyalty. Or maybe it's some mystical brew made up of all three. Whatever it is, he clearly likes having proven veterans in the lineup.

 

[donalddoowop]

I agree but this year, she will have to accept that her minutes may be significantly less than last year. Tough for kids sometimes to be patient. I hope she is.

She is also going to have to stop playing out of control on her drives.

 

[cp176]

Just watched the reply. What an opportunity for anyone to watch this accumulation of talent. If they get totally healthy and avoid big injuries, this should be just incredible. El Alfie gives them a true big presence which I think they have needed and Sarah Strong is for sure the real deal. Fundamentally, she is just at the top of the food chain.

 

[Dugway]

Azzi was hurt last December, so if she's able to start easing into games by say the end of the month or early December (3-4 week time frame), wouldn't that basically be 12 months?

It was earlier than that. There were press releases out about it on November 22nd, 'Azzi has ACL surgery and Out for Season' headlines, so potentially even having had surgery by that date.

 

[DefenseBB]

Now you know where I'm coming from.

Yes, and now I think you need to articulate that the first time and to still rationally think about statements that not only on the surface are questionable but upon further digging are wrong. AE played the POST position all of last year and was an AA. Whether you think she was a forward is moot. ONO was still a very strong post presence, mostly on defense, all 4 years, again you "qualifying" what you meant vs. what you said is a lame excuse to say "not my fault" when in fact you were wrong.

Is Jana going to be a force, gosh, I hope so and it looks promising but just because she dominated over a team whose tallest player was a 6'3 freshman has me unconvinced she's as good as ONO or any center before. the real test will be vs. UNC and Toomey/Utsby/Gakdeng who have either size, experience or both.

 

[ABCDFE]

Was only able to watch the highlights. But a few things caught my attention:

• Sarah Strong is much more explosiveness and quickness that I thought. Her three pointer to start the second half showed us that she is three level scorer and will be a nightmare matchup for opponents. Lastly, her quick hands and reaction time makes her a demon on the defensive end
• Jana's post game and her touch around the basket is quite the sight to behold. Although she missed a few initial layups, I think her ability to quick release around the basket is something we haven't had in a while
• Shade looks very comfortable out there
• Chen is rock solid
• Q looks less lost and more sure on the shots she should take.

 

[DEpup]

I get Cardosa vibes watching Jana rebound under the basket, especially on the offensive end. Goes straight up even when she's boxed out by a shorter player. Catches the ball with her hands at their highest possible point over her head (which of course is higher than everyone else's). Has sure and steady footwork under the basket. Makes her put backs without a lot of drama. ONO, Dorka, Collier, AE were all tremendous players. Jana's not better than any of them at this very early point in her career, but I agree she brings a different dimension to the low post, which the team had been missing in recent years.

Nah. I get Big Mama Stef vibes!

 

[Bone Dog]

... the real test [for Jana] will be vs. UNC and Toomey/Utsby/Gakdeng who have either size, experience or both.

I couldn't agree more. Toomey is coming off a knee injury of her own, so they will be starting from the same position, roughly. I'm assuming Thomas is healthy. This will be a very good challenge for Jana, and for Toomey and Thomas for that matter. Neither of them seems to be a gifted scorer, but they are both good rebounders and defenders, and Thomas has the same foul woes Jana has.

UNC is a much better challenge than they were last season. They have more front court size now. My guess is they will be a better team without Deja Kelly, who seemed to distort their offense. Their starting lineup is likely to be

• Gakdeng Ustby Donarski Kelly and Townsend.

If our starting lineup is

• Jana/Ice Sarah Paige Ash Chen/Arnold,

and Donarski has a breakout game -- unlikely against Paige -- a lot will depend on Sarah and Jana/Ice to win their matchups. Ustby is a really good small forward, rather like Aubrey in her versatility and ingenuity. She is a capable scorer, especially on putbacks and fast breaks. She may not be a great midrange or perimeter shooter. Still she came close to averaging a double-double last season. Can she defend Sarah effectively and vice versa?

The other key figures may turn out to be Ash and Chen. They are bot effective scorers and Townsend and Reniya Kelly may have a hard time keeping up with them, in addition to the height advantage they'll have to deal with. Ash is already more or less in mid-season form. If there was ever a game for Chen to break out, this may be it.

PS: Sarah played against Blanca two seasons ago. Both played well, though I think Sarah got the better of the matchup even giving up a few inches. Here's a link to a bad highlight video of the game:

 

[RoadMaster]

Some newbie love.. Swipe

 

[RoadMaster]

 

[Bone Dog]

For those of us who mainly see games on SNY, these courtside videos are great. It's an angle you don't get to see plays from on the TV feed.

 

[RoadMaster]

 

[RoadMaster]

 

[MilfordHusky]

If we look back, in Azzi's one opportunity against the best teams, on the biggest stage, she shot 15 of 39 vs. Baylor and Ohio State in the '23 NCAAs, including just 5 of 21 from three.

That's not to say she wouldn't do better now, but her track record and the expectations many of us hold for Azzi are quite disparate.

It may have been the regular season, but she killed N.C. State, Texas, and Iowa, all teams that beat us the following season.

 

[MilfordHusky]

A few thoughts on Sarah. She reminds me of:

Kaleena in that she has incredibly soft hands,

Maya in that she always seems to be in the right place at the right time and she seems way better than her age. She plays like a junior.

 

[hoophuskee]

It may have been the regular season, but she killed N.C. State, Texas, and Iowa, all teams that beat us the following season.

Azzi has played well in big games in her frosh year too. It’s just recency bias by anyone stating differently ignoring that she was injured/a shell of herself when/after she came back from innjury her soph year. There is also sometimes from some not saying any post on here recently thinks this but some hate/resent the hype top ranked recruits get and if they don't play like a superstar for an entire year they lash out. I seem to vaguely recall last year someone like that, and I think they got several likes.

Anyhow in Azzi's frosh year she had an EFG% of over 58% in which she shot 43% from 3. She shot 40% from 3 in NCAA Tourney that year as well while overall was UCONN's 3rd leading scorer in NCAA in which one game she scored over 30% of her teams points in a tight game vs UCF (only won by 5) in which she was the leading scorer. Her EFG% in that game was 46.15%. The rest of the team combined shot an EFG% of 31.43%. I'm pretty sure UCF cut that lead to 2/3 points very late. SO to say that she has hasn’t played "big" in big games is just not accurate.

Then let's look at her soph year: In her entire frosh year she shoots 43% from 3 in which she is a volume 3pt shooter. She starts the season her soph year as also shooting a lot of 3's in which she shoots at a 42.5% 3pt % clip before the injury. Yet when she comes back from injury she continues to shoot 3’s at a high volume but now her % drops to a 26.4% clip. So we're supposed to throw out her frosh year and ignore the huge difference between what she showed for that entire frosh year and the early part of her soph year in which the data is pretty much aligned, and use instead primarily the data after the injury as the basis of her evaluation to then say she doesn’t play well in big games without mention the statistical discrepancy between before and after injury?