Phil
Stats Geek
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2011
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I had the pleasure of watching Breanna Stewart play last evening. I've heard the hype, and seen the numbers; that's a lot to live up to.
When you hear that much hype, you almost except her to come out the locker room wearing a cape, and score the first 20 points of the game literally flying through the air.
She won the first tip, naturally, but she didn't post up take a pass and slam dunk the ball. She set up, and she passed to a teammate, who drained the shot.
What's up with this I thought, I didn't come here to watch her teammates play, I came here to see what Breanna can do.
That selfish thought quickly vanished, as I came to realize I was seeing what Breanna could do. The isn't a"feed me the ball and watch me try to score" type of player, she's a basketball team player. She gets more than her share of points because she is, well, it starts at being 6' 4" but it doesn't end there, it is because she is so skilled. More of her shots go in, and when the ball comes off the backboard, she is more than likely to take it.
I knew some things coming in - she could score, and block, and she was tall. Those were all easily confirmed, but there was so much more, something said in the articles, but you still want to see it to believe it.
I had heard she could play all positions. She won't have any need to play point guard for UConn, but sometimes a center gets the ball in a press and needs to dribble somewhere to make the next move. I don't know about you. but whenever I see a center coming up the floor with the ball, my first instinct is "pass it to someone else". I had that thought, but it went away after watching Stewart. On several occasions, and not just forced by circumstances, Stewart would take the in bounds pass and bring the ball the length of the floor. She is very comfortable doing so, and heaven help the team that sags five on four trying to intercept the inevitable pass to set up a play. She can shoot form the top of the key if you don't come out on her, and she might just shoot over you if you do.
She actually jumps. Many 6'4" high school centers don't have to jump to shoot over defenders, or reach for a rebound. She does get off the ground. Maybe because she's had the experience with U16, U17, U19 and Pan American teams, and the national tournaments the team has played, so she has faced opposition who were tall and strong.
She hits the floor a little more than makes me comfortable - maybe she wants to replace Tiff in that category. Late in the third quarter, she drove to the basket and went down in a heap, ending with her head hitting a chair occupied by a videographer. She came up grimacing, ended up leaving the game, and never returned (which may have been as much the score as the injury). I think she's fine, but she isn't afraid to hit the deck.
Blake told me she had 22 points 15 rebounds and 9 blocks. One pair of blocks was interesting, she elevated, and blocked the shot back into the hands of the offensive player, who went up and shot again. And got blocked again.
It won't surprise anyone that she won the MVP trophy for the game.
When you hear that much hype, you almost except her to come out the locker room wearing a cape, and score the first 20 points of the game literally flying through the air.
She won the first tip, naturally, but she didn't post up take a pass and slam dunk the ball. She set up, and she passed to a teammate, who drained the shot.
What's up with this I thought, I didn't come here to watch her teammates play, I came here to see what Breanna can do.
That selfish thought quickly vanished, as I came to realize I was seeing what Breanna could do. The isn't a"feed me the ball and watch me try to score" type of player, she's a basketball team player. She gets more than her share of points because she is, well, it starts at being 6' 4" but it doesn't end there, it is because she is so skilled. More of her shots go in, and when the ball comes off the backboard, she is more than likely to take it.
I knew some things coming in - she could score, and block, and she was tall. Those were all easily confirmed, but there was so much more, something said in the articles, but you still want to see it to believe it.
I had heard she could play all positions. She won't have any need to play point guard for UConn, but sometimes a center gets the ball in a press and needs to dribble somewhere to make the next move. I don't know about you. but whenever I see a center coming up the floor with the ball, my first instinct is "pass it to someone else". I had that thought, but it went away after watching Stewart. On several occasions, and not just forced by circumstances, Stewart would take the in bounds pass and bring the ball the length of the floor. She is very comfortable doing so, and heaven help the team that sags five on four trying to intercept the inevitable pass to set up a play. She can shoot form the top of the key if you don't come out on her, and she might just shoot over you if you do.
She actually jumps. Many 6'4" high school centers don't have to jump to shoot over defenders, or reach for a rebound. She does get off the ground. Maybe because she's had the experience with U16, U17, U19 and Pan American teams, and the national tournaments the team has played, so she has faced opposition who were tall and strong.
She hits the floor a little more than makes me comfortable - maybe she wants to replace Tiff in that category. Late in the third quarter, she drove to the basket and went down in a heap, ending with her head hitting a chair occupied by a videographer. She came up grimacing, ended up leaving the game, and never returned (which may have been as much the score as the injury). I think she's fine, but she isn't afraid to hit the deck.
Blake told me she had 22 points 15 rebounds and 9 blocks. One pair of blocks was interesting, she elevated, and blocked the shot back into the hands of the offensive player, who went up and shot again. And got blocked again.
It won't surprise anyone that she won the MVP trophy for the game.
