Can someone closer to the program tell me about Amari ?

[CTrefugee]

Is she injured ? Is she just not hustling in practices ? Does she just not have enough talent ? ..........or is it something else that keeps her out of games.

Thanks,

 

[ccwarrior]

 

[Bone Dog]

Is she injured ? Is she just not hustling in practices ? Does she just not have enough talent ? ..........or is it something else that keeps her out of games.

Thanks,

From the outside, it looks like the first two may be accurate, not the third. Geno has said in previous years that she didn't practice well. What we don't know is if this was because of a lingering back injury or just who she is. This is why many of us on the BY are waiting to see how the season unfolds for her before drawing any conclusions.

 

[DocStressor]

There is one characteristic of Amari that has been apparent since she was a freshman: She lacks foot speed and quickness. I guess that it was hoped that she would develop her post moves that might compensate for her lack of speed and quickness. But that hasn't happened. She still appears to be moving in slow motion relative to the rest of the team. She also continues to be moved around by smaller players.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Earlier this year she posted about healing from her back issues and that she felt like she had resolved some emotional issues. She is not lacking in talent as Geno has said in days gone by that she is one of the most talented bigs he has recruited. Her teammates demonstrate great affection for her and she seems to be a quality individual deserving the utmost support from all fans of the program.

 

[Boreifs]

Players who contribute little for two years and become productive in their junior years are a rarity. I can think of Stokes and Chong; there might be others. Regardless of her basketball talents, Amari is a very impressive young woman. Majoring in sign language is pretty amazing and very few schools have that major.

 

[hoophuskee]

There is one characteristic of Amari that has been apparent since she was a freshman: She lacks foot speed and quickness. I guess that it was hoped that she would develop her post moves that might compensate for her lack of speed and quickness. But that hasn't happened. She still appears to be moving in slow motion relative to the rest of the team. She also continues to be moved around by smaller players.

Also, I don't think she has the body strength to hold position inside. As a result of not beign able to sustain position, she is probaly off balance a lot, and doesn't have an easy way to score or even offensive rebound.

 

[da60]

Of course, looking from the outside, Amari appears to be a great kid, young woman. She has the greatest smile and her fellow team members apparently love her. I know that Geno is a great coach and has insights into his girls. There are so many things that we just do not know about their relationship and how she is off the court. On the court, unfortunately her play is not up to the level of most of the other girls. She is tall and pretty, but there is a lack of athletic ability and possibly concentration. Geno has kind of shown us that she does not figure very high in his plans. Amari is a great friend to many of the players and it appears that she has decided to stick it out and utilize her scholarship to the end. I have a feeling that she may have a future in the broadcasting business and am impressed that she is majoring in sign language. Some players have to be at the end of the bench, and she seems to have accepted the role. Hopefully, she may blossom to help on the basketball end. I wish her the best and I have a hunch that she will be a very productive woman.

 

[sun]

Is she injured ? Is she just not hustling in practices ? Does she just not have enough talent ? ..........or is it something else that keeps her out of games.

Thanks,

I think that as a player Amari is somewhat of a mystery, but one that can be unraveled to some extent.
She has some limitations of talent, strength & agility along with also having some strengths.
She's obviously not an overtly physical player that likes to bang & play a bruiser's game.
It's like she's more of a traditional basketball player of a bygone era where physical contact was not a big part of the game.
She doesn't have a masculine physique like many of the elite UConn players. but I think that both her & Geno know that she can make contributions depending on the game situation.
But when a player is usually only put in game after a game has already been decided, then her amount of effort is only commensurate with the need for her to expend the extra effort needed to try to make a difference in the game.
And that what I think makes her tick or not tick as well as she could.

If Geno really needed her to help win a game then she would probably expend more effort to try to exceed expectations
But as long as the amount of effort that she expends doen't really matter toward winning the game, then it probably doesn't matter to her whether she tries hardee or not.
I think it all means that her level of talent is situational.
She can fulfill a role & even exceed the role if she feels that the need is crucial.
I think that she tries under the circumstances when she's given the opportunity, but she probably doesn't want to take risks that will cause her to fail.
So she subsists because Geno has probably taught her that it's in the best interest of the team to simply be a role player & contributor.
If Geno decides to put her in a situation where she needs to deliver more effort to help the team win, then she will.
But she's probably also smart enough to know the difference between meaningful minutes & garbage time.
She can't force Geno's hand about when to put her into a game., & they both know she has limitations.
But she also knows that if Geno really needs her then she's ready to do whatever she can to help the team win.
It's up to Geno & the situation that she's put into that determines how much effort that she needs to expend & how mucy risk to take to make a difference in the game.

She has some talent like everyone else on the team.
She doesn't need to prove herself to the fans because she practices everyday with the team.
They know what she can do when she's at her best.
It's unfair to expect her to be someone that she's not.
A person can't be asked to lift more weight than they're able to.
She's a fit athlete that seems to have been recruited to be a faciliitator & defensive specialist for the most part.
She has also shown that she can play some offense at times.
But it seems that her skill set isn't really needed or else Geno would accept her for what she can bring to the team & play her if he really needed her.

She gets to go to classes & earn the same amount of money whether Geno gives her more PT or not.
She's not to blame for her talent level because Geno recruited her & the staff has supposedly taught her how they want her to play within herself & her ability.
The fact that people keep ragging about her only shows that they either have a lack of patience or don't realize that when the opportunity arises she'll be ready to do the best that she can.
Players can't be asked to do more than that.
Women are not the same men & I think everyone has different hormones & personaities that make each person unique.
That's my explanation which doesn't mean that it is true but it's my belief.
Geno needs to take responsibility for Amari being on the team & how she's been taught to play for the UConn. Huskies.
Geno seems to like superbigs who are project players.
Soon he'll have another one from Ireland & that's not including Patterson.
Folks need to remember that the purpose of WCBB is to provide educational opportunity.
That's the bottom line.

 

[PacoSwede]

I think that as a player Amari is somewhat of a mystery, but one that can be unraveled to some extent.
She has some limitations of talent, strength & agility along with also having some strengths.
She's obviously not an overtly physical player that likes to bang & play a bruiser's game.
It's like she's more of a traditional basketball player of a bygone era where physical contact was not a big part of the game.
She doesn't have a masculine physique like many of the elite UConn players. but I think that both her & Geno know that she can make contributions depending on the game situation.
But when a player is usually only put in game after a game has already been decided, then her amount of effort is only commensurate with the need for her to expend the extra effort needed to try to make a difference in the game.
And that what I think makes her tick or not tick as well as she could.

If Geno really needed her to help win a game then she would probably expend more effort to try to exceed expectations
But as long as the amount of effort that she expends doen't really matter toward winning the game, then it probably doesn't matter to her whether she tries hardee or not.
I think it all means that her level of talent is situational.
She can fulfill a role & even exceed the role if she feels that the need is crucial.
I think that she tries under the circumstances when she's given the opportunity, but she probably doesn't want to take risks that will cause her to fail.
So she subsists because Geno has probably taught her that it's in the best interest of the team to simply be a role player & contributor.
If Geno decides to put her in a situation where she needs to deliver more effort to help the team win, then she will.
But she's probably also smart enough to know the difference between meaningful minutes & garbage time.
She can't force Geno's hand about when to put her into a game., & they both know she has limitations.
But she also knows that if Geno really needs her then she's ready to do whatever she can to help the team win.
It's up to Geno & the situation that she's put into that determines how much effort that she needs to expend & how mucy risk to take to make a difference in the game.

She has some talent like everyone else on the team.
She doesn't need to prove herself to the fans because she practices everyday with the team.
They know what she can do when she's at her best.
It's unfair to expect her to be someone that she's not.
A person can't be asked to lift more weight than they're able to.
She's a fit athlete that seems to have been recruited to be a faciliitator & defensive specialist for the most part.
She has also shown that she can play some offense at times.
But it seems that her skill set isn't really needed or else Geno would accept her for what she can bring to the team & play her if he really needed her.

She gets to go to classes & earn the same amount of money whether Geno gives her more PT or not.
She's not to blame for her talent level because Geno recruited her & the staff has supposedly taught her how they want her to play within herself & her ability.
The fact that people keep ragging about her only shows that they either have a lack of patience or don't realize that when the opportunity arises she'll be ready to do the best that she can.
Players can't be asked to do more than that.
Women are not the same men & I think everyone has different hormones & personaities that make each person unique.
That's my explanation which doesn't mean that it is true but it's my belief.
Geno needs to take responsibility for Amari being on the team & how she's been taught to play for the UConn. Huskies.
Geno seems to like superbigs who are project players.
Soon he'll have another one from Ireland & that's not including Patterson.
Folks need to remember that the purpose of WCBB is to provide educational opportunity.
That's the bottom line.

interesting take.

something to mull over. thanks.

who knows what the true story is, of course.

 

[hjoerring]

She is The Boneyard's Bone. We think and talk about her endlessly-- in sleep, therapy and our waking hours. What will we do/be without this life-giving entity. But, I must admit that yours is an 'interesting' twist about an old Bone.

 

[BRS24]

She doesn't have a masculine physique like many of the elite UConn players. but I think that both her & Geno know that she can make contributions depending on the game situation.

I'm sorry, but just no here. Every person is different. Every person shows strength in different ways. Diana could make half court shots but made fun of herself in a video with Sue Bird that she had "baby fat" or something similar. Physique has nothing to do with how players play. And could we not use "masculine", and if one really wants to refer to a person's muscularity, use different wording, or even better, not refer to their bodies at all?

Amari is Amari. Regardless of what she does on the court, I'd take her as a teammate any day. Sometimes success cannot be measured by what we see on the court.

UConn WBB Weekly: Amari DeBerry, the most interesting Husky in the world

Why UConn women’s basketball's Amari DeBerry focused on mental, physical health: ‘Healing side of everything’

 

[01Neaggrad02]

Wow, she is just a kid still, and we have recently found out that for the last two seasons she was playing with a nagging injury. All this speculation and debate is harmful especially if people truly believe there are some other health related concerns other my her physical health. I am sure she must be loving reading all your post about how she needs life lessons, etc. Trust in Geno and his coaching staff, and allow this woman an opportunity to show us what she can do.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I think that as a player Amari is somewhat of a mystery, but one that can be unraveled to some extent.
She has some limitations of talent, strength & agility along with also having some strengths.
She's obviously not an overtly physical player that likes to bang & play a bruiser's game.
It's like she's more of a traditional basketball player of a bygone era where physical contact was not a big part of the game.
She doesn't have a masculine physique like many of the elite UConn players. but I think that both her & Geno know that she can make contributions depending on the game situation.
But when a player is usually only put in game after a game has already been decided, then her amount of effort is only commensurate with the need for her to expend the extra effort needed to try to make a difference in the game.
And that what I think makes her tick or not tick as well as she could.

If Geno really needed her to help win a game then she would probably expend more effort to try to exceed expectations
But as long as the amount of effort that she expends doen't really matter toward winning the game, then it probably doesn't matter to her whether she tries hardee or not.
I think it all means that her level of talent is situational.
She can fulfill a role & even exceed the role if she feels that the need is crucial.
I think that she tries under the circumstances when she's given the opportunity, but she probably doesn't want to take risks that will cause her to fail.
So she subsists because Geno has probably taught her that it's in the best interest of the team to simply be a role player & contributor.
If Geno decides to put her in a situation where she needs to deliver more effort to help the team win, then she will.
But she's probably also smart enough to know the difference between meaningful minutes & garbage time.
She can't force Geno's hand about when to put her into a game., & they both know she has limitations.
But she also knows that if Geno really needs her then she's ready to do whatever she can to help the team win.
It's up to Geno & the situation that she's put into that determines how much effort that she needs to expend & how mucy risk to take to make a difference in the game.

She has some talent like everyone else on the team.
She doesn't need to prove herself to the fans because she practices everyday with the team.
They know what she can do when she's at her best.
It's unfair to expect her to be someone that she's not.
A person can't be asked to lift more weight than they're able to.
She's a fit athlete that seems to have been recruited to be a faciliitator & defensive specialist for the most part.
She has also shown that she can play some offense at times.
But it seems that her skill set isn't really needed or else Geno would accept her for what she can bring to the team & play her if he really needed her.

She gets to go to classes & earn the same amount of money whether Geno gives her more PT or not.
She's not to blame for her talent level because Geno recruited her & the staff has supposedly taught her how they want her to play within herself & her ability.
The fact that people keep ragging about her only shows that they either have a lack of patience or don't realize that when the opportunity arises she'll be ready to do the best that she can.
Players can't be asked to do more than that.
Women are not the same men & I think everyone has different hormones & personaities that make each person unique.
That's my explanation which doesn't mean that it is true but it's my belief.
Geno needs to take responsibility for Amari being on the team & how she's been taught to play for the UConn. Huskies.
Geno seems to like superbigs who are project players.
Soon he'll have another one from Ireland & that's not including Patterson.
Folks need to remember that the purpose of WCBB is to provide educational opportunity.
That's the bottom line.

"masculine physique"??? An athletic and fit young woman is not masculine. I quit reading this post after that comment.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

In Geno's remarks around the game he described Amari exactly as he had last year. That is disappointing. Maybe she could get a pint or two from Ashlyn Shade. But I'm through wishing and wondering. Now I'll just be watching.