Canadian training camp includes Aaliyah | The Boneyard

Canadian training camp includes Aaliyah

Happy for her that she can represent her country. It’s just that when she showed up after an off-season .Happy for her that she can represent her country. It’s just that when she showed up after an off-season in the Canadian system, it took her 3/4 of the season to start playing like she did when she was a freshman. I know she is much more mature now, but still fingers crossed. They better not screw her up.
 
Fossil said:
Happy for her that she can represent her country. It’s just that when she showed up after an off-season .Happy for her that she can represent her country. It’s just that when she showed up after an off-season in the Canadian system, it took her 3/4 of the season to start playing like she did when she was a freshman. I know she is much more mature now, but still fingers crossed. They better not screw her up.
Expand ...

Did they screw her up last season when she competed at the U23 event last summer?
 
cancontent said:
Did they screw her up last season when she competed at the U23 event last summer?
Expand ...
My understanding was the she didn’t play for Canada last year. If Ii had that wrong my bad
 
Fossil said:
My understanding was the she didn’t play for Canada last year. If Ii had that wrong my bad
Expand ...

That's why I asked the question. The Olympics narrative was fair for 2021-2022 season. That wasn't the case last summer when she participated in GloblJam.

I also get why UConn fans weren't happy with Canada Basketball but a lot of people forget that it was a very different situation too. COVID and our restrictions in Canada made training difficult for all of the teams that competed that year. All of their teams (U19, U16, and Olympics) had to train in the US and follow isolation protocols. That required players to be away from their respective schools for a longer period of time than usual. U19 players, most being NCAA freshman were away from their teams for over a month that summer. This isn't typical of Canada Basketball programs.

Does it fully explain why she barely got time on the court? No and that I'm ticked about too. But to assume that her participation in Canada Basketball's programs are hindering her development isn't fair.

Frankly, her time with Canada Basketball's national team prior to her arrival at UConn had her better prepared for NCAA as a freshman because she got exposed to WNBA level players including Tina Charles and Sylvia Fowles before she arrived at Storrs. Not to mention she got to be mentored by pros, including Kia which was another huge advantage. They deserve their fair share of credit for her development.
 
.-.
cancontent said:
That's why I asked the question. The Olympics narrative was fair for 2021-2022 season. That wasn't the case last summer when she participated in GloblJam.

I also get why UConn fans weren't happy with Canada Basketball but a lot of people forget that it was a very different situation too. COVID and our restrictions in Canada made training difficult for all of the teams that competed that year. All of their teams (U19, U16, and Olympics) had to train in the US and follow isolation protocols. That required players to be away from their respective schools for a longer period of time than usual. U19 players, most being NCAA freshman were away from their teams for over a month that summer. This isn't typical of Canada Basketball programs.

Does it fully explain why she barely got time on the court? No and that I'm ticked about too. But to assume that her participation in Canada Basketball's programs are hindering her development isn't fair.

Frankly, her time with Canada Basketball's national team prior to her arrival at UConn had her better prepared for NCAA as a freshman because she got exposed to WNBA level players including Tina Charles and Sylvia Fowles before she arrived at Storrs. Not to mention she got to be mentored by pros, including Kia which was another huge advantage. They deserve their fair share of credit for her development.
Expand ...
I feel like you need another person to take your side here. From my perception as a neutral, I think that her Canada time in 2021 was a symptom of her slump and not the cause. As you point out, she earned plenty of playing time in 2019. Also, with players this age, you really never know what is going on elsewhere in their lives that might be impacting them on the court. It is pretty rare that a player permanently regresses in college if no injuries are involved so sometimes a player just needs time to work through something. In her podcast series, Erica McCall talked about a slump that she had in college that was due to a breakup and it took a few different efforts from her and her coaches to get her back on track.
 
Fossil said:
My understanding was the she didn’t play for Canada last year. If Ii had that wrong my bad
Expand ...
Aaliyah played in a Toronto Tournament "GLOBLJAM": four teams, one USA team and two
international teams. I forgot the name of this "first time" competition. Canada won
with Aaliyah leading the way. They will play again this summer. The USA WBB
team has been selected = I forgot which one that was also. Sorry.
"GLOBLJAM". You can check it
out on the Internet!
 
More on GLOBLJAM. The Canadian WBB team is the U23 Canadian Team. The
USA competition is our old friend = THE LOUISVILLE CARDINALS, with Jeff Waltz.
Louisville has, I believe, at least one Canadian on their squad. Last year's USA
participant also had a Canadian, Day-Lewis??
So Aaliyah is "trying out" for the SENIOR TEAM (that is the Olympic Team
for Canada), which Aaliyah was on for this past Olympics, playing only SOME. She is then not in the U 23 mix for GlobLJam,
where she was the lead player for Canada last year and the MVP of the tournament. Some
videos of those games are ON LINE.
 
awhom111 said:
I feel like you need another person to take your side here. From my perception as a neutral, I think that her Canada time in 2021 was a symptom of her slump and not the cause. As you point out, she earned plenty of playing time in 2019. Also, with players this age, you really never know what is going on elsewhere in their lives that might be impacting them on the court. It is pretty rare that a player permanently regresses in college if no injuries are involved so sometimes a player just needs time to work through something. In her podcast series, Erica McCall talked about a slump that she had in college that was due to a breakup and it took a few different efforts from her and her coaches to get her back on track.
Expand ...
Appreciate it. My bone of contention has been the fact most will bring up the Olympics and forget all of the positives that she's gotten out of her time with Canada Basketball. She was playing with the national team before she even graduated high school.

When you look at her history with CB, there have been more positives than negatives. I get it's human nature, but I'll defend Canada Basketball when I don't think they're getting a fair shake.
 
Zarathustra said:
More on GLOBLJAM. The Canadian WBB team is the U23 Canadian Team. The
USA competition is our old friend = THE LOUISVILLE CARDINALS, with Jeff Waltz.
Louisville has, I believe, at least one Canadian on their squad. Last year's USA
participant also had a Canadian, Day-Lewis??
So Aaliyah is "trying out" for the SENIOR TEAM (that is the Olympic Team
for Canada), which Aaliyah was on for this past Olympics, playing only SOME. She is then not in the U 23 mix for GlobLJam,
where she was the lead player for Canada last year and the MVP of the tournament. Some
videos of those games are ON LINE.
Expand ...
The USA team last year was VCU which had 4 Canadians on their roster. Their primary guard Sarah Te'Biasu decided to play for Canada last year. I believe you are thinking of Day-Wilson, however she played for Canada at the event.
 
.-.
There is no comparison between the type of individual training she had last summer and has been having now and practice or even games with a national team. While playing against better and older players can also be very effective, you only improve significantly with practice. Shoot 100 3s a day, practice your drive moves and fakes the same amount, work on post up moves, refinements on boxing out and rebounding, speed, strength, etc. Sorry, playing ain't practicing and practicing for a team will not concentrate on individual skills. It can't. The object of the team is to win and represent. The object of practice is individual improvement. Remember what the cab driver said to the tourist in NYC about how you get to Carnegie Hall?
 
I hope summer practice which gets started in less than two weeks includes Aaliyah.
 
BBallF said:
There is no comparison between the type of individual training she had last summer and has been having now and practice or even games with a national team. While playing against better and older players can also be very effective, you only improve significantly with practice. Shoot 100 3s a day, practice your drive moves and fakes the same amount, work on post up moves, refinements on boxing out and rebounding, speed, strength, etc. Sorry, playing ain't practicing and practicing for a team will not concentrate on individual skills. It can't. The object of the team is to win and represent. The object of practice is individual improvement. Remember what the cab driver said to the tourist in NYC about how you get to Carnegie Hall?
Expand ...

And her development last year was a combination of both. Per the summer homework thread, she continues to do individual training in addition to her commitments to Canada Basketball. She's fully aware of what needs to be done.
 
cancontent said:
And her development last year was a combination of both. Per the summer homework thread, she continues to do individual training in addition to her commitments to Canada Basketball. She's fully aware of what needs to be done.
Expand ...
Really? I just looked up the 2022 roster and did not see her name on it. How is she going to do both? If she is doing the team practices and also the individual training as shown in the video, then I am concerned about overuse.
 
Geno needs to put an end to this. Enough is enough. AE is literally our only experienced Big, and if she gets hurt or plays poorly, forget about any Title chances. These girls are getting high cost scholarships paid by taxpayers. No need to put them at unnecessary risk.
 
.-.
wingsfan055 said:
Geno needs to put an end to this. Enough is enough. AE is literally our only experienced Big, and if she gets hurt or plays poorly, forget about any Title chances. These girls are getting high cost scholarships paid by taxpayers. No need to put them at unnecessary risk.
Expand ...

He's never held back other players from representing the US while they were under scholarship. He didn't when Kia played for the program. Why would he now? And based on your logic, he should have told Azzi not to attend Kelsey Plum's PG camp a few weeks ago then.

Players are at risk to injury regardless if they compete outside of UConn or during training with the team. Majority of last season's injuries happened while at Storrs during practices or after-practice pick up games. You can't keep them in bubble wrap.
 
cancontent said:
He's never held back other players from representing the US while they were under scholarship. He didn't when Kia played for the program. Why would he now? And based on your logic, he should have told Azzi not to attend Kelsey Plum's PG camp a few weeks ago then.

Players are at risk to injury regardless if they compete outside of UConn or during training with the team. Majority of last season's injuries happened while at Storrs during practices or after-practice pick up games. You can't keep them in bubble wrap.
Expand ...
I realize Brady got hurt during UConn preseason, but I have a strong suspicion her play during the summer was a cause of her injury. These girls are going all out on their national teams in the summer, and then have literally no rest before they are going all out in college practices. Too much intensity in a short period of time with little rest. Recipe for disaster.
 
wingsfan055 said:
Geno needs to put an end to this. Enough is enough. AE is literally our only experienced Big, and if she gets hurt or plays poorly, forget about any Title chances. These girls are getting high cost scholarships paid by taxpayers. No need to put them at unnecessary risk.
Expand ...
There’s no way Geno, or any other coach, for that matter, is going to “put an end” to one of his/her players accepting an invitation to represent her country in the sport that she plays! He/they would be rightfully pilloried as a tyrant and likely couldn’t stop them anyway.
The most he would do imo is to perhaps point out that they (UConn) is taking a trip this year and she will end up with very little down time before the season starts again.
Ultimately though, I would think it is not his decision and anything beyond gently advising her would be out of line and imo, out of character for Geno as well.
 
BBallF said:
Really? I just looked up the 2022 roster and did not see her name on it. How is she going to do both? If she is doing the team practices and also the individual training as shown in the video, then I am concerned about overuse.
Expand ...
She competed as part of the U23 team last summer at GloblJam. She was gone for about three weeks for training and the tournament.

It's a similar commitment this year for AmeriCup. Two weeks ending late May/early June. Then 2 weeks in July for the tournament.
 
wingsfan055 said:
I realize Brady got hurt during UConn preseason, but I have a strong suspicion her play during the summer was a cause of her injury. These girls are going all out on their national teams in the summer, and then have literally no rest before they are going all out in college practices. Too much intensity in a short period of time with little rest. Recipe for disaster.
Expand ...

Then start with AAU and specialization of these players before going after national teams. Shut down McDonald's All-American and similar all-star events. That's the main cause for these players suffering injuries. It has nothing to do with playing for national teams.

You have kids playing prep league/high school almost year round without a break. That's where the wear and tear is building up.

Your focus is only on UConn, when injuries is a problem in college ball as a whole. Look at who was injured last season throughout the league. How many of these players completed internationally? A small number.
 
.-.
hoopsnloops32 said:
That's a shame. Doesn't make me too optimistic for the season. Maybe 2025 will be our year.
Expand ...

How long do you think Aaliyah will be away/unavailable? You're jumping ahead of yourself based on how I'm interpreting your comments.

Per the announcement, she's with Canada Basketball until June 2. FIBA Americas is between July 1 - 9. At worst, she rejoins the team mid July.
 
cancontent said:
How long do you think Aaliyah will be away/unavailable? You're jumping ahead of yourself based on how I'm interpreting your comments.

Per the announcement, she's with Canada Basketball until June 2. FIBA Americas is between July 1 - 9. At worst, she rejoins the team mid July.
Expand ...
Her tweet says she will be there for "the next few weeks." Summer session starts next week and ends at the end of June. You kind of have to be there every day because it's only five weeks long. The team will get back together in the second half of August for their European trip.
 
hoopsfan22 said:
Her tweet says she will be there for "the next few weeks." Summer session starts next week and ends at the end of June. You kind of have to be there every day because it's only five weeks long. The team will get back together in the second half of August for their European trip.
Expand ...

And she wasn't there everyday last year during the summer and it worked out okay. Instead of focusing on all the negatives, wait to see how things play out.

Who knows? Maybe she'll be back on campus after the June 2 exhibition game. No one really knows what's planned with her schedule. A few weeks could be a two week to her.
 
cancontent said:
How long do you think Aaliyah will be away/unavailable? You're jumping ahead of yourself based on how I'm interpreting your comments.

Per the announcement, she's with Canada Basketball until June 2. FIBA Americas is between July 1 - 9. At worst, she rejoins the team mid July.
Expand ...
The team isn't together in mid-July. She's likely going to miss the whole summer session and this team in particular needs time to play together. Its a shame, she was going to be a big piece for us but not as hopeful now and that really lowers our ceiling I think.
 
.-.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,553
Messages
4,582,444
Members
10,492
Latest member
7774Forever


Top Bottom