Comparing point guards Crystal, Sue Bird and MoJeff...

[DavidinNaples]

First, a disclaimer. Not everything a good point guard does is captured in her statistics. Breaking the press, making a great pass to a shooter who misses and/or shutting down the other teams' best scorer are all items that don't make the box score. That said, IMO the three best stats available to measure point guard performance are assists, points, and steals. (In that order)

1. Assists - The top 5 assist leaders in UConn history are Moriah (659), Diana (648), Jen Rizzotti (637), Renee Montgomery (632) and Sue Bird (585). Is there a better UConn point guard missing from that list? Crystal enters this season ranked 14th at 481 assists. She is 179 assists away from passing all those players and taking over the all-time assist record for the Huskies. How likely is that to happen? Well, last season she had 225 assists. Just 80% of that total would give her the record.

2. Points - Crystal has 1,032 points in her first three seasons. That is good enough for 45th place all-time. Sue Bird is just 346 points away and MoJeff is exactly 500 points ahead. Last year, Crystal scored 511 points on an offense dominated by Pheesa (792 points) and Katie Lou (630 points). If healthy, 500 points seem very likely. Scoring 600 points would place Dangerfield in the top 20 all-time at UConn and ahead of Sue and Moriah.

3. Steals - Nobody had more steals than Nykesha Sales at 447. But, MoJeff is 2nd at 353 and Sue Bird is 13th at 243. Crystal's total of 148 in her career makes passing either of those two unlikely. Her season-best was 60 last year. Repeating that number would give her over 200 steals, but even 15th place requires 235. Not likely.

4. National Championships - All-time great players make their teams great. One measure of great teams is winning a National Championship. Sue won two (2000, 2002), one with D.T. and one without. MoJeff won four (2012-2016) with Stewie. Crystal has had three seasons of heartbreak with Final Four losses, including 2 in overtime. Will this be the breakthrough season when NC #12 is won?

A strong season by Crystal might leave her ahead of Sue and Moriah in points and assists. That would be a truly amazing career for a great player. But, it may take that 12th N.C. to cement her place in a discussion about all-time great point guards at UConn. Regardless, unlike her namesake, Rodney Dangerfield, Crystal deserves all the respect in the world. Can't wait to see her performance this season..!!

Go Huskies..!!

 

[southofnorth]

Crystal Dangerfield parallels Renee Montgomery in a lot of ways. They have similar playing styles and both have wonderful pull-up jump shots. Hopefully, the wait for a national championship will end in Dangerfield’s senior season much like it did Montgomery’s senior year—after the sophomore maturation of a top rated recruit from the year before (Maya Moore). If Christyn Williams is that player, and UConn gets some good minutes out of their incoming players (much like they did from Doty and Hayes during Montgomery’s senior season), then I see this being the end of the NC “drought” for Dangerfield.

 

[CL82]

Great stuff, as always, Dave. I knew Crystal was a solid point guard for us, but I have no idea how close she is to topping the list for assists. This year’s team, in my opinion, is tailor-made for her to set this record. We have a whole lot of options and on offense and an up tempo offense is likely to create opportunities for her. With her outstanding court vision she should have a lot of targets.

 

[Jim R]

Crystal Dangerfield parallels Renee Montgomery in a lot of ways. They have similar playing styles and both have wonderful pull-up jump shots. Hopefully, the wait for a national championship will end in Dangerfield’s senior much like it did Montgomery’s senior year—after the sophomore maturation of a top rated recruit from the year before (Maya Moore). If Christyn Williams is that player, and UConn gets some good minutes out of their incoming players (much like they did from Doty and Hayes during Montgomery’s senior season), then I see this being the end of the NC “drought” for Dangerfield.

While there are similarities between the two, and while I loved what Renee brought to the team, Crystal's "ball security" is much better...she's simply got a better handle. Assist to turnover ratio isn't close. She's one of WCBB's top three point guards.

 

[Triad]

View attachment 46159

First, a disclaimer. Not everything a good point guard does is captured in her statistics. Breaking the press, making a great pass to a shooter who misses and/or shutting down the other teams' best scorer are all items that don't make the box score. That said, IMO the three best stats available to measure point guard performance are assists, points, and steals. (In that order)

1. Assists - The top 5 assist leaders in UConn history are Moriah (659), Diana (648), Jen Rizzotti (637), Renee Montgomery (632) and Sue Bird (585). Is there a better UConn point guard missing from that list? Crystal enters this season ranked 14th at 481 assists. She is 179 assists away from passing all those players and taking over the all-time assist record for the Huskies. How likely is that to happen? Well, last season she had 225 assists. Just 80% of that total would give her the record.

2. Points - Crystal has 1,032 points in her first three seasons. That is good enough for 45th place all-time. Sue Bird is just 346 points away and MoJeff is exactly 500 points ahead. Last year, Crystal scored 511 points on an offense dominated by Pheesa (792 points) and Katie Lou (630 points). If healthy, 500 points seem very likely. Scoring 600 points would place Dangerfield in the top 20 all-time at UConn and ahead of Sue and Moriah.

3. Steals - Nobody had more steals than Nykesha Sales at 447. But, MoJeff is 2nd at 353 and Sue Bird is 13th at 243. Crystal's total of 148 in her career makes passing either of those two unlikely. Her season-best was 60 last year. Repeating that number would give her over 200 steals, but even 15th place requires 235. Not likely.

4. National Championships - All-time great players make their teams great. One measure of great teams is winning a National Championship. Sue won two (2000, 2002), one with D.T. and one without. MoJeff won four (2012-2016) with Stewie. Crystal has had three seasons of heartbreak with Final Four losses, including 2 in overtime. Will this be the breakthrough season when NC #12 is won?

A strong season by Crystal might leave her ahead of Sue and Moriah in points and assists. That would be a truly amazing career for a great player. But, it may take that 12th N.C. to cement her place in a discussion about all-time great point guards at UConn. Regardless, unlike her namesake, Rodney Dangerfield, Crystal deserves all the respect in the world. Can't wait to see her performance this season..!!

Go Huskies..!!

Sue Bird for 20 years (about) was my favorite Husky/Guard. That is until Moriah' s final year. Then and now I don't believe Uconn had a more athletic and great point guard than Moriah
Sue Bird did one thing no others have done---when she screws up (seldom) she immediately does something to enhance the score.D
Danger was injured/ill most of her frosh year and a bit of her soph so number (totals ) don't apply to her.
Danger is a near to great guard. I cannot comprehend Uconn playing without her. Stats be damned (in this case at least) see what she does, is the team better with her on the floor, is her presence important for wins answer those and we know how important Danger is to this and past group of Uconn teams--she's the leader she's the floor boss in those occupations she is GREAT. ''
No disrespect David you always impress me with your great posting---thanks

 

[bballnut90]

View attachment 46159

First, a disclaimer. Not everything a good point guard does is captured in her statistics. Breaking the press, making a great pass to a shooter who misses and/or shutting down the other teams' best scorer are all items that don't make the box score. That said, IMO the three best stats available to measure point guard performance are assists, points, and steals. (In that order)

1. Assists - The top 5 assist leaders in UConn history are Moriah (659), Diana (648), Jen Rizzotti (637), Renee Montgomery (632) and Sue Bird (585). Is there a better UConn point guard missing from that list? Crystal enters this season ranked 14th at 481 assists. She is 179 assists away from passing all those players and taking over the all-time assist record for the Huskies. How likely is that to happen? Well, last season she had 225 assists. Just 80% of that total would give her the record.

2. Points - Crystal has 1,032 points in her first three seasons. That is good enough for 45th place all-time. Sue Bird is just 346 points away and MoJeff is exactly 500 points ahead. Last year, Crystal scored 511 points on an offense dominated by Pheesa (792 points) and Katie Lou (630 points). If healthy, 500 points seem very likely. Scoring 600 points would place Dangerfield in the top 20 all-time at UConn and ahead of Sue and Moriah.

3. Steals - Nobody had more steals than Nykesha Sales at 447. But, MoJeff is 2nd at 353 and Sue Bird is 13th at 243. Crystal's total of 148 in her career makes passing either of those two unlikely. Her season-best was 60 last year. Repeating that number would give her over 200 steals, but even 15th place requires 235. Not likely.

4. National Championships - All-time great players make their teams great. One measure of great teams is winning a National Championship. Sue won two (2000, 2002), one with D.T. and one without. MoJeff won four (2012-2016) with Stewie. Crystal has had three seasons of heartbreak with Final Four losses, including 2 in overtime. Will this be the breakthrough season when NC #12 is won?

A strong season by Crystal might leave her ahead of Sue and Moriah in points and assists. That would be a truly amazing career for a great player. But, it may take that 12th N.C. to cement her place in a discussion about all-time great point guards at UConn. Regardless, unlike her namesake, Rodney Dangerfield, Crystal deserves all the respect in the world. Can't wait to see her performance this season..!!

Go Huskies..!!

Kind of crazy how close the top 5 are for total assists. Bird would likely have the record if she didn't have her ACL as a frosh. Dangerfield does well in point/assist/steal totals, but I think more important than anything else are team oriented stats like FG%, W/L record, etc. It's a direct reflection of how well the team is running under a PG's tutelage. I'd also argue that A/TO ratio is definitely a top 3 individual stat. Steals are nice, but I don't think it is any reflection of how well a player plays PG.

Bird lost I think 4 games at UCONN in a little over 3 seasons, Jefferson 5 or 6 in 4 seasons, and Dangerfield is at 5 losses. All are remarkable records.

Aside from titles, the biggest area that Dangerfield is behind Bird and Jefferson is performance in Final Fours:

Bird had 19 points in her first Final Four, a 22 point drubbing of Penn State. Couldn't find her stats for the 2000 title game but she played well in a route. 2001 she had a poor showing and was badly outplayed by Niele Ivey, but bounced back her senior year with 18 points vs. Tennessee and 14 points in the title game vs. OU.

Jefferson was basically a no-show as a freshman, largely ineffective in both games coming off the bench and shooting 1-5 combined. Sophomore year she had a good semifinal and overall quiet but effective championship games in which UCONN won both in routs. Junior year she really should have been the MOP over Stewart and was spectacular, then as a senior she had 2 very good showings en route to her 4th straight title.

Dangerfield in 3 Final Four games has put up just 13 points on 5-23 FG, 2-14 from 3 and has lost all 3 games. This last Final Four she did have 9 assists to just 1 TO, but if she wants to be remembered as a "great", I think she needs to get to the Final Four, win a game and play well offensively.

 

[Bigboote]

What a great photo. That bruise on McCarty’s leg is incredible. I’m amazed she could play with that.

 

[DaddyChoc]

MoJett was/is the greatest PG in UConn PG history

 

[HuskylnSC]

I expect Danger's total assist count to decrease this year. She spent her first 3 years with the highest scoring duos in UConn history. One who had a terrific FG percentage. This would allow her to have an inflated assist count. Second, I expect her to shoot more this year to help make up for the scoring that has left the building. If she has the same number of handles and more shots, she will have fewer assists. Love Crystal, but so far I consider her a notch below, MoJeff and SueB. Just another AA point guard. Yeah, I'm spoiled and I love it.