Confirmed UConn pursuit of Wisconsin transfer Serah Williams | Page 9 | The Boneyard

Confirmed UConn pursuit of Wisconsin transfer Serah Williams

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Rowdy831 said:
UConn looks to be adding three before the portal so if they have a full roster now which I think they do that means they will only have spots vacated by players who are moving on. You have Paige, Aubrey and KC for sure with maybe one or two that could finish their days at UConn. If they do add another post player I would like to see them hire a coach that can teach them how to play. Size is important but only if they are good enough to contribute on the floor.
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Unserious comment.
 
Sluconn Husky said:
A subscriber article from Maggie Vanoni. Mentions Williams is a nursing major. Doesn't UConn have a quality nursing program?


CT Insider has confirmed from a source that UConn is pursuing 6-4 forward Serah Williams, who recently announced her plan to enter the transfer portal after playing three seasons at Wisconsin.


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I guess I'm just too cheap to spend $.25 for 3 months.
 
tower1 said:
Yes, I don't see our bigs developing the way that they should .
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If you look back over the past few seasons, he's not wrong. Ice has been underwhelming at best. Jana is the stereotypical "but she has so much potential" player. Neither one can make a layup, tip-in or free throw at an acceptable percentage and they foul everything they can reach. Sarah as a small ball post player is great, but anchoring her in the post takes away her value as a 3 point threat.

Assuming its not a lack of coaching - what is it? How can you be this wrong on a presumptive #1 recruit (Ice) and a consensus difference maker (Jana) two years in a row? You've got Gandy coming in soon and by all accounts she is "raw". At some point you have to look at how you're either evaluating post players or developing them, because something is off.
 
jeff30189 said:
If you look back over the past few seasons, he's not wrong. Ice has been underwhelming at best. Jana is the stereotypical "but she has so much potential" player. Neither one can make a layup, tip-in or free throw at an acceptable percentage and they foul everything they can reach. Sarah as a small ball post player is great, but anchoring her in the post takes away her value as a 3 point threat.

Assuming its not a lack of coaching - what is it? How can you be this wrong on a presumptive #1 recruit (Ice) and a consensus difference maker (Jana) two years in a row? You've got Gandy coming in soon and by all accounts she is "raw". At some point you have to look at how you're either evaluating post players or developing them, because something is off.
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Ice was not a #1 ranked high school recruit. And despite being undersized in the paint she has 14 fewer fouls in the paint than Jana in the same number of minutes
 
If I look at the success of our ”recent“ post players in the W, Aaliyah is doing very well. Liv, Dorka, and Kiah are making important contributions, and Dolson is doing very well too. None are dominant and not everyone needs to be. They are all good basketball players that got better while at UConn.
 
HuskyNan said:
Ice was not a #1 ranked high school recruit. And despite being undersized in the paint she has 14 fewer fouls in the paint than Jana in the same number of minutes
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She was 4 or 5, and Ayanna was 5 or 4. Neither have shown much to date, and injuries have slowed development of either. Hoping the switch is flipped for next year, but we could use some Ice this year.
 
jeff30189 said:
If you look back over the past few seasons, he's not wrong. Ice has been underwhelming at best. Jana is the stereotypical "but she has so much potential" player. Neither one can make a layup, tip-in or free throw at an acceptable percentage and they foul everything they can reach. Sarah as a small ball post player is great, but anchoring her in the post takes away her value as a 3 point threat.

Assuming its not a lack of coaching - what is it? How can you be this wrong on a presumptive #1 recruit (Ice) and a consensus difference maker (Jana) two years in a row? You've got Gandy coming in soon and by all accounts she is "raw". At some point you have to look at how you're either evaluating post players or developing them, because something is off.
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Or could it be just the oft-repeated truism that post players take longer to develop?

Tina Charles was not at all a star in her freshman and sophomore years, and she turned out OK. I wasn't following the team in 1992 and 1993, but by all accounts, Rebecca Lobo was no star in her freshman and sophomore years.

Other UConn post players were pretty good (only) in their freshman and sophomore years, but got much better in their later years. I'm thinking of Liv, Stef, and Kiah Stokes. Dorka only had two years and Azura only had one year as an active player, but they both became noticeably more effective in their inside games during their time in Storrs.

I expect to see a similar development curve for Ice and especially Jana. Which is not to say that UConn shouldn't seek a good post player in the portal if she is available.
 
jeff30189 said:
If you look back over the past few seasons, he's not wrong. Ice has been underwhelming at best. Jana is the stereotypical "but she has so much potential" player. Neither one can make a layup, tip-in or free throw at an acceptable percentage and they foul everything they can reach. Sarah as a small ball post player is great, but anchoring her in the post takes away her value as a 3 point threat.

Assuming its not a lack of coaching - what is it? How can you be this wrong on a presumptive #1 recruit (Ice) and a consensus difference maker (Jana) two years in a row? You've got Gandy coming in soon and by all accounts she is "raw". At some point you have to look at how you're either evaluating post players or developing them, because something is off.
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Agreed. Something is amiss, injuries?
 
oldude said:
A coach that can teach them how to play??? It’s too bad UConn didn’t have anyone to teach Rebecca, Kara, Swin, Asjha, Tamika, Tina, Steph, Stewie, Liv & Aaliyah to name a few…..
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Sure, somebody has a logical observation and then everyone piles on in "group think" without any logic. The simple fact (and it is a fact), UConn has not developed a first team BIG EAST post player since Stewart in 2016. Heck only Aaliyah Edwards and Phessa earned first team conference in the front court! When you consider all the "talent" rankings we supposedly had/have something is not working. The FACT is these players have not developed as any of the players you are so preoccupied to mention. Something is wrong.
Since 2016, here is the list of players with their Hoopgurlz ranking to show what the evaluators thought. I already know many will try to parse each individual name but the totality of the list is what is striking so getting a better developed player makes sense.

Butler
Stevens-#23
Camara-#53
ONO-#5
Adebayo
McClean-#25
Dorka
DeBerry-#15
Gabriel
Patterson-#4
Brady-#5
Jana

Like I said, the two successes were Collier-#6 and Edwards #23

Remember, none but Collier and Edwards earned a BIG EAST 1st selection. That is highly troubling. We have an issue. Stop hiding you head in the sand.
 
JoePgh said:
Or could it be just the oft-repeated truism that post players take longer to develop?

Tina Charles was not at all a star in her freshman and sophomore years, and she turned out OK. I wasn't following the team in 1992 and 1993, but by all accounts, Rebecca Lobo was no star in her freshman and sophomore years.

Other UConn post players were pretty good (only) in their freshman and sophomore years, but got much better in their later years. I'm thinking of Liv, Stef, and Kiah Stokes. Dorka only had two years and Azura only had one year as an active player, but they both became noticeably more effective in their inside games during their time in Storrs.

I expect to see a similar development curve for Ice and especially Jana. Which is not to say that UConn shouldn't seek a good post player in the portal if she is available.
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?? Tina was the National Freshman of the Year
 
JoePgh said:
Tina Charles was not at all a star in her freshman and sophomore years, and she turned out OK. I wasn't following the team in 1992 and 1993, but by all accounts, Rebecca Lobo was no star in her freshman and sophomore years.
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While I get your overall point, Tina Charles was definitely a star her first two years. Her player efficiency ratings were 33 and 34, and her win shares per 40 mins were around what Paige's are right now. Her next two seasons were otherwordly, but her first two were terrific.
 
DefenseBB said:
Sure, somebody has a logical observation and then everyone piles on in "group think" without any logic. The simple fact (and it is a fact), UConn has not developed a first team BIG EAST post player since Stewart in 2016. Heck only Aaliyah Edwards and Phessa earned first team conference in the front court! When you consider all the "talent" rankings we supposedly had/have something is not working. The FACT is these players have not developed as any of the players you are so preoccupied to mention. Something is wrong.
Since 2016, here is the list of players with their Hoopgurlz ranking to show what the evaluators thought. I already know many will try to parse each individual name but the totality of the list is what is striking so getting a better developed player makes sense.

Butler
Stevens-#23
Camara-#53
ONO-#5
Adebayo
McClean-#25
Dorka
DeBerry-#15
Gabriel
Patterson-#4
Brady-#5
Jana

Like I said, the two successes were Collier-#6 and Edwards #23

Remember, none but Collier and Edwards earned a BIG EAST 1st selection. That is highly troubling. We have an issue. Stop hiding you head in the sand.
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Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good argument. Liv earned both 1st team BE honors and BE DPOY.

And you continue to ignore the development of Sarah, and why we’re at it, what about Gabby. She played the post at UConn and was not only 1st team all conference but 1st team AA & NDPOY. Name another coaching staff who developed a 5’ 11” HS pg into an AA post player.
 
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DefenseBB said:
Sure, somebody has a logical observation and then everyone piles on in "group think" without any logic. The simple fact (and it is a fact), UConn has not developed a first team BIG EAST post player since Stewart in 2016. Heck only Aaliyah Edwards and Phessa earned first team conference in the front court! When you consider all the "talent" rankings we supposedly had/have something is not working. The FACT is these players have not developed as any of the players you are so preoccupied to mention. Something is wrong.
Since 2016, here is the list of players with their Hoopgurlz ranking to show what the evaluators thought. I already know many will try to parse each individual name but the totality of the list is what is striking so getting a better developed player makes sense.

Butler
Stevens-#23
Camara-#53
ONO-#5
Adebayo
McClean-#25
Dorka
DeBerry-#15
Gabriel
Patterson-#4
Brady-#5
Jana

Like I said, the two successes were Collier-#6 and Edwards #23

Remember, none but Collier and Edwards earned a BIG EAST 1st selection. That is highly troubling. We have an issue. Stop hiding you head in the sand.
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The list is interesting, and worth reflecting on.

[Just in passing, I'm not sure why McClean is on the list -- am I mistaking her for someone else? Mir? McLean? and Adebayo only played part of 1 season, so the question of developing or not may not apply to her.]

The last true and really successful post player, in the narrow sense of a back-to-the-basket big, was probably Dolson. She took a significant leap in her 3rd year, which coincided with the arrival of Stewie. Was this a development or did she merely benefit from having a future GOAT playing next to her? She was already a pretty good post when she arrived. What mostly changed for her was getting into better shape. Did she also learn better court positioning, footwork, passing, etc? Yes, of course. But it didn't look like a 'night and day' change to me at the time.

Stewie, Stokes, Phee, Edwards were all rather more than post players though they covered that spot too for their teams. Dorka and Liv were the closest to being posts in the narrow sense. Dorka was the better scorer and they were both quite good defenders. But Dorka did much (not all) of her development at tOSU, and Liv mainly developed as a defender but didn't expand the offensive side of her game as much as we all hoped. Aaliyah developed a ton in her 4 years, though she was not merely a post. She may be the great success story of recent years, when it comes to development.

The other names on your list reflect either injuries or projects who never panned out. Ayanna, Jana and Ice are too early in their development to really know if they are symptoms of some broader problem. Gandy is clearly a project and I am anxious to see if she can develop or not. She may be the real test case for your concern.

All of this suggests that getting Serah may be important just to take the pressure off the posts we have, to let them have some more time to develop if they can. Though it's worth bearing in mind that it may take more than one year for a post to really fit into Geno's system -- Dorka needed a second year. It also suggests the importance of getting Olivia Vukosa to choose UConn. She looks like another Dolson to me, maybe even a bit quicker.

The other post left off this list [rightly] is Boston -- she was the one who got away. She did well at SC, though she didn't develop in extraordinary ways there. She was very skilled when she arrived and was a little more skilled when she left. Mainly, she got into better shape, which is also true of Dolson. Would Boston have developed her skills more at UConn? Probably not, though this may reflect the level of her talent to begin with rather than any problems at SC or UConn.

If there is a problem festering in the way Geno and CD coach post players, what might it be? Do you have any suggestions or theories? By Dolson's own account, CD was very demanding on her, but also sympathetic. Is it a set of skills they aren't teaching these kids? Or is it a mistaken judgment about them in the recruiting process? Clearly, Amari and Piath were bets that didn't pay off. Is that the problem? Did Geno fail to recruit others in preference to them?
 
Sluconn Husky said:
While I get your overall point, Tina Charles was definitely a star her first two years. Her player efficiency ratings were 33 and 34, and her win shares per 40 mins were around what Paige's are right now. Her next two seasons were otherwordly, but her first two were terrific.
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I agree about Tina. Totally a star. But I'm wondering how to use the WS stat for such comparisons, like to Paige. I may not fully understand how it works, but it seems to be quite context specific, to reflect a role on a team as much as an individual measure. How do you understand it?

For example, Paige's WS numbers are higher than Boston's. But I'm not sure that really captures their respective achievements very accurately.
 
Vancat said:

Serah Williams?​

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Tina or Stewie are not suiting up for UCONN again. Geno's interest in Sarah Williams speaks volumes to me and would optimize Azzi's last year in the program. A quality big to augment the remaining roster would be terrific. Would have gladly taken Kiki Irafen this year if there was mutual interest.
 
I don't think you can blame the coaches for these players lack of development. Also, I think the common excuses for the lack of development should be dropped; injuries, just freshman, etc are over.
Both Ice, who is in her second year, and Jana finishing her first, have had many opportunities to show improvement, but haven't.
Ice is out there thinking and not reacting. She thinks, "I have to box out" and then boxes out her opponent into the stands , "Foul" or boxes out and forgets to grab the ball. On offense, nobody covers her because the opposition would love her shoot all day because she thinks, "Oh my, should I shoot" and the answer is, No Don't shoot. She has zero confidence.
Jana looks she has been in her body for about a week. She really can't leave her feet (jump), her hands are terrible ( fumbles everything) and shoots by pulling the ball down making her more like KK than a big, down low. However, she has shown much improvement recently grabbing rebounds in traffic.
If you can get 2-4 positive plays each in a game, we will take it.
 
DefenseBB said:
Sure, somebody has a logical observation and then everyone piles on in "group think" without any logic. The simple fact (and it is a fact), UConn has not developed a first team BIG EAST post player since Stewart in 2016. Heck only Aaliyah Edwards and Phessa earned first team conference in the front court! When you consider all the "talent" rankings we supposedly had/have something is not working. The FACT is these players have not developed as any of the players you are so preoccupied to mention. Something is wrong.
Since 2016, here is the list of players with their Hoopgurlz ranking to show what the evaluators thought. I already know many will try to parse each individual name but the totality of the list is what is striking so getting a better developed player makes sense.

Butler
Stevens-#23
Camara-#53
ONO-#5
Adebayo
McClean-#25
Dorka
DeBerry-#15
Gabriel
Patterson-#4
Brady-#5
Jana

Like I said, the two successes were Collier-#6 and Edwards #23

Remember, none but Collier and Edwards earned a BIG EAST 1st selection. That is highly troubling. We have an issue. Stop hiding you head in the sand.
Expand ...
It is always incredulous to me when folks state things as "facts" when they are simply poorly thought out postures.

So "First Team Big East" selection is the metric of development? And Hoopgurlz evaluations are the starting point? What a joke! How about other metrics such as being drafted, or playing professionally, or even making All-American status?Everyone on your list who is no longer in college falls into at least one of these three categories.

In what bizzaro world is 5'11" Mir McLean is a post player? Since you included McLean, why did you not include 5'11" Gabby Williams who at least DID play sporadically during games as a post? Because it didn't fit your narrative?

As another poster has already stated, ONO qualified for your First Team All-Big East developmental benchmark in 2022.

For goodness sakes, do a little bit of homework.
 
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