Crystal Benefitted from U19 Role

[RockyMTblue2]

"Crystal has grown up a lot," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "She has made about a 180 from last year which is what you hope from freshman to sophomore year. Unfortunately it didn't translate into a gold medal over there, the team they lost to has a couple of pros on their team that are just really, really good players. The U.S. team probably could have won that game but Crystal played great.

"It was a good role for her, she was really good over there and she has carried it over here, she was good in practice."

Talk of her injury. She was hurt before going abroad, then hurt again. And:

"When I came back here, Shea (Ralph, Dangerfield's position coach at UConn) told me I'm being more vocal," Dangerfield said. "Being able to lead players who are younger than I am, it helps with four freshmen coming in.

"I feel like I am playing harder than I was last year and that comes from just wanting to be competitive, not wanting last year to repeat."

Check it out: U19 experience proving to be beneficial for UConn's Dangerfield

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Article also deals with Walker, Geno's perceptions of her U 19 experience, a taste of what Italy will be like ( "
I like when we go over and show them some things that this is the only place in the world where you can see this.") and stuff like this:

"Now Walker and fellow freshmen Mikayla Coombs, Andra Espinoza-Hunter and Lexi Gordon are getting a crash course on UConn women's basketball and the lofty standards players are held to even during the most basic drill.

"The biggest challenge will be learning that level of intensity and trying to match it every day," Walker said."

 

[BroadwayVa]

"Crystal has grown up a lot," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "She has made about a 180 from last year which is what you hope from freshman to sophomore year. Unfortunately it didn't translate into a gold medal over there, the team they lost to has a couple of pros on their team that are just really, really good players. The U.S. team probably could have won that game but Crystal played great.

"It was a good role for her, she was really good over there and she has carried it over here, she was good in practice."

Talk of her injury. She was hurt before going abroad, then hurt again. And:

"When I came back here, Shea (Ralph, Dangerfield's position coach at UConn) told me I'm being more vocal," Dangerfield said. "Being able to lead players who are younger than I am, it helps with four freshmen coming in.

"I feel like I am playing harder than I was last year and that comes from just wanting to be competitive, not wanting last year to repeat."

Check it out: U19 experience proving to be beneficial for UConn's Dangerfield

Just watched a couple or more of OLD Geno shows, on CPTV. He spoke of Players coming in with partial confidence. And the player coming in the next year Maya Moore--she had full confidence.
He spoke Nicole Wolfe who complained to her father, a College BB Coach, that Geno had no confidence in her, there fore her confidence was waning--He dad asked her: How many minuted do you play? About 30 minutes per game , was the reply--Dad said: If you play 30 minute--HE HAS confidence in you.
That's what I alluded to when I said Dangers minutes in the big NCAA games --meant Geno had confidence in her. He just stated that above.
Thanks Rocky, great find , as usual. Back to my cave and summer time sleep.
Fyi--Great quotes from the old CPTV interactions with Megan Pattyson.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Crystal has to find a consistent shooting touch and concentrate on running the offense. There were times last year and during the U19 Tournament that at the start of a possession you knew that Crystal was only looking for her shot. She would be dribbling the ball at the top of the key and not looking to pass the ball to an open player. Her only plan on that possession was to shoot the ball. Don't have the stats, but it appeared when she was in that mindset, she missed the shot. I will be looking to see if we see the dramatic improvement in Crystal that we saw with Moriah in her Sophomore year. Crystal can run the offense, but she needs a more consistent shooting percentage and take her shot in the flow of the offense.

Will be interesting to see if Geno starts her as his PG. If that happens, then who comes off the Bench Azura' or KLS?

Predicting Crystal will have competition from Mikayla Coombs by the end of the season as to who will be the long term Pg for this tema.

 

[Carnac]

Crystal has to find a consistent shooting touch and concentrate on running the offense. There were times last year and during the U19 Tournament that at the start of a possession you knew that Crystal was only looking for her shot. She would be dribbling the ball at the top of the key and not looking to pass the ball to an open player. Her only plan on that possession was to shoot the ball. Don't have the stats, but it appeared when she was in that mindset, she missed the shot. I will be looking to see if we see the dramatic improvement in Crystal that we saw with Moriah in her Sophomore year. Crystal can run the offense, but she needs a more consistent shooting percentage and take her shot in the flow of the offense.

Will be interesting to see if Geno starts her as his PG. If that happens, then who comes off the Bench Azura' or KLS?

Predicting Crystal will have competition from Mikayla Coombs by the end of the season as to who will be the long term Pg for this tema.

That's a question we've all been asking IF Crystal starts. Does Geno sit Katie Lou or AZ? A question we may not know the answer to until November. Geno may use the Italy games to experiment with different starting combinations, especially if Nurse is not there for the first game or two. I've been wrong on many occasions, and I may be wrong this time. I'm also keeping in mind something Geno said last year on one of his shows last year.

He said (I'm paraphrasing) that "a lot of people (fans) that think they know what's going on, really don't. They're not at practice everyday, they don't know the players like we do". So, while keeping that thought in mind, I just can't believe Geno brought Stevens in to come off the bench, especially since her height, leadership and scoring ability is desperately needed in the starting lineup. She has proven to be a dominant, almost unstoppable force, not only in UConn practices, but at the USA trials in Denver last week (the USA observations in Denver came from multiple sources).

How do you not start a player that dominant? You want that player on the floor full time, not coming off the bench. There are a lot of commenters on this board that think Crystal starts. That will be Geno's decision. I'll go with whoever he puts out there. I believe he will ALWAYS put his best 5 on the floor to begin a game.

As for Coombs, I have not seen her play yet. All I know about her is what I've read. All of the reports I've seen were positive. They said she's the real deal, and that UConn Nation will not be disappointed. I look forward to seeing her play in several games, and draw my own conclusions. I also agree that Crystal must find her shot.................................where ever it is.

 

[MilfordHusky]

One thing that Crystal should be able to do better this year is to play aggressively and go for steals, because she will have Z as the last line of defense.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

One thing that Crystal should be able to do better this year is to play aggressively and go for steals, because she will have Z as the last line of defense.

The whole team can play more aggressively on the perimeter for the same reason.
Geno may also decide to play more aggressive defense with pressing and trapping all over
the court.

A more aggressive defense is more labor intensive, but he has a depth of talent on the
bench that he didn't have last year, so he can sub more frequently. (after the new kids
get it figured out)

 

[augustaTC]

I really hope Dangerfield continues to make progress and fulfills her potential. I don't profess to be a BB guru, far from it, but I kind of thought the primary role of a PG was to run the offense & play killer defense and then hopefully score when/if the opportunity arose, particularly to keep the defense honest. Put another way, while points are important, shouldn't a PG be judged primarily by assists & steals? A the end of last year Dangerfield's defense still had a lot to be desired and I kind of thought she was sketchy running the offense on a consistent basis. But she was clearly improving. Crystal's still very much a work in process. I think the first half of the season will be full of experimenting as Geno & staff look for the best combos and the fastest way to get everyone up to speed. So I think the "who starts" is a silly question, at least for the first couple of months. More important is who's racking up the minutes and what are they doing with them.