Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="AndyCT, post: 2131557, member: 2064"] [FONT=Arial]I think in a way that it has been invaluable for her to come off the bench, nominally for Saniya. That’s done a couple of things. First, if she had any notions (as so many of us did) that with Moriah graduating, and coming in as the best point guard in her class, that she might be a starter right away, that was quashed immediately. There’s a reality at Connecticut and while Crystal is the point guard of the future, Saniya is the point guard of today. (It’s very important to understand that I’m not calling out Crystal on this; quite the opposite.) Coming off the bench actually has several benefits for Crystal – from the bench she can see the entirety of what is happening on the floor; Sue Bird always said that the year she was out was invaluable because as she sat on the bench next to Geno, she came to understand what he saw on the floor, and that helped make her into the point guard that she was the remainder of her years here. Also, she can see in Saniya what Geno [I][U]values[/U][/I] in point guard play. Remember Saniya was a prolific scorer coming out of high school and has certainly shown flashes of those capabilities this season; yet if anyone was to characterize her play this season the word “steady” would probably come to mind long before “spectacular”. Whereas with Crystal that might be the other way around. Crystal has been a great scorer; but on a team like Connecticut that’s a given; what she needs to be is a better passer. She has had some phenomenal assists, but that is only one side of the passing game. She also needs to facilitate the offense from the point and that is where she still needs to work, because she sometimes plays like she’s still in high school. In Crystal’s defense, the problem with high school and especially AAU is that a point guard often isn’t a point guard so much as she’s just the player that starts at the top with the ball in her hands, and if she’s the best player on the team far too often also ends with the ball in her hands (for a shot) without anyone touching it in–between. If you have a player that can make the difficult look easy on a team of players that make the easy look difficult, it happens. So what does Crystal need to do more next season? She needs to pass more in the offense. She does that most of the time, but there are still possessions where comes down, dribbles around for a while, checks her text messages, dribbles around to the other side, balances her checkbook, dribbles back to the top and eventually jacks up a shot or slashes to the basket, i.e. typical point guard play [I]on other teams[/I]. There was a post earlier this month about that very thing in the Siberia-cuse game. [URL='https://youtu.be/iYd2MsSN5Vs?t=1h2m10s']I remember late in that game that on consecutive possessions no one other than Crystal touched the ball, and that Connecticut didn’t score on those possessions.[/URL] She also fouled on the defensive possession in-between - not a good series. Crystal isn’t selfish. But even when you have a good shot there are other players that may have a great shot. When you play with National Player of the Year candidate Napheesa Collier, All-American Gabby Williams, All-American Katie Lou Samuelson, and Canadian Olympian Kia Nurse you should think pass first, score second. Because they do. And like every new Connecticut player she needs to work on defense. After the Ohio State game, Geno called her out for letting Ohio State score every time that she scored. I went back and watched that game at the time and he was right – if she scored, Ohio State scored on the next possession, as often as not on a blow-by right past her. She’s getting better, but she has to understand the Connecticut does not trade baskets…if she can’t (help to) prevent other teams from scoring, it doesn’t matter how much she can score because she won’t get in to the game. And she needs to be patient. With three returning all-Americans and our own all-Canadian, playing time might be limited again next year. But she has to look no farther that Saniya holding all these trophies up to see that if she is patient, great things will come. I’d bet on it.[/FONT] [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

Forum statistics

Threads: 164,578

Messages: 4,401,995

Members: 10,216

Latest member: illini2013