Dorka and her Conditioning

[Geew1992]

 

[psconn]

This aligns perfectly with my post the other day about Dorka's recent trend of being able to take and give more contact without ending up on the floor. She must be getting used to using her stronger lower body and more stable base efficiently. That is a remarkable development in a player of her age, and indicates a ton of work and repetition... a "sophomore leap" in a 5th year senior. Hope it keeps up.

 

[Ardenque]

She has just gotten better and better as her stay here has progressed.
Not to denigrate Ohio State, but think where she’d be if she came here as a freshman.

 

[cgshuskie]

Jamelle has helped Dorka improve her strength and agility this season.. But for her wrist injury last season, she needed to build up her hand and arm strength also. As she keeps growing she is becoming a really good big. However, strength, strength, strength. Women are big and tough in the W.... Dorka may yet become great!!!!!

 

[DefenseBB]

Considering that Dorka made 2 all BIG TEN Conference teams while at tOSU, I would say she was already a pretty good player but she needed to learn a completely different style of "read and react" offense and how to play with 4 other really talented players on the floor with her.

I still wish her Free Throw percentages were a tad higher and am surprised that no modifications to that setup and form have been made. She doesn't exactly toe the line and "creeps up to it" when she is on the charity stripe. But hey, that's me quibbling about the fly poop in the pepper. She's been a beast this year for us. I really hope that Ice, Jana and Amari have gone to the "Dorka school of post play" to learn while they can.

 

[oldude]

Dorka was a very good player when she first arrived at UConn. But after two seasons here, she is playing as well as any Big in the country. Her footwork on defense, post moves, passing and movement without the ball are outstanding. tOSU will see a retooled Dorka on Saturday whose game has reached another level of excellence.

 

[Rowdy831]

She is a very good tall player. To compete at the next level though she is going to need to build strength in her hands. Last year she broke her wrist, this year she broke her thumb so she really hasn't been able to improve her grip strength yet but that would really help her get and stay at the next level. One thing is for sure, she is an amazing teammate and any coach would love to have her on the team.

 

[Blond D.]

Considering that Dorka made 2 all BIG TEN Conference teams while at tOSU, I would say she was already a pretty good player but she needed to learn a completely different style of "read and react" offense and how to play with 4 other really talented players on the floor with her.

I still wish her Free Throw percentages were a tad higher and am surprised that no modifications to that setup and form have been made. She doesn't exactly toe the line and "creeps up to it" when she is on the charity stripe. But hey, that's me quibbling about the fly poop in the pepper. She's been a beast this year for us. I really hope that Ice, Jana and Amari have gone to the "Dorka school of post play" to learn while they can.

If I knew there was fly poop in the pepper, I would really raise a stink.

 

[oldhusky]

I think we sometimes forget how rare it is for true C type players to play heavy minutes. There are many star C's that put up great per minute numbers, that play less than 30 minutes a game. I think that is for a couple of reasons. First they do tend to get in more foul trouble, and Dorka doesn't have that as a major issue. For a C her rate of fouls is actually quite low. The other is C size players of course are more rare in the general population, so finding size, talent and good endurance and is even less likely.

Regardless Dorka was a high minute player before she came to Uconn and has been here as well, staying out of foul trouble and being well conditioned. Considering that Geno has often not wanted to use his bigs off the bench, this is a big factor. If the C this year was say Liv instead of Dorka the level of play might have been similar while they were in the game, but Liv would probably play only 26 minutes a game or so, and we would have had about 7 more minutes per game from Ayanna or Amari. From that standpoint Dorka's ability to play major minutes, and considerably more than many C's is often overlooked and an underrated factor.