Evina Westbrook Explains How She Decided To Return To UConn

[SVCBeercats]

 

[Jbigfan]

Very happy Evina decided to stay! She will be a force.

 

[eebmg]

and for her trouble, the freshman are not allowed to use Momma E but use G-Ma for Grandma. Evina is not a big fan of that one.

and other upper classman maybe did not make out so well with the nicknames

UConn WBB Weekly: Evina Westbrook no longer just “Momma E” for the Huskies - The UConn Blog

 

[EricLA]

“I couldn’t leave them,” she said about her teammates. “I couldn’t leave them just yet.”

I love her. It just seems every time she speaks about UCONN, it's with such happiness, and joy. She's not exactly the most demonstrative person, so you have to figure out that her base personality is rather stoic (ie. not bubbly like Christyn). But it's so clear she loves the UCONN, the coaches, and the players. She's a gem for sure...

 

[Husky pride]

She may be on the quiet personality side, but Evina is going to make some serious noise before she leaves UConn. I’ll be pulling for her each and every game!

 

[JellyBean]

I am glad that E is staying as well. She seems to be that calming force that the team needs. That veteran leadership.

 

[southofnorth]

I’m happy she decided to stay. I’m hoping her knees feel better for her this season. You can tell she gives everything to this sport and to her teammates. She deserves as much success as one person can have.

 

[eebmg]

Follow up article

Westbrook couldn’t bear to say goodbye | UConn Women's Basketball | journalinquirer.com

“Coach told us that he could see a difference in the returners coming back and just our young guys coming in being super-competitive,” Westbrook said. “They’re wanting to get better, wanting to learn. We’ve been really getting after it.

“I think we got better the month we were here and we need to continue to get better. “We’ve got to go home and not let this all go to waste. It’s been a great experience the last month, but we need to keep working.”

 

[Bald Husky]

A NC is what Evina deserves as much as anyone. She escaped Tennessee after a toxic experience, endured the sit out season, and became the glue for an inexperienced team looking for leadership. Coming back this year, opting out of the WNBA draft, shows us what her main dream is at this point in her life. I hope that her knees are in good shape, but even if problems still exist, her presence alone will inspire this team to do their best to give her, and everyone else associated with this team what has alluded them since 2016. I hope that she can finally have the kind of season she has dreamt about.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I guess I'm a dullard because what I see is Evina saying I don't want to leave, not why. Personally very happy she's staying.

 

[FairView]

I think Evina's take on whether or not to stay is a good example of what sets UConn women basketball players apart. It's so much more than basketball skills. It transcends talent. Thanks for staying, Evina. I can't wait to watch you this season and fall in love with you (and your teammates) a little more each game!

 

[Waquoit]

I’m happy she decided to stay. I’m hoping her knees feel better for her this season. You can tell she gives everything to this sport and to her teammates. She deserves as much success as one person can have.

She is so good when healthy. Here's hoping the added depth will help game manage her knees.

 

[oldhusky]

I don't know if it was a factor in her decision or not, but the history of players coming back from knee injuries frequently results in the player coming back partway in their first season back, but not being all the way back until the second year. Of the three returning seniors I think she has the best probability of showing significant improvement, mostly because of year two on surgery recovery, but there are other reasons as well.

Nobody was asked to make more of a transformation than Evina. She came to Uconn as a high usage/high volume big point guard, but with mediocre shooting percentages and a few too many turnovers. Her rate of scoring and assists went down, but so did turnovers and the shooting efficiency improved. She became the "swiss army knife" kind of role player for this team, with still a staring moment every now and then.

Remember she had to adjust from big point guard to pretty much an average sized small forward at the beginning of the year. That by itself is a major adjustment, but coming off injury even more so. Then when Anna got injured she became a very undersized PF asked to handle a big part of the rebounding duties and having to guard bigs. I suspect the number of players who went thru that big of a change from PG to PF could be counted on one hand with a few fingers left over.

This year I fully expect Aaliyah and others to eliminate the need to use a wing as a big, and expect Evina can concentrate on SF and SG which are likely her two best positions on a knee that is better the second year after surgery. Christyn and Liv may show normal evolution in their senior year, all three can be motivated by their last chance to get a championship, but the most likely major improvement IMO is from Evina because of health and more time at her natural positions.

 

[BBallF]

I don't know if it was a factor in her decision or not, but the history of players coming back from knee injuries frequently results in the player coming back partway in their first season back, but not being all the way back until the second year. Of the three returning seniors I think she has the best probability of showing significant improvement, mostly because of year two on surgery recovery, but there are other reasons as well.

Nobody was asked to make more of a transformation than Evina. She came to Uconn as a high usage/high volume big point guard, but with mediocre shooting percentages and a few too many turnovers. Her rate of scoring and assists went down, but so did turnovers and the shooting efficiency improved. She became the "swiss army knife" kind of role player for this team, with still a staring moment every now and then.

Remember she had to adjust from big point guard to pretty much an average sized small forward at the beginning of the year. That by itself is a major adjustment, but coming off injury even more so. Then when Anna got injured she became a very undersized PF asked to handle a big part of the rebounding duties and having to guard bigs. I suspect the number of players who went thru that big of a change from PG to PF could be counted on one hand with a few fingers left over.

This year I fully expect Aaliyah and others to eliminate the need to use a wing as a big, and expect Evina can concentrate on SF and SG which are likely her two best positions on a knee that is better the second year after surgery. Christyn and Liv may show normal evolution in their senior year, all three can be motivated by their last chance to get a championship, but the most likely major improvement IMO is from Evina because of health and more time at her natural positions.

I agree with this analysis about knee injuries and Evina this coming year. Having a daughter who played college basketball and suffered an ACL and having seen this scenario play out several times with many players male and female, I think the "second year after" bump is a reality. There were many times last year where E did not finish, or deferred, or lost her shot and I thought it had to do with her knee, with pain, or fatigue. If she is even 10% stronger than last year it will be very significant. Really though, even if she is the same, she has the heart and the will and is a unique asset on our team. I do expect her however to kick everyone's butt when necessary.