First Night Friday 6:45 Oct 14 live stream, link here

[Geew1992]

 

[Geew1992]

 

[mbr33ct]

The Roku feed's audio and video were out of synch. I never heard Rene's interview of Geno. And finally it was a nice logo but I saw saw more of that than basketball.

In other words, a typical show. Show the guy with the mike and give us a song instead of him.

I can't believe that this is the best they got. It's a pep rally for the students. I guess you had to be there. A nice way to start the weekend for the students.

Is Griffin now a backcourt player? She was reported to be working with the guards and she hit enough 3's tonight. We could see UConn play with a guard, 3 wings and a post a lot.

I'm glad Patterson stayed out of the dunk contest.

Agree with your assessment on the First Night logo, made me want to take a photo of it. I guess I wasn't the only one that noticed it.

 

[eebmg]

Amazing how little the streaming caught of the energy. This clip seems to capture the event much better

 

[oldhusky]

Aubrey Griffin was a guard in high school, averaging 24pt.s per. I for one am not surprised, this team can come at you in many ways. Auriemma has to figure out who and when they will compliment each other.

How Geno uses Aubrey will be interesting. I think she is far more 4 than 3, but her best opportunities for playing time and helping the team may be at the 3. The team around her is way different than heading into last year for example. Then she was expected to be the backup 4 behind Aaliyah, we had Liv and Dorka for the 5, and 6 very talented guard types for positions 1-3. There was little apparent need for her to be a 3.

Heading into this year we add two great candidates at the 4 in Ice and Ayanna to go with Aaliyah and Aubrey so that becomes our deepest position. The guards however are another story, after Paige's injury we know we have 4 quality players for 3 positions, already very vulnerable to any guard injuries. That is the reason for the emergency recruitment of Inez. So beyond the 4 it is either Inez a true guard, or playing a more natural big at the 3, either Aubrey or Ayanna.

Aubrey could be the leader to be the 5th option among the smalls. Inez is a more natural guard, but Aubrey probably has considerably more overall talent and two more years of experience. That experience edge might keep her ahead of Ayanna who in some ways is a similar player with perhaps even more talent and size, but is learning the ropes.

Aubrey can still compete for playing time at the 4 against the two freshmen, but if our luck going forward with injuries to the guards is even about average, guessing maybe 5-6 games missed in total from the main 4, then during those games Aubrey, Ayanna or Inez will not just get a few token minutes as the 5th option, but instead will be the principle backup for positions 1-3. In Aubrey's case if she came in for Nika, Azzi would play the point and Caroline or Lou would be at the 2 for example.

So regardless of her best position, Geno has even more reason to try to develop the perimeter part of Aubrey's game this year, because she is more likely to be needed there with any injuries to our main guards.

 

[eebmg]

Youtube version



I actually noticed a few things I did not last night.

1) #35 sweeps (Fudd who carried her team and Samson) the 3pt and dunk contests.
2) I actually warmed up to the dunk contest after rewatching it. In particular, Steff and Renee were by far the best judges. Steff saying how Renee could give one weak effort a 5 was just so funny.
3) Got a nice look at all the coaches when Azzi buried the last 8 in a row. Hurley thinking he could use a bit of that.
4) Great comradery within the teams and between the squads.

Really well done except for the stupidity of having camera angles not capture the 3pt buckets half the time.

 

[GEAinAustin]

oldhuskie, agree with you again, but this year it will be more position less ball. To me Azzi, and Nika are the 2 true guards, not counting Inez as she seems to be similar to a walk on at this stage of her growing career. Caroline and Lou seem to be more of the wing with their specific talent, and Aubrey is more like a swiss army knife. Patterson is the prototypical power forward. These are good problems to have, as barring injury, the coffers are full.

 

[Notyetready]

How Geno uses Aubrey will be interesting. I think she is far more 4 than 3, but her best opportunities for playing time and helping the team may be at the 3. The team around her is way different than heading into last year for example. Then she was expected to be the backup 4 behind Aaliyah, we had Liv and Dorka for the 5, and 6 very talented guard types for positions 1-3. There was little apparent need for her to be a 3.

Heading into this year we add two great candidates at the 4 in Ice and Ayanna to go with Aaliyah and Aubrey so that becomes our deepest position. The guards however are another story, after Paige's injury we know we have 4 quality players for 3 positions, already very vulnerable to any guard injuries. That is the reason for the emergency recruitment of Inez. So beyond the 4 it is either Inez a true guard, or playing a more natural big at the 3, either Aubrey or Ayanna.

Aubrey could be the leader to be the 5th option among the smalls. Inez is a more natural guard, but Aubrey probably has considerably more overall talent and two more years of experience. That experience edge might keep her ahead of Ayanna who in some ways is a similar player with perhaps even more talent and size, but is learning the ropes.

Aubrey can still compete for playing time at the 4 against the two freshmen, but if our luck going forward with injuries to the guards is even about average, guessing maybe 5-6 games missed in total from the main 4, then during those games Aubrey, Ayanna or Inez will not just get a few token minutes as the 5th option, but instead will be the principle backup for positions 1-3. In Aubrey's case if she came in for Nika, Azzi would play the point and Caroline or Lou would be at the 2 for example.

So regardless of her best position, Geno has even more reason to try to develop the perimeter part of Aubrey's game this year, because she is more likely to be needed there with any injuries to our main guards.

The most intrresting takeaway, for me, from Meg Cuomo's interview with Geno, when she asked him about Aubrey competing in the 3 pt. contest, was his reply that Aubrey made the 3 in practice regularly before she got injured and sat out last year-- but then backed off from taking the shot during games. Apparently just a matter of her lack of confidence. That would make her competing successfully in the First Night contest a confidence booster and suggest that she can impact the game offensively if she brings her shot to the game floor. One more reason to look optimistically at the coming season.

 

[eebmg]

The most intrresting takeaway, for me, from Meg Cuomo's interview with Geno, when she asked him about Aubrey competing in the 3 pt. contest, was his reply that Aubrey made the 3 in practice regularly before she got injured and sat out last year-- but then backed off from taking the shot during games. Apparently just a matter of her lack of confidence. That would make her competing successfully in the First Night contest a confidence booster and suggest that she can impact the game offensively if she brings her shot to the game floor. One more reason to look optimistically at the coming season.

I think this was already well known in Aubrey's freshman year. A far better shooter in shoot arounds that just did not have that in game confidence to even take shots. Not just 3's but mid range. Hopefully, she has gained the confidence which has to start in practice.