Agree. Y’all seem to really forget that Ice came off a spontaneous patella injury. Not only was she unable to practice with the team for months, but you’re gonna have nerves going back in the court. If it happened once, it could certainly happen again. And for all this to happen to a freshman? Did we really expect Ice to be a dominant force this season given all that? I get her performance up until the BE tourney and onward was rough but come on.
Geno on Sarah
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Tuck FR year: 6P, 3R, 1A. Stokes FR year: 4P, 4R, 0A. Stokes SO year: 2P, 3R, 0A. Brady RFR year: 4P, 3R, 1A. This means Tuck and Stokes weren't even "good backups".
Sluconn Husky
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Player Efficiency Rating: Tuck 22, Stokes 28, Brady 11
Win Shares: Tuck: 3.6, Stokes 3.8, Brady 2.1
Offensive Rating: Tuck 107.4, Stokes 118.6, Brady 92
Defensive Rating: Tuck 73.4, Stokes 61.6, Brady 84.2
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How Brady played in the 1st 3/4 of the season was below what I expected. Isn't how she played in the last 25% of the season much more important? Do others think she is going to regress? I also discounted that it took time for her to trust her knee again. Given that and an expected sophomore jump it's reasonable to see her in a front court rotation of El Alfy, Brady, Strong and maybe Patterson. Besides that group Cheli, Griffin and Ducharme have enough size and skill to play some minutes inside or against smaller opponents.
Everything is going to depend on who plays best with whom this summer. And health.
Everything is going to depend on who plays best with whom this summer. And health.
I don't think any player was effected as much as Ice by the constant injuries and shuffle of the lineup. Coming off a serious injury and playing your freshman year was a tough combination, I think she could be prime for a huge leap this coming season.
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I was a math teacher. As such I am fully aware there are tons of statistics and it is easy to always find a few to back whatever position you are trying to prove. If Geno plays someone I believe he thinks they are worth the time. My opinion doesn't matter. I'm still entitled to it as all of you are also. I just prefer to like the players we have and am sure looking forward to seeing how they all will progress.
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Thanks for this. I suspect that many who question Sarah's ability to guard on the perimeter are basing their doubts on her body type rather than on observation of her actual play. As you point out, 3x3 tournaments require great agility and switchability. Your evidence-based reporting is exceedingly helpful.
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I think that Sarah’s quiet, unassuming personality has resulted in a lack of appreciation by many as to just how good she really is! (I know, I know, she is the #1 ranked player but I still think she is underappreciated!) She is a player who dominates under the radar, if that makes any kind of sense. She could score 35-14-7 to some other player’s 25-11-3 and everyone would be raving about the other player! That is one of the reasons she reminds me of Maya! She is so good that she doesn’t really look as though she is dominating as much as she is. This girl is the total package, and she is going to put UConn back on top very quickly!
I think she is going to be another one of Geno’s “special” players who become almost literal extensions of Geno on the floor! Sue, Dee, Maya, Stewie, and Paige are all examples of players who in addition to their obvious talent, seemed to have a deeper, almost spiritual connection with Geno and were able to take his vision and, to a much greater degree than others, translate it onto the floor! I see that same potential in Sarah! She has been preparing to play for him her whole life and having her and Paige together with this roster is going to result in something very special! I truly believe she will be ranked alongside those UConn greats by the time she leaves here. She is a very special player and if they can just stay healthy, she, Paige, and the rest of this roster are going to give UConn fans yet another taste of glory! November cannot get here soon enough for me!
I think she is going to be another one of Geno’s “special” players who become almost literal extensions of Geno on the floor! Sue, Dee, Maya, Stewie, and Paige are all examples of players who in addition to their obvious talent, seemed to have a deeper, almost spiritual connection with Geno and were able to take his vision and, to a much greater degree than others, translate it onto the floor! I see that same potential in Sarah! She has been preparing to play for him her whole life and having her and Paige together with this roster is going to result in something very special! I truly believe she will be ranked alongside those UConn greats by the time she leaves here. She is a very special player and if they can just stay healthy, she, Paige, and the rest of this roster are going to give UConn fans yet another taste of glory! November cannot get here soon enough for me!
You asked, so here goes with freshmen PER's for the players you mentioned and quite a few more forwards or centers for comparison.
Ice 11.1
Tuck 22.1
Stokes 24.7
Dolson 25.5
Liv 20.4
AE 28.6
Aubrey 28.5
Mir 21.9
Caroline 20.9
Makurat 19.4
Megan W, 17.7
Dorka at Ohio State 22.4
There were a few that were good comparisons for Ice.
Kyla Irwin 14.3
Ayanna 11.1
Amari 12.0
My point is not to beat up on Ice, I hope she has a great career and I expect her to be better. Rather it is saying Uconn rotation bigs generally are very good, and do way way better than Ice or Ayanna have showed us thus far. The comments about needing a quantum leap offended some, but were made in the context of knowing that most Uconn bigs as shown above, have been way better in their first year.
Physically speaking, Sarah reminds me a lot of KML.
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I get the comparison, which Sarah’s perimeter shooting certainly suggests. But physically speaking, Sarah is much stronger than Kaleena was and has a good deal more foot speed. Kaleena struggled to keep faster guards in front of her on defense, but knew her defensive assignments well enough that this wasn’t catastrophic. Sarah won’t have this problem in part because she’s quicker, but also because she’ll often be guarding 4s and 5s rather than the speediest guards. Once she gets up to speed on her defensive assignments she will be formidable.
One thing I noticed in the few longer clips of her high school play I’ve managed to find is that Sarah uses that perimeter shot to spread the floor and set up other aspects of her game and that of others. Often she’ll take a quick, almost preemptive 3 from the top of the key one time down the floor, and the next few times the defense is much softer for her passing game or driving the lane. She’s a very strategic thinker on the court.
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I believe Geno also said Sarah is better than they expected. Considering he recruited her and she was rated #1, that is a significant statement.
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I am just looking forward to the season and watching each player measure themselves against the competition. Who steps up in the heat of the moment vs who stands back and watches. If Sarah is being compared to Kerry Bascom, who was low key personality wise but would become hyper-competitive on the court, we are in good shape. Kerry was a beast when she played at UConn.
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The PER Stat has a negative adjustment for personal fouls.
- Where do you think Ice’s freshman PER would be if she fouled less (which she did by the BET and later)?
- Do you think her freshman PER if she didn’t foul as much would still relegate her to the cohort you mentioned?
- Isn’t not fouling a learned skill?
Kiah Stokes (46 fouls in 36 games)
Ayanna Patterson (49 fouls in 30 games (7 games with less than 5 minutes))
Kyla Irwin (20 fouls in 31 games)
Amari DeBerry (8 fouls in 16 games)
Comparison to Morgan Tuck (37 fouls in 35 games):
- Minutes Played: 17.5 (IB) vs 15.8 (MT)
- FG out of FGA: 71 out of 163 (IB) vs 89 out of 196 (MT)
- Total Rebounds: 127 (IB) vs 120 (MT)
- Assists: 41 (IB) vs 47 (MT)
- Steals: 18 (IB) vs 19 (MT)
- Blocks: 16 (IB) vs 9 (MT)
No you didn’t get it, because it wasn’t a comparison. I guess I should’ve just said they look like each other. That’s all I meant. Nothing else.
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Sorry. I guess that misunderstanding was inevitable. I give zero attention to what the players look like, only to how they play.
Gus Mahler
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And before that, Dearica Hamby's.
That is exactly how I view Sarah. She'll rip down the defensive rebound and take it full court for a layup, or a pullup 3, or a perfect zip pass to an open teammate. She might also take that rebound and through a beautiful full court pass for a breakaway layup. She has excellent vision on the court, very good passing, high BBIQ, and is fully team first. Not that she can't or won't take over if needed.
As for Ice, I believe that it took her a while to get back into bball shape and even then for most of last year she was struggling mentally with her injury. It takes each individual their own amount of time and playing time to work through those demons. You could see by the way she was playing, she tentative. That was not the way she played in HS, AAU, or USA bball. She always played very confidently and aggressively. The way she played in the BE and NCAA tournaments was the way that she normally played. To me, it looked like she got over her mental hurdle and got her confidence back. I believe that we will see Ice with improved confidence and the sophomore jump and will be very happy the version that see for this year.
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BRS24
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Sarah Strong impressing in early days at UConn
Even though summer workouts just began, Strong is already opening eyes with the Huskies.
www.uconnwbbweekly.com
Yet for as much time as UConn spent recruiting Strong, it didn’t take long for her to open some eyes once she stepped on campus for the start of summer workouts.
“Sarah’s been great. She surprised some people. We thought she was good and she's maybe even better than that,” Auriemma said.
CL82
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Ice did look better at the end of the year. I would fully expect her to make a "quantum leap" at the start of this year.
She now knows exactly what she does well, and exactly the thing she struggled with. I fully expect a player to be better than the version of Ice we saw by the end of last year.
I think a lot of people are expecting a lot from Jana based upon her play last summer. I'm very hopeful, but coming back from a year-long injury is tough. I'm glad she's already practicing. More time to shake off the cobwebs.
....and if she can get, and stay healthy, Azzi. Add in Jana, who Geno says is a #1 level recruit if she had played high school ball in the USA, and you have a team unmatched in recent years.
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I know I’m the most irritating optimist, but I feel exactly the same way. I’ve had a circus or a parade or a jazz band bouncing along in my head as I consider the team’s prospects. Paige and Sarah!!! OMG!!
And Geno outsmarted all of us by adding Kaitlyn, a little floor general most of us didn’t even realize the team needed. I was still basking in the satisfaction that Nika made the Storm roster. But Geno knew a hole had to be filled. And now getting Kaitlyn looks like a stroke of genius, one more from the wiliest fox of them all.
Even if none of the injured return besides Jana, he’s put together another final four team. An incredible recruiting class that the pundits have yet to recognize. But add in just Azzi and you’ll see an astounding leap. Add Caroline and the sky’s the limit. Add Aubrey and suddenly you have an incredible transition team, rebounding and defense — everything gets turbocharged. Add Ayanna and the frontcourt becomes super strong and quick. The only problem is fitting together this abundance of riches.
It’s about time Geno had such problems again!
meyers7
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Fixed your post.
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I don’t know. You should know by now that what experienced BB eyes see isn’t that important anymore. It’s all about the analytics now. Auriemma and his staff probably decide who to recruit now based on their PER numbers from HS games.
HuskyNan
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I thought it was whoever scored the most, because everyone knows that's the only important data point in determining what makes a good player.I don’t know. You should know by now that what experienced BB eyes see isn’t that important anymore. It’s all about the analytics now. Auriemma and his staff probably decide who to recruit now based on their PER numbers from HS games.
A touch of sarcasm Nan?
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