UCONN should take all the game video they shoot and edit up an instructional DVD for kids and high schoolers.
Using only footage of Morgan Tuck.
Why only Morgan?
Well certainly you could make up a highlight tape or instructional tape of smart and savvy plays by any number of UCONN players. But IMO, Morgan stands out because the things that make her truly GREAT (and she is absolutely an All-American caliber player, full stop) are things that many players at all levels could do, but don't. Sometimes it's hard to look at a play Stewie makes, and say "I can do that." Ditto for some of Moriah's blinding blow-by's. Or KML's effortless, back-breaking 3's.
1.
Footwork
Morgan possesses truly impeccable footwork. Yes, talent is part of it, but FOOTWORK CAN BE COACHED AND LEARNED, PEOPLE!! One does not have to have 7'1" reach or Road Runner speed or hands of gold to utlize one's feet properly in the interior. This is the single greatest area where college players and even pros--especially post players--leave
soooooo much on the table. I think it's part of the same trend where nobody wants to be a center (read: "big and lumbering") and everybody wants to be hotshot guard/ballhandler. A'ja Wilson, are you reading this?
Morgan is an average leaper, but her post game is anything but. Like Kevin McHale and Taj McWilliams-Franklin, she shows how it
should be done---how it doesn't have to matter if your defender is 4" taller, longer, faster, or whatever. If you can throw in little pump fakes and know how to use your pivot foot, you can flat out embarrass people. Up-and-unders, step-throughs, turning over either shoulder, and playing ambidextrously in close are all things that people can learn. BUT precious few do, and certainly very few get to Morgan's level of efficiency. Perhaps if, as Geno points out, young players didn't just hoop it up in 5x5 games all day long in AAU but actually got solid, prolonged instruction in the fundamentals, you'd see more players like her. But that's not where the game is and that's not where most players nowadays want to be, anyway, so it's unlikely to change. Incidentally, as far as the narrow question of footwork in the post goes, Stef was pretty good, Maya had her moments, and Tina definitely improved by *leaps and bounds* by the time she left Storrs. KML can often show some nifty feet. But none of these players could--
in the footwork department, specifically--really hold a candle to Morgan Tuck. Fact.
2.
Recognition
Besides having the best footwork, Morgan also has the best recognition of any UCONN player, with Mo not far behind. She is clearly a student of the game (ask USA BB Coach Katie Meier) and she applies that knowledge by constantly reading the defense. Rather than having pre-conceived ideas about what she wants to do at any moment (the "if you've got a hammer, the whole world becomes a nail" syndrome), she looks at what she sees. Did her defender flash to stop her, but then get lazy because she thought her job was done? Morgan simply recognizes that the defender is momentarily asleep and steps by her to the rim. Did a space just open up behind her defender? Maybe the help defender turned their head away? If so, Morgan quickly attacks the paint and protects the ball with her body in a quick burst to the rim. THERE IS NO INDECISION, because she doesn't treat the whole world like a nail. She patiently reads and recognizes oppotunities immediately. Always the bias to attack. Attack attack attack. This does not mean attacking in one particular way. It just means "make them pay" for whatever opening she sees. Students watching Morgan could, over time, get some pointers here, too, simply by forgetting their pet move or their favorite play and learning to exploit whatever the defense gives them. Obviously easier said then done but we do see a lot of one-trick ponies out there in the college game, even on good teams. Morgan is a million-trick pony!
3.
Patience
OK - so this one's not so easy for a lot of people. But this is where young players could see that "attack" does not always mean "running pell-mell into the breach" and hoping for good things and/or a blocking foul. Sometimes you attack with patience. Patience can be a great weapon. Plenty of isolation plays from Morgan Tuck in the lane and on the block make this principle plain -- tons of video to show young players. Stef got more patient as her career wore on and it paid big dividends. However Morgan still reigns supreme here, too.
Morgan Tuck - showing everybody how it should be done. Continually playing "smarter" and getting more out of her game than perhaps any other player in WCBB.
