FWIW, and I posted numerous comments in the individual game threads after watching each game, I saw some great things from Azzi and IMHO things she needs to work on.
Her shooting is exceptional - You expect the ball to go in the hoop literally every single time. One aspect of her shooting is her form - not only is it perfection, but when she gets open and actually receives a pass (this U19 team is NOT pass first), she is literally setting her feet and body before catching, so her shot gets off exceptionally fast.
Everything else she does is very good - from ball handling to passing to court vision (altho she did shank several poor passes in the game vs. Spain), to movement without the ball, to solid defense (arms up, moving her feet, not her body to defend). She is supremely unselfish, which does nothing to pad her scoring stats in on a team like this. As an example, as good as Betts is, she (and the other post players) are mostly black holes. It makes zero difference if they are triple teamed and have zero shot - they take it (the shot) anyway, Azzi simply does not do that.
IMHO the things she needs to work on have to do with physicality and aggression. She is not strong playing physical defense or offense. She avoids contact. And she is not aggressive in looking for her shot. It's a mentality. It's quite possible that she is a little gun shy due to her past injury, but I can't say for sure.
She will need to get tougher. Opponents realized the only way to even slow Paige was to be physical with her, sometimes ridiculously overly physical. I'm certainly not advocating punching out an opponent, but I hope this season, with the tough players on UCONN, if someone is over the top with Paige or Azzi, that they get knocked right on their ass by Nika or Azzi or Evina.
I have zero tolerance for the type of play of ECU or UCF in the American, and Marquette was far to "pinball machine" for my taste this past season. Set a couple of body slamming screens, or knock someone clear off the court in the post, and that will send a message to knock that crap off. Some teams feel the best way to play UCONN (given they have less talent) is to beat the crap out of our players. I detest that.
Anyway I got a little off track. Azzi is mechanically one of the most advanced high school players I've ever seen. But she's also got a fair amount of room to grow. She's a hard worker with a tremendous team first attitude, and aside from getting "tougher", I can see Geno constantly yelling at her to "SHOOT MORE". Other than that, it's just growing like any college player will do under the best coaching there is. Can't wait to see her suit up!
