How UConn landed Jovana Popovic | Page 2 | The Boneyard
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How UConn landed Jovana Popovic

PacoSwede said:
this isn't about nika; it's about using the language correctly and not reinforcing the idea that scoring is the only way to contribute to offense in BB,

i thought i made that clear. sorry it rankled u.

BTW, this is a thread about jovana. connolly brought nika into the conversation ... at least he should get it right, right?
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Maybe his comment on offense wasn't as broad as yours. I tend to agree with Daniel in that if someone makes a comment about offense, it implies scoring, and that's how most of his readers perceive those comments too. He is writing for them. Andre Jackson checked many of your boxes, but nobody would say he was a great offensive player. He impacted the offense, but scoring wise, defenders slumped off him and that made it harder on the other players.
I know this bothers you, but he's speaking correctly. I think non scoring plays are called intangibles. You have to have them, but offense=points. It's just a difference of opinion.
 
Fairfield_1st said:
Maybe his comment on offense wasn't as broad as yours. I tend to agree with Daniel in that if someone makes a comment about offense, it implies scoring, and that's how most of his readers perceive those comments too. He is writing for them. Andre Jackson checked many of your boxes, but nobody would say he was a great offensive player. He impacted the offense, but scoring wise, defenders slumped off him and that made it harder on the other players.
I know this bothers you, but he's speaking correctly. I think non scoring plays are called intangibles. You have to have them, but offense=points. It's just a difference of opinion.
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For the women’s board, replace Andre’s name with Kelly Faris or Aubrey Griffin
 
HuskyNan said:
For the women’s board, replace Andre’s name with Kelly Faris or Aubrey Griffin
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I appreciate your request, but he was the best example of someone that checked so many buckets, but not scoring. Faris checked boxes, but she could score as well. Not dynamic, but not a black hole. I realize this is a women's board and many are women's fans only, but it's also a UConn board. I support all things UConn and my brain went to the best example it could find of a stat filter with no scoring.
 
Fairfield_1st said:
I appreciate your request, but he was the best example of someone that checked so many buckets, but not scoring. Faris checked boxes, but she could score as well. Not dynamic, but not a black hole. I realize this is a women's board and many are women's fans only, but it's also a UConn board. I support all things UConn and my brain went to the best example it could find of a stat filter with no scoring.
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I didn’t mean to correct your post at all. However women’s fans tend to root for the women’s team only and may not be familiar with Andre Jackson.
 
HuskyNan said:
I didn’t mean to correct your post at all. However women’s fans tend to root for the women’s team only and may not be familiar with Andre Jackson.
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We're all good. I understand the dynamic. My parents followed the women only. As a grad ('90), I follow and support every sport that I can. I just couldn't find a better example for my defense of Daniel's terminology usage than AJ.
 
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HuskyNan said:
For the women’s board, replace Andre’s name with Kelly Faris or Aubrey Griffin
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Fairfield_1st said:
Maybe his comment on offense wasn't as broad as yours. I tend to agree with Daniel in that if someone makes a comment about offense, it implies scoring, and that's how most of his readers perceive those comments too. He is writing for them. Andre Jackson checked many of your boxes, but nobody would say he was a great offensive player. He impacted the offense, but scoring wise, defenders slumped off him and that made it harder on the other players.
I know this bothers you, but he's speaking correctly. I think non scoring plays are called intangibles. You have to have them, but offense=points. It's just a difference of opinion.
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I will take up that challenge. Andre Jackson was a great offensive player at UConn.
 
Crossover said:
I will take up that challenge. Andre Jackson was a great offensive player at UConn.
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It wasn't really a challenge. It's just an opinion. He is a freak athlete, did lots of things, and was critical to the team's success, but he had one of the worst outside shots we've ever seen and opposing defenses did slump off him, thereby clogging the lane. He was not an offensive threat. My initial contention, that the other poster disagrees with, is that when you talk about someone's offensive game, it's primarily a discussion about their scoring and not the other things they do.
 
Fairfield_1st said:
It wasn't really a challenge. It's just an opinion. He is a freak athlete, did lots of things, and was critical to the team's success, but he had one of the worst outside shots we've ever seen and opposing defenses did slump off him, thereby clogging the lane. He was not an offensive threat. My initial contention, that the other poster disagrees with, is that when you talk about someone's offensive game, it's primarily a discussion about their scoring and not the other things they do.
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that was exactly the problem! 🌟

making shots clearly is the objective of the offense, but it's not accomplished in a vacuum. many things contribute, such as gaining control of the ball and getting it to the right shooter in the right spot. that's discounted when we are repeatedly told ripping the cords is the measure of a player's value.

to say shooting is primarily responsible for a good offense is flawed. it diminishes all that is necessary in offense. 👍 good shooting can be praised without devaluing other components of offense. using accurate language, rather than routinely making shooting a synonym of offense cleans this up.
 
PacoSwede said:
to say shooting is primarily responsible for a good offense is flawed. it diminishes all that is necessary in offense.
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Nobody is saying shooting alone makes for a good team offense, but when referring to an individual player, if you refer to their offense, the common person takes that to mean scoring. Expecting Daniel to refine his writing to be different from what people expect is unreasonable.
 
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The Silent Assassin ... a bit long for a nick name on the Huskies, but I really like it. I also like my content free of a pay wall:

sports.yahoo.com

‘A silent assassin’: What Serbian guard Jovana Popovic brings to UConn women basketball’s 2026 class

When Jovana Popovic arrived in Portland, Oregon to participate in the 2025 Nike Hoop Summit in April, the 17-year-old Serbian guard didn’t make an immediate impression. The Nike Hoop Summit is one of the most prestigious high school showcases in the country, an international all-star game...
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com
 
Here is a game that took place today, against the same team they had played three days earlier. However, this game was not part of their regular league. It was a Serbian Cup match, a competition that runs parallel to their regular season. For Jovana no. 8 in pink: 29 min 12 sec - 26 points - 9/12 (4/5 -3pts) FT 4/4 - 3 assists - 3 rebounds.

 
Crossover said:
I agree that this thread is about Jovana, but the OP touts an article by Daniel Connolly that compares her to Nika. And while that comparison is not invidious, it does imply that Nika was deficient on the offensive end of the court. It is fair game to point out that assists, steals, offensive rebounds, etc. are part of offense. The etc. includes organizing the offense and forcing the the Huskies to play with pace. Paco Swede's post is not a knee-jerk defense of a favorite player (which does happen from time to time on this board, and drives me nuts). It is a surgical calling out of Connolly for reenforcing a lazy and inaccurate trope.
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Not sure why are in this debate. Saying offense was not a strenght does not mean it was a weakness.
 
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oldude said:
There is a difference between European kids and US kids. In the US, kids often grow up following local college teams. Maybe their parents are fans or graduates and maybe they’ve actually gone to a few games. In Europe, there are a lot of kids who know about UConn WBB and not a lot about TX, SC or anyone else. Geno is particularly well known in Europe and he has a lot of friends and contacts throughout Europe.

So if a kid does dream about playing basketball in the US, that dream often has a 70 year old curmudgeon in it with a destination of Storrs, CT, the Basketball Capital of the World.
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An added point. That 70 year old curmudgeon has a history of importing talent from around the world that do well at UConn and their career.
 
jabstep said:
Every year, Geno has always had good three-point shooters and is always looking for them. The year before Allie was considered one of the best 3 point shooters coming out of HS. Sarah was also considered a good three point shooter. Azzi and Paige were both considered the best three point shooters of their grades. With Azzi graduating it is important to Geno to keep having some shooters around. I am sure Jovanna will be coachable and learn to be very good at defense. All Conn players who want to get on the court have to learn how to switch and talk on the perimeter and hands up for deflections and play the passing lanes and the double teams. Our defense is what will win us another championship this year.
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Totally agree. Most of the UConn All Americans (i.e Bird, Paige, Strong, etc.) are also complete players with strong to outstanding defensive, passing, etc. skills. Predict that Jovana will be a great addition. While we will need another shut down defender once KK leaves, she appears to be a smart player who wants to learn (i.e. one of the main reasons recruits from any geography comes to UConn).
 
From Canada said:
Here is a game that took place today, against the same team they had played three days earlier. However, this game was not part of their regular league. It was a Serbian Cup match, a competition that runs parallel to their regular season. For Jovana no. 8 in pink: 29 min 12 sec - 26 points - 9/12 (4/5 -3pts) FT 4/4 - 3 assists - 3 rebounds.

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Looks like Popovic is probably getting a little tired of this level of HS competition and might be looking forward to getting over here to the states and being challenged a little. This game looked like a pickup game at the Y.
 
PacoSwede said:
this isn't about nika; it's about using the language correctly and not reinforcing the idea that scoring is the only way to contribute to offense in BB,

i thought i made that clear. sorry it rankled u.

BTW, this is a thread about jovana. connolly brought nika into the conversation ... at least he should get it right, right?
Expand ...
Just like when my team played the French on their home court in Toulon (back in the dark ages (the days of wooden ships and ironmen) when I was not gravitationally challenged). Early in the game, I pulled down an offensive rebound at point blank range and threw it out to one of my teammates beyond the arc, he passed to another of us 1/3 around the arc, and he buried it.

I never scored in the game, but we won 109-16. I had a large hand in holding them to 7 points in the second half with 23 blocks, and captured most of them and threw the ball to our player near mid-court and our guys shot around 72% from the arc that day. When they are hot from 3 pt range, why try a 2 pointer in the paint?

Did I mention we played the game with only 5 players? I saved all my energy for the defensive end, because I believed the defense should always feed the offense...

I understand Nika's and Kiah Stokes's POV, and making a quick outlet pass is contributing to fast breaks on the offensive end, and with three male equivalents of Azzi Fudd flying down to their spots around the arc, you can wear out the opposition in a hurry.

From what I am hearing, Jovana will not be lacking in scoring, steals, stops, rebounds, and assists. If Geno is excited to have Jovana in the 2026 class, I'm ecstatic!!!

Go Huskies!!!
 
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The CDR-Ret said:
Just like when my team played the French on their home court in Toulon (back in the dark ages (the days of wooden ships and ironmen) when I was not gravitationally challenged). Early in the game, I pulled down an offensive rebound at point blank range and threw it out to one of my teammates beyond the arc, he passed to another of us 1/3 around the arc, and he buried it.

I never scored in the game, but we won 109-16. I had a large hand in holding them to 7 points in the second half with 23 blocks, and captured most of them and threw the ball to our player near mid-court and our guys shot around 72% from the arc that day. When they are hot from 3 pt range, why try a 2 pointer in the paint?

Did I mention we played the game with only 5 players? I saved all my energy for the defensive end, because I believed the defense should always feed the offense...

I understand Nika's and Kiah Stokes's POV, and making a quick outlet pass is contributing to fast breaks on the offensive end, and with three male equivalents of Azzi Fudd flying down to their spots around the arc, you can wear out the opposition in a hurry.

From what I am hearing, Jovana will not be lacking in scoring, steals, stops, rebounds, and assists. If Geno is excited to have Jovana in the 2026 class, I'm ecstatic!!!

Go Huskies!!!
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Great job on the defensive end…23 blocks is outstanding! I’m just surprised that the peach basket survived your team’s 109 points.
 
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