How UConn landed Jovana Popovic

[Bone Dog]

I love the prospect of Jovana coming to Storrs. Maybe she’ll fizzle out, but she could be fantastic. I find myself trying to guess what Geno saw in her. Was it the perimeter shooting? Or the clever passing? Or maybe the confident ballhandling skills? Or the experience playing with older teammates? Whatever it was, he saw something he could mold into something greater and I can hardly wait to see how she turns out.

 

[victor64]

I love the prospect of Jovana coming to Storrs. Maybe she’ll fizzle out, but she could be fantastic. I find myself trying to guess what Geno saw in her. Was it the perimeter shooting? Or the clever passing? Or maybe the confident ballhandling skills? Or the experience playing with older teammates? Whatever it was, he saw something he could mold into something greater and I can hardly wait to see how she turns out.

Or a combination of all of the above.😀

 

[BobbyJ]

I love the prospect of Jovana coming to Storrs. Maybe she’ll fizzle out, but she could be fantastic. I find myself trying to guess what Geno saw in her. Was it the perimeter shooting? Or the clever passing? Or maybe the confident ballhandling skills? Or the experience playing with older teammates? Whatever it was, he saw something he could mold into something greater and I can hardly wait to see how she turns out.

No need to guess. It was all of them and the self confidence she has in them. If she's got the fire, then once the adjustments are made she'll be dangerous.

 

[Skeets]

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!!!

I wonder, the kid who put up the 23rd shot, what in the world was he thinking?

 

[Stronga12]

31/5/6 on 70%TS (3/6 3P) today against Novi Sad. It's tough to judge the level of competition but her consistent shooting is very notable.

 

[bayern7]

And she has the Diana bun and appears fearless. So there is that too.

Not saying she would do this often in college against top tier teams, but it’s a testament to her athleticism/coordination when you look at how quickly she made it from one end of the court to the other with the ball in her hands.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Not saying she would do this often in college against top tier teams, but it’s a testament to her athleticism/coordination when you look at how quickly she made it from one end of the court to the other with the ball in her hands.

I think she has the quicks.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

I wonder, the kid who put up the 23rd shot, what in the world was he thinking?

I would say, "He can't block them all. I guess he can... : ( "

Remember, that was well before I was gravitationally challenged, and have a 7" wingspan longer than my height.

I don't think Popovic will get blocked much with her quickness, just continue through to the opposite side of the rim to get the blocker tangled in the net.

Go Huskies!!!

 

[From Canada]

Highlights from Jovana Popovic in the last game, which took place on December 20. A 101-81 defeat against Crvena Zvezda (Belgrade), which is the best team in their league. The team also plays in the EuroCup, which is the second most important competition in Europe. I have attached the team roster. You will see that this is a much more mature team, with more players coming from outside Serbia. Another thing I noticed is that the head coach of this team is also the coach of the Serbian national team.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

KKZ Crvena zvezda MTS Beograd Basketball Roster

KKZ Crvena zvezda MTS Beograd basketball, scores, news, schedule, roster, players, stats, rumors, details and more on eurobasket.com

basketball.eurobasket.com

 

[Fore!]

Highlights from Jovana Popovic in the last game, which took place on December 20. A 101-81 defeat against Crvena Zvezda (Belgrade), which is the best team in their league. The team also plays in the EuroCup, which is the second most important competition in Europe. I have attached the team roster. You will see that this is a much more mature team, with more players coming from outside Serbia. Another thing I noticed is that the head coach of this team is also the coach of the Serbian national team.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

KKZ Crvena zvezda MTS Beograd Basketball Roster

KKZ Crvena zvezda MTS Beograd basketball, scores, news, schedule, roster, players, stats, rumors, details and more on eurobasket.com

basketball.eurobasket.com

I noticed when she takes a jump shot she brings the ball up in front of her by extending it further from her body than most, perhaps making it susceptible to a steal by a quick handed defender. I do like the way she plays.

 

[Bone Dog]

I noticed when she takes a jump shot she brings the ball up in front of her by extending it further from her body than most, perhaps making it susceptible to a steal by a quick handed defender. I do like the way she plays.

I haven't seen enough video to be able to spot this tic. But if it's true -- and I'll take your word for it -- she's not so different from players like Carol or Allie. This is one of the reasons their shots take a little longer to develop and need more space. Part of why Azzi's shot is so quick is that the motion is very compact from beginning to end. She doesn't need much space to get it off. Since Jovana is smaller than Carol or Allie, this is something she'll need to address as she adjusts to the speed of D1 play. Ash could probably give her some help with this.

 

[MSGRET]

The debate is about what counts as offense.

I believe that an assist is consider a part of the offense and Nika is the all time assist leader at UConn.

 

[MooseJaw]

I haven't seen enough video to be able to spot this tic. But if it's true -- and I'll take your word for it -- she's not so different from players like Carol or Allie. This is one of the reasons their shots take a little longer to develop and need more space. Part of why Azzi's shot is so quick is that the motion is very compact from beginning to end. She doesn't need much space to get it off. Since Jovana is smaller than Carol or Allie, this is something she'll need to address as she adjusts to the speed of D1 play. Ash could probably give her some help with this.

It's true, also looks like she brings the ball down before she brings it up for her jump shot. More like a few of our recent bigs have done.