Ice and Jana....what am I missing? | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Ice and Jana....what am I missing?

I would start Jana just to get the opening tip if nothing else. Both are pretty comparable with Ice having a big lead in assists.
 
You're missing the fact that Jana is a tall 6-5 vs. Ice is a small 6-3 in height. Nowadays in women basketball you must have a tall (6-5 to 6-7) inside presence with the top teams have more than one that start.
 
PvP said:
After 8 games, I think a clear pattern is emerging. Ice continues to start each game and plays 30% more minutes than Jana. Yet, I would posit that Jana is more impactful in games. I can't speak to any differences in practices but in actual games, here is what I refer to: Jana leads Ice in total rebounds 46 to 33, Jana has twice as many steals, and Jana leads in points 58 to 49. At the same time, Jana has less fouls 14 to 19, and less turnovers 9 to 12.

Thanks to the great analysis supplied by JRRRJ, we can also compare Ice and Jana on a "per 40 minutes" basis. When we do, the far greater positive contribution of Jana is even more clear: Jana out rebounds Ice 14.15 to 7.81, she gets 2 and a half times as many steals and out scores Ice by 17.85 to 11.6.

The only area where Ice greatly bests Jana is in assists but I think that is explained by being less aggressive when she gets the ball under the basket. When Jana gets such possessions, her mindset is to score, while Ice simply scores less and will often look to outlet the ball rather than taking it to the hoop.

My point is I hope clear, Jana simply contributes more to our winning than Ice and the actual in game statistics make that clear. With a quarter of the season in the books, I think we need to recognize her greater contribution and give her the majority of minutes rather than playing a back up role.
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Ice Brady has also developed a nice accurate jump shot in the past year, better than anything I’ve seen from Jana in that regard.
 
Nev said:
You're missing the fact that Jana is a tall 6-5 vs. Ice is a small 6-3 in height. Nowadays in women basketball you must have a tall (6-5 to 6-7) inside presence with the top teams have more than one that start.
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Iowa had 6'5 - 6'7?
 
I'm tired of seeing Jana stationary & straight up in the low post on defense and getting a foul called on her when an opponent runs into her. Easily 50% of the calls against her have occurred that way. Not sure how she is supposed to adjust to that :confused:
 
Ice got benched in the game against georgetown and it seems like she responded well off the bench.

Jana and Morgan Cheli got some awful fouls called on them. Not even close to the right call.

I think the struggle with Jana is similar to the struggle with deberry in some ways. I think Jana prefers to be on the perimeter. And UConn want her on the post.
 
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Need Jana to start and to be more aggressive and stratrhgic about fouls. She's got to let an opponent know it won't be easy if
they come into the lane. Need Tina Charles to come to Uconn to work with her.
 
Stagnant said:
Ice got benched in the game against georgetown and it seems like she responded well off the bench.

Jana and Morgan Cheli got some awful fouls called on them. Not even close to the right call.

I think the struggle with Jana is similar to the struggle with deberry in some ways. I think Jana prefers to be on the perimeter. And UConn want her on the post.
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She is much more physcial than Amari.
 
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Stagnant said:
Ice got benched in the game against georgetown and it seems like she responded well off the bench.

Jana and Morgan Cheli got some awful fouls called on them. Not even close to the right call.

I think the struggle with Jana is similar to the struggle with deberry in some ways. I think Jana prefers to be on the perimeter. And UConn want her on the post.
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Deberry struggles were lack of intensity and physicality
JAE had plenty of that
She is a contributing player in competitive games
And has a chance to be starting player
The comparison is way off the mark
 
Nev said:
You're missing the fact that Jana is a tall 6-5 vs. Ice is a small 6-3 in height. Nowadays in women basketball you must have a tall (6-5 to 6-7) inside presence with the top teams have more than one that start.
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Do you know the percentage of U.S. women 6’5” (77 inches) or taller? It’s a very small percentage of the population and elite players that are 77 inches or taller are an even smaller percentage

How many 6’5” girls do you see listed in the top 100 players of 2025? And while you’re looking at the list, see where #73 is going

2026 SportsCenter NEXT 100 - ESPN

Get the inside scoop on the top ranked high school girls' basketball players. In-depth player briefings, film and more on ESPNHS.com.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

IMG_3353.jpeg
 
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hoophuskee said:
IMO it's the exact opposite.

But isn't the number 1 reason why they haven't won a championship due to injuries? After all, looking at post play, in FF in 16-17 UCONN went undefeated and got beat on a buzzer beater. In FF 17-18 they got beat in similar fashion but they had a more size and post play with Stevens. Doesn't this highlight how size has nothing to do with it?

In addition, you mention how the lack of player development has existed these last several years. Well, what about Collier? And how about Stevens? With Stevens, she was not considered much of a post player before she came to UCONN. She was more of a 3/4 at Duke I believe. And how about Edwards? This past year an early round pick as well. There were many on here when she came out from High School stating she should be a SF.

And what about the guard coming out of High School in which Geno moved her to be more of an inside player. Her name is Gabby Williams. The evenutal 1st team All_Amercan.

And in terms of effort/performance all you have to look at is 2021-2022. UCONN buried Indiana with their Bigs on the boards while when UCONN beat Stanford, the defending champs that had all their Bigs back, Tara V remarked how physical UCONN was in which UCONN beat them on the boards as well.

And looking at performance and chances to win it all - look at that title game that year, Are we really going to just ignore the injuries? The entire year Griffin was out. In Paige's frosh year when UCONN beat SoCar, Griffin was the combo SF/PF. I'm pretty sure the next year or the following she played very well vs SoCar as well. And look at Dorka that year. She got hurt. And in the Finals Liz had hurt herself vs Stanford which is why she only played 22 minutes in that title game. Then look at last year. At end of season they should have had Senior Aubrey Griffin. Two Sophomores in Ice and Patterson, and Freshman Jana to go along with Edwards. Instead what did he end up with? In fact, Ice had improved so much between her early games such as Texas vs her last two games vs SoCal and Iowa that maybe Geno could be criticized for not playing her more. And we see she is much better this year than last, so where is this comment coming from that he doesn’t develop posts?

Bottomline is that since Stewie left, UCONN is still getting to Final Fours. They are still producing All-Americans that are posts. And they are going into the WNBA. So, as we can see, that if there are high quality post players in High School looking for one helluva program that will develop their skills at such a level to get them in the pros along with nearly always playing in the last week for a National Championship, then UCONN is definitely a place to go.







.
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To me Collier and Williams are the reason post play has been so stagnant at UCONN. They both were Hybrid wing players who had enough tools to play high post (not low post). Gabby and Naphessa mostly played as unit and Stevens floated in and out from post to perimeter. They were a perfect trio. Since they all graduated we have been trying to duplicate that style of play, Which is fine but you have to have the hybrid players who can do that. There has been heavy blame to the post play but it's not the component that is featured at UCONN. We will never force inside out because it's just not the style we play.
Last year Aaliyah Edwards was our starting 5 at 6'3 with no commitment towards Ice getting better thru trial and error and to get her legs back after a year off from injury. No way guard orientated, Geno, does that with his wing players. He will force feed them and live with mistakes just because he knows they need a rhythm. .
The days of creating mismatches with a 5'11 Gabby Williams on a 6'5 post are long gone. Because the 6'5 plus goes down and crushes you on offense.
 
Blond D. said:
I would start Jana just to get the opening tip if nothing else. Both are pretty comparable with Ice having a big lead in assists.
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Getting the opening tip is probably the least most important thg of the game imho
 
I think Geno is going to go with Sarah and Aubrey at the 4 and 5 when Aubrey is back.
 
cgshuskie said:
Need Jana to start and to be more aggressive and stratrhgic about fouls. She's got to let an opponent know it won't be easy if
they come into the lane. Need Tina Charles to come to Uconn to work with her.
Expand ...
What the timeline for Aubrey Griffin coming back?
 
HuskyNan said:
Do you know the percentage of U.S. women 6’5” (77 inches) or taller? It’s a very small percentage of the population and elite players that are 77 inches or taller are an even smaller percentage

How many 6’5” girls do you see listed in the top 100 players of 2025? And while you’re looking at the list, see where #73 is going

2026 SportsCenter NEXT 100 - ESPN

Get the inside scoop on the top ranked high school girls' basketball players. In-depth player briefings, film and more on ESPNHS.com.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

View attachment 105456
Expand ...
Another reference to that unnamed recruit for the 2025 H.S. class, (i.e.
Gandy Malou Mamel!! = 6'5"). Here are Gandy's stats from her play on
the Irish National Team: seven games: 10.6 ppg, 10.0 rbpg and an
efficiency rating of 15.9. Someone posted that Gandy could be 6'6",
but the reliable FIBA web site has her as 195 cm = 6'5". IMHO Gandy
runs the floor (almost) like a deer. Very mobile!
 
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mainerhuski said:
If Aubrey is back to her old self, I’d love to see a Kaitlin, Azzi, Paige, Aubrey, Sarah lineup!
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I think Geno would probably start Ash over Kaitlin but you never know. Or maybe Ice, Azzi, Paige, Aubrey, Sarah as a starting five. Then there’s Caroline too, not sure what her prognosis is.
 
Put me down as Kaitlin starting, with Ash as first off the bench. As far as front court goes, I wouldn't be surprised to see Morgan getting as many or more minutes than either Ice or Jana. The latter two are fine to bang with players like Cardoso, but their scoring issues make Morgan the better choice, with more upside over time.
 
NutmegDog said:
Put me down as Kaitlin starting, with Ash as first off the bench. As far as front court goes, I wouldn't be surprised to see Morgan getting as many or more minutes than either Ice or Jana. The latter two are fine to bang with players like Cardoso, but their scoring issues make Morgan the better choice, with more upside over time.
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It's not all abt scoring.....defense matters too, and Crooks is up next.
 
Watching the small lineup play reminded me of the 6 players that took UConn to the Final 4 last year. The movement and pick and roles when the bigs were not in the lineup were fun to watch. Until Jana regains some foot speed, not sure where she will factor in at year's end.
 
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HopJim said:
Watching the small lineup play reminded me of the 6 players that took UConn to the Final 4 last year. The movement and pick and roles when the bigs were not in the lineup were fun to watch. Until Jana regains some foot speed, not sure where she will factor in at year's end.
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Lack of foot speed is the least of Jana's problems. Jana is wonderfully aggressive but just isn't a very good player as yet. She has poor fundamentals, poor footwork, poor shooting skill from the post. With her great, positive attitude, she will likely get there some day (hopefully yet this season) but maybe needs to attend one of those big girl camps over the summer. The assumption was that she was further along being a coach's kid and playing at a high international level but watch her play, when she gets the ball in a good low post position, the next thing she does almost always brings her further away from the basket than when she received the pass, and her shots are accordingly short or off the mark. Yes she is a valuable asset for this year but a long way from being a finished product. You may see, more and more of a 5 out smaller lineup when Aubrey returns, with Jana in there when a specific match up is needed
 
One overall comment on this game, as well as the last several (but pertinent because of Sarah's 14 rebounds against Georgetown):

I am extremely impressed with Sarah's leaping ability on rebounds. You would not expect that someone with her rather heavy-set build would have those kind of hops. I did expect her to be (um) a strong rebounder, but I didn't think she could go as high for rebounds as she has been demonstrating.

I guess we will see if she can out-jump top opposing rebounders as easily as she leaped over Georgetown's inside players. I don't think that she will have any trouble jumping higher than Audi Crooks of Iowa State.
 
Dogstar said:
Getting the opening tip is probably the least most important thg of the game imho
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its another chance to score. Its a chance to start the game on the upside. Its better than not getting the opening tip.
 
Blond D. said:
its another chance to score. Its a chance to start the game on the upside. Its better than not getting the opening tip.
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In basketball Turnovers and rebounding missed shots particularly on the offensive end gives you more shots and more chances to score. The opening tip is basically ceremonial it just starts the game, they can even call heads or tails and flip a coin It'd be the same. In the case tht there are tie ups the team with the possession arrow at the end of the quarter gets the ball to start the next quarter.
 
I’m not interested in lineup predictions at this point. I have to keep reminding myself that we’ve only seen 10 games, and only a few with Azzi, and none with Aubrey or Caroline. The roster Geno has right now hasn’t fully gelled, and this isn’t even the likely final roster yet.

If I project forward based on what we’ve already seen, and assuming some modicum of progress from everyone, the team Geno can put on the floor in March could be really formidable. It is likely to include Paige, Azzi, Kaitlyn, Sarah, Ice, with Jana, Ash, KK, Aubrey, Morgan backing them up.

Take a breath and think about this list. That’s ten excellent athletes, and no extravagant assumptions are required to think they’ll all see playing time in March. I’ve left off Q, Allie, Caroline and Ayanna, though on other assumptions some of them may contribute too.

When I think about what Ice and Jana might be capable of in March, I first consider who will be playing around them. They will be surrounded by several of the best players in D1, and an few others who would start on most top-25 teams. I think this complement will take a lot of pressure off them offensively and defensively. Neither Ice nor Jana needs to be an All-American in order to support Paige & Co’s bid for an NC. They just need to be solid rebounders and defenders, and occasional scorers. Anything else they can give is just a bonus.
 
Dogstar said:
In basketball Turnovers and rebounding missed shots particularly on the offensive end gives you more shots and more chances to score. The opening tip is basically ceremonial it just starts the game, they can even call heads or tails and flip a coin It'd be the same. In the case tht there are tie ups the team with the possession arrow at the end of the quarter gets the ball to start the next quarter.
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yeah but every turn over is one possession just like winning the opening tip. They all count as one possession.
 
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