Is it Not True

[Gus Mahler]

In her senior year, her 3 pt percentage fell off a bit. But I remember her shooting upwards of 40% in her sophomore season. The more striking thing is how few 3s she attempted. Probably not much more than 50-60 in a season.

Geno once said words to the effect that Pheesa's sophomore season was one of the best any UConn player ever had.

 

[bballnut90]

Pheesa was a very good all around "interior" player in college. She was only drafted #6 her year, and behind Katie Lou because of questions about her ability to play the 3 or on the perimeter in the W. From a draft standpoint she was viewed as an undersized 4, or a 3 without a perimeter shot.

Katie Lou on the other hand did not have Pheesa's overall game, but with a great shot and 6-3 size, she would not have to make a positional change for the pros, and might have been considered a safer pick. Pheesa has excelled in that transition in many ways, in essence becoming a great 3/4. Improving her perimeter skills to be effective at the 3, and yet still being able to use her athletic ability and moves to score more in close than most scouts would have predicted, enabling her to be effective at the 4 as well.

Many players need to move down one position, both going from HS to college, and then to the pros. Some of those changes are more subtle, but others are major conversions. IMO the biggest adjustments are when an undersized interior player has to learn to play outside, and when a scoring guard because of their sized, has to learn to be a PG. Hailey Van Lith might be an example of the later, a very difficult transition at LSU, but looking like she was starting to get better in that position at TCU.

At the time most thought KLS going #4 was somewhat of a headscratcher when both Napheesa Collier/Arike were on the table. Collier had a very smooth game but IIRC there were questions about her size, otherwise she would've gone higher. That draft in general had a number of players who could've gone #1. It didn't look like any prospect was head and shoulders better than the rest like we see most years.

 

[mudcat]

That Napheesa Collier became a much improved player after she left UConn
I can think of few (any?) examples of that.

When they became pros...we knew what (for example) Sue, Maya, Stewie would bring...Phee has developed into a dominant player of that ilk...which in my mind, she was not quite in college.

Napheesa is one of those players who just continued to imporove as the years went bye: as a freshman she did not have the stats or the reputation of Katie Lou but she continued to improve her game and by her senior year was a better player than Katie Lou. She has just continued that trend in the WNBA.

 

[Rema64]

I think a LOT of folks had no idea how good Collier was in college. I was stunned when she fell to sixth in the draft.

She’s certainly gotten better as a pro, but she was already great when she arrived.

She got overlooked because she is humble. She took a back seat Stewie( of course) and KLS because of her quiet personality but she was always a solid consistent player. I always thought she was better then KLS, but that's what I'm supposed to think!