I'd be happy if she just sprinted the court. I've never even seen that.
If Geno is going to follow your advice, then we should see prime time minutes in conference as you say. I hope that happens and proves salutory. Frankly, I have come to believe that there is just something missing in Amari's make up that makes this a very long shot.
Doesn't really matter, it was the effort to make a play.
Easy to say. How objectively impossible must a play for a pass be for the “effort” to be pointless. 3 feet too far, 5, 10?
Granted. But consider a plausible scenario as follows. UConn travels to Columbia in February, where our small lineup is hanging in there against SC. Aaliyah picks up a couple of quick fouls, so Geno brings in Ice, who struggles to contain Cardoso who scores repeatedly in the low post.
I don’t necessarily think that won’t come into play, but all Amari has in common with Cardoso to date is height. Strength is no contest.
This.No one would want that, but she has shown over and over again that she is low on effort (a cardinal sin on this team), she has virtually no skills, and seems pretty disinterested in changing those two things! She seems to be a great person, intelligent, personable, and supportive to her teammates but as a basketball player, just does not seem to be there! Her size at 6’6“ seduces you into thinking; “well, she can just stand under the basket and protect the rim, block shots, stop drives etc.“ The reality however, is that the offense grinds to a lurching halt and the defense suddenly cannot make stops because she cannot be counted on to be where she is supposed to be.
This team, hampered as it is by a severe lack of size, rebounding, and bodies (that can actually contribute in a positive way), wins by becoming a well oiled machine on both sides of the ball. They are like a bearing that is rotating on a smooth film of oil! However, when one of the bearings is out of round, or gets sand in it, things quickly go awry. Amari has shown over and over that she is that out of round bearing and seems to be satisfied with remaining that way. When she does get on the court it is simply more of the same; low effort, as in the most recent example where she stood flatfooted as the pass sailed out of bounds, ( even though it was clearly overthrown, every other player on this team would have made some kind of effort to catch the ball) and a lack of basic understanding of positioning and aggression. The short answer, (too late) is, that given all these basketball shortcomings, the team cannot play well when she is on the court.
Yes, it would if only we had that player.
what evidence is there that she wants more playing time?
What can I say? I’m a “glass half full” guy.Yes, it would if only we had that player.
I truly believe Geno sees it as it is. If AE gets in foul trouble and ICE is ineffective then he goes to a Zone or doubles Cardoso and let the Other players beat us. Maybe just maybe Amari will have an epiphany and turn things around? I just don’t see it, Geno has talked many times about a players net impact on the game.
One of our S Carolina visitors has said Cardoso will probably be playing with her National team when UConn plays in Columbia
That's quite the lucky break for UConn if true.
Would take excuses out of play
Unless Brazil is involved in some kind of Olympic qualifier, I would be amazed if Cardoso is not available for the UConn game.
Good point, I was assuming that. I also assume that every non starter wants more playing time.