It's Studied, But Still Uncanny

[RockyMTblue2]

Ania Makurat has said that at an early age she fastened on Diana as her basketball heroine and studied her and tried to be like her. It worked! I came upon this tiny snippet from a tight game between Poland and Belarus in 2017 that focuses on a single play by Ania and you'd swear you are looking at D. Pretty bad video, but good enough:

 

[Mdoggie]

Yep, just like D.

 

[oldude]

The only thing missing is Ania turning to the fans after her great move and finish, putting her hand up to the side of her face, like she’s holding a phone, and yelling out, “Call me!” as DT did when she torched Duke at Cameron Indoor.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Ania is a little thinner than Dee was and may still be, but her body movement, posture, and footwork are a good emulation of the G.O.A.T. Eerily similar, actually.

 

[huskyd]

My favorite D gesture is to put her thumbs under her jersey straps and hold out a big, fat UCONN emblem.

 

[Bronxjeff]

she's got the bun down pat

 

[Dokey]

Perhaps the best is yet to come.

 

[HopJim]

Don't have the facts to back this up but I predict she will be a better defensive player than DT. Both seem to have that physical strength to force their will on the competition.

 

[Triad]

Ania Makurat has said that at an early age she fastened on Diana as her basketball heroine and studied her and tried to be like her. It worked! I came upon this tiny snippet from a tight game between Poland and Belarus in 2017 that focuses on a single play by Ania and you'd swear you are looking at D. Pretty bad video, but good enough:

No doubt a DT move. The directing of teammates (or Mates if you wish( and then the quick move to score. DT. Both she and Nika are adding a level of play to this next UConn team. How can we wait?? Stop it Rocky, just stop it. It's like tossing water to a drowning person---I need a real game Basketball fix.

 

[tomcat]

Wow. Looked just like Diana.

 

[EricLA]

Don't have the facts to back this up but I predict she will be a better defensive player than DT. Both seem to have that physical strength to force their will on the competition.

Normally I'd agree with you, but then she very well may tell Geno "I didn't travel 6,000 miles to play defense...!"

 

[UConnCat]

Diana is/was not as good defender. I’ve watched several of Ania’s games and she is very much like Diana in that regard.

 

[Zorro]

D was a MUCH better defender than she is generally given credit for.

 

[ctfjr]

I didn't see her punch the stanchion???

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I'm sure most of you know that Kobe Bryant grew up in European basketball (Italy I think?) and he is a big critic of AAU about skills developement and a big fan of the European model for youth development.

"Horrible, terrible AAU basketball. It’s stupid. It doesn’t teach our kids how to play the game at all so you wind up having players that are big and they bring it up and they do all this fancy crap and they don’t know how to post. They don’t know the fundamentals of the game. It’s stupid. "

In contrast every kid in European Club ball is trained in all the skills to play all positions as the grow up. They are assigned to a club within a combined amateur and pro team system and get rigorous fundamentals training.

"Here’s the situation: European youth club teams practice about four times for every game they play. The ratio is just the opposite in the United States.

“I just think European players are just way more skillful,” said Bryant. “They are just taught the game the right way at an early age... It’s something we really have to fix. We really have to address that.”

Kobe Right About Ego-and-Greed-Driven AAU Basketball

 

[RockyMTblue2]

She's got the DT I can be goofy thing down pat too:

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Hmmm...I wonder if #24 has amateur status???

 

[RockyMTblue2]

In the week following her announcement her stature in Polish basketball generated a number of articles and interview. Here is one of them. She was on the fence about heading to the US of A (Oregon), but along came UConn and there was no question. The automated translator makes for weirdness, but I think you'll figure it out.

Anna Makurat: Gra w UConn to spełnienie moich marzeń | PolskiKosz.pl

 

[eebmg]

In the week following her announcement her stature in Polish basketball generated a number of articles and interview. Here is one of them. She was on the fence about heading to the US of A (Oregon), but along came UConn and there was no question. The automated translator makes for weirdness, but I think you'll figure it out.

Anna Makurat: Gra w UConn to spełnienie moich marzeń | PolskiKosz.pl

I thought this blurb is of independent interest in shedding light on how Geno discusses how potential recruits can fit into the team.

One can see that this answer may spook some recruits whose confidence level is less than optimal.

JD: Returning to the UConn team - have you talked to the coaches about how they see your role in the team?

AM: In general, during the visit, I started talking to the trainer, how he sees it, how to prepare for the season, etc. and he told me that he never tells the competitors what role they will have before the season. He must see the players, see what team he has and only then will he be able to say in what role the player will be the most helpful to the team. That's why I'm going with the thought that I want to help my team and what role I will get - we'll see.

 

[JoePgh]

I thought this blurb is of independent interest in shedding light on how Geno discusses how potential recruits can fit into the team.

One can see that this answer may spook some recruits whose confidence level is less than optimal.

JD: Returning to the UConn team - have you talked to the coaches about how they see your role in the team?

AM: In general, during the visit, I started talking to the trainer, how he sees it, how to prepare for the season, etc. and he told me that he never tells the competitors what role they will have before the season. He must see the players, see what team he has and only then will he be able to say in what role the player will be the most helpful to the team. That's why I'm going with the thought that I want to help my team and what role I will get - we'll see.

How do you invoke the automated translator on the page?

The passage that you quoted (thanks for the translation) is standard Geno doctrine and has been well known for decades at least to American recruits. I agree that some players think that they can get a commitment as to role or playing time, and they may not choose UConn if another coach is more willing to do that than Geno.

 

[eebmg]

How do you invoke the automated translator on the page?

The passage that you quoted (thanks for the translation) is standard Geno doctrine and has been well known for decades at least to American recruits. I agree that some players think that they can get a commitment as to role or playing time, and they may not choose UConn if another coach is more willing to do that than Geno.

Well, I use Google Chrome to view the BY and a query box comes up automatically when opening a website that is in another language. The query box asks if you want to translate the page or not but the query box disappears really fast so you have to be ready to see this. I would not know how to set this up manually so I am guessing it is a default capability

Regarding Ania's reply, I am well aware that Geno will not discuss playing time or guarantee spots but I think the idea of not discussing positions is not well known and can be an issue with many recruits.

This may possibly help explain why post players may be more "affected" since
they may have 'less' versatility than some guards and may worry about how (not how much) they would be used.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

How do you invoke the automated translator on the page?

The passage that you quoted (thanks for the translation) is standard Geno doctrine and has been well known for decades at least to American recruits. I agree that some players think that they can get a commitment as to role or playing time, and they may not choose UConn if another coach is more willing to do that than Geno.

I typically run Chrome as my browser and it just automatically asks me do I want a translation in a little pop up in the upper right. oops, @eebmg I missed your answer. My bad.

 

[awhom111]

View attachment 43560

Hmmm...I wonder if #24 has amateur status???

I'm thinking that Anna Jurcenkova, who is turning 34 in a few months, is flattered that you would think she might still want to play in college. 26 next to her is Sunny Greinacher, who had a pretty good career at Gonzaga a few years back.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I'm thinking that Anna Jurcenkova, who is turning 34 in a few months, is flattered that you would think she might still want to play in college. 26 next to her is Sunny Greinacher, who had a pretty good career at Gonzaga a few years back.

LOL...one can hope! I forgot that Ania has been playing in the pro league for the last 2 years.