Jana El Alfy Enrolling Early | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Jana El Alfy Enrolling Early

Status
Not open for further replies.
Dogstar said:
Would love to see her battle those bigs, but we beat Stanford last year with Liv, and while I have love and respect for her she had the killer instinct of a turtle, imo gotta have some Dawg in ya to bang down low, Morrow at 6-1 definitely holds her own as UConn has witnessed.
Expand ...
FYI, Liv lead all players on both teams with 10 rebounds vs Stanford. I’m not at all worried about Morrow and the Blue Demons. I’m concerned with Boston, Cardosa & Amihere at SC and Brink, Betts & Prechtel with Stanford.

On many of the national championships that UConn won, the Huskies have fielded a team with 1-2 present or future 1st team AA centers: Rebecca, Kara, Tina, Steph & Stewie. I just don’t see UConn winning another national championship without a true center to match up with the Bigs on top teams around the country.
 
oldude said:
IMO Ice & Aaliyah are forwards. UConn can certainly get by with either of them playing center vs BE teams and many P5 programs around the country. But when the Huskies face the towering front lines of SC or Stanford, I think it’s essential that they have a true center in the lineup.
Expand ...

Edwards and Juhasz are also forwards. And despite being 6'5 so is Deberry.

Of all the players for next year Brady has the best body for banging in the paint even though she has a perimeter game. Edwards is locked into the front court and the competition for the other starting job should be very competitive. Deberry, Patterson, Brady, El Alfy.
 
oldude said:
FYI, Liv lead all players on both teams with 10 rebounds vs Stanford. I’m not at all worried about Morrow and the Blue Demons. I’m concerned with Boston, Cardosa & Amihere at SC and Brink, Betts & Prechtel with Stanford.

On many of the national championships that UConn won, the Huskies have fielded a team with 1-2 present or future 1st team AA centers: Rebecca, Kara, Tina, Steph & Stewie. I just don’t see UConn winning another national championship without a true center to match up with the Bigs on top teams around the country.
Expand ...
Stevie’s is no more of a center than Edwards. And you seem to have left off many of the championships without AA centers. That’s called cherry picking.

Also Boston isn’t going to be at South Carolina next year.
 
Alydar said:
Edwards and Juhasz are also forwards. And despite being 6'5 so is Deberry.

Of all the players for next year Brady has the best body for banging in the paint even though she has a perimeter game. Edwards is locked into the front court and the competition for the other starting job should be very competitive. Deberry, Patterson, Brady, El Alfy.
Expand ...
Time will tell. But as far as banging in the paint, Dorka is certainly capable, as is Amari if she continues to improve her footwork.
 
Alydar said:
Edwards and Juhasz are also forwards. And despite being 6'5 so is Deberry.

Of all the players for next year Brady has the best body for banging in the paint even though she has a perimeter game. Edwards is locked into the front court and the competition for the other starting job should be very competitive. Deberry, Patterson, Brady, El Alfy.
Expand ...
Heck next year UConn should be able to do 5 on 5 subbing when they want to and have very little drop off in play.
 
oldude said:
FYI, Liv lead all players on both teams with 10 rebounds vs Stanford. I’m not at all worried about Morrow and the Blue Demons. I’m concerned with Boston, Cardosa & Amihere at SC and Brink, Betts & Prechtel with Stanford.

On many of the national championships that UConn won, the Huskies have fielded a team with 1-2 present or future 1st team AA centers: Rebecca, Kara, Tina, Steph & Stewie. I just don’t see UConn winning another national championship without a true center to match up with the Bigs on top teams around the country.
Expand ...

Lobo & Stewart were 4's, Tina has been a 4 in the pros. Walters & Dolson were centers. Being an AA has had far more to do with UConn's titles than whether they had a 5.
2002, arguably the best UConn team didn't even have a true 4 if size is the criteria.
 
.-.
I’m less interested in terms like forward and center than I am in high post and low post. Aaliyah and Dorka play both on O, as does Amari. Geno has always liked having a big in the high post is some offensive sets. It works best if they can hit the 3, but the passing is the main thing.

On D, we have to have a rim protector and rebounder. That means consistently boxing out better than we often do. This is where Ayanna and Ice could have helped us this season, and Ayanna still might. But Geno also has been using Aaliyah and Dorka at the top of the key and even on the wing to disrupt passing and perimeter shooting. Amari could become our rim protector, but she’s not quite there yet in terms of her positioning.
 
A front court of Jana, Dorka and AE, with Azzi and Lou in the backcourt will be tough to matchup and beat in March, even against SC. Let's go!
 
IMHO, though it would be nice to have an extra body around during the games I think it'll be more beneficial for Jana to practice and learn the UCONN system and battle some really good bigs! As well as getting used to going to classes since she was home schooled and starting in on her education! They shouldn't put extra pressure on her since she's starting so late!
Next year she'll be biting at the bit to start her eligibility!
 
.-.
Say Jana does play this season and loses a year of eligibility, can she still play an extra year as a grad student if she’s willing to do so?
 
Kaizen said:
Jana is 6'4" and only 17 years old, born Sep. 20, 2005. She can gain 1-2 inch more. She will be a very powerful center next season.
Expand ...
Pretty unlikely she will grow much, if any taller. Girls tend to reach their adult height before the age of 17. Not impossible, of course, just unlikely. She can, and likely will, get stronger, quicker, more skilled and more knowledgeable by enrolling early. I was already happy with her signing but this exponentially increases the chances that she will b a major contributor from day one of her freshman season!
 
DEFCONN1 said:
Say Jana does play this season and loses a year of eligibility, can she still play an extra year as a grad student if she’s willing to do so?
Expand ...
I don’t think so. There’s no special extension for grad students. But folks who lost a year due to injury (or the Covid years) can get that year back if they are still students. Typically this involves enrolling as a grad student. But it’s still just 4 years of eligibility (or the one year exception for the Covid disruption).
 
Do you think that maybe Uconn initiated this? Given the current health situation. Azzi goes down and they really don't know if she's coming back this year. They don't know if Caroline can come back this year. It may be that this was initiated by the program. It seems like it happened after the semester started. My bet is Uconn initiated it.
 
GoldenGophs said:
Not sure why my post was disliked but I was just being honest. You guys could use any player right now. Having a game postponed after not having enough players is not good. No harm intended.
Expand ...
Because I don’t think the plan is for her to play but just practice and be another body in the bench that could play to avoid anymore postponements.
 
Blond D. said:
Only boys grow after they hit about 15 years old. She will get a lot stronger though.
Expand ...
Bone Dog said:
I'm with you and @Carnac and @cgshuskie . Just participating in practices will be huge. We don't even have enough bodies for a full 5 on 5 practice session now. Plus, just learning the system will be important. And maybe getting an academic head start so her workload is reduced in future years is important too.

I don't know the eligibility rules if she does get into a few games this season. Can she play less than some number and still have 4 years? Is this what Saylor was able to do?

Whatever else comes from this, I'm sure she'll bring a big emotional lift to the rest of the team knowing she's there, getting to know her and accept her into the fold. There are just so many positive dimensions to this development beyond just playing in a few games.
Expand ...

Bone Dog said:
I don't know the eligibility rules if she does get into a few games this season. Can she play less than some number and still have 4 years? Is this what Saylor was able to do?
Expand ...


If she plays even one second this year, she burns a year of eligibility and cannot get it back. Saylor was able to play because the NCAA decided the covid year would not count towards using up eligibility.
 
.-.
Cuango said:
Pretty unlikely she will grow much, if any taller. Girls tend to reach their adult height before the age of 17. Not impossible, of course, just unlikely. She can, and likely will, get stronger, quicker, more skilled and more knowledgeable by enrolling early. I was already happy with her signing but this exponentially increases the chances that she will b a major contributor from day one of her freshman season!
Expand ...



True. At age 17, very few girls get any taller. It would be very unusual to grow another inch at that age.
 
DEFCONN1 said:
Say Jana does play this season and loses a year of eligibility, can she still play an extra year as a grad student if she’s willing to do so?
Expand ...


No. Barring an early-season injury that keeps her out for the year, she can play four years and that is it. It doesn't matter whether one or more of those years comes as a grad student.
 
Wait a minute. She totally should enroll early and get a jump on her English gen eds as well as get in the weight room and practice regularly with the team. In no way should anyone burn a year of her eligibility for what's left of this season by putting her on the court in a game.
 
Covid year is specific to that single year 2021 where no one knew if a full season would or could be played as we struggled through the first wave,. The idea was to encourage the student athletes to commit to playing with all the uncertainty and not lose a year of eligibility if everything went to hell. Saylor and a few other high school athletes whose seasons had been cancelled or greatly curtailed decided to enroll early since the year would not count against their 4 year eligibility. Under normal NCAA rules in basketball, playing any games during the second half of a college season makes that year count as a full season of the four, which means if Jana (or any other early enrollee) plays this spring she will only have 3 more years of eligibilty. Those are the rules.

As far as Jana is concerned ... if she amazes the coaches and quickly picks up everything and integrates with the team quickly then maybe they will talk to her and her advisors/parents about playing this year, but I think that is pretty unlikely. Not very many freshmen come to Uconn and are able to contribute significant minutes immediately, and the ones that do, have already had 2+ months of summer pick-up games plus another month of practice. While I hope that Jana will be able to contribute a lot to the team over her time here - expecting her to do so during her first three months around the team is wishful thinking.

I would love to be surprised, but I am not counting on it. If she can help the current team in practice that would be a great contribution as they are seriously short handed.
 
.-.
Zarathustra said:
Jana learns the system and what it means to play for UCONN in real time! However, if
she does play this year (I'm guessing 'no') and she "burns' an eligibility year it might.
not make a difference in her career plans (that she means to play pro in
Europe / WNBA and for her National Team. Good luck to JANA!
Expand ...
I think we may be making a mistake in assuming her intentions more from a US players standpoint. Here almost everyone intends to play 4 years and hopefully graduate at that time as well. A few are old enough to declare for the draft their senior year, but not many.

Foreign players have a more immediate professional option. The best ones have a choice to turn professional in Europe or go to a US College. That choice is available to them after they commit to a US university as well. Think Anna Makurat who returned to the professional ranks rather than stay in college.

Also Jana graduated from HS early, and apparently is a good student so she may want to, and be capable of graduating early at Uconn as well. It is conceivable that she may want to complete her collegiate career and degree in 3 and a half years and move on a year earlier to a professional career in Europe.

The arguments against "burning" a full year of eligibility probably make sense if she wants to be here for 4 years. Because of academics and her foreign professional options, which are there each year, she could play for 3 and a half, start her professional career and get her degree a year earlier.

I don't know what her thought process is, I'm just saying I think her situation is different, and she could be deciding between playing 3 and a half years instead of just 3 if she arrived now but didn't play until the fall. If she wanted to graduate a year early, playing this semester could be adding a half year, not subtracting a half from how much she played for us.

Time will tell, but I wouldn't mind seeing her play this semester, because of an immediate need, and because I don't assume she necessarily would be playing 4 full years anyway. She likely will have valid professional European options well before that, and apparently has the academic ability to graduate early if she wants to.
 
Blond D. said:
Only boys grow after they hit about 15 years old. She will get a lot stronger though.
Expand ...
I wanted to say that, but I didn't have the courage. It's correct, but not PC.
 
Blond D. said:
Only boys grow after they hit about 15 years old. She will get a lot stronger though.
Expand ...
Not true. I grew an inch between mt senior year in high school and college
 
Skeets said:
I wanted to say that, but I didn't have the courage. It's correct, but not PC.
Expand ...
What’s non-PC about saying girls mature (at least physically) earlier than boys?

I hated hearing it from female teachers when I was 12 years old (and the same height I am now) but my observations over the next 6 years sure backed it up
 
Alydar said:
Edwards and Juhasz are also forwards. And despite being 6'5 so is Deberry.

Of all the players for next year Brady has the best body for banging in the paint even though she has a perimeter game. Edwards is locked into the front court and the competition for the other starting job should be very competitive. Deberry, Patterson, Brady, El Alfy.
Expand ...
I have my money on Aubrey. After this season, how could she be on the bench? Geno will have plenty of subs for the guards.
 
hoopsnloops32 said:
Stevie’s is no more of a center than Edwards. And you seem to have left off many of the championships without AA centers. That’s called cherry picking.

Also Boston isn’t going to be at South Carolina next year.
Expand ...
Stewie effectively matched up with and outplayed SC’s Wilson on several occasions. Not bad for someone who wasn’t a center??? As for next year, Boston will most likely be gone, if she doesn’t use her 5th year of eligibility, but Cardosa & Amihere will be back.
 
.-.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,269
Messages
4,560,842
Members
10,451
Latest member
WashingtonH


Top Bottom