Jana's Lay Up

[Longtime fan]

It seems that every game Jana has a wide open bunny that she misses. To my eyes, it looks like she is shooting the lay up, whether put back or not, quickly and in a push up motion. It is not a fully controlled shot, especially if she is off balance. A simple counter to that is a baby jump shot where she releases it at the top of her jump. She is strong enough to shoot it well, it is harder to block, and will eliminate the lack of control. Think Ash shooting her jumper from 3 feet off the backboard. When Jana gets that shot, and she will, it will transfer her into an unstoppable inside force.

We all appreciate your enthusiasm but " unstoppable force" may be a bit of a reach.

 

[Kurebeach50]

It seems that every game Jana has a wide open bunny that she misses. To my eyes, it looks like she is shooting the lay up, whether put back or not, quickly and in a push up motion. It is not a fully controlled shot, especially if she is off balance. A simple counter to that is a baby jump shot where she releases it at the top of her jump. She is strong enough to shoot it well, it is harder to block, and will eliminate the lack of control. Think Ash shooting her jumper from 3 feet off the backboard. When Jana gets that shot, and she will, it will transfer her into an unstoppable inside force.

She always seems to be off-balance on her layups.

 

[Longtime fan]

She isn't playing loose yet. As she gets more comfortable with Geno she will become more comfortable in the game. I noticed in the last game when Geno was getting on her she was not liking it at all. One other thing that would help her is if the players passing to her remembered she is 6'5 not 5'6, give her the ball up top to help her be able to find the rim.

She also shows what one might call, " bad hands." She needs to secure her grip faster and more firmly. She uses passes far too easily. even rebounds.

 

[BBallF]

We all appreciate your enthusiasm but " unstoppable force" may be a bit of a reach.

Yes, from my lips to ............ I'm thinking long term, very.

 

[visitingcock]

She has a bad habit of pulling the ball down to just above her waist when she shoots. She becomes more like 5'11" than 6'5", plus it's very slow. When she is wide open she speeds up her motion to not get blocked and she throws it over the rim.
I am sure they are working with her to catch it and go up with one motion.

Does she do that on offensive rebounds too?

 

[Bigboote]

Does she do that on offensive rebounds too?

Yes, although the coaching staff seem to have made a modicum of progress recently trying to break her of the habit.

 

[msf22b]

I think @BobbyJ objected to the implication that freshman Caroline = Sarah as a player. Yes, she filled in as high scorer in Paige’s absence but unlike Sarah, Carol had 50 turnovers to 40 assists, shot 29% from three, and averaged 3.2 rebounds a game. Please don’t mistake my comment as criticism- Carol was tremendous in her freshman year and she saved the team more than once. But she is not like Sarah, who is a generational player

I sort of like Husky Nan's factual presentation
But Caroline won games...
That counts for a lot.

 

[jdote33]

She also shows what one might call, " bad hands." She needs to secure her grip faster and more firmly. She uses passes far too easily. even rebounds.

I was getting ready to post this. Idk how post players improve on this. IDK if she has small hands or just needs more reps catching post feeds or passes. On the other hand, she's not the first big who struggled with bunnies early on in her career. And she's still shooting around 50 percent from the field.

 

[BBallF]

She always seems to be off-balance on her layups.

Yes, because she is shooting from a standing or slightly elevating position from wherever she gets the ball. If she shot it as a baby jumper, like Iriafen does from USC, even the off balance shot will have more efficiency. She just gets it and puts it back up at whatever angle, position she is at, instead of making a basketball move with it.

 

[BBallF]

All Bigs take time to develop at the college level, with the exception of Stewie who is a freak of nature. When Betts showed up at the college level, she was an awkward, inconsistent player who struggled frequently. Now she is the most dominant Big in WBB.

As for Jana, she hasn’t yet played a full season of college basketball, and she was set back for a full year by her Achilles injury. Geno has made the clear decision that he needs to start Jana and live with her mistakes while she becomes the player we all hope she will be, and I completely agree with that decision.

Jana actually has really good hands and she is capable of scoring with either hand in the paint. But right now, the game is still moving too fast for her, which is why she misses layups. It will slow down as she gets more comfortable on the court.

With that said, Jana’s potential is enormous. While she’ll frustrate us with a head scratching miss on a bunny layup, she will also tantalize us with an aggressive drive to the basket, making a difficult layup while getting fouled for an “and one.”

For UConn to win #12 this season, Jana will have to be a key part of that effort. So there is a sense of urgency for Geno and his coaches to accelerate Jana’s development, so that once March rolls around, Jana is ready to battle the best Bigs in the country.

Yes I agree. I remember Aaliyah as a freshman and I wondered what Geno saw in her. Well, we found out. There is no doubt that Geno is bringing Jana along because we can't get to April without her. There are a lot of good observations about her game on this thread, and she is only effectively 1 year out of high school in playing time and is still not in full game shape yet.

The best bigs have the baby jumper put back, including Stewie. The pre-season All American in the post, Iriafen from USC, shoots it all the time. Very difficult to time as a defender, and often leads to a foul. We certainly have to be patient, but at the same time we have to hurry her up for March. I don't know if we will see that one breakout game as opposed to a steady progression from her but I'm good with any path as long as we get there.

 

[oldude]

I was getting ready to post this. Idk how post players improve on this. IDK if she has small hands or just needs more reps catching post feeds or passes. On the other hand, she's not the first big who struggled with bunnies early on in her career. And she's still shooting around 50 percent from the field.

Jana does not have bad hands. She actually catches the ball well and has a soft shot with either hand in the paint. The problem for Jana is the same problem that just about every Big had when they started playing college basketball. The game is moving too fast for her right now. It will slow down.

As for bad hands, Kiah Stokes had the worst hands I’ve ever seen. It took her 2 1/2 seasons to figure out how to catch a pass or rebound. Once she did, Kiah became a valuable member of UConn’s rotation and ultimately a 1st round pick in the W.

 

[BBallF]

With a healthy core of Paige, Sarah and Azzi, with Ash coming off the bench with KK, and potential scoring also with Chen, Morgan and Allie, we don't need a 15 point per game center. We need put backs, finishing on open lay ups, offensive and defensive rebounds and a defensive presence in the lane. 3 years from now, we will all have forgotten how concerned we were about Jana. It's all about baby steps.

 

[cgshuskie]

This threads worries about Jana are misplaced. Jana is improving with more playing time and with each game. She had soft hands and good instincts. It will take her some time to develop footwork and ohe post moves. As we all have observed, her foul shooting has gotten better. As hard as it may be, she will be ready to hold her own by March. In coming seasons, and with more practice and game time experience, whe will be beastt

 

[my2cents]

S

Does she do that on offensive rebounds too?

She "gathers" herself every time before she leaves her feet.

 

[Bone Dog]

Jana is not merely being prepared for April. She’s also being prepared for next April, and the April after that. She will not be on any AA list this April. But she may be the following April or the one after that.

Right now we’ve mainly seen the low post skills that Geno and CD have been working on with her, and that she undoubtedly practices against Ice. But I suspect this is just the tip of the pyramid with Jana. As Geno always says, kids need to remember what they were good at before they came to UConn because that’s why there were recruited. Jana also had perimeter skills and an elbow jumper in high school and could score off the bounce. As someone already pointed out, in high school she wasn’t able to receive many passes into the low post because the guards on her team were not capable of passing to her there. More often than not, she had to come out to the elbow to get the ball and initiate her offense from there. Most of her low post scoring that wasn’t the result of a drive from the elbow in high school came from offensive rebounds. I don’t know if we’ll see much of that Jana this season, though she has already tried a few elbow drives in the last couple games. But once Jana gets her complete range of skills going — whenever that happens — I suspect she will be formidable.

 

[Oldschoolbb]

She has a bad habit of pulling the ball down to just above her waist when she shoots. She becomes more like 5'11" than 6'5", plus it's very slow. When she is wide open she speeds up her motion to not get blocked and she throws it over the rim.
I am sure they are working with her to catch it and go up with one motion.

If I'm coaching a big, I'm making her/him sit down for hundreds of hours of Kevin McHale film. How many times did you see him grab a rebound or pass above his head and then bring the ball down to his waist. Like, zero.

 

[Steelerone]

You are what your statistics say you are and you can't take a decent chess player and turn them into a Grandmaster.

 

[Blond D.]

If one was to listen to all the noise about Jana on this thread, one would wonder where to start to fix everything. Granted, she seems to be struggling in the games and yes, it is obvious than she takes Geno's criticisms a bit too seriously, but she seems to have the desire to get better and be a starter. Looking back in pre-season, Geno gave us a premise that she had the 'bones' to be a good player, basing that mostly on physical abilities, not so much on mind set and confidence. Taking stock of the comments above, it would seem that most of the issues can be addressed with practice, practice, practice of individual skills in lieu of team play. Better hands - receive 100 passes; no more bunnies - take 100 layups with each hand, post play under pressure; presence under the basket - 100 rebounds while being bumped and blocked. Not being privy to UConn practices I wonder if those players needing this type of improvement are facilitated during regular season.

not TAKE a 100 layups with both hands...MAKE 100 layups with both hands. Misses don't count. Thats how I was taught

 

[BBallF]

not TAKE a 100 layups with both hands...MAKE 100 layups with both hands. Misses don't count. Thats how I was taught

The whole point of this thread, which I started, was to discuss and focus on the form of her lay up. So make 100 yes, but using correct form. There are so many refinements to this game that Sarah, for one, has naturally whereas for Jana she will have to think it through at first. Sarah will automatically "hide" the ball on a put back, meaning that she will put her body between her shooting arm or hand and the defender. Jana just seems to go straight up. Sarah uses a double pump to avoid a defender, Jana doesn't have one. She needs help on form and accuracy is my point but I think the accuracy follows the form.

 

[BBallF]

You are what your statistics say you are and you can't take a decent chess player and turn them into a Grandmaster.

But if that decent chess player is motivated and has basic skills, and is taught by the world's greatest chess instructor for 1- 4 years, that player is going to be at least very good. That's all we will need from her.

 

[KCD]

You are what your statistics say you are and you can't take a decent chess player and turn them into a Grandmaster.

I disagree with you about statistics being who you are as a player. The game is about so much more than stats. Stats can be misleading and your attitude and fire for the game are as important. Somebody like KK can dominate a game on the defensive end alone and end up with very few stats. Jana has that fire and intensity and that drive to be the best player that she can be. She wants to help the team and her teammates any way that she can. There are several posters that stated it very well. She has a lot of skills and has improved dramatically over the first half of the season. If she keeps developing at half that speed for the rest of the season she will provide what we need her to provide for the tournament.
I want to address a few people that are blaming players missing bunnies on the coaches because has been happening for years. It’s been happening for years because UConn keeps getting freshmen. What happens by the time these players are sophomores, juniors, and then seniors? They miss less and less bunnies and they play more and more. A lot of them end up being AA players and even more make it to the W. That is because of the coaching. I’ve been watching the program for decades because I enjoy watching excellence. And UConn Women’s bball is the epitomy of excellence. Geno and CD still do it better than anyone else (although there are some young coaches that I believe are doing it very well - Dawn S for instance). I understand that they are not perfect, but this is certainly not something that should be blamed on the coaches.

 

[hookshot]

I disagree with you about statistics being who you are as a player. The game is about so much more than stats. Stats can be misleading and your attitude and fire for the game are as important. Somebody like KK can dominate a game on the defensive end alone and end up with very few stats. Jana has that fire and intensity and that drive to be the best player that she can be. She wants to help the team and her teammates any way that she can. There are several posters that stated it very well. She has a lot of skills and has improved dramatically over the first half of the season. If she keeps developing at half that speed for the rest of the season she will provide what we need her to provide for the tournament.
I want to address a few people that are blaming players missing bunnies on the coaches because has been happening for years. It’s been happening for years because UConn keeps getting freshmen. What happens by the time these players are sophomores, juniors, and then seniors? They miss less and less bunnies and they play more and more. A lot of them end up being AA players and even more make it to the W. That is because of the coaching. I’ve been watching the program for decades because I enjoy watching excellence. And UConn Women’s bball is the epitomy of excellence. Geno and CD still do it better than anyone else (although there are some young coaches that I believe are doing it very well - Dawn S for instance). I understand that they are not perfect, but this is certainly not something that should be blamed on the coaches.

Hangin with you thru line 5, then you entered the twilight zone

 

[HuskyNan]

Right now we’ve mainly seen the low post skills that Geno and CD have been working on with her, and that she undoubtedly practices against Ice. But I suspect this is just the tip of the pyramid with Jana.

I see what you did there

 

[HuskyNan]

If I'm coaching a big, I'm making her/him sit down for hundreds of hours of Kevin McHale film. How many times did you see him grab a rebound or pass above his head and then bring the ball down to his waist. Like, zero.

So, you want a college freshman to be like an NBA player that had already completed his college education and played in the pros a few years. No pressure there, Jana

I’m pretty sure UConn’s coaches have already told Jana about bringing the ball down but being told, or watching film, doesn’t prepare you to act with a couple defenders bodying you up and hacking at you.