Jana's Lay Up

[OldSchooler]

As is discussed in a thread on the recruiting board, the girls that come out of high school with gaudy scoring records have not been playing against the same type of talent as college players. Watch a typical high school games - opponents are smaller, slower, and less talented than Div I players.

College players have also worked with trainers that have increased their strength and endurance. Freshmen post players like Jana have rarely played against girls their size that are also quicker and stronger. Jana can no longer just reach for a rebound or merely reach her hand up over a smaller player for a lay-in, now she’s got to fight for everything and get pushed, pulled, and hacked in the paint while doing so. It’s fatiguing, too. Every time a player moves up a level - high school to college, college to pro - an adjustment needs to take place.

Earlier in the season Jana was visibly frustrated and I assume that’s because her height alone wasn’t enough any more. The frustration is fading, finally, and she’s getting more done on the court and winning more small battles but she still has a ways to go. Hence the calls for patience

And although this is relatively insignificant, we're finally beginning to win the opening tip.

 

[Longtime fan]

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.

I have to disagree about Jana, although this is a pure judgement call. I saw Kiah and she had the same problems that Jana is having. When a ball is contested, Jana too often loses control of it. She doesn't do so on every touch...some she executes perfectly. But I would say that is 50% of the time and it needs to be 90%. It will come with time. Coach knows what he has.

 

[oldude]

I have to disagree about Jana, although this is a pure judgement call. I saw Kiah and she had the same problems that Jana is having. When a ball is contested, Jana too often loses control of it. She doesn't do so on every touch...some she executes perfectly. But I would say that is 50% of the time and it needs to be 90%. It will come with time. Coach knows what he has.

So you are suggesting it’s bad hands, which is a problem with coordination. I am suggesting that she’s thinking too much and processing the game too slowly, I.e. the game is moving too fast for her.

Forget about Kiah. Another player that missed a whole bunch of layups her first couple years at UConn and committed a bunch of fouls by just running over opponents without looking was Aaliyah. Once things slowed down, Aaliyah became a pretty decent player. The same thing will happen with Jana.

 

[HuskyNan]

So you are suggesting it’s bad hands, which is a problem with coordination. I am suggesting that she’s thinking too much and processing the game too slowly, I.e. the game is moving too fast for her.

Forget about Kiah. Another player that missed a whole bunch of layups her first couple years at UConn and committed a bunch of fouls by just running over opponents without looking was Aaliyah. Once things slowed down, Aaliyah became a pretty decent player. The same thing will happen with Jana.

Aaliyah had a great freshman year but then she played with the Canadian National team the following summer. She returned to UConn a different player - hesitant, almost confused about her role. I think the Canadian coach’s requirements were different from Geno’s and that made Aaliyah think too much. She returned to the freshman version of herself the following year.

Watch how many fouls she draws in the video below. Keep in mind she’s (maybe) 6-3

 

[oldude]

Aaliyah had a great freshman year but then she played with the Canadian National team. She returned to UConn a different player - hesitant, almost confused about her role. I think the Canadian coach’s requirements were different from Geno’s and that made Aaliyah think too much. She returned to the freshman version of herself the following year.

Watch how many fouls she draws in the video below

Yes, I had forgotten about Aaliyah’s stint with the Canadian National team. It wasn’t so much bad coaching by the Canadian coaching staff as much as it was no coaching whatsoever. After Aaliyah made the national team, she was the last person off the bench. It happened during Covid so the Canadian team travelled to FL to live and practice at IMG Academy for several weeks before the Olympics. During that period of time there was little to no player development, which was exactly what Aaliyah needed after her freshman year. She did backslide during her sophomore year.

 

[Longtime fan]

So you are suggesting it’s bad hands, which is a problem with coordination. I am suggesting that she’s thinking too much and processing the game too slowly, I.e. the game is moving too fast for her.

Forget about Kiah. Another player that missed a whole bunch of layups her first couple years at UConn and committed a bunch of fouls by just running over opponents without looking was Aaliyah. Once things slowed down, Aaliyah became a pretty decent player. The same thing will happen with Jana.

I am suggesting it is more a matter of hand strength ( which is fully correctable ). But I concur that the game is moving a bit fast for her. It is as if a pass comes in at one speed and her body ( and hands ) are moving a quarter beat behind. Good point. There is no doubt she is getting better in every respect, game by game. Fun to see. And critical for the team's success.

 

[Longtime fan]

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.

And when she does that , the ball is easily dislodged or tied up by a defender.

 

[Bone Dog]

And when she does that , the ball is easily dislodged or tied up by a defender.

Bringing the ball down unnecessarily is a problem we’ve seen before. Ice does it too, and so did Dorka at first. Surprisingly, one of the virtues of Amari’s game was knowing how not to bring the ball down. She’d catch it high, hold it high, turn and shoot. It’s too bad she couldn’t put the other aspects of her game together. Wishing her well at MD. But the point is each of these kids is a unique combination of strengths and foibles, and they pull it all together each in their own way.

 

[DennieEddy]

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

How about more powerful than a locomotive?

 

[HopJim]

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.

I hope we have the opportunity to put Jana and Aaliyah in the same category at some point in the future.

 

[packwrap]

Overlooked? At #5? She and DeBerry (#15gulp) should have been thrilled. For comparison Miles was at #8, Harmon #10, Citron #16, Iriafen #19 and Sellers #22. More evidence that a dartboard gets used for a lot of these rankings and that GA probably doesn't pay much attention to them.

True about dartboard, but the issue is mainly about the order of the ranking. The #47 recruit may be better than the #5, but we seldom, almost never, see an all-american from outside the top 100.

UConn's entire team now is top 100s, probably even top 50 if recall right. It's not like Geno is sneaking around gyms getting off the radar recruits.

SC, ND, LSU, UCLA, Stanford, TX, USC all have teams stocked full of McDonald's All Americans. No surprise, these are the best teams.

The rest of the Big East, Gonzaga's WCC and other small conferences rarely even get 1 top 100 recruit. Again no surprise, that's why they are bad.

The ranking services are not perfect, but that makes great discussion for fans and motivation for players. The rankings do get the big picture right in finding the best 100 players.

 

[HuskyNan]

True about dartboard, but the issue is mainly about the order of the ranking. The #47 recruit may be better than the #5, but we seldom, almost never, see an all-american from outside the top 100.

UConn's entire team now is top 100s, probably even top 50 if recall right. It's not like Geno is sneaking around gyms getting off the radar recruits.

SC, ND, LSU, UCLA, Stanford, TX, USC all have teams stocked full of McDonald's All Americans. No surprise, these are the best teams.

The rest of the Big East, Gonzaga's WCC and other small conferences rarely even get 1 top 100 recruit. Again no surprise, that's why they are bad.

The ranking services are not perfect, but that makes great discussion for fans and motivation for players. The rankings do get the big picture right in finding the best 100 players.

I always objected to ranking guards and forward on the same list. I still think it’s dumb

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I love Caroline’s game and what she did in the injury-plagued year. What could she be now if she’d never gotten the concussions? Her talent is unmistakable and what she accomplished as a freshman is undeniable. Please don’t doubt my admiration of her. My opinion, which is worth no more than anyone else’s, is that while Caroline is very talented, she’s not a generational player.

Who said she was???

 

[Steelerone]

Can we please not use high-school rankings as any kind of conclusive evidence of anything other than the fallibility of high-school rankings? I need not recount the number of top 5, top 10 and top 15 recruits of the recent past that have fallen well shy of lofty expectations. Aneesah Morrow, by contrast, wasn't even in the top 100 and made All American as a freshman at DePaul.

Curious how a thread titled "Jana's Lay Up" ended up in a debate over the equivalence of Sarah and CarolineTha

 

[Steelerone]

Thank you for that thought. I've followed Alathon for years along with the ESPN and other venues who rank high school players. Amazing how many Hall of Famer's either don't show up or are ranked near the bottom of the "Top Hundred." It seems like every year we have a player who decides to transfer who was in the top twenty but did not feel that they were getting enough playing time. Well, the reason they weren't getting enough playing time is because the player next to them on the bench was more productive.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Thank you for that thought. I've followed Alathon for years along with the ESPN and other venues who rank high school players. Amazing how many Hall of Famer's either don't show up or are ranked near the bottom of the "Top Hundred." It seems like every year we have a player who decides to transfer who was in the top twenty but did not feel that they were getting enough playing time. Well, the reason they weren't getting enough playing time is because the player next to them on the bench was more productive.

The direction this thread has taken is ridiculous. Tamika Williams, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, and Ashja Jones, were all very highly ranked in the same class, and talented, yet only one can be called “thee” generation player. Were Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers generational players in the same generation???

 

[BBallF]

Geno Auriemma on Jana El-Alfy "There is no rule in basketball that says you have to make 7 moves with the ball before you go up with it."
Like most of us have been saying. Just go up with it strong, do not bring the ball down or dribble and make yourself a foot shorter. Perhaps this is the game today!!!

 

[Dogdude]

Geno Auriemma on Jana El-Alfy "There is no rule in basketball that says you have to make 7 moves with the ball before you go up with it."
Like most of us have been saying. Just go up with it strong, do not bring the ball down or dribble and make yourself a foot shorter. Perhaps this is the game today!!!

Just finished watching videos of Kevin McHale, probably not something a young player looking to simplify should see...

 

[BBallF]

Just finished watching videos of Kevin McHale, probably not something a young player looking to simplify should see...

One thing he did was establish position, receive the ball, give the ball back, reestablish better position, and then move and score. He also always protected the ball on the low block dribbles. He was also playing against NBA defenders.