Jefferson Watch - for the Mo-aholic in all of us

[UcMiami]

Thought I would start a update thread for Moriah and the quest to become the second Uconn player to achieve 100 rebounds, 100 steals, 200 assist, and 400 points is a season (First being Jen Rizzotti in 1995-6):

Moriah's stats through 19 games are:
Rebounds 56 (2.95), Steals 49 (2.57), Assists 92 (4.84), and points 200 (10.53)

Projected stats (40 games)
Rebounds 118, Steals 103, Assists 194, and points 421

Game 20:
0, 9, 6, 3
Totals:
56 (2.8), 58 (2.9), 98 (4.9), 203 (10.2)
Projections:
Rebounds 112, Steals 116, Assists 196, and Points 406

Moriah had a great game on the assists and steals front moving well ahead of the curve on the steals and closing the gap on the assists. Rebounds and points ... still OK but sliding back toward the danger zone.
She had a terrible 3.0 assist/TO ratio having more than 10x the turnovers (2) she had in the last two games combined (0) She now has 33 total for the year and is one assist below a 3.0 ratio for the year. (That compares to 2.5, 1.9. and 2.5 for the three Uconn players who topped 200 assists in a season Sue, Jen, and DT)
A big disappointment to all the little guys out there was she did not add to her block total for the second game running. What is up with that?!
She is also averaging 1.5 fouls a game (30 total) having a clean game last night. For someone who is such a defensive pest and with as many steals and playing 28+ minutes a game that is quite impressive. Especially given the new rule enforcement guidelines. (Bria who has had more foul 'trouble' is at 29 for the year, equally impressive - she has just clumped more of them together in a few games.)
Speaking of Bria - her numbers are also impressive:
70, 38, 89, 301 projecting to 140 rebounds, 76 steals, 178 assists, and 602 points with an A/TO of 2.25.
Doubt we have had such a statistically strong backcourt duo since the Sue/Diana 2001-2 team quite flattering company.

 

[HGN]

I am a MoFan........My reference to all those that delight and enjoy the intensive play of Moriah Jefferson. She may not score like Jen, Sue , and DT , but neither of those 3 were the 'thief' that Mo has become either. When MoJeff, or MoJet as she is sometimes referred , is around , no opponents possession is safe. She sets the table for her teammates and serves up assists. Her TO ratio is low as she takes very good care of the ball. She doesn't force things , and she scores when she does see an opening......... Attributes all of a true point guard.

 

[Kibitzer]

I am a MoFan...My reference to all those that delight and enjoy the intensive play of Moriah Jefferson. She may not score like Jen, Sue , and DT , but neither of those 3 were the 'thief' that Mo has become either. When MoJeff, or MoJet as she is sometimes referred , is around , no opponents possession is safe. She sets the table for her teammates and serves up assists. Her TO ratio is low as she takes very good care of the ball. She doesn't force things , and she scores when she does see an opening.... Attributes all of a true point guard.

ahem. Permit a minor correction. She certainly does force things, which keeps opponents on their heels and results in UConn possessions (from steals and turnovers) and baskets.

 

[Tonyc]

She is so much fun to watch and her cat like quickness is just sick. You she does a lot of stuff that is unexpected. If you want to compare point guards all round point guards I will take her over every one of them including Sims. Remember shes only a soph. I hope she is contagious because Saniya aint no slouch either. Neither makes many mistakes and both take well advised shots. We have some terrific guards. Bria and BB are great defensively too. I don't know if you can tell but I excited about this team.

 

[HGN]

ahem. Permit a minor correction. She certainly does force things, which keeps opponents on their heels and results in UConn possessions (from steals and turnovers) and baskets.

I stand to be corrected.

 

[UcMiami]

Love the fact that she is never 'slapping down' at the ball going for steals which is when most of the fouls get called, her hands are either coming in from the side or up from below - harder to see and less likely to get the arm slap rather than the ball.

 

[Kibitzer]

When I watch Moriah, I think of the Artful Dodger character in the musical, "Oliver," singing that sone about "picking a pocket or two."

 

[DobbsRover2]

Unfortunately, MoJeff's shameless thieving ways have already started turning her teammates against her. Stewie called her "a little pest" yesterday, and I'm sure we'll start to hear a lot more comments of that ilk as the season goes on.

 

[VAMike23]

Love the fact that she is never 'slapping down' at the ball going for steals which is when most of the fouls get called, her hands are either coming in from the side or up from below - harder to see and less likely to get the arm slap rather than the ball.

Her first steal of the game last night was like sleight of hand...

I was watching the other girl dribble down the right side of their frontcourt, with Mo guarding her, and all of a suddent Mo is dribbling back the other way! Honestly I didn't even see her hand move, let alone see how the larceny took place. It was over in the blink of an eye. I was wishing for instant replay.

 

[HistoryMajor]

UcMiami - you forgot something. In addition to the 100, 100, 200 and 400, we need to add (perhaps) 50. The 50 is for her blocks!

 

[UcMiami]

UcMiami - you forgot something. In addition to the 100, 100, 200 and 400, we need to add (perhaps) 50. The 50 is for her blocks!

Well, I like to think I have rosy (or blue) tinted glasses when I watch Moriah, but I guess you have me beat!!! So ... to fill in the missing data:
Through 19 games Moriah's block total is: 4 (0.21) which projects to 8 for the year
Game 20
Blocks: 0
Totals:
Blocks 4 (0.20)
Projected Blocks: 8

Moriah is dropping through the floor in her quest to join the big three in the 50 block party. With another substandard performance on Wednesday night she is now at a point where she needs to average 2.3 blocks per game the rest of the season. A tough ask, but one we here at rosy/blue tinted boneyard central are confident she can achieve! Go, Moriah!!!

 

[UcMiami]

Well, I like to think I have rosy (or blue) tinted glasses when I watch Moriah, but I guess you have me beat!!! So ... to fill in the missing data:
Through 19 games Moriah's block total is: 4 (0.21) which projects to 8 for the year
Game 20
Blocks: 0
Totals:
Blocks 4 (0.20)
Projected Blocks: 8

Moriah is dropping through the floor in her quest to join the big three in the 50 block party. With another substandard performance on Wednesday night she is now at a point where she needs to average 2.3 blocks per game the rest of the season. A tough ask, but one we here at rosy/blue tinted boneyard central are confident she can achieve! Go, Moriah!!!

On Edit:
To add further insult to the current disastrous streak our mighty Texan is on in regard to the blocks, she has even fallen behind her teammate Saniya in their spirited rivalry to mount the 50 block citadel. Chong while in a slump of her own has a comfortable lead at the moment sitting at 6 (0.3) a full 50% further along the road to block city immortality! Stay tuned for further updates!!!

 

[Icebear]

A MoJet block is just like the tiny Texan herself. It is all about quality and not volume.

 

[DaddyChoc]

great energy Moriah has

 

[UcMiami]

So my question ... does John read the boneyard, and shouldn't he be footnoting sources?!?
From today's news links:
Jefferson has a legitimate chance to finish this season with at least 100 rebounds, 100 steals, 200 assists and 400 points.

After 20 games, she had 203 points, 98 assists, 58 steals and 56 rebounds. That accomplishment would again put her in company with Rizzotti, the former All-American, who as a senior in 1995-96 had 418 points, 112 steals, 222 assists and 126 rebounds.

 

[Icebear]

Yes, he does and regularly lifts ideas.

 

[RadyLady]

So my question ... does John read the boneyard, and shouldn't he be footnoting sources?!?
From today's news links:
Jefferson has a legitimate chance to finish this season with at least 100 rebounds, 100 steals, 200 assists and 400 points.

After 20 games, she had 203 points, 98 assists, 58 steals and 56 rebounds. That accomplishment would again put her in company with Rizzotti, the former All-American, who as a senior in 1995-96 had 418 points, 112 steals, 222 assists and 126 rebounds.

Then at the very least he should acknowledge the source...to fix this, we could post some bogus numbers and see if he prints them...one hopes he checks his numbers....

 

[VAMike23]

great energy Moriah has

your diction I like

 

[UcMiami]

Yes, he does and regulars lifts ideas.

He must have read it before the block numbers got added! So we stay one step ahead of him here at BY Publishing, Inc.

 

[DaddyChoc]

So my question ... does John read the boneyard, and shouldn't he be footnoting sources?!?
From today's news links:
Jefferson has a legitimate chance to finish this season with at least 100 rebounds, 100 steals, 200 assists and 400 points.

After 20 games, she had 203 points, 98 assists, 58 steals and 56 rebounds. That accomplishment would again put her in company with Rizzotti, the former All-American, who as a senior in 1995-96 had 418 points, 112 steals, 222 assists and 126 rebounds.

this is where he gets most of his news... he should be breaking off Pap with a piece of that Courant check

 

[UcMiami]

Updates for game 21
Rebounds 5, , Steals 3, Assist 7, Points 11, (Blocks o)

Totals:
61 (2.9), 61 (2.9), 105 (5.0), 214 (10.2)
Projections:
Rebounds 116, Steals 116, Assists 200, and Points 406

Great game in that she picks up the extra assists to raise her average to 5.0/game and projection to the 200 mark. Improves her rebounding margin for error by just a little and maintains her steals and points averages. Unfortunatly for HistoryMajor she is unable to record a block though she came close a few times so she cannot make up any ground on the ill and therefore idle Saniya.

Additionally Moriah had one turnover in the game (blind refs missed the fact she was whacked on the arm and bumped down low and instead called her for traveling!!!) so she improves her A/TO ratio to a stellar 3.1 on the season. If she gets to 200 assists and maintains her A/TO ratio that will be significantly better than the other three who reached 200 assists in a season for Uconn (Sue and DT at 2.5.)

Be remiss if I didn't mention the assist festival that was game 21 for the team - 25 total assists on 30 field goals with only 5 total turnovers for a team A/TO of 5.0. Three players had at least 6 (Mo, Bria and KML) and Stewart had 4.

Bria had a spectacular game with 26 pts, 6 assts, 3 rbds, and 0 TOs. She is on track for 180+ assists herself and could conceivably threaten the 200 mark herself. She has raised her shooting percentage over the last three games to .468, three point percentage to .349 and scoring average to 15.6 impressive considering where she was just two weeks ago. If she can keep up this three game form on a percentage basis her final numbers will be pretty impressive.

Finally - Stewarts mini shooting slump especially from 3 point land seems to be over - watch out league!

 

[UcMiami]

OK - so I just watched Geno's presser and he got asked how Moriah compares to some of the other greats - he said whoa! she has a long way to go before she is even in the conversation with Sue and DT and Rene. BUT then he threw in, now if she gets to 200 odd assists this year then maybe we can start talking!
So ... is Geno secretly following this thread, or is he getting his information watered down through John?!! Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[UcMiami]

Updates for game 22
Rebounds 1, , Steals 3, Assist 12, Points 2, (Blocks 1)

Totals:
62 (2.8), 64 (2.9), 117 (5.3), 216 (9.8) (Blocks 5)
Projections:
Rebounds 112, Steals 116, Assists 211, and Points 392

So ... I think Moriah and Bria were just showing off a little in game 22 - 12 and 11 assists respectively - not sure but suspect that may be a team record with two players in double figures in assists. Otherwise, Moriah kept up on her steals but took a serious step back on both rebounds and points. Her points per game average has now slipped below the 'medoza line' at 9.8 with a projection now of 392 points for the year below the 400 mark we have set for her! On a brighter note, she had a monster game on the blocking front picking up yet another in your face throw down. That brings the total YTD to five a solid 10% of the way to our goal of 50 and cutting her deficit to Chong in half! Moriah had 2 turnovers in the game for the first time in a long time dropping her A/TO ratio to 6.0 for the game and the YTD now stands at an outstanding 3.25. Lets just hope the trend of 0, 1, 2 on turnovers the past three games in not going to continue to 4, 8, 16 or even 3, 4, 5! Lastly - one more personal foul to her total, a very good 33 for the year.

On the Bria front, her 11 assist brings her total YTD to 106 with a projection of 193 for the year. Another game like this and she will project to a 200 assist year - something that only three players have done in Uconn history! To have two players on the same team would be astonishing. She also stopped a disturbing trend of high turnover games with only two or a 5.5 A/TO. This game also moved her to a YTD number of 2.5. Her shooting wasn't as hot as in recent games and she failed to reach 20 points for the first time in 4 games, but she had her season average of 16 on 7-15 so no issues there. She also collected 5 rebounds and matched Moriah with three steals

Stef scored in double figures and had a team high 13 rebounds, but twisted her ankle late - hopefully nothing to severe.

Kaleena had a solid game 18 pts, 6 rbds, 3 assists on 50% shooting, though only 29% from three.

Finally - Stewarts mini shooting slump especially from 3 point land seems to be over - watch out league!
That is what I wrote as my last line of the update after the USF game - maybe I should change my name to Nostradamus!!!!
What a game - 37 points on 15-19 shooting, 3-5 from three, 4-4 FTs, 5 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals. New career high and she joins the Uconn 30 point club finally after three games with 29. She joins Bria who entered the club three games ago.

 

[UcMiami]

Updates for game 23
Rebounds 4, , Steals 1, Assist 6, Points 13, (Blocks 0)

Totals:
66 (2.9), 65 (2.8), 123 (5.3), 229 (10.0) (Blocks 5)
Projections:
Rebounds 115, Steals 113, Assists 213, and Points 399

So Uconn ends up with 14 steals in this game and amazingly Moriah only contributed ONE! For the number of balls she deflected that is quite amazing - meanwhile Bria continued her showboating ways by setting a new personal best with 6 steals! Big news for Moriah is that she was perfect from the field going 5-5 and 2-2 from three for 13 points getting her almost back above the mendoza line at a projected 399 points for the year and statistically at 10.0 ppg. Otherwise she was in her sweat spot on the other stats. Including a clean sheet on TOs (kind scorer gave a fumbled exchange between her and Stokes to Kiah) and she committed a lone personal foul. In fact as a team Uconn committed only 8 turnovers for a 3.13 A/TO ratio - for the YTD they are at 22.1 tying ND for the lead in D1 assists per game and close to the Uconn record set in 2001-2 of 22.7. Their YTD A/TO is at 1.9 leading the country and based on current form they should be up to 2.0 in a few games.

We are being treated to just superior guard play over the last month. Bria and Moriah are both playing AA caliber ball and complementing each other really well. Bria has raised her shooting percentages YTD to .466, .342, and .729 basically 10 points above where she was on January 1st. Moriah is still shooting over 50% at .570 and with today raised her 3 point percentage out of the 200s to .311 and continues at .745 on FT. The assists and steals and lack of turnovers from both of them is where they both stand out. Bria is at 2.57 Moriah at 3.42 in A/TO and they are at 45 and 65 respectively for steals.
To top it off the bench guard statistical play came back in game 23 with Chong and Banks contributing 6 boards, 3 steals, 7 assists, 16 points (6-12) and 2 monster blocks with zero turnovers. Happy days are here again. Lawlor also contributed another assist and a monster rebound (it really was, as she fought off a taller Bearcat.)

Sadly after a stellar block party in game 22, Moriah lost her way again in game 23 never getting it in gear and having yet another zero outing. As positive as we like to be at boneyard central we are beginning to suspect she will in fact fall short of the 50 blocks for the year we so confidently predicted just a few games ago.

 

[pap49cba]

Lawlor also contributed another assist and a monster rebound (it really was, as she fought off a taller Bearcat.)

Kid plays with a lot of moxie. I would not be surprised if Geno offers her a scholarship at the end of the year. She seems to be his 'type' of player.... Unselfish and someone who just wants to contribute any way she can.