John A.: CD raves about Breanna Stewart

[pap49cba]

“I am probably more impressed with Breanna as a person than a player – and she is a tremendous player,” Dailey said. “She is the totally likeable kid. I love her sense of humor. I love everything about her. And that’s not even considering one thing about her on the basketball court. She is just going to be a lot of fun to be around."

LINK

 

[VAMike23]

An interesting bit at the end, where CD demurs when asked who BStewart reminds her of. She has a male player in mind, but feels it would be unfair to name him (it would just create pressure for Breanna) so she joked about writing his name on a piece of paper and keeping hidden away in the drawer. Opening the drawer down the road to see if the prediction panned out.

Wonder who she is thinking? I'm presuming a pro player, but could be wrong on that. Clearly she has a big man in mind, but one with very good ball skills and a solid outside game to go with inside presence.

Dirk Novitski perhaps? He certainly has the outside game, great face-up game as well as post moves. He has a good handle as well for such a tall guy. Then again, Breanna probably affects the game on the defensive end more than Dirk does, on a relative basis.

Guesses anyone....?

 

[Icebear]

Wasn't this discussed some time ago and it was Dirk and/or Garnett.

 

[dtbtbtb]

Dirk is not good on defence...probably Garnett

 

[alexrgct]

Or perhaps Kevin Durant? Who by the way is every bit a good a person as he is a basketball player, if not more so.

 

[VAMike23]

Wasn't this discussed some time ago and it was Dirk and/or Garnett.

Not sure - now that you mention it, maybe we did talk about this one already. But maybe not in the context of CD having someone in mind herself? I can't recall, but at least this is a current story from JA so we are allowed to rehash

 

[msf22b]

John admits to never having seen her play. Can't imagine that he would write the piece w/o even checking B out on youtube. Jeez, even I did that.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Scottie Pippin?

 

[doggydaddy]

As much as it is sacrilege to the Tennessee fans, she is Parker with a better handle, 3 point shot and court vision.

 

[rocky rococo]

You can put me down for Kevin McHale.

 

[MilfordHusky]

As much as it is sacrilege to the Tennessee fans, she is Parker with a better handle, 3 point shot and court vision.

I think that is accurate. Perhaps the closest comparison in WCBB.

If she loves Bre, maybe that will help keep her from going gray over Kiah.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Geno said recently that Bre could start on any college team in the nation THIS year. But I bet he does not start her next season, at least early on.

 

[Scotter]

Geno said recently that Bre could start on any college team in the nation THIS year. But I bet he does not start her next season, at least early on.

He may very well bring Stewart off the bench. I have a pretty good streak of correctly predicting the starting lineup by acknowledging Geno's respect for seniority and not freaking out over Caroline's health status. That said I anticipate that Geno may very well start her as well and keep Kaleena coming off the bench provided Morgan Tuck is as ready to play as she is expected to be. If Tuck is ready to play rotation minutes then Geno will likely feel the need to start Stewart for rotation balance. Having Stokes, Stewart, and Tuck all coming off the bench creates a log jam for limited minutes at the 4 and 5. Stewart and Tuck will eventually play some minutes together at the 4 & 3 with a center on the floor, but likely not as freshman. So I believe there is a strong possibility that Breanna starts in place of Tiff with Kiah and Morgan coming off the bench behind Stef and Breanna. Geno keeping a sophomore in Kaleena coming off the bench in favor of starting a freshman is different than Geno benching a senior or junior so I suspect Kaleena comes off the bench again with Geno knowing that she'll get to start as a junior and senior.

So Caroline, Bria, Kelly, Breanna, and Stef start with Moriah, Kaleena, Morgan, and Kiah off the bench with Brianna having a chance to work. Now Geno may very well just decide to start Kaleena, but for the 1st time in a few years I'm not confident which way Geno will go. Right now I'm leaning towards Breanna starting because I believe Geno will recognize the need to balance the rotation to make the pieces fit the best.

 

[Sonny44]

You can put me down for Kevin McHale.

Yes, and KML is John Havlicek.

 

[HuskyNan]

So Caroline, Bria, Kelly, Breanna, and Stef start with Moriah, Kaleena, Morgan, and Kiah off the bench with Brianna having a chance to work. Now Geno may very well just decide to start Kaleena, but for the 1st time in a few years I'm not confident which way Geno will go. Right now I'm leaning towards Breanna starting because I believe Geno will recognize the need to balance the rotation to make the pieces fit the best.

Geno doesn't like to start freshmen unless it's absolutely necessary. With a healthy Caroline (knock on wood), there's no need to start Breanna. IMO, if Caroline is healthy, Kaleena will start, partly because she's more experienced and partly because of her demeanor. UConn will be young again next year and Kaleena is about as even-keeled a player as I have ever seen.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Nan, you took the words right out of my mouth! Literally!!

 

[Georgestarr7]

You can put me down for Kevin McHale.

You can put me down for Byrd, the way she runs the floor, posts up and pops from downtown.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Until I am otherwise convinced, KML is the best BBPlayer on the team…she will start, and I hope be on the floor as much as possible.

 

[Scotter]

Geno doesn't like to start freshmen unless it's absolutely necessary. With a healthy Caroline (knock on wood), there's no need to start Breanna. IMO, if Caroline is healthy, Kaleena will start, partly because she's more experienced and partly because of her demeanor. UConn will be young again next year and Kaleena is about as even-keeled a player as I have ever seen.

I would normally agree with you. I was pretty vocal in my belief that Kaleena would come off the bench as a freshman for those reasons. I suspect this situation may be slightly different though because Geno is not dogmatic about not starting freshman. There have been plenty of freshman that have started. Geno just recognizes the benefits of bringing a talented freshman off the bench, particularly a perimeter scorer to both the player and the team. I also don't believe Geno views not promoting a player to the starting lineup the same as removing an established starter from the starting lineup.

I also disagree that UConn will be young again next year. They will very likely be starting 2 senior and 2 juniors, and needing an even keeled player isn't exactly a need with the players that are lkely to start. We'll see. I acknowledged in my original post that Kaleena may very well just start, but I do think assuming Geno to always dogmatically bring a freshman off the bench may be a mistake. He's more complicated than that.

 

[magical2]

Wasn't this discussed some time ago and it was Dirk and/or Garnett.

Awlile ago it was Geno who made comment re her and Garnett Ira
Re: Nan's comments It is my understanding that she is correct on all accounts!
Being a young team refers to the fact that 3 Freshman who are going to get time and 3 SOS who are going to get time! So even if we have starters
KML Kelly
Dolson
CD Bria Which is 2SRs CD* and Kelly 2JRs Bria and Dolson & SO KML we have
2012 2011 That is 6 underclassmen who are going to get alot of minutes
#1 Stewart #1 KML
#2 MO #9Stokes
#4 Tuck #14 Banks
At this time
these 3 are Buck
at the bottom Johnson
Engelin