Jovana turning heads | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Jovana turning heads

Basingstoke said:
I have no idea where my thread alerting the Boneyard about when and where to see tonight's Hoop Summit game went, BUT the USA demolished the World team. They had a lot more exciting talent than the World team and were much better at playing together.
That said, Jovana is going to be a tremendous addition to UConn’s team. To me, she is not a combo guard but a really talented point guard with the ability to make her teammates better. Although she's not as big, I see a bit of Paige in her. She plays with a compositional sense, patiently taking in the way all the pieces on the board are positioned and need to move. She cannot really be stopped on drives, because she is very shifty with a secure dribble & always seems to suck the defense in and pass to a spot-up shooter or finish very efficiently at the basket with either hand.
I can't access game stats, but I think she shot 6 for 8 from the field, with the only misses being on a 3 and one other outside shot (she was 2 for 2 from the foul line). Also, in a game where the World squad committed an ungodly amount of turnovers, I don't believe she turned the ball over until the fourth quarter when the game had long since been decided, and she forced a couple of bad passes.
She also seems to stick to her opponent on defense and is good at playing passing lanes and picking off opponents' passes. She, of course, will have to step up that part of her game and mesh with UCONN'S defensive concepts.
She is a very, very exciting addition in my book.
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Good points, this is mostly what I've been seeing for awhile. She's very confident and composed and several times was directing her teammates on where to be in the offense. And she also has a little attitude which I really like. Early in the 3rd Greenway of the US came up on her to press in the backcourt. As she tried to get in to body her, Pop put a forearm in her throat area and backed her off without a change of expression. As you noted, she can get deep in the paint and to the rim pretty much whenever she wants and will split defenders with her quickness. Because of the frantic pace and sloppiness, she only got the one open 3 that she rimmed out but the patience she has to make defenders commit and get herself loose will be welcome. I hope she gets a good shot at PT in the preseason.
 
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jeff30189 said:
No chance at Kaleena, but she still has KK, Heckel and Kelis in front of her at PG. In a small sample size, Kelis didn't exactly show any kind of shooting range ... or accuracy.... so lets not slide her into SG quite yet.
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I don't think Kelis played more than 1 minute without a KK or K9 on the floor. KK -- a starter -- was in the game during garbage time so UConn could have a PG -- any PG -- on the floor. Kelis is clearly not a PG (yet). She's a 2. A scoring guard (if it makes things easier) and getting to the basket is what Kelis has done exceptionally well in the minutes we have seen in her UConn.

The staff does like to recruit on upside, though. I wouldn't be surprised if the goal wasn't to ultimately make her into a PG that was adept at getting her own points. And she seems to have the personality to be a vocal leader down the line.
 
darrell said:
Team World was completely outclassed, but Jovana was pretty darn good. We got a good one coming in.

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Some additional observations:
Big O actually hit one other 3 at the end of the 2nd quarter on a feed from Jovana (unfortunately, it was a fraction of a second late as time ran out). I think that she will be positioned in other spots in the UCONN offense which will lead to her being much more effective, both for herself and her teammates as a screener, passer and scorer. She actually had one other highlight when she grabbed an offensive rebound and displayed great footwork crossing to the other side of the basket for an "and one."
As with any big coming to UCONN, it will take her a while to literally get up to speed on defense: she's not as real shot blocker, but seems to be pretty solid with her man to man defense (as opposed to switching and help defense).
 
BobbyJ said:
I'm glad Pop was on the opposite team of the two hero ballers, Hall and Robinson so that she was able to touch the ball and show her stuff. Although Swords tried to play the part of Hall as much as she could. 😉
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On this occasion, I was very unimpressed with Swords. Ironically, though I was impressed in-game with Jerzy, when they cited stats at game's end, her shooting stats turned out to be pretty poor.
 
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Basingstoke said:
I have no idea where my thread alerting the Boneyard about when and where to see tonight's Hoop Summit game went, BUT the USA demolished the World team. They had a lot more exciting talent than the World team and were much better at playing together.
That said, Jovana is going to be a tremendous addition to UConn’s team. To me, she is not a combo guard but a really talented point guard with the ability to make her teammates better. Although she's not as big, I see a bit of Paige in her. She plays with a compositional sense, patiently taking in the way all the pieces on the board are positioned and need to move. She cannot really be stopped on drives, because she is very shifty with a secure dribble & always seems to suck the defense in and pass to a spot-up shooter or finish very efficiently at the basket with either hand.
I can't access game stats, but I think she shot 6 for 8 from the field, with the only misses being on a 3 and one other outside shot (she was 2 for 2 from the foul line). Also, in a game where the World squad committed an ungodly amount of turnovers, I don't believe she turned the ball over until the fourth quarter when the game had long since been decided, and she forced a couple of bad passes.
She also seems to stick to her opponent on defense and is good at playing passing lanes and picking off opponents' passes. She, of course, will have to step up that part of her game and mesh with UCONN'S defensive concepts.
She is a very, very exciting addition in my book.
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Just watched it and Jovanna is definitely a point guard. We missed out on Robinson because she looked good. Her defense may not have been where we needed it to be but she’s smart, skilled and tough. South Carolina got a good one. Bjorn as well, there’s a reason Geno wanted them. Vukosa didn’t play much and she looked a little hurt moving gingerly with her thigh wrapped. It definitely was bothering her, but when she had the ball you could see she is skilled. And I Liked Greenway going to Kentucky as well, she plays super hard. Eve Long didn’t do much, but she is long and moves her feet really really well. Free throw shot was good. Needs to get stronger but she will be good. We definitely definitely want her to commit. But the main thing is Pop is 100% a point guard and a super good one. We always needed a 2 guard for next year, but we desperately need one now. The USC girls are talented too, USC will be a deterrent to any UConn title for the next few years if we don’t address some things. We may be able to score, but defense will do us in if we don’t address it mainly at the 2/3 and a rebounding defensive minded big. I trust Jana here at the 5, I think we need a tough 4. Again Robinson was a big miss if we don’t get an elite 2 in the next class.
 
donalddoowop said:
Jovana looked good but I have never been impressed with Jerzy's efficiency.
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Yes she wasn’t that efficient, but she has everything a player needs to be elite and Geno would have made her into a more efficient player. It’s all there. You could see it.
 
It's always interestingto see how the European players skills can translate when switching to the US court.
Whether Jovana is a shiny new penny or not, if she shows the poise, consistency & other intagibles that Geno is looking for then he will be behooved to reward Jovana with PT.
Last year & the year before last year are over, done & finito.
Each year the team is reincorporated in order to find the new formula for success.
Perhaps not every "shiny new penny" player will sit around only to be told that they're not worthy of greatness.
Their talent needs to be utilized to be put on a learning curve in real game situations before their talent decays by sitting around for so long.
Some freshmen are better than expected while others never seem to pan out.
If a player has the eyes of eagle then it's about winning a race to success, even of it starts out as a race against ypur teammates. for PT.
Good luck to her. Even if she starts on the bottom, if she's cream then she'll rise to the top.
If UConn really needs a 2 then maybe she's it.
Azzi was shown favor as a freshman.

Behooves -
"Behoved" (past tense of behoove/behove) means it was appropriate, necessary, or incumbent upon someone to do something. It often implies a duty, responsibility, or advantage. Common usage includes phrases like "it behoved them to," "it behoves us to," and synonyms include "required," "expected," "incumbent upon," "fitten," and "necessary"
 
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sun said:
Behooves -
"Behoved" (past tense of behoove/behove)
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Behave? Sorry I can’t resist. The way English makes part tenses is really elaborate
Rock Hyrax Tongue GIF
and at times comical. Sing-Sang-Sung. Dive-Dove-Dave. Run-Ran-Ron. lol.
 
huskyd said:
Ok. There are KK and Heckle. They are not going to give you many points. They have other concerns. Ash was in the line-up for points, and she is also a tenacious defender and rebounder. But her point production fell off last season; her mid-range jumper had always been money but not lately. Maybe Jovana could replace Ash if she turns out to be a dependable scorer. We know little about her at the moment.
So enjoy the wealth and the available choices. Geno will, of course, decide.
Keep Morgan in mind when you think of players with up-sides who can also play inside. Geno likes her a lot, especially her height and toughness. But the first order of business is to find 15-20 points somewhere.
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I agree with the 15-20 points. I still see major potential from Allie Ziebell. She made grade strides this year on defence. She seems to miss her first few shots and then stops shooting.
 
Steelerone said:
I love how Geno brings in players under the radar. Last year Brenda and now Jovana. Do not be surprised if y the third or forth game of the season if she is not starting beside KK.
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Only a Stiller fan! Sorry, Brenda does not play for UCONN or the Patriots. Now, Blanca was a superior recruit last year. 😉
 
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1974yankees said:
Why did you say she wont come? Uconn is one of her top schools.
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This was in response to me saying Kaleena was the only thing that could get in the way of Jovana Kelis and Kayleigh taking over the backcourt duties in Jovana’s sophomore season.

I’m not sure what motivated it, since I wasn’t claiming Kaleena was committed to UConn, only that Jovana looked like a lock to be a PG in the coming years unless that happened. I have no idea whether Kaleena is coming to Storrs, though she’d surely be welcome.

It looks like another case of someone responding to something in the middle of a thread without considering the context of the conversation.
 
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