July 2021 Recruiting Thread

[HopJim]

seems to me that uconn's done pretty well dealing with all those lousy kids swarming across america these days ...

wonder how it's managed that?

had to go to croatia, i guess ... geez, what a joke (though nika emphatically does put a lie to the poppycock that uconn is currently lacking in an an 'effort type of player' )

regarding the 'defensive stopper' who would have quelled dungee (or aari) -- ya know, folks, there are occasions when a talented player just 'goes off' and NOBODY is gonna shut 'em down. it happens. that's life. just accept it. there ain't a surefire cure for everything. don't waste effort trying to find one. (mo jeff got beat sometimes, BTW)

When was Mo Jeff ever beat?

 

[Alydar]

I like speed and defense. If I have to choose between the two for the next few years, I’d choose defense. We have enough players that can score, and more on the way. We need a “lock-down“ defender, a stopper that can make the top scorer on an opponent’s team disappear. That makes for a balanced team.

It would keep the “Chelsea Dungees“ of WCBB from beating us. Dungee scored 38 to help Arkansas beat us 90-87.

Dungee was averaging 22 ppg at the time. If UConn could have held her to her average, they would have won by 13. Unfortunately no one was able to put her in check, thus she scored at will.

Sometimes a player of Dungee's ability gets hot and there's just no stopping her. The attraction of a three pt shooting team is that when they are hitting them they can outscore inside teams. But when they don't score they get clobbered. Ark was 4-10 away from home. But Dungee (and Ark) went nuts when ONO Edwards went to the bench with foul trouble. Edwards fouled out in 13 mins. UConn didn't need a shutdown defender, they needed Edwards. Now UConn has a third post so problem solved. Maybe.

I think UConn is going to have a super defensive team this season. And late in the year Williams on ball defense was outstanding. And she has 3 years experience playing and practicing UConn's team defense concept. It's likely that UConn will lead the country in MOV this season along with fewest points.

 

[Dogstar]

I like speed and defense. If I have to choose between the two for the next few years, I’d choose defense. We have enough players that can score, and more on the way. We need a “lock-down“ defender, a stopper that can make the top scorer on an opponent’s team disappear. That makes for a balanced team.

It would keep the “Chelsea Dungees“ of WCBB from beating us. Dungee scored 38 to help Arkansas beat us 90-87.

Dungee was averaging 22 ppg at the time. If UConn could have held her to her average, they would have won by 13. Unfortunately no one was able to put her in check, thus she scored at will.

Right on target with this post!!

 

[hoophuskee]

When was Mo Jeff ever beat?

She also had Dolson, Stokes and Stewart too. UCONN's size was formidable.

In her senior year - what good offensive team had the capability of stopping UCONN's offense too? There was very little challenge to that UCONN team overall. So what's the difference "Stopper" or "not?"- It certainly wasn't much of a need. That team overwhelmed opponents in different ways.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Blanca Thomas:

 

[donalddoowop]

Couldn’t agree more with this, you can teach a good offensive player to play team defense but you can’t teach a kid who’s offensively deficient how to score.

Not true. See K. Faris and Mo Jefferson.

 

[Purchase1]

Not true. See K. Faris and Mo Jefferson.

I knew someone would bring those two up as an example but I disagree. Neither were ever really bad offensive players coming in they just had to find roles within our offense which made it look as though they couldn’t really score for some time. Look at Mo Jeff for instance, I remember watching her high school highlights that whole summer before she came to campus and she was an offensive machine and her quickness made her a defensive nightmare. Both her and Kelly struggled with confidence in their shots early but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t score or that they couldn’t shoot. The other example I can give you is Mikayla Coombs for the short time she was here she had no offensive game whatsoever even though I feel her defense was up to par. Point being you had to respect kelly and mo so we we were playing 5/5 with a player like mikayla it effectively had us 4/5 because you can’t teach a player who doesn’t really have an offensive arsenal aside from steals and easy layups to have an offensive identity.

 

[jazz]

harder to do but not impossible. K Ferris and Mojeff became competent to very good scorers.

Couldn’t agree more with this, you can teach a good offensive player to play team defense but you can’t teach a kid who’s offensively deficient how to score.

 

[Purchase1]

harder to do but not impossible. K Ferris and Mojeff became competent to very good scorers.

I don’t think Kelly nor Mo came in offensively deficient though, just not confident in their offensive games. They had the skill but didn’t know how to really apply the skill.

 

[jazz]

I don’t think Kelly nor Mo came in offensively deficient though, just not confident in their offensive games. They had the skill but didn’t know how to really apply the skill.

well i guess we have discuss the use of the word 'deficient'.

mojeff was a horrible outside shooter/scorer her first year (i cant remember exactly but i think she shot it at less than 25% from three). Kelly wasnt much better. IT wasn't just confidence, they were neither very competent either. They both worked very hard on their game and become pretty good on the offensive end. Mojeff became real offensive threat.

in any case, i would say it is harder but not impossible for a player to become a competent offensive threat.

 

[Purchase1]

well i guess we have discuss the use of the word 'deficient'.

mojeff was a horrible outside shooter/scorer her first year (i cant remember exactly but i think she shot it at less than 25% from three). Kelly wasnt much better. IT wasn't just confidence, they were neither very competent either. They both worked very hard on their game and become pretty good on the offensive end. Mojeff became real offensive threat.

in any case, i would say it is harder but not impossible for a player to become a competent offensive threat.

The only thing I feel we disagree on here is the fact that I think they came in with those abilities to hit outside shots etc so I wouldn’t classify either as not being competent on the offensive end. Just honing in on that ability. Another example I can give is Lorin Dixon small quick athletic guard who was a decent defender that never developed an outside shot because she was offensively incompetent. You can’t really develop touch you can change shooting mechanics to get the aim better and that’s where I feel Kelly and Mo differ from the fact of being “offensively incompetent”

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Booker, Chavez:

 

[Sluconn Husky]

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Watching Aaliyah Chavez today, she's not only incredibly talented, she's a fierce competitor and floor leader already.

Got a lot of Steve Nash in her game only much more athletic and explosive.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Chavez, Randolph

 

[LwrcasefaN]

She also had Dolson, Stokes and Stewart too. UCONN's size was formidable.

In her senior year - what good offensive team had the capability of stopping UCONN's offense too? There was very little challenge to that UCONN team overall. So what's the difference "Stopper" or "not?"- It certainly wasn't much of a need. That team overwhelmed opponents in different ways.

Hard to stop a constant 5 player offensive threat with one stopper. Chelsea Dungee was one player...who didn't need to be stopped...just disrupted. In any case, I have my own feeling about her offensive game. It's good, but it helps when you can hook and run over players...and flop your ponytail and make it appear you were just mugged. She barely sees the floor in the WNBA because.....you cant just bowl over the defense. Took Sophie Cunningham a minute to figure that out. Arkansas was just the better team that night. Not going to take that from them.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Chavez, Randolph

Honest assessment....because many top recruits haven't been all that impressive on a consistent basis.

 

[jazz]

The only thing I feel we disagree on here is the fact that I think they came in with those abilities to hit outside shots etc so I wouldn’t classify either as not being competent on the offensive end. Just honing in on that ability. Another example I can give is Lorin Dixon small quick athletic guard who was a decent defender that never developed an outside shot because she was offensively incompetent. You can’t really develop touch you can change shooting mechanics to get the aim better and that’s where I feel Kelly and Mo differ from the fact of being “offensively incompetent”

lorin would be an good example of somebody who didnt develop her outside shot or offense in general. i agree with that.

 

[jazz]

Hard to stop a constant 5 player offensive threat with one stopper. Chelsea Dungee was one player...who didn't need to be stopped...just disrupted. In any case, I have my own feeling about her offensive game. It's good, but it helps when you can hook and run over players...and flop your ponytail and make it appear you were just mugged. She barely sees the floor in the WNBA because.....you cant just bowl over the defense. Took Sophie Cunningham a minute to figure that out. Arkansas was just the better team that night. Not going to take that from them.

my feeling is when you play a team that shoots it well from three, then defensively you sell out in the first quarter to defend the three. many of these players like to hit a three to get themselves rolling and feeling good and in a grove. make them go around you and then stop on a dime and shoot a two. that is what needs to be done. complete sell out to stop the three in the first quarter (at least).

now if we had better perimeter defenders who could stop the three and the drive, then we do that, but those players are rare.

also, if we would use our more athletic and better defenders in the early going to keep a team from starting out hot, that would help, even if we give up some on the offensive end with said better defender. we have such a player but she wasnt used in this role in the first quarter.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

7/25 AAU

Aaliyah Chavez: 17 points (5-9 3-PT), 4 reb, 2 assists, 2 steals, 0 TO

Madison Booker: 24 points (9-23 FG), 11 rebounds, 6 fouls


Edit: Chavez had 0 turnovers; mistakenly hit 9 before the edit.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

 

[eebmg]

 

[Sluconn Husky]

More 7/25 AAU

Kiki Rice: 15 points (6-14 FG, 3-5 3-PT), 12 rebounds, 5 assists


Tourney stats:

19.4 Points, 7.2 Rebounds, 3.8 Assists, 47% FG, 33% 3-PT, 64% FT

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Nike Nationals stats


Katie Fiso:

12 Points, 4.2 Rebounds, 3.2 Assists, 1.6 Steals, 46.4% FG, 58.3% 3-PT, 62% FT


Judea Watkins:

17.2 Points, 8.2 Rebounds, 1.6 Assists, 3 Steals, 35% FG, 25% 3-PT, 69% FT

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Nike Nationals


KK Arnold:

12 Points, 4.2 Rebounds, 3.7 Assists, 1.3 Steals, 43% FG, 42% 3-PT, 68% FT