KK Arnold appreciation thread

[Suebird10fan]

I still remember fondly a game earlier this year where she stole a pass, and went into some traffic for the layup. She ended up on the floor and bounced up with a huge grin on her face, seemingly excited to immediately get back to harassing someone trying to inbound the ball.

The results are great but watching the passion and joy is unforgettable.

 

[ERWUC65]

Who but KK should be the starting point guard next season but KK? That may be her best season.

"may" here can serve several purposes. Jovanna or an other international player may prove to be that elusive AA level PG. Another portal transfer like K9 (perhaps even a graduate student) may chose to come to UConn. Geno may consider others from the current roster, e.g., Kelis, K9, Allie, or Morgan. My point being that with the changes in the team makeup next year, the PG position becomes one of the most, if not the most critical one of all to be evaluated.

 

[FanSince17]

"may" here can serve several purposes. Jovanna or an other international player may prove to be that elusive AA level PG. Another portal transfer like K9 (perhaps even a graduate student) may chose to come to UConn. Geno may consider others from the current roster, e.g., Kelis, K9, Allie, or Morgan. My point being that with the changes in the team makeup next year, the PG position becomes one of the most, if not the most critical one of all to be evaluated.

I think KK is going to be in the conversation for AA next year, as Harmon is this year. So, people expect everyone to be scorers. With the scorers UConn has, should KK score more. She picks her spots.
And I predict that she's a first round draft choice and she'll play 10 years in the W. Underrated characteristic- her strength. She's a good rebounder and she can score inside. I think she's used to making those shots inside. And she plays the heck out of post defense. She'll demonstrate fronting the post.

 

[Blond D.]

I remember KK and Ashlynn's Freshmen year. Nika was pushing them all over the place to get them in the right spots.

Its helps when youre being taught by the best.

 

[FanSince17]

I remember KK and Ashlynn's Freshmen year. Nika was pushing them all over the place to get them in the right spots.

Its helps when youre being taught by the best.

One of the favorite teams in my lifetime. Tough, hard-nosed with a couple stars. No bench except Ice. Aliyah at 6'3 and 4 gritty guards. Like when two boxers face each other in the ring, that team was standing toe-to-toe with everyone. What a job!

 

[jazz]

As mentioned before, I think KK is really good. Consistently makes the right decision on the court. Very good passer with nice court vision. Speed to blow up the court and by players, but yet will pull up when it isn't there, and that is hard to do. When you have the pedal down, you just want to go, go, go.

Very steady in her approach and is a lock down defender. She also appears to be a very good leader, has some fire and a bit of 'dog' in her.

 

[Dogstar]

"may" here can serve several purposes. Jovanna or an other international player may prove to be that elusive AA level PG. Another portal transfer like K9 (perhaps even a graduate student) may chose to come to UConn. Geno may consider others from the current roster, e.g., Kelis, K9, Allie, or Morgan. My point being that with the changes in the team makeup next year, the PG position becomes one of the most, if not the most critical one of all to be evaluated.

If Jovanna is as good as some thk she'll be competing for the 2 spot which will be open with Azzi going pro. Neither one of the players on the roster will start at the point ahead of KK, not happening, not even a chance. There are several posters tht thk Morgan's going to be a point guard, but I thk being 6'2" she's gonna be a 2 or 3. Imho

 

[OldSchooler]

I was amused at all the speculation about who would fill KK's spot in the starting lineup, immediately after the announcement on Wednesday that KK would not play. It would be K9, or course. Or maybe Kelis would be given an opportunity to display her future potential for the PG role. Or maybe Azzi or Sarah would take over PG duties, opening a spot in the starting lineup for Blanca. Nobody, as I recall (please correct me if I'm wrong), mentioned Allie as the new substitute starter. Not only did she fit right in, but she earned that spot by her performance to date and her "seniority" over others from the bench. Bottom line: Let's let Geno & staff do the coaching.

 

[H Dog]

"may" here can serve several purposes. Jovanna or an other international player may prove to be that elusive AA level PG. Another portal transfer like K9 (perhaps even a graduate student) may chose to come to UConn. Geno may consider others from the current roster, e.g., Kelis, K9, Allie, or Morgan. My point being that with the changes in the team makeup next year, the PG position becomes one of the most, if not the most critical one of all to be evaluated.

I thoroughly disagree with your general contention that KK is not an AA level PG. I would take her right now over any other point guard in the nation including Harmon from Texas and Hidalgo at ND and Miles at TCU. You put her on those teams and she’d have stats that are off the charts too. She was the Top Dawg at Kelsey Plum’s Elite Camp for a reason. She is the engine that runs our Lady Huskies on both offense and defense and in the locker room apparently. It is a total lack of appreciation and understanding for her stellar play and performance to suggest that someone else should be the starting point guard for this team or that she is not an elite player.

 

[Blond D.]

I was amused at all the speculation about who would fill KK's spot in the starting lineup, immediately after the announcement on Wednesday that KK would not play. It would be K9, or course. Or maybe Kelis would be given an opportunity to display her future potential for the PG role. Or maybe Azzi or Sarah would take over PG duties, opening a spot in the starting lineup for Blanca. Nobody, as I recall (please correct me if I'm wrong), mentioned Allie as the new substitute starter. Not only did she fit right in, but she earned that spot by her performance to date and her "seniority" over others from the bench. Bottom line: Let's let Geno & staff do the coaching.

I admit, that choice blew me away. It never even dawned on me that Allie was even in the running.

 

[rugbymate]

One of the subtle changes in KK’s game this year is how she lets the game come to her in the half court….she seems to execute based on what
the defense gives her….hence her improved a/TO ratio of 4.7. By comparison, the best season of UCONN great point guards A/TO are Bird(2.4), PB(3.5), Muhl(2.5), Dangerfield(3.1) and Jefferson (3.1). Recognizing it’s only a third of a season, her performance to date is nothing short of impressive.

 

[JellyBean]

Great thread! KK has put in the work over the off-season and hit shows in her shooting. Her defensive intensity has always been the spark for our defense. I just hope that we don't take her for granted. I greatly appreciate her and her efforts out there. Like someone mentioned earlier about KK and floor burns or something along the lines of KK diving on the floor for the 50/50 balls. That speaks volumes about "how bad" a player wants to win. When you have player going hard like that, you rally behind them. Salute, KK!!

 

[cabbie191]

Let's let Geno & staff do the coaching.

BUT - it is so emotionally warming to be UConn's collective assistant coaches!

In fact, I wonder if there'd be a niche market for t-shirts that read something like:

UConn WCBB Honorary Coach
AKA Boneyard Aficionado

 

[RockyMTblue2]

BUT - it is so emotionally warming to be UConn's collective assistant coaches!

In fact, I wonder if there'd be a niche market for t-shirts that read something like:

UConn WCBB Honorary Coach
AKA Boneyard Aficionado

I agree. One of the core tenets of fandom is second guessing coaching!

 

[Twolf]

As often as the case, it took until her junior year to really find the balance of how and when to use her speed. She's always been a fun player to watch, but she is very impressive this year and looks very comfortable leading the team.

I love the dichotomy between her natural fun loving personality and her serious demeanor on the floor this year. To me, she looks like a WNBA point guard out there.

Her absence yesterday highlighted how good she makes every other player on the floor look.

 

[Cuango]

I thoroughly disagree with your general contention that KK is not an AA level PG. I would take her right now over any other point guard in the nation including Harmon from Texas and Hidalgo at ND and Miles at TCU. You put her on those teams and she’d have stats that are off the charts too. She was the Top Dawg at Kelsey Plum’s Elite Camp for a reason. She is the engine that runs our Lady Huskies on both offense and defense and in the locker room apparently. It is a total lack of appreciation and understanding for her stellar play and performance to suggest that someone else should be the starting point guard for this team or that she is not an elite player.

I too love our KK. She has become a really good point guard and runs this team incredibly well. Her defense is just amazing and she has outstanding assists/to numbers but come on, saying she’s better than any one of those three is a bit of a stretch.

Yes, she may be best for this team but there is no way she can score with Hidalgo, Miles, or even Harmon. Miles, I believe has had 4 (perhaps more) triple doubles this season, Hidalgo routinely scores 25+ and has 16 steals in one game, and Harmon, just now finally healthy, has the best assists/turnovers numbers in the country. Don’t get me wrong, she is right up there with those three but better? I don’t think you will find many takers on that. Again, I agree that I would not trade KK for anyone but that doesn’t mean we can’t acknowledge that there are players on other teams that may be better at basketball than some of our players! I exclude Sarah, of course!😍

Of course, “basketball skills” are only part of what makes a great player, (albeit a very important part) and KK, in addition to having very good basketball skills has a myriad of other skills and attributes that make her perfect for this team! She, very quietly has become imo the heart of this team.

 

[browns]

I thoroughly disagree with your general contention that KK is not an AA level PG. I would take her right now over any other point guard in the nation including Harmon from Texas and Hidalgo at ND and Miles at TCU. You put her on those teams and she’d have stats that are off the charts too. She was the Top Dawg at Kelsey Plum’s Elite Camp for a reason. She is the engine that runs our Lady Huskies on both offense and defense and in the locker room apparently. It is a total lack of appreciation and understanding for her stellar play and performance to suggest that someone else should be the starting point guard for this team or that she is not an elite player.

We all love KK and she is fun to watch but to say she is better than the 3 you mentioned is just ludicrous

 

[DEpup]

Game was so much more fun with KK!

 

[H Dog]

We all love KK and she is fun to watch but to say she is better than the 3 you mentioned is just ludicrous

Wow, pretty critical commentary considering the name of the thread. I appreciate KK and consider her an elite AA caliber PG and it is my opinion that I’d rather have her as our PG than anyone else in the country including those 3. Why is that ludicrous?

Let’s wait until we actually match up against them this year ( if we do as to Harmon and Miles) and see who runs their team better and whose team wins the game which is the key for determining great point guard play before making any definitive judgement on whose better.

I also did not say that she was “better” than those 3, I only said and meant that I believe that in the Husky scheme of play she’s a better fit and I’d rather have KK over them since she doesn’t care about her personal stats,only what’s best for the team.

And the word better is a term of art that is both subject to interpretation and debatable, my point being that a PGs true value to their team and how good they are when compared to others isn’t necessarily just measured by the usual statistics of points, assists and rebounds.

 

[Bone Dog]

I was thinking about when KK announced her commitment. She seemed like a little kid. Who knew she’d become a key to the team back then? There were plenty of growing pains as she made herself into what Geno wanted her to become. That’s the thing about comparing Huskies to players on other teams — Geno has something very specific in mind when he recruits a kid. The ones who can find their way into his system become part of something great. When he tells them to “do what they’re good at,” this is what he means. He chose them for what they were good at and he already knew how to develop that and fit it into his system.

 

[Scud49]

She is a wonderful, one-of-a-kind gem for the Huskies:

 

[NycUcWbbFan]

Wow, pretty critical commentary considering the name of the thread. I appreciate KK and consider her an elite AA caliber PG and it is my opinion that I’d rather have her as our PG than anyone else in the country including those 3. Why is that ludicrous?

I also did not say that she was “better” than those 3, I only said and meant that I believe that in the Husky scheme of play she’s a better fit and I’d rather have KK over them since she doesn’t care about her personal stats,only what’s best for the team.

As the snapshot stats dashboard &1 shows, KK is as impressive as the other PG’s listed in this thread in (much) less minutes (MIN% = minutes/40) and USG.

It is very arguable that Geno and CD has picked their first choice of point guard that will be lead point guard in her junior year that is very suitable to their everybody-eats-best-shot-basketball-player schemes.

Note: UConn has five players in the Top 50 in BPM which further corroborates that the sequence of rotations and roster management in this deep quality roster is working.

&1 Top 50 players by BPM in Torvik’s data.