Maya's record ... more impressive over time

[MilfordHusky]

The Magnificent One was in the stands last night. It was great to see her. Too bad she was not in uniform, but the kid wearing #23 represented the jersey very well.

Last year, we lost to Notre Dame and St. John's at home and finished at 33-5. This season, we have lost to Notre Dame and Baylor at home and are currently 24-2.

In her 4-year career, Maya Moore NEVER lost in the state of Connecticut--Storrs, Hartford, Bridgeport, anywhere. Very, very impressive!

 

[gibhunter]

Maya had Tina Charles and by the time Charles was gone, she was a senior and had Bria Hartley that as a freshman was a much better player than she is now. I have a feeling if KML was a senior last night, she would be in a better shape and wouldn't disappear for 7 minutes of first half or front rim that 3 pointer with UConn being down 3 due to being tired. Those things happen to sophomores, not to senior all Americans.

I'm not blaming the outcome on her, that's squarely on Hartley, Faris and Jefferson and partly on Stewart. It's just a different set of circumstances. Maya was almost as good as Taurasi, KML is almost as good as Maya. I have a feeling KML will match Maya with the amount of championships both get at UConn.

 

[ctmom04]

I think MH was simply trying to point out how incredibly special Maya really was, not taking away from any players on our current team. Regardless of the surrounding players, Maya had a way of taking over any game and willing a victory when it was most needed. NEVER losing in CT is something that should be noted and marveled at.

 

[VAMike23]

Maya had Tina Charles and by the time Charles was gone, she was a senior and had Bria Hartley that as a freshman was a much better player than she is now.

I disagree - I think Bria is better than she was as a frosh but behind where she was last year, mostly due to the lingering effects of the ankle. It showed up last night because Baylor has real quickness and athleticism on the perimeter. I mentioned in another thread the story about Geno showing Bria tapes of her playing last year, and how much faster she was. This was January of this year that he showed her the tapes. Despite many BYers declaring that the old Bria was 'back' I have been non-committal, because I didn't see the quickness back to where it was either. Mentally she is way ahead of where she was in November with the injury but I don't think physically she is back to her old self yet, and she needs to be 100% to be the old Bria.

I am hoping that the layoff after the BE Tournament will help her out. She can still be great but it may be next year before she is completely healthy. It's very hard to say. Wish I would read Rosemary's mind to know what she knows.

My 2 cents

 

[VAMike23]

The Magnificent One Invincible Queen!! was in the stands last night. It was great to see her. Too bad she was not in uniform, but the kid wearing #23 represented the jersey very well.

 

[MilfordHusky]

It's hard to compare, because the circumstances are different. Maya's teams were loaded with future WNBA players, but the current team is loaded too. Renee and Tina were 2x AA players, but Renee's shot selection was still erratic as a junior, and Tina reached her potential consistently only in March of her junior year. Maya was the team's leading scorer for all 4 years. Her will to win is Jordanesque. We've had a lot of great players, but no one else has been 150-4, undefeated in Connecticut, with 3,000+ points. She was, well, Invincible in Connecticut.

 

[VAMike23]

It's hard to compare, because the circumstances are different. Maya's teams were loaded with future WNBA players, but the current team is loaded too. Renee and Tina were 2x AA players, but Renee's shot selection was still erratic as a junior, and Tina reached her potential consistently only in March of her junior year. Maya was the team's leading scorer for all 4 years. Her will to win is Jordanesque. We've had a lot of great players, but no one else has been 150-4, undefeated in Connecticut, with 3,000+ points. She was, well, Invincible in Connecticut.

Overall team speed/quickness was greater in those days, too, at least among the starters (Banks and MoJeff are plenty quick).

"Back in the day" we had players like:
Tina
Maya
Tiff
Kelly
Lady KG
Renee
[--and throw in Doty with better knees as a frosh]

Today, our only holdover with great quickness in the starting lineup is Kelly. None of the other current starters are super quick and explosive as far as natural athleticm goes, at least not like the names above. Bria, even when healthy, is a half-step down from Kelly, who is a superb athlete.

 

[Icebear]

Overall team speed/quickness was greater in those days, too, at least among the starters (Banks and MoJeff are plenty quick).

"Back in the day" we had players like:
Tina
Maya
Tiff
Kelly
Lady KG
Renee
[--and throw in Doty with better knees as a frosh]

Today, our only holdover with great quickness in the starting lineup is Kelly. None of the other current starters are super quick and explosive as far as natural athleticm goes, at least not like the names above. Bria, even when healthy, is a half-step down from Kelly, who is a superb athlete.

People complained about team quickness back then, too. Many thought Maya was not very quick of foot.

 

[VAMike23]

People complained about team quickness back then, too. Many thought Maya was not very quick of foot.

Well, it's true Maya is not all that quick laterally, but she makes up for it with her vertical and her outstanding straight-ahead burst/speed, and she covered a lot of ground in a hurry on help defense.

But did people really complain about team speed with people like Tina, KG, Tiff, Renee, etc.? If so, how could they....?

 

[Icebear]

Well, it's true Maya is not all that quick laterally, but she makes up for it with her vertical and her outstanding straight-ahead burst/speed, and she covered a lot of ground in a hurry on help defense.

But did people really complain about team speed with people like Tina, KG, Tiff, Renee, etc.? If so, how could they....?

They did it regularly. They were wrong but people whine about many things they don't understand.

 

[trisailin]

They did it regularly. They were wrong but people whine about many things they don't understand.

If you aren't careful when reading the Boneyard, you can be dumber when you finish than when you started.
Reminds me of a saying we had when I lived as in Japan: "There are two types of foreign experts on Japanese behavior - those who have lived here more than 30 years and those who have been here less than 3 weeks"