Mid-July way too early preason predictions

[Geew1992]

You're welcome. I understand what you are saying, but I was confused by the wording of @Geew1992's response questioning the number 3, and then wanting to know how many players had less than 3, which would be almost all of them. I'm pretty sure we're all singing from the same hymnbook, just sitting in different pews.

I thought he was talking about for their career. Guess I should have mentioned that. My bad

 

[D J B]

I thought he was talking about for their career. Guess I should have mentioned that. My bad

All good.

 

[hoophuskee]

For 2 seasons Aubrey has played consistently and Geno trusts her so why all of a sudden would he stop playing her just because we have a couple of unproven freshman? We downplay Aubrey as a factor on this board entirely too often for my liking, we don’t win that Baylor game without her and she’s not in that game unless Geno has trust in her so why don’t the people on this board?

I have no idea about minutes. IMO have to see how healthy Azzi is. And have to see the level of effectiveness Dorka will be. And ofc how healthy will Evina be. But UCONN's goal of winning a championship was not achieved. They certainly weren't failures but they didn't reach their goal. Geno's goal for his team is not to make everyone happy but try to achieve a title.

I think what mot people are looking at in terms of Aubrey is that she was 7th on the depth chart and there may very well be Azzi and Dorka who are also going to jump ahead of her. If she winds up 9th, how many minutes do you really think she is going to see? And in terms of Baylor; they won by 1 point. Aubrey definitely made some big/huge/enormous plays but if Geno feels for example 8 players are ahead of Aubrey - then maybe Geno feels that's a better ceiling for UCONN.

On top of it- I'm not so sure Geno trusts Aubrey as much as you imply. She only played 6 minutes vs Arizona. If you feel Geno believed Aubrey was so consistent, then why did Geno only play her 6 minutes in that enormous game after Baylor?

For the record, for me- I am not counting out Aubrey. But I can understand why others are. I have no idea of minutes right now.

 

[Purchase1]

I have no idea about minutes. IMO have to see how healthy Azzi is. And have to see the level of effectiveness Dorka will be. And ofc how healthy will Evina be. But UCONN's goal of winning a championship was not achieved. They certainly weren't failures but they didn't reach their goal. Geno's goal for his team is not to make everyone happy but try to achieve a title.

I think what mot people are looking at in terms of Aubrey is that she was 7th on the depth chart and there may very well be Azzi and Dorka who are also going to jump ahead of her. If she winds up 9th, how many minutes do you really think she is going to see? And in terms of Baylor; they won by 1 point. Aubrey definitely made some big/huge/enormous plays but if Geno feels for example 8 players are ahead of Aubrey - then maybe Geno feels that's a better ceiling for UCONN.

On top of it- I'm not so sure Geno trusts Aubrey as much as you imply. She only played 6 minutes vs Arizona. If you feel Geno believed Aubrey was so consistent, then why did Geno only play her 6 minutes in that enormous game after Baylor?

For the record, for me- I am not counting out Aubrey. But I can understand why others are. I have no idea of minutes right now.

I too have no idea in terms of minutes and how that will be distributed but, the question I really pose is why would Geno just stop playing someone who has a little more seniority in his system as opposed to a bunch of newcomers? This is what I mean by counting her out! This board gets very gung-ho about the new pieces we have which I completely understand! I just feel personally those newcomers while they have the potential to be great have NOT played in a Uconn uniform for a second. So I don’t think Aubrey is just going to slip to not playing or not make an impact on this team which was the initial point of the post I responded to.

 

[Heytherego]

I too have no idea in terms of minutes and how that will be distributed but, the question I really pose is why would Geno just stop playing someone who has a little more seniority in his system as opposed to a bunch of newcomers? This is what I mean by counting her out! This board gets very gung-ho about the new pieces we have which I completely understand! I just feel personally those newcomers while they have the potential to be great have NOT played in a Uconn uniform for a second. So I don’t think Aubrey is just going to slip to not playing or not make an impact on this team which was the initial point of the post I responded to.

I really do like Aubrey, but if more talented players come in of course they’re going to be played over her. GA said Azzi has footwork you see from a pro who’s been working at it a few years and CD is surprised when she misses a shot. Those are pretty big compliments. I won’t think it’s crazy to see her playing over AG. As for Dorka, she has a good chance of playing over AG because IMO she is what we’re missing. We need another talented big (with the bonus of being a pretty good shooter), who could rotate with Liv/AE. Before Dorka, AG would have been the third backup but Dorka seems much more versatile, bigger and a better shooter. Aubrey is a great player, but she will have had to improve significantly over the summer to not lose any minutes. And I honestly hope she did improve, I’d love to see her carve out a more consistent role.

 

[donalddoowop]

I really do like Aubrey, but if more talented players come in of course they’re going to be played over her. GA said Azzi has footwork you see from a pro who’s been working at it a few years and CD is surprised when she misses a shot. Those are pretty big compliments. I won’t think it’s crazy to see her playing over AG. As for Dorka, she has a good chance of playing over AG because IMO she is what we’re missing. We need another talented big (with the bonus of being a pretty good shooter), who could rotate with Liv/AE. Before Dorka, AG would have been the third backup but Dorka seems much more versatile, bigger and a better shooter. Aubrey is a great player, but she will have had to improve significantly over the summer to not lose any minutes. And I honestly hope she did improve, I’d love to see her carve out a more consistent role.

Aubrey is not a great player. If she was a great player there would not be all this doubting her playing time. Aubrey has the talent to be very good and should show much improvement this season. She is a lot better than many on this board believes. She and Fudd play different positions and Fudd's playing should not affect Aubrey's playing time. She has the ability to score and Geno has indicated he wants her to shoot more.

 

[Heytherego]

Aubrey is not a great player. If she was a great player there would not be all this doubting her playing time. Aubrey has the talent to be very good and should show much improvement this season. She is a lot better than many on this board believes. She and Fudd play different positions and Fudd's playing should not affect Aubrey's playing time. She has the ability to score and Geno has indicated he wants her to shoot more.

I genuinely believe Aubrey is a great player, she just has much better players before her.

 

[BobbyJ]

Aubrey is not a great player. If she was a great player there would not be all this doubting her playing time. Aubrey has the talent to be very good and should show much improvement this season. She is a lot better than many on this board believes. She and Fudd play different positions and Fudd's playing should not affect Aubrey's playing time. She has the ability to score and Geno has indicated he wants her to shoot more.

Very surprised that with a NBA coach as a father and two brothers who are elite players, and working with the UConn staff, she hasn’t been able to learn to simply dribble into a jump shot. That’s not quite a great player yet.

 

[Alydar]

Aubrey is not a great player. If she was a great player there would not be all this doubting her playing time. Aubrey has the talent to be very good and should show much improvement this season. She is a lot better than many on this board believes. She and Fudd play different positions and Fudd's playing should not affect Aubrey's playing time. She has the ability to score and Geno has indicated he wants her to shoot more.

I interpreted Geno's comment that "if she didn't shoot she was coming out" as meaning she needs to score more to get more minutes. I recall that in one of her first games the announcers commented that she had the coach's OK to shoot three's and they don't say that to bricklayers.
Except for Fudd who I see as a special case none of the newcomers have proven themselves to be great college scorers. Even Juhasz shot 3's poorly last season. And none of them, including Fudd has been cited as great defenders & rebounders. So while I don't see Griffin as top 6 at this point it's still over 3 months to game 1 and it's up in the air as to what the rotation will be.

 

[D J B]

Aubrey is not a great player. If she was a great player there would not be all this doubting her playing time. Aubrey has the talent to be very good and should show much improvement this season. She is a lot better than many on this board believes. She and Fudd play different positions and Fudd's playing should not affect Aubrey's playing time. She has the ability to score and Geno has indicated he wants her to shoot more.

Geno said, “The key thing that we’re trying to help Aubrey with is be consistent and be Aubrey more consistently. You can watch Aubrey play for a minute and you go, ‘This kid should start and play 40 minutes. What’s wrong with the coach?’ And you can watch Aubrey for the next minute and go, ‘This kid shouldn’t play more than one minute any game.’”

He also said, “There’s a lot that Aubrey can do that she’s not doing both offensively and defensively. And I’m asking her to do more and usually when you ask people to do more, they like that. So I’m hoping that we can get her to do more. More of the good things that she does and less of the tentative things that she does.”

Here's the entire article.

 

[hoophuskee]

You

I too have no idea in terms of minutes and how that will be distributed but, the question I really pose is why would Geno just stop playing someone who has a little more seniority in his system as opposed to a bunch of newcomers?

You saw it last year, didn't you? Paige was a freshman and wound up having the most minutes. Azzi is sort of regarded in her mold. So seniority didn't play a role. Further, even Nika wound up with more minutes than Aubrey.

And Evina came in as a newcomer over Aubrey too. Now we have Dorka coming in-- who is in the Evina mode.

Those two players may very well - either directly or indirectly take away a good chunk of minutes from Aubrey.

I just want to make it clear again - I'm not saying they will. But I can see the possibility. It would be less of a possibility for her minutes to decline if she could hit shots.

 

[CL82]

why would Geno just stop playing someone who has a little more seniority

Because UConn woman's basketball isn't a union shop?

 

[Purchase1]

Because UConn woman's basketball isn't a union shop?

Never suggested they were, only that Aubrey has more playing experience and practice experience here than any of the newbies and has seen the floor enough to the point where I feel Geno wouldn’t just throw her on the bench and ignore her.

 

[CL82]

Never suggested they were, only that Aubrey has more playing experience and practice experience here than any of the newbies and has seen the floor enough to the point where I feel Geno wouldn’t just throw her on the bench and ignore her.

Never suggested he would, only that that the term seniority isn't really a sports concept.

 

[fan4eva]

Sorry to all the Mir fans and to a lesser degree the AG fans, but with the influx of talent they will not be a factor this year or next. AG will only be a factor in the few games when we need her defensive intensity and Mir is just too small for the position she might play. neither have the offensive skills to be a significant part of a team as talented as UCONN this coming year which is too bad since they both could be starters on most D 1 teams, just not this one !

every winning team needs someone to do the little things that don't show up in the stat sheet and Mir and Aubrey are those type of players they stayed for a reason and I think it's to be apart of something great even if it's just to make the "Stars of the team" work hard in practice to make the games easier this team is so loaded it's toughest competition may be in practice but in my heart before it's all said and MIr an AG will have a impact on this season

 

[donalddoowop]

I genuinely believe Aubrey is a great player, she just has much better players before her.

What players ahead of Aubrey can be considered great? There is only one player on UConn who has proven to be great unless you are one of those people who have cheapened the meaning of great and there are many who have. .

 

[donalddoowop]

Geno said, “The key thing that we’re trying to help Aubrey with is be consistent and be Aubrey more consistently. You can watch Aubrey play for a minute and you go, ‘This kid should start and play 40 minutes. What’s wrong with the coach?’ And you can watch Aubrey for the next minute and go, ‘This kid shouldn’t play more than one minute any game.’”

He also said, “There’s a lot that Aubrey can do that she’s not doing both offensively and defensively. And I’m asking her to do more and usually when you ask people to do more, they like that. So I’m hoping that we can get her to do more. More of the good things that she does and less of the tentative things that she does.”

Here's the entire article.

Yes, and that does not describe what I would call a great player. The word great, imo, is vastly overused by people today, especially sports announcers. I really believe she has the ability to become great.

 

[D J B]

Yes, and that does not describe what I would call a great player. The word great, imo, is vastly overused by people today, especially sports announcers. I really believe she has the ability to become great.

What part of what I quoted from Geno indicated that she is a great player? Absolutely nothing. I certainly never said it.

I was quoting Geno to validate your argument that, as you said, "Aubrey has the talent to be very good and should show much improvement this season." Learn how to argue with someone who disputes your position, instead of someone who supports it.

 

[donalddoowop]

What part of what I quoted from Geno indicated that she is a great player? Absolutely nothing. I certainly never said it.

I was quoting Geno to validate your argument that, as you said, "Aubrey has the talent to be very good and should show much improvement this season." Learn how to argue with someone who disputes your position, instead of someone who supports it.

I was agreeing with you. My great player response was to Heytherego's post saying Aubrey is a great player. Learn to read all posts to which a poster is responding. If I was disagreeing with you I would not have given your post a "like".

 

[Happydad745]

I suspect Nika will start. But even if she doesn't start I think she will get plenty of minutes. Why? If Paige and Azzi go nuts on opponents (as we think they will) with Nika brining the ball up court Geno will be hard pressed to break up this 3 guard line up.

Starting 4 guards is not doable considering all the talent on the team...Nika will come in for Paige or Evina when needed, AE starts next year.

 

[D J B]

I was agreeing with you. My great player response was to Heytherego's post saying Aubrey is a great player. Learn to read all posts to which a poster is responding. If I was disagreeing with you I would not have given your post a "like".

Didn't mean to offend. I usually reply to posts that directly quote a post of mine, and not an entire conversation, unless all of the related quotes are included in the reply. It's all good.

 

[Heytherego]

What players ahead of Aubrey can be considered great? There is only one player on UConn who has proven to be great unless you are one of those people who have cheapened the meaning of great and there are many who have. .

Uconn has elite talent, on any other team outside of the top 3, Aubrey could be a starter. In my OPINION Aubrey is a great player.

 

[jabstep]

Uconn has elite talent, on any other team outside of the top 3, Aubrey could be a starter. In my OPINION Aubrey is a great player.

I love aspects of Aubrey game. She like Gabby Williams might not reach her potential while at UConn. Gabby played the 5 at UConn and now is playing point guard in Europe. She has evolved to one of the best players in the world in my estimation. She can shoot from the outside, drive to the hoop, play great defense and now has the confidence to do so. Aubrey could be as good as Gabby at some point. When she makes a jump it will be a big jump.