Natalie Butler and Saniya Chong | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Natalie Butler and Saniya Chong

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Tina is a physical specimen and definitely the gold standard for a post running the floor. Gold, as in Gold Medal in London and Gold Medal in Rio.
 
Nat did a great job for her first game but it is premature to draw any conclusions one way or the other based on 15 minutes of one game where she entered with uconn up by a huge margin. The question is can she contribute some dominating minutes against competitive teams with physical bigs and make plays when it really counts. Will Geno have confidence to give her PT in those situations. True she did show some promising signs but the jury is still out in my mind as to what we can expect this year because her movement and athleticism will hinder her.
The comparison with the Steph is wishful thinking at this point. I certainly hope that she proves me wrong. Steph had a great BBIQ and contributed in so many ways that didn't appear in the stat sheet not the her numbers were shabby although it is teue that Steph only began to really contibute in her junior year..
 
I think UCONN will need another big girl to remain dominant next season! That's why Boykin leaving leaves a void!
With Tuck, Butler, KSL, Collier, & Gabby UCONN can still be a powerhouse but that extra 6'2" to 6'3" athletic player would be a plus!
Nurse, Dangerfield (even as a freshman), Chong, KSL (switching 3 & 2), will be awesome together next year!
Bent and Irwin will help but they'll be freshmen and they'll need time to fit into their roles on the team!
 
UcMiami said:
I actually thought Natalie was doing a good job up and down the court - she isn't beating the guards, but didn't really expect that, did you? She was doing fine in terms of being back on defense before the Cinci post players.

My observations - Natalie has a really sweet touch from the foul line and a very quick turnaround quick/high release shot. She is not a great leaper to say the least, and seems a little slow footed on defense - but she is tall with a good nose for the rebounds. I am hoping that the foot speed picks up with more games played. She certainly looked comfortable on the floor and in the offensive and defensive sets. She got most of her minutes with the bench players, so it will be interesting to see her integration with Stewart and Tuck - she seems to make good decisions with the ball. Her first action was a nice two man game with Chong - entry pass in and a quick double team from changes player so she passed back out to Chong, repositioned, got an quick return and turned for a 5 foot baseline swish.

Chong looked great! Good defense, great energy, and sweet shooting. She is very important as that third guard with Moriah and Kia.
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That was one of the three plays that someone "beat up" Saniya for being reluctant to take an open shot. As to Nat's foot speed or lack of I know she didn't beat guards down the floor but agree that she was well ahead of other posts. BTW few if any guards can keep up with MoJeff let alone a 6'5" post.
 
Considering it was Nat's first game for Uconn, even as a sophmore, I think it was great. She stayed within her comfort zone and didn't do anything crazy. As far as her being the last one down the floor, most 6'5" centers will be. Nat put in the time and lost over 20 pounds this summer. The coaches were so excited about her transformation over the summer. She unfortunately got hurt, but she put in the work. Let's give her some time in games, to get into game shape before we start making threads regarding her weight like we did to KML.
 
RSHERMVIKES said:
I think UCONN will need another big girl to remain dominant next season! That's why Boykin leaving leaves a void!
With Tuck, Butler, KSL, Collier, & Gabby UCONN can still be a powerhouse but that extra 6'2" to 6'3" athletic player would be a plus!
Nurse, Dangerfield (even as a freshman), Chong, KSL (switching 3 & 2), will be awesome together next year!
Bent and Irwin will help but they'll be freshmen and they'll need time to fit into their roles on the team!
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There are no bigs for UCONN to add for next year. Unless UCONN goes the JUCO route which I think is highly improbable. Unless someone decommits, or there is another transfer out there waiting to happen, we are done with the 2016 recruiting, and the incoming class of freshmen for next year - Bent, Irwin and Dangerfield. UCONN is still looking hard at some posts for 2017, but seem to be more focused on 2018 which is a richer class of elite post players. Doesn't mean we won't get someone from 2017, but it will be hard for UCONN to get back in with some of the kids they initially passed over (Danielle Patterson for example).

FWIW I'm hearing that Bent will be much better than her rankings and what people think, but I still believe she and Irwin will be role players. Would be nice to be wrong - I've said before if we are lucky, Irwin's ceiling is Sara Hammond, and Bent's would be Kelly Faris. I'm not saying either of those kids will rise to such heights, but they will be valuable and great teammates no matter how "good" their basketball skills end up being...
 
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