New Amari article

[FormerCTrez]

Wow! Sounds very immature! I don't see this changing. Peoples' value systems do not change easily. I expect zippo from Amari. If she jacks around this season like she did last season, well pull the scholarship and send her packing. Focus on the players committed to working. There is only so much time to teach the players. Why waste time and effort on someone not committed to the UCONN way?

• Amari doesn’t want a repeat of what was a lost freshman season.
• “This season I’m going to show them I’m going to work hard all summer so I gain that trust that they know I can be counted on when needed. Geno: She comes and goes.
• It was a test-the-waters type of year when I could have done a little more.” If I were her teammate I'd read her the riot act!
• DeBerry could not deliver even when there were only seven or eight players available due to injuries.
• “I was working hard every practice, as hard as I could. (Obviously not!) There was more that I could have done. Yes it was aggravating. … for Geno and CD and your teammates.
• At the NCAA tournament, Geno said, ‘With what you did (didn't do?) this year, you could have been helping us a lot more right now.’
• “The day before we had a public practice and he pulled me to the side and said, ‘I want to let you know you have to be ready. I’m serious now. Be ready and don’t pee your pants when you’re out there.’ So I told him, ‘I’ll go the bathroom before the game and I’ll be good.’ He goes, ‘I’m serious,’ and I told him again that I’d be fine. Grow up kid!
• Can DeBerry fill a role? “That remains to be seen,” Auriemma said. “I would love to see that happen.” (Bet he is not holding his breath.)
• Coming in here I thought I was doing OK. Playing against Liv and Dorka I quickly realized that this was something different. Who goes to UCONN to do OK?!

Ok! If Ayanna and Isunah came to UCONN to do more than OK, focus on them and forget Amari.

@SVCBeercats, have you ever interacted with young people? They’re almost certainly unsure of making decisions, right or wrong. Take it easy. Be a little less harsh and a bit more gentle. Remember, she’s a member of the UCONN squad, the team (I believe) you cheer for.

PS: Don’t forget that even us adults, sometimes lack efficient decision making skills. And it’s not until we reflect upon our actions that we realize all that we shoulda, coulda, woulda, etc.
Let us be kind human beings in everything we say and do.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Grains of truth, but overly harsh. Why do we feel the need to trash our own players? I would rather support Amari than trash her.

Dr. Frederick Herzberg taught you cannot directly motivate employees. You build an environment such that the employees can motivate themselves. However, he maintained this will fail for 1% of the employees. For these employees the manager must use KITA, kick in the ass. Geno apparently needs a bigger shoe size for Amari.

 

[oldude]

A lot easier than for a kid from a PA coal town who worked from 12 to 21 years old to earn the money for a college education. So far for Amari it is easy being an 18 year old freshman for the Huskies since she loafed her way through her freshman year. The other players get it and work hard. Dr. Frederick Herzberg taught you cannot directly motivate employees. You build an environment such that the employees can motivate themselves. However, he maintained this will fail for 1% of the employees. For these employees the manager must use KITA, kick in the ass. Geno apparently needs a bigger shoe size for Amari.

You are being far too harsh in your evaluation of a kid who hadn’t played basketball for 2 years when she arrived at UConn. I would also point out that Amari is hardly the first player to arrive at UConn that wasn’t fully prepared for the demands of UConn WBB. Both Gabby & Crystal have made similar comments about not working as hard as they should have as freshmen, and they are hardly alone.

I continue to be thrilled that Amari has made a commitment to spend basically her entire summer in Storrs, working on her game and fitness with the coaches and Andrea Hudy. Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt and see what she shows us this coming season.

 

[Stymie]

This is what I’m gonna say on the subject.
I have to believe that Coach saw (potential) greatness in her during the recruiting process-both in physical skills and personality makeup.
I’m willing to write last year’s performance as a young (to this point) talent at a lower level being thrown into the ‘deep end’ of the pool.
Look at it like the difference between summer stock and Broadway.
If she really wants it- it’s there for her to grab.
Just staying on campus for the summer isn’t enough. It’s the hard work that is put in, not just ‘punching a clock’.
A college athletic career is a rather short one. Four years (usually).
If she miscalculated her freshman year- fair enough.
She is now in the 2nd quarter of her career and approaching half time.
Plenty of time to rise to the occasion and become a UCONN great.
It’s not like she’s a 6’1” number 5 needing to play ‘up’ to more physically gifted opponents.
She has the tools.
Does she want it bad enough.
I think we’ll know by January 1st.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

From what my eyes have seen of Brady and Patterson they are both hard workers so DeBerry has no choice but to work as hard or risk falling behind them too. Toss the return of Griffin into the pot too.

@Alydar do you really think she cares if she falls behind? That is all she did last year. Seems she had no motivation.

 

[Carnac]

This is what I’m gonna say on the subject.
I have to believe that Coach saw (potential) greatness in her during the recruiting process-both in physical skills and personality makeup.
I’m willing to write last year’s performance as a young (to this point) talent at a lower level being thrown into the ‘deep end’ of the pool.
Look at it like the difference between summer stock and Broadway.
If she really wants it- it’s there for her to grab.
Just staying on campus for the summer isn’t enough. It’s the hard work that is put in, not just ‘punching a clock’.
A college athletic career is a rather short one. Four years (usually).
If she miscalculated her freshman year- fair enough.
She is now in the 2nd quarter of her career and approaching half time.
Plenty of time to rise to the occasion and become a UCONN great.
It’s not like she’s a 6’1” number 5 needing to play ‘up’ to more physically gifted opponents.
She has the tools.
Does she want it bad enough.
I think we’ll know by January 1st.

To be fair and objective, I’m going to wait until after the 5th game in December to see what the new season brings. Amari will begin the new season a year older and wiser. This is June. Let’s see how much progress she makes between now and the first game in November. A lot can happen in 4.5 months. Time will tell how sincere Amari is about transitioning from a cheerleader to being in the 7-9 player rotation.

 

[FormerCTrez]

A lot easier than for a kid from a PA coal town who worked from 12 to 21 years old to earn the money for a college education. So far for Amari it is easy being an 18 year old freshman for the Huskies since she loafed her way through her freshman year. The other players get it and work hard. Dr. Frederick Herzberg taught you cannot directly motivate employees. You build an environment such that the employees can motivate themselves. However, he maintained this will fail for 1% of the employees. For these employees the manager must use KITA, kick in the ass. Geno apparently needs a bigger shoe size for Amari.

@SVCBeercats, just as you’re disappointed in Amari’s performance last year, so am I disappointed in you at this moment. Enjoy your perfect performance in all you do. Peace!

 

[uconnever]

Her being laid back is what I saw in her the two games I watched. She was getting beat up and gave up on herself, maybe it’s something that she is still fighting. She did look skill wise, nothing like the player in high school, I saw not much or anything, this year, I saw a lot to work with. She’s good I can tell just probably mentally she needs to get right. I expect a Kiah Stokes like career for her if she sticks it out. This year, a few more minutes but nothing earth shattering.

 

[SVCBeercats]

@SVCBeercats, just as you’re disappointed in Amari’s performance last year, so am I disappointed in you at this moment. Enjoy your perfect performance in all you do. Peace!

Thank you! I will.

 

[hoophuskee]

You are being far too harsh in your evaluation of a kid who hadn’t played basketball for 2 years when she arrived at UConn. I would also point out that Amari is hardly the first player to arrive at UConn that wasn’t fully prepared for the demands of UConn WBB. Both Gabby & Crystal have made similar comments about not working as hard as they should have as freshmen, and they are hardly alone.

I continue to be thrilled that Amari has made a commitment to spend basically her entire summer in Storrs, working on her game and fitness with the coaches and Andrea Hudy. Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt and see what she shows us this coming season.

I agree with you. To further that, think it absolutely wrong to be dissecting a 19 year old's comments in the manner the poster did. This is a 19 yo kid getting experience from High School to perennial top 3 program with the greatest wcbb of all-time.

There are reasons why 19 year old kids are also being asked to "study" and aren't CEO's of major companies or hold high management positions and have made business statements for major companies to use over-and-over; They aren't as experienced. Their quotes shouldn't be dissected even close to the manner the poster did.

To dissect their verbal comments is going too far. As Nan indicated. Nothing more than a rant. She wasn't even going to make the summer team unless others pulled out. Then she didn't get off the bench. Yet she is going to get blasted for for not being able to contribute to a team fielded with other H/S A/A's rated higher than her and future pros???