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7:30 on Peacock. Pregame on now.
Olivia and Jovana tonight!
- Thread starter Basingstoke
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Neither are starting tonight.
Bald Husky
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Jovana looks good, will see a lot of minutes next season. PG position is in good hands.
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I finally got to see the game on Peacock.
First a tiny gripe: It’s difficult to watch this game mainly because it’s so lopsided. It’s all the worst things about an allstar game with an unfair sort added to it. Everyone on TeamUSA has experience playing together, in some cases quite a bit (Maddyn Greenway pointed this out in a sideline interview) while TeamWorld has almost no experience together. In a way it’s embarrassing for TeamUSA how poorly they still play together given this advantage. It’s mostly hero ball, what passes you see are mainly hero passes. Ugh.
Okay, I got that off my chest. Now to what matters. Jovana looked fantastic given the constraints of the game. She played some great defense, especially in transition. She also gave up a few baskets to Saniyah Hall when she ended up isolated on her — this was just a poor defensive concept, not any flaw in Jovana’s game. At some point, Jovana recognized that she wouldn’t get the ball back if she passed it. She still passed it, because that’s clearly how she thinks. But it also meant that she should try to score off any looseball opportunities, which she did. She might have disappeared altogether if she’d been on TeamUSA merely because no one would have shared the ball with her. I look forward to her getting some payback against a lot of the TeamUSA players in the coming years. Jovana is made for UConn’s style of play. Geno saw it and I’m glad she did too.
Olivia was clearly hampered by whatever happened to her thigh. Didn’t move all that well. But you could see her quick hands and quick outlet passing, which is an important part of rebounding. She also knew to look for Jovana — those two seem to know each other a bit.
Hall and Robinson have some seriously good skills. Jerzy will probably fit in well at SC. She might even start next season. Hall looks like a slightly slower version of Juju. I shudder to think about what sort of basketball they’ll play together, if they can play together at all. The person I really feel for is Kennedy Smith. She has been a workhorse for USC for two seasons and I suspect her minutes are going to shrink, maybe a lot. And a side note: Maddyn Greenway is a serious athlete, reminds me a bit of Jacy Sheldon. This is perhaps not a bad comparison for Jovana too.
Now back to UConn. On the strength of this game, I don’t see Jovana starting right away. She needs to get stronger. But I think she’ll get playing time. Olivia already looks like a rotation player to me, and I really hope this thigh injury is not serious. What Geno wants from her, my guess, is a high post passer and a rebounder, and some scoring. Olivia can deliver on all three. It’s the high post passing that sets her apart. The past two seasons, as soon as Sarah sat, this dimension of our game evaporated. Olivia will fix this.
First a tiny gripe: It’s difficult to watch this game mainly because it’s so lopsided. It’s all the worst things about an allstar game with an unfair sort added to it. Everyone on TeamUSA has experience playing together, in some cases quite a bit (Maddyn Greenway pointed this out in a sideline interview) while TeamWorld has almost no experience together. In a way it’s embarrassing for TeamUSA how poorly they still play together given this advantage. It’s mostly hero ball, what passes you see are mainly hero passes. Ugh.
Okay, I got that off my chest. Now to what matters. Jovana looked fantastic given the constraints of the game. She played some great defense, especially in transition. She also gave up a few baskets to Saniyah Hall when she ended up isolated on her — this was just a poor defensive concept, not any flaw in Jovana’s game. At some point, Jovana recognized that she wouldn’t get the ball back if she passed it. She still passed it, because that’s clearly how she thinks. But it also meant that she should try to score off any looseball opportunities, which she did. She might have disappeared altogether if she’d been on TeamUSA merely because no one would have shared the ball with her. I look forward to her getting some payback against a lot of the TeamUSA players in the coming years. Jovana is made for UConn’s style of play. Geno saw it and I’m glad she did too.
Olivia was clearly hampered by whatever happened to her thigh. Didn’t move all that well. But you could see her quick hands and quick outlet passing, which is an important part of rebounding. She also knew to look for Jovana — those two seem to know each other a bit.
Hall and Robinson have some seriously good skills. Jerzy will probably fit in well at SC. She might even start next season. Hall looks like a slightly slower version of Juju. I shudder to think about what sort of basketball they’ll play together, if they can play together at all. The person I really feel for is Kennedy Smith. She has been a workhorse for USC for two seasons and I suspect her minutes are going to shrink, maybe a lot. And a side note: Maddyn Greenway is a serious athlete, reminds me a bit of Jacy Sheldon. This is perhaps not a bad comparison for Jovana too.
Now back to UConn. On the strength of this game, I don’t see Jovana starting right away. She needs to get stronger. But I think she’ll get playing time. Olivia already looks like a rotation player to me, and I really hope this thigh injury is not serious. What Geno wants from her, my guess, is a high post passer and a rebounder, and some scoring. Olivia can deliver on all three. It’s the high post passing that sets her apart. The past two seasons, as soon as Sarah sat, this dimension of our game evaporated. Olivia will fix this.
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I will bet she will be in the rotation. Excellent passer & floor general point guard…
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Imagine her playing in a system in which she can pass the ball and get it back again. She will be unleashed as soon as she gets up to speed.