Yes, exactly this! Your entire post is right, and to the point. So few BYers have taken the trouble to watch any of Jana’s HS games. I get it, they’re not easy to find, and once found they’re difficult to watch because the camera work is not great and the PA announcer speaks in Arabic. But everything
@oldhusky says here is clear in those videos. The FIBA games tell a similar story. Add to the mix that she suffered a catastrophic injury before day 1 at Storrs and I’d be cautious criticizing anything about her development. Compare her to Ciera Toomey on UNC to get a sense of what a similar trajectory might look like. Of course, Toomey has the advantage of being surrounded by other capable bigs. Also, picture what Koval’s development would look like had she suffered a similar injury. I had hoped Jana could have progressed more quickly, but I’m not surprised by what has transpired.
I’ve seen the same thing as you have,
@Puppy Love, and not just looking at games from Stewie’s senior year. Gabby’s final two seasons were similar. I don’t think the primary problem this year is the lack of a PG. The problem is lack of experience playing together everywhere, which is what Geno has said several times in the course of the season.
The ball just doesn’t move as quickly this season as it did in those storied seasons. You can see the ball getting stuck because someone misses a spot or bumps into a teammate or in some other way distorts the motion offense and it’s spacing. And it’s not just Morgan or Allie. Kaitlyn and KK sometimes also do this. Paige and Azzi are the ones who mainly move the ball consistently well, Sarah and Ash are closest to them in this respect. Some have said making Paige the full time PG is the solution. But I don’t think this would solve the problem and the fact is Paige already has the ball in her hands a ton.
I’d compare this team to either of the teams from 2016-17 and 2017-18, both of which went 36-1 and fell short of the NC at the end of storybook runs. They were packed with ball handlers and shooters like now, ran in transition really well and lacked a major post presence. But above all else they had tons of experience with each other.
Last season, Paige Nika and Aaliyah carried 4 freshman teammates to the final four. But that was as far as they could go with that configuration, as their freshmen gradually wilted under the pressure.
This season, we’re looking at a similar situation with even less experience as a team. Geno has lost two seniors to the W and replaced them with a very good senior transfer, a once great shooting guard who may yet recover her greatness, 4 still evolving sophomores, and 4 promising freshmen. Similar injuries still beset the team as more than half the possible frontcourt is either out or struggling to return, and that doesn’t even count Ice’s injury.
My point in this comparison is that the teams Paige has been carrying over the past two seasons are not nearly as experienced as the two teams led by Gabby-Phee-Katie Lou teams. Paige came close to replicating what they did in their best season last year.
And I wonder what we think even the 2015-16 team would have been able to accomplish minus Morgan, Katie Lou and Moriah, and Geno having to play Brianna Pulido for 10 mins/g. Because that’s what we’re looking at this season.
LSU and the Golden Domers moved ahead of us.
