Rebounding

[hoophuskee]

As a general statement, I think feeding a 6-5 post is a good idea, especially if the post is being single-covered. Simply receiving a post feed doesn't mean she has to shoot every time, either. So much of the modern game is inside out. Having a big post be a threat to score helps the outside game a great deal.

Regarding efficiency, giving Jana a lot of game reps strikes me a being a good tactic for developing efficiency, even if it's not there in December.
.

A "general" statement sure, but not "this" statement. Basketball stats can count. It is generally a terrible idea to use imagination because of physical features over fundamentals/.stats. The stats clearly show that Jana is 8th in terms of efficiency. And to slow down the pace of play for a less efficient player is rarely ever a good idea.

And so much of the modern game is free of the mindset that you need to be inside out. These lats two years Iowa was not inside out. Lats year UCONN was not inside out. One of the all-time great teams in NBA History were the Warriors and they were not Inside-Out. The Chicago Bulls led by Jordan were not inside out – but if that isn’t conserved modern era certainly LeBron was when we was winning. And the Boston Celtics last year were not inside out. What the modern era has shown us is that you can be successful different ways - not tied down to one-way.

As far as efficiency, what is holding back Jana is that she bricks free throws. Some centers never get much better. Others no matter how many minutes you give for a given year, sometimes Bigs just won't get better until the next year. If you can't rely on her to hit her free throws at the end of the game, then how much value is she giving you vs all the time you wanted force-feeding her? You not only stunted the team but you stunted many of the other players. If the game is close and baskets are at a premium why would you want the ball going into an absolute awful free throw shooter?

And while you make a point that the post doesn't need to shoot every time, this is true but it if we open this door then we can open that not only 6'5 players can low post too. It doesn’t have to be Jana. And secondly, why not make passes inside to players that can pass back out pretty well Because Jana's passing has bene atrocious.

How many player’s minutes have to be sacrificed and their growth stunted all because there is "hope" that one of the least inefficient players on the team with very little experience will hopefully be a dangerous player late rather than what she is right now- which is pretty good? She is doing fine right now - she is averaging 16 minutes a game and averaging near 6 shots a game. She is doing fine. Patience is warranted. Not force-feeding.

For anyone suggesting inside-out featuring / force-feeding Jana at this moment – think of this: She is among the least efficient scorers and probably the worst passer in which she is going to eventually go against in late rounds very tough battle-tested experienced players, and we expect she is going to do very well in a style of force-feeding rather than playing off of Paige, Azzi and Sarah within an Offense that has been awesome for 30 years? You are taking the ball out of superior players hands along with there will be less passes that will wind up going to Paige/Azzi, and Sarah because of less efficient passing coming from Jana. And this supposed to be good all because she is 6’5?

 

[hoophuskee]

Jana is likely to be a key player for us for the next three and 1/2 years! Sure, in big, competitive games like Notre Dame, you play to win with your best players getting most of the touches! However, we have a conference schedule that, let’s face it, we could probably win with our second team. This is when you get Jana her shots in the hope that she might be able to contribute in April/March and even if that does not happen, hopefully next season!

Jana is helping now at this moment. She is getting shots right now. She played 20 minutes vs Ole Miss- so without a doubt she helped. Patience. There is no needto force-feed. UCONN is already a force of a team with the current path they are following. Let’s wait for Jana to play better in those minutes within the type of Offense that has bene a staple all these years. She is still getting decent minutes.

Her current 16 minute average is 3 minutes above what Cardoso from SoCar averaged in her soph year and just 2 minutes under what Cardoso’s averaged in her jr year. If those minutes are good enough for Cardoso, then roughly the minutes and style Jana is playing right now should be good enough as well.

 

[Alydar]

Jana is helping now at this moment. She is getting shots right now. She played 20 minutes vs Ole Miss- so without a doubt she helped. Patience. There is no needto force-feed. UCONN is already a force of a team with the current path they are following. Let’s wait for Jana to play better in those minutes within the type of Offense that has bene a staple all these years. She is still getting decent minutes.

Her current 16 minute average is 3 minutes above what Cardoso from SoCar averaged in her soph year and just 2 minutes under what Cardoso’s averaged in her jr year. If those minutes are good enough for Cardoso, then roughly the minutes and style Jana is playing right now should be good enough as well.

It's also a long season in D1 for freshmen and El Alfy will be much more valuable in March than now so 15 per game won't wear her down. She is also shooting 55%. A pleasant alternative to endless missed bunnies of past 1st year posts.

 

[hoophuskee]

It's also a long season in D1 for freshmen and El Alfy will be much more valuable in March than now so 15 per game won't wear her down. She is also shooting 55%. A pleasant alternative to endless missed bunnies of past 1st year posts.

Yes lots of time.

She has to be able to hit her free throws. If she can't, then it negates to a degree the idea of feeding the her in the post much in big games. And if a player can't be relied on in certain aspects of scoring, then why force-feed her which wiould only result in the opposing team's Defense exploiting a weakness/or less efficient part of their Offense.

Though at the end of the day I'd be shocked if her free throw shooting doesn't get significantly better.

 

[Cuango]

Jana is helping now at this moment. She is getting shots right now. She played 20 minutes vs Ole Miss- so without a doubt she helped. Patience. There is no needto force-feed. UCONN is already a force of a team with the current path they are following. Let’s wait for Jana to play better in those minutes within the type of Offense that has bene a staple all these years. She is still getting decent minutes.

Her current 16 minute average is 3 minutes above what Cardoso from SoCar averaged in her soph year and just 2 minutes under what Cardoso’s averaged in her jr year. If those minutes are good enough for Cardoso, then roughly the minutes and style Jana is playing right now should be good enough as well.

Not using the conference schedule to give certain players extra reps would essentially be coaching malpractice! I would of course, put Jana at the top of that list as she has certain physical attributes that will prove very valuable for this team! I’m not sure what Cardoso’s sophomore and Jr minutes has to do with anything. Jana is essentially a freshman and needs as much playing time as possible to aid her development into what we all hope will be a dominant post for us over the coming three and 1/2 years! Obviously, she is not the only one that needs minutes and hopefully, Geno will/can use the conference games (many of them) to reward/develop some of the younger talent on this roster!

 

[oldude]

Yes lots of time.

She has to be able to hit her free throws. If she can't, then it negates to a degree the idea of feeding the her in the post much in big games. And if a player can't be relied on in certain aspects of scoring, then why force-feed her which wiould only result in the opposing team's Defense exploiting a weakness/or less efficient part of their Offense.

Though at the end of the day I'd be shocked if her free throw shooting doesn't get significantly better.

Specifically, Jana has to be able to hit her 1st free throw. She is currently 6/16 from the FT line, which I believe is a combination of 0% on FT #1 and 75% on FT #2.

Very odd…..

 

[hoophuskee]

Not using the conference schedule to give certain players extra reps would essentially be coaching malpractice! I would of course, put Jana at the top of that list as she has certain physical attributes that will prove very valuable for this team! I’m not sure what Cardoso’s sophomore and Jr minutes has to do with anything. Jana is essentially a freshman and needs as much playing time as possible to aid her development into what we all hope will be a dominant post for us over the coming three and 1/2 years! Obviously, she is not the only one that needs minutes and hopefully, Geno will/can use the conference games (many of them) to reward/develop some of the younger talent on this roster!

Again -- she has been playing in blowouts. And she has been playing in close games. What is malpractice is force-feeding a player that is one of your most least efficient players that is unproven in addition to stunting the growth of all other players in addition to changing the style of how you want to play - which is fast paced all because a player is 6'5 with no proven track record.

And again Cardoso was able to play around the same minutes for 2 years while right now Jana is playing around the same. If Cardoso could develop at an extremely high level playing around the same minutes that Jana is playing right now, then this highlights that Jana can do the same with roughly the same number of minutes she is getting right now. Cardoso was the epitome of a dominant post.

Of course Geno will use blowouts to play his bench and that is what he is doing right now!

 

[Rowdy831]

It was clear that UConn has a bunch of great players and UL doesn't. I don't think the starting five right now is championship level but I do think a championship level starting five is on the team. When you have three players that are as good or better than any other players in the country you should win and win big.

They flexed a little bit against UL and until Geno called them off a little it looked like UL might not have a FG in the third quarter. As far as rebounding goes I think UL had one sequence in the game where they got 4-5 looks on one trip down the floor. Other than that one trip they completely controlled every aspect of that game.