Saniya tonite Unbelievable

[TimeWillTell]

My wife and I decided to go see Ms. Chong play last night (Tues. 1/31/12). Some articles on her recent play, in our local newspaper, caught my eye a few weeks ago. Then the Boneyard started mentioning her name as a possible recruiting target, and that Shea would be there scouting her, so I said “let’s go take a look!”

The game was at 4:30 pm. We got there early and I watched Ms. Chong’s team go through their pregame routine. Ten minutes later who walks through the door, talks to a few people, and then decides to sit down five feet in front of my wife and I……..that’s right……Shea!

Ms. Chong’s build reminds me of a little shorter Tiffany or a little taller Bria when they were freshmen….thin, wiry but strong. She must have had 4 or 5 assists in the first 3 minutes because she kept finding teammates on 1/4 to 1/2 court fastbreak passes for scores, like Kelly likes to do.

Ms. Chong seems to be both very quick and fast a foot, with, or without the ball. She wowed the crowd several times with a lightning change of direction and score on fastbreaks and in half court offense. She ran down and stuffed an opposing taller player in what looked like an easy score on a fastbreak….the crowd went nuts.

She seems to have a good handle, with her head always up, surveying the court. She seems comfortable on offense from all over the floor…deep, mid range and underneath, with good form and accuracy. I was quite taken with her use of the left hand…she uses it all the time with no hesitation.

On defense she must have had a green light from her coach to wander a bit from the people she was guarding. On more than one occasion she was burned by her man when she tried to make a steal or tie- up away from the person she was guarding. But Ms. Chong definitely has all the skills to be a great defender. The steals she continues to rack up are a partial testament to that.

I was definitely impressed with Ms. Chong. Great skills in high school don’t always translate to the same in college div I play. And it’s hard to tell about attitude, resolve, perseverance and fighting spirit seeing someone play only once………But I hope Shea goes back and tells Geno “You need to check Saniya Chong out!”

 

[Icebear]

She strikes me as very similar to Brianna Banks.

 

[VAMike23]

She strikes me as very similar to Brianna Banks.

...? How so..

 

[MilfordHusky]

I was thinking there was a similarity to Bria Hartley.

 

[speedoo]

I was thinking there was a similarity to Bria Hartley.

Same here.

 

[msf22b]

I think an even better shooter than the 2 mentioned above

 

[speedoo]

I think an even better shooter than the 2 mentioned above

She might be a better shooter than Brianna, but with a game on the line, Bria has proven herself, so I won't agree that she's a better shooter than Bria.

 

[Icebear]

Frame wise she is similar to BB. She is leaner and more toned than Bria. Her quickness as well is similar to BB. Her crossover is similar to BB's mechanically, as well, do to her similar lankiness. She strikes me as a right handed BB. I can see why some draw the connection to Bria, too, but I am thinking more of physical make up and related game.

 

[Sonny44]

Either Geno or Chris (I think it was Geno) said something almost exactly like: "We want at least 3 in the class of 2013."

IMHO, we need to get a pure center.

 

[Kevin G]

It's exciting to hear about Saniya who is appearing to be a "little known secret". Her numbers are incredible and no doubt she has talent. She can be extremely gifted on the offensive end but if she cant play defense the way UCONN/the coaches expect it then she'll be sitting on pine.

 

[UcMiami]

On her being under the radar - haven't seen or looked to see who and where (or if) she is playing on the AAU circuit. If she is not on a good team that travels to the big tournaments then none of the rating services are going to see much of her.
On Uconn offers prior to a visit - our own Tiff got an offer and gave a verbal before she ever made it to Storrs, and had Taya visited before she reportedly received her offer? It is a general rule, but not one that is absolute.
Geno generally likes to see a player himself, but I am not sure that is absolute either. I think he trusts all of his coaches enough at this point that if one were to tell him a player was a slam dunk, he would believe them.

 

[jdubct]

On her being under the radar - haven't seen or looked to see who and where (or if) she is playing on the AAU circuit. If she is not on a good team that travels to the big tournaments then none of the rating services are going to see much of her.
On Uconn offers prior to a visit - our own Tiff got an offer and gave a verbal before she ever made it to Storrs, and had Taya visited before she reportedly received her offer? It is a general rule, but not one that is absolute.
Geno generally likes to see a player himself, but I am not sure that is absolute either. I think he trusts all of his coaches enough at this point that if one were to tell him a player was a slam dunk, he would believe them.

As you stated, Tiff received an offer prior to a visit to Storrs. Geno had seen her play prior to the offer. Don't know the timing of Taya's offer.

 

[speedoo]

IMHO, we need to get a pure center.

I also felt that way, until Kiah showed what she can do. Stef is here through 2014 and Kiah through 2015.. Plus we have Breanna and Morgan through 2016, so we can manage the 4-5 spots for a while. But yeah it would be good to get a really good center somewhere down the line. Maybe Turner in 2014.

 

[UcMiami]

I just did a wee bit of the google - her AAU team is Westchester Hoopers which does not seem to be a big travel team, though they are now teaming with Exodus for an Elite level as of last summer, and I don't think she was on that team. I would expect that she would be this summer? Anyway - I would say this points to why she does not have the 'national rep' that is generally reserved for the Elite AAU team members.