Saylor article - critics take note

[HuskyNan]

Those of you that wrote off Saylor because of what you saw this past season, please read this.

Journal Inquirer

The latest news from Manchester, Connecticut, as well as coverage of Enfield, Vernon, South Windsor, East Hartford and beyond.

www.journalinquirer.com

 

[eebmg]

Money quote

“Coach doesn’t bring you here to hold your hand,” Poffenbarger said. “You get a week and a half of leniency and then it’s, ‘You better know.’

Clearly Geno is mellowing. A week and a half.

 

[Bigboote]

Thank you for posting this, Nan. I get frustrated with folks who are basically writing Saylor off based on a few minutes of play when she hadn't had a chance to acclimate to the team. This is a kid who was Maryland player of the year as a junior playing on one leg.

 

[victor64]

I am not worried about her skills.MilfordHusky’s opinion is good enough for me. I am worried about the health of her back. if she is 100% by the start of the season, watch out.

 

[bluedevil]

Unfortunately back injuries are hard to come back from. Okay I said that but they can last a long time especially without surgery. Should we just say to Saylor we have your back and wish you well. One last thing: Bio Freeze.

 

[GoingPostal]

Unfortunately back injuries are hard to come back from. Okay I said that but they can last a long time especially without surgery. Should we just say to Saylor we have your back and wish you well. One last thing: Bio Freeze.

Your right, back issues can be recurring problems. In Saylor's case I have to think that the decision to not have surgery and to treat it with physical therapy was made with input from the Uconn medical staff, trainers, Geno, and Saylor and her family. Saylor's personal physician may also have had been consulted. Back operations are tricky with as much of a chance for success as for failure.

 

[Bald Husky]

With the depth of this years team, if it was serious enough to have surgery I would think that this would be the right time to do it. Get it over with, rest up, and redshirt this year. Their reluctance to have the surgery tells me that the doctors feel it is something she can recover from in a reasonable amount of time. Good news, looking forward to see her perform this season. Get well Saylor.

 

[HuskyNan]

Unfortunately back injuries are hard to come back from. Okay I said that but they can last a long time especially without surgery. Should we just say to Saylor we have your back and wish you well. One last thing: Bio Freeze.

It helps to be a healthy 18 year old. She’ll probably feel it when she’s 60, though

 

[EricLA]

I'm rooting for Saylor big time, just like I'm sure all UCONN fans are. However, she was given a decent amount of opportunity to produce on the floor last season. She averaged more minutes than Piath or Autumn playing in 12 games and was less effective overall than either of them. She went 1-11 from 3, and 2-15 overall.

There were several others who jumped from HS to college mid season - notably Olivia Miles and Talia Van Oelhoffen. Olivia played 6 games and averaged 9 PPG. Talia was core player for Oregon State, played in 13 games and averaged over 11 PPG.

Both of those players were higher ranked that Saylor. Both of them were on teams with less talent. Both played way more minutes. But Saylor simply looked like a fish out of water, while the the other 2 kids hit the ground running. And most of the games she played in was against lesser competition (ie. not playing vs. SC, Tennessee, etc.).

Having a stress fracture in her back can certainly explain her performance, poor kid. I'm certainly not writing her off, and am hoping she's a key contributor this year. But given the talent on this team, and the fact that at her "position(s) (ie. 3-4)", I suspect not only will Caroline be ahead of her on the depth chart, but also Christyn, Evina, Mir, Aubrey, Liya and possibly Dorka.

I know Christyn and Evina are not necessarily 3's or 4's, but if UCONN starts Nika and Paige or Paige and Azzi, Christyn and Evina are effectively playing the 3 and 4 respectively.

Plus coming back from an injury will put her behind everyone now, even tho she came to college early. I hope she comes back slowly so that when she does get out on the court, she can go 100% and hopefully show what she's capable of.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Lots of 3s coming this year from Saylor! And on the opposite side of the arc from Caroline!

 

[Huskee11]

Hopefully Saylor will be back at 100% by the end of the summer.

Any negative perceptions could be erased in a matter of minutes.

Speaking of minutes, that is an issue for her and almost everyone on the team. As in, not enough of them. But having watched six player “rotations” in recent years, I couldn’t be happier.

I was never a great athlete but I played three sports and at times I played through injury and pain in all three, including a lower back injury where I could barely move on the basketball court before shutting it down for almost a month. I also played healthy. Huge difference. I would not have wanted to be judged based on my (lack of) performance playing while injured.

So let’s cut Saylor some slack. (That’s a sailing term, right?)

Go Saylor!

 

[donalddoowop]

I'm rooting for Saylor big time, just like I'm sure all UCONN fans are. However, she was given a decent amount of opportunity to produce on the floor last season. She averaged more minutes than Piath or Autumn playing in 12 games and was less effective overall than either of them. She went 1-11 from 3, and 2-15 overall.

There were several others who jumped from HS to college mid season - notably Olivia Miles and Talia Van Oelhoffen. Olivia played 6 games and averaged 9 PPG. Talia was core player for Oregon State, played in 13 games and averaged over 11 PPG.

Both of those players were higher ranked that Saylor. Both of them were on teams with less talent. Both played way more minutes. But Saylor simply looked like a fish out of water, while the the other 2 kids hit the ground running. And most of the games she played in was against lesser competition (ie. not playing vs. SC, Tennessee, etc.).

Having a stress fracture in her back can certainly explain her performance, poor kid. I'm certainly not writing her off, and am hoping she's a key contributor this year. But given the talent on this team, and the fact that at her "position(s) (ie. 3-4)", I suspect not only will Caroline be ahead of her on the depth chart, but also Christyn, Evina, Mir, Aubrey, Liya and possibly Dorka.

I know Christyn and Evina are not necessarily 3's or 4's, but if UCONN starts Nika and Paige or Paige and Azzi, Christyn and Evina are effectively playing the 3 and 4 respectively.

Plus coming back from an injury will put her behind everyone now, even tho she came to college early. I hope she comes back slowly so that when she does get out on the court, she can go 100% and hopefully show what she's capable of.

This is unfair. The players you mentioned played a lot more than Saylor played and played prime time minutes. Miles played early and often and none of those players played on a team that had as many as seven players as talented as UConn's first seven. There was no way Saylor was going to play starters or prime time minutes as those two players did. Oregon and ND had room to play those players. Neither one of them would have played as much for UConn as they did for their teams. There were times when Miles was given the reins to run the team. She could not have done that for UConn. Did Saylor miss any more shots than KLS did when she took her first few shots? Saylor should not be judged on her play last season, imo.

 

[Bigboote]

I'm rooting for Saylor big time, just like I'm sure all UCONN fans are. However, she was given a decent amount of opportunity to produce on the floor last season. She averaged more minutes than Piath or Autumn playing in 12 games and was less

There were several others who jumped from HS to college mid season - notably Olivia Miles and Talia Van Oelhoffen. Olivia played 6 games and averaged 9 PPG. Talia was core player for Oregon State, played in 13 games and averaged over 11 PPG.

Both of those players were higher ranked that Saylor. Both of them were on teams with less talent. Both played way more minutes. But Saylor simply looked like a fish out of water, while the the other 2 kids hit the ground running. And most of the games she played in was against lesser competition (ie. not playing vs. SC, Tennessee, etc.).

Having a stress fracture in her back can certainly explain her performance, poor kid. I'm certainly not writing her off, and am hoping she's a key contributor this year. But given the talent on this team, and the fact that at her "position(s) (ie. 3-4)", I suspect not only will Caroline be ahead of her on the depth chart, but also Christyn, Evina, Mir, Aubrey, Liya and possibly Dorka.

I know Christyn and Evina are not necessarily 3's or 4's, but if UCONN starts Nika and Paige or Paige and Azzi, Christyn and Evina are effectively playing the 3 and 4 respectively.

Plus coming back from an injury will put her behind everyone now, even tho she came to college early. I hope she comes back slowly so that when she does get out on the court, she can go 100% and hopefully show what she's capable of.

All valid points, but let me point out that she joined the team a week before her first game, and when she began practice, she hadn't played a minute of basketball in ten months due to a combination of hip surgery and Maryland schools being completely shut down for sports. By the end of the season, she'd had something like 7-8 weeks of basketball in the previous YEAR. I'd say that deserves a huge amount of slack (to use Huskee11's term).

 

[BostonBay]

Playing with a broken back can definitely have impacted her Spring performance! Like others, I'm more worried about the recovery (physically & mentally) timeline and when she can start playing at 100% again. Sounds like a scary injury. Stress fractures in the foot have derailed seasons & careers (see KLS). Like the foot, I'm assuming the back may have similar consequences if not taken care of.

 

[Heytherego]

The article didn’t really give anything that would ease a critic’s mind. I don’t think we’ll see much from her this season. She seems to be injury prone, I hope she gets it sorted out this year.

 

[hoopsfan22]

The article didn’t really give anything that would ease a critic’s mind. I don’t think we’ll see much from her this season. She seems to be injury prone, I hope she gets it sorted out this year.

Azzi is injury prone as well. It's a good thing this team has a deep bench.

 

[MooseJaw]

To suggest that any of us can know what Saylor's upcoming season will bring is beyond belief for all of us, except perhaps Carnac. The back is a strange beast one second our good friend, acting just like it should. In a fraction of a second it can turn traitor and totally debilitate. We can tell no more about Saylor's upcoming season back wise than we can deduce from the on court game minutes she received last season. What we do know is that Saylor is a very talented player if healthy capable of helping the Huskies win games. My hope is she is recovered from her back injury and she receives enough minutes in prime time to show us the goods.

 

[Dokey]

Hopefully, Geno is paying attention to what Tara is doing and give at least ten-twelve players meaningful minutes.

 

[LarryLegend]

Hopefully, Geno is paying attention to what Tara is doing and give at least ten-twelve players meaningful minutes.

Geno needs to move on from the Red Auerbach “if you cant win with 8, you cant win with 88”

 

[chrissaran]

Nobody mentioned Diana's problems with her back. She hasn't done too bad.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Geno needs to move on from the Red Auerbach “if you cant win with 8, you cant win with 88”

I don't know about Geno, but I certainly do like to see all of the players get a chance to play!

 

[Zonepress]

Hopefully, Geno is paying attention to what Tara is doing and give at least ten-twelve players meaningful minutes.

Generally coaches have short benches
When the gap between starters and subs
Is significant imho that has been the case
For quite some time with UConn
With 6 returning starters, another
Player who played significantly a transfer
Who was all big 10 and a freshman who at the very least is a great shooter hard to imagine a “short bench”
Most likely when all is said and done in close games the best 6-7 players will get the
Majority of the minutes

 

[jazz]

hmmm maybe this explains why Saylor seemed so stiff and slow. not writing her off, but she didn't show anything in her limited minutes. i dont care much about the missed shots; she just looked very stiff and slow to me. but maybe the back was an issue. i cant read the above article but i assume it eludes to a back and/or leg issue based on the responses from others.

 

[Longtime fan]

Thank you for posting this, Nan. I get frustrated with folks who are basically writing Saylor off based on a few minutes of play when she hadn't had a chance to acclimate to the team. This is a kid who was Maryland player of the year as a junior playing on one leg.

I don't think Geno and his staff make many serious errors in judging the talent, and potential contribution of their top recruits. So Saylor undoubtedly has the ability to make a huge contribution. It is dismaying to read that she had to have hip surgery in High School. and back fractures are no joke. She obviously has toughness to play through these injuries last season. But I submit she will need all of July and August...and maybe September...to fully recover. That leaves plenty of the season for her to work her way back physically. Her involvement with the team last season will give her a quick adjustment to the Uconn way of playing the game. So, if she can become fully healthy, she can help a lot by December/January and beyond. It is hard for we fans to be patient. But there will be other players to grab our attention. No doubt.