Shoot first

[Dokey]

In talking about CD, Geno says her first thought should be to score and pass only when she has no shot and sees open player. Of course, when it comes to scoring she’s special. Still, he says that should be the attitude of all players. Yet, I really only see that in Meg and Crystal and sometimes with Christyn. Kyla appears not to have gotten the message. We go to FF if Anna joins the shoot first club. It’s beginning to look like she can score anywhere on the court. It means a much faster paced game which requires a strong bench to keep players fresh. It could lead to a track meet.

 

[pspr11]

If Anna starts to score, it would open up the whole floor.

 

[Dokey]

If Anna starts to score, it would open up the whole floor.

Agreed. I think it might especially benefit CW to see Anna shooting more.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

But they're apples and oranges. Kyla is front court, and supposed to pick up the slack from ONO. Anna is really back court.

Need both to score, and attempt to score. And for ONO to stop fading and start going hard to the rim.

Lots of needs to be fulfilled in order for us to get where we want to go!!

 

[winlots]

In talking about CD, Geno says her first thought should be to score and pass only when she has no shot and sees open player. Of course, when it comes to scoring she’s special. Still, he says that should be the attitude of all players. Yet, I really only see that in Meg and Crystal and sometimes with Christyn. Kyla appears not to have gotten the message. We go to FF if Anna joins the shoot first club. It’s beginning to look like she can score anywhere on the court. It means a much faster paced game which requires a strong bench to keep players fresh. It could lead to a track meet.

DOKEY: Agree - shoot first, and only run if the Vermonters do.

 

[CocoHusky]

In talking about CD, Geno says her first thought should be to score and pass only when she has no shot and sees open player. Of course, when it comes to scoring she’s special. Still, he says that should be the attitude of all players. Yet, I really only see that in Meg and Crystal and sometimes with Christyn. Kyla appears not to have gotten the message. We go to FF if Anna joins the shoot first club. It’s beginning to look like she can score anywhere on the court. It means a much faster paced game which requires a strong bench to keep players fresh. It could lead to a track meet.

Maybe I’m the only one but I don’t think you are correctly interpreting what Geno said or intended. The UCONN offense starts with Crystal as the PG. Her primary job is exactly the opposite of shoot first. What Geno siad is he wants Crystal ( and all his players) to be aggressive and not pass up good shots that they know and he knows they are capable of making. The shoot first mentality will get you benched at UCONN.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I dunno @CocoHusky. Geno on Crystal:

"I told her, I said, ‘You’re at your best when you’re trying to score every time you touch the ball,' Auriemma said on Sunday. "To me, that’s when players are at their best. You get the ball and you’re trying to score. Until when? Until you realize there’s somebody wide open over there. And then you make the right play.

“So these last four or five games, since the Baylor game I would say, Crystal’s mentality has been ’I have to score and because I’m trying to score, when they collapse on me or they bottle me up, I can make the right pass at the right time.'"

Crystal Dangerfield rises to No. 10 on UConn’s all-time assist list, but Geno Auriemma wants her to maintain a score-first mentality

Sunday afternoon, Crystal Dangerfield’s four assists in UConn’s 92-34 win over Tulsa earned her the 10th spot in the program’s all-time assist list. With 542 assists, Dangerfield …

www.courant.com

 

[eebmg]

I dunno @CocoHusky. Geno on Crystal:

"I told her, I said, ‘You’re at your best when you’re trying to score every time you touch the ball,' Auriemma said on Sunday. "To me, that’s when players are at their best. You get the ball and you’re trying to score. Until when? Until you realize there’s somebody wide open over there. And then you make the right play.

“So these last four or five games, since the Baylor game I would say, Crystal’s mentality has been ’I have to score and because I’m trying to score, when they collapse on me or they bottle me up, I can make the right pass at the right time.'"

Crystal Dangerfield rises to No. 10 on UConn’s all-time assist list, but Geno Auriemma wants her to maintain a score-first mentality

Sunday afternoon, Crystal Dangerfield’s four assists in UConn’s 92-34 win over Tulsa earned her the 10th spot in the program’s all-time assist list. With 542 assists, Dangerfield …

www.courant.com

This approach is certainly a function of the team around Crystal. With Lou and Pheesa who were not just flat our scorers but who knew how to move very well without the ball. Crystal could be focused on facilitating and making sure the scoring was distributed. With the current players, I think Geno is correct in pushing Crystal to be a scoring threat when ever she touches the ball and then facilitating by attracting attention. to her

 

[CocoHusky]

I dunno @CocoHusky. Geno on Crystal:

"I told her, I said, ‘You’re at your best when you’re trying to score every time you touch the ball,' Auriemma said on Sunday. "To me, that’s when players are at their best. You get the ball and you’re trying to score. Until when? Until you realize there’s somebody wide open over there. And then you make the right play.

“So these last four or five games, since the Baylor game I would say, Crystal’s mentality has been ’I have to score and because I’m trying to score, when they collapse on me or they bottle me up, I can make the right pass at the right time.'"

Crystal Dangerfield rises to No. 10 on UConn’s all-time assist list, but Geno Auriemma wants her to maintain a score-first mentality

Sunday afternoon, Crystal Dangerfield’s four assists in UConn’s 92-34 win over Tulsa earned her the 10th spot in the program’s all-time assist list. With 542 assists, Dangerfield …

www.courant.com

Having read this my interpretation is still “aggressive” not shoot first. Maybe because I can’t relate to a UCONN player with a shoot first mentality. The most aggressive UCONN player ever DT is also 2nd all time in assists.

 

[Alydar]

In talking about CD, Geno says her first thought should be to score and pass only when she has no shot and sees open player. Of course, when it comes to scoring she’s special. Still, he says that should be the attitude of all players. Yet, I really only see that in Meg and Crystal and sometimes with Christyn. Kyla appears not to have gotten the message. We go to FF if Anna joins the shoot first club. It’s beginning to look like she can score anywhere on the court. It means a much faster paced game which requires a strong bench to keep players fresh. It could lead to a track meet.

Agree, but it was nice to see Makurat make that touch pass to Griffin. That only happens if she sees Griffin before she even got the ball, and is good evidence that the game is slowing down for her.

 

[eebmg]

Shoot first or not, If Crystal takes a stupid contested shot into triple coverage, she will find the bench just as quickly as before.

 

[winlots]

ROCKY and COCO: to help ease the confusion, both sets of quotes are probably correct. For all of our coaches great attributes, this is not the first time in his history when he has uttered messages that are diametrically opposed to one another. Same probably true for all of us from time to time eh? The human condition.

 

[Dokey]

Geno has been encouraging CD to be more of a shooter than a passer from game one which might explain why Anna led the team in assists for first several games.

 

[Bama fan]

ROCKY and COCO: to help ease the confusion, both sets of quotes are probably correct. For all of our coaches great attributes, this is not the first time in his history when he has uttered messages that are diametrically opposed to one another. Same probably true for all of us from time to time eh? The human condition.

Come on now! Geno is human? When and where did that information leak out?

 

[JoePgh]

I think what Geno means (and what Meghan Culmo has been saying on broadcasts, no doubt having picked it up from Geno when she was an assistant coach) is that Crystal and everyone else are not going to get their best passing/assist opportunities unless they aggressively force the defense to stop them from scoring. So when Crystal or Anna drives to the basket, the defense needs to know that she will go all the way to the basket and make the layup unless they take the necessary steps (e.g., a double-team) to stop her. If defenders get the sense that she would prefer to pass, they will not defend aggressively against the score, and the passes will be harder to make.

As Meghan pointed out during a broadcast, that also applies to post players. She highlighted a play where Olivia caught the ball in the paint, a few feet from the basket, and with one defender behind her, started looking around for someone to pass to. No other defender felt any need to stop her from a scoring attempt, so they stuck to their primary defensive assignments and Liv was left with no one to pass to.

 

[Jingo]

But they're apples and oranges. Kyla is front court, and supposed to pick up the slack from ONO. Anna is really back court.

Need both to score, and attempt to score. And for ONO to stop fading and start going hard to the rim.

Lots of needs to be fulfilled in order for us to get where we want to go!!

No ONO doesn't have the strength to power to the rim .. her fadeaway is just perfect, unstopable, eh?

 

[Dokey]

Gives me something to think about as I watch South Carolina-Mississippi State game from treadmill.

 

[CocoHusky]

No ONO doesn't have the strength to power to the rim .. her fadeaway is just perfect, unstopable, eh?

No and no again! There is nothing unstoppable about ONO she is barely shooting 50% on the season with the majority of her shots coming from close to the basket. For a post player a fade away should be a counter move which should come after that post player has established a go to power move. If ONO go to move becomes a fade away that is a bad thing for UCONN. It would be as bad for UCONN as if Aubrey Griffin were the leading scorer on this team.

 

[BobbyJ]

No and no again! There is nothing unstoppable about ONO she is barely shooting 50% on the season with the majority of her shots coming from close to the basket. For a post player a fade away should be a counter move which should come after that post player has established a go to power move. If ONO go to move becomes a fade away that is a bad thing for UCONN. It would be as bad for UCONN as if Aubrey Griffin were the leading scorer on this team.

LOL. You’ve got a lot more patience with these guys than me.

 

[Jingo]

No and no again! There is nothing unstoppable about ONO she is barely shooting 50% on the season with the majority of her shots coming from close to the basket. For a post player a fade away should be a counter move which should come after that post player has established a go to power move. If ONO go to move becomes a fade away that is a bad thing for UCONN. It would be as bad for UCONN as if Aubrey Griffin were the leading scorer on this team.

ONO does not have the body to be a power post .. she has gotten blocked when she tries to power it up .. but ONO has hops and it's almost impossible to block her fadeaway, just like Collier. It's an easy shot; she just has to put it in the basket.
BTW .. 'barely shooting 50%' is QUITE GOOD, eh?

 

[CocoHusky]

ONO does not have the body to be a power post .. she has gotten blocked when she tries to power it up .. but ONO has hops and it's almost impossible to block her fadeaway, just like Collier. It's an easy shot; she just has to put it in the basket.
BTW .. 'barely shooting 50%' is QUITE GOOD, eh?

No. Napheesa Collier shot 61.4% for her career and 67.8%in her sophomore AA campaign. That is what I.d call QUITE GOOD! If If you had watch Napheesa play you would realize that her fade away was one of her many moves. There is probably 400 or more post on her stating the need for Liv to get stronger and finish at the basket.

 

[Crossover]

No. Napheesa Collier shot 61.4% for her career and 67.8%in her sophomore AA campaign. That is what I.d call QUITE GOOD! If If you had watch Napheesa play you would realize that her fade away was one of her many moves. There is probably 400 or more post on her stating the need for Liv to get stronger and finish at the basket.

Napheesa was more than "quite good". She was elite. If she is the standard by which others are measured, it may be quite a while before we have another "quite good" post player.

 

[baggerbob]

I think what Geno means (and what Meghan Culmo has been saying on broadcasts, no doubt having picked it up from Geno when she was an assistant coach) is that Crystal and everyone else are not going to get their best passing/assist opportunities unless they aggressively force the defense to stop them from scoring. So when Crystal or Anna drives to the basket, the defense needs to know that she will go all the way to the basket and make the layup unless they take the necessary steps (e.g., a double-team) to stop her. If defenders get the sense that she would prefer to pass, they will not defend aggressively against the score, and the passes will be harder to make.

As Meghan pointed out during a broadcast, that also applies to post players. She highlighted a play where Olivia caught the ball in the paint, a few feet from the basket, and with one defender behind her, started looking around for someone to pass to. No other defender felt any need to stop her from a scoring attempt, so they stuck to their primary defensive assignments and Liv was left with no one to pass to.

It's the Oscar Robertson theory, great point. guard in the NBA averaged a triple double for an NBA season. He said if they let me dribble to 10 feet to take a shot, I will continue to dribble until they force me to stop. Sometimes ended up with layups.