St Johns Postgame Thread | Page 4 | The Boneyard

St Johns Postgame Thread

With this freshmen group there is no garbage time. The score may be a runaway but the play is still enjoyable. They have ability and a confident attitude. Compare them to the 2017-18 freshmen. Night and day difference! No fear of making a mistake with the current freshmen. They are relentless. I believe they all came with this attitude. Paige has the demeanor of a senior. Nika came as one tough kid. After all her name is only one letter away from Nike. Aaliyah came to mix it up and show no signs of backing off. Mir arrived with a belief in herself and her game. Even Piath does not look timid when she gets on the floor. No garbage time with this crew!!!
 
Does anyone else think that CW is the type of player who would work better in teams that allow her to hold the ball and shoot as many as she wants, sort of like what Chennedy Carter used to do? She doesn’t seem to fit in the ball movement and UConn offense as well as others and the offense is stagnant sometimes with her in. You look at the ball movement we had with gabby, Kia, pheesa, Lou etc and some of the plays, and you just don’t see that with this team with CW involved. Maybe I am being really harsh?!
 
Was that amazin? Wow. Our freshman dont play like freshman and there was No fear of failure. We started 3 freshman and the freshman are getting alot of minutes which is helping their development, jitters, and confidence. What an unbelievable freshman class and you know what????we've got another unbelievable class coming in next season and we will only get better. The freshman are coming into their own and becoming very comfortable on the floor. There is no fear. They bring alot of energy and they are proving they belong. Im so impressed with their play. The injuries have allowed the freshman to get more minutes, which translates into experience development and that has lead to their confidence. All the freshman needed was a chance and theyre getting it with the injuries and theyre proving themselves.

Mir is a rebounding machine and not afraid to take it up in traffic underneath. She draws alot of fouls. Shes special and gonna become a force. Edwards showed us what we've been waiting to see. Now think about this. We've all been waiting for height. We've got Liv and Edwards and I really like the high low. Paith is coming along and when she gets to where Geno can give her more minutes we're gonna be really big. Add to that Amari coming next season, Saylor already here and Caroline and we've got alot of height that can dribble shoot rebound and play like guards.

Ive seen alot of improvement over the past few games. The more games we play the better we play as a unit. Our movement and shot selection is better. Our defense last nite may not have been the greatest but understand we played alot of freshman without alot of experience and they helped us get 25+ turnovers from St Johns. Im impressed. So we were up alot the entire game with the freshman contributing. There was no hesitation, no concerns about what to do or where to go and they played without any fair of failure....they were just playin their game.

So Im thinkin. No Griff No Anna No Christyn and look at the stats? We made only 11 turnovers. For a group of freshman to do what they did is special. We're gettin there. Paige...what can you say. Shes the best shooter Ive seen. Shes the best playmaker Ive ever seen. She can get her shot whenever she wants it and she can set up plays on the floor to get a shot or get a team mate a shot. She a coach on the floor. There is no leader like Paige in WCBB. You can talk about all the great players in WCBB but there is not one player that can fill up the stat sheet like Paige. There isnt one player who can make all the plays Paige does that Dont show up in the stat sheets???? Think about that. Shes the best all round player in WCBB and a first team AA.

We've got Marquette next and then SC which will be a huge test. Our ability to rebound will be huge in this game. I like the way we're running our offense. I like the way we've been moving and I love the energy. Most of all I like the confidence we're playing with.
 
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Was going to ask, is Paige the only person in WBB who shoots higher percentage on 3's than 2's, but I see UConn alone has two others. Of course that may be because Nika's percentage on 2's is so low, and Mir only has 2 attempts at a 3. I also note we are seeing a lot of our players are banged up, especially ones we have criticized. Anna's terrible shooting, then we find out she has a bad leg, maybe a stress fracture. Nika seems off on her shot, a tad slow, then we find out she has a bad leg/ankle. Aubrey can't lock down on defense against Arkansas, then we remember she has back spasms, maybe a bad knee, or an ankle. You play through the pain, but you still have it. You do the best you can, but you can't be your best. And some days you just don't have it. How many times do you see a golfer shoot a 62, and then the next day he shoots a 72. Not that 72 is bad, I would take it. Heck I'd take 82, maybe even 92. So maybe we, and I do mean we, should be a little less quick to criticize. But it is such fun. Especially when the people we are criticizing are so much better than we are.
 
Jingo said:
I think Liv is a big part of the excellent ball movement .. especially 'reversing' the ball to the weak side.
She also opened up the lane by hitting some key jumpers from the top o' the circle, eh? She's a better passer from the hi-post than AE.
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I just hope she can pass against bigger more athletic players because those passing windows will be a lot smaller. Also, I forgot to mention this but she is super aggressive when jumping out to stop the guard when her man sets a screen. I think this was a bit startling for the SJ guards who are used to that type of aggression.
 
The other day I mentioned that I would like to see Nika and Paige play together for some serious minutes. The result, the best game of the year from both players. With another pass first guard out there, Paige is able to create more opportunities for herself. AE was outstanding, and the future ( yes even this year ) looks bright for this team. For the first time since I can remember, he can go more than 7 deep in the big games, and hopefully no more games will be cancelled, because the more we play, the better we will get.
 
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Bald Huskie said:
The other day I mentioned that I would like to see Nika and Paige play together for some serious minutes. The result, the best game of the year from both players. With another pass first guard out there, Paige is able to create more opportunities for herself. AE was outstanding, and the future ( yes even this year ) looks bright for this team. For the first time since I can remember, he can go more than 7 deep in the big games, and hopefully no more games will be cancelled, because the more we play, the better we will get.
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No question about it; when Nika is in the floor, everybody is better.
 
Such an enjoyable game to watch. Great team effort and individual performances. Terrific play-by-play announcing and excellent commentary pre-, halftime and post-game. I am satisfied; just sorry to see CW sitting-out.
 
Sanka541 said:
Does anyone else think that CW is the type of player who would work better in teams that allow her to hold the ball and shoot as many as she wants, sort of like what Chennedy Carter used to do? She doesn’t seem to fit in the ball movement and UConn offense as well as others and the offense is stagnant sometimes with her in. You look at the ball movement we had with gabby, Kia, pheesa, Lou etc and some of the plays, and you just don’t see that with this team with CW involved. Maybe I am being really harsh?!
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Correct me if I'm wrong here. Didn't CW play with Pheesa and Lou...or is it ONLY CW that is stagnant?

john mccain fox GIF by Animation Domination High-Def
 
Jordy said:
No question about it; when Nika is in the floor, everybody is better.
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I've been saying this for a while but I get a lot of heat for it. I think it is time to cut back CW's 35 plus minutes a game to about 25 and put NM in the game for some of those minutes. I think it will do good for both.
 
Sanka541 said:
Does anyone else think that CW is the type of player who would work better in teams that allow her to hold the ball and shoot as many as she wants, sort of like what Chennedy Carter used to do? She doesn’t seem to fit in the ball movement and UConn offense as well as others and the offense is stagnant sometimes with her in. You look at the ball movement we had with gabby, Kia, pheesa, Lou etc and some of the plays, and you just don’t see that with this team with CW involved. Maybe I am being really harsh?!
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That's the one. She is not a very good passer. That is an unkind thing to say about a guard. I will not even start to mention her defense and streaky shooting.

But, if she can put it together, she can be a handful to guard. My hope is that PB and NM can get her the ball where she is most comfortable and able to score.
 
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RockyMTblue2 said:
Interesting that CW didn't tell Geno she "couldn't go" until halfway through pregame warm ups. A contrast to Nika's "just put more tape on it."
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Not that CW wasn't going with what the med staff required.
 
Wow! Good post, Tony. 4 Freshmen and one just out of high school on the floor and they scored and worked the ball pretty darn well. What I saw was a set of players that performed fairly well working together. I am eager to see Saylor obtain the same level of confidence and make 3 to 5 3's during the game. It will happen. Really pleased with the results

Tongue in cheek, you can always take Chrystin, Aubrey, and Anna off of the bench when they are ready.
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
Perhaps I am being unfair.
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Yes, you are. I enjoy your commentary, but you are being a tad bit unfair to CW and her injury--a 3-year starter who's never missed a single game in her UConn career. Your speculation and implication are wholly unfounded and vastly premature. Cw's a good kid, a good teammate and a great addition to UConn...
 
Sanka541 said:
Does anyone else think that CW is the type of player who would work better in teams that allow her to hold the ball and shoot as many as she wants, sort of like what Chennedy Carter used to do? She doesn’t seem to fit in the ball movement and UConn offense as well as others and the offense is stagnant sometimes with her in. You look at the ball movement we had with gabby, Kia, pheesa, Lou etc and some of the plays, and you just don’t see that with this team with CW involved. Maybe I am being really harsh?!
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CW is quietly having a very good year passing the basketball as reflected by her A:TO ration of better than 2:1. Her struggles this year and last are not ball movement or passing related it is almost entirely inconsistent shooting that is and has been plaguing her for a season and a half now.
You bring up an interesting point that was much debated when CW signed with UCONN: Are her skills, especially the one on one aspects of her game an ideal fit for UCONN offense?
Short answer is absolutely. Chennedy Carter is a really really bad example because you are never going to have a player like that play within the UCONN system as long as Geno is coaching. I suggest two better examples Asia Durr and Courtney Williams who played a USF. Similar to Christyn the strength of their games was the ability to create one on one. Geno is perfectly capable of fitting such a player into the UCONN offense as he's currently doing it for Paige. On a Geno coached team though fitting in a player will never come at the expense of the other players on the floor. Geno has also tried to "feature" Christyn in this system before and it did not work. Towards the mid point of last season Geno tweaked the offense to take advantage of CW's skill. It did not work because of CW inconsistent shooting and Megan Walker (quiet as it kept ) turned out to be a more reliable option.
 
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tchalla1 said:
Yes, you are. I enjoy your commentary, but you are being a tad bit unfair to CW and her injury--a 3-year starter who's never missed a single game in her UConn career. Your speculation and implication are wholly unfounded and vastly premature. Cw's a good kid, a good teammate and a great addition to UConn...
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I apologize. You are right. However I do wonder if when Geno talks about the lack of toughness the last few years he is talking about C W among others, and that is at least in part responsible for the inconsistency in her offense.
 
Much is being made of the CW issue. Much ado about nothing. A competitive athlete, which CW is, is not going to give up easily. She tweeked/ rolled her ankle. First reaction - tape up and I'm good to go. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Last night it didn't work.

Does she fit into the offense? Yes. But she has to play to her strong points - slashing and driving. When she does, she is a handful to defend. 3 point shooting is not her strong point.

There are plenty of minutes for the 4 guards - Paige, Evina CW and Nika. They all have different styles which will cause problems for every team.

Geno's got this.
 
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