St Johns Postgame Thread | Page 4 | The Boneyard

St Johns Postgame Thread

My 2 cents - guards:

Defense was really good. Switching and communicating, etc. SJ played awful both offensively and defensively. They looked like a poorly coached and unmotivated team to me. Not interested in defense at all.

PB – We need a PB appreciation thread. She continues to dominate every game. She is so much better defensively now too. She could always use her length to disrupt passing lanes but she is moving her feet much better too. Great game.

NM – another good floor game but at some point that might not be enough. Needs to give us 5- points a game. Great passer. I don’t agree with Meg’s comments. NM did a good job on defense. She got beat a few times as all freshman do. The problem with NM is that she plays face-up D all day long. She gives no room between her and the player she is guarding. She plays so close she could tell us what toothpaste the player uses. Notice how PB gives a little room so she doesn’t get beat. Any player and that means any player, who plays so close-up like NM does will get beat a few times a game. Poor kid gets called for the ticky tacky fouls and then gets hit on way to the basket and they let it go.

CW – came alive with her shot after two horrible misses in the beginning. So explosive. Great finisher and got wacked one time with no foul. She needs to continue to take and hit 3s so it opens up the penetration for her. Teams know she is having problems shooting and they also know she can explode by them if they play too close. She just needs to hit her 3s to make them play her honest. This will open up the rest of her game. Some games she may have 10 open 3s, some maybe half that. She needs to take them…all of them. I just can’t believe she can’t hit them at 35-40% rate when she is wide open (even though past history says she can’t). She should not take any 3s if she has to rush them, only when she is in rhythm and wide open.

Saylor – starting to feel a bit more comfortable with some spunk to her game.
 
My 2 cents on posts and wings:

EW – good floor game and only one ‘what the heck’ moment. Still needs to score though.

Liv – how can you ever miss 3 FTs in a row? Anyway, she played confident as she usually does when she has the size advantage. Just needs to get tougher and handle better competition. Very good game.

AE – starting to play a consistent 20-25 min a game now. First off the bench. Getting better and better. That steal and lay-in was incredible for a player her size. Has really quick feet and starting to put it together…and just in time.

AG – has some good moments. Still not scoring as much as I thought she might.

PG – this kid has some skills. She did some things in this game like score, block shots, intimidate other shots and set some good picks. She showed out in her few minutes. I wonder if GA gives her a bit more in the future – I thinks she could at least rebound, play defense, set picks and intimidate shots. She seems to know the offense as well. A few more minutes could be in store for her.
 
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jazz said:
My 2 cents on posts and wings:

EW – good floor game and only one ‘what the heck’ moment. Still needs to score though.

Liv – how can you ever miss 3 FTs in a row? Anyway, she played confident as she usually does when she has the size advantage. Just needs to get tougher and handle better competition. Very good game.

EW – starting to play a consistent 20-25 min a game now. First off the bench. Getting better and better. That steal and lay-in was incredible for a player her size. Has really quick feet and starting to put it together…and just in time.

AG – has some good moments. Still not scoring as much as I thought she might.

PG – this kid has some skills. She did some things in this game like score, block shots, intimidate other shots and set some good picks. She showed out in her few minutes. I wonder if GA gives her a bit more in the future – I thinks she could at least rebound, play defense, set picks and intimidate shots. She seems to know the offense as well. A few more minutes could be in store for her.
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I believe you meant to say AE and not EW.
 
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SVCBeercats said:
I'm glad she took my advice. "She should shoot 2-4 3PTers per game, selected pull up jumpers, and the balance transition and dribble drive layups. With Paige, Evina, and Nika's passing skills she should get plenty of layups off of cuts, backdoors, and pick and rolls." ;):rolleyes:
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Add ONO to the list of good passers,.
 
Geno gave credit to Jamelle for a great job scouting St. Johns.

I think that a lot of St. John's playing poorly on offense was due to great defense by UCONN. I believe Geno said as much. They couldn't run their stuff because UCONN was continually touching the ball and disrupting any offensive flow. The UCONN defense was a beauty to behold.
 
jazz said:
NM – another good floor game but at some point that might not be enough. Needs to give us 5- points a game. Great passer. I don’t agree with Meg’s comments. NM did a good job on defense. She got beat a few times as all freshman do. The problem with NM is that she plays face-up D all day long. She gives no room between her and the player she is guarding. She plays so close she could tell us what toothpaste the player uses. Notice how PB gives a little room so she doesn’t get beat. Any player and that means any player, who plays so close-up like NM does will get beat a few times a game. Poor kid gets called for the ticky tacky fouls and then gets hit on way to the basket and they let it go.
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Her off ball defense is phenomenal. On-ball, I agree she's trying to body up 25 feet out, not giving herself any space to cut off angles. Still on my second watch I was looking for all these blow-bys and didn't really see them except when she got burned reaching in. Bodying up on the perimeter though, does seem to get her a lot of her fouls. She's solid on defense IMO. On offense, she seems to be in love with the highlight reel pass... get too deep on a 2-1, get the ball up on the rim - don't throw a pass away. Also, make your decisions in transition quicker; can't get to the rim without a plan. Don't know why she can't seem to draw a foul. I would never teach flopping but maybe you can't act like you don't feel it when you get fouled.
I think Geno's decided that Nika at the point is good for Paiges game, so she's going to get minutes - minutes that would probably go to Aubrey otherwise...
 
Carnac said:
I’m hoping the errant passes and reluctance to drive the lane are things that Nika will address over the summer as she enters her second season.

I’m counting on all of our freshmen knowing the system and raising their level of play next year. Because of the head start Saylor got this year, I expect her to contribute as much as the players who will be sophomores next season.
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Speaking of Saylor, I enjoyed seeing her under the bucket playing good defense and scoring down low. She flashed us more of her skill set, much more than just a mad bomber from the 3. I look forward to her maturing into a good player. Heck she's just a baby playing with the big kids.
 
RedStickHusky said:
Her off ball defense is phenomenal. On-ball, I agree she's trying to body up 25 feet out, not giving herself any space to cut off angles. Still on my second watch I was looking for all these blow-bys and didn't really see them except when she got burned reaching in. Bodying up on the perimeter though, does seem to get her a lot of her fouls. She's solid on defense IMO. On offense, she seems to be in love with the highlight reel pass... get too deep on a 2-1, get the ball up on the rim - don't throw a pass away. Also, make your decisions in transition quicker; can't get to the rim without a plan. Don't know why she can't seem to draw a foul. I would never teach flopping but maybe you can't act like you don't feel it when you get fouled.
I think Geno's decided that Nika at the point is good for Paiges game, so she's going to get minutes - minutes that would probably go to Aubrey otherwise...
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Good points Red. I meant to write this up this morning and instead had to wait until after work and forgot a few things in the process. She does seem to love the look away pass. Not only that, but sometimes she passes the ball in traffic to somebody who has no chance to do anything with it. Once to PB and I think the other was to AE. Great passes mean nothing if the player receiving them is in a bad position or blocked in my the baseline and/or the defense.

She is tenacious and a bit too much for her own good.
 
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MooseJaw said:
Speaking of Saylor, I enjoyed seeing her under the bucket playing good defense and scoring down low. She flashed us more of her skill set, much more than just a mad bomber from the 3. I look forward to her maturing into a good player. Heck she's just a baby playing with the big kids.
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I know it's unfair to evaluate Saylor when she should still be in high school and when she hasn't had a summer to play and drill against college-level players, BUT ...

Someone here said that she is noted in high school for effective perimeter defense. That was definitely not in evidence in her minutes against St. John's. Red Stormers blew by her easily enough to make Nika look like Tiffany Hayes by comparison. She doesn't seem accustomed to moving her feet on defense to keep fast players in front of her, and that cost her two fouls (and maybe she should have had a third) in five minutes in the game.

To some extent, that technique can be learned, and I'm sure she will do that before the start of her actual freshman year. But I don't think she will ever be as skilled as Aubrey or Mir at defending fast guards.
 
dragon said:
Geno might see Saylor as a better all around player than Mir and get her off the bench ahead of her.
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Saylor has more potential to bring something we're missing. Mir's a little redundant to Aubrey.
 
Next year i can see Nika playing 5 minutes a game and Caroline Ducharme coming in for Paige and CW.
 
Saylor looks like a slow stiff end of the bench player that Geno brought in for her personality like he did Kyra Irwin. I can't see her ever getting in a game in the first half.
 
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Nika needs to shoot more. Dont lose confidence. Defense is good but offense may hurt the team.
 
dragon said:
Saylor looks like a slow stiff end of the bench player that Geno brought in for her personality like he did Kyra Irwin. I can't see her ever getting in a game in the first half.
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She’s a high school girl adjusting to being suddenly on the floor with the best players in the country. Right now she isn’t totally comfortable trying to pick up offensive and defensive strategies after only a few days practicing and playing with team. Everyone else has been doing that for months. A few minutes here and there will help ease that stiffness.
 
dragon said:
Saylor looks like a slow stiff end of the bench player that Geno brought in for her personality like he did Kyra Irwin. I can't see her ever getting in a game in the first half.
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I was watching Saylor closely when she was on defense, particularly her man-ball positioning. That is, picking her defensive position so that she could see both where the ball was and where her "man" was, and it was quite apparent that she tried to position herself to prevent cuts to the basket or open cuts toward the ball. That shows some defensive savvy. I did not see enough to know how quick she is. I'm waiting for more visual data. I think you should hold off your judgment until you see more also.
 
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dragon said:
Saylor looks like a slow stiff end of the bench player that Geno brought in for her personality like he did Kyra Irwin. I can't see her ever getting in a game in the first half.
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“That’s way harsh, Tai.”
She was praised as a potentially great role player by at least one recruiting service. I predict you will eat those words before the end of next season!
 
Saylor has just joined the team, and we just finished a stretch of 5 games back to back with no true practices in between those games. Would love to know the actual number of full practices she has been a part of since joining the team. I would bet the number is low. Because of this, I'm not real concerned about the fact she might have looked a little lost. She'll pick it up the more she practices with the team.
 
oldude said:
You don’t need to score to be effective, and Evina was extremely effective tonight with 8 rbs, 7 ast, 2 steals & a block. I am absolutely positive that Geno would have the same assessment of Evina’s game tonight.
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Not saying its by design but these are Anna stats. Passing, rebounding, steals, low shooting attempts, while others focus on scoring as they may get the better looks.
 
Papa33 said:
I was watching Saylor closely when she was on defense, particularly her man-ball positioning. That is, picking her defensive position so that she could see both where the ball was and where her "man" was, and it was quite apparent that she tried to position herself to prevent cuts to the basket or open cuts toward the ball. That shows some defensive savvy. I did not see enough to know how quick she is. I'm waiting for more visual data. I think you should hold off your judgment until you see more also.
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The coaches tend to put defensive ability first on this team so that is the key for playing minutes and Saylor seems to know that. Piath also showed some bright minutes with two blocks, one sliding over to cover Saylor who got beat. Hope they both get a serious look. It isn't easy for taller players when many offenses are geared to running the court but both look to be able to fit into this approach. When they were recruited, they made the hurdle!
 
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