The thing I like most about Sarah Strong

[Zonepress]

It’s hard to say that in Sarah Strong needs to improve on any aspect of her game when you watch her, she seemingly makes the right play every time
With the exception of my maya moore all the other great players come to uconn had things that they needed to improve on as freshman
Paige need to get stronger
Stewart had to adjust to the physical nature of the game
Diana had to work on the emotional part
I can’t see anything that she needs to improve on
Her only challenge, would be to become more of the focal point of the team when Paige moves on

 

[MooseJaw]

It’s hard to say that in Sarah Strong needs to improve on any aspect of her game when you watch her, she seemingly makes the right play every time
With the exception of my maya moore all the other great players come to uconn had things that they needed to improve on as freshman
Paige need to get stronger
Stewart had to adjust to the physical nature of the game
Diana had to work on the emotional part
I can’t see anything that she needs to improve on
Her only challenge, would be to become more of the focal point of the team when Paige moves on

Really, nothing at all to improve on. I with all due respect disagree. She needs to improve on her three point shooting. Sarah needs to improve on her offensive positioning, Sarah has outstanding hands and flexibility in her arms. Which when she has better offensive movement will make her a much better rebounder. There are other areas where she can improve, and the Sarah as an upper-class player will have a game so much more advanced than she has today. It could very well be that we may hardly recognize her play from her first 7 games. Geno and his crew will see to that. Just a few items listed, jump in, what areas do you think Sarah needs to improve in.

 

[WiseWillie]

What I most like (a very difficult choice as she is so gifted in so many ways) about Sarah's game is one I doubt many will have picked up on. For as many years as I have followed UCONN wbb, Geno has been consistent in stressing that his players "keep their hands up on defense!!!" But I have noticed that Sarah doesn't do that. She keeps her hands low, around waist level nearly all the time. And, in thinking about it, that is the level the ball is at for the bulk of the time as opponents dribble the ball or often hold it preparing to pass or even sometimes preparing to shoot on scoop shots. So, it isn't surprising to me that with Sarah keeping her hands where the opponents' keep the ball the bulk of the time, she is leading the team in steals! It certainly helps that she has amazingly quick hands but when those quick hands are already at the same level as the ball, good things happen! She has nearly a quarter of all the teams' steals and leads Paige in both total steals and also on a per-40 basis.

Also Sarah with her unusual high b-ball IQ for a freshman has an innate ability to anticipate where and how the opponent is going to go with their dribble drive, always ready to put her hand out to bat the ball away or steal. It's an art and to think she's only played in a handful of Div I games.

 

[WiseWillie]

Really, nothing at all to improve on. I with all due respect disagree. She needs to improve on her three point shooting. Sarah needs to improve on her offensive positioning, Sarah has outstanding hands and flexibility in her arms. Which when she has better offensive movement will make her a much better rebounder. There are other areas where she can improve, and the Sarah as an upper-class player will have a game so much more advanced than she has today. It could very well be that we may hardly recognize her play from her first 7 games. Geno and his crew will see to that. Just a few items listed, jump in, what areas do you think Sarah needs to improve in.

For the greatest ones the pursuit of perfection never ends. So for Sarah even though a freshman she comes at that pursuit with innate abilities that make her stand out but no doubt there's always room for improvement.

After the last game even though she was the high scorer I believe Geno laughingly alluded to the fact that Jamelle has gotten a few more gray hairs working with Sarah on some areas that are to be expected with all freshmen and especially when at UConn that have to be improved upon. Sarah is no different in that regard but I think we can all agree she is at a much higher skill level than the typical freshman. For Sarah the sky's the limit.

 

[Zonepress]

Really, nothing at all to improve on. I with all due respect disagree. She needs to improve on her three point shooting. Sarah needs to improve on her offensive positioning, Sarah has outstanding hands and flexibility in her arms. Which when she has better offensive movement will make her a much better rebounder. There are other areas where she can improve, and the Sarah as an upper-class player will have a game so much more advanced than she has today. It could very well be that we may hardly recognize her play from her first 7 games. Geno and his crew will see to that. Just a few items listed, jump in, what areas do you think Sarah needs to improve in.

Have to diagree
She has a history of being a very good three-point shooter and there’s nothing in her form or delivery that needs to change
She shot the three of all very well against holy cross
If you want her to improve her offensive positioning (not sure what that means.), and I think you need to tell the coach to change the offense he runs
As I said, other than in the focal point between one page Lehane, I still don’t see anything that she needs to improve on

 

[Zonepress]

Sorry about the last line microphone does strange things
Meant to say until Paige leaves

 

[MooseJaw]

Have to diagree
She has a history of being a very good three-point shooter and there’s nothing in her form or delivery that needs to change
She shot the three of all very well against holy cross
If you want her to improve her offensive positioning (not sure what that means.), and I think you need to tell the coach to change the offense he runs
As I said, other than in the focal point between one page Lehane, I still don’t see anything that she needs to improve on

Well, what can I say other than, every good coach, every good athlete I have coached for 40 years, every good-great athlete or coach I have talked to in general say If you aren't improving, you're going backwards. If you see nowhere Sarah can improve on, just keep watching her play and if you see improvement in any aspect of her game, send her a note telling her to back off, stop practicing, cause there is no way you will improve.
"She has a history of being a very good three-point shooting", therefore in our first series of games Sarah has had one good three-point shooting night. Throw history out the window, cause if you look at the stats of our games so far and see Sarah's shooting stats I guess you would say, no problem cause even if Sarah continues to have a good three-point shooting game once every 8 games it's Ok because she has a good history of shooting them in HS.
Sorry, it's not the way athletes, coaches or most fans think. Sarah can be a great player, maybe an AA, maybe a NCAA champ, or even a future NPOY. I guarantee that none of that happens without Sarah improving. Sarah is a very good player, maybe a generational player, who when asked what she needs to improve on she will have a list a lot longer than your non existent list.

 

[cgshuskie]

Amazing hands for both offense and defense.......soft touch shooting and pesky, steal oriented defense

 

[huskyd]

There is an awful lot to like about Sarah Strong's game...pretty much everything (except for 3 pt shooting -- for now). But the thing I like most, after suffering for years of watching our players miss bunny after bunny, is the way she finishes around the rim. She seldom looks rushed, finishes through traffic and contact, and places the ball off the backboard with a nice soft touch. I especially like when she extends her arm to full length to keep the ball away from the defender and yet still manages to flick the ball softly off the board at the last moment. Here's to many, many more -- and some 3 pointers, as well...

Good take. I especially like how Sarah combines extending her arm away from traffic when going in for a lay-up by also using her good body size to keep defenders off. She consciously fends off opponents by inserting her body between them and the basket. And she's deceptively quick--hands and feet. A major talent.

 

[bkart1978]

Sarah has shot 45% since her 0-7 game. In the end, we are still dealing with a small sample size (7 games). Really she's only shot poorly in 2 of them (0-7 and 0-5). Her first two games were 25% on low volume (e.g. one make away from 40%). I'm sure she's not thrilled with her percentage at the moment, but I would agree that there's nothing she needs to fix or change in terms of her form - just shoot with confidence and they'll go in.

 

[Cuango]

Well, she is already in much better shape than she was six,8 months ago. She clearly worked hard over the summer to get ready for her UConn debut. Just imagine though, what she will look like after a year or two of top level training and attention to nutrition! She is going to be scary!

 

[Bone Dog]

@MooseJaw has a point. Sarah has great skills and talent. This is what we’re all reacting to. She can be dazzling. But she can be out of place on the court at both ends. We tend not to notice this because she compensates for it in most cases. For example, those quick hands make up for a lot. Imagine how useful they’ll be when she is always in the right spot.

I’m not worried about the perimeter shooting. That will come back soon enough, if it hasn’t already. And her post moves and finishing moves on drives are impressive. She has large hands and controls the ball really well. This also helps on rebounds. She is also good at rebound positioning and boxing out. But this is another area she can get even better at. Those strong hands make up for a lot here, too. But imagine how good she’ll be when she masters all of these positioning issues.

She’s a really good on-ball defender and has quick feet for a big. But this is another area in which her conditioning will improve and she’ll develop even better quickness. The same can be said for her transition offense. She is not super speedy getting down the court, but we’ve all seen her use her body to keep quicker guards from stopping her on the break. She’s genius at this. But here too, better conditioning will improve her speed running the court. Some of us have noticed a similarity to Maya’s game. She’s not nearly as quick and fast as Maya was. But that is likely to change in the next year or two. Sarah with Maya’s speed will be “magnificent.”

 

[Oldschoolbb]

Man, y'all are tough on her. Everything I see tells me she's a big upgrade over Edwards. She does need to get a bit quicker. But I think she will improve greatly and be the main cog after this season.

 

[AzzisBraids]

She doesn't say much and let's her game do all the talking. She's UConn's top force inside and on the Perimeter. She rarely misses any lay-ups and has a scoop shot that ensures it goes in no matter what else is going on. She's just figuring it all out but has so many skills that Geno has a few different kinds of players in her.