It's weird -- I didn't see a significant jump in Stevens's game between her time at Duke and UConn. Her outside shooting wasn't as good, and to me she never looked comfortable playing inside on offense.
There was growth, a major struggle and while her 3pt shooting was better at Duke her overall shooting improved significantly (+9%) at UCONN. The growth was as a defensive anchor, Azura led UCONN in rebounding and blocked shots despite playing significantly fewer minutes (~250-300) less than the UCONN starting AA center (Gabby) and the starting AA PF (Napheesa). Her struggle was with the UCONN motion (read and react) offense. At Duke she was used to running plays that call for her to be at a specific spot on the floor and make a certain move or cut. At UCONN she was required to read defenses and react accordingly. Coming into the fall Azura was shooting a blazing hot 3 ball and the vision was to utilize her all over the court in the same was that Napheesa and Stewie were used in the UCONN offense. Azura 3 ball went cold and Geno simplified the offensive by giving her touches where she was most dominant-the right block. The problem with this was that was the same spot on the floor that Napheesa love and dominated to AA status the year prior. While Azura was increasing her FG % by 9% over what she did at Duke, Napheesa's FG % also dropped by 9% and this was no coincidence.
