We Have Until Saturday For Our Next Game- What Do We Need To Work On?

[browns]

We should have a heavy focused on How to incorporate the use of Amari and Ice and run a clean offense with them on the court. Our initial defense which is pretty good but means nothing if you can't defensively control the glass. Teams are double digit possessions against us. I'll take good defense over bad offense at this point of the season.

We also need to work on actually setting good picks. We are awful screen setting team.

KK, spend the week on finishing moves at the basket and midrange Pull up. The Pull up game would make you unstoppable. (Ronnie Harmon)

Lastly screen and roll offense with Paige and Aaliyah. Make the Lauren Betts of the world actually have to defend verses sitting in the paint being a nuisance.

How many hours do you think Geno and his staff have worked with Amari the last 3 years ? Don't you think they would love to have a 6'5" center out there that knew what they were doing on both ends of the court..Have you watched her play..People have got to let the Amari thing go..not happening

 

[AmeriConn]

I can’t tell you how many times Ashlyn was open in the corner and no passes. She could help make up some of those Azzi 3’s we’re missing. C’mon man!

 

[HuskyNan]

I can’t tell you how many times Ashlyn was open in the corner and no passes. She could help make up some of those Azzi 3’s we’re missing. C’mon man!

She needs to move rather than stand on one spot and wait for the ball. She’s a smart player, I have no doubt that problem will disappear by the end of the regular season

 

[Rowdy831]

How many hours do you think Geno and his staff have worked with Amari the last 3 years ? Don't you think they would love to have a 6'5" center out there that knew what they were doing on both ends of the court..Have you watched her play..People have got to let the Amari thing go..not happening

Probably not as many as you think but I do agree she will not be an option at any point for UConn. With that said the team they have on the floor will not beat a good team with an inside game. NC matched up about as good as possible on size of the players in the game and they still struggled outside of AE to get boards.

 

[Rowdy831]

Geno has settled in with his 8 players and they need to work as much together as possible. They are very weak fundamentally rebounding the ball and that is something you would think is related to focus not technique so should be fixable. What I see is a team with serious issues, but last year LSU has similar issues and got the chips to fall perfectly for them. The same needs to happen for UConn to make a run this year when the time comes.

 

[CL82]

Jump. I don't see too many female players jump. Paige is the only one who consistently jumps on the team. The reason how she got 4 blocks. Most of the times everyone else is flat footed.

As others, box out. More so, box your opponent out wherever they are, outside, inside, etc. Find a body, put your backside to them, and move them out. Boxing out in the paint isn't going to work if you're 6' and your opponent is 6'5" with long arms, and you don't JUMP. (See the above.)

The reason why you don't see many Connecticut players leave their feet on defense is that it's bad basketball. One of the things Connecticut does very well is "wall up "on defense and not bite for fakes. Particularly this year, we need to be concerned about keeping all our players available.

That said, we are talking about division one athletes. Believe me they are all quite capable of jumping. Aubrey Griffin, in particular, is an athletic freak with very impressive hops.

On the other hand, I absolutely agree with you about the teams failure to box out. The first step in getting a rebound is making sure that the player you're covering cannot get it. Particularly if the players bigger than you, you need to "sit on their thighs" and wait for the ball to cross your shoulder before you release and go after it. We consistently do not do that. So consistently, in fact, that I have to wonder whether there is some reason for it.

 

[CL82]

She needs to move rather than stand on one spot and wait for the ball. She’s a smart player, I have no doubt that problem will disappear by the end of the regular season

If she's open in the corner, she probably should stay there. When she's fed and hits enough of those it'll force her defender to come out to her, which in turn will open up the paint for other players, like Paige, Aubrey and KK, to drive.

 

[BBallF]

Syncopation between Nika and the freshmen in passes? I'm a professional musician. Syncopation is not the term to use.

Syncopation is a musical term. The definition is the practice of displacing the beats or accents in music so that the strong beats become weak. I doubt that is what you mean.

Nika and the freshmen need to be in sync with the passes.

Thank you and no offense intended. I meant synchronization.

 

[JellyBean]

1). Exams
2). Finishing & finishing moves in the paint.
3). Boxing out but I don't blame Nika. I would have been watching that block by Paige to and let my guy go and get that blocked shot for a score. I probably would have been out the game after that but that was a poster worthy block.

 

[BBallF]

1--- The team's offense runs smoothly enough so Paige and Aaliyah to be unstoppable. That's what I think needs to be worked on. Not just individual moves but plays within the Offense. Then you know the Offense of motion is doing well.
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2-- Running the offense with few turnovers in which UCONN will always have at least a 3rd scorer game in and game out.

3-- Don't panic and play undeserving bench players. Continue to play to win rather than worry about a future opponent. That''s a basic thing as fans and players we say. Let's stick to that rather than worry about "South Carolina." And play the deserving players (from Practices). If it is 6 players - so be it. If it is 10 so be it. But I don't want to see panic and throw away fundamentals and not play better players just because of physical characteristics or wanting everyone to get a trophy. Bottomline is that what I want to see and what needs to continue to be done is that Geno plays the best players that he thinks that can win the game at hand rather than being desperate because he feels his player's aren't good enough.

4-- A third player to step and be dynamic. I'd like to see UCONN work on finding that 3rd player.

All true. I'm hoping that Ash emerges at least in part as that third player. She has a very good pull up and usually makes it when she is vertical. She missed one yesterday when she was moving to the side which configuration reminded me of Evina.

It would also be very powerful if we could get six or more 3s a game from Nika and Ash combined. You saw Nika hit 4 of them yesterday. She will be open with Paige out there and get her chances and she hit a very big one against UNC when we needed it.

I have great hope for Q and believe that she will add to that number with regularity after a while. Key to her being on the court is her defense, particularly her switches and box outs.. She is very talented and athletic but the gap from high school to this level is a chasm.

Honestly, I really like this team. Very enthusiastic and fun to watch. The mistakes will gradually fade but not disappear completely but that is to be expected. A big factor is having Paige to break the press. That was just textbook yesterday when she did it. Nika had the first two possessions against it and turned it over, KK tried to dribble through it and lost it, but Paige dissected it magnificently.

 

[Geesworld]

How many hours do you think Geno and his staff have worked with Amari the last 3 years ? Don't you think they would love to have a 6'5" center out there that knew what they were doing on both ends of the court..Have you watched her play..People have got to let the Amari thing go..not happen

First off Geno and his staff recruited Amari so that is telling in itself. Secondly, I've seen coaches get a lot more out of a lot less. There is no way a 3 man big rotation can't exist for this team. There are so many ways to be impactful at the position. 5 players of 5'10 on the quart is crazy and it is a recipe for burn out. Use what you got and coach it up in real time.

 

[uconnfan68]

Growth spurts.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

Maybe every one could get a couple inches taller???

 

[Valleyfan]

Continue to work on pace. As a small team with essentially 4 guards and a forward, make it a blistering pace on both sides of the floor as much as possible. Press and trap on D. Guard the 3 point line. Take charges. Box out. On offense, spread the court, drive and dish, movement.

 

[BBallF]

First off Geno and his staff recruited Amari so that is telling in itself. Secondly, I've seen coaches get a lot more out of a lot less. There is no way a 3 man big rotation can't exist for this team. There are so many ways to be impactful at the position. 5 players of 5'10 on the quart is crazy and it is a recipe for burn out. Use what you got and coach it up in real time.

I think Amari has shown time and time again through her performance in games, which is all we see, that she can't be or is unwilling to be"coached up". I can't imagine that significant time wasn't spent with her by Jamelle and others trying to get her to a place where she could be a regular contributor. It is not always the fault of a coach if a player does not develop. The light simply hasn't gone on for her and I don't know if it ever will. We would all love that not to be the case,

You have to win the game and to do that you have to play your best players. Against an inferior team with a very large lead, I have no problems with PT for her, even extended minutes. Against a pressing UNC team that already came back from 11 in the first half to tie it, not so much, in fact, not at all.

 

[TCC Kid]

WE AS FANs have to work on supporting this team when it is down.

While I played in the old Field HOUSE i AM NOT A member of this team.

 

[Kat]

Practice is super important but it's games that are needed now. The teams' players that UConn goes against in games play better D than the practice players.

 

[DeepThreat]

We had 3 players in double figure Paige Aaliyah and Nika We need more
We need to maintain our energy which means we need to have a bench that can come in and not miss a beat
Need to not rush or play to fast.
Give everybody some minutes. Especially Ines and Amari we may need them down the road.
Ines has an outside shot we could use that and Im sure she will make less then 6 turnovers a game and we have starters doing that
Amari is tall. We need tall. Some think its hopeless. I say give tell her she gonna get minutes and better respond.
We looked confident as a team tonite. Not everybody looked confident. That needs to change. To gain confidence you play to your strengths and the coaches tweak you.

As it pertains to Amari: During the UNC game we heard the announcers talking about UConn needing more elbow action. In the old days we'd call it the high post. This is a perfect spot for Amari. She's a good passer, knows the offense and would be in a position to get down low for rebounding. Remember Kaylie McLaran (spelling)? That's the role Amari should be playing. It would give Aaliyah an opportunity to work the base line and allow Paige to run off picks ala Rip Hamilton. Sometimes I think positionless basketball has forgotten many of the offensive principles that worked in the past.

 

[hoophuskee]

As it pertains to Amari: During the UNC game we heard the announcers talking about UConn needing more elbow action. In the old days we'd call it the high post. This is a perfect spot for Amari. She's a good passer, knows the offense and would be in a position to get down low for rebounding. Remember Kaylie McLaran (spelling)? That's the role Amari should be playing. It would give Aaliyah an opportunity to work the base line and allow Paige to run off picks ala Rip Hamilton. Sometimes I think positionless basketball has forgotten many of the offensive principles that worked in the past.

1-- Amari is not a good passer.
2-- She is a bad rebounder. Just because you are tall doesn't mean you can rebound well.

 

[DeepThreat]

1-- Amari is not a good passer.
2-- She is a bad rebounder. Just because you are tall doesn't mean you can rebound well.

I disagree on her passing abilities. I believe she can be effective in that spot. She also has the ability to hit the 15ft shot from the h-post. Look if she's that terrible of a player then UC's opponents would play off her leaving her open. Give her an opportunity is all I'm saying. And yes I agree with you being tall does make you a good rebounder but if she's able to get to the ball she be effective. Of course all of what I said depends on effort from her which I think is her biggest weakness

 

[ctkaiser]

From the UConn Blog. The woman with the red extensions (hair) is 6-3 or 6-4

View attachment 93946
View attachment 93947

That woman plays taller than that. Made Aaliyah seem like she was 6 even. She's a strong, tough player.

 

[HopJim]

Guards need to stop the drives - would result in less high % shots and offensive rebounds. UConn has not doubled the ball recently. Not sure why and not sure if this works with the upcoming match ups but it seemed effective in the past.

 

[BB Dawg]

Play Amari & Ines in the first half. Two, have Geno play film of the Utah & SC game. In particular, show film on how Alissa Pili covered Cardsosa one on one. Alissa gave up 5 inches, but did an amazing job. It was a pleasure to watch.

 

[hoophuskee]

I disagree on her passing abilities. I believe she can be effective in that spot. She also has the ability to hit the 15ft shot from the h-post. Look if she's that terrible of a player then UC's opponents would play off her leaving her open. Give her an opportunity is all I'm saying. And yes I agree with you being tall does make you a good rebounder but if she's able to get to the ball she be effective. Of course all of what I said depends on effort from her which I think is her biggest weakness

I wish I could agree with this but I can't. First off, there isn't one player in Div 1 that doesn’t have abilities. And more importantly, every player on the UCONN team has passing abilities.

Anyhow, she’s a reckless passer that doesn't see the floor well which is why .she has 30 assists vs 42 turnovers.

As far as UCONN's opponents playing her tight they are trying to pressure for a turnover. Tell me, with the number of turnovers she has had, why wouldn't some teams try to pressure her to force more turnover’s? If you were a defensive coach you wouldn’t pressure a player that has such a poor pass to assist number?

And if she has such a good shot as you claim, and she is being guarded by Ice can you explain why in Practices she hasn't been able to outplay her? After all, she is 6'6. But I don't believe they guard her that tough at all from the outside. Because why should they? Of the other 9 players on the team - 8 of them shoot better than her. Maybe you argue she shoots better than Ice. But if she among the worst on the team shooting the ball, then why would you want her taking 15 footers? Her fg numbers are that she is 33-87 from the floor (37.9%) while being 6'6. And she is 8-31 from 3. That's 25.8%. So if she can't shoot well vs Ice in practice. And if she can't shoot well whenever she does get minutes, why would you want her taking 15 footers? In fact she has shown that even when she shoots free throws she is bad - she is 9-18 at 50%. IS this another fault of Geno that Amari can't hit free throws?

There is just too much to have to ignore, - and at the expense of other players that are better than her. The better player’s deserve the opportunity.

 

[freshler40]

As it pertains to Amari: During the UNC game we heard the announcers talking about UConn needing more elbow action. In the old days we'd call it the high post. This is a perfect spot for Amari. She's a good passer, knows the offense and would be in a position to get down low for rebounding. Remember Kaylie McLaran (spelling)? That's the role Amari should be playing. It would give Aaliyah an opportunity to work the base line and allow Paige to run off picks ala Rip Hamilton. Sometimes I think positionless basketball has forgotten many of the offensive principles that worked in the past.

Ice may be a better player at setting the high pick, then roll. We have more years to develop her game.