Westbrook to Uconn [merged thread]

[ScottCT]

Has there been any interviews with Westbrook since her commitment?

 

[eebmg]

Has there been any interviews with Westbrook since her commitment?

I imagine she is being advised not to do any interviews since a wrong word might affect her transfer waiver application. Just buckle down out of the spot light.

 

[Carnac]

How many of you (like me) logged into the yard today hoping to read of another player committing to UConn?

 

[Gus Mahler]

How many of you (like me) logged into the yard today hoping to read of another player committing to UConn?

You know me too well, C.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Meg was about 40%

Megan .397 (50-126)

Christyn .367 (47-128)

Crystal .352 (82-233)

Evina .380 (38-100)

Evelyn .360 (32-89)

All 5 shot between 35% and 40%.

 

[DEpup]

Megan .397 (50-126)

Christyn .367 (47-128)

Crystal .352 (82-233)

Evina .380 (38-100)

Evelyn .360 (32-89)

All 5 shot between 35% and 40%.

That could turn into a 3 pt barrage. Imagine all 5 of them on the floor at the same time passing the ball while Liv takes a breather. The opponent wouldn't know who will eventually take the shot.

 

[DICKG]

I imagine she is being advised not to do any interviews since a wrong word might affect her transfer waiver application. Just buckle down out of the spot light.

Does anyone know what the timeline is on the waiver decision? Does the NCAA have a certain time to make a decision ether way on her case?

 

[Geesworld]

Really? Crystal, Megan & Chrstyn will all be back and presumably be better. Liv is not a perimeter shooter, but Pheesa, the player she will replace in the lineup did not have a particularly good year shooting the 3. Assuming that Evina replaces Lou in the starting lineup, as one poster pointed out her 3 pt shooting percentage was just slightly below Lou's this past year, and in UConn's offense Evina is going to get a whole lot more open looks than at TN. Finally, Ania, Evelyn and Aubrey can all shoot the 3 giving UConn more shooters in their regular rotation than I can ever remember.

Any team that plays zone against UConn is just praying that UConn has a cold shooting night, because there is no way they can cover all the shooters that UConn will put on the floor at any one time.

Really? Crystal, Megan & Chrstyn will all be back and presumably be better. Liv is not a perimeter shooter, but Pheesa, the player she will replace in the lineup did not have a particularly good year shooting the 3. Assuming that Evina replaces Lou in the starting lineup, as one poster pointed out her 3 pt shooting percentage was just slightly below Lou's this past year, and in UConn's offense Evina is going to get a whole lot more open looks than at TN. Finally, Ania, Evelyn and Aubrey can all shoot the 3 giving UConn more shooters in their regular rotation than I can ever remember.

Any team that plays zone against UConn is just praying that UConn has a cold shooting night, because there is no way they can cover all the shooters that UConn will put on the floor at any one time.

KLS made life a lot easier for everybody with all the attention paid to her because of her lethal 3pt shooting. We don't have that one player who demands all the attention she did. I believe teams will challenge us to beat them from outside. The AAC tourney without KLS, we didn't shoot the 3 ball well.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

A couple of Knoxville News Sentinel writers discuss Westbrook, her transfer, UConn, and Tennessee in a 20-minute audio broadcast at the link. It's a good listen.

Volunteer State: Are Lady Vols better off with Jordan Horston than Evina Westbrook?

If you could have two more seasons of Evina Westbrook in a Tennessee uniform, or four seasons with Jordan Horston, which would you take?

www.knoxnews.com

 

[hoopsfan22]

Does anyone know what the timeline is on the waiver decision? Does the NCAA have a certain time to make a decision ether way on her case?

Probably won't hear until October or November, assuming UConn submits a waiver request.

 

[j66kicker]

Does anyone know what the timeline is on the waiver decision? Does the NCAA have a certain time to make a decision ether way on her case?

Probably won't hear until October or November, assuming UConn submits a waiver request.

ND didn’t get the final word on Shepard until a couple days before their first game, but that was ND’s 2nd waiver request after the first one was denied.

 

[oldude]

KLS made life a lot easier for everybody with all the attention paid to her because of her lethal 3pt shooting. We don't have that one player who demands all the attention she did. I believe teams will challenge us to beat them from outside.

No doubt Lou was an exceptional 3-pt shooter. But the sheer number of good shooters that UConn will be able to put on the floor at the same time this coming season will be almost impossible to defend.

 

[Geesworld]

No doubt Lou was an exceptional 3-pt shooter. But the sheer number of good shooters that UConn will be able to put on the floor at the same time this coming season will be almost impossible to defend.

I Hope so.

 

[j66kicker]

A couple of Knoxville News Sentinel writers discuss Westbrook, her transfer, UConn, and Tennessee in a 20-minute audio broadcast at the link. It's a good listen.

Volunteer State: Are Lady Vols better off with Jordan Horston than Evina Westbrook?

If you could have two more seasons of Evina Westbrook in a Tennessee uniform, or four seasons with Jordan Horston, which would you take?

www.knoxnews.com

Well these guys were a little more level-headed than some of the LV fan audio tracks out there...

 

[Vowelguy]

Well these guys were a little more level-headed than some of the LV fan audio tracks out there...

Really setting the bar high I see

 

[UConnNick]

I believe that Megan, Christyn, Crystal, Evina, and Evelyn all shot at least 35% from the arc last season. That's not too shabby.

That's the same as shooting over 50 percent from two point range. Any shooter will take a 50 percent or better average, unless they're bigs who never take anything but layups or five footers.

 

[stamfordhusky]

That's the same as shooting over 50 percent from two point range. Any shooter will take a 50 percent or better average, unless they're bigs who never take anything but layups or five footers.

Not quite the same - since 3-point shooters rarely draw fouls. In contrast, players shooting two-pointers - especially drives or post moves - draw a much larger number of fouls per shot. That means more points per shot. Some 50% two-point shooters have a "true shooting percentage" of 55-58%, sometimes higher.

Also drives to the basket or post moves mean the other team gets over the limit more frequently and it also means players on the opposing team get in foul trouble. That is frequently worth at least a few points per game.

 

[uconnell]

Most of this bitterness was due to her uncle being a big UConn fan, which she really resented. The rest of her family were all Tennessee fans. Eventually they just referred to him as UConn. The name stuck:

The guy was so ostracized that he moved to the Arctic and took up prospecting. Eventually he started giving tours on the side:

View attachment 43207

Lol. Good one.

 

[CocoHusky]

That could turn into a 3 pt barrage. Imagine all 5 of them on the floor at the same time passing the ball while Liv takes a breather. The opponent wouldn't know who will eventually take the shot.

Fools gold IMO. I actually think Crystal in particular and the entire team in general was way too dependent on the 3 ball last year. There is a dual price to be paid for shooting that many . The first price is long rebounds that triggers the other teams transition and the second price is you take away from one of Crystal's greatest asset which is to penetrate, compromise the defense and get easy baskets for the interior players.

 

[oldude]

Fools gold IMO. I actually think Crystal in particular and the entire team in general was way too dependent on the 3 ball last year. There is a dual price to be paid for shooting that many . The first price is long rebounds that triggers the other teams transition and the second price is you take away from one of Crystal's greatest asset which is to penetrate, compromise the defense and get easy baskets for the interior players.

So let me counter your argument. Having several players on the floor who can knock down 3’s stretches an opponent’s defense allowing players to put the ball on the floor and penetrate to the basket for layups or midrange jumpers, even against a zone. If Crystal wasn’t a good 3-pt shooter she wouldn’t have the opportunity to penetrate because defenders would just play off her.

As for long rebounds, yes they can lead to transition baskets, but they also lead to many more offensive rebounds, particularly against a zone defense, which makes it more difficult for defenders to box out.

Ultimately, teams can not survive solely by the 3-pt shot, but it certainly makes the game a lot easier when you have a team full of players who can knock down shots.

 

[pvdoggy]

Fools gold IMO. I actually think Crystal in particular and the entire team in general was way too dependent on the 3 ball last year. There is a dual price to be paid for shooting that many . The first price is long rebounds that triggers the other teams transition and the second price is you take away from one of Crystal's greatest asset which is to penetrate, compromise the defense and get easy baskets for the interior players.

Crystal not only took 3, but I think since she is shorter, she tends to take them much further out than say Lou's 3 pt shots, maybe to avoid being blocked. I also wish that she penetrated more.

 

[CocoHusky]

So let me counter your argument. Having several players on the floor who can knock down 3’s stretches an opponent’s defense allowing players to put the ball on the floor and penetrate to the basket for layups or midrange jumpers, even against a zone. If Crystal wasn’t a good 3-pt shooter she wouldn’t have the opportunity to penetrate because defenders would just play off her.

As for long rebounds, yes they can lead to transition baskets, but they also lead to many more offensive rebounds, particularly against a zone defense, which makes it more difficult for defenders to box out.

Ultimately, teams can not survive solely by the 3-pt shot, but it certainly makes the game a lot easier when you have a team full of players who can knock down shots.

Focus on Crystal specifically and that will crystalize my issue- pun intended. More than half (233 of 437) of Crystal's shot attempts were from 3PT range. That is way too many when your primary job description is being a PG. Crystal's 233 attempts were only 4 less than KLS. A year prior Kia Nurse had 184 attempts and KLS had 202. KML's peak in 3PtFG attempts was her Freshmen year at UCONN=248. Either way you look at it that's too many 3PT shot attempts coming from the PG position and definitely not justified by an accuracy rate of ~ 35%.

 

[oldude]

Focus on Crystal specifically and that will crystalize my issue- pun intended. More than half (233 of 437) of Crystal's shot attempts were from 3PT range. That is way too many when your primary job description is being a PG. Crystal's 233 attempts were only 4 less than KLS. A year prior Kia Nurse had 184 attempts and KLS had 202. KML's peak in 3PtFG attempts was her Freshmen year at UCONN=248. Either way you look at it that's too many 3PT shot attempts coming from the PG position and definitely not justified by an accuracy rate of ~ 35%.

I agree that Crystal shot a high percentage of 3’s, but her total was not out of line with other top pg’s. Ionescu shot 219 threes this past season on 609 total shots. While you will argue that Ionescu had a much better ratio than Crystal, I will argue that at 5’5”? Crystal has far less ability to get her shot off inside among the trees than Ionescu, who is a great finisher at the rim.

 

[CocoHusky]

I agree that Crystal shot a high percentage of 3’s, but her total was not out of line with other top pg’s. Ionescu shot 219 threes this past season on 609 total shots. While you will argue that Ionescu had a much better ratio than Crystal, I will argue that at 5’5”? Crystal has far less ability to get her shot off inside among the trees than Ionescu, who is a great finisher at the rim.

I think Ionescu numbers are more supportive of my argument (Crystal shoots too many 3) than it is of your argument because 3PtFG attempts =35% for Sabrina vs. 53% for Crystal. Additionally Sabrina is not the Oregon "fulltime" PG. Graves often has Sabrina playing off the ball with Carzola manning the point. My other counter is that Crystal is very crafty once she get to the rim. Crystal has a very good floater and Euro step that she uses to shoot over larger defenders.

 

[Rocket009]

I think Ionescu numbers are more supportive of my argument (Crystal shoots too many 3) than it is of your argument because 3PtFG attempts =35% for Sabrina vs. 53% for Crystal. Additionally Sabrina is not the Oregon "fulltime" PG. Graves often has Sabrina playing off the ball with Carzola manning the point. My other counter is that Crystal is very crafty once she get to the rim. Crystal has a very good floater and Euro step that she uses to shoot over larger defenders.

You also need to take into account that her numbers are impacted by being the person who ended up with the ball when the offense stagnated and the shot clock ran down + she was the main person taking the last shot before the end of a quarter. So her 3 point stats may be a little misleading