What does it take?

[Tonyc]

I guess for me the best players are those who know what to do on the court. Part of that is runnng the plays and not making continuous mistakes which both can cause you to loose games Another part would be being a good ball handler and passer. We have alot of kids with potencial on the team but not all of them have learned the system yet. Not knowing the system will cause pressure in big games. Paige CW Anna Evina and Oliva are all calm and under control and know how to execute and where to be and imo thats why theyre starting.

Watch the game when Paige isnt on the floor. Watch the girls who dont know what to do Paige CW Evina and Anna are facilatators, coaches on the floor. They know what to do and where to be. Its not all about who's scoring the most points. UConn is a team and its about team ball and team ball is a direct result of being able to do what Geno wants you and expects you to do. Geno gets paid millions to do what he does and he's doing a pretty good job of it . Geno can take a player and turn them into a player. How many kids have come through the program not as talented as some of our AA's and Geno has them on the floor? You have to learn how to play the game the right way and thats what Geno teaches. You can be a great athlete, you can be a great shooter or scorer but if you dont have the basic fundementals and learn how to play the game your not ready to play the game at UConn. Being the best takes practice and repition. Practicing the wrong things over and over and expecting different results amounts to nothing. You need to learn the correct way to do things and it must become reflexive. Learning the fundementals creates confidence and under pressure executing the fundementals without thinking but with reacting is what wins championships.

 

[oldhusky]

Players coming to this program have to learn to fit in. That is true even if they have the ability to be a star in college, or even in the pro ranks, like say Paige, Breanna, Diana, Maya etc. On the other end of Uconn recruits are the players who know they will probably not be a star in college, and may not have pro prospects, but hope to become good "role player" contributors on a top ranked program.

The consistent thing with most all incoming recruits here is that they were the star of their high school team. They got to take the last shot, be the teams leading scorer, and have the ball in their hands for much of the game. The offense may have been give her the ball and get out of the way.

Then she comes here and instead of being asked to score is now expected to fit into a system, play defense, rebound, set picks, move without the ball, and eliminate some of her high volume less efficient shots because others can score as well as she can. That is a big adjustment for them, particularly if they are not already unselfish, with a work ethic, have character and a team first concept etc.

Most college players probably have to put up pretty big numbers to get much attention from pro scouts. Uconn can make the pitch that if you are a good player on this team, the scouts will see you even if you are on the second unit. Maybe the 2016 championship team was the best example. All of the first 9 players on that team were drafted. We had a future WNBA rookie of the year on the bench in Napheesa, and another future All American/WNBA player in Gabby that didn't start either. Number 8 was Chong who played one year in the WNBA, and Butler at number 9 was drafted but did not make it.

Amazingly this year even Kyla, Batouly and Evelyn used their Uconn resumes to get foreign contracts. In addition WNBA coaches frequently cite Uconn players as coming into their league well grounded in fundamentals, and with a good team first concept that may make it easier to be a role player at that level. Those traits are an even more important point of emphasis regarding recruiting and retaining players during the near future when the roster will be relatively loaded.