What Is [goin on] With Aaliyah Edwards? [Merged Thread] | Page 3 | The Boneyard

What Is [goin on] With Aaliyah Edwards? [Merged Thread]

FormerCTrez said:
Why is it that I sometimes view a few BY posters as angry parents? The type of parents who are only happy when the kids maintain a 5.0 and nothing less. Because, if the grade is 3.0 - 4.0, it means that the kids have failed, and are doomed for life.
BYers, you can do much better than this! Imagine how you would feel if some of these comments were posted about your kid or relative.
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I don't see us that way. So in your estimation, we should only say up-building comments and belay anything that criticizes? Then let's just disband the BY, because we all see things differently. I'm sure Geno might disagree with you.
 
LCConnFan said:
I don't see us that way. So in your estimation, we should only say up-building comments and belay anything that criticizes? Then let's just disband the BY, because we all see things differently. I'm sure Geno might disagree with you.
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LCConnFan, I’m not suggesting that you, or any other poster shouldn’t state your criticism. After all, no one on this board is a robot. At least that’s what I believe. Also, this is a free world, and everyone is capable of freely expressing him/herself, whether that be good or bad. All I’m suggesting is that we should be mindful of the type ofcriticism we dish out towards other people's kids. I don’t know about you, but I surely wouldn’t be happy to listen to, or read the constant barrage of negativity towards my child.

PS: 1) It’s okay if Geno disagrees with me. I’ve disagreed with him on numerous occasions. 2) In a world where you can be anything, be kind.
 
FormerCTrez said:
LCConnFan, I’m not suggesting that you, or any other poster shouldn’t state your criticism. After all, no one on this board is a robot. At least that’s what I believe. Also, this is a free world, and everyone is capable of freely expressing him/herself, whether that be good or bad. All I’m suggesting is that we should be mindful of the type ofcriticism we dish out towards other people's kids. I don’t know about you, but I surely wouldn’t be happy to listen to, or read the constant barrage of negativity towards my child.

PS: 1) It’s okay if Geno disagrees with me. I’ve disagreed with him on numerous occasions. 2) In a world where you can be anything, be kind.
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And 'most' people here are! But your original statement sounded like what this world is becoming; anti-social. People, and especially sports nuts have always bantered back and forth about players AND university athletes. I just don't want to see this forum turn out to be nonsensical, where BY'ers end up not being able to express their opinions and are 'encouraged' to hold back their thoughts. Just sounded like that was what you were implying to me.
 
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Last night seemed like the low point for AE, i remember thinking when she missed "that" layup that last night would go awry. Here's hoping its on its way up. I hope the first play run against UCLA is to get het a basket. If AE gets comfortable SO MUCH will change about this team. No its not the only symptom but it will help with the cure.
 
Centerstream said:
Or maybe Aaliyah is better suited coming off the bench. Just a suggestion.
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Yep. Not sure why we didn't start the season with the lineup that really clicked in the second half of last season. Maybe Nika was still slowed by injuries, I'm not sure, but it appears that we tried to fix what wasn't broken.
 
Bumping this thread for additional considerations.
Aaliyah Edwards had her second scoreless game of the season last night while playing 23 minutes of the game.
She appears to be lost compared to the player she was in the last 3 games of last season.
The missed wide open layup in a closely contested game and the passes she fumbled in good scoring position are very fatal to UCONN chances. What is going on with her?
 
Something is wrong and I have no idea what it is. Aaliyah hasn't even vaguely resembled the player from last year. The GT game was the low-point of an extremely bad season so far. The strange thing is because she was so flustered early in the game, when she went up for that layup, I almost expected her to miss it. I don't recall feeling that way about anybody else ever.

Coming into this season I thought Aaliyah would be much improved, not so much rebounding or in close scoring, but in the areas she was not so good at like fouls and assists to turnovers, along with expanding her range a little. I also thought of the players on the roster, only Paige and Azzi were more likely to get on the wall (I know Paige has already qualified).

The decline is so severe that it is beyond comprehension for me without some known reason. Of the many things I am hoping for in the next few games, very high on my list is a breakout game by Aaliyah to get out of this funk.
 
Not sure its expectations as much as some of her play at critical times. I remember two plays yesterday that stopped UConn's comeback both times. One was a turnover pass that was made to the wing with no one within 20 feet; the other a missed unguarded layup with no one within 15 feet. Last year's version of AE was my favorite on the team due to her relentless hustle and play. Hopeful she will rebound, but the AE we see this year is a half step slower and just average when playing against average competitors.
 
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CocoHusky said:
Bumping this thread for additional considerations.
Aaliyah Edwards had her second scoreless game of the season last night while playing 23 minutes of the game.
She appears to be lost compared to the player she was in the last 3 games of last season.
The missed wide open layup in a closely contested game and the passes she fumbled in good scoring position are very fatal to UCONN chances. What is going on with her?
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An anomaly for sure.
 
AE is going through something. With her speed, size, and athleticism, she should be destroying some of the teams we have faced this season. If there is a sports psychologist on campus, maybe a visit could help, if they are open to that type of thing. I hope that she and the coaching staff are in the loop and working together.
 
request that one of the moderators merge these threads

the-boneyard.com

What Is [goin on] With Aaliyah Edwards? [Merged Thread]

Reading the Seton Hall postgame thread, I saw numerous critical comments about nearly all of the UConn players except Paige, but IMO those pertaining to Aaliyah Edwards are the least deserved (particularly with respect to the Seton Hall game itself) and the hardest to understand. What exactly...
the-boneyard.com the-boneyard.com
 
She's definitely off, but it may not be as bad as some are perceiving it to be. I took a stab at comparing her stats with Dorka's and Olivia's to see if it could shed some insight.

uconnhuskies.com

Aaliyah Edwards - Women's Basketball - University of Connecticut Athletics

Aaliyah Edwards (3) Forward - CAREER STATS CAREER HONORS 2024 WBCA All-America 2024 Wooden Award All-America 2024 NCAA Tournament Portland 3 Region All-Tourn...
uconnhuskies.com uconnhuskies.com

uconnhuskies.com

Dorka Juhász - Women's Basketball - University of Connecticut Athletics

Dorka Juhász (14) Forward - CAREER HONORS 2023 BIG EAST All-Tournament Team 2023 All-BIG EAST Second Team Two-time First Team All-Big Ten (2020, '21) 2020 Bi...
uconnhuskies.com uconnhuskies.com

uconnhuskies.com

Olivia Nelson-Ododa - Women's Basketball - University of Connecticut Athletics

Olivia Nelson-Ododa (20) Forward - CAREER STATS CAREER HONORS 2022 All-BIG EAST First Team 2021 BIG EAST Co-Defensive Player of the Year 2021 All-BIG EAST Se...
uconnhuskies.com uconnhuskies.com

The stats show a mix of things. Her field goal percentage, including the 2 games she was scoreless is 0.488. In comparison Dorka's is 0.333 and Olivia's is 0.576. So she's in the middle of the pack.

Turnovers for all three players aren't good at all as they all have 10+. The rebounding is perplexing as she's averaging 3.4, where Dorka is 4.4 and Oliva is 7.7.

Based on this, for me, I'm in the anomaly camp on this one. I believe she'll figure things out and get back on track.
 
I'm sure it can't just be me that thinks Aaliyah has looked poor all season. Last season she was definitely better than I expected and going into the summer with the Canadian national team I thought that would only improve her. Other college players like Shaina Pellington (Arizona) and Laeticia Amihere (South Carolina) the experience in the summer has clearly been beneficial and they have both seemed to have improved immensely over the summer, I just don't see the same thing with Aaliyah which is unfortunate because she looked promising last year.
 
I'm sure it can't just be me that thinks Aaliyah has looked poor all season. Last season she was definitely better than I expected and going into the summer with the Canadian national team I thought that would only improve her. Other college players like Shaina Pellington (Arizona) and Laeticia Amihere (South Carolina) the experience in the summer has clearly been beneficial and they have both seemed to have improved immensely over the summer, I just don't see the same thing with Aaliyah which is unfortunate because she looked promising last year.
 
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I’ve noticed since the start of the season it’s not just her stats, her body language seems off since first game. Regardless if she scores or not she’s had the same body language of looking unenthused. (I bolded “looking” to highlight that this is only my perception, I can’t actually know how enthused she truly is on the inside, some may just show emotion differently and that’s okay).

Aaliyah is not playing the way she was last year in the ncaa tourney and her body language is different as well. last year she was jumping up and down hyping herself and her teammates up, just looks less enthused this year. and we must take players’ performance at face value for what they are doing now. no “well last year she did x,y,z,” this is right now not last year. good call on geno to get her out of the starting lineup for the time being. its a long season, she can still prove herself in practices and by being one of the first off the bench.

oh and need to work on her shooting really really bad. between ONO and AE we have the worst front court shooting form, both players cranking the ball behind the top of their heads with their elbows straight up, results in shooting flat liners. with flat liners you have to be even more precise. get some arc on that shot!

all in all these are fixable things i believe. i have full belief she can get to where she wants to be, just has to take a different path and work extra hard!
 
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I thought AE had her best game of the season against UCLA. She finally played with fire, had the steal for a break away drive and layup. Been a long while coming this year. Maybe the arrival of Dorka and Amari put her in a funk. Who knows but it was good to see her back to normal. As for Amari not getting more time in that game - she was the back up in case of foul problems and Geno was still working on a starting 5 that failed miserably the game before.
 
I agree about Edwards playing better, she was active and scored some points in limited minutes, I'm happy with that. Maybe she'll do even better next time.
What I really like seeing is the joy that the team showed against UCLA! Didn't it seem like they were happy and relaxed? Love seeing them bond together- they are easy to root for. And as the chemistry develops and strategies without Paige become clearer, I think they are going to keep getting better. When the 4th quarter started, I was nervous given our two losses that had 4th quarter collapses, but UConn played great for the most part, and how nice it was to see them go on a run. Just like the old days!
One area that could get better is quickly getting passes to open teammates. When Edwards is in, she clears space and wants the ball- we need to get her the ball before opportunity closes. Also, Ducharme and Juhacz are showing how they like to dive towards the basket. Maybe we will get better setting picks to free them for quick pass.
Go Huskies!
 
oldude said:
Kia Nurse actually played on the Canadian Olympic team. Aaliyah barely saw the court either in exhibition games or the Olympics themselves.
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Just because she didn’t get in the games doesn’t mean she didn’t play basketball. There were probably 4 times as many practices as there were games. I’m sure Aaliyah played more than enough basketball over the summer. Just the typical sophomore slump, she will be fine.
 
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I know a lot of people said that going to the Olympics was good for her, but maybe the workouts not being with her team have her out of sync with the team.
 
jchuskie said:
I know a lot of people said that going to the Olympics was good for her, but maybe the workouts not being with her team have her out of sync with the team.
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Playing for her country is more important in the grand scheme of things than being in sync with her UConn teammates. Just need in to be in sync be the Big East tournament.
 
CTBballfan243 said:
Just because she didn’t get in the games doesn’t mean she didn’t play basketball. There were probably 4 times as many practices as there were games. I’m sure Aaliyah played more than enough basketball over the summer. Just the typical sophomore slump, she will be fine.
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By her own admission, Aaliyah didn’t play much basketball this past summer. She was the 12th player on a 12 player team, so even when the team was practicing 5 on 5, she was not playing very much basketball. Even more important, she also missed the intense summer conditioning program of Andrea Hudy.
 
jchuskie said:
I know a lot of people said that going to the Olympics was good for her, but maybe the workouts not being with her team have her out of sync with the team.
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Could be, but I don't think that's it. It's not like she never played for UConn before. No one left since last year. She played with these guys under the same system. Practiced with them for a couple of months. So, I think it's something else. What it might be, I have no clue.
 
I posted this in a different thread, but belongs here... (I thought she showed more energy against UCLA)

One comment on AE. In the UCLA game she was force to play the 3 and stay on the perimeter for about 80-90% of the time she was in the game. That is out of position for her and puts her in the position where she almost has to take the 20 footers to keep the defense honest. It must be very frustrating for her to be forced to play out of position and not be able to produce in the way she did last year.

Did anyone else notice that when she was at the 4, she did a great job on #24 UCLA who was pushing both Dorka and Liv way deep and scoring easily. Also she was the initiator of all of those massive pile ups under the hoop (she is still so strong).
 
oldude said:
By her own admission, Aaliyah didn’t play much basketball this past summer. She was the 12th player on a 12 player team, so even when the team was practicing 5 on 5, she was not playing very much basketball. Even more important, she also missed the intense summer conditioning program of Andrea Hudy.
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Oh, I forgot, those 3rd world Canadians don’t know about conditioning programs. I hear for weight lifting they tie rocks to broken hockey sticks.

Hopefully those intense summer training workouts you are talking about weren’t the catalyst for the overuse stress related injuries that several of the players are dealing with their feet.
 
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