JoePgh
Cranky pants and wise acre
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2011
- Messages
- 3,756
- Reaction Score
- 22,104
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 is disappointing about the way AE played against Seton Hall?
Her stat line does not indicate any problem: 34 minutes, 12 points, 7 rebounds including 3 offensive rebounds (more total rebounds than any Seton Hall player), 6-for-11 shooting. Is it her 5 turnovers that are the issue? Three of those turnovers were traveling calls. I agree that "happy feet" is a problem that she will have to address, but compared to what she has already overcome, it is a minor asterisk.
All last year, she had a huge problem with fouls, and fouled out of several important games after minimal minutes. She showed some of that in the early games this year, but against Seton Hall she had only 3 fouls in the game, and got the 3rd foul in the last minute or two of the game. That allowed her to play the 34 minutes that she needs to play.
She had a problem in previous games this year with offensive rebounds -- getting only 1 in 4 games. My hunch is that much of that was because her minutes and her aggressiveness were limited by foul trouble, but she certainly solved that problem against Seton Hall.
To me, Aaliyah exemplifies energy and toughness in the post. Her fouls in the past have come mostly from trying too hard to get a rebound or a loose ball. Her play near the basket allows Liv to play in the high post and distribute the ball, which is the kind of game that she (Liv) prefers to play. Now that Liv is starting to hit a decent percentage of her jump shots, it becomes more reasonable to play her in that role, since opponents will have to guard her jump shot.
Aaliyah made several plays near the basket against Seton Hall that showed a high level of skill as well as energy. I saw a hook shot from about 5 feet to the right of the basket and several contested layups.
Yet I'm reading BY posts that say she is tentative, lacks energy, doesn't understand her role. I don't see any of that. Some people faulted her for not getting any assists, but (as with Christyn) her role on offense is to finish scoring plays, not to set up others. We shouldn't expect to see a lot of assists from either AE or Christyn, any more than one would expect a tight end (AE) or a wide receiver (CW) on a football team to have a lot of rushing yards.
Can someone tell us: what is your problem with Aaliyah Edwards?
Her stat line does not indicate any problem: 34 minutes, 12 points, 7 rebounds including 3 offensive rebounds (more total rebounds than any Seton Hall player), 6-for-11 shooting. Is it her 5 turnovers that are the issue? Three of those turnovers were traveling calls. I agree that "happy feet" is a problem that she will have to address, but compared to what she has already overcome, it is a minor asterisk.
All last year, she had a huge problem with fouls, and fouled out of several important games after minimal minutes. She showed some of that in the early games this year, but against Seton Hall she had only 3 fouls in the game, and got the 3rd foul in the last minute or two of the game. That allowed her to play the 34 minutes that she needs to play.
She had a problem in previous games this year with offensive rebounds -- getting only 1 in 4 games. My hunch is that much of that was because her minutes and her aggressiveness were limited by foul trouble, but she certainly solved that problem against Seton Hall.
To me, Aaliyah exemplifies energy and toughness in the post. Her fouls in the past have come mostly from trying too hard to get a rebound or a loose ball. Her play near the basket allows Liv to play in the high post and distribute the ball, which is the kind of game that she (Liv) prefers to play. Now that Liv is starting to hit a decent percentage of her jump shots, it becomes more reasonable to play her in that role, since opponents will have to guard her jump shot.
Aaliyah made several plays near the basket against Seton Hall that showed a high level of skill as well as energy. I saw a hook shot from about 5 feet to the right of the basket and several contested layups.
Yet I'm reading BY posts that say she is tentative, lacks energy, doesn't understand her role. I don't see any of that. Some people faulted her for not getting any assists, but (as with Christyn) her role on offense is to finish scoring plays, not to set up others. We shouldn't expect to see a lot of assists from either AE or Christyn, any more than one would expect a tight end (AE) or a wide receiver (CW) on a football team to have a lot of rushing yards.
Can someone tell us: what is your problem with Aaliyah Edwards?
.