Which current Husky do you expect to make the biggest jump in play this year?

[CL82]

I'm going with Saniya Chong. She's talented kid and now has a better grasp of the speed of the elite college game. Kia Stokes is my runner up. She'll be needed. Of course a healthy Morgan Tuck is a possibility as well.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Those would be my three.

In Morgan's case, it's injury related. We've seen how good she is, just not in long enough stretches.

Kiah will be one of two seniors and will feel a sense of urgency and a sense of responsibility. She'll get a lot of PT and will be a defensive force.

Saniya showed flashes of excellence, then presumably hit the freshman wall. I look for her to make the sophomore leap. I think her play will be the most improved.

I also look for Moriah to be a vocal leader. She said it's in her nature. The kid who is not really 5'7" will be taking the kid with the 7'1" wingspan to task when needed.

I also look for Kaleena to be at least as good as she was as a soph. She should be healthy and will play with a sense of urgency. She does not shy away from trying to be great. She'll play at the level that other #23 did. People overlook Kaleena because of Stewie's unreal talents, but Kaleena will make us think, "Damn, she's good!" on a regular basis.

 

[dtbtbtb]

I think it will be Chong that shows the most improvement in play but hope it will be Kiah. If Kiah can become a 12-15 points, 10-12 rebounds, 3 blocks per game player (which I believe she can be), UConn becomes almost impossible to beat when you add Stewie, MoJeff, KML, etc.

 

[semper]

I'm hoping for Morgan! She has had some really bad breaks, and if she is healthy, I hope it's lights out. Such talent!

 

[intlzncster]

Have to leave Morgan out, as I've clue how well she will recover from serious injury.

Definitely and hopefully Kiah Stokes. She's more important than SC to the success of this coming year's team. She won't be looking over her shoulder, and I think she's a kid that benefits from this.

SC has a lot of competition for her spot, so I think her impact will be more muted and less necessary. A couple of the freshman might even be better players coming in than SC is now (though I'd expect her to start). Nurse looks like she might be a true stud. I love the thought of a Jefferson/Nurse backcourt. Very complimentary skill sets.

 

[hoophuskee]

1--- KML. She'll be back ot first team a/a.

2--- Mo Jeff. I expect she'll be a more onsistent scorer. Adn wid up being 1st team a/a State Fram. She'll be more of a scorer if Tuck is still affected by her kees.

3--- Tuck. If she's healthy she could rise above 1 and 2 regarding a jump and even become a legit all-american. A wild gues though - and hopeful of no injuries- Tuck starts off slow and improves by leaps-and-bounds as seoson progresses.

 

[sawxfan23]

Stokes is going to be a double/double machine this year and will be far and away the most improved player.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Kiah as she'll play significantly more minutes this year than in previous years. Geno will still try to limit Morgan's minutes this year. Plus Kiah knows the starting position is hers and she'll come into camp ready and prove to herself, teammates and Geno that she can be counted on a daily basis.

 

[connboy77]

Add me the list of posters who think Chong will make the biggest jump. We all know that she can score at will; now we need to see it in actual games.

 

[Suebird10fan]

Saniya.

 

[Cheddie]

I don't know if I expect it, but the player I'd love to see improve would be Morgan, and I think it would only take the opportunity for her to play at full strength. I think Saniya will improve substantially, but Geno will have lots of quick guards. Morgan can add needed depth to the front court. I saw her in person against Houston this past season, and she was the best player on the court; she was essentially unstoppable underneath the basket and had a very nice outside touch. It'd be great to have her in tandem with Stewie and Kia.

 

[Fiftyish]

I'm going with Saniya. As noted by others she showed flashes of her capabilities last year. She can get up and down the court real quick and is 3 point threat. With a year under her belt and with competition from the incoming class she will, I think, make a big jump in improvement. I'm rootin for her.

 

[reno tony]

My hope is Tuck will be healthy. By the end of the year the only non-center post player in the country better than her will be her teammate.... Stewie. Tuck has such tremendous skills, basketball sense and just doesn't do anything stupid.

45 TO GO​

 

[EricLA]

In a way it sort of depends on the actual question. If it's just "who will make the biggest jump", the most likely candidate is Chong. She actually regressed as the season progressed, and ended the year getting barely more PT than the walk-ons. Given that Banks is gone, Chong has a perfect chance to make an impact.

Of course, given that Tuck didn't really play next year, I'm not sure you can tag her as the one to show the biggest improvement. Additionally, she was pretty terrific when healthy, so to expect huge improvements after a year recovering from an injury (and to expect her to be that much better than when she was healthy) seems really unrealistic.

Same, in a way, goes for Stokes - she was fantastic the last quarter or so of the year. UCONN basically played 6 players and she was the only one off the bench, probably averaging close to 25 MPG towards the end.

But if the question is who shines the most, I'd say it would be a healthy Tuck or Stokes. I believe Kiah will be a starter and have high hopes for her, and a healthy Morgan will be a force. I think they will have better numbers than Saniya...

 

[Sonny44]

It better be Kia or we got problems.

 

[Buzzyboy]

I'm going with Saniya Chong. She's talented kid and now has a better grasp of the speed of the elite college game. Kia Stokes is my runner up. She'll be needed. Of course a healthy Morgan Tuck is a possibility as well.

I think that Saniya has a lot more room to grow than she showed for a good part of this past season. She showed some signs early that she was going to be able to put up some pretty decent freshman numbers and then seemed to fade away, at least offensively. I think some people, myself included, thought that with the amount of scoring she did in high school, particularly from three point range, that she would be a nice perimeter threat throughout the year. As it turned out, her scoring just seemed to plummet as the year went on and I felt that her confidence just deteriorated. That being said, I think if she gets stronger and more confident, that she might be a big surprise. With some talented guards coming in, she definitely needs to show more early on or risk losing minutes on the court. Kia has given us everything on the defensive side and her offensive board work has been stellar. She's just got to gain some confidence in her offensive skills and work at scoring from 10 feet on in. I know she has the ability to be a good, solid offensive player along with her other talents.

 

[Buzzyboy]

It better be Kia or we got problems.

I don't think Kia has to do a whole lot more than she did last year to be a great asset to this team. If she continues to block shots and rebound at the same rate she did this year but with more minutes of court time, the only other thing we'd ask her to do is maybe just have a couple of more put backs of her offensive rebounds and occasionally hit a short jumper or two to keep the defense on their toes. She was quite impressive for most of the year and a radical improvement over her sophomore season.

 

[Buzzyboy]

I think it will be Chong that shows the most improvement in play but hope it will be Kiah. If Kiah can become a 12-15 points, 10-12 rebounds, 3 blocks per game player (which I believe she can be), UConn becomes almost impossible to beat when you add Stewie, MoJeff, KML, etc.

I think if she gets the minutes that Stef did last year that she'll easily hit your goals of rebounding and blocked shots and all she needs is a little more aggressiveness on the offensive side to get the points you're speaking of. There were a number of games where she attained the rebounds and blocks that you speak of and that was with a whole lot less minutes than she'll probably have available this year. I think we're going to be in good shape with her and with a very healthy KML and an ever improving Moriah and Breanna, I think points won't be much of an issue, especially with some talented young guards coming in. Go Huskies!

 

[alexrgct]

This is a great topic to think about and one I'm struggling to answer predictively. Given that, I'm going to answer it a bit differently, i.e., not who I THINK will make the biggest leap forward but who I WANT to make that leap.

My vote? Breanna Stewart. She wants four NCs, and she has some ideas of things she can improve upon. She knows she was AP/WBCA/Naismith NPOY last year but could win the Wade and Wooden too in a clean sweep.

It would be scary if Stewie made a leap forward as a junior...but damn would it be fun to watch.

And I'd love for KML to stay healthy next season and vie for NPOY in her own right. I've always been extremely fond of her and want the absolute best for her in her senior campaign.

 

[watanabe]

They all will get better, but Kiah will be a monster. Her scoring will double, at least, and the other aspects of her game will get better as well. Not so sure about ms Chong, but u neva no. Seems there are other issues there.

 

[rocky rococo]

Mo Jetts. She's just begun to take the wrapper off. She's a respectful kid, and it seemed to me didn't want to take away from it being Bria's backcourt to run. Now it's all hers, with a crew of young guards she can, and is supposed to be, the lead. Get ready for some dazzling hoops. You won't see those plays coming until the ball's already tickling twine.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Kiah Stokes will have a monster year! IMHO she'll develop a 12' to 15' shot to go with her rebounding and blocked shots! She'll be one of the top ranked centers in the country!
Saniya Chong will now have the confidence she lost the last 1/3 of the season! She'll use her fantastic shooting skills and her quickness on offense and defensively! She strikes me as someone who'll know her weaknesses and work all off season to improve herself!

 

[CL82]

This is a great topic to think about and one I'm struggling to answer predictively. Given that, I'm going to answer it a bit differently, i.e., not who I THINK will make the biggest leap forward but who I WANT to make that leap.

My vote? Breanna Stewart. She wants four NCs, and she has some ideas of things she can improve upon. She knows she was AP/WBCA/Naismith NPOY last year but could win the Wade and Wooden too in a clean sweep.

It would be scary if Stewie made a leap forward as a junior...but damn would it be fun to watch.

And I'd love for KML to stay healthy next season and vie for NPOY in her own right. I've always been extremely fond of her and want the absolute best for her in her senior campaign.

No doubt that she'll continue to grow but as a dominant player it is tough for her to have "the biggest jump." She was the first option last year and she'll be the first option this year. I do think that she has room to grow though and that's scary thought. Scary in a good way, though, if you are a Husky fan.

 

[John Glass]

Gabby Williams

 

[UConnChapette]

Gabby Williams

Nice! Great form...If she played for Notre Dame, I would say she was a natural at "flopping".