Which player is your biggest "mystery" going into new season?

[dbmill]

If she can recover and be effective remains to be seen- and is a mystery to me. I think Chong is in a very precarious position. If she doesn't make that big leap this fall, she may not get too many more chances with the group coming in. I actually think she will have a tough time staying ahead of Nurse, and she is lucky Gabby is rehabbing.

Exactly. With the four freshmen wing players coming in, Chong is under pressure to step forward and prove herself quickly this season. If she doesn't make the great leap forward, it certainly looks like Geno has plenty of options, and she could very well end up being the last scholarship guard on the bench.

 

[winlots]

winlots- - - I saw several tapes of Chong in HS and she was VERY aggressive! But as Geno said in college you go through so many ups + downs confidence is a big thing! But I really feel she'll work that out over the off season and come back with a fire relit!

RSH: thanks for taking the time to get back on that,. Sounds very good. (I've only seen a little bit of her high school footage, and can't really remember being struck by that sort of "mincing step" style that struck me at times last season.....happy to see your take on her with your CAPS and your exclamation points. I'm reassured)

 

[mhshuskies]

Tuck. I know she could be an AA, or at least so I once thought. I'm so very curious about her future. After that

I think only her health is a question. If she is healthy she will become an AA.

 

[mhshuskies]

Exactly. With the four freshmen wing players coming in, Chong is under pressure to step forward and prove herself quickly this season. If she doesn't make the great leap forward, it certainly looks like Geno has plenty of options, and she could very well end up being the last scholarship guard on the bench.

Overwhelmingly opinions on Chong being the mystery. By now we know what to expect from all the returning players, skill and contribution wise. Chong is the one that needs to take a big freshmen to sophomore step forward, otherwise she will be a bench player her remaining career and one or more of the incoming freshmen establish themselves. Either way it will be a season to find out who will be the 5th starter for the 10th NC run.

 

[easttexastrash]

She needs to fix her shooting motion, to get it overhead rather than from her chin. She is not big enough to get off very many shots with her current motion. Of course, if she isn't hitting her shots, she will get all the room she needs.

I've seen this with many female players throughout the years. A push-shot is really hard to get off when the opposing playrs are bigger. If she wants to be come an offensive threat with that shooting motion she is going to have to work REALLY hard at working without the ball and getting wide open shots.

 

[easttexastrash]

If the freshman class is as good as advertised, I think that Chong will have trouble getting playing time unless she makes some major improvements. I haven't seen the freshmen play so I cannot predict how good any of them will be. That should be fun to watch.

Tuck, if healthy, is not a mystery to me, at all. She proved that she can be very productive, so if she is healthy, she will be a starter.

Stokes has been a mystery to me for 3 years, so she will be a mystery until I see her play next year. She has tremendous upside if she can come back for her senior year with an improved offensive game. Right now she doesn't seem to have much range on her shot, but if she can develop that she can explode.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Looks like Chong as biggest mystery for most. Next looks like the freshmen, both individually and collectively; interestingly, there is a pretty even balance of votes among those four, although the bulk of the Williams "mystery" seems to relate only to her injury, in contrast to the unknowns about the other three frosh. Stokes and Tuck right up in there with the frosh, in terms of votes, athough some of the Tuck seems to be injury related.
Posters obviously feel pretty settled about what to expect from the other scholarship players, Lewis, Stewart, Jefferson, as none of them get a mention. I think Banks might have garnered non-injury mystery votes had she stayed. Haven't heard yet where she landed, but could have missed it.

I thought of the freshman, Nurse would have far and away the fewest "mystery" designations because of what she's "proved" with the Canadian national team. It seems that experience would be supremely valuable and eliminate a lot of questions in regard to her potential contributions.

 

[Buzzyboy]

My mystery is Morgan. I think Ekmark Nurse and Gabby (eventually) will be fine! I hope she and we are not robbed from what could have been with her. We hope this more for Morgan more for her sake than ours! "they can't win if they can't score!". That coach of Florida State I think, who was overseas with Morgan last summer, basically said, with Morgan, she hardly needed to coach after the tip off. And forget the huddles- Morgan dominated all the huddles during every break. In a positive way. Like having a great player coach!

Morgan has already shown a lot of ability and skill in her 1 1/2 years of actually playing here in Storrs, even though she's never been completely pain free. I can't even imagine how much better she would be (and hopefully WILL BE) if completely healthy. I would have to hope that in the aftermath of her surgery, which was serious, she would at least be as effective going forward as she was prior to having had the surgery. I'm sure she got the best medical available and as a result, I'd be very surprised and very disappointed if her ability to perform was worsened by the surgery.

 

[uconnfan68]

I think our biggest mystery is who is our backup center?

I think Kiah can (and might) play 38-39 minutes a game (just like Stef). She also WILL be the best center in wcbb next year. Rebounding and shot-blocking like a young Bill Russell. The offense will come too.

 

[easttexastrash]

I think Kiah can (and might) play 38-39 minutes a game (just like Stef). She also WILL be the best center in wcbb next year. Rebounding and shot-blocking like a young Bill Russell. The offense will come too.

Coates will be the best center, IMO. She was pretty high on my list last season.

 

[MilfordHusky]

If there is a 2019 recruit out there named Agatha Christie, I truly think she will be the greatest mystery.

 

[sawxfan23]

I think Kiah can (and might) play 38-39 minutes a game (just like Stef). She also WILL be the best center in wcbb next year. Rebounding and shot-blocking like a young Bill Russell. The offense will come too.

I think Kiah will be in the 25-28 minutes range. I think her aggressiveness makes her a little prone to foul trouble and she may have to spend a little time on the bench here an there. I am a big believer in Stokes but Coates is a better player and will be the best center in the country next year.

 

[2ndCity]

Create what?

On edit: Never mind. Got it.

Thanks JR, but you may be the only one who did. I chose an onomatopoeic
reference, buried in a Chinese character, since the title of the subject required
a "mystery" answer.

 

[Buzzyboy]

winlots- - - I saw several tapes of Chong in HS and she was VERY aggressive! But as Geno said in college you go through so many ups + downs confidence is a big thing! But I really feel she'll work that out over the off season and come back with a fire relit!

There's a world of difference between the type athletes you face in high school and in college. In high school I'm sure she was quicker and more athletic than 95% of the kids she competed against but in college, that percentage drops drastically and in fact, there are numerous kids who are quicker and more athletic so the tables have turned. When that realization comes through, you've got to fight through it and up your game. It is totally a mental thing and it seems she's struggled with it. Time will tell whether she can get over the hump because with talented freshmen coming in, she's got to be up to the challenge. That was one of the amazing things about Maria Conlon. She was competing against kids who were far more athletic and yet, through her smarts and her will, she made herself into an important and essential part of some national championship teams. The jury is out on whether Chong can make that mental jump and be a key contributor moving forward.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Buzzyboy- - you're right no one saw the Maria Conlon potential her freshman year! Her HEART, losing weight, and knowing her own skill level and accenting the positive took her to major roles in 3 Championships!
But I still feel Chong will regroup over this off-season and come back in Oct. with a refreshed game!

 

[yanks61]

Morgan Tuck

 

[winlots]

RSHER et al. Night before last we watched a couple our tapes; I think it was the 11-11-13 game vs. no less than Stanford in which CHONG looked very impressive and aggressive.....popped in a couple of threes, converted a couple of nice drives, couple nifty passes, totaled about 15 points or so .....generally looked rather comfortable and at home. ( Of course, that was during her generally impressive arrival on the scene; it was after that that things seemed to change for her. )