I don't know that I would call Chen a 1st year player. She played 3 years at Princeton and for a future UConn head coach (maybe). She had big games against power schools. You can argue she's new to UConn, but I would not call her a 1st year player.
There's been plenty of dark karma swirling around the team these past few years. But if it's really gone, this shapes up to be the beginning of another dominant stretch, with Jana leading the way for Gandy Lara and Olivia like an eagle teaching the fledglings under her wing, and Paige and Azzi setting the standard for the rest of the team this year so they know how high to aim in future.
We never saw the potential Ayanna had in hs in any games she played as a freshman. She never showed any leaping ability that I saw. If she can truly play near the rim, like her video clips showed, then she might be successful as a backup to Jana, but it's a mystery now.
I think it very fair to say that she has had some pretty good hop's! In this vid she is two handed dunking the ball, with ease...
Great news.
Looks like she played for Team USA in FIBA U18 International tournaments (3 of them) during the Summer of 2021. So, I guess that would be between her senior year of high school and freshman year at UConn. Very similar to the way Sarah is just returning from play and similar to Sarah's team's results, Ayanna's team also won the Gold Medal in the 3x3 World Cup in Hungary, Aug 7 to 15, 2021. Ayanna was ESPN's #3 rated high school player that year and Ice Brady was #5, both started UConn that fall semester.
I agree with you totally regarding Brady and Jana. Brady's effort, confidence and abilities displayed during the playoffs was like night and day over the rest of last season. I can't help but believe that she will be at least as good as she was in the playoffs and hopefully improved upon that. If true, she's going to get a lot of minutes, and I think she will start along side Jana. We don't know what Jana will be like in a UConn uniform, so I am willing to trust in Geno. He says she's great (that not a quote). Ayanna is an unknown factor for me. She showed little while wearing a UConn uniform. So I expect Strong and Aubrey to spell those two. Paige will of course be in the starting lineup along with Ash and Chen. KK will get plenty of minutes spelling all three of them. Unless or until our other injured warriors Azzi and Caroline are 100% healthy. Then that changes everything! And we have a couple of other highly touted freshmen Morgan and Allie. Who knows what they might do when given an opportunity. Then there's Q. I had high hopes for her, but little by little you could see her loosing confidence throughout the season. She lost her shooting touch and it effected her play. But she seemed to be working hard on defense when she was in there. Problem is, when everyone else who plays your position is playing well, there's nothing to fix so it's odd woman out so-to-speak. I just can't wait for the season to begin. There are so many questions to be answered, and if the answers are positive ... we're gonna have one heck of a great season.
I think you're right that Q has a steep hill to climb to get minutes. I'm pulling for her. She got an interesting skill set. I think of her as part of a trio of related players -- her, Aubrey and Ayanna. They all run the court well, have long arms and are quite athletic. Aubrey is the quickest, Ayanna is the strongest, and Q is the best shooter among them. Right now, Aubrey is her main competition, since she already knows how to perform miracles as a defender, a rebounder and a transition sprinter. Q finishes really well on the break and she already rebounds well. If she can put it all together this season, she'll have positioned herself really well for her junior year. Ayanna isn't really Q's natural competition, but she's really quick for a big -- quicker than Aaliyah, and just as strong -- and could end up playing a role in the fast break offense. That would encroach on what I expect will be Q's natural role.
I wouldn't say Chen is a 1st year player. She is 1st year UConn and Geno, but being a grad student--she has soooo much NCAA experience.
Yeah, right. Olivia and Lara aren't in the fold as yet, so lets just concentrate on what we do have. The future is the future, so as of now I'm hoping that Ayanna is well enough to play, and she would be the first option to back up Jana. Sarah and Ice would be each other's back up except when Geno may want to play them together in one of his line up options. A healthy Ayanna would be a bonus for the team, just as the comeback of Caroline would be.
Chen is an experienced veteran who has played multiple competitive teams and excelled, one of them being UCLA, which is incredibly surprising because of Chen's major height disadvantage. Nonetheless, she scored 20 on them. It's her first year in the Geno system, but the Berube system is reportedly heavily influenced by his.
Kaitlyn's height is inconsequential because she's shifty. She can change direction quickly and after establishing that, effectively uses her jab step to fake out the defender. Nice elevation on her shots and smart use of screens, too.
You'd expect a woman that went to Princeton to be a smart player on the court and Kaitlyn appears to be exactly that.
