Who will be the primary backup center for Jana?
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Yup. Ayanna is a Kiah Stokes sort of player in the making. That's what we need and she can supply it while also running the court even better. If she simply does this for the next couple years, we'll remember her for a long time.
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I think the four will be rotated and will be interchangeable as far as roles. They aren't the same but who is best with whom will tell the story Two play at a time. If SCar were to go big then Strong might play on the wing but there is a crowd at 2-3. and we won't know that until practices get serious.
If El Alfy is 85% of what Geno has made of her then I think she may start at some point and play a lot in March/April. Euros tend to mature sooner than US players and all the practicing they do helps at UConn. It may be that by February the two 1st year posts will start.
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I don't beleive this to be true. I believe they have a very hard time adjustng to the athletcism/quickness/speed. There is a reason why USA teams win nearly all the time. Possible that Jana could be a Unicorn.
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The USA dominates because it's our sport and we have 350M people.
Geno once said he liked Euros because they practiced twice a week and played twice a month while AAU plays twice a week and practices twice a month. While they lack ball skills they are better at team skills.
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Ayanna’s play from the 2021 FIBA 3x3 U18 Finals: USA vs. Spain reminds me of Swin Cash’s freshman year [1] consisting of a determined adventurous game driving to or near the basket. The 3x3 game does not show it, but Ayanna looks to be a prototype open court player as Swin.
Swin did develop better offense as her collegiate career progressed. Ayanna is also a disruptor on defense as Swin was (as Aubrey is).
Unfortunately for Ayanna, her freshman year was not as conducive as Swin’s freshman year in showcasing her best skills at the time.
[1] UConn vs UCLA, 113-102, November 19, 1998: YouTube: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 |
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Does anyone know how Jana's English is so good being from Egypt. I don't detect an accent or at most the slightest one.
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I agree in part why we dominate which imo it means that we're better. How can the Euro's game be more mature if they don't beat USA?
IMO Geno probably was saying they are more fundementally sound. Geno loves fundamentals. But athleticism/speed/quickness can impact fundamenlals. And if your country doesn't have the great athletes, they can be "less" prepared because they haven't had much expereince competing against it. This atheicism is why many US players in H/S are ranked so high. The team that wins is better. Population or started playing when you are young etc are a subset of winning.
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She is the forgotten woman, simply because she didn't really do anything while in a UConn uniform to be remembered for. I hope you and others here are correct and that she will surprise us this season. However, too many rate and expect players to live up to their former glories in HS and AAU play. This is a completely different ballgame.
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I agree that the best tipper should start the game even if they only play for 2 minutes.
But that wouldn't make that player the primary backup center if Jana were to miss several games.
The center usually touches the ball alot, and the more touches increases their chances for scoring points & making assists on offense.
But I don't recall ever seeing Ayanna making any creative passes or notable BB moves to the basket.
I think she needs more work & experience.
I wouldn't count her out as being a center but it's still potential unless she shows some progress.
CL82
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Keep in mind that this will be the first time she will be 100% healthy in her college career. It's always tough to come back from being out for a year, but I wouldn't bet against her. We will see.
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The opening tip has nothing to do with the outcome of the game for a team like UCONN.
HuskyNan
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Kiah Stokes was really good, too.
One of the things that we got minimal info on during Ayanna's freshmen season was exactly how much she was hampered by knee issues. I agree that we didn't see the level of athleticism from her high school days. Based on her strength and leaping ability I certainly expected her to be a dominant rebounder and shot blocker, and she was ok, but nowhere near what I was expecting.
So if she was affected a great deal by the knee that might explain a lot, and maybe there is upside far beyond what we saw her first year. The pessimistic view might be that her knee issues are chronic and maybe we will never see that explosive athlete again. One thing about her numbers gives me hope.
I remember after a few games noticing her PER was around 20, maybe ballpark close to what I might have expected. By year end, however, she had dropped down to a season average around 12. It was only a few games in the beginning, but the production dropped off a cliff, which might be consistent with her being close to healthy at the start, but the knee getting much worse as the season progressed.
I guess this is the season we find out if Ayanna can realize her HS potential or if nagging knee issues are putting her basketball career in jeopardy.
So True..but people have to have something to worry abt no matter how insignificant it may be. The only way the opening tip effects the other 39 mins and 57 seconds of the game is if one person jumps and comes down on the other person foot causing a severe ankle turn causing tht player to limp to the bench, require help to the locker room, take some x-rays, get a boot or a pair of crutches, and miss the rest of the game. Luckily in all my years of watching all levels of BB I've never seen tht happen....hahaha
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It also could be consistent with getting playing time vs early season cupcakes and the competition stiffening as the season progressed? I truly don't know. I don't remember there being early or midseason discussion of her being injured, but my memory is not what it once was. Does anyone remember or have any evidence? Like all Huskies, I root for her success this year!
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UConn's overall competition level goes down after January, not up.
I do remember Geno mentioning that she had soreness in her knee. I have no idea how she will play but I expect her to be cleared for full contact this month.
I'll be at practice in early October so I'll know more about all the injured then.
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Hey Nan, love your new avatar!
HuskyNan
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Are you a fan of the Sandman? I came across it accidentally on Netflix and am hooked.
Majic Hands
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My recollection is that GA mentioned that Ayanna had tried different therapies that hadn’t helped (says “time” to me)when they announced a surgery was going to happen or already had.
This has been in the back of my mind influencing my outlook this year for Ayanna’s “probable” improvement over an injury year not a I can’t figure it out year.
The improvement I hope to see from Yanna is her shot from 1-15 feet. She seems to have loads of athletic ability, but her shooting left a lot to be desired for such a highly ranked recruit.
She seems like a great kid who will represent the school and CT. WBB well, and I hope she spent as much time as possible working on her shot.
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Ayanna had knee soreness freshman year and it got bad enough to curtail her minutes and her development as the season wore on. Geno and CD said as much more than once. She did not disappoint me.
However, she also has the usual profile of a big who needs to adjust to the different reality of D1 basketball. I watched several of her high school games and she didn’t typically encounter kids as big as her. She’s 6’2” (or so) and she’s got long arms and big shoulders. There were taller kids in HS, but she always stood out in those games as physically much more imposing than anyone else on the court.
At UConn she encountered kids as physically imposing as herself in almost every game. This is probably why she took too many shot fakes early on instead of simply going up strong through contact. Her shot even got blocked. This was a new experience for her. This is probably still going to be part of the learning curve for her. But I think she’s a lot further along now merely by being an observer on the bench for an extra season.
The sooner she gets back to full practice and gets game minutes the sooner she will flourish. She is a unique player, big, strong and quick. It’s a formidable combination. I can hardly wait to see what she can do healthy.
However, she also has the usual profile of a big who needs to adjust to the different reality of D1 basketball. I watched several of her high school games and she didn’t typically encounter kids as big as her. She’s 6’2” (or so) and she’s got long arms and big shoulders. There were taller kids in HS, but she always stood out in those games as physically much more imposing than anyone else on the court.
At UConn she encountered kids as physically imposing as herself in almost every game. This is probably why she took too many shot fakes early on instead of simply going up strong through contact. Her shot even got blocked. This was a new experience for her. This is probably still going to be part of the learning curve for her. But I think she’s a lot further along now merely by being an observer on the bench for an extra season.
The sooner she gets back to full practice and gets game minutes the sooner she will flourish. She is a unique player, big, strong and quick. It’s a formidable combination. I can hardly wait to see what she can do healthy.
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I also heard Geno say multiple times that she arrived with the issue and that it hadn't been dealt with in high school. And as many folks have said, they tried numerous things before ultimately having the surgery.
Therefore, I don't think any of the data points from her freshman year are reliable. I'm looking at her as another freshman with a clean slate.
Therefore, I don't think any of the data points from her freshman year are reliable. I'm looking at her as another freshman with a clean slate.
Yes, unlike most power conference schools our schedule is extremely front loaded. Ayanna's brief comment about being healthy is encouraging but we will all be anxiously awaiting your visual health analysis of not only Ayanna, but Azzi and Caroline as well when you see a practice in October.
It's probably good our competition goes down instead of up at the end of the season, so we can settle a bit and work team chemistry out before MM comes around. With such a loaded roster, we can bombard "weaker" teams with tons of combos to see what works and what doesn't.
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I go back and forth on this one. In the P3 conferences, the quality of opposition mainly builds up leading into March. But the Big East represents a curve with a shallower slope. All the teams have improved leading up to the conference championship, but they don't typically pose a serious challenge to UConn. Villanova two years ago was an exceptional year, and it was largely because of Maddie Siegrist.
His practice of having a tough OOC schedule in November-December, then turning to an easier conference schedule, until a couple of really tough games in February, then returning to conference play has been his practice for quite a while. What sort of rotation does he want to have by the time he plays SC or Tennessee or ND? That's the most revealing moment for me. I suspect Dawn has tended to use the UConn game in a similar way, to test out the rotation that has begun to gel.
I think Geno uses his conference schedule to sharpen his rotation, and while he often starts with something perhaps 10-deep, he usually ends with something more like 7 or 8-deep. This is also more or less what all the NC contenders end up doing. I think Dawn kept a deeper rotation last season than usual, which was impressive, and ominous for the rest of D1.
The question each season is whether Geno uses his conference schedule to deepen his rotation or to sharpen a shorter rotation. I'd like to think he'll keep a deeper rotation this year. But I always hope for that, as do many others. But the fact is, by March he needs to know his starting 5 can give 30 excellent minutes if needed, and that the next 2 or 3 can give 15-20 really solid minutes. This may require shortening the rotation as the season wears on. But he also may need to know that the 9th or 10th player can give solid minutes in case of foul trouble for a starter. This is inherently a chancey speculation.
MooseJaw
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Amen Bone dog, she showed me enough for me to think she has a real future as a Husky. I saw that she was overwhelmed with the speed and pace during most of the season. At the end she was starting to adjust to the pace and flow, playing more naturally. Besides her skills as a player, she is a player who gives back to the community and younger players. I hoped she comes back as a power player who is dominate and a true team player.
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No, I'm not much into fantasy drama stuff, but I might checkout an episode or two now.
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