Yanna putting in work

[rugbymate]

it’s difficult to imagine the kind of frustration Ayanna has gone through the last couple of years. All that athleticism, talent and work ethic yet not being able to put it on display. There are a lot of people to root for this year but there are none that I’ll be more enthusiastic about than Ayanna being able to show us what she’s got.

 

[jazz]

Yanna reminds me a bit of Megan Walker with her shooting form and body type. Game is different but I like that Yanna's shot starts and stays high so she can get it off in traffic and against taller players.

 

[oldude]

watkins is much bigger in both height and body type and place as a center

She is a proven player
before the injury was seen as a first round WNBA player.
Don’t see the comparison at all
Ayanna will be successful if she can play away from the basket, both offensively and defensively

Bone Dog has it right. Watkins is 1” taller, and Ayanna was and is the strongest player on UConn’s team from the day she arrived on campus. To her credit, she’s remade her body to become much leaner. She’s all muscle now and I suspect no one is going to push her around in the paint.

 

[victor64]

A couple of thoughts.

I give her credit for staying at UConn. She could have easily moved to another school and start over with a more guaranteed opportunity of playing time. Nothing is guaranteed next year.

I want to see a video of her doing low post moves. Other than Sarah Strong and maybe Serah, there isn't anybody that has demonstrated the ability to consistently score on the block.

Anything she gets on the perimeter is a bonus to me. Her value, if she can stay healthy, is to use her considerable strength to be a force around the basket on both ends of the floor.

Ayanna, Morgan and CD, as has been stated, are wildcards. Imagine Geno figuring out the playing time puzzle if they all return 100% healthy and playing at the expected levels when they were recruited.

 

[Charliebball]

I watched a bunch of Ayanna’s high school games before she arrived at Storrs. You can probably still find them on YouTube. There’s even one in which she plays against Ashlynn’s team. The thing that struck me was that Ayanna was always the most athletic player on the floor in any game. There were taller kids, but none as strong or physical as she was. As a result, her offensive skills were not all that subtle, since she was used to being able to simply muscle past defenders.

When she got to Storrs, it was quite clear that she was a bit intimated trying to score against D1 opponents. She lost a lot of opportunities from making too many shot fakes. Later in the season, she seemed to have gotten over this, but by then her injury status inhibited further development. But her defense was staunch from the very beginning.

If she’s ready to go this fall, I’d expect her to pick up where she left off on the defensive end. But there will probably be a learning curve on offense.

Patterson is extremely athletic if fully healthy.........I remember commenting that she reminded me of Nalyssa Smith after watching her in high school play......she's way behind due to injuries but could become a productive frontcourt contributor off of the bench next season....

 

[Zonepress]

I haven't really seen any clear evidence that Watkins is much bigger than Ayanna, though she is regularly listed as being 1 inch taller. In that freshman year, when Ayanna arrived at Storrs already a bit of a body builder, she looked bigger than she does now, so perhaps it will turn out to be visually obvious when we play SC this season. At least, she looks more slender in these videos than I remember from three seasons ago when she outmuscled Monika Czinano in the Iowa game. Maybe a way to think about is to compare both Ayanna and Watkins to Aaliyah, who I think is bigger than the two of them. Ayanna as a freshman seemed to be as strong as Aaliyah, who is very strong.

But all that being said, I agree with your overall assessment. I suspect Watkins will come back already more developed in her skills than Ayanna. And just for context, Saniya Feagin had better offensive skills and comparable defensive skills to Watkins and went in the 2nd round of the draft, which is where I'd expect Watkins to go, if she returns to form. Ayanna still has a ways to go to make it to the draft -- returning to her freshman year form isn't likely to be enough. And that is entirely up to her and whatever competitive fire she brings this season. I'm optimistic.

And just to finish an earlier thought, Aaliyah went in the first round of the draft because she was much more skillful on both ends of the floor than Feagin or Watkins and certainly more so than Ayanna three season ago.

all I can say, is that Watkins at 63 as prove that she can be a center at the highest level and be successful
ayanna it’s not a center and yes, she looks much thinner than she did as a freshman, which will only work to advantage because your future is playing away from the basket
From what I saw as a freshman I think she has the ability to guard people away from the basket
her offense was very limited
to get playing time I suspect her office would have to improve pretty significantly, and hopefully that’s the case
You have to root very hard for any player who has lost two years did injuries

 

[Dogstar]

You can do a lot of moves when there is no defense.

True...and it's the same thing with jump shots

 

[Dogstar]

It befuddles me why people refer to her as Yanna, since there is another player on the roster with the same pronunciation.

but there is only one Ayanna

I thk thts wht her teammates call her while it's a Hard "J" whn pronouncing Jana....but I may be wrong.

 

[Dogstar]

I don’t see 90 points a game happening for UConn. They could do it perhaps if that was the goal but it is not. UConn runs offensive sets. I also don’t see opponents wanting to quicken the pace with the Huskies or believe that putting up shots early in the shot clock would be a good strategy. And think about past dominant years. UConn would have double the points of others for thirty minutes in many games but then scoring slowed down as they’d coast to victory and they’d “only” win by 35 and that’d be less than a double up most times. The end of a blowout scoring dropped in general.

I’ll expect the Huskies to crush most teams, especially in conference, but a 90+ pt average will be hard to come by for a full season. An undefeated championship season is more likely to me and of course preferable. Not that that the above is either or.

I agree, I'd say 75-80 pts a game while holding opponents to 50-55

 

[oldhusky]

I see Ayanna's competition as mostly Ice at the 4 position, behind Sarah. They are both more 4's than anything else. With this roster, however, there are many possibilities.

When Sarah is out, going with more of a 3 like Caroline or Morgan at the 4 could certainly happen, particularly if their overall level of play is significantly better than Ice or Ayanna.

The is potential competition from the other direction as well. If Jana really improves in her second year, Geno could go with a three big rotation, sometimes playing Jana at the 5 with Serah moving to the 4, which she can certainly play. That would be similar to the Liv, Dorka, Aaliyah rotation a few years ago.

We might wind up with regular designated backups behind each starter and that is probably a good thing if all of backups are at a very high level, but threats to playing time could come from players one position smaller or bigger with this roster. With that depth, every sub in a contested game should be very good, no weak links.

 

[rubymae4]

It’s great to see her moving well. It looks like she’ll get some summer work in which will help her come fall.

 

[Vowelguy]

Hard "J" whn pronouncing Jana....but I may be wrong.

Not correct.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Soft Y?

 

[Bone Dog]

I see Ayanna's competition as mostly Ice at the 4 position, behind Sarah. They are both more 4's than anything else. With this roster, however, there are many possibilities.

When Sarah is out, going with more of a 3 like Caroline or Morgan at the 4 could certainly happen, particularly if their overall level of play is significantly better than Ice or Ayanna.

Interesting way to think about Ayanna. Both Ice and Ayanna were tentative shooters in the half court offense. This is definitely something for each of them to work on, and if this video is to be believed Ayanna already has been. Both of them are good at setting solid screens, though Ice may have a slight advantage here. On defense, they seem comparable though Ayanna may be a more sure-handed rebounder, and perhaps a slightly better shot blocker.

One thing that stands out to me is that Ayanna was capable of doing rim runs in transition, like a big Aubrey, and Ice really doesn't have the speed for this. I hope Ayanna still has this skill. If she does, I think this puts her at least on a par with Ice on the depth chart at the 4.

 

[cferraro04]

I agree, I'd say 75-80 pts a game while holding opponents to 50-55

This team will sleepwalk to 75 points. The three-headed monster, by itself, will average 65 points.

That leaves 25 points for the other 12 players: I would be hard pressed to think that if these players get into the game that they wouldn't score the following points. KK - 5; Quinonez - 8; Shade - 7; Jana - 5; Ice - 4; Cheli - 4; Ziebell - 4; Caroline - 4; Patterson - 2; Heckel - 4; Kelis, Gandy combine for 2. (This totals 49 points). The reason why the bench won't average 49 points is that there are going to be 3-4 players who will be a "DNP". Just not enough minutes to go around.

So, for UConn to average 75 - 80 points, and not push into the 90s; one of three things could happen: 1. The three-headed monster has to play beneath its ability. 2. The 12 nonstarters have to do nothing. They would have to have virtually no offense. 3. The injury bug will have raised its ugly head again.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

IMHO I can't see this team NOT averaging between 85 to 90 points next season!
They'll be only 2 out of the 15, Kelis and Gandy that won't average between 5-8 points a game!

 

[Dogstar]

Not correct.

I said I may be wrong

 

[Forego]

There appears to be some disagreement regarding how Jana’s name is pronounced. If anyone is interested, SVCBeercats started a thread on December 31, 2022 titled “Jana El Alfy at 16 says Hello!”. The thread includes a YouTube clip where Jana introduces herself and says her name. Unless you are someone who is convinced that the video of the moon landing was produced on a sound stage, or that the world is flat, this should resolve the issue. Next week we will work on solving the issue of Bria Hartley’s height in hands.

 

[Skeets]

This team will sleepwalk to 75 points. The three-headed monster, by itself, will average 65 points.

That leaves 25 points for the other 12 players: I would be hard pressed to think that if these players get into the game that they wouldn't score the following points. KK - 5; Quinonez - 8; Shade - 7; Jana - 5; Ice - 4; Cheli - 4; Ziebell - 4; Caroline - 4; Patterson - 2; Heckel - 4; Kelis, Gandy combine for 2. (This totals 49 points). The reason why the bench won't average 49 points is that there are going to be 3-4 players who will be a "DNP". Just not enough minutes to go around.

So, for UConn to average 75 - 80 points, and not push into the 90s; one of three things could happen: 1. The three-headed monster has to play beneath its ability. 2. The 12 nonstarters have to do nothing. They would have to have virtually no offense. 3. The injury bug will have raised its ugly head again.

The 3-headed monster will not average 65 points. They won't put up enough shots or play enough minutes to average 65 points. That's not UConn basketball.

One thing that will help the team average 80 to 85 points is that when Geno plays the end of the bench in the 4th quarter (or maybe some time in the 3rd quarter for the bottom of the BE) those 5 kids are pretty good and are highly motivated.

 

[PacoSwede]

fwiw, i placed ayanna as a starter when in preseason a couple of years ago everybody was going ga-ga about jana being a superstar ... of course, that was just a wild guess on my part, but i was confident about it. but then yanna was injured.

yanna, though, has very poor vision in one eye. it isn't mentioned much here, and i think many BYers aren't even aware of this. clearly, it is an obstacle she has to deal with (depth perception is somewhat important in basketball ) but yanna could conquer, i think.

 

[Bone Dog]

The 3-headed monster will not average 65 points. They won't put up enough shots or play enough minutes to average 65 points. That's not UConn basketball.

One thing that will help the team average 80 to 85 points is that when Geno plays the end of the bench in the 4th quarter (or maybe some time in the 3rd quarter for the bottom of the BE) those 5 kids are pretty good and are highly motivated.

Sorry, Sensei. I’m with @Skeets on this one. There will be blowouts, of course, even 100 point games. But averaging much more than 80 points for an entire season stretches all sorts of parameters, and especially the number of shot opportunities in a game. But it’s also out of character for UConn. We blew out some of the best teams in D1 last season. But it wasn’t by scoring 90+ points. It was by choking off their offense. We beat powerhouses like SC and UCLA by holding them under 60 points.

But I share the enthusiasm that dreaming about offensive marvels represents. Dreaming of a team that could average 90+ points is a pleasure I like to indulge.

 

[uconnfan68]

I agree, I'd say 75-80 pts a game while holding opponents to 50-55

It's whatever Geno wants. His 3rd 5 are better than most D1 teams. He'll choose to run clock and run plays to keep the scores down. If he wants to send a message, we could easily average over 100.

 

[Geew1992]

IMHO I can't see this team NOT averaging between 85 to 90 points next season!
They'll be only 2 out of the 15, Kelis and Gandy that won't average between 5-8 points a game!

Idk how many points anyone will average but yall really sleeping on kellis

 

[psconn]

I know that SC is really excited about having Watkins back healthy next season. In my view, a healthy Yanna is every bit the equal of Watkins in terms of strength, athleticism and style of play…..just one more incredible tool in Geno’s toolbox.

Fully recovered both are strong and athletic but "Style of play" ?

Help me understand your thinking, one is a big, dynamic guard -- ball handler, passer and proficient shooter and defender at 3 levels. Basically everything runs through JuJu. All American.

Yanna is a strong rebounder and athletic low post pounder. it is unlikely that she will ever be the focus of the offense. Her role was defending and doing the dirty work in the paint. She might, hopefully, get very good at that.

Based only on what we have seen to date though, I'm not feeling this anymore than I did the Stewie/Jana comparison.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Fully recovered both are strong and athletic but "Style of play" ?

Help me understand your thinking, one is a big, dynamic guard -- ball handler, passer and proficient shooter and defender at 3 levels. Basically everything runs through JuJu. All American.

Yanna is a strong rebounder and athletic low post pounder. it is unlikely that she will ever be the focus of the offense. Her role was defending and doing the dirty work in the paint. She might, hopefully, get very good at that.

Based only on what we have seen to date though, I'm not feeling this anymore than I did the Stewie/Jana comparison.

psconn- -- -olddude was referring to Watkins of SoCar not Juju of USC the G!