Yanna putting in work

[BobbyJ]

If I remember correctly, She also had a peripheral vision problem. Hope that’s been remedied too.

Her problem is that she was born blind in her right eye and wears the goggles to protect the good left eye.

https://www.ctinsider.com/sports/uconn-womens-basketball/article/uconn-s-ayanna-patterson-wears-goggles-protect-17859264.php#:~:text=Yet%2C%20the%20Husky%20staff%20told,condition%20from%20her%20dad's%20side.

 

[uconnfan68]

If I remember correctly, She also had a peripheral vision problem. Hope that’s been remedied too.

Born blind in one eye, hereditary. Staff insists she wear googles to protect good one.

 

[WiseWillie]

She def is. Everyone sleeping on her

The one thing I recall about Ayanna in her freshman year was her propensity to get fouls called sometimes three quick ones in succession, and having then to sit for most of the game. That hopefully won't happen this year. I just want this talented young woman who has been waiting patiently to be able to do what she has come to UConn for to finally get the opportunity to show what she is capable of doing on the basketball court.

 

[cgshuskie]

I expect Yanna to take off this year and return to her habits of scoring, shooting and defending. She had all american vibes in her senior year of HS.

 

[MHD789]

I don't know if Ayanna will still be able to dunk the way she did pre-injury...but she was a legitimate dunker. In watching that workout tape...I see a difference in her approach to putting in the work. We will see an Ayanna who can get to the basket and make her shots. Her athleticism will earn her minutes. However, being able to play in the system that Geno has may take some time. Passing the ball, setting screens, and getting to the open spot have always been the hardest things for bigs to learn. With the plethora of 6'2" wing players we have, there is going to be a lot of competition for minutes. Sarah Strong - 6'2"; Ayanna Patterson - 6'2"; Caroline Ducharme - 6'2"; Morgan Cheli - 6'2"; Blanca Quinonez - 6'2"...throw in Ice Brady - 6'3"...wow! wow! wow!

I am trying to get my head around how this team doesn't average over 90 points next year. I understand that once this team gets way out front, Geno likes to take his foot off the gas, work on the half-court offense, and substitute freely to give everyone playing time. But what do you do with a team that brings in quality players 12 to 15 deep? There will be very little let-up in offensive power, pretty much up and down the entire lineup.

Serah Williams...She will pick up right where she left off in the Big 10...19.8 points, 9.8 rebounds per game. I think her average may be down a couple of points because of all the other players on the team who will be making shots. Her rebounds may be down somewhat because UConn will probably shoot better than 50 percent from the floor next year. But, it would be reasonable to think that Serah will hit 16 pts. and 8 rebounds per game

Sarah Strong...She will be 1st team All-American next season. No doubt in my mind she will be an automatic double-double every game and will flirt with triple-doubles all year. I see Sarah going for 20 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists per game. She might manage to get a triple-double in points, rebounds, and steals. She will be able to gamble into the passing lanes because she knows she will be playing with a legitimate center, and she will be confident that Serah will be holding down the paint.

Azzi Fudd...We all know what she is capable of doing...she is the best three-point shooter in the country unless Allie Ziebell doesn't step up and challenges her for that title. Azzi is much more than a three-point shooter. She can and will take it to the hole, and she will score. She also has an incredible pull-up jumper. She will have plenty of bigs setting screens for her... She will average 20-plus points per game.

The three will comprise UConn's 3-headed monster that other teams will not only dread having to play against but they will exhaust their player resources trying to stop them

Blanca Quinonez - I believe that Blanca will be a starter by January. She will bring a professional body to the college game. She has already played against professionals. Her game will be physical as she has size and strength. I don't think Geno is going to be able to keep her off the floor. I'm going to guess that in the UConn offense, which will be spurred on by its incredible defense that Blanca will average 10 points per game.

KK Arnold - will be the engine that makes UConn go next year. She will probably score somewhere between 5 and 9 points per game. But her contribution will be on the defensive side, her ability to bring the ball up with speed, and she will be the floor general distributing the ball to capable scorers everywhere on the floor.

Assuming these are the starters, they will account for about 65 points per game.

Geno's biggest challenge next season will be finding minutes for all his talented players on his team. Coming off the bench will be Jana El-Alfy, Ice Brady, Ayanna Patterson, Gandy Malou-Mamel, Caroline Ducharme, Ashlynn Shade, Morgan Cheli, Allie Ziebell, Kayleigh Heckel, and Kelis Fisher. I don't see how these players don't combine for 25 points per game. If the non-starters can average 25 points per game, then UConn will average 90-plus points per game. I don't remember a team that has done that. In UConn's world, it is getting harder and harder to break some of the incredible records currently on the books, but this may be one that they break.

UConn will truly be an offensive juggernaut next season...and their defense will be equally formidable. No one is going to want to play the Huskies next season. I like our chances for number 13

You're missing at least one other quality 3-point shooter in the starting lineup. Likely comes from Shade and/or Heckel. It would be amazing if Quinonez is a consistent, quality 3-point shooter but i don't believe that is the case at this point.

 

[Cuango]

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

True, but in order to do them against defense, you must first be able to do them at all!

 

[Bone Dog]

I expect Yanna to take off this year and return to her habits of scoring, shooting and defending. She had all american vibes in her senior year of HS.

I agree. And now you've got me thinking about Ayanna’s vibe in high school. Some of her games from that season are still online, full games, not just highlights. And you can see the one against Ash’s team too.

What I remember from those games is that Ayanna had a sweet midrange jumper and was an intimidating defender and rebounder. But she wasn’t a brilliant offensive talent. Mostly, opposing teams simply tried to play around her, since they couldn’t get through her.

In the McDonald’s AA game that season, these same traits were on display, if you looked for them. Of course, there were lots of flashier talents on the floor and it was easy to overlook Ayanna (and Ice, too), but she just went about her business in the post grabbing boards, making outlet passes, etc. — stuff you don’t see too much of in AA games.

I’m sure Geno had been seeing this too, and that’s why he recruited her. He may have thought she’d arrive with the sorts of abilities Kiah Stokes left with, and that he could build from there as her baseline. It would be wonderful if that actually started happening this fall. Kiah with a smooth midrange jump shot — can you imagine?