Practice the other day

[UConnCountry]

Saw the women practice the other day

Stewart looked great.
KML looked good, shot was falling, appeared to be a little quicker
Jefferson was GREAT, expecting her to have a huge year

 

[Vowelguy]

Thanks for comments!

 

[VAMike23]

Thanks for the report !! Love to hear real, first-hand stuff!!

Red Meat Rating: 1 steak

 

[VAMike23]

Saw the women practice the other day

Stewart looked great.
KML looked good, shot was falling, appeared to be a little quicker
Jefferson was GREAT, expecting her to have a huge year

Really glad to hear that MoJeff was looking so good.... IMHO she is the key to a potentially legendary season for the Huskies....

 

[UCONNfan1]

Regarding Jefferson, I'm not sure if UCONN fans in general feel her season last year was a little disappointing, or if it's just rival fans who have said she's over rated. I tend to think UCONN fans were impressed with her speed, quickness, and defense, but not so much with her offense. I also think at times she was overwhelmed playing the 1 spot against a few of the more talented teams we faced last year.

Some rival's (mostly of the orange variety) comments I've seen said she was over rated and not the #2 prospect in the class. I think the jury's still out, but she was indeed much more of a scoring threat in HS, and not sure where her outside shot disappeared to last year, but hopefully she picks that up a bit.

I know she's not needed to score, and she can certainly impact a game without scoring, but others who judge players often look mostly at scoring punch. Didn't she make some US National junior team recently and play really well for them?

 

[msf22b]

Regarding Jefferson…Didn't she make some US National junior team recently and play really well for them?

Played really well, mucho minutes at the point, but did not score a heck of a lot. Had the complete confidence of the staff.

 

[RadyLady]

Regarding Jefferson, I'm not sure if UCONN fans in general feel her season last year was a little disappointing, or if it's just rival fans who have said she's over rated. I tend to think UCONN fans were impressed with her speed, quickness, and defense, but not so much with her offense. I also think at times she was overwhelmed playing the 1 spot against a few of the more talented teams we faced last year.

Some rival's (mostly of the orange variety) comments I've seen said she was over rated and not the #2 prospect in the class. I think the jury's still out, but she was indeed much more of a scoring threat in HS, and not sure where her outside shot disappeared to last year, but hopefully she picks that up a bit.

...

Let's see....we won the championship this year, and MoJeff got some great minutes in all of the games. For example, double-digit minutes in all six of UConn's NCAA Tournament contests, averaging 6.8 points and 2.0 assists per game while shooting .528 percent from the floor in 19.8 minutes per contest ... Scored a career-high 16 points in UConn's First Round victory over Idaho on March 23 ... Added 10 points in both NCAA Regional games and was a combined 10-15 from the floor in those two contests...and the Vols got as far as what - the Elite 8 this year with their #4 point guard soph, Ariel Massengale?

So I wonder why you are even listening to those folks?

 

[UCONNfan1]

So I wonder why you are even listening to those folks?

Didn't say I agreed with them. Just pointing it out. Clearly it got your fires burning!!

 

[Icebear]

Didn't say I agreed with them. Just pointing it out. Clearly it got your fires burning!!

But it is meaningless static to bring that stuff over here. It simply serves no good purpose.

 

[UcMiami]

There are very few PGs that as freshman light it up and even fewer that do so at Uconn. Like post players PG is the hardest transition from level to level and Uconn's system is very complex in that it is based on concepts and not specific plays. I thought MoJef had a good year and a very good tournament and on this year's team if she averages 10+ points a game I will be very surprised and Uconn will likely be in big trouble. The other 4 starters should average somewhere around 15 pts per game and the bench should be in the 20pt/gm rang which gets you to 80 points. If she takes ten shots a game at 40% that ends up being 8 pts and I don't think the team wants her taking more than ten and most games less. Her job is to facilitate and distribute and that is what she did so well in the NCAAs and this summer. And this summer her coach was very very positive about her leadership on the floor - believe she led the team in minutes or at least within the top three.

 

[RadyLady]

Didn't say I agreed with them. Just pointing it out. Clearly it got your fires burning!!

nope, not at all. Just thought that it was silly to be concerned about what Tennessee fans thought about MoJeff (underrated according to what you said) considering their below (their) standard performance (with another highly rated PG), that's all

 

[caramel]

Ratings seldom mean much when judging talent.Look at Stef,She was rated #35 according to ESPN in her senior high school year,and yet,she could be the best post in college this year.Coaching,teaching,and most importantly,player desire,can lead to greatness. MoJeff has all the tools and desire to become special,and a coaching staff that will show her the way. Massengale is very good,but whether she is better at this juncture really means nothing.With all due respect to other coaches,MoJeff has the best coaching staff in all of women's college basketball,imo,and she has the desire to become special and the best she can be.I wouldn't trade her for anyone else.After all,we haven't seen the best of her,Stewie,or Morgan......yet.This is going to be exciting to see what these three will accomplish the next three years!

 

[wire chief]

I'd be perfectly satisfied with modest scoring combined with high assists & low turnovers.

 

[Tonyc]

Regarding the Tenn comment on MoJeff. Where are they at? They have underperformed for years now. Why? IMO because of the lack of a good point guard. They think a good PG is someone who scores a lot of points? Wrong? A good PG is someone who is a leader on the floor and can run plays with the knowledge in advance of what to expect and how to react to certain situations and do it all under control without duress. Since 1995 when UConn beat Tenn twice they've been downgrading UConn, and angry. Well just think how bad its gonna get when UConn wins a NC in Nashville Tenn this season.

 

[Icebear]

Exactly, tony, and was something MoJeff did very well during the NCAAs.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Regarding Jefferson, I'm not sure if UCONN fans in general feel her season last year was a little disappointing, or if it's just rival fans who have said she's over rated. I tend to think UCONN fans were impressed with her speed, quickness, and defense, but not so much with her offense. I also think at times she was overwhelmed playing the 1 spot against a few of the more talented teams we faced last year.

Some rival's (mostly of the orange variety) comments I've seen said she was over rated and not the #2 prospect in the class. I think the jury's still out, but she was indeed much more of a scoring threat in HS, and not sure where her outside shot disappeared to last year, but hopefully she picks that up a bit.

I know she's not needed to score, and she can certainly impact a game without scoring, but others who judge players often look mostly at scoring punch. Didn't she make some US National junior team recently and play really well for them?

I think the "she's not needed to score" can be overstated. Sure, your point guard is your distributor - #1 assignment - but you want her to occupy a defender and since her prime space on the court is some prime offensive territory she should be capable of and regularly pop a few in.

 

[sarals24]

I think MoJeff has shown that she is plenty capable of scoring. It took her a while to get situated in the offense, but once she did she used her tools to get layups and occasionally knock down an open shot.

Let's not forget about the huge transition Banks made from freshman to sophomore year...did anyone think she was going to come out and be a three point threat? I sure didn't. Let's give Mo a chance to improve on her already potent game.

 

[Icebear]

I think the "she's not needed to score" can be overstated. Sure, your point guard is your distributor - #1 assignment - but you want her to occupy a defender and since her prime space on the court is some prime offensive territory she should be capable of and regularly pop a few in.

With MoJeff's ability to blow by people to the hoop that is pretty much taken care of even in the half court.

 

[Tonyc]

MoJeff needs to score and needs to be a threat to score or teams will back off her. She will need to score and hit her shots and will score as other teams focus on Breanna and KML. Her main focus will be as a leader of the team. I really think people will be surprised how good MoJeff becomes as a leader of this team.

 

[slimmer56]

Lil Mo, as I call her did what Coach Auriemma wanted her to do. My gosh, with the scorers we had she didn't have to light it up. I thought she did a helluva job as a freshman coming in to a program where there is so much pressure to be great. She played a good floor game. She did not turn the ball over too much. She got her teammates involved, and played good, solid defense. I thought she even took some chances. What I mean was, she wasn't afraid to fail, which you can see right away with most freshman. She knew what her responsibility was, and took care of it.

I guarantee everyone that she does everything a whole lot better this year, and Ireally don't care how other people rate her, or grade her. She is our UCONN lady, and I am glad we have her

 

[Bigpetunia]

Is it guaranteed that Mo will be a starter? Admittedly, it's hard to fit the pieces together absent that likelihood, though there's a part of me that would prefer to see Geno go bigger, and allowing Morgan to start...I expect this to be a huge breakout year for her. MoJeff is, in many ways, a more valuable player coming off the bench because of the way her sudden emergence on the floor changes the tempo. Does anyone have an update on Brianna's condition? When healthy, she also offers another opportunity for Geno to use Mo's strengths more effectively.

 

[UcMiami]

Is it guaranteed that Mo will be a starter? Admittedly, it's hard to fit the pieces together absent that likelihood, though there's a part of me that would prefer to see Geno go bigger, and allowing Morgan to start...I expect this to be a huge breakout year for her. MoJeff is, in many ways, a more valuable player coming off the bench because of the way her sudden emergence on the floor changes the tempo. Does anyone have an update on Brianna's condition? When healthy, she also offers another opportunity for Geno to use Mo's strengths more effectively.

Actually think both Morgan and BB are better options off the bench than Mo. Morgan changes the dynamic in the front court whoever she replaces and BB if healthy and continuing along her growth line is perhaps a better scoring threat than Mo would be. Bria and Mo will set the tone early and get the team running smoothly then BB, Morgan, Chong, and Kiah will introduce the variations as they rotate in.

 

[Bigpetunia]

Appreciate your response, Miami...not sure I agree, but we'll see. I was a big BB fan, and only hope she's healing well...one of the quickest first steps to the hoop in the game today, or was, anyway.

Now, on to something more important: Can you (or anyone) educate an old and technology-challenged poster on how one encapsulates another poster's comment, as you did mine, to reference a point one wishes to make here?

 

[Bestiarius]

So I wonder why you are even listening to those folks?

I actually enjoy the vol fans comments. They are always good for a chuckle. For instance, MoJeff isn't worthy, but Simmons deserves to be on the Wade watch list.

 

[meyers7]

Appreciate your response, Miami...not sure I agree, but we'll see. I was a big BB fan, and only hope she's healing well...one of the quickest first steps to the hoop in the game today, or was, anyway.

Now, on to something more important: Can you (or anyone) educate an old and technology-challenged poster on how one encapsulates another poster's comment, as you did mine, to reference a point one wishes to make here?

Click on "Reply"