Saniya Chong and the HG 5-Stars

[DobbsRover2]

A confession to make. Saniya is my Husky fave since she was my nearby Westchester heroine in recent years and will be the only one still playing in Storrs when I hit a certain nasty age milestone. Plus her tiptoe assassin movements around the court are just so cool to watch as she stalks around looking for a block or steal. But our local girl is strictly blue collar since she was buried down the list at #75 in the always astute HoopGurlz 2013 class rankings with a 93 score, so clearly down there you knew she was the type of player who dribbles the ball off her foot and shoots at the wrong basket most of the time.

I grabbed the stats of all the HoopGurlz 5 Star Class of 2013 guard or wing types who are listed at 6-2 or under (within 5 inches of Chong), the type of players who at least vaguely resemble her position for UConn, though there is a huge variety for how those 11 active players (plus two red shirts with Duke's Rebecca Greenwell and Tenn's Jannah Tucker) fill their own team roles. These 11 plus Saniya are all either already starring or pretty promising players (some BYers might want to do some dumping, but the careers are still young), and some have some eye-popping stats like Kaela Davis's 17.6 ppg and 6.4 rpg, Ronnie Williams' 6.6 rpg, Lexie Brown's 59 assists and 2.7 A\TO ratio, Diamond DeShields' 30 steals, and Rebekah Dahlman's 51.4 3-pt%. Almost without exception, the 11 5-stars have been called on to fill big roles on their teams off the bat, with UNC doing the most calling with three of the guards in the lineup. All but KY's Linnae Harper have chalked up at least 16.0 mpg (minutes per game, not miles per gallon) and 8 have at least 20.0. Preseason, Saniya was not expected to get that kind of time, but with some UConn injuries she has posted more than 20.0 mpg and made good use of her minutes.

That said, Chong is not a hyped Sveta-Maya-Stewie type freshman for the Huskies who is expected to do a lot of scoring, like most of the 11 5-stars are much more so for their their teams, especially Davis, DeShields, Dahlman, and Allisha Gray. Only one of the 5-stars averages less ppg than Chong, who is just expected to get out there and do a little of everything for the Huskies and be a tough perimeter defender in UConn's highly ranked defense.

So how does Chong stack up in the stats against the blue-chippers? In three categories she is at or near the top: TOs (or TOs per minute) at #1, Blocks at #2, and FT% at #3, and she is #4 in FG% and 3-FG%. Clearly some categories like PPG, RPG, and Assists matter more than Blocks and Steals, but if you simply add up the rankings for each of the players in the 9 categories besides MPG, Chong has the 3rd best average among the 12. The ranks are: 1. Gray (3.6), 2. Moncrief (4.6), 3. Chong (5.4), 4. Deshields (5.6), 5. Dahlman (5.7), 6. Davis (5.9), 7t. Brown (6.2), 7t. Washington (6.2), 9. Scaife (6.8), 10. Williams (7.1), 11. Harper (8.3), 12. Small (9.1). Some players like Davis are getting a lot more minutes and get more chance to boost their totals.

I am not saying that Chong is having the third best season among the 12 or that there aren't very possibly a couple more 4-star freshman guards who would represent well in this comparison. But Chong is definitely having a nice little season so far and can be mentioned in the same breath as HG's 5-stars without any big stretch. Four of them still have not hit any 3-pt shots this year, four are shooting less than 40% on FGs, two are below 60% on FTs, half of them have no blocks while Chong has batted 6, and Williams' 0.25 and Davis's 0.43 A\TO ratios are a bit yikes. But Brown's A\TO ratio of 2.7 with 59 assists is marvelous, and Dahlman is one of those Sector 13 types who shoots 43.2% for FGs but is at 51.4% on 3-pt shots. And all except maybe Small have made some good to great impressions this year.

Fun times and it's good to see our local girl fitting in and doing well.

 

[arty155]

DobbsRover2 Worshiper of the number 9: “A confession to make. Saniya is my Husky fave since she was my nearby Westchester heroine in recent years and will be the only one still playing in Storrs when I hit a certain nasty age milestone…”

Dobbs, .......... It’s really no problem, buddy. Everything’s going to be fine. Try not to worry about turning 10.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Dobbs, ..... It’s really no problem, buddy. Everything’s going to be fine. Try not to worry about turning 10.

But I've arrested at 9 for so long that going double digits is pretty scary.

And actually at a Husky dog years rate, that's pretty on the mark.

 

[UcMiami]

Nice work pulling that all together. Really hard to make a meaningful comparison with roles being so wildly divergent but as you say, she can hold her own in that company. She probably gets a bump from the fact that when she passes the ball to a teammate, her teammates are hitting over 50% vs. some of the others on the list so she has a better than 50% chance of getting an assist if they shoot. And she is held back because her teammates are so good her own role is more limited. It surprised me to see she is still above the 20 minute mark, too - I suspect that will continue to go down with everyone healthy and will ultimately come in around 15-17 minutes.
I am sure it is tough adjusting for kids when they are no longer the focus of their teams when they get to college, but she seems to have adjusted really well and to be taking the coaching and improving her game as the season go along.

 

[msf22b]

I am impressed by how tenacious a defender she has become.
It was not long ago that Geno was commenting on her lack of experience in that aspect of the game.
But I haven't head a peep since he commented on one of he shows (from the sideline) that she'd be fine.
I think she's pretty much scoped out that requirement.
Go get em, Saniya.

 

[HGN]

Don't forget all of the players are doing what is required of them by their teams and coaches to win games...........Saniya is playing a role at this point , and she is not required to play a lot of minutes or score in order for UConn to win.

I am sure , based upon her productivity when in games , that she could score double digits if she started or played a lot of minutes. Or if UConn needed her to score more. Her numbers will go up in every category from year to year as she gets more PT.

 

[cohenzone]

I was at the game last night, my first chance to watch them in person this year and I get to see them this Sat. as well. SC's court awareness sticks out, and pretty smooth and subtle much of the time. If she has any real weakness, it's in how she releases her shot, but I thought the same about Tiff Hayes, so it shows how much I know.

 

[UcMiami]

I just like her decision making - she had an assist to Tuck I think on a play where she got the ball in the corner, faked the shot and made the pass inside. Just a good choice and not often made by freshman.

 

[DobbsRover2]

I was at the game last night, my first chance to watch them in person this year and I get to see them this Sat. as well. SC's court awareness sticks out, and pretty smooth and subtle much of the time. If she has any real weakness, it's in how she releases her shot, but I thought the same about Tiff Hayes, so it shows how much I know.

Well as Geno noted in his "I don't know how they think" remarks about WNBA GMs in the Geno Show interviews last night, Tiff wasn't a first round pick for the pro's, so I guess we can blame that on you and how much you know.

 

[cohenzone]

Well as Geno noted in his "I don't know how they think" remarks about WNBA GMs in the Geno Show interviews last night, Tiff wasn't a first round pick for the pro's, so I guess we can blame that on you and how much you know.

My phone rings constantly on draft night from GM's seeking my approval before making their pick. I look for the small things, like how the player would look in the team colors.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Some thoughts/comments/analysis:

1) Chong is having a very nice season.

2) Chong demonstrates that there are intangibles in recruiting that cannot be measured when doing rankings. Certain players "fit better" with Geno Auriemma and can be motivated by him in a way that they improve tremendously and achieve much more than their high school recruiting ranking might otherwise indicate. While Geno Auriemma knows what he is looking for in terms of that "it" factor (the best example prior to Chong was Kelly Faris), those doing recruiting rankings might not necessarily know this or be able to evaluate a player in those terms (especially if the evaluation takes place before the player commits to play for Geno Auriemma.

3) Chong has the luxury of playing next to players like Steward and KML, two of the top five college players in the country (both in practice and when they are on the floor together). That is certainly a benefit that none of the other players has, which arguably is a factor in some of the statistics (though read below).

4) Having said that, Chong also has a clear understanding of what her role is. Some of the other players on that list (e.g., the UNC players) have to figure out who the team leader is, balance scoring and playmaking, etc. For many of the players listed, their teams are adjusting to them. For Chong, she is adjusting to the system that is already in place.

5) The most impressive statistic is the A/TO ratio, which is nearly 2:1. As I recall, Chong came in as an incredibly proficient scorer. While she averaged a lot of assists per game, her reputation was that of a scorer who could pass, not necessarily a point guard (in a way, similar to Alana Beard, who was a shooting guard who could handle and was a really, really good passer, but who was not a point guard, which is a separate playmaking mentality). To adjust to the college game by having that good of an A/TO is impressive.

6) When you factor in the rebounding and steals, using a per-minute basis, you can further see that Chong is much more of a scorer, but has adjusted very well (and relatively quickly) to making an impact without always having the ball in her hands.

7) One statistic that was not noted in the original post is "fouls per game." Chong has played in 16 games and has committed 16 personal fouls. Given her minutes played, she is averaging one foul for every 20 minutes played. For a freshman to come in and adjust that quickly to not just the speed of the game, but to UConn's complicated defensive schemes, is very impressive.

 

[Icebear]

My phone rings constantly on draft night from GM's seeking my approval before making their pick. I look for the small things, like how the player would look in the team colors.

You, too, cool!

 

[winlots]

A confession to make. Saniya is my Husky fave since she was my nearby Westchester heroine in recent years and will be the only one still playing in Storrs when I hit a certain nasty age milestone. Plus her tiptoe assassin movements around the court are just so cool to watch as she stalks around looking for a block or steal. But our local girl is strictly blue collar since she was buried down the list at #75 in the always astute HoopGurlz 2013 class rankings with a 93 score, so clearly down there you knew she was the type of player who dribbles the ball off her foot and shoots at the wrong basket most of the time.

I grabbed the stats of all the HoopGurlz 5 Star Class of 2013 guard or wing types who are listed at 6-2 or under (within 5 inches of Chong), the type of players who at least vaguely resemble her position for UConn, though there is a huge variety for how those 11 active players (plus two red shirts with Duke's Rebecca Greenwell and Tenn's Jannah Tucker) fill their own team roles. These 11 plus Saniya are all either already starring or pretty promising players (some BYers might want to do some dumping, but the careers are still young), and some have some eye-popping stats like Kaela Davis's 17.6 ppg and 6.4 rpg, Ronnie Williams' 6.6 rpg, Lexie Brown's 59 assists and 2.7 A\TO ratio, Diamond DeShields' 30 steals, and Rebekah Dahlman's 51.4 3-pt%. Almost without exception, the 11 5-stars have been called on to fill big roles on their teams off the bat, with UNC doing the most calling with three of the guards in the lineup. All but KY's Linnae Harper have chalked up at least 16.0 mpg (minutes per game, not miles per gallon) and 8 have at least 20.0. Preseason, Saniya was not expected to get that kind of time, but with some UConn injuries she has posted more than 20.0 mpg and made good use of her minutes.

That said, Chong is not a hyped Sveta-Maya-Stewie type freshman for the Huskies who is expected to do a lot of scoring, like most of the 11 5-stars are much more so for their their teams, especially Davis, DeShields, Dahlman, and Allisha Gray. Only one of the 5-stars averages less ppg than Chong, who is just expected to get out there and do a little of everything for the Huskies and be a tough perimeter defender in UConn's highly ranked defense.

So how does Chong stack up in the stats against the blue-chippers? In three categories she is at or near the top: TOs (or TOs per minute) at #1, Blocks at #2, and FT% at #3, and she is #4 in FG% and 3-FG%. Clearly some categories like PPG, RPG, and Assists matter more than Blocks and Steals, but if you simply add up the rankings for each of the players in the 9 categories besides MPG, Chong has the 3rd best average among the 12. The ranks are: 1. Gray (3.6), 2. Moncrief (4.6), 3. Chong (5.4), 4. Deshields (5.6), 5. Dahlman (5.7), 6. Davis (5.9), 7t. Brown (6.2), 7t. Washington (6.2), 9. Scaife (6.8), 10. Williams (7.1), 11. Harper (8.3), 12. Small (9.1). Some players like Davis are getting a lot more minutes and get more chance to boost their totals.

I am not saying that Chong is having the third best season among the 12 or that there aren't very possibly a couple more 4-star freshman guards who would represent well in this comparison. But Chong is definitely having a nice little season so far and can be mentioned in the same breath as HG's 5-stars without any big stretch. Four of them still have not hit any 3-pt shots this year, four are shooting less than 40% on FGs, two are below 60% on FTs, half of them have no blocks while Chong has batted 6, and Williams' 0.25 and Davis's 0.43 A\TO ratios are a bit yikes. But Brown's A\TO ratio of 2.7 with 59 assists is marvelous, and Dahlman is one of those Sector 13 types who shoots 43.2% for FGs but is at 51.4% on 3-pt shots. And all except maybe Small have made some good to great impressions this year.

Fun times and it's good to see our local girl fitting in and doing well.

 

[winlots]

DOB: great stuff....like that you gave the teams for each kid as well (as I basically focus only on UCONN).

 

[DobbsRover2]

DOB: great stuff....like that you gave the teams for each kid as well (as I basically focus only on UCONN).

You know Winlots, there is life outside of UConn. You may have to look very hard to find it since all the ESPN and other commentators seem to think UConn has squeezed most of the life blood's drama out of the WCBB, but really, it is there.

 

[UcMiami]

Camcrazy - great post but I would like to comment on a few of your points:
2. - as was discussed a lot before the season - Chong did not play for a big travel HS or a travel AAU team so the chance for the ratings folks to see her play was really limited, some may never have seen her, so that had a lot to do with not being rated very highly.
3. - very valid and a point I made differently in an earlier post - much easier getting an assist if you are passing to someone shooting 50+ % and as an aggregate all her teammates are doing that.
5. & 7. Really impressive - #7 especially on a team where if you don't play defense you don't play so she isn't just ole-ing it, she is actually playing sound defense.