In defense of Dorka

[Bone Dog]

I’ve got no criticism to make of Dorka. She was essential to our win. And she played a lot of minutes.

But I do have a concern, and you guys can tell me if my eyes were deceiving me. Dorka didn’t seem to be jumping for rebounds after the 1st quarter. This allowed the LVs to jump over her. I was worried that she’d hurt herself against DePaul — after one collision in that game she was grabbing the back of her leg. Could she have been protecting herself in this game by trying not to push off that same leg? Even if I’m right, I don’t think it could have been serious, or she couldn’t have run the court for 38 mins.

 

[dabears17]

According to the Box Score she only had 2 turn overs, but had 5 assists.

Stanford several years ago had a post player who only played her freshman and junior years due to chronic knee issues. If I recall correctly she barely practiced her junior year due to her knees.

I remember after one game seeing her walking around with ice bags tied to both knees. Since that day I’ve done my best to minimize my criticism of players and just enjoy watching them play.

Most players at this level know their weaknesses and mistakes. They are much more frustrated at themselves than we are.

It’s the journey, not the destination. Enjoy the journey.

 

[RedStickHusky]

We can't have it both ways; if staying on-the-floor is an overarching priority (and it is), then you can't battle with a team selling out on the boards. Since it's all about getting more possessions and more shots, our counters to getting out rebounded are ball security (we had 16 TOs to their 21) and shooting pct. (we shot 55% to their 39.4%). If we shoot well and take care of the ball, we can live with giving up a few rebounds. Tenn took six more shots than we did but we made seven more than they did.

 

[Surly1]

Thanks Nan for starting this thread. To paraphrase a quote from Jean-Jacques Rousseau quote, "Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong," change insults to criticisms and after a hard fought victory against a determined team, backed by a home crowd, focusing on negatives is akin to an insult.

Dorka contributed to this game. Yes, the ball seemed to slip out of her hands tonite, but it is easy to rush to judgment w/out knowing if she might have been experiencing problems with either her thumb or wrist. Even if it is attributable to having a slightly off game rebounding, Dorka hit two threes, had 5 assists and had a timely steal off of Rickea Jackson.

 

[Lawrence]

I’m seeing some criticism of Dorka in the post game thread and rather than reply to all the posts, thought I’d start a new thread.

It was mostly her rebounding that was criticized and, yes, it seemed some bounced off her hands. She wasn’t the only one, though. I found myself yelling at Aubrey to go chase rebounds rather than watch them. Their key stats were similar, btw, 13 points, 6 rebounds.

Anywho, Geno had Dorka playing a more perimeter oriented game, often initiating the offense from the top of the key, rather like Stef Dolson used to do. While Dorka had only 6 rebounds, she did have 5 assists by passing to cutters and three point shooters. As for the rebounds, it’s hard to grab an offensive rebound when you’re standing at the arc. And didn’t it seem a lot of balls took weird bounces, mostly towards an LV player? I’m not complaining, btw, it happens. That’s the way the ball bounces.

One of the reasons Dorka was on the perimeter is because she can make threes, and sh had 2 last night. Now a post player has to come out and guard her, opening the lane for Aaliyah and Aubrey.

Dorka’s defense in the 4th quarter was big, too. She stole the ball away from the LV posts (who told them to do so much dribbling in the paint anyway?) and had 3 steals during the game. I loved the one where she snagged the ball right out of the air.

Sometimes people get so wrapped up in numbers that they lose sight of the small things, like screens and defense. I just want to go on record that I feel Dorka made some valuable contributions that were not as noticeable as some missed rebounds.

Some folks have good days, and not so good days...she's only human.

 

[JordyG]

I’ve got no criticism to make of Dorka. She was essential to our win. And she played a lot of minutes.

But I do have a concern, and you guys can tell me if my eyes were deceiving me. Dorka didn’t seem to be jumping for rebounds after the 1st quarter. This allowed the LVs to jump over her. I was worried that she’d hurt herself against DePaul — after one collision in that game she was grabbing the back of her leg. Could she have been protecting herself in this game by trying not to push off that same leg? Even if I’m right, I don’t think it could have been serious, or she couldn’t have run the court for 38 mins.

You made this observation during the chat, it's a legitimate observation, and I think you may have hit on something. What concerned me yesterday as well though was how frequently Dorka was pushed aside, even when she had position for the ball, be it rebounds or loose balls. However, through much of the game Dorka was guilty of being out of position for many rebounds. I didn't see much if any evidence of Dorka limping, and she seemed to run the floor fairly well. But yes absolutely, she barely left the floor for rebounds, was out jumped time after time, and it was especially noticeable when she had position.

Also consider the fact that Dorka's injury on her thumb prevented extensive weight room training on her upper body during her long recovery over the summer, and breaking her thumb again during this year didn't help at all. But again, let's consider the fact that AE had 6 rebounds at the half, Dorka 4. Yet AE had only 1 rebound in the 2nd half, that late in the game, while Dorka had 2 rebounds in the 2nd half. So rebounding wasn't merely a Dorka problem, but a team problem. I was surprised that Nika was able to get the ball out into space at all considering UConn's poor rebounding. I don't think I've ever seen a UConn team win a game nearly by 20 while being out rebounded by such a large margin.

 

[Millenial23]

Someone posted the stats in the game thread and Dorka had the second highest effectiveness rating. I think that says enough about her play and the intangibles she brings.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

It is hard for UCONN Players to stay on the "good side" of some BYers. In one post the writer said... "Dorka's questionable rebounding in last night's game, in my personal opinion, was very glaring, especially in comparison to how she performed in similar situations in other past games this season, where she gobbled up those offensive boards and put them back up for points, or on the defensive side, easily picked them off and started fast breaks down to the other end." (emphasis added) NOTE: I used this quote only as an example, not to single out its writer. Game after Game this season Dorka has received positive comments and accolades for her play at both ends of the court. She has Shown UP... and Shown Out. And she apparently had some tough times last night (I must admit I did not see the game), and some on this board make her out to be a poor player... Imagine who would have caught the brunt of an angry fan base had UCONN not won. We have to Trust the Coaching staff saw the game too, and any issues Dorka was having ... they will work on those and correct them!

Yes, Dorka is a Grad Student playing her 5th year of NCAA D1 WBB... and maybe we should expect her to be error free every game... but that's not the way things go in Sports, or in life. Remember, even the Mighty Casey Struck out... they wrote a poem about it!

Give the Team a break. Praise their good stuff... encourage them when they have a tough game. They are OUR Team, and they certainly don't have any intention to have off games.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Many people don't realize the difference between height and length. In high school, I was 6'4". We had a forward who was 6'1". Yet when we stood together and extended his arms, his reach was 2 inches higher than mine. Tennessee has long players and, because they are lithe bodies, their techniques is to one-hand tap and catch the ball the second time. Dorka had a great game and gave us everything she had. Criticism of her for this game is unwarranted in my opinion.

 

[Boreifs]

You made this observation during the chat, it's a legitimate observation, and I think you may have hit on something. What concerned me yesterday as well though was how frequently Dorka was pushed aside, even when she had position for the ball, be it rebounds or loose balls. However, through much of the game Dorka was guilty of being out of position for many rebounds. I didn't see much if any evidence of Dorka limping, and she seemed to run the floor fairly well. But yes absolutely, she barely left the floor for rebounds, was out jumped time after time, and it was especially noticeable when she had position.

Also consider the fact that Dorka's injury on her thumb prevented extensive weight room training on her upper body during her long recovery over the summer, and breaking her thumb again during this year didn't help at all. But again, let's consider the fact that AE had 6 rebounds at the half, Dorka 4. Yet AE had only 1 rebound in the 2nd half, that late in the game, while Dorka had 2 rebounds in the 2nd half. So rebounding wasn't merely a Dorka problem, but a team problem. I was surprised that Nika was able to get the ball out into space at all considering UConn's poor rebounding. I don't think I've ever seen a UConn team win a game nearly by 20 while being out rebounded by such a large margin.

The total rebound amount is misleading, in my view. UConn actually had more Defensive rebounds than Tennessee . The Offensive rebound total disparity meant that the Vols ended up with more shots, which was negated by UConn’s superior defense. One could certainly argue that they had fewer Defensive rebounds because UConn shot the ball so well, but that argument always results in a loss. Someone also brought up the obvious; a team with no subs can’t possibly be more aggressive down low, particularly when the officiating is so unpredictable. It is unfathomable that ESPN spent so much time and money on this game without insisting that the home team spring for the best officials available. It was, after all, a non conference game.

 

[BBallF]

LV had a lot of offensive rebounds because they missed their shots. Who cares?

Absolutely. Boxing out does no good if the rebound goes beyond the player you are boxing out such as on missed 3s. Hey, they are an offensive rebounding team. Always have been and always will be. It's what Pat Summit always emphasized and it's not surprising that a point guard of hers would adopt the same approach.

This is the best statistical analysis of Dorka last night- She had 13 points and 5 assists or was responsible, at least partly, for 23+ points or more than 1/3 of the entire Tennessee total and had 6 rebounds and 3 steals and was therefore singularly responsible for 9 changes of possessions. We had 16 turnovers and took 60 shots so that makes 76 possessions at the least. Since we made a turnover 1 out of every 5 possessions, that means that approximately 2 of the 9 Dorka possession changes did not result in a shot. However, 7 of them did. We shot 55% from the field so that translates into about 4 made baskets. 25% of our made baskets were 3s so out of those 4 we have one 3 and three 2 point baskets for an additional 9 points. Now we are up to her having a role in part or wholly for 32 points or almost half the Vols total. Yes she has imperfections and they were visible to some extent last night as was true for others ( Lou was just magnificent though in a Taurasiesque type performance) but as Nan said, Who Cares? She was one of our Badasses last night in the Orange Badlands.

Finally, compare our game last night to our game against ND where we were pushed, pulled, restrained and hammered similar to last night and while there may have been a disparity in the talent level between ND and the Vols, there was no difference in the physicality we faced and we kicked butt despite it. Dorka is a big reason for that.

 

[Carnac]

IMO, Dorka needs no defense, she pretty obviously was having trouble grabbing the ball with two hands at times and since that is not her recurring MO, I will assume it had something to do with her thumb or wrist. Anyone who has played basketball knows how vital the thumb is in grabbing and being strong with the ball.
As Carnac posted, she was in their fighting the whole game and that’s all you can expect; results are not always there but effort should be, and it was.
The other aspects of her game yielded fine results and at the end of the day, she had ONE less rebound than Edwards.

It appears that some posters have lost sight of the fact that Tennessee while not currently ranked, is still an elite team with better-than-average players.
FACT: you’re not going to be able to do the things against the rlite teams and their players that you can against lesser talented teams........like those in our conference.

We don’t know the condition of her thumb which was recently broken. It may be 100% healed or not. It’s aldo possible that it was aggravated at some point during the game (not saying it was, just that it may have been). If so, knowing that the bench was thin, she persevered and continued to play. Or maybe she just got outplayed by a more talented player(s). That happens too sometimes.

During the course of a season, you’re going to have a game where nothing works for you. Sometimes we have bad days too. When a player, any player has a bad game, they know it. What they need is support, a show of appreciation and understanding from their fan base. Not the darts, arrows and vitrol like the LV’s got from their fanslast night.

 

[CL82]

To paraphrase a quote from Jean-Jacques Rousseau quote, "Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong,

Nice quote. I wasn’t familiar with it.

 

[jdote33]

I feel like Dorka will always figure it out if she's given minutes. She'll find a way to make a positive impact on the game. She missed some bunnies and had her shot blocked a couple of times but she's giving her all. I honestly feel like she's still improving in terms of driving and finishing and posting up. AE scores a lot with her quick first step and driving and finishing. Dorka has a solid first step and handle, it's just finishing she sometimes has problems. To me it kinda is what it is, but she's always a net positive on the floor in my eyes.

 

[JordyG]

The total rebound amount is misleading, in my view. UConn actually had more Defensive rebounds than Tennessee . The Offensive rebound total disparity meant that the Vols ended up with more shots, which was negated by UConn’s superior defense. One could certainly argue that they had fewer Defensive rebounds because UConn shot the ball so well, but that argument always results in a loss. Someone also brought up the obvious; a team with no subs can’t possibly be more aggressive down low, particularly when the officiating is so unpredictable. It is unfathomable that ESPN spent so much time and money on this game without insisting that the home team spring for the best officials available. It was, after all, a non conference game.

Yes well.... UT has been for many years a poor shooting team. Chuck it up and get the put back. Last year for example the rebounds were 38 apiece. UT had slightly more offensive rebounds, yet shot a putrid 17-59. This year 26-66. So UConn's defense was better against UT last year, and so was UConn's rebounding.

The difference this year was UT's defense was shoddier, and UConn shot incredibly at all levels, so yes, better shooting means less defensive rebounds for the opposing team. Every time. It's a guarantee that if UConn shot worse, like the 44.8% they had last year, UT would have had more than 3 more defensive rebounds. Better, if UConn had missed more shots, as in shooting the 44.8% they had last year, the net result would have been a loss; for UConn.

Last year Geno mainly played 6 players, with Dorka getting 13 minutes while scoring 2 points with 4 rebounds. This year he played 5. Yet UConn was out rebounded by 11. Last year Geno used virtually no subs as well, yet was more effective on the boards. Three more defensive rebounds by UConn doesn't, in my book, constitute any sort of domination.

 

[Carnac]

I’ve got no criticism to make of Dorka. She was essential to our win. And she played a lot of minutes.

But I do have a concern, and you guys can tell me if my eyes were deceiving me. Dorka didn’t seem to be jumping for rebounds after the 1st quarter. This allowed the LVs to jump over her. I was worried that she’d hurt herself against DePaul — after one collision in that game she was grabbing the back of her leg. Could she have been protecting herself in this game by trying not to push off that same leg? Even if I’m right, I don’t think it could have been serious, or she couldn’t have run the court for 38 mins.

As a player, you don’t get injured if your bench is thin or non-existent. Knowing the coach does not have an “adequate” replacement for you, you bite the bullet and play through it. That may have been what you saw in Dorka last night. Geno may or may not address that in subsequent pressers.

 

[Zinethar]

Tenn was slapping hard on all the defensive sets and Dorka lost the rebound a few times. I wondered if her thumb prevented her hanging onto the ball as hard as others might be able to. However remember that I think at least 3 and I think 4 of our starters were in foul trouble which certainly hinders being able to get involved in situations where fouls might get called when the bench is lean. UConn won. I'm happy.

 

[JJTB]

Career wise over 1400 points and 1000 rebounds. A line of 13,6 and 5 in the game. A 17 point win at Tennessee! Hard to criticize anything from last night, aside from team rebounding.

 

[MSGRET]

As I said in the post game thread, the team that wears Orange was hacking and slapping at Dorka's wrists and hands last night. She has had a broken wrist and thumb in less than a year and any jarring of those two is going to cause pain, sometimes very severe pain, so I will give her some slack because of the hack the sack play of those people that wear Orange.

 

[Carnac]

I feel like Dorka will always figure it out if she's given minutes. She'll find a way to make a positive impact on the game. She missed some bunnies and had her shot blocked a couple of times but she's giving her all. I honestly feel like she's still improving in terms of driving and finishing and posting up. AE scores a lot with her quick first step and driving and finishing. Dorka has a solid first step and handle, it's just finishing she sometimes has problems. To me it kinda is what it is, but she's always a net positive on the floor in my eyes.

This just in..........we don’t win last night without Dorka!! Funny you should say that. Geno admitted that he has mellowed some this year. He said that more and more he’s letting the players figure things out for themselves during the course of a game instead of correcting them on the fly.

 

[JellyBean]

I thought Dorka did well last night on the boards. I mean if you are not in position for a rebound, not much you can do, unless you want to risk picking up silly fouls. Dorka and the coaching staff probably had a game plan for this type of situation. I just think that she got rebounds where it was clearly easy and offered low risk.

 

[UcMiami]

I would say there were also a few of those 'padding the offensive rebounding stats' moments in the game where a few LVs couldn't buy a lay-up but were in the inside position to grab the ball each time it rolled off the rim again. That, combined with what seemed quite a few strange bounces lead to an inordinate number of O boards given up. And has led to all this angst and criticism.

I was reminded of the old description of the Pat Summit offense: toss it up and rebound like hell.

While TN has continued to hire Pat disciples, the offensive plan has not evolved - when Pat was still fully coaching she recognized that coaches like Tara and Muffet as well as Geno were leaving her behind. The famous Pat and Harry hot tub quip was based on her trying to learn new tricks. She relied on great recruiting to maintain the competitiveness of TN, but it was beginning to fail her.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

around 15 and 10 with 4 assists so far this year. 18/11 road warrior.
Dorka is a star. always was.

and, she just handed Tennessee an egg, then said 'suck it.'
at their place.

 

[driveway]

Dorka played 38 minutes. She had to be a little tired. Geno said in a recent interview that they’re all tired physically and mentally. They battled hard for 40 minutes and won by 17. They all played major minutes. They got 11 minutes and no points from the bench.

Some fans want perfection regardless. I can imagine the tenor of some comments if UConn had lost. If folks feel they need to point out the obvious, let them and simply move on. We all saw the game.

Dorka did not disappear last night. She showed up to play. She stayed shoulder to shoulder in the trenches with her teammates the entire time. That’s all you can ask. Her teammate’s made enough plays to cover her.

I’m elated we won. I’m happy the Tennessee fans are upset at Geno coming in their house and beating them convincingly. That is not an easy place to play. Word is they were irate in their comments directed at the players and coaches in their chat room. Good. I’m still smiling and giddy like the Joker. A great win ladies. You made UConn Nation very proud. Thank you very much. Proud to be a UConn fan this morning.

The girls are going to be either bone tired and subject to injury or be able to run marathons and threw brick walls. We'll see.