Subtle Up Fake Moves - and Ayanna

[Scud49]

Over the off season, I'd be very happy if Ayanna can learn to employ some good up-fakes like this one from Larry Bird - the defender is totally neutralized.

My sense is she has all the power and athleticism, just gotta add some craftiness to her game:

 

[HuskyNan]

Just one upfake here but, wow, Ayanna has a nice jump shot

 

[MooseJaw]

Hope she is encouraged to put defenders on her back, faking shots while drawing fouls. Ayanna is so physically developed; she has few if any opponents that can match her. I saw a difference in the last couple of games she played, playing with more confidence and freedom. Looking forward to where she takes her game, opponents beware,

 

[JellyBean]

The talent and skill is there. She just has to trust herself out there and play without fear. I just think that she was overthinking rather than just reacting out there last year. Like @MooseJaw, and I agree, Ayanna is so physical not many opponents can match her. Hopefully she is in a gym some place working on her craft while also enjoying being a young person. But watching a some of the game's greats, female or male, she could pick up a few things to add to her skill package. I am looking forward to seeing the improvement has made over the months.

 

[HopJim]

Ayanna needs to be able to play defense to earn the time on offense. Was a foul machine the past year - difficult to put her in to tight game with her tendency to go for every fake and foul on drives to the basket. Her goals for the coming year should be relatively straightforward. Play solid defense, rebound, and make shots under the basket. Should be achievable.

 

[BBallF]

That up fake by Larry Bird is like teaching an apprentice to paint by showing him a Da Vinci. It's about as perfect as you can get. Even if she just gets the general idea and can start her drive without walking would be a significant improvement.

 

[Carnac]

Hope she is encouraged to put defenders on her back, faking shots while drawing fouls. Ayanna is so physically developed; she has few if any opponents that can match her. I saw a difference in the last couple of games she played, playing with more confidence and freedom. Looking forward to where she takes her game, opponents beware,

The "honeymoon" period is over for Ayanna. She's entering her second season at UConn. I'm hoping to see a significant sophomore leap in her. It's time for her to become one of the consistently solid and productive players that Geno can depend on this season, on BOTH ends of the court, while staying out of foul trouble. With Dorka gone, her playing time should increase. How much depends on the development of Ice and Jana. No one expects her to carry the team, but she will be expected to contribute each night doing whatever Geno needs her to.

If she can give Geno 12-18 minutes a game (some nights more) of solid productive play, that should be enough. We know the skill and athleticism is there. She just has to relax and play within the flow of the game. She should know the system by now. Come November, it will be 17 months since her arrival on campus last June.

New players arrive on campus at the end of May each year to attend a summer session of classroom instruction and begin their indoctrination to "college life on campus." She should be ready. She's been around the block once already. Any freshman butterflies she may have had should be gone.

 

[HuskyNan]

That up fake by Larry Bird is like teaching an apprentice to paint by showing him a Da Vinci. It's about as perfect as you can get. Even if she just gets the general idea and can start her drive without walking would be a significant improvement.

 

[BBallF]

That was a great move. I feel like there is so much more to Aubrey that we haven't seen yet. Perhaps she should help Ayanna with hers.

 

[Kaizen]

Just one upfake here but, wow, Ayanna has a nice jump shot

Ayanna played better in high school than in college.

 

[BBallF]

Ayanna played better in high school than in college.

She is not towering over players like she did in high school and she cannot outpower them as easily. She definitely needs muscle memory fakes and drives and confidence in her pull up jumper. More than anything else she has to play defense with her feet not her arms and hands. The referees in women's basketball almost automatically call a foul when the arms or hands come down from an upright position on a shot.

 

[Postie]

Yes Ayanna looks like a 5 star in this video.How many of the girls she’s playing in this video are playing Division 1 basketball now.Ayanna is now playing girls as big and as strong as her.Let’s see with one year at UCONN if she can step up her game.

 

[Carnac]

She is not towering over players like she did in high school and she cannot outpower them as easily. She definitely needs muscle memory fakes and drives and confidence in her pull up jumper. More than anything else she has to play defense with her feet not her arms and hands. The referees in women's basketball almost automatically call a foul when the arms or hands come down from an upright position on a shot.

The ONLY place to learn that is in PRACTICE- PRACTICE - PRACTICE!! You are absolutely correct about the "muscle memory." Once she does that, she won't have to think about any moves she wants to make on the block or in the paint. It will be second nature, and all of her moves will then be smooth and fluid. She should practice against 6'5" Jana every day in practice.

 

[BBallF]

That is 100% true not only in basketball but in other sports as well. A friend of mine took his son, a potential MLB prospect as a second baseman, to a trainer to improve his turn on a double play throw. The trainer told him the minimum for muscle memory was a 1000 time repetition. The same principle, perhaps more or less times, applies to basketball. Over and Over and Over again. In Bill Bradley's book, he went through his shooting drill. He would go around the horn and only move to the next spot when he made 25 in a row. These were not 6 foot shots either. Want to be good, very good, or great at basketball? Same answer as the taxicab driver gave in Manhattan when he was asked "Do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall?".