UConn's Nelson-Ododa using Arizona loss as motivation

[jazz]

I don't know how it came to be that I was unaware of the early debate. Perhaps I was in Final 4 mourning!

haha. it took me about 2 months to even watch the AZ game. go to the threads BEFORE the t-fer became official. Almost all thought she was NOT a good fit for a number of reasons. They everybody changed as soon as it became official.

 

[jazz]

Guess your memory is poor

nope. but i think yours may be.

 

[Zanzman]

nope. but i think yours may be.

Feel free to pull up then negative posts of her coming here cause I sure cant

 

[bluedevil]

If she is the key might want to call a locksmith.

 

[Carnac]

I'm pulling for Liv but at the same time, I'm not going to take the cheese like i did this past year. Talking is one thing, doing it in big games in another. Trust is hard to build and easily lost.

Well said jazz. I completely agree.

 

[Papa33]

Working on some semi hook shots

WSLAM (@wslam) • Instagram photos and videos

The video showing her working on 1. a genuine hook shot, and 2. technique for a genuine jump shot. Those were precisely two of the crucial omissions I saw in her offensive game, which often led to missed "gimme's," especially in the Arizona game (and too often in others), where she shot the ball off the heel of her palm, not using her fingers to "flick" the ball at the top of her jump-- no final control or finesse. Her "coach" in the video focused directly on those two issues. These lessons could make a huge difference, but I am gobsmacked about why she hasn't learned (been taught?) those principles before now!

Last point (after she gets the ball in the right places with an awareness of where the basket is) is footwork.

 

[Carnac]

I’m rooting for Liv, as all the pieces to accomplish her goal are there: talent (hers, teammates), athleticism, skills, knowledge, and coaches. But what seems to be missing is confidence, especially during big games. Everyone just needs to consistently work on confidence.

Confidence was one of the components Arizona used to beat us. If you think you can’t, you won’t. If you doubt you can, you won’t. But….when you go into battle with the confidence that David had against a very intimidating Goliath, good things can happen. Liv needs to approach each game with a “no fear” mentality, believing SHE is the best player on the floor.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

no doubt which is what I said when the news of Dorka's potential transfer emerged. I don't remember many boneyarders being in favour of Dorka however (lots of negatively actually), but I argued she will be a good to very good player and better and more consistent than what we have.

I also hope she pushes Liv to be a better player as well. Then there is Deberry, who is the wildcard in all of this.

Hopefully, all of our 6'3" and taller players can learn Tina's Hook shot THIS YEAR (possibly with Stewie's help as well) before the Battle for Atlantis [ONO, DJ, AD, PG & AE], and be "deadly" accurate with it before Louisville and beyond. Hopefully, AD is in the Learn everything and apply it mode this year, as it may be the only time she gets to learn from TWO experienced UCONN "Bigs" in an everyday manner....

 

[The CDR-Ret]

my memory is excellent my friend although sometimes i momentarily forget things and later they come back to me. I'm talking way before that when it was a possibility. She was getting slagged off big time and I even posted a prediction that everybody would change their minds once it was official. i ended up being right, since as usual, once GA goes a certain way, everybody changes their tune. kind of like NM last year. she sucked until GA started her and then the whole board fell in love with her.

You called it, and I concur with your assessment!

Good job! [Hancock reference]

 

[FormerCTrez]

Confidence was one of the components Arizona used to beat us. If you think you can’t, you won’t. If you doubt you can, you won’t. But….when you go into battle with the confidence that David had against a very intimidating Goliath, good things can happen. Liv needs to approach each game with a “no fear” mentality, believing SHE is the best player on the floor.

Amen to that!

 

[jazz]

Hopefully, all of our 6'3" and taller players can learn Tina's Hook shot THIS YEAR (possibly with Stewie's help as well) before the Battle for Atlantis [ONO, DJ, AD, PG & AE], and be "deadly" accurate with it before Louisville and beyond. Hopefully, AD is in the Learn everything and apply it mode this year, as it may be the only time she gets to learn from TWO experienced UCONN "Bigs" in an everyday manner....

I don't understand why the baby hook is not a staple in coaching bigs. it is quite easy to learn. As long as our bigs can finish at the rim, then we will be reliable in the paint.

 

[jazz]

Confidence was one of the components Arizona used to beat us. If you think you can’t, you won’t. If you doubt you can, you won’t. But….when you go into battle with the confidence that David had against a very intimidating Goliath, good things can happen. Liv needs to approach each game with a “no fear” mentality, believing SHE is the best player on the floor.

The problem these days is the lack of mental toughness and that is systemic in our culture. Each generation is less mentally tough then the previous. I think Liv was confident in the beginning and then lost that feeling later. She appears to get rattled if players challenge her at the rim. That is the only explanation I can conjure that would explain her missing time and time again. Also, she is just can't handle any contact when she shoots. She cannot finish through contact.

 

[oldhusky]

I think Geno's difficult decisions with Liv is not that she is inconsistent, but in fact that she has shown a very predictable pattern. She is consistently good against smaller, weaker and less physical opponents, and consistently bad against larger talented bangers and good defensive teams.

She has been very good against "the little sisters of the poor" so to speak, and helps us increase our margin of victory in the 90% or so of the games that are decided before the tip off. The problem is the success or failure of a season depends on those relatively few games we could lose, where she has often come up short.

Suppose Geno thinks against most opponents Liv is better, but against the best teams with talented size, Dorka is better? I suppose Liv has first dibs on the starter position and probably would be the slightly better player against most opponents, but maybe one of the keys to the season is who is the best choice to start against South Carolina, Stanford and all the top teams.

Practice could confirm or change those views. Going against Dorka every day could help in the assessment of Liv's role in big games. Geno will see how Liv is doing against another talented big. He mentioned Liv's confidence appeared to be higher. If she has success against Dorka it could lead to success against better teams and players and start to erase her reputation in big games. If not I wonder if he should change the starting lineup depending on the matchup.

 

[Carnac]

Liz needs to dominate in every game she plays whether it's viewed as Big or insignificant, Every game she has remaining as far as I am concerned is a BIG game, and that's in pre-season, in-season, or Post-season...

Three years of mediocre play is currently her resume. If she wishes to change that narrative and play at the next level, then she really has no choice... Time for No excuses, just bring it... A dunk or two might also boost some interest...

I personally would like to finally see her playing with an edge/attitude and lots of confidence... Enough of this nice girl, going with the flow and stop bringing the ball down and look to score when she has mismatches on the court...

Also, try to get every rebound that comes anywhere within 8ft of her... With quality backups in the rotation, she can now afford to be more aggressive and not worry so much about being in foul trouble.

Let the year of ONO begin!!

I'm going to issue a disclaimer for what I'm about to post. First of all, I love Liv. I support her 1000%. I'm elated that she chose to come to UConn. She helped us win a lot of games over the past 3 years. I'm FIRMLY seated on the front row of her cheering section, waving my pom-poms and tooting my horn. Now, that said, I don't want my take to appear that I'm bashing on Liv, I'm not. That's not my style. I don't bash our girls. I don't post all of my frustrations and concerns. Sometimes it's better to not say anything.

It's a take of my frustrations with her performance in relation to her vast and unlimited potential. I hate to compare players (different coach, different system, different teammates and expectations, etc.), but rather choose to judge them on their own merit and performance. I'm going to do this just once. IMO, Aliyah Boston had a better freshman year than Liv has had in any of her 3 years. Boston won several awards and put up numbers over the course of that year that Liv to date has not. It's not coaching. I believe ONO has had the benefit of the best coaching available in WCBB. I believe it's attitude and DNA.

Bejan, I read all the posts in this thread. Yours (to me) is the most "spot on" comment so far. I completely agree with everything you touched on, especially your first sentence! EVERY GAME this season should be viewed as a BIG game in her mind!! Two former Notre Dame players that I'm NOT particularly fond of are Skylar Diggins, and Arike Ogunbawole. If I could pick two players whose bravado, moxie and self confidence I'd like to see ONO and the rest of our girls adopt, it's these two.

They played (and continue to) with "no fear" in EVERY game. They were NEVER intimidated by UConn or anyone else, instead, they looked forward to the challenge of taking us down at home or on the road which they both did. They played hard tip to horn. They also tried to instill that attitude, bravado and confidence in their teammates. The moxie in theses two are inherent, not coached. Taurasi has it. Maya Moore had it. Many of our other former players had it. Taurasi had it the first day she arrived on campus, and maintained it all four years. There may have been games she didn't play well, but she wasn't intimidated by anyone.

You can't change a person's basic personality or fabric. I'm not sure Liv will ever adopt that "killer" attitude or demeanor. Like you, I'd sure like to her display it one once in a while. If she could just be more consistent under the basket. Make her bunnies and layups (especially those that are uncontested), stop shooting fade-a-aways, and stop using the fly swat technique of blocking shots. "fly swatting" is often the result of being out of position on defense, and trying to make up for it at the last second.

If she could raise her fg% to 55%, that would be great. I'd really think she has the potential to raise it to 65%. She's a senior now dammit, play like it. Play smart, limit your fouls (no cheap fouls), stay on the floor and dominate your opposing post player, including the Aliyah Boston's of the world. Be consistent!!! Handle contact when shooting, and finish strong through any/all contact. When shooting bunnies/layups...either make 'em, or go to the line.

I'll be looking at all of our girls this season, but especially Liv. I also agree with our esteemed colleague Jazz, who said: "I'm pulling for Liv, but at the same time, I'm not going to take the cheese like I did this past year. Talking is one thing, doing it in big games in another. Trust is hard to build and easily lost." I want (and expect) to see Liv have her best year yet!!!

Retraction - In an earlier version of this post, I said that Boston was on the 2017 Gamecock team that won the NC, she was not!! She arrived two years later, part of the class that arrived in the fall of the 2019-2020.

 

[Bald Husky]

I'm going to qualify what I'm about to post. First of all, I love Liv. I support her 1000%. I'm elated that she chose to come to UConn. She helped us win a lot of games over the past 3 years. I'm FIRMLY seated on the front row of her cheering section, waving my pom-poms and tooting my horn. Now, that said, I don't want my take to appear that I'm bashing on Liv, I'm not. That's not my style. I don't bash our girls. I don't post all of my frustrations and concerns. Sometimes it's better to not say anything.

It's a take my frustrations of her performance in relation to her vast potential. I hate to compare players, but rather chose to judge them on their on merit and performance. I'm going to do this just once. IMO, Aliyah Boston had a better freshman year than Liv has had in any of her 3 years. Boston won several awards , and put up numbers over the course of that year that Liv to date has not. It's not coaching. I believe ONO has had the benefit of the best coaching available at UConn. I believe it's attitude and DNA.

Bejan, I read all the posts in this thread. Yours (to me) is the most "spot on" comment so far. I completely agree with everything you touched on, especially your first sentence! EVERY GAME this season should be viewed as a BIG game in her mind!! Two former Notre Dame players that I'm NOT particularly fond of are Skylar Diggins, and Arike Ogunbawole. If I could pick two players whose bravado and self confidence I'd like to see ONO and the rest of our girls adopt, it's these two.

They played (and continue to) with "no fear" in EVERY game. They were NEVER intimidated by UConn, instead, they looked forward to the challenge of taking us down at home or on the road. They played hard tip to horn. They also tried to instill that attitude, bravado and confidence in their teammates. The moxie in theses two are inherent, not coached. Taurasi has it. She had it the first day she arrived on campus, and maintained it all four years. There may have been games she didn't play well, but she wasn't intimidated by anyone.

You can't change a person's basic personality. I'm not sure Liv will ever adopt that "killer" attitude or demeanor. Like you. I'd sure like to her display one once in a while. If she could just be more consistent under the basket. Make her bunnies and layups (especially those that are uncontested), and stop using the fly swat technique of blocking shots. "fly swatting" often is residue from being out of position on defense, and trying to make up for it at the end. If she could raise her fg% to 55%, that would be great. I'd really like to see it rise to 65%. She's a senior now, play like it. Play smart, limit your fouls (no cheap fouls), stay on the floor and dominate your opposing post player, including the Aliyah Boston's of the league. Be consistent!!!
handle contact when shooting, and finish strong through contact. I'll be looking at all of our girls this season, but especially Liv. I also agree with our esteemed colleague Jazz, when he said: "I'm pulling for Liv but at the same time, I'm not going to take the cheese like i did this past year. Talking is one thing, doing it in big games in another. Trust is hard to build and easily lost." I want to see Liv have the best year yet!!!

Maybe she should room with Nika.

 

[Carnac]

Maybe she should room with Nika.

When you associate, you assimilate!!

 

[bluedevil]

I'm going to qualify what I'm about to post. First of all, I love Liv. I support her 1000%. I'm elated that she chose to come to UConn. She helped us win a lot of games over the past 3 years. I'm FIRMLY seated on the front row of her cheering section, waving my pom-poms and tooting my horn. Now, that said, I don't want my take to appear that I'm bashing on Liv, I'm not. That's not my style. I don't bash our girls. I don't post all of my frustrations and concerns. Sometimes it's better to not say anything.

It's a take my frustrations of her performance in relation to her vast potential. I hate to compare players, but rather chose to judge them on their on merit and performance. I'm going to do this just once. IMO, Aliyah Boston had a better freshman year than Liv has had in any of her 3 years. Boston won several awards (including a NC), and put up numbers over the course of that year that Liv to date has not. It's not coaching. I believe ONO has had the benefit of the best coaching available in WCBB. I believe it's attitude and DNA.

Bejan, I read all the posts in this thread. Yours (to me) is the most "spot on" comment so far. I completely agree with everything you touched on, especially your first sentence! EVERY GAME this season should be viewed as a BIG game in her mind!! Two former Notre Dame players that I'm NOT particularly fond of are Skylar Diggins, and Arike Ogunbawole. If I could pick two players whose bravado, moxie and self confidence I'd like to see ONO and the rest of our girls adopt, it's these two.

They played (and continue to) with "no fear" in EVERY game. They were NEVER intimidated by UConn or anyone else, instead, they looked forward to the challenge of taking us down at home or on the road. They played hard tip to horn. They also tried to instill that attitude, bravado and confidence in their teammates. The moxie in theses two are inherent, not coached. Taurasi has it. She had it the first day she arrived on campus, and maintained it all four years. There may have been games she didn't play well, but she wasn't intimidated by anyone.

You can't change a person's basic personality or fabric. I'm not sure Liv will ever adopt that "killer" attitude or demeanor. Like you. I'd sure like to her display it one once in a while. If she could just be more consistent under the basket. Make her bunnies and layups (especially those that are uncontested), stop shooting fade-a-aways, and stop using the fly swat technique of blocking shots. "fly swatting" is often residue from being out of position on defense, and trying to make up for it at the last second. If she could raise her fg% to 55%, that would be great. I'd really think she has the potential to raise it to 65%. She's a senior now dammit, play like it. Play smart, limit your fouls (no cheap fouls), stay on the floor and dominate your opposing post player, including the Aliyah Boston's of the world. Be consistent!!! Handle contact when shooting, and finish strong through any/all contact. When shooting bunnies/layups...either make 'em, or go to the line.

I'll be looking at all of our girls this season, but especially Liv. I also agree with our esteemed colleague Jazz, when he said: "I'm pulling for Liv, but at the same time, I'm not going to take the cheese like I did this past year. Talking is one thing, doing it in big games in another. Trust is hard to build and easily lost."
I want (and expect) to see Liv have her best year yet!!!

Believe it or not I too like Liv. I have called her a competent player before and that is what she is. Put her in the Ivy League and she would be player of the year. She has helped us win many games in the Big Least and the AAC before that. She will have a nice overseas career.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Liv has all she needs to get (WNBA) better. Super Motivation and competition.

“I think about that game a lot, especially when we’re doing workouts or going over things,” Nelson-Ododa said. “I really watched film on it, too. Moving past that game I realize there are things that I need to work on, finishing, post moves, continuing to get stronger. Looking at it is tough but it’s needed for growth. I want to take it and build off of it.”

"Liv has all she needs to get (WNBA) better. Super Motivation and competition."
Personally I believe Liv and CW are both missing what Lee Iacocca referred to as "fire in the belly." Maya, Stewie, "D", Moriah, Morgan, Steph, Jennifer, Rebecca, Sue, Shea, Jamelle, Svet, Kerry, Swin, Tina, Renee, etc. all had "fire in the belly." Liv waits until her senior year to learn a hook shot and develop multiple post moves? She should have had a hook shot and multiple post moves by her sophomore season. Where is the passion? Self-motivation? If I were a WNBA executive, I would not waste a first round draft pick on a player who is not self-motivated. Why waste a 1st round pick on a player who does not have a passion for the game and for being the best possible version of herself as a player?

 

[bluedevil]

The video showing her working on 1. a genuine hook shot, and 2. technique for a genuine jump shot. Those were precisely two of the crucial omissions I saw in her offensive game, which often led to missed "gimme's," especially in the Arizona game (and too often in others), where she shot the ball off the heel of her palm, not using her fingers to "flick" the ball at the top of her jump-- no final control or finesse. Her "coach" in the video focused directly on those two issues. These lessons could make a huge difference, but I am gobsmacked about why she hasn't learned (been taught?) those principles before now!

Last point (after she gets the ball in the right places with an awareness of where the basket is) is footwork.

If 2 hall of fame coaches can't teach you that's a you problem.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Geno didn't jump at Dorka because he was looking for a backup.

 

[BostonBay]

We'll see. Action is greater than words. Liz hasn't achieved much improvement in 3 years - she plays a lot "smaller" than 6'5". Body size/strength still the same. Still has not developed any new moves on the block. Still too deliberate in the post - overthinks. Still keeps the ball so low that its very easy to defend/strip her, especially with a double team. Still gets outworked by stronger or quicker defenders.

 

[jazz]

Feel free to pull up then negative posts of her coming here cause I sure cant

nope. feel free to find them and prove me wrong. ill help you out a bit ..look in the april recruiting thread and you will see a lot of negative posts about Dorka. i replied to these posts at post 124.

if you cant find them, then you have a lot more problems than just a poor memory. You should know what you are talking about before you call somebody out.

 

[Cuango]

if liv can play smart and tough and make damn shots, it will certainly help and gives us another weapon. her being AA is a joke. good sometimes and pathetic other times.

CW is very good sometimes but not the game changer she was hoped to be. is that game changer.

I absolutely expect Azzi to be a game changer but we would all do well to remember that CW was also expected to be a game changer when she signed. Hopefully, this time next year we’ll be saying that both were game changers for this season, one for her first (and hopefully for three more) and the other for her final season! Not trying to rain on anyone’s parade, it’s just hard to believe we could see two consecutive players like Paige. I hope Azzi is even better than Paige but it’s just very difficult for me to really accept it until it actually happens! Here’s hoping, though!

 

[diggerfoot]

nope. feel free to find them and prove me wrong. ill help you out a bit ..look in the april recruiting thread and you will see a lot of negative posts about Dorka. i replied to these posts at post 124.

if you cant find them, then you have a lot more problems than just a poor memory. You should know what you are talking about before you call somebody out.

I would not have a dog in this fight, except that you made a claim and then said it was someone else’s responsibility to track down the evidence. That’s not how it works and there is too much of that going on in our society.

To your credit you did provide a reference, so I did track it down. There are 25 posts per page. The support for DJ was extensive. You were, in fact, late to the party. @CocoHusky and @BobbyJ applauded her within the first few posts of the first page, and their opinions carry a lot of weight. For the first four pages there were exactly three dissenters, two worried about roster size and not critical of DJ and one poster who made a couple posts about mediocre stats.

Then on the fifth page @oldude challenged DJ’s value. He did so repeatedly and was repeatedly rebutted by various posters, you being one of them but later than @UcMiami and others. This refutes your earlier claim that most posts were negative. They weren’t. The majority os posts and posters were in support of DJ coming here, with you chiming in later than about ten other supporters.

 

[Zanzman]

nope. feel free to find them and prove me wrong. ill help you out a bit ..look in the april recruiting thread and you will see a lot of negative posts about Dorka. i replied to these posts at post 124.

if you cant find them, then you have a lot more problems than just a poor memory. You should know what you are talking about before you call somebody out.

Go found it u did like her but it was one poster that didn’t really want her not a lot as you quoted