04-01-2019, 09:52 PM
(04-01-2019, 09:21 PM)81alum Wrote: We gain Haley Jones who I presume will start right away. The speculation is that she will play point guard, giving Kiana a chance to move back to the 2. It will be interesting to see if Jenna Brown develops over the summer into a first string point guard, since that might change the equation.
With the Hulls, Carrington, and incoming Hannah jump, and improved Anna Wilson, we will have a plethora of options at the 2-3 and possibly 4, where Carrington has sometimes played.
The biggest question marks have to do with the bigs. Who do we have with offensive potential?
Nadia Fingall is coming off of an ACL is supposedly in on track to be ready for her senior season. But when she was healthy, she was inconsistent on offense. Can she improve her offense while rehabbing and come back for an even better senior year?
At the beginning of this year I said that we would go as far as Maya Dodson could take us. She has always had enormous potential and if she had become an offensive star this year I think we would have gone further. I know she was injured, and we all suspect that she was not at her best down the stretch. But she consistently missed lots of layups in her career so far--many wildly. She is behind Erica McCall's development at this stage of her career, and without a gigantic improvement over the summer I have my doubts.
Ashton Prechtel will be a freshman. Kaylee Johnson played as a freshman and rebounded spectacularly. I could see her get some time if her defensive presence is good and she rebounds well. But I doubt that a freshman center is going to be able to become an offensive powerhouse without a lot more experience.
Fran Belibi is an exciting player. I'm not sure where she will play. She is fairly new to basketball and I imagine it will take her a season or two to develop her offense at the college level.
Do you think Haley will primarily play the 1? I know her HS coach says she can play all 5 positions and is a "positionless" player, but watching her videos, I was envisioning her at the 3, given her size and versatility at shooting the ball, but also being capable in the paint. I am not sure if the one would be the most effective position for her, but I am not exactly a coaching expertise.
With Maya's athleticism, it's been very frustrating to watch so many missed layups. Even in tonight's game, there were definitely a few points left out on the court with her missed shots around the basket. I always thought she had higher upside than Erica McCall, but you're definitely right, that she is behind Erica in developing her offensive game.
Even before her injury, I didn't see Nadia as a back-to-the-basket, post up player, but as someone who could effectively help us with zone defenses by shooting the elbow jumper and providing interior defense, but not your prototypical paint player, as far as I can remember.
Fran Belibi has been getting a lot of attention for her dunks, and although they are great to watch, the much more impactful part of her game will be the rebounds and offensive moves. As Tara commented when asked about Fran's dunks, was whether she can translate that ability to jump into consistently snagging rebounds. I hope she will be able to develop a consistent offensive game sooner than later.
You're definitely right, 81, we look pretty set 1-3 with multiple options between Williams, Wilson, Carrington, the Hull twins, Jones and Jump providing Tara many opportunities to mix and match depending on the situation. However, our 4-5 positions with Alanna's and Shannon's graduations, the uncertainty of Nadia's recovery from injury and Maya's further improvement are the biggest questions heading into next season.