Disappointed Danielle Patterson's name never came up, but happy that there was nothing but positive things to say. As Orangutan says, this time of year everything and every player is better than ever.
From the beginning when she was recruited, Jordan Nixon, through circumstances and ability, has been the golden child. Muffet has praised all the freshmen, but has singled out Jordan most often. All signs point to seeing a lot of Jordan this year. As we surmised from her videos and play in the McDonald's game, she is a very cerebral player—perfect for a McGraw point guard. In addition to talent, I'm hoping Jordan will benefit from the very real Pygmalion Principle.
Thanks for summarizing the interview. Glad to hear that all injuries, save Ms. Cole, are not serious.
I saw Danielle Cosgrove in one high school game and she was draining threes as easily as elbow jumpers. She can shoot! Now all that tricky post stuff (angles on screens, real defense) has to come into play.
Very much look forward to seeing the Jess/Bri interplay in the lane.
Do you have any commentary on the rest of her game? Passing, shot blocking, rebounding, running the floor, low post offense, general quickness?
I'll discover after watching some games, but a little pre-season intel would be fun.
possessing nice touch on a variety of shots in the paint. Now it remains to be seen whether she can score that easily against a elite upperclass posts in college. But even more importantly, as Dillon alluded to, she'll need to learn difficult post defense before she sees much game time this year. Defensively, posts usually lag behind perimeter players in their adjustment to the college game.
We have Shepard and Turner starting in the front court with Vaughn and Patterson backing them up. That gives plenty of time for Cosgrove to mature as a freshman at her own pace this year. Whatever she contributes as a freshman is just "gravy" IMO. She doesn't have to be forced into the games before she's ready like Patterson was last year. If she's ready to play and gets in quite a bit, great. If she needs a year to learn to adjust to the game (as most freshman front court players generally do), that's fine as well.
Those inside moves FA refers to include some nice "swoop" hooks from both sides. Not quite a jump hook like Bill Walton used to take but a bit 3/4. Considering she's 6'4" tall, that will really come in handy.
Her high school team didn't break much in the game I saw, but she seems to run the floor.
As for offensively passing, she was option A & B in high school, so she was not passing that often. However, she looked pretty accurate when throwing outlet passes off rebounds.