Video of Jelena in warmups

thanks for that BeavSteve, look how effortless she passes the ball, it's like a softball to her, and just smooth, but still wanting to dribble sometimes before shooting, they almost have that trained out of her 

Might be best if we put Jelena at the free throw line.  If she can hit a shot from there, she could be effective the way Mallory McQwire was for Oregon a few years ago.  And she's a good passer, so she could pass it from the high post into Jones at the low post.  Also, it would give her a head start getting back on defense if she started from the free throw line.  Thickhead thinks she'll need that.  "At the high post, an offensive player has a number of options. She's close enough to shoot a decent shot, she could pass to the low post for a closer basket, she could drive to the basket or she could pass it back out to an open teammate. All of these options make the high post a popular spot on the court and at times difficult to defend."

I am always amazed how players can bury a bunch of 3 pointers and then go to the line and miss both free throws.  I guess I should not be amazed.  I wonder if Jalena is ready for twisting and turning and pushing for position that would happen in a game?  Has she been part of the scrimmaging in practices?  She is definitely making progress.

She was not going full court in scrimmage practice a week ago. Unless we see a blowout in the upcoming games, it’s gonna be hard to give her the minutes she’ll need to fit in to PAC-12 play. Maybe she will progress fast once she gets in the battle. I hope so.

I don't know what an opponent would do to prepare for a player like Jelena. I doubt few teams have a 6'9" player of her size to practice against. They could bring in a guy, but they wouldn't do that because she has not done anything yet to justify preparing for.

Unless it is to protect her from injury, there is really no reason to put her on the high post. She would be much more effective low because with her moves and physicality she would be really difficult to stop. If you watch most tall post players miss easy shots because they are being bodied up as they are shooting. When you have her size it makes it hard to use the body to throw off her shot.


Taylor is more of a finesse post. This is partly because she has a high center of gravity which makes it easier to push her off the block. Just look at how high her waist is compared to Kennedy. Her long legs mirror her long arms. This is why she is a better help defender and gets her blocks from space away from the body. Kennedy works better against physical posts because her center is lower. However, she does not really want to be stuck playing the post. That is where Jelena would fit in. She would dominate physical posts.

Looking forward to the possibility of Jelena being on the court for the Beavs, perhaps as early as later this month.

Based upon everything that you all have seen, would the Beavs have to go zone defensively whenever Jelena is in the game? I could see Slocum and Pivec at the top of a 2-3 zone with 6'4", 6'9", and 6'6" playing the second level so that if Jelena is beat there are two bigs to try to help recover.

I remember the difficulty that the 6'8" Grymek had chasing more mobile posts out to 15+'. I would assume that Jelena will be stationed within the paint at all times defensively in order to be a rim protector.

Could she be mobile and long enough to bother Hebard's drives and shots inside? Wishful thinking, but wouldn't that be exactly what we will need?