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First, Shafer examined Iriafen’s time at Stanford and her current season at USC to figure out which style of play best suits her skillset.
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“The interesting thing with Kiki, to me, is the context isn’t just an offensive question because her defensive context matters a lot too,” Shafer said. “She’s always played next to an elite rim protector, which means that she’s never been asked to be a rim protector, which if she’s ever asked to be a rim protector, it’s not going to go very well, from everything that we’ve seen on tape, she’s better guarding twos and threes than fours and fives, which is pretty rare for a 6’3 player with her offensive profile.”
Later, they discussed Fegan and what they’ve seen from her during her senior season playing for Dawn Staley.
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“She, to me, is almost the ideal complimentary big,” Shafer said. “Her shot has looked very good, making strides with the jumper, hitting a lot more of those elbow and elbow extended jump shots, hit that 3 to beat the buzzer in the SEC Tournament, which looked incredibly smooth and looked like something that could be a more regular part of her game, a very smart passer, a very good connective passer, finding cutters out of the post.
“The one thing that she’s not really going to do is dominate a 1-on-1 post matchup with scoring. But, if she’s a complimentary center, then you don’t really need that. She’s a good screener and a good roller, a great communicator, which is something that Dawn has said about her several different times. And her interior defending is at an elite level.”
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