2021 Caroline Ducharme to UConn

[JonathanXIV]

Our memories differ.

They sure as heck do. But hey, that’s the Boneyard.

 

[hoophuskee]

If Ducharme can make a layup on her first try she'll be miles ahead of KLS, who was much more likely to make a 3 than a layup. KLS may have been 6'3" but she played more like 5'10" inside.
As for the "private school league", that same league produced Boston.

Is this a joke?

BTW you know a player who shoots 40% from 3 has better efficiency that a player that shoots 2's at 55%, right?

KLS had a 62.4% efficiency field goal % rating in her frosh year. That isn't just "good." It's "outstanding." She averaged in double digits for arguably the greatest teams in NCAA History.

What did she do? Beat out a relative of yours for a position when they were younger? KLS started on arguably the greatest team ever while carrying an efficiency rating of 62.4% along with averaging double-digits scoring as a freshman, along with nearly a 2-1 assist to turnover ratio -- and you're seriously trying to knock her freshman year? Please - just stop it. How many players put up these stats as a frosh? Do you realize KLS beat out Collier and Gabby? So we're going to knock a player (a freshman to boot) for being incredibly efficient as a shooter, incredibly efficient as a passer, and good scorer averaging 11 ppg in 23.5 minutes?

Nuts.

 

[Buzzyboy]

It’s only 5 minutes of video. Line drive shooter and didn’t use her left hand at all.

I thought she had some really nice arc on her three point shots .....

 

[Buzzyboy]

KML and EDD are probably the best collegiate shooters I've seen. Azzi has her mom's shot. Katie was a star at N.C. State and Georgetown and is in the Virginia Hall of Fame for her high school career. Azzi's shot is different from Kaleena's but perhaps more classic, simpler, and repeated. Kaleena missed being a 50/40/90 shooter by 1 free throw in each of her sophomore and senior seasons. I think Azzi can be a 50/40/90 shooter. As I posted recently, 60/50/90 may be within her reach. Who's a better shooter than Azzi? Steph Curry. Maybe.

With regard to Caroline Ducharme, she appears to be a good shooter and certainly has range. I don't think she's better than Kaleena, who, in my opinion, was the greatest 3-point shooter of all time on the women's side, when volume and accuracy are combined. But let's look at the UConn top-10 for their careers: 1. Sue Bird (.459); 2. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (.447); 3. Wendy Davis (.439); 4. Kia Nurse (.428); 5. Moriah Jefferson (.420); 6. Katie Lou Samuelson (.415). [Who knew that Kia finished ahead of Lou?] I think Caroline can be in that group.

Kia shot far, far fewer three's in her career than did KLS and KLS had injuries in the last couple of seasons that affected her shot .... her shooting wasn't nearly as good in the latter part of her Huskie career though better than most ....

 

[CocoHusky]

I seem to recall that Napheesa Collier was "a post presence capable of getting easy baskets".

Napheesa made everything look easy including getting baskets. She was not however an adequate post presence. Three main things define that "presence" , height, size (bulk) and skill. Gabby Williams and Napheesa Collier were both wing sized players, with all the sill in the world who played the post position at an AA level for UCONN.

 

[CocoHusky]

Whom do you see as fulfilling those two roles in the upcoming season? Wouldn't ONO be the obvious candidate for #1 and Aubrey the most likely candidate for #2? Are you only saying that they will both be more effective in 2021 than they were in 2020?
Is any of the newcomers (five freshmen plus Evina) likely to be better than Olivia and Aubrey in these roles? At this point, I see no reason to expect that.

Aubrey showed great promise as a perimeter defender. Aubrey had Sabrina slightly frustrated at halftime of the Oregon game. See the Holly interview at half time. Aubrey has a long way to go because offensively she is unsure and inexperienced with the read and react offense. Of the incoming player Mir and Nika have also shown the ability to be perimeter disrupters. So yes with regards to having a perimeter defender UCONN goes from not having one to next year to having 3. All three don't have to work out especially because I don't have any of those three players projected to start. ONO needs some serious help in the post. Liv is not a dominating rebounder for her size. Liv only collected 3 more rebounds than Megan walker did last year. Additionally Liv is foul prone and needs a backup to ensure that her MPG stats at about the same as as last year-26.4 MPG.

 

[Huskee11]

Kia shot far, far fewer three's in her career than did KLS and KLS had injuries in the last couple of seasons that affected her shot .... her shooting wasn't nearly as good in the latter part of her Huskie career though better than most ....

We are all well aware of Lou's injuries that impacted her career at UConn. But you must have forgotten that she led the country in three point shooting percentage in her junior year. Despite essentially playing on one leg and knowing that she faced surgery on her ankle once the season ended.

 

[Alydar]

Is this a joke?

BTW you know a player who shoots 40% from 3 has better efficiency that a player that shoots 2's at 55%, right?

KLS had a 62.4% efficiency field goal % rating in her frosh year. That isn't just "good." It's "outstanding." She averaged in double digits for arguably the greatest teams in NCAA History.

What did she do? Beat out a relative of yours for a position when they were younger? KLS started on arguably the greatest team ever while carrying an efficiency rating of 62.4% along with averaging double-digits scoring as a freshman, along with nearly a 2-1 assist to turnover ratio -- and you're seriously trying to knock her freshman year? Please - just stop it. How many players put up these stats as a frosh? Do you realize KLS beat out Collier and Gabby? So we're going to knock a player (a freshman to boot) for being incredibly efficient as a shooter, incredibly efficient as a passer, and good scorer averaging 11 ppg in 23.5 minutes?

Nuts.

You spent a lot of effort to explain the advantage of 3 pt shooting. I understand & agree. But I was talking about KLS's layup efficiency, which wasn't anywhere near as efficient as her outside shooting. She missed a lot of easy layups. Most of her problem was the same as many players, she was too strong off the backboard.
She wasn't the first UConn player to miss a lot of layups. Another was Tina Charles who spent 2.5 seasons taking 3 shots to make one layup. As even Geno stated, her rebounding stats were inflated by her rebounding her own misses.
Players who didn't miss layups? Moore, Collier & KML are three.

 

[UConnCat]

KLS did not miss a lot of lay-ups.

 

[Zanzman]

Kml attempted layups

 

[pvdoggy]

KLS did not miss a lot of lay-ups.

Yep, that was BS stat.

 

[uconnfan68]

Kml attempted layups

Great floaters... Steph Curry like.

 

[diggerfoot]

Lol. A player (Samuelson) breaks her foot going to the basket, preventing her from playing in the Final, and she's faulted as a player that doesn't go to the basket. The claim that she was just a three-point shooter at any point in her career, including high school, is just another false narrative created by only noticing what she does best.

 

[Crossover]

Lol. A player (Samuelson) breaks her foot going to the basket, preventing her from playing in the Final, and she's faulted as a player that doesn't go to the basket. The claim that she was just a three-point shooter at any point in her career, including high school, is just another false narrative created by only noticing what she does best.

"False narrative". Nice! Fiona Hill would be proud. (Note to the mods. I'm not engaging in politics . Just applauding a literary device).

 

[Glenn]

just to add some data. As a freshman, KLS shot 39% from 3 and 69% from 2 and 66% of her shots were 3s. With those shooting percentages I don't think she missed a lot of layups as a freshman. For her career, 56% of her shots were 3s, about the same as KML. By contrast only 34% of Maya's shots were 3s.

 

[cbraarj]

The team lost six players this year. That's more than half the team gone to graduation or leaving early. Geno is reloading. He understands the new world that we're in. A couple of transfers, a season ending injury, early departure for the pros, and all of a sudden you'll find yourself short players the way ND was this year.

Time to fill the scholarships just for the reasons you pointed out.

 

[cbraarj]

Tamika not only holds the NCAA record for FG%, but she holds the WNBA record as well. She was the Big East Freshman of the Year in 1999 and, even though UConn lost in the Sweet 16, she was the only Husky to make the All-Regional Team. (It’s rare for a player to make the All-Regional Team if her team loses in the Sweet 16 as the All-Regional Team is usually made up of players from the two Elite 8 teams.)

In the 1991 Final Four Dawn Staley was named Most Outstanding Player even though Tennessee won the National Championship that year.

 

[JRRRJ]

Thanks! Where did you find those? I poked around uconnhuskies.com stat page and found nothing before 2015-2016 season. Anyway that kind of shows roughly a 7 player rotation most of the time. I don't know how that is going to work when you have a team like the 2021-2022 team, especially if Fudd comes as well.

You can find spreadsheets with season total stats for all UConn WBB teams from 2000-1, 2006-8, 2011-9 here.

The 2013 and later spreadsheets also include the details for each game, and they all include a per-40-minute efficiency calculation on every non-percentage stat.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

 

[hoopsfan22]

Apparently Fudd is no longer her bestie.

 

[Mdoggie]

Apparently Fudd is no longer her bestie.

Kids nowadays use that term for all of their friends. Much like they use the acronym GOAT for dang near everyone. Lol

 

[JonathanXIV]

Players who didn't miss layups? Moore, Collier & KML are three.

Tamika Williams never missed layups. Or anything else for that matter.

 

[Buzzyboy]

We are all well aware of Lou's injuries that impacted her career at UConn. But you must have forgotten that she led the country in three point shooting percentage in her junior year. Despite essentially playing on one leg and knowing that she faced surgery on her ankle once the season ended.

I didn't forget that she was still an amazing shooter but it seems that there have been inferences that she wasn't in the same category as KML and I was defending the fact that injuries lessened the shooting statistics that she would have otherwise attained .... She was an even better shooter than her stats show and yet it seems I've seen some people somewhat tarnish the player she was for the Huskies

 

[Alydar]

Abs

Tamika Williams never missed layups. Or anything else for that matter.

Just about all her shots were from inside and she missed one out of three of them. But shooting 66% from 2 is outstanding for a non-center. What I was talking about was unopposed layups. wcbb is filled with players who miss far too many of them. Another thing wcbb players seem to never learn is shooting them with their off hand. That shows up most often for right hand players shooting layups from the left side. When I was in college and took basketball as a class you had to make 5-5 layups from both sides using the correct hand and jumping off the correct foot in order to pass. I was very left-handed at that age and had trouble coordinating my footwork to go off the left foot and use my right hand. The memory stuck all these years and I cringe every time I see a D1 scholarship recipient lack what is a basic skill. Heck, even Bueckers often uses her right hand shooting a layup from the left side.

 

[Zanzman]

Tamika Williams never missed layups. Or anything else for that matter.

Well there was that one time