26-27 season | Page 2 | The Boneyard

26-27 season

I hope Olivia gets the starting role and a lot of minutes from day one. She’s the player with the most potential coming in, and it would be nice to spend the full year building her up to be ready for March.

Heckel, Shade, Blanca, Strong, Olivia

I think Heckels offseason is one of the most important. Need her to become consistent from the outside and midrange. I don’t see KK making that next step.

Will be weird to close the Paige/Azzi chapter.
 
I’m not normally on the “we need more size” side of things. But I think that may be the case next season.

My worry about the final four was that two of our likely opponents were bigger and not any slower than us. That’s definitely the case with what SC brought yesterday. If you don’t have a speed advantage against a bigger team, then driving through the foul line area doesn’t force the defense to shift and create open shots either on the perimeter or in the paint. This is why we missed so many layups, because drivers ended up facing double and triple teams at the rim. We did hit a few 3s and hitting a few more would have helped. But there just weren’t a lot of open looks.

In the regular season, we didn’t face any teams like that. I’d even say there may only be two teams in D1 with that sort of size coupled with quickness. I’d also add that this has been a hallmark of Dawn’s teams for years. Last season’s team was an exception.

So the question is: do we have enough mobile bigs with Olivia Jana Gandy playing next to Sarah Blanca Ayanna and Morgan?

My answer would be that there’s too many question marks about this group. The only known quantities are Sarah Blanca Jana, and Jana is not nearly mobile enough. Everything will depend on in-season development of our posts. Of course, this was the situation Dawn faced last summer too.
 
Blond D. said:
We have scorers ( I know they didnt show up tonight) what we need are rebounders. Bigs who can hang onto the ball. Bigs who can grab a rebound and put it back up.
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Many on the Boneyard keep harping on getting bigs for rebounding. But size is not the primary factor for rebounding. It's good hands able to corral the ball and hold onto it, understanding where to position yourself and quick footwork. You want a rebounder? How about someone who made 262 rebounds over a 38 game season? That's about 7 rebounds a game. And her height? 5'6" Hannah Hildlgo. She is lightening quick to the ball and understands where to position herself. So you can have your big. I'll take a HH vs a 6'6" big any day of the week, not even mentioning the scoring and PG capability.
 
Blond D. said:
We have scorers ( I know they didnt show up tonight) what we need are rebounders. Bigs who can hang onto the ball. Bigs who can grab a rebound and put it back up.
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For most of the game Geno had the bigs on the bench. If UConn was determined to play a half court game he should have gone with a bigger front court.
 
Now that the season is over earlier than anticipated after a bad loss to South Carolina our thoughts can turn to the 2026-27 team. So far as we know, the following players will be back next season - KK Arnold, Ice Brady, Morgan Chelli, Jana El-Afry, Kelis Fisher, Kayleigh Heckel, Gandy Malou-Mamel, Ayanna Patterson, Blanca Quinonez, Ashlynn Shade, Sarah Strong, and Allie Ziebel. Assuming that Brady can and will return, the roster has twelve players. Two new players are coming in - guard Jovana Popovic and center Olivia Vukosa - making a total of 14. If Geno intends to use the portal, only one spot is available, assuming that no one enters the portal.

The team will have three bigs, a plethora of guards, two outstanding forwards, and several who can fill the small forward/big guard mantle, but the stinker loss to South Carolina reveals a couple of problems that may or may not be taken care of internally. Rebounding and scoring from the center position has been lacking all season. Vukosa seems like the obvious fix, but Geno may need more. A good passer at the high post would help a great deal. Does Vukosa fill that bill? KK Arnold is an excellent defensive player but her lack of offense proved to be a problem all season and particularly against the Gamecocks. She has one offensive move, the drive to the basket, but she often misses the shot. Lack of finishing around the basket was a difficulty for the team all season and Heckel’s missed layup with just over a minute to play epitomized the problem.

The way too early starting lineup will likely consist of El-Alfy, Strong, Quinonez, Arnold, and Shade with Vukosa and Heckel being the first two off the bench, followed by Popovich, Chelli, Ziebel, and perhaps Fisher. It looks on paper like a decent team, but who will be the third scorer after Strong and Quinonez, someone who can consistently give the Huskies 10-15 points per game.
 
Rowdy831 said:
For most of the game Geno had the bigs on the bench. If UConn was determined to play a half court game he should have gone with a bigger front court.
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Jana played 8 minutes, She had 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 blocks, and 1 TO.

I thought Serah played better. In 14 minutes she had 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 block with 1 TO. I was hoping Geno would give her more time on the court
 
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HuskyNan said:
Jana played 8 minutes, She had 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 blocks, and 1 TO.

I thought Serah played better. In 14 minutes she had 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 block with 1 TO. I was hoping Geno would give her more time on the court
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I agree. Jana wasn't prepared this season to contribute too much but in a half court game you need big bodies for the picks and a couple rebounds. My point was what they were doing wasn't getting them any momentum offensively.
 
Depending on summer improvement with the present roster and portal adds I can see Ash and/or KK lose their starting positions by January
 
Rowdy831 said:
For most of the game Geno had the bigs on the bench. If UConn was determined to play a half court game he should have gone with a bigger front court.
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The team was too slow to run with SC with Jana out there. Serah was a little better. But it really looked like a team speed issue. SC was bigger and not any slower than us. We’ve beaten bigger teams before, mainly because our pace of play is too much for them. Against SC this time, it wasn’t true. You can’t rely on the transition game if you can’t outrun the other team.

Similarly, we could complain about poor perimeter shooting. But the fact is we weren’t able to create enough open looks from the arc. Usually we are able to force the defense to shift with our passing and dribble drives. But this also relies on having a speed advantage.
 
HuskyNan said:
Jana played 8 minutes, She had 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 blocks, and 1 TO.

I thought Serah played better. In 14 minutes she had 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 block with 1 TO. I was hoping Geno would give her more time on the court
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Geno's problem with Serah is/was when she had the ball at the foul line her defender was nowhere near her. She was left totally unguarded, clogging the offense for the other UConn players.
 
Audi Crooks the nations leading scorer at 25.8 per game is in the portal.

Maybe Hidalgo will switch uniforms.
 
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maple said:
I wish we could get another KML or KLS type player. Two players who always hit clutch 3s. We need that type of shooter.
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We need to get taller, more athletic, and players who can create a shot for themselves. Allie, Ashlyn, Morgan, and others are spot up shooters and streaky. They can't take someone off the bounce. Also our guards next year are 5'10" or shorter, so the guards at Michigan or say USC at 6'+ need very little room to shoot over them or take them to the basket. We need a guard like Makeer, 6'1" and unafraid to will blow by you. The problem is there are not many. I was encouraged by Kyleigh's willingness to attack. Fisher may not be super tall but she is in attack mode all the time. If players like kk don't look to score the defense can focus on just a few players. 5 stopping 4 is much easier, and this year since Williams and El Alfy did not look to attack the basket, and some say they might not have the ability, but I say at least go hard and make the other team respect the fact that they might, means we often had only 2 or 3 threats. Pressure defence, and good ball movement works against average teams but the final four teams. Finesse team can get rattled when the other team gets physical, and I believe SC was doing it legally. We will need a couple extra players that are good enough to play real minutes which will take take time from the current returners. In other words long athletic depth. Sorry for the long rant
 
Next year I see three of the final four teams returning; UCONN, South Carolina, and Texas. UCLA looses six or seven players and will drop like a rock. LSU, Michigan, Duke and others have a shot at being the fourth team to make the final four.
 
ec33 said:
Azzi has some thought on the issue:

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In Azzi's defense, the 25/26 had the talent to win the title. They came up short because on a night they were passive and got out-hustled, they also couldn't make shots. So this current team is fully capable of competing for a title next season.

As an aside: An unspoked about element with UConn this year (because they never lost and played only one close game) is that the leaders of the team were all "quiet leaders." There was no Paige to kick them in the ass when they came out flat this year. Hopefully someone emerges next season because they are going to need it.
 
ec33 said:
In Azzi's defense, the 25/26 had the talent to win the title. They came up short because on a night they were passive and got out-hustled, they also couldn't make shots. So this current team is fully capable of competing for a title next season.

As an aside: An unspoked about element with UConn this year (because they never lost and played only one close game) is that the leaders of the team were all "quiet leaders." There was no Paige to kick them in the ass when they came out flat this year. Hopefully someone emerges next season because they are going to need it.
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From day 1, my two worries about the 25-26 version of this UCONN team were rebounding(last night was why) and the lack of KK being able to:
1. Score
2. Run a half court offense.

Last night we needed a game manager who could both run the offense and knock down shots, which KK can't. We've had that for 4 years with Paige.

For the 2026-2027 team to win, we have to start Heckel and let KK reprise her role off the bench as a burst of energy.

Heckel
Shade
Blanca
Sarah
Olivia

Those should be the starters.
 
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A lot depends on player development, the impact of the freshman, and health.

Everyone acting like the sky is falling. It was a pretty close game until the end, and we shot about as poorly as a UConn team with this amount of talent could shoot so all things considered how concerned should we really be. Our defense was still pretty good and we should a lot of the key defensive pieces next season. Though Azzi is a big loss in that respect.

If I’m being brutally honest the three I don’t feel that high on with regards to competing with the other top teams are Gandy, Ayanna and Allie, I just don’t see them being able to contribute in games like the ones we played last night. Gandy and Ayanna just still seem so raw and Allie seems to disappear against athletic/long teams and she seems to like it that way. But they can be good pieces for playing through the conference part of the season.

Next season I do think it’d help us if we were able to add a long athletic player either 3 and D on the wing, or a post similar to what Serah provided. Other than that we’re stacked next year.

Kelis seems lost in all this, she’s shown flashes of a very high ceiling. What does she look like next season? I hope she sticks around.

Morgan could be a great piece if she gets back on track after injury. I’ve said it before but her ceiling seems sneaky high to me.

I’m not sure what Ice’s plans are but she’s another player that has shown great flashes. Does she turn a corner.

Even KK was showing flashes in the conference tournament, and then oddly seemed to fade into the background? If she works HARD on her shot development over the summer what does she bring.

Jana I still believe in, but next season is really the test for her. If things don’t start to consolidate into something more consistent and well rounded then I’ll be a bit concerned.

Blanca looks to me to be a possible AA candidate next year, the only limit is herself.

Ash and K9 were bright spots in the darkness last night

Adding a couple seemingly very talented freshman, who have great IQ/processing, and shooting ability. Vukosa has the physical tools to be an imposing force in the lane and an incredible screener.

And then we return the best player in college basketball.

The transfer portal will be interesting …
 
asuwish said:
We need to get taller, more athletic, and players who can create a shot for themselves. Allie, Ashlyn, Morgan, and others are spot up shooters and streaky. They can't take someone off the bounce. Also our guards next year are 5'10" or shorter, so the guards at Michigan or say USC at 6'+ need very little room to shoot over them or take them to the basket. We need a guard like Makeer, 6'1" and unafraid to will blow by you. The problem is there are not many. I was encouraged by Kyleigh's willingness to attack. Fisher may not be super tall but she is in attack mode all the time. If players like kk don't look to score the defense can focus on just a few players. 5 stopping 4 is much easier, and this year since Williams and El Alfy did not look to attack the basket, and some say they might not have the ability, but I say at least go hard and make the other team respect the fact that they might, means we often had only 2 or 3 threats. Pressure defence, and good ball movement works against average teams but the final four teams. Finesse team can get rattled when the other team gets physical, and I believe SC was doing it legally. We will need a couple extra players that are good enough to play real minutes which will take take time from the current returners. In other words long athletic depth. Sorry for the long rant
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Agree with the long athletic depth, we’d only need another piece or two. Issue is where do you find em lol
 
LuvBball said:
Her name is Ziebell, we just dont play her
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I agree that AZ has the ability to be a hot shooter but in the games I watched she isn't willing to be a shooter unless the game is out of reach. If she was to be put in she must know she is going in to hit threes and I don't think that was her role this year. But they did need her yesterday and she didn't play too much.
 
LuvBball said:
Her name is Ziebell, we just dont play her
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Maybe so, but I need to see more out of her. KLS and KML were also great all around players. I really like Allie Z but I don’t know if she’s at the same level just yet.
 
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connboy77 said:
Next year I see three of the final four teams returning; UCONN, South Carolina, and Texas. UCLA looses six or seven players and will drop like a rock. LSU, Michigan, Duke and others have a shot at being the fourth team to make the final four.
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How about USC with JuJu coming back in addition to Jazzy Davidson and the incoming #1 freshman Saniyah Hall?
 
My concern for next season is who will UConn depend on to take up the scoring and rebounding load when Sarah Strong is on the bench? I'm hopeful that the Big "O" will be a major offensive/rebounding contributor and Blanca should minimally be a 15/6 player next season but is that enough?.........if only Ayanna came back in freshman form......she would certainly help in the rebounding dept and we don't know what Ice is going to contribute either......perhaps a 6'2" plus portal pickup with athleticism, strength and a decent offensive game should be considered....
 
connboy77 said:
Next year I see three of the final four teams returning; UCONN, South Carolina, and Texas. UCLA looses six or seven players and will drop like a rock. LSU, Michigan, Duke and others have a shot at being the fourth team to make the final four.
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USC (So Cal) could become the team to beat. They will be loaded.
 
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I wonder if a lot of energy this season was spent on practicing full court pressing and traps. It's exciting to see that when it works against lesser teams but it was way less effective in the tournament. Perhaps the time and effort could be better spent on half court offense, considering how things played out in the last few games.
 
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