A “Simple” Solution

[hoophuskee]

In 2019-20, the team had Walker, Dangerfield, Williams, and ONO. The next year, after Walker & Dangerfield left, we still had Williams, ONO, and Bueckers, the POY (as well as Westbrook). So expectations for more than “only got to the FF” were unrealistic? I disagree.

You think losing an upperclassman 1stteam All-American which fills a weakness (which was overall team 3pt shooting) can't help a team?
And as I said--- overall unrealistic expectations that Final Fours aren't good enough for a team not that "great."
Yep - we disagree.

 

[hoophuskee]

that would be a scary combo but I believe ONO signed after Boston didn't........there's a good chance she might have gone elsewhere if Boston chose UConn......

No Liv is a senior Boston a junior.

UCONN had Charli Collier. Then when she decommitted late due to the Hurricane disaster in her area. Then UCONN had to re-look and got Liv.

 

[Blacketh’D]

I just think when the intensity steps up, we don’t have the players willing to match. The offense gets repetitive and stagnant and we let teams we should beat dictate the pace and keep up.

 

[The deacon]

More & more, I am coming to the belief that you don’t win championships in WBB without at least one supremely talented, powerful player in the post. WBB is still a game played below the rim. Being able to field a team with “some muscle” in the paint is critical.

Looking back over the last 8 WBB champions excluding Stewie, who we’ll call “lean” here is a list of physical post players on each championship team:

• 2013 - Steph, Kiah, Tuck
• 2014 - Steph, Kiah, Tuck
• 2015 - Kiah, Tuck
• 2016 - Tuck
• 2017 - Wilson, Coates
• 2018 - Shepard, Turner
• 2019 - Cox, Brown
• 2021 - Brink, Jerome, Bellibi

I continue to hope that some combination of Liv, Dorka, Aaliyah & Aubrey will give UConn that physical presence this season. If not, hopefully Ice & Ayanna will fit the bill.

With due respect, Oldude, I think we might not want to forget about Amari DeBerry as a potential post player just yet. More than 36 hours after you left your interesting list of the the national champs' physical post players, I'm surprised no one else picked up on the absence of Amari from your thoughts.

If she does develop as one might think she will, and being just a year older than Isuneh Brady and Ayanna Patterson. I'd think that could turn out to be a formidable front line, with Amari at the five. She might not ever rank as what you would term 'physical,' but let's give Amari a chance.

 

[bballnut90]

More & more, I am coming to the belief that you don’t win championships in WBB without at least one supremely talented, powerful player in the post. WBB is still a game played below the rim. Being able to field a team with “some muscle” in the paint is critical.

Looking back over the last 8 WBB champions excluding Stewie, who we’ll call “lean” here is a list of physical post players on each championship team:

• 2013 - Steph, Kiah, Tuck
• 2014 - Steph, Kiah, Tuck
• 2015 - Kiah, Tuck
• 2016 - Tuck
• 2017 - Wilson, Coates
• 2018 - Shepard, Turner
• 2019 - Cox, Brown
• 2021 - Brink, Jerome, Bellibi

I continue to hope that some combination of Liv, Dorka, Aaliyah & Aubrey will give UConn that physical presence this season. If not, hopefully Ice & Ayanna will fit the bill.

This list is pretty misleading IMO for a number of reasons:
1. Tuck/Stokes were seldom used role players prior to 2015, and Tuck was out almost all of 2014.

2. Stewart was the dominant big in 2015/2016 despite that she played all over the court.

3. Coates was out the 2017 NCAA tournament, it was just Wilson, and the team gelled ones Coates got injured since it opened up the paint for A'ja.

4. Turner didn't play in 2018. It was just Shepard, and she was going up against bigger players like UCONN's Stevens and Mississippi State's Tiera McCowan.

5. Jerome and Belibi barely contributed by the end of the season. I'll give you that Brink was a dominant big. Arizona came one shot from winning without a dominant big player though.

 

[TeamFirst!]

Stanford's Betts looks to me to have potentially as good a career or better than Boston before she's through. And it looks like her sister may join her at Stanford. I'm kind of surprised Kiki didn't chose Stanford because she could have made a living on a pick and roll play with Betts. It's not getting any easier for UCONN.

 

[Martin]

Sometimes coaches get in their own damn way.

Do you think Geno ever thought he would count on Kyla and to a lesser extent Molly when he had to a few years back? How did the team fare? Did they win the games they were supposed to win? Conference games? You could look it at it like Coach was getting them ready for when he would really need them. Good decision? Or he only used them because they had to. Not his preferred decision to make. Well they won the games they were supposed to. Maybe not by 40 points or maybe so. I’m not going back through all of those box scores but my point is they survived. Certainly the upside of Azzi Caroline Ducharme DeBerry is higher than Kyla snd Molly’s. But they aren’t ready. But Kyla and Molly were.

 

[BBallF]

Kiah "was dominant?"
SC won when Coates wasn't playing as much. SC essentially became "less dominant" in the post, yet more effective.
The 2017-2018 ND team didn't have Turner. They had Westbeld, Shepard and Nelson. They got "more dominant" the next year in the post and lost.

You think last year Stanford's posts "were dominant?" Their best two players were their pg and Jones.

IMO balance is best.

I completely agree, but with the understanding that balance means that there is not a deficiency at any position. I also agree with the observation that the game has become a lot more physical and that the refs usually are very uneven or just don't know how to call it. It seems as though you can push all you want underneath but if you have any movement while you are screening or a big man makes any contact on a double out at the top off the key it's a foul. We are not a physical team when compared to an SC for example so we have to overcome that lack of physicality with other attributes such as quickness, skill, and conditioning. We were a tired team in the fourth quarter. Tired teams don't win in basketball.

 

[BBallF]

This will likely engender polarized replies (frankly, by design). I have commented before on what I consider a lack of "toughness" on this, and several previous, squads. The definition of toughness is very much in the eye of the beholder. For purposes of this post, I am going to define it as combat veterans do; "who do you want next to you in a foxhole going to war?"

UConn has had number of very, very accomplished players, highly successful, whom I would categorize as, "silent assassins." These are players who go about their business in a highly effective manner, at the height of their peer group, without the moniker of "tough". I would include (granted, not a complete list) Rebecca, Stewie, Maya, Bird, Collier and Renee.

My "in a foxhole with me" list (again not complete) includes Rizzotti, Jamelle, Ralph, Taurasi and Tina.

We need more of the latter. While the aforementioned five represent my All-Star Toughness Team, it is, and probably always be, headed by my MVP..........................Jamelle.

The lists are incomplete. I invite comment.

I don't think anyone would argue with the proposition that this is not a "tough" team. The starting five, with the exception of AE, are finesse or skill players. I think AE is tough but I also think she has taken a step back from last year unfortunately. You can be a "strong" player without being tough but it's hard to be strong and withstand toughness from another team when you are dragging like we were in the fourth quarter. I think Geno needs to start playing more players and with longer minutes. To use you analogy, if the person next to me in the foxhole is not tough, I definitely want reinforcements at the very least.

 

[Oracle9]

FR

I don't think anyone would argue with the proposition that this is not a "tough" team. The starting five, with the exception of AE, are finesse or skill players. I think AE is tough but I also think she has taken a step back from last year unfortunately. You can be a "strong" player without being tough but it's hard to be strong and withstand toughness from another team when you are dragging like we were in the fourth quarter. I think Geno needs to start playing more players and with longer minutes. To use you analogy, if the person next to me in the foxhole is not tough, I definitely want reinforcements at the very least.

FR!

 

[Kaizen]

no competition before, ND was the only "tough test" but even they couldn't match Uconn's talent. It was until Stewart Jefferson graduated that you could finally have a shot. Then the transfer portal exploded and now it leveled the playing field.

I think there is a team "Tennessee" before ND was the tough test for UConn ...

 

[CocoHusky]

Let me throw out another question: do others feel that Geno plays his rotation too many minutes (thereby leaving them a little rundown)?

This question seems designed to blame Geno regardless of the chosen option. I don't think Geno hand any good options available to him.

Factor1: Past UCONN teams 2018-2021 have lacked depth specifically at the guard position resulting in players having to start as freshman (Christyn Williams & Paige) & play well in excess of 30 minutes per game. It is only 4 games into the season so far but... 36, 35, and 32 MPG are the averages for Paige, Christyn, Evina thus far-this is very concerning.

Factor2: Has already been pointed out by @Gus Mahler and that is lack of ideal Height (Size) at the PF/post position. This factor was not an issue of skill because since 2016 UCONN has had 3 AA players (Napheesa, Gabby, Megan) playing the post position. The tallest of these players Napheesa collier at 6'2" & all three players were better suited for wing position. You may also recall that three UCONN players who did have the ideal size to play the post position ( Morgan, Natalie, Azura) all decided to leave UCONN with remaining eligibility. Those three early departures were compounded by some notable recruiting misses. Compounded in the sense that all three departures were announced well after the recruiting classes had closed. The three most notable IMO were (Charli Collier, Boston, Ezi Magbegor).

Factor1B: Lack of a quality perimeter defender. I get very little support for this factor but I believe it to be more significant than the two above. Kia Nurse was the national defensive player of the year as a senior. Even as a senior Geno could not deploy Kia the way he had in previous year to change game tempo primarily because of factor 1 above. In the South Carolina Game Geno brought Nika into the game to pick up the defender full court-it had practical no positive effect on the game. What was more significant about that move is that one of very few times that UCONN has played full court defense in a meaningful game. UCONN has pretty much been conceding 1/2 of the court since Kia graduated. That's a major concession and what ends up happening is ball handlers are getting comfortable. The best example of a player getting comfortable against UCONN was Didi Richards last season and T'ea Cooper the season before that. These are players that even an above average defender should be able to speed up. Cooper dropped 27 on UCONN and even a hobbled Richards played 30 minutes and pretty much controlled the game tempo as Baylor primary PG.

With this years team I think Geno will have it (rotations) figured out by January. For Factor 1 Geno has Azzi who is really the 4 guard with the other three (Paige, Evina, Christyn) starting. For factor 2 Liv. Dorka, and Aaliyah is a good enough post rotation but they need to play with more consistency, force and skill than they are currently playing with. Factor 1b remains a concern because frankly I projected Azzi to be an above average defender and so far she has been a surprisingly poor defender and lacking major lateral quickness defensively. Nika offensive thus far has regress to be unreliable. Aubrey has not been healthy enough to contribute thus far.

 

[Postie]

People in the board say this isn’t a tough team.Well why doesn’t Geno recruit players with some DOG in them.