A QUICK LOOK AHEAD, BASED ON HARDWARE (TROPHIES)

[winlots]

For what might well be the major award for high school players, I believe we had three of the five finalists (five individual trophies, in effect).....all signed up to be our frosh next year. Then, closing out the recent BE tourney, we had a frosh as MVP..... plus two sophs on the "first five" .....three more individual trophies, in effect (certainly the honors in all cases if not an actual hunk of hardware for every player).

I think that of the other three "first team Big East," one will be graduating, one I believe is a soph and one a frosh. So, add em up, and next year we have six young trophy winners vs. two for the ENTIRE rest of the Big East.........one at St. Johns and one at ND. Just one way of looking ahead.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Bria and Tiff were first-team BE. Kaleena was 2nd team, 6th Man, and FOY. She also was arguably as good as anyone on the first team.

Yeah, Stef made the BE Tourney 1st team--twice.

Bria and Stef are veterans at this point, and they still have 2+ seasons left.

Kaleena is just getting warmed up. Anyone doubt she'll make some nice pre-season lists in the fall? And even more lists after that?

Kiah and Brianna may be on the cusp of using their terrific physical skills to be very effective players.

And we have a class of Bill Walton, Carmelo Anthony, and Calvin Murphy coming in next year.

 

[Wbbfan1]

What will be interesting to see next year is how many minutes will the Seniors be playing by year end.

 

[alexrgct]

It was very encouraging to see the nucleus of Bria, Stef, and KML make BE all-tournament. All three will be starting together for another two years.

Add to that mix one more year of Kelly, who could very well win the BE DPOY next season, and Breanna, who can allow Kelly to play her more natural position AND keep opposing defenses honest in terms of doubling Stef, and that is what SHOULD be the starting lineup next year. Lorin Dixon didn't start over Bria even though she was a senior, and I strongly believe Caroline, God love her, should not be starting ahead of Breanna. Caroline is able to come in and out of the game as needed, so the "warm her up just to sit her down" argument doesn't make much sense to me. She's going to be very valuable to this talented but young team whether she starts or not. Any time Breanna, Morgan, or Moriah get tired or wonder how they can push themselves beyond where they thought they could go, they can just see Caroline doing it on one leg and get their asses in gear.

A second unit of Moriah, Caroline, Brianna, Morgan, and Kiah would start for a lot of teams.

And that doesn't even bring into play the trio of upperclassmen: Buck, Michala, and Lauren.

It won't be the best team UConn has ever fielded, but it will be the deepest, rivaled only by the 2000-01 team at full strength.

 

[winlots]

Very interesting thoughts.
MILFORD -- great comparison the that Walton, etc trio.....and I'm pleased to see that your memory is returning, at least on occasion,, as evidenced by digging back for guys like Murphy and Walton.
ALEX -- interesting detail as always. You know what, though? I'm not so sure that this might not be our best team ever; I do know that is saying alot (a WHOLE lot), and I don't mean next year necessarily, as three huge keys will only be in their first year. But a couple years down the road? I kinda think the potential to be THE best is there........???

 

[MilfordHusky]

Very interesting thoughts.
MILFORD -- great comparison the that Walton, etc trio.....and I'm pleased to see that your memory is returning, at least on occasion,, as evidenced by digging back for guys like Murphy and Walton.
ALEX -- interesting detail as always. You know what, though? I'm not so sure that this might not be our best team ever; I do know that is saying alot (a WHOLE lot), and I don't mean next year necessarily, as three huge keys will only be in their first year. But a couple years down the road? I kinda think the potential to be THE best is there........???

If Geno gets a stud or two from the 2013 class, we may be looking at a team with at least one eventual first team college All-American in each of the 4 classes. A lineup of 6 or more current and future AAs would be tough to beat.

 

[alexrgct]

Winlots, the potential is definitely there. If Stef can keep fighting like she did in the BET, Bria can improve incrementally, KML continues to emerge as a star, Kiah and Banks keep getting better, and the 2012 class lives up to its hype...then yes, that 2013-14 team could be historically great. As is, there are enough quality pieces there that I already consider that team the overwhelming favorite for the NC, as ridiculous as it is to project something like that two years out. Comparing it to the 2009/2010/2002 UConn teams or Tennessee 1998? That's where all the "ifs" have to come to fruition.

 

[Bestiarius]

If winlots and Milford Husky are trying to make us feel good - they are succeeding!!!

Perhaps Kelly will work on her shooting over the summer. All she needs to do is improve by a few percentage points to correct the current misconception.

 

[wire chief]

1)Geno has said, very forcefully, that the 2002 team had the best player in the country AT EVERY POSITION.
That is highly unlikely to change going forward.

2)Caroline and Kelly start next year.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Bria and Tiff were first-team BE. Kaleena was 2nd team, 6th Man, and FOY. She also was arguably as good as anyone on the first team.

Yeah, Stef made the BE Tourney 1st team--twice.

Bria and Stef are veterans at this point, and they still have 2+ seasons left.

Kaleena is just getting warmed up. Anyone doubt she'll make some nice pre-season lists in the fall? And even more lists after that?

Kiah and Brianna may be on the cusp of using their terrific physical skills to be very effective players.

And we have a class of Bill Walton, Carmelo Anthony, and Calvin Murphy coming in next year.

But can Melo deal with Saniya running the floor??

 

[RockyMTblue2]

1)Geno has said, very forcefully, that the 2002 team had the best player in the country AT EVERY POSITION.
That is highly unlikely to change going forward.

2)Caroline and Kelly start next year.

Witty...humorous...very Catholic with the Geno's rules as some here have it. 2) is a long way off and no particular reason to doubt it, just not because it is out of the Geno Gospel. He is not loyal to a fault.