After Watching Canada-France, A More Detailed Assessment of Ms. Nurse

[DaddyChoc]

Who plays center and how well they play it will only have a determination on the outcome of the 4 or 5 out of conference games UConn has against top opponents and then again in the NCAA tournament (and even in the NCAA's it probably won't matter until the 3rd round). It will not make any difference who plays center in any of the conference games. As long as Stewart, Stokes and Tuck are healthy for the NCAA's, I like their chances.

MoJett can play center and UConn will still win

 

[UcMiami]

First of all I think Kiah will shine this year. Breanna is super, and Morgan if truly healthy all year will also be an amazing player. KML would be a NPOY candidate if not for her teammate as well, but as a defensive center is a non starter in my mind - yes she can post up guards and wings on offense, but you never saw her posting up power forwards or centers, and that really is what is under discussion.
As for history - 1995 and 2000-2002 (probably the best example of smaller center teams) were different eras in WCBB - the influx of talent and coaching into WBB over the last 15 years has been immense. For the Tina Charles era - you left out Heather Buck who was essential in a few instances where Tina struggled or was in foul trouble in eating up minutes on defense. And while I expect Kiah to be very good I am not so optimistic to imagine she will be in the conversation for first team AA or NPOY as Tina was in her last two years.
I am really not expecting very many teams to be able to challenge Uconn's talent, but that is never the question for us - it is what the teams good enough to get to the FF and occasionally the teams in the elite eight are capable of. SC may be young, but they were a #1 seed last year, loss nothing to graduation, are very well coached and added a very good freshman class with more height. TN is not coached very well but have a very good center and some other talent. ND has very good coaching and a lot of talent, but are also dealing with the loss of their true center. I don't know who else is out there.
SC may be the biggest contender and will have had the advantage of a regular season game against Uconn as either confidence boost or motivation or both.
I still think Uconn wins through but I am also not head in the sand about our front line - Morgan played eight games last year and had a surgical procedure that does not have an unblemished record of success and might take quite a while to round into her AA form. She just started basketball activities this past month after not touching a ball for 8 months. Kiah has not played more than about 20 minutes in any college game and we are projecting close to a double double from her. (And Kiah has had a history of small injuries throughout her three years) Those are pretty big question marks for a front runner.

As for cfer's projections - those minutes plus presumably 30 minutes for MoJeff leave only 56 minutes for the other 5 scholarship players which may be a little light for a yearly average though probably correct for tightly contested games.

 

[winlots]

Foolish though it may be, it's one of the most enjoyable things to do on a sports forum.

INT: Couldn't agree with you more. (Starting to feel just a bit of concern about that, as I find it is becoming a bit of a habit recently )

 

[RadyLady]

First of all I think Kiah will shine this year. Breanna is super, and Morgan if truly healthy all year will also be an amazing player. KML would be a NPOY candidate if not for her teammate as well, but as a defensive center is a non starter in my mind - yes she can post up guards and wings on offense, but you never saw her posting up power forwards or centers, and that really is what is under discussion.
As for history - 1995 and 2000-2002 (probably the best example of smaller center teams) were different eras in WCBB - the influx of talent and coaching into WBB over the last 15 years has been immense. For the Tina Charles era - you left out Heather Buck who was essential in a few instances where Tina struggled or was in foul trouble in eating up minutes on defense. And while I expect Kiah to be very good I am not so optimistic to imagine she will be in the conversation for first team AA or NPOY as Tina was in her last two years.
I am really not expecting very many teams to be able to challenge Uconn's talent, but that is never the question for us - it is what the teams good enough to get to the FF and occasionally the teams in the elite eight are capable of. SC may be young, but they were a #1 seed last year, loss nothing to graduation, are very well coached and added a very good freshman class with more height. TN is not coached very well but have a very good center and some other talent. ND has very good coaching and a lot of talent, but are also dealing with the loss of their true center. I don't know who else is out there.
SC may be the biggest contender and will have had the advantage of a regular season game against Uconn as either confidence boost or motivation or both.
I still think Uconn wins through but I am also not head in the sand about our front line - Morgan played eight games last year and had a surgical procedure that does not have an unblemished record of success and might take quite a while to round into her AA form. She just started basketball activities this past month after not touching a ball for 8 months. Kiah has not played more than about 20 minutes in any college game and we are projecting close to a double double from her. (And Kiah has had a history of small injuries throughout her three years) Those are pretty big question marks for a front runner.

As for cfer's projections - those minutes plus presumably 30 minutes for MoJeff leave only 56 minutes for the other 5 scholarship players which may be a little light for a yearly average though probably correct for tightly contested games.

Kaleena is much the same as Maya was - both excellent shooters, however Geno expanded their games and had them add post moves. When we have gone small, particularly in Kaleena's sophmore year, she certainly did some work against bigger players.

I did give Heather some thought, how could I not? But she did not play significant minutes or have a significant impact on any game save 1 - and that was against Baylor. She may have been on the roster, but in terms of game player rotation, she was not in the mix, not by a long shot, particularly when we got into conference play.

Again you say that we are going to go all the way yet you still hedge your bets with your list of misgivings about the front court.

 

[Huskies Rule]

I think Stokes is the key cog in the machine this year. If she takes a big step forward in her consistency and production over more minutes (she's always been excellent on a per-minute basis but this does not always translate), we should be unstoppable.

If she does not, and we have to rely on center-by-committee, then I think there will be some nights when we don't look all that great, more than just the normal ups and downs that college teams will always have. Even in this scenario it's hard to see us losing more than a game or two but it's at least a possibility. Crazy things do happen.

A dominant Stokes--at least by year-end, a la Tina her JR year--means this squad would renew the conversation re: great UCONN teams.

I couldn't agree more. Mo, Stewie and KML have demonstrably greater skill sets, but absolutely nobody on the floor will have a bigger impact on the team's ultimate success and chances for a third consecutive National Championship than Stokes. If she has worked diligently this offseason and continues to build on the confidence she surely gained during her fine junior campaign, then 12 pts/14 rebounds/4-5 blocks per game is well within her- and I believe those numbers WILL result in NC#3 (Summitt +2)

 

[UcMiami]

I couldn't agree more. Mo, Stewie and KML have demonstrably greater skill sets, but absolutely nobody on the floor will have a bigger impact on the team's ultimate success and chances for a third consecutive National Championship than Stokes. If she has worked diligently this offseason and continues to build on the confidence she surely gained during her fine junior campaign, then 12 pts/14 rebounds/4-5 blocks per game is well within her- and I believe those numbers WILL result in NC#3 (Summitt +2)

Just FYI - you are expecting Kiah to set the single season Uconn records for both blocks and rebounds which currently stand at: 12.8 rebound/game and a total of 131 blocks. When Tina set the total rebounds record at 372 in 39 games she averaged under 10 per game. I think she is going to have a good year, but am not quite ready to rewrite the record books.
And I guess I am hedging, or being realistic - I would like to see Morgan play 10-15 games on her surgically repaired knee before expecting her to be 100% good as new, and Kiah to play the same number before anointing her the second coming of Charles and Lobo combined.

 

[hjoerring]

If you compare Faris and Hayes, it will just depend if you like Defense of Offense more. Hayes was better offensively than Faris. 11.7 ppg vs 7.2 ppg. A better pct shooter (2 and 3 pts), almost twice as FTs as Faris. Fairly close on Assists 483 vs 545.

Defensively though Faris has the better numbers. More Rebounds, Steals, blocks. Not by a huge margin though.

So it pretty much depends on what you like. More offense or more defense.

Not sure that we can get to where we want to go with your strategy here. (see Kibitzer) Faris may have done better in the areas you mentioned, but what would the benefits be for Hayes and/or Moore to shadow the opponent best player? Or to hit the boards all the time? What we know about Hayes and Moore are that they are 2 very good defensive players and rebounders, today. These traits were garnered at Uconn. Interestingly, Hayes went very late in the draft, so it might be worthwhile to take a look at her today along with the players who were in her class and were drafted. In the NBA Faris would be a journey(wo)man. The WNBA lacks the resources (money + teams) to carry and develop a player as her. One really have to be a scorer- even if you are next to last coming off the bench.

 

[meyers7]

I don't know Miami - It appears though that you are straddling the fence on this issue, perhaps covering your bets. We have three folks possibly four who are capable of handling this position for some minutes in games: Stokes of course at 6'3", Tuck at 6'2", Kaleena whom we have seen step in and do some work in the paint in the past - she is strong though 5'11", and Stewey at 6'4". That's a lot of height. And we have had years in the past where we had roughly the same personnel, and they were championship years. The first that comes to mind is 1995 with Lobo, Wolter, and Jamelle granted Kara was a huge presence at 6'7"

The second and third that come to mind are the two years with Tina where we won the championship - 2009 and 2010, both with Maya Meghan Gardler, and Kaili McClaren.

Granted We have not seen the full force of Tuck given her injuries, but what I saw when she played with her injuries was pretty good, and she can shoot the three as well, and Kiah could still be considered a question mark - yes she shined in her minutes last year, yet will that carry forth in a(n) (assumed) starting role this year. It remains to be seen. And yes, the offense did run through Stef at the high post, but that is something that didn't always happen at UConn, so that likely will change as it is nothing new to Geno and the coaches at least. I think that the last time we had a post with that talent was when McClaren was on the roster.

Still we have some height, no more or less than past championship years. It is up to Geno to put the pieces of this year's puzzle together. We will be rated #1 at the start of the season, and it will be interesting, as always to see how the season plays out.

hmmm, this post sound eerily familiar.

 

[RadyLady]

hmmm, this post sound eerily familiar.

You snooze you lose

 

[meyers7]

Yada yada yada.

Are we going to be deep in the post this year? No. Are we going to have a very good frontcourt this year? Yes. Stewart, KML and anybody is going to be a very good frontcourt. If Stokes can put up 8/8 and her usual blocks we'll be fantastic.


Is it going to matter? No. When you have the triumvirate of Stewart, KML and Jefferson it's not gonna matter too much who else is on the floor with them. You are looking at 2 NPOY candidates and most likely the Lieberman Award winner. (If all goes well.)

Along with the fact that I don't think our competition is going to be as good this year, this should be a good year for UCONN. Not really worried about it this year. If we DON'T go undefeated and win the NC, I'll be surprised. Anything can happen, but it would have to be kind of some crazy goings on to not end up that way.

And then 2015-2016, holy jeebus, look out.

 

[meyers7]

You snooze you lose

Don't like losing, but I do love snoozing.

 

[hoophuskee]

I liked Joe's comments and I like Kia's game. I think she is going to be a very good player as long as she can shoot pretty good. With what UCONN has and what is coming in, we don't need a scorer. We need goo decsion makers. Her body is strong that she won't get bumped off her dribble or pushed around. She seems like she makes very good decisions whcih now with players KLS and NC coming, her style is terrific to have. Our team doesn't need to be five super scorers. Kia imo is a very good player. Not a superstar - but very good. When you have that along with the talent we have, damn glad to have her.