Let's be honest here...as bad as it is to be without the services of our all everything point guard Paige Bueckers, our ace freshman shooting guard Azzi Fudd, our spunky, give no quarter back-up point guard Nika Muhl and our athletic freak small forward Aubrey Griffin the silver lining is this unfortunate set of circumstances gives our remaining players the opportunity to round out into tournament form....their new motto at this point should be, "If it is meant to be, it is up to me". After all, they are all we have right now the magnificent seven: (Olivia Nelson-Ododa; Dorka Jurasz; Evina Westbrook, Christyn Williams and Caroline Ducharme; Aliyah Edwards and Amari DeBerry). Clearly, there is no room for error here.
What started out as a pretty deep team quickly turned into a very talented team with almost zero depth thanks to the IR (injured reserve) list which has claimed four of our impact players and the Transfer portal which claimed two more players who could have provided minutes if needed. I haven't forgotten about Piath Gabriele who seems to me lounging somewhere in the Netherland where players reside if they haven't earned the confidence of the coaching staff and are only limited to getting minutes at garbage time.
Unfortunately, for Piath at this time with our shortened bench there hasn't been an abundance of garbage minutes to go around.
The next 4-6 weeks ought to give Evina a chance to cement her position as a vocal leader at the point guard position. She is an exciting player who will play hard, get rebounds, create assists and can knock down the three pointer. She needs to become a more consistent scorer and if she does then when Paige and the others come back she will be a reliable option causing Husky opponents to have to play defense on her.
Olivia has to establish herself in the next 6 weeks as a consistent double / double threat. She is a very good high post option and can pass into the high/low causing defenses to come out on her and opening up the middle for slashers such as Christyn and Caroline as well as our other bigs, Dorka and Aliyah who can then post up in the middle. She must stay out of foul trouble as not having her on the floor really allows other teams to capitalize on our lack of depth.
Somewhere in the UCLA game Dorka realized what her role is on this team. She could be a consistent double - double and the combination of Dorka and Olivia could be something special as they continue to build chemistry between them. Dorka gives us a big body who has a nose for scoring and who can box out and rebound. Her passing will continue to improve and we will see more back door passes like the one she made with Caroline Ducharme in the Louisville game.
Christyn Williams is best at moving without the ball, slashing to the basket, scoring and picking up fouls. Sadly her outside shot just hasn't developed to where it should be and 30 percent isn't going to cut it. She needs to become a lock-down defender, someone who can set a screen and roll to the basket and a slasher. I still think she should be an 18 to 20 points per game player as her ability to score at times is incredible. She should not and can not become reliant on her 3 point shot...it just isn't there at this time.
Caroline Ducharme over-performed in her break-out game against Louisville. She showed us what she is capable of doing...but I would expect her to do those numbers every game. But, her style of play will result in rebounds, steals, blocks, assists and points. She will be a stat-stuffer type of player. Some games if she gets open shots she will knock down threes and score on put backs and cuts to the basket. She is a big body guard who will disrupt opponents offenses. She is still a freshmen with a steep learning curve in front of her but based on what she has given us so far the future is bright. With both Azzi and Bueckers slated to return this season Caroline will become an important part of a very potent offense.
All in all, this team is struggling now as any team who has lost 6 players in the first month of the season would but, they are a talented group and the next 6 weeks will give them all a chance to grow together and when the rest of the team begins to return UConn will be at a place as a team that I believe will be far better than they would be without their current adversity.
