Arms Race - The New Formula | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Arms Race - The New Formula

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It's always been an arms race, recruiting is the #1 reason why Connecticut has stayed a juggernaut for so long, and it was the same for Tennessee during Summitt's years.

I think what Dawn is doing different than anyone else in basketball right now is prioritizing height, length and athleticism above developed basketball skill. She recruits some of the biggest, strongest and most athletic posts who block shots and dominate the glass. Her guards are tall and long too, or they are lightning quick and will hound you defensively. Other programs have a few standout athletes or players who are better shooters/passers/etc, but no one has the collection of athletes that South Carolina does and it's why they look so much more physical in almost every matchup they have. The pattern continues next year when they'll have another athletic 6-5 post in Tac, an athletic forward in Edwards and a quick guard in McDaniel.
Dawn has essentially taken Pat Summit’s strategy of recruiting bigger, stronger and tougher athletes and using them to bludgeon their opponents with offensive rebounding and lay up lines, has added more and more skill along with that and has built another, better Tennessee in the SEC. This last season, after the devastating defeat to Iowa, she added the remaining, missing ingredient which was high percentage shooters. The results speak for themselves.

Meanwhile, the team, once again, that epitomizes the counter method to that strategy, UConn, continues to go the way of motion offense, ball movement, high percentage shot selection etc. They however, have been essentially rendered Hors de Combat these past three to four years, thus robbing everyone of seeing the matchup of these opposing styles. Styles that seem to be growing gradually closer rather than apart. Dawn has seen the necessity of better offense, while Geno has (aside from the injuries) seen the need for bigger, stronger players who, hopefully can still play the high skill, motion offense but who can also compete on the boards and under the basket. He has also, specifically this past season, put a renewed emphasis on lock down defense.

Who and what philosophy will come out ahead? Well, first the Huskies have to get fully healthy. If that happens then we will finally get to see a true competition between the two current colossi of Women’s Basketball! Meanwhile however, there are a number of programs that are gearing up to crash the party and render this two way competition moot. Texas, Notre Dame, LSU, UCLA, and USC have all instituted a crash build and have stocked their rosters with enough talent where they may be able to push their way through the closed doors and muscle themselves right onto the dance floor!

Of these, the two I find most likely to threaten Dawn, the current champion, and Geno, the #1 ranked challenger, are Texas and Notre Dame, both with great rosters and equally great coaches. LSU seems to have imploded a bit with all the controversy and stress and more particularly the loss of their best player to the draft. UCLA suffers from a lightweight coach in my opinion, though they do have talent and an elite big. USC is a bit of a puzzle as I am unsure of Gottlieb‘s chops as well and am not sure where the JuJu Watkins story is headed. Does Gottlieb have the gravitas and will to really coach her transcendent star or will this team continue to be JuJu and the rest?

Of course, there are usually one or three upstarts every year ala NC State this season, but I really doubt we’ll see a champion from outside the seven enumerated here. Clearly, SC is the favorite but UConn (if healthy) should be nipping at their heels followed by Texas, ND, LSU, UCLA, and USC. Duke is probably my wildcard with potential!
 
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If UConn with their now 13 players on their roster get Kaitlyn Chen and a talented big Center from the Transfer Portal they will have a roster equal to if not surpass teams from 2013 to 2016 and 2002!
SoCar UCLA, Texas, etc IMHO will not be able to stick with that CT team!
Injuries and sickness is the only thing that would put a damper on that roster!
And God knows UConn has paid it's dues in those areas several times over!
Sorry coach, Chen is a very good player, but we have KK. She played well in the tourney, really began to assert herself. She and Shade were given opportunity to play, and both really developed. I want to watch KK continue to get better, and Chen would only get in the way. I think KK can become on of the best point guards we've seen at UConn. I really don't like the portal; want to see the recruited players have every chance to develop.
 
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Sorry coach, Chen is a very good player, but we have KK. She played well in the tourney, really began to assert herself. She and Shade were given opportunity to play, and both really developed. I want to watch KK continue to get better, and Chen would only get in the way. I think KK can become on of the best point guards we've seen at UConn. I really don't like the portal; want to see the recruited players have every chance to develop.
And what do we do if KK gets an injury?
 
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Besides those listed above as possible replacements for an injured (heaven forbid!) KK,
UCONN also has Morgan Cheli who was the ball handler for Archbishop Mitty, 6' 2".
Yes, forgot that Cheli handled the ball a lot. So I guess we're all set at PG!
 
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Arms Race Solutions?

Bigger is not always better.


Dawn's roster did not work this year because she had a full house of 15 players. Instead, it worked because she had only 11 players to start the year. Nine emerged as regular contributors. One (Sakima Walker) is and probably will always be a deep bench player who appears to be satisfied with little more than mop up minutes. One was dissatisfied with her minutes and was suspended indefinitely for "conduct detrimental to the team" rather than the usual "violation of team rules." She is in the portal.

That worked out to four bigs and five guards. Those 9 are very close knit and share minutes pretty equally. I don't know if the team would have been as cohesive if we had more. I doubt it.

With a larger number, there just aren't enough minutes to satisfy everyone. I believe Geno has used nine player rotations during some championship years. Yes, a few more may be needed in case of injury epidemics such as in UConn's recent past. Nevertheless, I'll assert that bigger is not always better.
 
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Why is Dawn the only one who has figured out how to play 9 players? If you play them,they will come. Dawn has somehow convinced players that they will play if they come. If you insist on playing no more than 7 players ....... Iowa was exhausted last night, SC was just warming up.
Dawn sounded very much like Geno and Danny Hurley when she described the kind of players she was recruiting.........they have to be willing to sacrifice minutes and stats and have a single goal of winning championships as part of a team....... it's not that easy to find players at the 4-5 star level that will buy into that concept......
 

packwrap

The real 'shlynn Shadey
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Let’s not forget Shade who IIRC had a season high point total of 26 points in one of the tournament games.
Yep Shade was a high school point guard, so as someone pointed out earlier in the year, we played a 4 point guard offense. Sub in Ines for Aaliyah against Xavier, and voila, the 5 pt guard offense.

On overall program, Dawn has her own style, but draws from Geno, Pat, Tara and the Philly Style. Like Tara she plays deep to keep players 6-10 motivated. Like Pat she goes for athletes to compete in rough and tumble SEC, like Geno and the main line, she works hard to have a strong family culture and cares for the players' future off the court. Every coach, Geno included, will look at transfers if they address a critical need.

UConn still is at the top of the recruiting game. Paige and Azzi were #1 recruits, Caroline, Ayanna KK and Ice were top 10.
SC managed to stay injury free, while UConn has gone thru an unimaginable 3 yr injury plague. Hopefully that balances out in 24/25.
 

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