It's because as EricLA said, you know what you are getting with Ash and it is very good (not too much mystery). At each of the 5 positions next year there likely could be a two player share plus a back up development player, i.e. X1 / X2 + Y - e.g. PG: KK / Kayleigh Heckel, + Kelis Fisher as the development backup; Post: SW / Jana, + Gandy as the development backup; PF: SS / Ice + Ayanna (?) still as the development player..... So you'd have 10 players at 5 positions sharing most of the game time, and the 5 remaining development (or injured) players picking up any minutes they can find, here and there. It won't be too important if it is 60/40 KK/Kayleigh Heckel or the other way around, they both would be defacto rotation players, getting significant minutes. Ash will be either starting or getting very significant share minutes. Sure, the rotation may shrink to 8 or 9 come March Madness but 10 players could achieve or approach double digit minutes during most of the schedule. Boneyarders like to contemplate mysteries - will Ducharme recover enough to be a share player ? Will Blanca indeed be a share rotation player (as opposed to a first year development player) ? Can Morgan, Ali and Ayanna all find significant minutes ? Who then will be the 5 players that will be relatively starved for minutes ? With all that to ponder, no one is spending much time worrying about Ash - she'll be fine
Fifty percent for a player who started 45 of the last 78 games versus players with little to no experience in UCONN games?
Same with KK, Caorline, etc.?
Even Geno had been known to take her for granted: “Sometimes I forget how lucky we are to have Ash on our team.”
50% for a player who started 0 games last season that weren't due to injury of a regular starter. Paige was out 2 games and Azzi out 6 but came off the bench for 4 when she came back from injury. My point is barring injuries, Ash would have started 0 games last season.
Nope, no misconception, I agree, my posts have been very clear on Ash. She is one of my top 5 players at this point. Very clear in my previous posts. One reason she doesn't get the talk is she is not at all controversial, the young lady just goes out and does her job night after night.
I think it's different. Caroline is the great unknown right now. We all hope she gets back into her pre-concussion form, or something close to it, mostly because we want her to end her career at Connecticut in the best way possible for her. Whether she can actually get back to that form is an unknown.
Please check your facts before spouting off on Ash, she actually started 12 games for the team and was usually the first or second player brought in as one of the guards/forwards.
Let me rephrase your statement: Ash poses challenges to those trying to crack the rotation. She shoots 3s at a 40+ clip, and she is a force on defense. No one will take minutes from Ash merely by shooting 3s. They will have to out-work her on defense. I really hope several players take up this challenge. In a sense, Ash is the gatekeeper for playing time -- to get minutes, you must at least do what she does.
She deserves to start if she outplays Blanca and Caroline during the preseason........two of those three are going to be major cogs in the wheel coming off the bench while the "winner" starts......if Blanca is as good as I think she is she's likely to be starting early in the season unless Caroline is playing as she did as a freshman or if Ashlyn has made further improvements to her game.......regardless, what a wonderful "problem" to have....
You probably said it better than I did but we are saying the same thing. Ash is going to play a lot because she has earned Geno's trust. The 40% plus 3 ball clip is a little deceiving because her makes come in bunches.
