Unless Brianna improved a lot over the summer, she was not going to get many minutes this year. In her three years at UConn, she did learn the UConn offense and defense (a problem for her as a freshman), but otherwise did not improve a lot. She still had weaknesses on defense (people driving by her) and decision-making.
I vividly remember in the Baylor game when she went under a screen and thus gave Odyssey Sims a wide-open 3, and then compounded the problem by fouling her after the shot went up. That was rather early in the game, and Geno pulled her out and never put her back in after that. She made mistakes like that with some regularity -- understandable in a freshman but not in a 3-year veteran.
There is no good reason why she should have been consigned to the bench during the NCAA tournament, but her play left Geno with no alternative.
It is notable how some Boneyarders are eager to see players who have left, or who aren't here yet, as solutions for any problems that the current team is experiencing.
I still wish her well at Penn State, and I think there is a good chance that she will have a productive year there next year. Maybe she will even be given a chance in the WNBA. But that doesn't mean that she would have contributed more to UConn this year than Saniya or any of the freshmen.