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Message: [QUOTE="oldhusky, post: 4152339, member: 9844"] It's possible, but a return to health by itself is not enough. There seems to be an assumption that it might be ok if they return and play like they did before the injuries. The way they played before the injuries this year was not anywhere close to being good enough. Most had us and SC as the preseason favorites. That was largely based on us returning everyone except Anna, if anything upgrading her loss in the portal with Dorka, and bringing in a great freshmen class. Then we logically added some presumed improvement for returning players. All of that made sense. How could we possibly be worse than last year? Of course the injuries are devastating, but the only Uconn player with previous college experience that is doing as well as last year based on PER statistics is Paige. If every player plays like they have so far this year when everyone is healthy, we are at best a second tier contender. If individual players just match last year's production we could be among the favorites. That seems easily doable, but remember they have not even come close so far. To be considered right at the top we need everyone healthy, Azzi needs to be a star not just a contributor, Caroline needs to play like her last game, Dorka needs to play like she did at Ohio State, and our players coming back from last year need to be at least as good as last year and probably better. All of these players have the ability to improve on this season's performance so far, but it is discouraging that we don't need a player or two to bounce back, we need almost everybody except for Paige to return to form or meet expectations. The rest of the season has almost become an extended training camp, as we look for a breakout game like Caroline's last one, from just about all the players on the roster. A return to health gives them the ability to get their mojo back, but if they don't play close to preseason expectations they are probably not near the very top teams. Match preseason expectations and we could be right there. Play like we did before the injuries and the Final Four streak is likely over. [/QUOTE]

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