Caroline Ducharme - and other thoughts

[Conndog]

If Caroline were healthy from the beginning, I believe she would have started in place of Lou. Now, if she is available Monday, I believe Lou will start as Geno probably will want to bring Caroline back slowly, as in limited minutes. Going forward, it would be hard for Geno to replace Lou based on her play thus far, not only her scoring, but her aggressiveness and the experience she has shown. These two will be interchangeable, with one of them being the fire power we need coming off the bench. No matter, each will be playing the same minutes, depending on how each is playing at the time. To go far, we need both players healthy. We cannot afford to have another player out long term if we want to be a contender. We need Caroline, and as I have said, starting or not, she will have a great influence on how this team performs going forward. I just want her to be back. Go Huskies.

But what if Caroline is better than Lou is all areas? Shooting, rebounding and defense? Lou has impressed, but I want to see what a healthy Caroline is capable of doing. Caroline showed last season how good she was even with a bum hip, getting concussions, etc. When it was necessary for her to lead the team with all the other injuries around her, she got the job done. I'm in agreement that having her play conservatively, as far as minutes, for first few games is prudent, but once the rust is off, may the best woman win (the starting role)!

 

[Bills Fan]

Your "Nika is great" is so condescending! Give it up. Have you watched any of the first two games? Have you listened to Geno and the players talk about who is the team leader that all the players look up to ? Relegating the team leader and all-conference defensive player to part-time status is unbelievable!

 

[Littlemin]

Your "Nika is great" is so condescending! Give it up. Have you watched any of the first two games? Have you listened to Geno and the players talk about who is the team leader that all the players look up to ? Relegating the team leader and all-conference defensive player to part-time status is unbelievable!

I agree wholeheartedly but being fair, that is exactly what Auriemma decided was the best way to try and win a NC last year, essentially taking Muhl and Ducharme out of the mix. When it turned out he needed them against SC the rust was obvious.

 

[Bald Husky]

But what if Caroline is better than Lou is all areas? Shooting, rebounding and defense? Lou has impressed, but I want to see what a healthy Caroline is capable of doing. Caroline showed last season how good she was even with a bum hip, getting concussions, etc. When it was necessary for her to lead the team with all the other injuries around her, she got the job done. I'm in agreement that having her play conservatively, as far as minutes, for first few games is prudent, but once the rust is off, may the best woman win (the starting role)!

Thats exactly what I am saying. They are interchangeable, just saying Geno may think differently based on how she is playing now. As I said before, I believe both will get about the same minutes based on how they are playing in a particular game. If Caroline starts, that fine with me.

 

[TeamFirst!]

Objectively, they are a better team against top flight competition with Azzi, Lou and Caroline getting the bulk of PT. I’ve yet to see anyone objectively disprove that. Games against Northeastern mean little. Games against most of the Big East mean little.

 

[The deacon]

I agree wholeheartedly but being fair, that is exactly what Auriemma decided was the best way to try and win a NC last year, essentially taking Muhl and Ducharme out of the mix. When it turned out he needed them against SC the rust was obvious.

I agree, Littlemin, that Geno sat Nika regularly during crunch time in big regular-season games and then again during the post-season. However, Caroline's 'benching' had been due to the after-effects of her head injury. When she finally was given significant minutes in the national championship game, she looked comfortable in a pressure situation and scored nine points, second only on the team to Paige.

 

[TeamFirst!]

The alternative is Caroline getting 10-15 minutes PT. How does that make us better?

 

[eebmg]

Lets try a minutes breakdown for our rotation assuming that everyone is healthy and we are playing a top 10 team. Clearly. this will be an 8 player rotation. Amari and Nesh only get in with significant foul trouble issues.

There are plenty of minutes to go around and I think Caroline at full health will get the starting nod but minutes will equalize.

Starters
Azzi 30
Aaliyah 30
Nika 30
Caroline 25
Dorka 25

Tight bench
Lou 25
Aubry 20
Ayanna 15

 

[Bone Dog]

Objectively, they are a better team against top flight competition with Azzi, Lou and Caroline getting the bulk of PT. I’ve yet to see anyone objectively disprove that. Games against Northeastern mean little. Games against most of the Big East mean little.

I don't disagree with you that Azzi Caroline Lou is probably the better unit. But "objectively"? Since we've never actually seen them play together, our opinions about this are necessarily subjective. Still, it is a very tempting thought and I'd really like to see the three of them on the floor together.

 

[MSGRET]

Regarding Caroline, I think this team will need her for 30 minutes a game to be great. As good as this team is offensively we still have little indication that they will be able to score well against top defenses. The last 2 years in a row we got beat by top teams without Page in the lineup. And that was with 3 first round draft picks on the team who are no longer there. I'm more impressed with Lou's defense than I thought I would be and the team's overall defense so far but to be NC material we need Caroline. She can score against top flight competition and another key will be Azzi's ability to create those short jumpers and get to the rim and draw fouls. Opposing teams are going to be all over her to stop those 3 pointers. And Lou will create some offense as well but will it be enough to stop Boston and Stanford again? I don't think so without Caroline getting lots of PT.

Which to me means Nika becomes a 15 minute PT player. I actually would prefer Aubrey to get PT over Nika. And I think Nika is great. This team needs to get out on the break and convert on turnovers. This team needs some team speed. This team needs every player to be able to score. It's just a better team with Caroline, Azzi and Lou on the court. I also think Ayanna is going to be our best rebounder and after she fixes her foul issues she will both defend very well and be a force on the offensive boards which would be absolutely huge for this team. With 3 great perimeter shooters I want those offensive rebounds. Our offensive conversion rate should be outstanding with these options.

I keep on wondering what you know that Geno doesn't. He has stated more than once, that Nika is the point guard, with Azzi playing PG when Nika is not on the floor. He as also stated that both Caroline and Lou will be switching off starting, with both of them playing almost the same amount of time. We get it, you think that Nika is so-so and shouldn't be playing more than 10-15 minutes a game. But until you become the head coach, I'll listen to what Geno is saying.

 

[JoePgh]

Lets try a minutes breakdown for our rotation assuming that everyone is healthy and we are playing a top 10 team. Clearly. this will be an 8 player rotation. Amari and Nesh only get in with significant foul trouble issues.

There are plenty of minutes to go around and I think Caroline at full health will get the starting nod but minutes will equalize.

Starters
Azzi 30
Aaliyah 30
Nika 30
Caroline 25
Dorka 25

Tight bench
Lou 25
Aubry 20
Ayanna 15

Generally I agree with what you are saying. Are you limiting Ayanna to 15 minutes because you think that's all the time she will be able to stay on the court without fouling out? If she can fix her foul-proneness and perhaps improve her stamina a bit, then I think she can earn 20 to 25 minutes.

I would not exclude Ines from being a rotation player in competitive games. In the limited minutes that I have observed, she seems composed and not at all mistake-prone, and she seems to see the court well. I don't know how many minutes that equates to, but I wouldn't rule her out.

Amari is another story.

 

[Bone Dog]

Lets try a minutes breakdown for our rotation assuming that everyone is healthy and we are playing a top 10 team. Clearly. this will be an 8 player rotation. Amari and Nesh only get in with significant foul trouble issues.

There are plenty of minutes to go around and I think Caroline at full health will get the starting nod but minutes will equalize.

Starters
Azzi 30
Aaliyah 30
Nika 30
Caroline 25
Dorka 25

Tight bench
Lou 25
Aubry 20
Ayanna 15

Ooh ooh ooh! I love minutes breakdowns!

So far, it looks like Geno is playing the starters for about 30 mins each. That leaves about 50 mins for the bench, half of which goes to Aubrey. which leaves about 25 mins for the rest: Amari Ayanna Inês. Simply adding Caroline would bring us to the usual 5+3 rotation, if we think Ayanna will get more minutes than Inês, or 5+2 if we think she won't.

Your plan looks good to me. Though I can also imagine giving all the guards 25 mins (on average) and getting more time for Aubrey in the rotation. In effect, we'd have 8 players at ~25 mins each, though Ayanna might divide the last 25 between them. If we are running a press, this might look attractive. Then you could have various units on the floor in overlapping schemes.

 

[Longtime fan]

First, does anyone have any updates to report on regarding Caroline's availability for Monday's game vs. Texas?

With this in mind, I "Love" the make-up of this year's team, so far (minus Paige and Ice Brady), because they appear to be more in tuned and much more fluid in their play, as a Team, and not reliant upon just 1 Player, to help bail them out (ie: Paige).

Now some questions to ask? What will Geno's rotation be when Caroline Ducharme returns? With the way that Lou Lopez-Senechal and Aubrey Griffin have looked for the Exhibition Game and especially last night's game, both Lou and Aubrey deserves the minutes on the floor. So with allot of people wanting to see Caroline Ducharme back in the lineup and even starting, at whose minutes does she take?. Starting over Lou Lopez-Senechal? Taking minutes away from Aubrey Griffin? I am not saying that Caroline doesn't deserve significant floor time, but at whose expense?

Lastly (and yes, I know we need to get thru this season first, before talking about next season, but....) after this season, all we lose is Dorka Juhasz and Lou Lopez-Senechal. We get back both Paige and Ice Brady, so that's 10 players returning. Then you add KK, Jana, Qadence, and Ashlynn to the team and now we are looking at 14 Players (and we all know what happened in the beginning of the 2021-2022 season, when we had 14 Players on the team). What are everyone's thoughts on these topics?

I have not heard anything specific. Geno suggested she was getting better. That's all.

 

[Bone Dog]

I keep on wondering what you know that Geno doesn't. He has stated more than once, that Nika is the point guard, with Azzi playing PG when Nika is not on the floor.

Geno probably has said something sorta like this, though I can't recall hearing it. What I mainly remember hearing is that they don't care for a rigid assignment of a pg. More than once in the last few weeks he has explicitly said that anyone "can bring the ball up the floor." No such assignment of positions seems to organize his thinking.

It also seems apparent that he likes having Nika on the floor, bringing the ball up sometimes, hawking the opposition guards, etc. This is a separate issue from the notion that Nika, or anyone else for that matter, "is the point guard."

 

[Cuango]

Your "Nika is great" is so condescending! Give it up. Have you watched any of the first two games? Have you listened to Geno and the players talk about who is the team leader that all the players look up to ? Relegating the team leader and all-conference defensive player to part-time status is unbelievable!

Regarding Caroline, I think this team will need her for 30 minutes a game to be great. As good as this team is offensively we still have little indication that they will be able to score well against top defenses. The last 2 years in a row we got beat by top teams without Page in the lineup. And that was with 3 first round draft picks on the team who are no longer there. I'm more impressed with Lou's defense than I thought I would be and the team's overall defense so far but to be NC material we need Caroline. She can score against top flight competition and another key will be Azzi's ability to create those short jumpers and get to the rim and draw fouls. Opposing teams are going to be all over her to stop those 3 pointers. And Lou will create some offense as well but will it be enough to stop Boston and Stanford again? I don't think so without Caroline getting lots of PT.

Which to me means Nika becomes a 15 minute PT player. I actually would prefer Aubrey to get PT over Nika. And I think Nika is great. This team needs to get out on the break and convert on turnovers. This team needs some team speed. This team needs every player to be able to score. It's just a better team with Caroline, Azzi and Lou on the court. I also think Ayanna is going to be our best rebounder and after she fixes her foul issues she will both defend very well and be a force on the offensive boards which would be absolutely huge for this team. With 3 great perimeter shooters I want those offensive rebounds. Our offensive conversion rate should be outstanding with these options.

Uh oh! Off to the races!

 

[sun]

I think that Nika's PT will be connected to her scoring ability to some extent.
Nika only scored 3 points in 27 minutes against Northeastern but had a lot of assists & steals.
However if her PT doesn't result in wins against the better teams then there could be changes made.
All players are expendable when they hit a rough patch or a slump.

It's team first and everybody eats when there are other hungry players that need to be fed.
If the team needs Nika to help make or break an effective press then she'll get more PT.
If not then she may get less.
Everyone's PT will average out based on a variety of factors to be determined, especially the score.

 

[Longtime fan]

Thats exactly what I am saying. They are interchangeable, just saying Geno may think differently based on how she is playing now. As I said before, I believe both will get about the same minutes based on how they are playing in a particular game. If Caroline starts, that fine with me.

I'm not sure I have a clear picture of Caroline's game. I saw her last year when she picked up the mantle of leading scorer for a while, but then her injuries kind of took over. She hasn't been on the court, yet, this year. But Lou has looked spectacular. If Caroline is a mirror image, we have greater depth. I remain " concerned" about her neck ailment, however. It would not surprise me to learn that Caroline will not play on Monday. Something seems wrong. I hope " what is wrong" is me.

On another subject, I was pleased to see Amari in the game at the end of the third period. She did a lot of things well in her brief
time ( including the second half of the final quarter). She scored on a beautiful hook, made 4 ( of six ) free throws, had a few assists, a few blocks and a rebound or two. I hope she piles it on in practice and earns more time. She can be a difference maker. And Dorka and Edwards are going to need relief. But I feel much better about her status on the team than I did after the exhibition game.

 

[MSGRET]

I think that Nika's PT will be connected to her scoring ability to some extent.
Nika only scored 3 points in 27 minutes against Northeastern but had a lot of assists & steals.
However if her PT doesn't result in wins against the better teams then there could be changes made.
All players are expendable when they hit a rough patch or a slump.

It's team first and everybody eats when there are other hungry players that need to be fed.
If the team needs Nika to make or break an effective press then she'll get more PT.
If not then she may get less.
Everyone's PT will average out based on factors to be determined.

You know that statement can be said about any player, that's not just basketball it's any sport.

 

[Littlemin]

I agree, Littlemin, that Geno sat Nika regularly during crunch time in big regular-season games and then again during the post-season. However, Caroline's 'benching' had been due to the after-effects of her head injury. When she finally was given significant minutes in the national championship game, she looked comfortable in a pressure situation and scored nine points, second only on the team to Paige.

Actually, Muhl got limited minutes early, after the ND game in which Bueckers got hurt, Muhl sat out the next 4 with an injury. She came back to limited minutes in an 8 point win against Creighton, then started the next 20. Uconn went 18-2, losing to Oregon in which she played all 40 minutes and Nova where she played 37. The only close game in the 18 wins was a 2 point win over DePaul in which she led the team in minutes played. After marching through the BE tournament with the closest win was by 20, she got benched.
As for Ducharme, if she was suffering after effects for the whole NCAA tournament up to SC, I don’t believe she would have played at all early and would not been put in the finals. Just my opinion.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Nice rendition of a great song. Thanks for posting.

 

[CocoHusky]

I would not exclude Ines from being a rotation player in competitive games. In the limited minutes that I have observed, she seems composed and not at all mistake-prone, and she seems to see the court well. I don't know how many minutes that equates to, but I wouldn't rule her out.

In support of your point ( I happen to agree) I was pleasantly surprised to see Ines got a few minutes at SG with Azzi as the PG.
The ability to play both guard positions could prove very valuable to this team.

 

[eebmg]

Ooh ooh ooh! I love minutes breakdowns!

So far, it looks like Geno is playing the starters for about 30 mins each. That leaves about 50 mins for the bench, half of which goes to Aubrey. which leaves about 25 mins for the rest: Amari Ayanna Inês. Simply adding Caroline would bring us to the usual 5+3 rotation, if we think Ayanna will get more minutes than Inês, or 5+2 if we think she won't.

Your plan looks good to me. Though I can also imagine giving all the guards 25 mins (on average) and getting more time for Aubrey in the rotation. In effect, we'd have 8 players at ~25 mins each, though Ayanna might divide the last 25 between them. If we are running a press, this might look attractive. Then you could have various units on the floor in overlapping schemes.

In the very toughest games, Azzi will play the most minutes. Every other player's minutes are more negotiable based on matchups and early game performance

 

[eebmg]

Generally I agree with what you are saying. Are you limiting Ayanna to 15 minutes because you think that's all the time she will be able to stay on the court without fouling out? If she can fix her foul-proneness and perhaps improve her stamina a bit, then I think she can earn 20 to 25 minutes.

I would not exclude Ines from being a rotation player in competitive games. In the limited minutes that I have observed, she seems composed and not at all mistake-prone, and she seems to see the court well. I don't know how many minutes that equates to, but I wouldn't rule her out.

Amari is another story.

Fouls enter my thinking not as a fouling out but giving up points. Also, I think if Ayanna improves her FT's and does not get trapped in so many double teams, I could find more minutes. That will take some time

 

[TeamFirst!]

I keep on wondering what you know that Geno doesn't. He has stated more than once, that Nika is the point guard, with Azzi playing PG when Nika is not on the floor. He as also stated that both Caroline and Lou will be switching off starting, with both of them playing almost the same amount of time. We get it, you think that Nika is so-so and shouldn't be playing more than 10-15 minutes a game. But until you become the head coach, I'll listen to what Geno is saying.

I see no record of Geno saying Lou and Caroline will switch off starting. That is probably a figment of your imagination. We saw Nika against a lot of top teams last year so it's not like there isn't evidence of her projected performance. She eats up bad teams. She's challenged against top competition. What I don't get is this: Do you really think Geno is going to get anywhere DISCOURAGING any player in his rotation? Of course he says nice things about Nika and there are a lot of things to like. She's just not as good as Caroline, Azzi or Lou. Geno speaks in nuance. Read between the lines.

 

[TeamFirst!]

Ayanna is going to get 20 plus minutes if she doesn't get into foul trouble. We only have 3 bigs who are going to get much PT.

Playing time is always flexible depending on who is having a good day etc..., the competition etc. And I don't care who starts. Just win and to me that means 30 minutes for Lou, Azzi and Caroline. At least 25 for Dorka and AE with the bulk of the remaining for Ayanna if possible.