I think the rest and relaxation that the UConn players have had since their last game will have a positive effect on the team in general. At least they will be able to go into the game with a "full tank of gas"...so to speak. I am not sure that it will be enough as SC's depth is a real problem. The margin of error for UConn is infinitesimally small. Both teams have their share of elite basketball players. And, both teams have their advantages...UConn in the back court and So Car. in the front court.
UConn has the advantage of home court but I think home court advantage is worth only 5 points or so and having lost our last two outings namely the championship game last year by 15 and the in-season challenge also last year by 16...I am not sure that is enough. Mind you this So. Car. team is essentially the same team as last year. UConn, on the other hand. has faced So. Car. will a fluid roster depending on who was able to play and some might argue that they have the same amount of fire power injured on the bench as they have on the floor.
UConn's has another intangible that I did not mention in the "Game Analysis" thread: That is, they have faced so much adversity this season and last as a result of the plethora of injuries that it has in some ways hardened or steeled their will. The fact that UConn isn't beating every team by 30 plus points and that they have already dropped a couple of games this season can in actually be a positive thing in that it has and is providing some motivation for them to play hard every game and to have trust in each other.
With all that said So.Car.'s strengths are that they have long, tall, athletic and talented players in every position. Additionally, because they go 11 -12 deep into their roster that gives Dawn a lot of options... Those options will allow Dawn to make "in game" adjustments until she gets the right combination of players that can negate what Geno's players are doing.
For Geno, it is as Nika said in her interview..."all we have is us, there is no place to go". This gives Geno fewer options...while Geno may not be able to mix and match the way Dawn can...this may very well be one of his best coaching years. Geno's challenge is to keep his current active players healthy and motivated. He is finding himself coaching his players more often on their mental resilience and state of mind.
But, I digress here...The inherent advantages of this So. Car. team have been enough to beat UConn in its last two match-ups...albeit each time we played So. Car. we were a different team due to the players who were sitting on the bench injured. This year's confrontation has UConn in many ways worse off than its past two encounters. We are down to our starting five having to play 10 plus minutes each because our remaining three bench players are not yet ready for "prime time". This is not a diss on our bench players which features 2 freshmen and the ever enigmatic Sophomore Amari DeBerry but, rather an honest assessment of our current situation.
While I have entered into the prognosticator's thread predicting an 11 point victory for So. Car. it is in fact, the last result that I would want to see. I really want to be wrong here for if I am and UConn is able to pull this one off, they will have put the entire WCBB world on notice. The message would send shivers down the spine of every Division 1 WCBB coach out there. And, for Dawn "the narrative" will have changed to: Holy crap! UConn just beat the number one team in WCBB and they did it with only half of their team. Who is going to be able to touch them when they have a fully healthy team?
This game does not need any more "spice."
