There will probably some struggles on D early on especially against the early OOC high major teams they will face, but somewhere around the middle of BE play they'll begin to round into a very good defensive team. How good? I guess we'll find out.
Unfortunately last season, their weaknesses were exposed in Maui and exploited throughout most of the season. If there is one thing they should try to mitigate early on is stopping or at least slowing dribble penetration from the above the foul line. Once teams knew that UConn couldn't keep the perimeter players from driving right through and right by them, opponent after opponent knew how to game plan against us with quite a bit of success.
If they can do a better job of limiting that, and when opponents do drive into the paint, encounter stifling resistance without fouling...PLEASE without fouling...teams will have to find other ways to score, which I hope we'll be pretty good defending against, such as trying to get open or lightly contested 3s or medium range Js. Oh, and hopefully much improved on the defensive glass to limit 2nd chance opportunities which was a problem at times last season, a lot the result of players out of position due to defensive breakdowns.
It looks like we'll have good length at most positions with most of our rotations able to contest a lot of shots. We'll have a lot of strength at most positions, assuming the returning players and portal transfers will be committed to hitting the weight room and hopefully the freshmen as well. As for quickness and instincts, I think it will be a mixed bag.
As far as strength, Ross, maybe Malachi Smith and some of the freshman need to strengthen up as much as possible over the summer. From what I've read and seen, Furphy uses his BBIQ and control to make up for his lack of quickness and length. Looked sort of Cam-ish in that regard. And Silas Demary Jr, looks like the real deal, a combo of strength, size, length and quickness to fix some of the defenseless issues, as well as dribble penetration on offense need that was lacking last season.
I think we'll be better on both ends of the floor. The one area that I'm not sure about is how well and how quickly the team, especially the new players will learn to execute (where and when to pass, dribble and move to) the difficult multi-action motion offense. It might be wise to have them learn some simpler sets early on (pick and roll, pic and pop, iso on some favorable switches, etc.) that take advantage of their strengths, as well as learning the more complex offense where they can transition to executing more over time. I would also welcome more transition and early offense added to the mix.
It looks like they have most if not all the pieces. It looks like they still need a third 5 or 4/5 combo from the portal, preferably a strong physical one who can defend without fouling and rebound. It would be a nice get if they can add a strong long athletic wing who can defend and rebound. I'd love to see these added where at a minimum they can be put in for situational purposes such as getting some defense stops against an opponent that has caught fire or likely called upon to take some critical (end of half/game situations) shot(s).
I'm obviously quite excited to see who they add and how this team comes together and develops.
