My feeling is that the only thing that separates a human chewing gum from a cow chewing its cud is the intelligent expression on the cow. My Number One wish for the coming season in any sport that tv broadcasters not show middle aged coaches (or older) frantically chewing like a teenage girl.
I committed to Bueckers starting as a freshman for what ever college team she chose three years ago............not that difficult to see........she would have started for just about any college team when she was a junior in high school..........without all of her injuries, I originally had the same feeling about Fudd..........I still believe she starts for UConn from game one if she is 100% healthy.......
I think Ducharme will get some minutes as a freshman as the designated zone buster off the bench........obviously the better she shoots the more she plays.........
yes PB and can consistently shoot it well (Nika a bit too streaky) but you know there will be times during the season when even the best shooters cool off and if the defense is packing it in Ducharme may be the right answer.........you can never have too many great outside shooters......
I know what you're saying about Paige. I'm sure you probably watched her play much more than I did back in high school. But even Geno after watching her for a few years was seriously considering bringing her in off the bench to begin with. It wasn't until after a couple of weeks of practice that he decided "...she's the best player on the team." He talked about how many number one recruits had come to UConn, and how they weren't really starting material at first. Just glad you and I ended up with the right call in the end.
I think there’s no way Azzi starts her first game at Uconn (unless others are injured). She’s a kid who’s voiced that she can be very nervous and that it shows. And if you’ve been watching the u19 team, you could see she was a little nervous the first few games. That’s too much pressure on her and for no reason when we have quality returning starters. Will she start by the end of her freshman year? I think, if anything, that would be more likely.
Or you start her 1st game so when you do have a big game - she'll already be comfortable starting?
Yeah I’m honestly not sure. I just personally don’t think there’s even a need to start her with the players we have coming back. I think it’ll be really helpful to have a scoring spark come off the bench
I'm not sure either.
this year's team has a wealth of offensive options, Ducharme is just one of many..........if she's as good a shooter and as competitive a player as Geno thinks she is, he will find her some minutes...........another good long range shooter (and Ducharme can easily hit from the men's three point line) is invaluable during the course of a long season.......
doesn't have to be against a zone defense...........you know that every team will try to take Bueckers and Fudd out of the game as best they can (good luck) leaving the other three players with more open shots...........what if CW or EW are having off shooting nights which does happen from time to time.........couldn't DuCharme come in and fill their roles temporarily too?
I have no doubts she'll play in games. But skeptical in big tight games, -other than 1 tight, big game something extremely unusual happens. Foul trouble?
Basically we had just one elite three point shooter last year in Paige and three OK ones in Christyn, Evina and Nika. By Uconn standards, I think that was pretty weak. This year we add two in the elite category and now have three of each. Unlike last year we could have 2 or even 3 great shooters in the game at the same time. Seeing both sides of this debate, I think a second great three point shooter in the lineup makes a big difference, a third one (with Ducharme) is nice but doesn't have as much impact as the second, particularly if the third guard/wing is "OK" from there.
Many years ago in the DT era I went down to the RAC to watch UCONN play Villanova in a Big East championship game. UCONN couldn't throw the ball in the ocean and hit water. Everything Harry's kids tossed in the air went through the hoop. UCONN lost. So, it can happen, thankfully very rarely.
as I said earlier Geno's tendency is to play his starters 25-32 minutes a game even in blowouts so thinking that Bueckers is only going to average 25 minutes a game is unlikely..........DuCharme's extraordinary shooting skills give her a leg up over other bench players should the need arise.........I think Geno is going to give her some early minutes in the season to see if she can supply the kind of back up firepower all teams want regardless of the defense thrown at them.........
1. Charlie
We only name the best tasting, eat and forget.
Ducharme is a good shooter, but not as battle tested as Paige and Azzi (only HS games but she received so much publicity, I have to consider the pressure she was under). BUT Ducharme has the potential to provide more rebounding, driving to basket, and defense. Too early to phrase this more than "potential," but while Azzi can be a once in a lifetime shooter, Ducharme checks more boxes.
I'd have to strongly disagree with most of that. Among the three players the best defensive technique and tool kit is Azzi followed by Paige and then Caroline. It's all in the feet and Caroline is a taller girl and a longer strider. The other aspect of defensive is taking the right angles and anticipation of passing lanes. In those aspects of the game Freshman Paige show great growth from the start of the season where she was getting caught up in screen until the end of the season when she was exceptional in locking and trailing and taking the right path to recover. Paige led UCONN in steals last year by a fairly wide margin and averaged 4.9 RPG. As far as Azzi's defense she just put in work at U19 and was assigned against the best offensive player in the championship game. I think Carroline will be an adequate defender for UCONN but based on the level of competition faced thus far she cannot be considered a better defender that Paige or Azzi. As far as Caroline being better at driving to the basket I have to disagree there also. There is very little wiggle (change of direction) in Caroline's bounce where as Paige and Azzi are master craftsmen at subtle fakes, change of direction and crossovers with the dribble which keeps defenders on their heels.
I think CW commented that she was impressed with CD's defensive aggressiveness and found it challenging to play against her earlier in the summer......she's got extremely long arms and at 6'1" can have some impact...........just like last season or perhaps even more, it will be enjoyable to watch the naysayers proclaim Azzi Fudd the best shooter they've seen since KML........
