There comes a time when we have to stop bemoaning the spilt milk and focus on the present and future. I personally find it of small consolation to linger in the self-pity of "woulda-coulda-shoulda" if not for the injuries. Injuries are a part of the sport and plenty of teams have been left to wonder "what if" after untimely injuries to key players. Time to focus on what's happening now with the players who are able to play or likely to play in the near future.
I’m always amused by those who bristle at the idea that any reference to the worst stretch of injuries in recent memory ( perhaps ever), a stretch that kept us from
ever fielding a fully healthy team over the past four years, a stretch that reduced our team to the extent that we often had only
six healthy players and even caused forfeits, a stretch where we often had 35-60 points on our bench, a stretch that forced our coaches to change practice due to exhaustion, and finally, that left us unable to field a fully healthy team in
any of the critical games, (NCAA Tournament or regular season) is somehow “ bemoaning the spilt milk!“
I am forced to assume that these people
never make any excuses for being late, sick, without a working car, oversleeping, failed alarm, broken limb, Covid, flu, forgetfulness, most of which are less valid than having a legitimate 50%+ of our basketball team unable to play! Perhaps they are aware of
any other team that has gone through a similar stretch of injuries? Even now, at a time where we have possibly the best roster I’ve ever seen as a UConn fan, we have our second best guard (a potential All-American), our second best wing, and a physical, athletic, power forward (a position of great need) on the bench!
Sure, we now have enough healthy players to where we really cannot use these last three as any kind of critical excuse, but even so, it is not at all a strech to think that, had Azzi alone (not to even mention the other two) been healthy for both the ND and the USC games, we would still be undefeated! This is not spilt milk! No one is saying we never had a chance at winning any of the games we’ve played since all these injuries began, or even that we
would have won them, only that we
could have had we been able to put our best players on the court! Those are the
facts and not “spilt milk”!!! Yes, other teams face injuries too but I challenge anyone to show me a team that has had the number of injuries that the UConn Women’s team has had over the past four years!
Finally, though we “bemoan” this awful stretch of injuries, we also take great pride in the fact that our team (and coaches) have somehow been able to continue to play at a very high level in spite of them! (I happen to believe Geno not winning Coach of the Year once during that stretch, to be a complete travesty!)
