Does Uconn have a super team

[jabstep]

Early last year UConn looled like a contender for a NC. We had two shooters who could light it up Azzi and Lou. This year we will have Azzi and Paige. Nika and Aaliyah being the too constants. Substitute Ice for Dorka and you would have a similar team but better.
Our bench would then consist of Aubrey who could sub and create a difference in many ways.
Caroline would can score and rebound when healthy.
Not sure what all the others can bring but the potential is there.
LSU won because Carson had the game of her life. Shooters win games
Shade or Samuels could be our surprise shooters.
KK could be a penetrate PG and kick to our shooters.
Patterson could come back with some offense.
Amari could come back with determination and hustle and be a dominant inside player.
Ice I think we be our difference with her inside outside game. She can shoot the lights out and we force some bigs outside to cover her. Then Aaliyah can score down low on most any Power forward in the country. To go with our shooters we will be scary.
Roll out the balls and let them play. Can't wait!!!!

 

[Skeets]

I 100% agree with @hoopsnloops32 and @AgStatesman - Some will obviously disagree, but IMHO UCONN is the team to beat next season, not LSU.

so we lost Dorka and Lou. Big losses. But who do we add? Let's be optimistic on health issues for a moment...

New players:

• A fully healthy Paige Bueckers, who as a freshman, was the NPOY. That is MANY times better than ANYTHING any other team out there added.
• Ice Brady, who not only was on the bench the entire season, but has also had lots of time to practice and grow with the team when she was healthy
• Jana El Alfy - a highly prized "Stewie-light" recruit with a big wingspan, great size, and mad skills for a forward who has also been with the team since January practicing, bonding, and working out with them all.
• KK Arnold - by most accounts a top 5-6 recruit and one of the 2 premier PG's in the entire class
• Ashlynn Shade - a "do everything" blue collar tough glue player who Geno won't pigeonhole into any one position. I think she may be the surprise of the class.
• Qadence Samuels - not uber high in the rankings (top 40 for the most part), but Geno and others seem very high on her. Will she have much of an impact on a very crowded and talented team? that remains to be seen, but her athleticism has been compared to Griffin, so Qadence had me at "Aubrey" LOL.

What about the returning players?

• I'm betting that Azzi was never fully healthy last season. Daniel Connolly nailed it when he said "Fudd’s success is entirely dependent on whether she can stay healthy. She’s a national player of the year talent when at 100%, but has a lengthy injury history dating back to high school and has only played in 50 of 73 possible games in her UConn career." Personally I think a lot of her problems are between her ears - I've never seen a player so good suffer from such a crisis of confidence. But the potential - wow!
• On Edwards - she has the chance to have a special senior year. Anything she adds to her arsenal will make her that much better. I'm hoping she plays at an AA level the entire season. She did at times last year, but not often enough.
• Nika - she will still have a crucial role, but i don't see her getting nearly as many minutes. And while her oft maligned shooting (which IMHO is off base) will continue to be discussed, I think her real problem is that she is too much of a 2-dimensional player. Sure she has tremendous energy and charisma, but i think she needs to add more variety to her dribbling and decision making.
• Griffin - to me she was an X-factor much of last season. There were some games where she dominated EVERYWHERE. Defense, offense, you name it. Other games she completely disappeared. If she has more consistency on the favorable side, watch out.
• DuCharme - poor kid. If she can keep her head out of the way of everyone's heads, elbows, knees, etc. I think she can be really good.
• Patterson, DeBerry, and Bettencourt - on a crowded and talented team, unless each of them makes big strides, they may find it hard to find playing time on the floor. Patterson, especially, was a bull in a china shop, but also a step slow almost everywhere she went. hopefully the game slows down for her. DeBerry and Ines are solid but on such a talented and deep team, unless they make bigger than expected strides, I'm not sure how much of an impact they will have.

I'd take a healthy Paige and Azzi as "new pieces" to UCONN every day and twice on Sunday over the addition of Morrow and Van Lith. IMHO, on paper, a healthy (and that's a very big caveat) UCONN is head and shoulders above every other team out there, and it's close, but really, not that close.

In an up beat post, you couldn't help but trash Nika, could you?

 

[hoopsnloops32]

When either has been healthy Edwards has been behind them as an option. Assuming they’re healthy this year, they’ll be option 1/2 and Edwards will be third.

They are both coming off serious injuries. Probably won’t see a fully recovered Paige until the end of the year and Azzi will be coming off surgery. For now I think you have to put them both behind Edwards the most recent AA who hasn’t had any injuries and will only continue to get better.

 

[hoopsfan22]

They are both coming off serious injuries. Probably won’t see a fully recovered Paige until the end of the year and Azzi will be coming off surgery. For now I think you have to put them both behind Edwards the most recent AA who hasn’t had any injuries and will only continue to get better.

What surgery did Azzi have?

 

[wingsfan055]

Key to UConn's season could well be the health of CD. When healthy, she has shown to be starter worthy. She also creates mismatches all over the court as she has both a perimeter and inside game.

Can't remember a situation with so many quality players having so many heath question marks heading into a season. If by a longshot that all 5 injured players come back near 100%, then yeah UConn will be very, very good.

 

[baggerbob]

So glad you can read at a 6th-grade level but your basketball knowledge is limited at best my friend Angel is a wing not a big and was the number 2 player in the country behind Paige. She currently plays as a point forward handling the rock as a guard hence the term backcourt. A word of advice as my momma told me "If you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all"..this forum is not graded for how someone writes rather it serves to express one's thoughts and genius people like you who look down on people are a hindrance to those who want to participate but don't want to deal with arrogant snobs.. feel free to give me a grade.

According to your defination of bigs the last 2 years that Uconn won championships they didn't have any bigs.
Stewie and Tuck wouldn't qualify.
Having good players who can defend and play multiple positions is more important.
How many championships has Griner won?.
She won 1 in college and 1 in the WNBA.
It's having a complete team , and not individuals that wins championships.

 

[jdote33]

I think they kind of are Really looking forward to seeing Azzi and Paige play together. They've had a couple games where they both clicked South Florida (Bahamas) NC State (elite 8 game) but even in those two games Nika didn't play big minutes. So against SF I remember Paige kinda making it a point to get Azzi going. So it will be nice to have another facilitator. But I agree, though I think it's wise to kinda temper expectations, but those two really could be top 5 players in the country next year, hitting like 6 3s a game between the two. I think as upperclassmen, and considering all they've been through I'm actually less worried about the mental side. Like if Azzi will defer to Paige too much or if Paige will worry about the rest of the team scoring. I'm only worried about defense next year.

 

[JellyBean]

I agree with @Bone Dog, when has UConn NOT been a Super Team? Since 2000, we have been a "Super Team". Other coaches and media "experts" always whine or complained about how "We are getting these top players" or "How can other programs compete, when UConn has Diana/Sue, Maya/Tina, & Breanna/Mo Jeff/KML/Nurse" on and on it went. We all know & heard about how "Bad is UConn for women's basketball?". UConn was a "Super Team" then and is a "Super Team" now.

We have one of the greatest shooters in women's basketball, that being Azzi. We have a generational talent in Paige. Her ability to lead, play on/off the ball, read plays two & three steps ahead, is off the charts! We have Aaliyah Edwards who stepped up and showcased her talents. We have an amazing player in Aubrey. Caroline should be better and healthy. Plus, a whole host of new talent that, on paper, like other teams, brings so much to the UConn program & some mystery.

WE Are a Super Team.

 

[Galaxyshooter]

According to your defination of bigs the last 2 years that Uconn won championships they didn't have any bigs.
Stewie and Tuck wouldn't qualify.
Having good players who can defend and play multiple positions is more important.
How many championships has Griner won?.
She won 1 in college and 1 in the WNBA.
It's having a complete team , and not individuals that wins championships.

Hence the question "does Uconn have a super team..!! which includes wings bigs and guards the question was about the team not just the positional breakdown.!!

 

[huskeynut]

I don't subscribe to the "super team" stuff. Someone's term to hype a team. In this case LSU.
No problem with LSU being ranked #1. It's meaningless right now. Click bait for Charlie.

As to UConn for 23 - 24, on paper a talented and scary team to face. There is depth.

Reality - we don't know yet how Ice, Jana, Amari, Ayanna will develop. Do I think 3 out of the 4 will come thru, yes. But there are a couple of other questions that must be answered. First, the health of Paige. Two years with serious injuries to the same leg. She's coming off an ACL injury and surgery. No one knows at this point what here recovery level will be. Azzi in the same situation. Has not been healthy for 2 seasons. Can her knee hold up to a full season? Nobody knows. Caroline with the concussions. This is very troubling considering her young age. As far as I know concussions are cumulative in nature. Is she one head shot away from not being able to play? We have many questions that need to be answered. We will not see any real answers until late October, early November.

I am cautiously optimistic.

 

[MooseJaw]

Om paper we are a super team, in reality time will tell. We can beat our gums as much as we want, it won't change the fact that until our team plays this coming season, we are a potential super team in the waiting. Stay healthy ladies, please, please 2 or 3 of you I hope will be wearing knee braces.

 

[hoopsfan22]

I don't even think it's a super team on paper. This was a sweet sixteen team last season that lost two starters, but gains an NPOY caliber player back from major knee injury. Everyone else is in the good to very good or unproven because they've played little to no minutes category.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

I don't even think it's a super team on paper. This was a sweet sixteen team last season that lost two starters, but gains an NPOY caliber player back from major knee injury. Everyone else is in the good to very good or unproven because they've played little to no minutes category.

Super Teams aren't based on on the court results. There are 3 players predicted to be picked in the first round draft for next year and 2 players predicted to be picked in the first round of the following years draft. That is a super team.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

What surgery did Azzi have?

She said she was planning on getting surgery on her foot which hasn't healed since her 2021 injury to it.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Super Teams aren't based on on the court results.

Shouldn't on the court results be the only thing that matters? If we're talking about hype, then sure UConn is a super team, but I don't really care about hype or internet fame or how many free pairs of shoes or burritos the super players get.

 

[Bone Dog]

Shouldn't on the court results be the only thing that matters? If we're talking about hype, then sure UConn is a super team, but I don't really care about hype or internet fame or how many free pairs of shoes or burritos the super players get.

I think the point is this term only refers to the fears everyone else has about a particular team before the season starts.

 

[baggerbob]

I don't subscribe to the "super team" stuff. Someone's term to hype a team. In this case LSU.
No problem with LSU being ranked #1. It's meaningless right now. Click bait for Charlie.

As to UConn for 23 - 24, on paper a talented and scary team to face. There is depth.

Reality - we don't know yet how Ice, Jana, Amari, Ayanna will develop. Do I think 3 out of the 4 will come thru, yes. But there are a couple of other questions that must be answered. First, the health of Paige. Two years with serious injuries to the same leg. She's coming off an ACL injury and surgery. No one knows at this point what here recovery level will be. Azzi in the same situation. Has not been healthy for 2 seasons. Can her knee hold up to a full season? Nobody knows. Caroline with the concussions. This is very troubling considering her young age. As far as I know concussions are cumulative in nature. Is she one head shot away from not being able to play? We have many questions that need to be answered. We will not see any real answers until late October, early November.

I am cautiously optimistic.

Multiple concussions can lead to being not cleared to play, and end a career.

 

[Blueballer]

I've always thought if Paige and Azzi play up to expectations and stay healthy we have a super team.

 

[Urshurak]

UConns issue isn't LSU. UConns issue is keeping healthy players on the court. If they can finally bake that cake, it will be a happy party indeed.

UConn beats LSU in the Championship if that happens. Watch.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Shouldn't on the court results be the only thing that matters? If we're talking about hype, then sure UConn is a super team, but I don't really care about hype or internet fame or how many free pairs of shoes or burritos the super players get.

No, otherwise UConn would have 11 super teams. The only Super teams UConn had didn’t win championships.

 

[sun]

Beware of the UConn Super Duper team.
Watch how they win in the end.

 

[SCGamecock]

LSU has a super team.
UConn has a super team.

It would be a major disservice if these two teams fail to meet before the tournament. A responsibility of being an elite program is playing marquee games during the regular season. We know UConn will play a marquee schedule. Looking forward to seeing what Kim puts together with the preseason #1 team.

SC is relatively inexperienced and reloading. Playing a reloading SC and comparing the outcome of a common opponent will not suffice. Play one another and leave no doubt who is better.

 

[hoophuskee]

Fudd was a star for those 6 games but the consistency piece hasn’t been there largely due to injuries in her career, so I wouldn’t classify her as a star on Bueckers/Clark’s level, though she had a great showing vs Iowa and has glimpses of brilliance.

Ducharme is another one similar to Fudd in that she’s had stretches of great play but more stretches of being injured or less than 100%. She was stellar in many games as a freshman and seemed comfortable in a big role, but her impact has directly correlated with Fudd being injured and her minutes often are greatly reduced when Fudd can play.
I don’t see an opening for her to get a lot of playing time next year with Fudd/Griffin back, so I think she’ll be in a smaller role though I believe she has the talent to play a bigger role and may slide into that spot her senior year depending on who returns. Also, Ducharme’s injuries are more concerning than anyone’s IMO considering they’re head injuries. Hopefully she’s healthy but being prone to head injuries is a scary thing.

Back to super teams—to me they are when you take a bunch of proven stars or go to players and they join forces to try and win. At LSU that’s clearly the case. At UCONN I think a case could be made with everyone hopefully healthy and if prized recruits Brady/Arnold/Shade are ready to make big contributions. At this point I wouldn’t classify UCONN a “super team” but if everyone is healthy and clicking on all cylinders they could be. Going into next year I’d say they’re one of the favorites to win the title next year along with LSU. I don’t think of a super team as a necessarily great distinction btw— they often have an overload of talent and are prone to chemistry struggles. They often out talent lesser teams but can lose to teams that have better chemistry on/off the court. Managing all of the personalities and talent present unique challenges that can’t always be overcome. Star players have to keep egos in check and be willing to sacrifice shots to set screens and take lesser roles. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

You've mentioned injuries with both players. My point has been "if healthy." You and I were disagreeing with the poster hoopsnloops in that he or she was saying that Paige and Azzi are behind Edwards. Bottomline is the argument for Edwards is "availability." The argument for Paige and Azzi is that if healthy we know what we have seen and it's Azzi and Paige.

While you pointed out that there was specific games Azzi was the higher option, I similarly say in specific games that when Azzi is healthy, she is more than what you give her credit for by calling her just "potentially a star." To further this, you'll mention "consistency," - well that's what the poster hoopsnloops implies when he or she favors Edwards because of Aziz’s injuries she hasn't been as consistent as Edwards.

For this discussion for me I dismiss "consistency" points. We're all just making opinions projecting how a team and players perform. And I know what I saw with Azzi- I saw as you did Azzi was the #1 option and the reason why OI know she was the #1 option is because she is better than Edwards, the 3rd team All-American. There's a reason why Geno did this because as we know Azzi is better.

And therefore, we should have no problem taking the next leap and ask if Azzi is better than Van Lith and Morrow? And imo ofc she is. when healthy,

And a similar story but a level below Edwards is Ducharme. I can't close my eyes (not saying you are. Not one bit - just talking about me.) to what I've seen. And at a lesser level when it comes to Azzi - I can't put my hands over my ears and pretend that I haven't heard the accolades from the coaching staff regarding Azzi. No one else other than Paige gets those accolades to the degree Azzi gets. I can't dismiss that for such an open-ended comment like "She hasn’t been consistent." Because at what game do we make a declaration that a player like Azzi "is consistent?" It's too open-ended and subjective vs what I know what I've seen and the logic of what I've seen backed up by the coaches and past Azzi Fudd history. It all matches that when she is healthy, she is a superstar and she showed in vs some very good competition. her game wasn't "stopped" when she was healthy.

 

[hoophuskee]

Shouldn't on the court results be the only thing that matters? If we're talking about hype, then sure UConn is a super team, but I don't really care about hype or internet fame or how many free pairs of shoes or burritos the super players get.

If that's the case then there is no such thing as a Super Team until the seaosn is over, correct?

SO if what you say it all matters what's performance on the court, LSU has a much different team, so no one can declare them a Super Team either, right?

 

[bballnut90]

You've mentioned injuries with both players. My point has been "if healthy." You and I were disagreeing with the poster hoopsnloops in that he or she was saying that Paige and Azzi are behind Edwards. Bottomline is the argument for Edwards is "availability." The argument for Paige and Azzi is that if healthy we know what we have seen and it's Azzi and Paige.

While you pointed out that there was specific games Azzi was the higher option, I similarly say in specific games that when Azzi is healthy, she is more than what you give her credit for by calling her just "potentially a star." To further this, you'll mention "consistency," - well that's what the poster hoopsnloops implies when he or she favors Edwards because of Aziz’s injuries she hasn't been as consistent as Edwards.

For this discussion for me I dismiss "consistency" points. We're all just making opinions projecting how a team and players perform. And I know what I saw with Azzi- I saw as you did Azzi was the #1 option and the reason why OI know she was the #1 option is because she is better than Edwards, the 3rd team All-American. There's a reason why Geno did this because as we know Azzi is better.

And therefore, we should have no problem taking the next leap and ask if Azzi is better than Van Lith and Morrow? And imo ofc she is. when healthy,

And a similar story but a level below Edwards is Ducharme. I can't close my eyes (not saying you are. Not one bit - just talking about me.) to what I've seen. And at a lesser level when it comes to Azzi - I can't put my hands over my ears and pretend that I haven't heard the accolades from the coaching staff regarding Azzi. No one else other than Paige gets those accolades to the degree Azzi gets. I can't dismiss that for such an open-ended comment like "She hasn’t been consistent." Because at what game do we make a declaration that a player like Azzi "is consistent?" It's too open-ended and subjective vs what I know what I've seen and the logic of what I've seen backed up by the coaches and past Azzi Fudd history. It all matches that when she is healthy, she is a superstar and she showed in vs some very good competition. her game wasn't "stopped" when she was healthy.

Azzi was great in the 6 game stretch when she was healthy last year and was a star. When she hasn't been healthy, her shooting has been quite streaky and she wasn't playing at an All American level. Some games she's on, others she is off and doesn't make as much of an impact--that's inconsistency. Box scores tell the story. It's hard for me to solidify her as a star when we effectively have just a 6 game stretch to go off of and make that conclusion. If she can maintain that level of play through a full season, then yes, she's a bonafide star, but right now I wouldn't make that distinction based off a 6 game stretch. It just isn't a big enough body of work and players can have hot and cold streaks when they play.

She very well may be better than both Van Lith and Morrow, but I think both of those players are more proven commodities based on their play the last 2-3 years. FWIW if I'm drafting a team, I'd take Fudd over either, but Hailey Van Lith/Morrow have proven to be stars at this level where Fudd's body of work isn't there yet.