That's why Geno needs role players and walkons to play when the game is decided. Cuts down on mental & physical fatigue for the starters, which will help avoid injury, and builds experience for the relief players.
The flip side of that, Nan, is showcased in Geno's comments that having players of a significantly lower caliber of talent is a "drain" on the coaching and the rest of the team ("
Some kids who we take a chance on and they get here and it doesn't work out. While they are here and it is not working out, it is a drain. They don't realize it is a drain because they can't keep up with everybody at practice and it make it difficult so going into the season feeling like it is going to be more competitive than ever"). So which is it? Do we need role players and walk ons to round out the team with numbers, or is it too much of a drain having kids at a much lower level?
Hopefully Geno has finally learned from one of the very few consistent errors he's made in recruiting (IMHO) - casting too narrow a net. I get that some may vociferously disagree, but even the staff has said classes of 2, and especially 1, should never happen. They didn't offer Bria Holmes in part because they thought they had Diamond. They went after very few kids from 2013 and by the time they realized they were swinging and missing on the few kids they were after, it was too late to get any kids in the 20-50 range. Geno's a stubborn guy (it took him several more years than most other coaches to stop waiting till well into the junior year of HS to start recruiting kids. Now he starts looking at them much earlier and letting them know UCONN is interested).
Fortunately, for 2014, they are involved with at least 7 kids we know about - Ekmark (verbal), Wilson, Turner, Canada, Caldwell, Calhoun, Drummer, and 1 other I'm aware of but unsure if she's being pursued actively. If we don't get McCall I think they should look at even more kids with size - White (6'4" post from NC), Belton (6'2" forward from MD), and Rice (6'3" post from OH). I also think they ought to look at Mitchell, the #1 player in the class, and a guard from Ohio as well.
I totally get that not every kid is right for UCONN, nor will every kid want to play for UCONN. And no matter how early UCONN is on a kid, the coaches can't just snap their fingers to land recruits. But from everything we read, Holmes was really interested in UCONN. And, if we'd landed her, they could have asked her to redshirt a year to effectively be part of the 2013 class, just like they did years ago with Jess Moore when we were loaded with post players her freshman year. It's also too bad the staff missed out on Peyton Little and Xylena McDaniel from 2012. They certainly could have helped with depth. I guess in hindsight the coaches must have seen something they didn't like in Holmes.
At the time Lauren and Michala left, I think people just shrugged and said "oh well best of luck". Which of course, we all feel (best of luck). As Nan pointed out, injuries most often occur at times of mental and physical fatigue. But with a very small class in 2013, it puts the team in a much more precarious position. A team of 9 means 1 starter is always on the court even at the end of games in blowouts (which there will be many of next year).
I'd much rather have a team of 14 or 15 with a kid every other year deciding out than the situation we find ourselves in with potentially a team of 9 or 10 at most (for the start of 2013-2014)...
Ultimately, a class of only 1 won't stop us from competing for NC's the next 3 years, but that means he will need a class of at the very least 4, and possibly 5 or even 6 from 2014. Not an ideal distribution of recruits.
