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Message: [QUOTE="The CDR-Ret, post: 4291203, member: 10751"] AP and Ice appear to be high energy hard workers, and if Amari understands the "practice at FULL speed" mentality so that the real game slows down for her, IMO the "Bigs" issue is solved. I know that is relying upon TWO Freshmen to grow up in a hurry, but that is what I saw with Caroline Ducharme and Azzi. Dorka was on the trajectory [fully healed] to be a steadying force in the paint, and AE was learning to "bang" down low without fouling too much [after she had 4 vs. Stanford, she played 16-ish minutes without a foul before fouling out]. As to replacing CW & Momma E, Caroline Ducharme showed consistency and scoring ability [mid-range, driving, and from beyond the arc] along with good defense, so she can step into many of CW's minutes and take on the "lock-down defender" mentality vs. opponent's 3 and/or 4. Momma E's replacement would be a combination of Azzi and Muhl [could be Muhl^2 if we can pick up Nika's little sister from Illinois - not sure if any of the coaches are following her....]. Azzi has the capacity to replace ALL of the scoring from CW, EW & ONO by herself, and Paige can pick-up the slack on any given night. Paige might even respond to the "score-first to open up the entire court for your teammates" coaching Geno has been trying to teach her to apply in big games. Paige can do what she does naturally in the blow-outs, but she should consider the experiment of being the "pilot" [from Top Gun, "Mav, time to do some of that pilot sh--!!!!"] of showing how to score the first 6 - 10 points to force the defense to collapse on her, and THEN start the "dishing of dimes" [March of Dimes was already taken....]. Picking up transfers from the portal, IMO need two years of eligibility remaining, as the ones who stayed for the two years have had great success at UCONN, the "one & dones" not so much.... IMO it is a matter of buying into the program that gets you to the next level [WNBA, Olympics, & overseas] and wanting to show what you learned in March & April as a stepping stone to a GREAT 2nd year. If there is one or two of those women [two year buy in like Dorka, although we have not seen her GREAT 2nd year, yet] in the portal they will matriculate to UCONN and be successful. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach