We all remember that last year’s team with basically six players that came within a whisker of defeating Iowa and making it to the NCAA finals. With a loaded roster of 14 players for this season, the expectation of many of us was that this was going to be our season to win the 12th national crown. The results thus far have been disappointing with two losses against the team’s most formidable opponents.
Our vaunted depth has proven to be much less than anticipated. The Huskies started with 14 players, but 3 (Ducharme, Patterson, and Griffin) are out, 1 has had an injury ridden career (Fudd), and 2 (Samuels and Ziebel) are not currently part of the rotation. We are left then with 2 superb players (Bueckers and Strong), 1 5th year senior who has been inconsistent (Chen), 2 “centers” (Brady and El Afry) who have not performed up to expectations and were non-factors against USC, and 3 serviceable players (Arnold, Chelli, Shade).
The optimists say, wait until Fudd and Griffin get back. Unfortunately, Azzi has been injured and unable to play for much of her UConn career and can we really expect that we will finally see her healthy enough to play to her potential? Griffin has lost two years to injury and we can hope, but can we expect, that when she returns that she will be the player that she has been in the past? Here are two big question marks.
Second, the team does not have a reliable center and we can only hope that beating up a series of weak Big East teams will help rectify this problem. Yes, El Afry is only a first year player and Brady is a sophomore with not a great deal of experience, but I remember freshmen Tina Charles and Stephanie Dolson who had much stronger first years.
Third, our team’s defense against the three against both Notre Dame and Southern California has been abysmal. How many open threes have these two opponents hit against our Huskies? Far too many. While on the other hand, both of these teams have been effective in defending the three. Both games were lost because of the team’s inability to hit long range shots.
Although the Huskies had a chance to win both games, in both, our opponents were the better teams and their best player out played our best player due to ND and USC’s strong defensive work against Bueckers.
Can the situation be turned around? The games at Tennessee and at South Carolina in February will answer this question. And the answer is, of course, yes, BUT, the team’s defense and rebounding must improve, the Huskies will have to be able to score from long range, there has to be marked improvement of the inside game, and we need more than two reliable scorers. If, and it is a big if, both Fudd and Griffin return to full strength, then a final four and national championship become real possibilities, otherwise?
Our vaunted depth has proven to be much less than anticipated. The Huskies started with 14 players, but 3 (Ducharme, Patterson, and Griffin) are out, 1 has had an injury ridden career (Fudd), and 2 (Samuels and Ziebel) are not currently part of the rotation. We are left then with 2 superb players (Bueckers and Strong), 1 5th year senior who has been inconsistent (Chen), 2 “centers” (Brady and El Afry) who have not performed up to expectations and were non-factors against USC, and 3 serviceable players (Arnold, Chelli, Shade).
The optimists say, wait until Fudd and Griffin get back. Unfortunately, Azzi has been injured and unable to play for much of her UConn career and can we really expect that we will finally see her healthy enough to play to her potential? Griffin has lost two years to injury and we can hope, but can we expect, that when she returns that she will be the player that she has been in the past? Here are two big question marks.
Second, the team does not have a reliable center and we can only hope that beating up a series of weak Big East teams will help rectify this problem. Yes, El Afry is only a first year player and Brady is a sophomore with not a great deal of experience, but I remember freshmen Tina Charles and Stephanie Dolson who had much stronger first years.
Third, our team’s defense against the three against both Notre Dame and Southern California has been abysmal. How many open threes have these two opponents hit against our Huskies? Far too many. While on the other hand, both of these teams have been effective in defending the three. Both games were lost because of the team’s inability to hit long range shots.
Although the Huskies had a chance to win both games, in both, our opponents were the better teams and their best player out played our best player due to ND and USC’s strong defensive work against Bueckers.
Can the situation be turned around? The games at Tennessee and at South Carolina in February will answer this question. And the answer is, of course, yes, BUT, the team’s defense and rebounding must improve, the Huskies will have to be able to score from long range, there has to be marked improvement of the inside game, and we need more than two reliable scorers. If, and it is a big if, both Fudd and Griffin return to full strength, then a final four and national championship become real possibilities, otherwise?
