Front court

[HopJim]

I'm thinking starting 5 will be Paige, Azzi, Muhl, Griffin, and Edwards

Griffin has the athleticism to "play big" a la Gabby Williams (just not to the same extent).

Ducharme will be first off the bench and can spell either the guards or forwards with her versatility.

That would be one of the more entertaining teams in college basketball.

 

[Orc]

So with Jana gone… how does our front court look like? Jana’s injury hurts the depth and size of our front court. Lack of size will be an issue if we don’t get another big for this szn. Ice and Aaliyah will have to be great for us and Amari and Ayanna too.

Small ball again. Yayyy

 

[Bone Dog]

When we win the NC without Jana, next summer every other coach will have to be thinking “Oh, cr*p. They’re gonna be even stronger next year.”

I say, let’s win the NC this year for Jana, and next year Paige and Azzi can win one with Jana.

 

[Bone Dog]

Besides AE, UConn has no experienced real front court players, and that included Jana. They will score, but need rebounding and inside defense. Can't compete with the best without that, and don't know where that will come from.

I’m pretty sure LSU just won an NC with no serious front court besides Angel. We’ll have Aaliyah and a bunch of talented young bigs. If Kim can do it, I’m sure Geno can, too.

 

[boontonbomber]

I’m pretty sure LSU just won an NC with no serious front court besides Angel. We’ll have Aaliyah and a bunch of talented young bigs. If Kim can do it, I’m sure Geno can, too.

Yeh, but they have Angel again, and UConn doesn't have anyone like her. Only 6'3", but so quick and anticipates so well. Which of our young bigs have shown anything yet? I'll be thrilled when I see it.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

I’m pretty sure LSU just won an NC with no serious front court besides Angel. We’ll have Aaliyah and a bunch of talented young bigs. If Kim can do it, I’m sure Geno can, too.

Now that is proper thinking!!!!!

Faith is believing that which has not yet been seen. Faith and cheering will go a long way here on the 'yard...

It will extend the lives of our 90+ year old Husky fans as well. What's not to like?!?

 

[Notyetready]

Yeh, but they have Angel again, and UConn doesn't have anyone like her. Only 6'3", but so quick and anticipates so well. Which of our young bigs have shown anything yet? I'll be thrilled when I see it.

I think Aaliyah, who BYers are touting as an AA candidate, will be a match for almost any big in D1, with the exception of a few tall centers. Certainly good enough for Reese who Edwards won't have to guard on the perimeter much. Of course Aaliyah's outside shooting is measureably better this year so Reese will be forced outside to guard her.

 

[Cuango]

Raise your hand if you would rather have Angel Reese than Aaliyah! I doubt any UConn hands are shooting up! Reese is a great rebounder, I’ll give her that, but can’t shoot a lick from outside. Aaliyah has improved her shooting every year and this year she is going to be something special! Losing Jana is admittedly a devastating blow but Ice will step up and I’m pretty sure we will get a nice surprise from Ayanna and/or Amari! I still like our chances!

 

[UCONNRPh]

Expect CD to play the 4 more this season. She has the size and skill to play a post game. Of course with her concussion history, that's not ideal.

Or else, you're depending on 3 players (Brady, Amari, Ayanna) who have very little experience, are coming off serious injury, and there are performance issues.

To say this team is lacking depth in the post, is an understatement. We have way too many guards/wings and not enough bigs/posts. Our Title chances took a big hit with Jana's injury.

my guess is Geno will roll the dice and play to our strengths. Play small ball and hope AE can play and be productive with big minutes in the post.

I understand how that makes sense, but I wouldn't risk her health again. She is very fragile when it comes to physicality and we need her all season. I would keep her away from any head-banging,

 

[Bald Husky]

Now it's "Brain Reset" time. Every now and then I remember Janas injury and then start swearing to myself, asking why. Then I remember what we do have. Gang, we still have more than enough to win the NC this year. Our Bigs took a hit the other day, but we still have a few possibly great players to put on the floor. We know Aaliyah, I believe Ice will be a force after watching and practicing for a year, Ayanna has been practicing her shooting(nobody questions her rebounding ability), and finally Amari. I stated before that she was not crucial, but now she is. If Amari can give us 10 minutes of good defense and a few points than we will be in good shape in the post. What we lost most with Jana is her height. Only Amari is as tall, so when we encounter a big girl she may have to step up. I said it last year, but I have to say it again that NOW is her time. If she can show us why she was recruited by Geno, then we can still be a great team.

 

[HopJim]

Many predictions prior to Jana's injury that Ice would start or be first big off the bench. With all due respect to Jana, her injury does not measurably change my projections of UConn's success this coming year.

 

[Tonyc]

Well its another tuff pill to take...Jana out. This give opportunities to every body else to step up. Yeah we will miss Jana for the most part of this year. Next year we will be even better. I expect Amari and Yana to step up and get some minutes. We have some AA players in Paige Azzi and Aaliyah. No other team has that. They will carry us. The Griff will be special this season. ICE will get her minutes. Caroline will shine this season and make a move to be an AA. Caroline has shown what she can do and she can do it when we need it.

Now I know we are all thinking about injuries or reoccurring injuries this season. That's because of the nitemare we have gone through last season. Lets focus on what we've got and what we've got is the best team in WCBB and everybody else is playing for second place. We are loaded and as the season progresses and the underclassman develop this will be a awesome team.

 

[Bone Dog]

I agree that Jana showed us how great she could be over the last few weeks. But prior to that, no one on the BY was seriously expecting her to start. The near unanimous opinion was that she and Amari would split the time spelling Aaliyah and Ice. Our widely shared confidence in this season’s NC run was based on the expectation that Jana would be a solid rotation player. From that point of view, the team has lost a solid front court rotation player. But the foundation of the team’s NC run is as it ever was.

Now I happen to agree that she was beginning to show signs that she might crack the starting lineup this season, perhaps by February. This was an exciting development, a sign of greatness for the next iteration of the dynasty. It looks like this injury may put the dynasty on hold temporarily — though if Paige returns for Azzi’s senior year I am not worried about that. But we are still in a position to run the table this year. In fact, this may even motivate the stars. They know what it’s like to sit and watch games in a leg brace, and they may well feel they have to win it all precisely for Jana.

 

[meyers7]

What's that? We're picking starting lineups already? Oh, goody!

Already? We've been picking starting lineups since March 26th.

 

[JellyBean]

My kind of coach!! Love your thinking. With this type of talent, length, and athleticism, I would be pressing for 40 Minutes!! This team, if they ain't in shape now, they would be by the end of Christmas Break. We got the bodies. I am not sure why we don't press more. Like aggressively press.

 

[Alydar]

This thread is testimony to how short our collective memory is. Just a few weeks ago, we worried that we had insufficient front court depth, and no one thought Jana was going to be ready to play more than 10 mins/g this year. Now Jana is injured and we’re acting like we lost a 30+ mins/g player.

In fact, I suspected Jana was going to make a huge contribution for us this year. It was going to be another UConn November surprise. I think we’re still among the NC favorites. But it would have been just a little bit sweeter if Jana could have been healthy for this season’s run.

We? Some of us thought UConn had amazing depth at every position. There wasn't a "project" on the bench. In fact El Alfy was the biggest question mark but her play in U19 was the cherry on top. Her injury is tragic for her but the team is still very deep everywhere. This isn't Tenn losing Key or Stanford losing Brink.
The euphoric predictions about El Alfy in the last week have now been replaced by panic over replacing her. Replacing? She's played zero minutes. Are there any Cardoso's playing in the U19's. Brinks? Does Egypt play a motion/option offense? Do they play a switching man to man?
I thought and still think that El Alfy has great potential. But so do Brady and Patterson. Deberry had a herniated disc repaired after unsuccessfully "dealing with it" for 2 years. We saw how Griffin's game blossomed when she could practice again. All we know about Deberry is that she rarely played. We heard she is an underrated outside shooter and nothing else. Maybe she missed too much practice/conditioning to be trusted. She seemed lost at times when she did play and yet Geno never had bad things to say and her attitude on the bench with her team mates was excellent. Deberry was the No 5 recruit on Prospect Nation. She is 6'6" and she may be pain free for the first time in years. Two weeks ago I thought she was a better bet to contribute than El Alfy.

No one ever feels sorry for UConn fans and there are good reasons for that. We are blessed.

 

[Alydar]

Yeh, but they have Angel again, and UConn doesn't have anyone like her. Only 6'3", but so quick and anticipates so well. Which of our young bigs have shown anything yet? I'll be thrilled when I see it.

I sure hope Edwards' father doesn't find you.

How did Rice do against top 5 teams? There was only one, Scar, and she didn't have the same success in that game as she did bottom-feeding in the rest of D1.

LSU has no one to match Bueckers, Fudd or Edwards. Griffin will be fine vs Rice. And while UConn can matchup with anyone, no one will come close to matching their synergy. This isn't a one on offense nor is it a straight man to man defense. U

There are far more questions in Baton Rouge than in Storrs. Conn's success over the years has largely been due to teamwork. LSU has added talent and could have three new starters.

 

[Bone Dog]

I sure hope Edwards' father doesn't find you.

How did Rice do against top 5 teams? There was only one, Scar, and she didn't have the same success in that game as she did bottom-feeding in the rest of D1.

LSU has no one to match Bueckers, Fudd or Edwards. Griffin will be fine vs Rice. And while UConn can matchup with anyone, no one will come close to matching their synergy. This isn't a one on offense nor is it a straight man to man defense. U

There are far more questions in Baton Rouge than in Storrs. Conn's success over the years has largely been due to teamwork. LSU has added talent and could have three new starters.

Hammer, meet nail. You hit it dead on. To put it in the simplest terms, we will have a significant height advantage over LSU. I predict Kim will start Reese Morrow Flau’jae Hailey Van Lith and Poole — that’s 6’3”, 6’1”, 5’10”, 5’7”, 5’8. And we might well start 6’3”, 6’3”, 6’2, 6’0, 5’11”. Even before we consider the relative talent of these lineups, it would be absurd to think we don’t have a height advantage.

Now, I like Poole as a pg. She has near Nika-level defensive intensity. And Flau’jae showed some defensive skills as well as good offense. And Hailey Van Lith is already a known quantity on offense. But there’s no way I would give this trio the edge over Paige Azzi Caroline, and I doubt anyone else on the BY would take that suggestion seriously.

In the front court, I think the edge also goes to UConn. Reese and Morrow bring a lot of rebounding and scoring punch. But so do Aaliyah and Ice. I don’t believe Rosario will be more than an occasional rotation player this season and it ought to be well within Amari’s abilities to outplay her. As for Morrow, in addition to Ice, Ayanna should match up really well against her on defense. It seems to come down to whether Reese can outplay Aaliyah, and I seriously doubt it.

And when it comes to wildcard players, I think LSU has nothing like Aubrey. In the transition game, I think we’ll have a significant advantage. And I’ve left the other freshmen out of the equation. KK, Q and Ashlynn could well contribute in surprising way. Mikayla Williams could be an X factor, but she brings no new skills to Kim’s lineup.

The unit that may give LSU the most trouble could be a small ball lineup: Paige Azzi Aubrey Caroline and Aaliyah. We can go big too. Ultimately, we may be too fast for LSU and too strong. Also, I suspect that in a neutral court Morrow will be in foul trouble much if the game.

 

[Bigboote]

I think that predicting Jana would start is putting the cart before the horse. We haven't seen her play a minute in the UConn offensive or defensive scheme, nor against high-level D I competition.

On the other hand, I totally agree with the bolded statement. It was as bad an event for UConn's depth as I could imagine.

 

[Bigboote]

I absolutely agree.

I've been thinking this team has the potential to be elite defensively. But then I thought the same thing this time last year. At that point we hadn't lost Paige and Ice.

On the one hand, UConn has Paige and Ice back this year. On the other, watching Dorka in the WNBA, she's a way better defender than I'd given her credit for.

Back to pressing -- I think a lineup of Nika, Paige, Caroline, Aubrey and a big could terrorize another team. Nika and Aubrey are elite defenders (so is Paige); Paige and Caroline are amazing at anticipating passes, and Aaliyah/Ice/Amari can be rim protectors. We could see five or so consecutive trips down the floor with the opponents not getting shots off.

 

[HuskyNan]

If you’ve been watching Jana for 2 weeks then you noticed her defense, such as it was. Jana plays defense like a freshman, which is what she is. Who knows how it would have rounded out by late in the season but the defense wasn’t developed enough for Jana to start or be a major player right off the bat.

 

[Cuango]

I sure hope Edwards' father doesn't find you.

How did Rice do against top 5 teams? There was only one, Scar, and she didn't have the same success in that game as she did bottom-feeding in the rest of D1.

LSU has no one to match Bueckers, Fudd or Edwards. Griffin will be fine vs Rice. And while UConn can matchup with anyone, no one will come close to matching their synergy. This isn't a one on offense nor is it a straight man to man defense. U

There are far more questions in Baton Rouge than in Storrs. Conn's success over the years has largely been due to teamwork. LSU has added talent and could have three new starters.

Agreed! I doubt many (any?) on the Boneyard would trade Edwards for Reese! I certainly wouldn’t! Likewise Paige, Azzi, or Caroline for Hailey Van Lith. As for Morrow, call me when she has shown an ability to play team basketball! Mulkey admittedly has assembled 3 very good individuals and (to be fair has what looks to be a legit star coming in Williams) but she has some work to do to successfully turn that group into a “team”. I’m not seeing where the pg play is coming from, Van Lith is far from a pure point guard but has allegedly said she transferred in order to play PG because that will have to be her position in the W. Finally, aside from the actual play of all those individuals, at least three of those players are very strong personalities who are used to being the alpha dog! We’ll see how that team handles a bit of adversity. Perhaps all will be “Hail fellow, well met” and they will blend into a well-oiled machine, but I have my doubts!

 

[HopJim]

While I disagree with very little that has been said in these posts, I wonder how many teams will have a taller frontline than UConn. While others likely have more in depth knowledge of this coming year's competition, I can only think of a few in season games where the other team will have bigs as good as UConn's. Yes, while there are 1-2 teams whose height could make them difficult to play in the playoffs, UConn should have advantages at every other position. While I always feel more height is better, Huskies are well positioned for the coming year. We likely have discussed this point more than it deserves.