Game Friday not looking good

[Heytherego]

 

[JellyBean]

Selfishly, I want to see the team out on the floor. Missing some UConn basketball! However, I do understand and want the players, coaching staff, and all of the folks that work the games to be safe. It is all about the health and safety of these young ladies, the coaching staff, and all of the workers at the games. If there is a game. Cool! If the game gets called off. Cool. I will understand and wait for the next game.

 

[hoopsfan22]

So punish other teams because UConn doesn't have enough players?

 

[BostonBay]

At this rate, Paige will be back for UConn's next game
If the Big East doesn't reduce the sit out time from 10 days to 5, we'll never have a season.

 

[TeamFirst!]

The NY Times has a decent overview on this issue today:

The Field Is Crowded, but Mostly Behind South Carolina (Published 2022)

Increasing parity in women’s college basketball, and a slew of coronavirus interruptions, makes the regular season less predictable. But the Gamecocks still stand out.

www.nytimes.com

 

[BostonBay]

Geno's comments also implies not so good news on the injury front with Azzi, Nika, and AG.

 

[LoboDays]

This has been a hell of a 2 months. From a deep, talented roster of 14 to 7 available players and then to not enough players to get a team on the court. The Portal, injuries and Covid beat us down. I don’t what the powers-to-be will decide to do with this season but I’m still hoping we get to see this team at full strength heading into the Tourney

 

[TeamFirst!]

Apparently 4 Uconn women have now had covid since the break? We may not hit the minimum of 25 games to qualify for the tournament:

Geno Auriemma is ‘not too optimistic’ UConn women’s basketball will have enough players to play Friday at Villanova

After a host of COVID-19 issues the past week, No. 11 UConn women’s basketball may still be a ways off from making its return to the floor. Coach Geno Auriemma told Bob Joyce on Monday’…

www.courant.com

 

[hoopsfan22]

Apparently 4 Uconn women have now had covid since the break? We may not hit the minimum of 25 games to qualify for the tournament:

Geno Auriemma is ‘not too optimistic’ UConn women’s basketball will have enough players to play Friday at Villanova

After a host of COVID-19 issues the past week, No. 11 UConn women’s basketball may still be a ways off from making its return to the floor. Coach Geno Auriemma told Bob Joyce on Monday’…

www.courant.com

If we assume we will win the Big East tournament, we need to play at minimum 13 more games over the next 8 weeks to make 25 games. We're probably getting too late into the season to make up some of these games, so I'm assuming they just won't be played (yet another reason to dislike the Big East conference schedule).

 

[Cornell Lt]

This is turning into a lost season. There are soo many injuries, so many postponed/cancelled games and from this fans perspective a lot less enthusiasm than normal.

 

[Bald Husky]

If the team is taking the proper precautions, why do we still have enough co-vid issues that will affect a game on Friday? That will be 12 days from the time they were due back from holiday. One player stayed home, so the isolation should have started at that time. Other teams are making it back within 10 days, so why is it taking our team so long? I know the injuries are causing the problems also, but why wouldn't we be ready by Friday if we are following the CDC guidelines? Well, I'm sure they are being cautious, just wondering out loud. Building on my frustration is the news that Azzi and Nika still are not ready to come back. Wow, maybe we won't have a season after all, we are running out of time, as well as playing dates. I hope that Geno can somehow get us going again before it is too late. Ok, I said it, so let's hope we can move forward soon, cause along with the men, the rest of the basketball world is leaving us behind.

 

[southofnorth]

So punish other teams because UConn doesn't have enough players?

A quick look at all the cancellations/postponements shows this is not just a UConn problem

 

[Tonyc]

Dont think its happening and dont think Sunday against Creighton will happen either due to the fact that Geno mentioned some have Covid and some are still home with Covid. He also mentioned 10 days quarantine and 5 days of practice should bring us to around January 11. With Azzi and Nika looking like they will be the first back and there is no time line on that well this might up down the road. Hopefully we hear something about when they will return next week.

 

[hoopsfan22]

A quick look at all the cancellations/postponements shows this is not just a UConn problem

Looking at the top 25 teams it doesn't look like it's impacting other teams nearly as much as almost all of the other teams have played 12-13-14 games while we're stuck on 9. How many other teams have stopped their season?

 

[mbr33ct]

Looking at the top 25 teams it doesn't look like it's impacting other teams nearly as much as almost all of the other teams have played 12-13-14 games while we're stuck on 9. How many other teams have stopped their season?

Ok, you got me Arizona has played 10 games.

 

[f1f1ferrari]

Looking at the top 25 teams it doesn't look like it's impacting other teams nearly as much as almost all of the other teams have played 12-13-14 games while we're stuck on 9. How many other teams have stopped their season?

The discrepancy in games played isn't just from Covid. Our schedule from the start was backloaded. November and December combined had only 11 games scheduled, while January and February EACH had 10 games scheduled. That's a major factor in why we have fewer games played than the other programs.

 

[oldude]

That sounds like a good suggestion. But if we’ve learned anything over the past few years it is that the NCAA does not have the power to make sweeping decisions relative to college sports. The power lies with the respective conferences and individual schools. Trying to get all of the conferences together on an issue like suspending the season for a couple weeks is a bit like herding cats.

On a more ominous note, a couple days after the holidays have ended, testing sites have caught up with the typical reporting decline experienced on weekends/holidays. Yesterday over one million new Covid cases were reported in the U.S.

 

[oldude]

Geno has added one additional criteria to having a team ready to play, and that is that once a player tests negative, he wants them to practice for 5 days before playing games. While that certainly makes sense in order to insure that a player has an opportunity to build up their stamina, I don’t know that other teams have similar requirements.

 

[BRS24]

If the team is taking the proper precautions, why do we still have enough co-vid issues that will affect a game on Friday? That will be 12 days from the time they were due back from holiday. One player stayed home, so the isolation should have started at that time. Other teams are making it back within 10 days, so why is it taking our team so long? I know the injuries are causing the problems also, but why wouldn't we be ready by Friday if we are following the CDC guidelines? Well, I'm sure they are being cautious, just wondering out loud. Building on my frustration is the news that Azzi and Nika still are not ready to come back. Wow, maybe we won't have a season after all, we are running out of time, as well as playing dates. I hope that Geno can somehow get us going again before it is too late. Ok, I said it, so let's hope we can move forward soon, cause along with the men, the rest of the basketball world is leaving us behind.

The team is at the mercy of local, ie, CT DPH recommendations

 

[Bald Husky]

Geno has added one additional criteria to having a team ready to play, and that is that once a player tests negative, he wants them to practice for 5 days before playing games. While that certainly makes sense in order to insure that a player has an opportunity to build up their stamina, I don’t know that other teams have similar requirements.

If Geno is really adding the 5 days of practice, then he is being selfish. I truly understand the conditioning problem, but with the playing of games very uncertain, he has to realize how hard it will be to reschedule. The reason I said selfish is that this is affecting the other teams, teams that may have the same problems and need to get these games in. The hell with the rankings, we may not totally be ready, but one game is probably more helpful to play than 5 more practices. Of course, I am not on the inside, so not privy to what is really going on, just wish there was more info to tell us. Sorry to vent ( again ). Tough week. LOL

 

[oldude]

If Geno is really adding the 5 days of practice, then he is being selfish. I truly understand the conditioning problem, but with the playing of games very uncertain, he has to realize how hard it will be to reschedule. The reason I said selfish is that this is affecting the other teams, teams that may have the same problems and need to get these games in. The hell with the rankings, we may not totally be ready, but one game is probably more helpful to play than 5 more practices. Of course, I am not on the inside, so not privy to what is really going on, just wish there was more info to tell us. Sorry to vent ( again ). Tough week. LOL

There are currently 98 post Covid symptoms documented, even to those with mild symptoms, including fatigue, chronic muscle pain and heart arrhythmia. There is nothing “selfish” about Geno’s desire to insure that his players are not at risk physically when they get back on the court.

 

[Littlemin]

Unfortunately it has been a perfect storm for Uconn, Covid, injuries and transfers. Covid is what it is and discussions regarding it are useless. Of more concern to me long term is that both Muhl and Fudd went from playing to sitting and without ANY real information regarding their situations it appears that rest may not have had the effect that was expected or hoped. Just a SWAG on my part though.