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Message: [QUOTE="Tonyc, post: 4837092, member: 73"] This shouldnt even be a discussion. Loosing Azzi Caroline Jana and Yanna and reorganizing UConn into a powerhouse again and to have proven that against top teams is unimaginable. Name me one team that could loose two star players (Azzi and Caroline) with 2 bigs( Jana and Yanna) who were being planned on to contribute immensely, and be forced to play inexperienced freshman against the schedule we have and be able to do what UConn has done to those teams is crazy. Now Geno appears to have lost Griff for the season. We just beat UNC LVille Marquette and Creighton by alot. UConn has shown they are dominating top teams. The next 5 games Geno will have to make more adjustments due to loosing Griff, which doesnt look like shes coming back. We have a shorter bench and a shorter lineup. That means more playtime for everyone which over the season isnt good. It isnt good because playing more minutes tires you out and the result could be more injuries and less effectiveness. Our schedule has more top teams coming up which UConn with one less top player now needs to make another adjustment for. The adjustment will have to come from players with little experience. Coming up on UConns schedule is @Marquette, ND , a few games later @SC and Creighton. Not an easy schedule when your down 5 players all who were counted of for major minutes and contributions. Take a look at your top teams in WCBB and take two of their top starters out for the season then take their next 3 players coming off the bench and pull them for the season. Im not going to list teams and players you can do that yourselves because we all know those teams would find it very hard to survive let alone beat top teams by double digits and even more (by 20-40 pts). There is no question that Geno is the Coach of the Year. What Geno has done to turn UConn around with the players he's lost to injury is magnificent. I dont think any other team could come close to accomplishing what Geno has accomplished with what he has lost and what he has gone through. UConn had gone from a NC contender preseason to a has been, and Geno reorganized his team which is now showing signs of being a National Contender again. I think most fans had written UConn off. Now UConn is back. Last nite Griff goes down and we dont know for how long but it didnt look promising. There seems to be a very good chance shes out for the season. Still we have our reorganized starting lineup which has been rolling. They will need rest and Griff provided that with experience. I would guess Q and Ice will see more minutes, something that wasnt in the cards. Both are freshman who lack college experience and Ice is coming back from last seasons injury. I believe Geno will have to continue to take it slow with Ice which means somebody else will need more minutes and that could be Ines and Amari. Ines and Amari may get some minutes because playing at the energy level UConn is playing right now we need to keep all our players from being tired. Too many minutes played equals players getting tired. We cant afford to have players tired moving forward with our schedule and playing at the energy level we've been winning at. Playing tired leads to inability to play at the energy level we've shown. It also can lead to injuries and we cant afford another injury. With a depleted lineup already we cant afford to be tired or hurt. We need to be fresh to keep the energy we're playing with to be effective. Everybody on the team has to step up and Im sure they will. When you analyze what Geno has lost and what he has accomplished this season it is truly amazin. My Vote for Coach of the Year is GENO hands down. [/QUOTE]

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