Good video analysis of the team, nothing people here don't already know | The Boneyard

Good video analysis of the team, nothing people here don't already know

This may seem like a swerve but it isn’t really. The question for this coming season may not be about talent but about drive. Any analysis of UConn (or its competition) ought to account for the will to win. Will we have it or will someone else want it more? Both these videos raise this question indirectly in different ways.

The video below forecasts UCLA’s chances next season from the back2sports guy and it just dropped a day or so ago. It’s not of interest to the UConn board except for one remark he makes toward the end about how much Lauren Betts really wants to win an NC before she graduates. I’m sure we all remember how shattered she appeared on the sideline watching her team get dismantled in the Final Four. They had a lot of talent last season, maybe more than anyone, but as the result showed, they didn’t have the drive to get past UConn. No one did. Paige & Co just wanted it more than everyone else.

I don’t know if UCLA will have the drive to succeed this year. Cori’s record suggests to me that she doesn’t know how to coach those sorts of passions. But it does leave me wondering where the drive to dominate will come from at Storrs. If it’s there, I’m confident Geno and CD will find it. That’s what last season was all about and it may not have been until the Tennessee game that it emerged.

Paige had an indomitable will to win, and she finally had a healthy team of players who really wanted to win it for her. Without Paige, albeit with perhaps even more talent on the roster, that drive seems elusive just now. Can Azzi and/or Sarah supply it? Or Serah, who finally has a shot at something that must have seemed impossible at Wisconsin? Or Jana and Ice, who may be tired and pissed about being discounted all last season? Or maybe the “Terror Triplets,” KK Kayleigh and Ash, will replace the “Havoc Twins” from last season and shove the team over the top. Or perhaps the team will rally around Carol as she makes one last heroic attempt to come back to her best form. Whatever it is, I’m sure Geno and CD will recognize it when it appears and do everything to nurture it.

 
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While SC & UCLA will clearly compete for the championship next season, and perhaps LSU as well, I don’t think any of those teams can match UConn’s depth and athleticism. Last season, as UConn ran the gauntlet to their 12th national championship, their quickness and athleticism stood out as they took apart team after team.

Paige will certainly be missed. But assuming that UConn runs into any of the other top teams in the FF or sooner, I just don’t see those teams being able to stay with UConn’s speed, and this coming season the Huskies will be loaded up front as well, limiting big teams like UCLA & SC from pounding the basketball inside.
 
oldude said:
But assuming that UConn runs into any of the other top teams in the FF or sooner, I just don’t see those teams being able to stay with UConn’s speed, and this coming season the Huskies will be loaded up front as well, limiting big teams like UCLA & SC from pounding the basketball inside.
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I may be preoccupied with this question of team speed. Last season, UConn was clearly the speediest team taken as a whole. Cori even mentioned this in a courtside interview during the game. But there were quicker players out there who could have given us fits. Milaysia is a good example. No one on UConn -- not even KK -- could really keep up with her. But by herself, she wasn't enough to lift up SC. Hannah Hidalgo is another example. She can be a difference maker if she has a solid team around her.

An early test of our ability to deal with such speedsters may come with Villanova and Jasmine Bascoe. She was a handful in last season's games. I'm not expecting Villanova to pull an upset this season, but the way KK Kayleigh and Ash handle Bascoe may be a good indicator of what's to come. Over the last few years, speedy guards have been our undoing as much as super-bigs. Remember Aari MacDonald?

In any event, if the team as a whole is playing crisply and with good ferocity, one speedster is not likely to be our undoing.
 
Further r
oldude said:
The first day of the fall semester is August 29, two weeks away. So we should expect to see Blanca in town sometime before that date I would think.
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Further info on Blanca’s arrival at Storrs. Freshman Orientation for international students starts tomorrow, August 15, so we should post BY’ers at all the major northeastern international airports to track (stalk) the arrival of Blanca, aka the X-Factor.
 
Bone Dog said:
This may seem like a swerve but it isn’t really. The question for this coming season may not be about talent but about drive. Any analysis of UConn (or its competition) ought to account for the will to win. Will we have it or will someone else want it more? Both these videos raise this question indirectly in different ways.

The video below forecasts UCLA’s chances next season from the back2sports guy and it just dropped a day or so ago. It’s not of interest to the UConn board except for one remark he makes toward the end about how much Lauren Betts really wants to win an NC before she graduates. I’m sure we all remember how shattered she appeared on the sideline watching her team get dismantled in the Final Four. They had a lot of talent last season, maybe more than anyone, but as the result showed, they didn’t have the drive to get past UConn. No one did. Paige & Co just wanted it more than everyone else.

I don’t know if UCLA will have the drive to succeed this year. Cori’s record suggests to me that she doesn’t know how to coach those sorts of passions. But it does leave me wondering where the drive to dominate will come from at Storrs. If it’s there, I’m confident Geno and CD will find it. That’s what last season was all about and it may not have been until the Tennessee game that it emerged.

Paige had an indomitable will to win, and she finally had a healthy team of players who really wanted to win it for her. Without Paige, albeit with perhaps even more talent on the roster, that drive seems elusive just now. Can Azzi and/or Sarah supply it? Or Serah, who finally has a shot at something that must have seemed impossible at Wisconsin? Or Jana and Ice, who may be tired and pissed about being discounted all last season? Or maybe the “Terror Triplets,” KK Kayleigh and Ash, will replace the “Havoc Twins” from last season and shove the team over the top. Or perhaps the team will rally around Carol as she makes one last heroic attempt to come back to her best form. Whatever it is, I’m sure Geno and CD will recognize it when it appears and do everything to nurture it.

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Drive to succeed? I just don't get it. It's basically like saying players lack the will to win, or other teams "just wanted it more" (a huge pet peeve of mine).

Every single team in the NCAA's last season wanted to win it all. The further we got into the tourney, the more a reality it became for the teams left standing, and to say that UCLA just wanted it less (to me) seems disrespectful to them.

Elite 8 - UCONN, USC, UCLA, LSU, SC, Duke, Texas, and TCU. At that point, was there a single team who said "Us winning? Nah - we have no shot. Let's not try that hard.". Every single team had 10 toes in and was 100% focused on being the 2025 NC.

This is not to say that when a team is getting dismantled, like UCLA in the final 4 (UConn 85, UCLA 51), or SC in the finals (UConn 82, SC 59 - but it wasn't even that close), that the losing team won't end up with slumped shoulders and become a step slow, but to say they just didn't want to win, lacked the drive to, etc. does a disservice to how hard all these student athletes worked and prepared for the tournament. Just my $.02.
 
EricLA said:
Drive to succeed? I just don't get it. It's basically like saying players lack the will to win, or other teams "just wanted it more" (a huge pet peeve of mine).

Every single team in the NCAA's last season wanted to win it all. The further we got into the tourney, the more a reality it became for the teams left standing, and to say that UCLA just wanted it less (to me) seems disrespectful to them.

Elite 8 - UCONN, USC, UCLA, LSU, SC, Duke, Texas, and TCU. At that point, was there a single team who said "Us winning? Nah - we have no shot. Let's not try that hard.". Every single team had 10 toes in and was 100% focused on being the 2025 NC.

This is not to say that when a team is getting dismantled, like UCLA in the final 4 (UConn 85, UCLA 51), or SC in the finals (UConn 82, SC 59 - but it wasn't even that close), that the losing team won't end up with slumped shoulders and become a step slow, but to say they just didn't want to win, lacked the drive to, etc. does a disservice to how hard all these student athletes worked and prepared for the tournament. Just my $.02.
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Agreed... I would also say UCONN was the most talented from the players to the coaches.
 
cohesion plays a huge part too. ideally, you have a leader(s) to achieve that. but it could come from the team building uconn coaching is so good at. ... the uconn way, you might say.
 
EricLA said:
Elite 8 - UCONN, USC, UCLA, LSU, SC, Duke, Texas, and TCU. At that point, was there a single team who said "Us winning? Nah - we have no shot. Let's not try that hard.". Every single team had 10 toes in and was 100% focused on being the 2025 NC.
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I think this is not a substantial disagreement. Yes, they all ‘wanted’ to win. Every single kid on a D1 scholarship ‘wants’ to win. All the more the kids on a top 10 team. But when it came down to it, when they were faced with what Paige & Co were prepared to do, mostly they just faded.

When I say “Will to win,” I mean a settled resolve to do whatever it takes. And no, not every team had such a will to win. In the courtside interview with Holly, Cori said her team was not ready for the pace of play UConn was forcing on them. “That’s on us,” she said, meaning the players needed to find the resolve to play at that pace in themselves. She didn’t say Kiki has to develop a step back jumper in the next few minutes, or Londynn has to grow a couple inches, or Gabriela has to become a better ball handler. She said they didn’t have it inside them.

In the 4th quarter of the finals, Rebecca observed that lots of teams played defense against UConn with energy and intensity in the 1st quarter or half, but UConn was doing that in the 4th quarter. She thought that was remarkable.

Some teams played UConn close for a quarter or a half and then faded in the second half. USC came the closest to challenging UConn in the second half, pulling to within 5 at the end of the third quarter, until that ‘elevator screen’ allowed Azzi to shut the door. At the beginning of the 3rd quarter, SCar cut the lead to 11 toward the end of the 3rd and then they folded like a house of cards. That’s not about a talent difference. It’s about a difference in will, or resolve, or grit. UConn was just tougher than everyone else.
 
Bone Dog said:
I think this is not a substantial disagreement. Yes, they all ‘wanted’ to win. Every single kid on a D1 scholarship ‘wants’ to win. All the more the kids on a top 10 team. But when it came down to it, when they were faced with what Paige & Co were prepared to do, mostly they just faded.

When I say “Will to win,” I mean a settled resolve to do whatever it takes. And no, not every team had such a will to win. In the courtside interview with Holly, Cori said her team was not ready for the pace of play UConn was forcing on them. “That’s on us,” she said, meaning the players needed to find the resolve to play at that pace in themselves. She didn’t say Kiki has to develop a step back jumper in the next few minutes, or Londynn has to grow a couple inches, or Gabriela has to become a better ball handler. She said they didn’t have it inside them.

In the 4th quarter of the finals, Rebecca observed that lots of teams played defense against UConn with energy and intensity in the 1st quarter or half, but UConn was doing that in the 4th quarter. She thought that was remarkable.

Some teams played UConn close for a quarter or a half and then faded in the second half. USC came the closest to challenging UConn in the second half, pulling to within 5 at the end of the third quarter, until that ‘elevator screen’ allowed Azzi to shut the door. At the beginning of the 3rd quarter, SCar cut the lead to 11 toward the end of the 3rd and then they folded like a house of cards. That’s not about a talent difference. It’s about a difference in will, or resolve, or grit. UConn was just tougher than everyone else.
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I still disagree. Maybe it's just that UConn was "better". More cohesive, better game plan and ability to execute it, talent, leadership, coaching, etc. That has zero to do with "will to win" or "do whatever it takes to win".
 
EricLA said:
I still disagree. Maybe it's just that UConn was "better". More cohesive, better game plan and ability to execute it, talent, leadership, coaching, etc. That has zero to do with "will to win" or "do whatever it takes to win".
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I think you're objecting to a phrase that we understand only slightly differently. Do we disagree about the sense of it? I think so, maybe, but also in some sense not.
  • Does Geno have a "better game plan"? I don't think so, if you mean he designs novel plays to use in games. He runs the same plays as any other coach can. In fact, he shares his 'secrets' with rival coaches, invites them to come to his practices. That can't be the difference. Also, like any other coach, he develops a 'scout' to determine how to defend the tendencies of opposing players and teams. This is what every coach does. It doesn't distinguish UConn from any other team.
  • However, if you mean by game plan a plan for an entire season, then we are in complete agreement. Geno's season-long game plan appears to be to find as many challenges for his players as he can.
  • About the "ability to execute" -- there I think we agree, and this is entirely a matter of having the will to execute better than an opponent's ability to defend against it, to be willing to run opponents ragged on defense and offense, To fight through every screen rather than taking the easy path around them, to work harder in practices so that games are practically a relief. This is a matter of character and self-discipline as much as talent.
  • Leadership? Is that coachable? It is if developing the confidence to execute a game plan when you're almost as tired as your opponent matters. A leader sets an example to teammates at such moments. This is also a character issue, not a talent issue. It is developed in relentless practices, demanding criticism and asking players always to set their sights higher.
  • Coaching? Yes, exactly, but not merely developing plays and skills drills. Coaching is at its best when it builds character. This is what I see every year come out of Storrs. Geno's success is not the result of some technical insight into plays and training. It comes from building a team culture, a community of self-respect, shared sacrifice and genuine community. And this is the story we've all heard from former players, that Geno and CD taught them about more than basketball.
In an interview several years ago, and repeated a few times since, Geno articulated how this impacts recruiting. He said, it's easy to find high school kids who can score or block shots -- in other words, all the flashy things. But it's really hard to find kids who are willing to play team defense, to do the things that don't win any glory. These are the kids he looks for. When I look at the last season's team, I see a bunch of kids like that: Paige (of course) Azzi, Sarah, Kaitlyn, Ash, KK, Ice, Jana, and on the bench Carol, Aubrey, Ayanna, Morgan and Allie. This is who those kids were in high school and it shows in who they became in college. Some of them are also among the most talented players in D1 (or the WNBA), but they are more than that. Coaching isn't just drawing up plays. It's finding the right kids and teaching them.
 
Bone Dog said:
I think you're objecting to a phrase that we understand only slightly differently. Do we disagree about the sense of it? I think so, maybe, but also in some sense not.
  • Does Geno have a "better game plan"? I don't think so, if you mean he designs novel plays to use in games. He runs the same plays as any other coach can. In fact, he shares his 'secrets' with rival coaches, invites them to come to his practices. That can't be the difference. Also, like any other coach, he develops a 'scout' to determine how to defend the tendencies of opposing players and teams. This is what every coach does. It doesn't distinguish UConn from any other team.
  • However, if you mean by game plan a plan for an entire season, then we are in complete agreement. Geno's season-long game plan appears to be to find as many challenges for his players as he can.
  • About the "ability to execute" -- there I think we agree, and this is entirely a matter of having the will to execute better than an opponent's ability to defend against it, to be willing to run opponents ragged on defense and offense, To fight through every screen rather than taking the easy path around them, to work harder in practices so that games are practically a relief. This is a matter of character and self-discipline as much as talent.
  • Leadership? Is that coachable? It is if developing the confidence to execute a game plan when you're almost as tired as your opponent matters. A leader sets an example to teammates at such moments. This is also a character issue, not a talent issue. It is developed in relentless practices, demanding criticism and asking players always to set their sights higher.
  • Coaching? Yes, exactly, but not merely developing plays and skills drills. Coaching is at its best when it builds character. This is what I see every year come out of Storrs. Geno's success is not the result of some technical insight into plays and training. It comes from building a team culture, a community of self-respect, shared sacrifice and genuine community. And this is the story we've all heard from former players, that Geno and CD taught them about more than basketball.
In an interview several years ago, and repeated a few times since, Geno articulated how this impacts recruiting. He said, it's easy to find high school kids who can score or block shots -- in other words, all the flashy things. But it's really hard to find kids who are willing to play team defense, to do the things that don't win any glory. These are the kids he looks for. When I look at the last season's team, I see a bunch of kids like that: Paige (of course) Azzi, Sarah, Kaitlyn, Ash, KK, Ice, Jana, and on the bench Carol, Aubrey, Ayanna, Morgan and Allie. This is who those kids were in high school and it shows in who they became in college. Some of them are also among the most talented players in D1 (or the WNBA), but they are more than that. Coaching isn't just drawing up plays. It's finding the right kids and teaching them.
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Kudos to both of you, EricLA and BoneDog, for the spirited dialogue.

As a newcomer to this forum it is great to see not only the b-ball expertise you both demonstrate but also the courtesy extended between Husky fans when they may not see things exactly the same way and may in the end agree to disagee. It doesn't take away anyone's position or argument but it is a refreshing way to communicate. And in the end we Boneyarders all want the same thing for the Huskies.

Now if only that same professional courtesy could be transferred into the political arena. Good luck with that.
 
Geno has said on multiple occasions that in certain years, he knows in advance that he has a championship team

This is one of those years

Surely it will take a while for everyone to get accustomed to not having Paige tp lean on...but so much talent...height, D, superstars...and it may be more than just
Sarah and Azzi...there are at least two more potentially...more?

It's hard not to be optimistic about the prospects of this team.
Scary for the rest of Woman's college NN
 
I suppose it is correct to say that Geno doesn’t (regularly) draw up special plays in the course of a game. However, I would say it’s also very clear that when there is a need for a special play, he is certainly capable of coming up with one. The simple truth is that Geno rarely faces a team that has more talent. In fact, it is rare that he does not have more talent. It takes more than just talent though, and whatever that is, he has it in spades!

Geno is the best ever at getting his players to play hard all the time, to play as a part of a greater whole, to inculcate a sense of sisterhood/family (CD gets a lot of this credit) and most important, he is the master of the season long construction of his team! His greatest skill imo, is in bringing his team along throughout the season at a designed pace that culminates with them playing their absolute best in March/April, he has great players but what really sets him apart is his ability to have his players playing their best when it really counts!

I think Geno has a lot of similarities with Jack Nicklaus. Jack won 18 Majors (most ever) but what many people do not know is that he also finished second 19 times! With just a little luck, a missed putt here or a made putt there, he could easily have won 25-30 Majors! I believe the same can be said of Geno. Injuries, luck, transcendent opponents, and yes, the rare stinker, have kept him from winning at least another 6-8 titles.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite happy with 13 but it is yet another testament to his (and CD’s) greatness that we could easily be looking at 16-18 titles if the ball had bounced a different way a few times.
 
Bone Dog said:
This may seem like a swerve but it isn’t really. The question for this coming season may not be about talent but about drive. Any analysis of UConn (or its competition) ought to account for the will to win. Will we have it or will someone else want it more? Both these videos raise this question indirectly in different ways.

The video below forecasts UCLA’s chances next season from the back2sports guy and it just dropped a day or so ago. It’s not of interest to the UConn board except for one remark he makes toward the end about how much Lauren Betts really wants to win an NC before she graduates. I’m sure we all remember how shattered she appeared on the sideline watching her team get dismantled in the Final Four. They had a lot of talent last season, maybe more than anyone, but as the result showed, they didn’t have the drive to get past UConn. No one did. Paige & Co just wanted it more than everyone else.

I don’t know if UCLA will have the drive to succeed this year. Cori’s record suggests to me that she doesn’t know how to coach those sorts of passions. But it does leave me wondering where the drive to dominate will come from at Storrs. If it’s there, I’m confident Geno and CD will find it. That’s what last season was all about and it may not have been until the Tennessee game that it emerged.

Paige had an indomitable will to win, and she finally had a healthy team of players who really wanted to win it for her. Without Paige, albeit with perhaps even more talent on the roster, that drive seems elusive just now. Can Azzi and/or Sarah supply it? Or Serah, who finally has a shot at something that must have seemed impossible at Wisconsin? Or Jana and Ice, who may be tired and pissed about being discounted all last season? Or maybe the “Terror Triplets,” KK Kayleigh and Ash, will replace the “Havoc Twins” from last season and shove the team over the top. Or perhaps the team will rally around Carol as she makes one last heroic attempt to come back to her best form. Whatever it is, I’m sure Geno and CD will recognize it when it appears and do everything to nurture it.

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That UCLA video triggered observations I had in watching (and many times rewatching) the NCAAT games with respect to the coaches’ game time interviews:
  • (a) Cori Close gave a spiel about her “joy and struggle” practices to produce a “tough and together” team for the tournament; at the back of my mind, some sappy sentimental violin played;
  • (b) Geno’s interview focused on the advantages and “cat and mouse” feel of going small, Sarah vs. Lauren Betts, where each one is a problem for the other; Geno, of course, has developed many mix-match combinations besides the most potent winning-time combination (he will have more this year), whereas UCLA played within a singular predictable system, where the coach’s last resort levers seem to be emotional exhortations to play harder, smarter, tougher, together;
  • (c) in the South Carolina game, Ryan and Rebecca said Geno already stress-tested his team so that they can play to win when not all the usual things are going their way;
  • (d) with (c), one is reminded that Geno said he will have a great team by the NCAAT time, despite the crushing losses, despite not clicking on all cylinders for most of the season; in fact, Geno and Paige said the team clicked on full cylinders (e.g. the small lineup winning time combination(s) clicked) only four times up to the UCLA game — i.e. five times last season.
At bottom, we have Geno and his curated team. In the Superteam Era when injury is not a factor, Geno’s 40-minute, full-throttle, symphonic &1 mix-match, backed by his best-in-class “basketball player” farm system, is now a measuring stick;
  • Geno has been doing this spectacularly since he led a merry band led by an unheralded Kerry Bascom to the program’s first final four which gave way to a “Field of Dreams” script;
  • And Geno has had remarkable consistency when he has strung together consecutive superb rosters unmarred by injury; and he has fewer headwinds for the 2025-26 season;
  • The UCLA video possibly hinted at Cori Close acknowledging the Geno mix-match standard, by getting Lauren Betts to buy into less minutes next season (and also pointing out that out-transfers Barker and Jones were not great roster fits that were exposed during elite games);
  • So, maybe, elite teams will use their quality depth more within the spectrum of TN’s headless chicken schemes to UConn’s mix-match.
&1 The “machine-like” almost intuitive and obviously-practice-ingrained team mental speed and execution of basketball plays at any given moment of a game against any given opponent.
 
NycUcWbbFan said:
  • So, maybe, elite teams will use their quality depth more within the spectrum of TN’s headless chicken schemes to UConn’s mix-match.
&1 The “machine-like” almost intuitive and obviously-practice-ingrained team mental speed and execution of basketball plays at any given moment of a game against any given opponent.
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Excellent post. One elite team that does something similar to Geno’s small, guard-heavy lineups is Duke. Kara Lawson has built a team in similar terms, with thin front courts and a host of speedy scrappy players.

As for your last bullet point, I’d like to hear more about your take on TN’s “headless chicken” approach. It’s hard to get a read on what Kim Caldwell’s schemes might evolve in to. At one point last year, Geno commented on TN that what Kim is doing can make sense for new programs. He said UConn did something similar when he first arrived.
 
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