How does UCONN have depth?

[mhshuskies]

Assuming Samuelson has a minor injury UCONN currently has 6 very competent players and a 7th (Walker) who is close to being competent. She has an issue with scoring. The remaining players are the cleanup crew for blowouts. Camara is injured and has yet to demonstrate her competence. Bent is getting lots of time in the games but not showing much. Irwin may have a knack playing with Stevens. She had two good assists with Stevens, But she still seems lost on offense. Espinoza for me has shown some progress. Coombs and Gordon still exhibit the "deer in the headlights" look. Where is the depth? What do the optimistic folks have to say? I have faith. By January there will be real depth. I talking today.

Starters

• Samuelson (injured?)
• Collier
• Nurse
• Williams
• Dangerfield

Competent Subs

• Stevens

Close to Competent Sub

• Walker - scoring concern (Sr. HS 3pt 29%, 2pt 46%)

Cleanup Crew

• Bent
• Irwin
• Coombs
• Gordon
• Espinoza-Hunter

Injured

• Camara

But some of those cleanup players would get significant playing time or even start for many teams. There is not any other team that can start as much talent as UCONN, therefore the reserves appear weaker by comparison.

 

[ndmb]

I think it's totally fair to say that outside of the top six, there are depth issues. Those players have played 94 minutes and have scored 6 points (all from Walker) on 2 for 22 shooting. I'm not particularly worried about it, because our starters + Z are out of this world good, and Geno's proven over and over again that you don't have to go deep to have success. Like the OP, I agree that out bench has a lot of potential, and that judging a player on the first couple of games in their freshman season is not a good indicator for long term success. For a player like Walker, everyone wants her to have a Maya Moore style transition to college and be great on day one, but it's far, far more common for players to have bumpy, up and down first years.

But for now, I don't even see how it's arguable that we don't have a ton of depth that's ready for prime time.

 

[BroadwayVa]

The BY surely seems to be tough on Molly Bent. While it would be nice to see her getting more points, she is doing a pretty good job with her floor game and taking care of the ball. Her play seems to be getting at least a tentative nod from Geno, who as we know does not parcel out minutes to be “nice.” If she can play for her UConn coaches, she can play any day on my team.

Molly is a very hard worker, and she is certainly a smart kid. She is growing and improving. Why not enjoy that?

I've not been a big Molly cheerleader this year--I expected more from her. Saying that, she is a good ball handler, she a fair to good point guard. She is shy of shooting, with more PT with the big guys she'll lose the shyness. Last year she showed moments of goodness by slashing to the basket a couple of times, in the Cal game her three bounced off the rim (it was on target). Geno seems to have some faith in Molly, she gets into games right after Walker.

 

[nd2tty]

There is a very big difference between "Geno will play you in meaningful minutes"-competent and generally competent.

For UConn - right now (November) - this is a mid-deep team. For everyone else in the country, this is a ridiculously deep team.

That being said, even in the deepest of years, Geno really only likes a max of 7-8 players truly in the rotation. Barring injuries, at UConn - for the most part (aside from super talented players) - you wait your turn and learn, and if all goes according to plan, by the time you are a junior or senior, you are part of that rotation.

 

[HuskyNan]

Are people really projecting the players' "competency" in January based on the first two games of the season? Sigh. Remember last year after Crystal had a wow game against Baylor that a ton of folks wanted to bench Saniya and start Crystal in her place? Lord love a duck.

 

[chrissaran]

SVCBeercats, I can't agree more about Molly. She's a guard who doesn't want to handle the ball, and when UConn's on offense, she mostly stands outside the three-point line and doesn't move. AEH should come in before Molly. She has an aggressive mindset on offense and defense.

 

[hoophuskee]

Assuming Samuelson has a minor injury UCONN currently has 6 very competent players and a 7th (Walker) who is close to being competent. She has an issue with scoring. The remaining players are the cleanup crew for blowouts. Camara is injured and has yet to demonstrate her competence. Bent is getting lots of time in the games but not showing much. Irwin may have a knack playing with Stevens. She had two good assists with Stevens, But she still seems lost on offense. Espinoza for me has shown some progress. Coombs and Gordon still exhibit the "deer in the headlights" look. Where is the depth? What do the optimistic folks have to say? I have faith. By January there will be real depth. I talking today.

Starters

• Samuelson (injured?)
• Collier
• Nurse
• Williams
• Dangerfield

Competent Subs

• Stevens

Close to Competent Sub

• Walker - scoring concern (Sr. HS 3pt 29%, 2pt 46%)

Cleanup Crew

• Bent
• Irwin
• Coombs
• Gordon
• Espinoza-Hunter

Injured

• Camara

Walker is competent. There is more to judging competency than fg% and secondly there are some games in which UCONN shoots amazing from 3. You know they can't keep it up. Thus why wouldn't you have the same consideration for Walker missing as much as she has while the UCONN coach spoke of her very good shooting in practices? It's not like scrubs are defending her in practices or the coach doesn't know what he's talking about. Walker is not going to keep up shooting this poorly and can still play good defense.

So if Lou was healthy- UCONN would have had depth with 7 competent players. When Boutaly comes back - even if Lou isn't coming back, UCONN has depth. With 7 players you have depth. With the Lou injury UCONN is obviously more susceptible to get beat. Even a gimmick defense now might work. Looks like Lou will also miss game vs ND?

I do agree until Lou or Camara comes back- they don't have depth at this moment.

 

[bags27]

Depth is not having players who are currently playing as well as your 5 starters. Depth is if a player comes in with 4 starters, will the overall team play suffer significantly? Obviously, Walker is an easy substitute and the team maintains its excellence with her. But today we saw another player or two who could play with 4 other starters without a fall-off so significant that it would cost UConn the game. That is what a bench is.

 

[Coach]

The sky is falling. The sky is falling.

 

[Zorro]

Hmm...think about it. With no one on the team playing up to her capabilities, and without a very key starter, we strapped 97 points on the number 15 team in the polls. Laissez le bon temps roller!!!

 

[SVCBeercats]

Depth is not having players who are currently playing as well as your 5 starters. Depth is if a player comes in with 4 starters, will the overall team play suffer significantly? Obviously, Walker is an easy substitute and the team maintains its excellence with her. But today we saw another player or two who could play with 4 other starters without a fall-off so significant that it would cost UConn the game. That is what a bench is.

Here is what Geno thinks about his bench depth.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Did anyone at the Game tonight see Batouly Camara doing warmups pre-game and pre 2nd 1/2?
She did everything the rest of the team did maybe a little slower but she got through each warmup and KLS was the only one "standing outside the fire"!
She did not play in the game but it must have been a major step in her recovery to be doing BB related activities at nearly full speed!
Maybe she'll be back before the 2 weeks they said till she can start to practice again! What a + that will be!

 

[bags27]

Here is Geno's take on his bench:

well sure, he's going to say that Beercats. He says every team he has is terrible, in every way, until they win the NC. A couple years back, he actually benched Stewie for a game!

He doesn't have to play the entire bench until the game is completely won, at which point he can scream at his freshmen, as he always does. The point about a bench is: can you play one or two subs with three or four starters and not appreciatively lose good team play? Can you pretty much hold a lead that you gained with the five starters until you need to have the five starters play again together? Even with the two unpredicted injuries, the answer is a resounding: yes!

 

[veryolddog]

Don't underestimate the freshman players. I'll bet Brenda would take them in a heartbeat on Sunday and all of them would have played for her in that game. As for Geno, we all know that he is a tough critic and that his statements were intended to motivate progress for these new players in the area of defense. Three games into the season and the expectation is for excellence. Really?

 

[SVCBeercats]

well sure, he's going to say that Beercats. He says every team he has is terrible, in every way, until they win the NC. A couple years back, he actually benched Stewie for a game!

He doesn't have to play the entire bench until the game is completely won, at which point he can scream at his freshmen, as he always does. The point about a bench is: can you play one or two subs with three or four starters and not appreciatively lose good team play? Can you pretty much hold a lead that you gained with the five starters until you need to have the five starters play again together? Even with the two unpredicted injuries, the answer is a resounding: yes!

OMG! If you can't believe Geno's words, I do give up. He has to live with reality, others choose fantasy.

 

[bags27]

OMG! If you can't believe Geno's words, I do give up. He has to live with reality, others choose fantasy.

No, Beercats, I just take Geno's words for whom they're intended: public consumption and team motivation. The only reality he has to live with are the 11 national championship banners.

 

[SVCBeercats]

No, Beercats, I just take Geno's words for whom they're intended: public consumption and team motivation. The only reality he has to live with are the 11 national championship banners.

 

[augustaTC]

Are people really projecting the players' "competency" in January based on the first two games of the season? Sigh. Remember last year after Crystal had a wow game against Baylor that a ton of folks wanted to bench Saniya and start Crystal in her place? Lord love a duck.

Very Tedious.

 

[Goodgood]

Yep. His players can't guard a chair, barely jump over a piece of paper and he is coaching the worst posts in America...and I am sure there are a lot more his players can tell you.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Tends to be the same c**p from the same people. They must get kicked in the cojones to start the day.

So go kick Geno!

 

[Blue Huskie]

Nice impact game for MW!

 

[ndmb]

Nice impact game for MW!

Yep! We'll see her better than that this year, and probably some repeats of her first few games too, but this was a great step in the right direction.

 

[MilfordHusky]

You want depth? Here's depth: