How Good will everybody be when Paige gets back

[Tonyc]

Before we go crazy with all the "what if's let me say this. When Paige retuns she will make alot of the players who are not shooting the bal,l better because she will give them a better chance to to shoot the ball by setting them up to have open shots. It will be interesting to see the Paige effect on everybody who is playing now. Will they shoot more? Will they get more shots?

I will take a step further and say I have been told that Azzi can play the point too. How well I dont know but right now when she is ready to go she will have enough to learn and adjust to in Genos system. So right now I dont expect her to play the point. I also believe that the way Caroline is playing may have given Azzi alot more confidence to play her game without hesitation.

We have Seton Hall on Friday, St Johns on Sunday and @ South Carolina on Thursday. We will see if Christyn and or Azzi will be back for any of those games. If Azzi is back its gonna take time for her to get up to speed. About a week later we have Tenn on Feb 6th at the XL Center. Its gonna be a tuff road.

 

[Spaceman213J]

I think she will help get Ducharme some more open looks as well. Sometimes, CD seems like she rushes a bit to get the shot off. When she really has time, she seems to be a really good shooter.

 

[TeamFirst!]

Perhaps the most impressive ability of Ducharme is her ability to finish at the rim. She's had that since jr high. I'm not hip to how Uconn runs plays as I'm a newbie fan but it seems that a lot of the plays have 2 options. One is a player driving to the basket and the other as a jump shot option. Right now, we have no one who can make the jump shot but that's clearly going to change with Azzi and Paige coming back. We should expect Azzi to be as advertised because her sample size in USA basketball is extensive. Everyone should be better when Paige and Azzi come back. Opening up the paint will happen if we knock down those 3 pointers at a high rate. It should change everything.

 

[eebmg]

 

[MilfordHusky]

I think there's a 2-part question:

1. How much will the other players improve? We have noted that some have played well, some have regressed, and some have been inconsistent.

2. How will Paige (and Azzi) mesh with the other players?

 

[eebmg]

I buy the 181 pts (actually I think 250 pts is better since it seems you forget to add Paige's points) but I am more impressed with how she improves everyone else's defense. Pardon me but it is closing time. hiccup

 

[Blakeon18]

Azzi and point guard? Did not she essentially play point in last summer's USA play?
Maybe not all the time but that seemed to be her role frequently...as opposed to looking for her own shot first.

 

[veryolddog]

One of the most interesting actions that the really great UConn Women's Teams did in the past was move the ball so proficiently until a person was open to make a shot. Many times these teams were praised for this instead of having a dependence upon one player to score. I would like to see more of this.

I would like to see the Team play with the comfort and confidence that they together can win ball games. No fear.

And, last, no I would like to see an emphasis on great defense as they did in the past.

Having these players back wiil be a great benefit. It will be nice to see Azzi actually make 3's that will be an emphatic threat to other teams. And, with Paige, let her orchestrate this team as if she was the leader of a great symphony.

 

[and one]

It's hard to envision a scenario where adding Paige and Azzi into the line up does not make the other team members and the team as a whole better. Paige is a great player, not just a great scorer - God's gift to women's basketball as it were. Azzi has no track record as yet but I'll be shocked if she doesn't turn into a high volume and percentage shooter pretty quickly. The biggest immediate improvement will be defenders having to guard out at the 3 point line, opening up space down low for ONO and Dorka to score and rebound. CW will be able to go back to driving to the basket rather than shooting 3s; CD will be getting the ball where she gets good looks at the basket; EW can relax and do some of everything; ONO can pass and will once again have the option to kick the ball out to open shooters. The team and it's component parts will be hugely better than what we have now.

 

[topogigio]

This team should not need Paige to be "good". No doubt, by her presence, the team will be better, but they certainly have enough talent and coaching to be "more than good" without her. They are simply not performing to their best abilities when playing tough competition. Paige will always be Paige, the question remains, how much better can she make the rest of the team play? Hopefully, a hell of a lot!

 

[Brewski]

I buy the 181 pts (actually I think 250 pts is better since it seems you forget to add Paige's points) but I am more impressed with how she improves everyone else's defense. Pardon me but it is closing time. hiccup

I'll have one last shot with you in celebration of good defense. Let's cheer all the returning players scoring more points than they give up on defense!

 

[ucbart]

I think there's a 2-part question:

1. How much will the other players improve? We have noted that some have played well, some have regressed, and some have been inconsistent.

2. How will Paige (and Azzi) mesh with the other players?

The ones who have regressed are the ones that miss Paige the most, IMO. It makes me sad that Olivia is having such a fine season without Paige. I can't imagine how much better ONO would be with Paige on the floor with her at all times.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

imagine that u want to make a winning soup.
u gather all the ingredients, mebbe prime cuts of beef or the freshest seafood, tasty vegetables, some spices and herbs, and such.
iffn u stick those in a pot alone, they'll just burn, and ur dreams of a winning concoction go up in smoke. needs sumthing else.
the water to bring it all together. paige is the water, the single most important thing on earth to sustain life, and our hopes for a title.

when she returns, well, let's just say that noah ain't got nuthin on us.
we got a bigger boat, and for all the huskie haters, the only water for them will be their tears, as they cry in their soup.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

I think she will help get Ducharme some more open looks as well. Sometimes, CD seems like she rushes a bit to get the shot off. When she really has time, she seems to be a really good shooter.

Some of it has to do with having the ball passed to the spot the rhythm shooter likes best. PB is extreme good at delivering the ball where the shooters like it to achieve proper rhythm for each shooter. No one else can compare favorably to PB in that regard.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I think a more important question is how "good" will Bueckers play. Coming off a very serious injury and a long layoff I doubt that she will be anywhere near 100%.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

I have my eye on seeding. UCONN could be seeded 4-5-6 in Bridgeport depending on the rest of the season goes. Getting everybody back other teams will not want to see them in their bracket. It’s going to be interesting to see what the committee does with team.

 

[connboy77]

It doesn't matter what seed UCONN is given. If UCONN is healthy they will dominate the Bridgeport Region.

 

[AmeriConn]

A little light on the points, but ok.

 

[hoopsfan22]

I have my eye on seeding. UCONN could be seeded 4-5-6 in Bridgeport depending on the rest of the season goes. Getting everybody back other teams will not want to see them in their bracket. It’s going to be interesting to see what the committee does with team.

If this team doesn't have Paige back, it probably doesn't matter which region we draw because this is not even a S16 team right now.

 

[jdote33]

I guess we have to wait and see but I've been thinking about this a lot. Like do you just go small, and start CD at the 4, with Nika, PB, CW, and ONO. I am a huge fan of Dorka but she's somewhat struggled the past couple games, and to ask PB to play somewhat lead the full court press after her injuries seems less than ideal. However, for Dorka who seems to sometimes lack confidence can you put her back on the bench after starting. Also does Paige get the best out of EW. EW really wasn't great in the SC game earlier this season, but when I think back to last year, it seemed like they were able to compliment each other so well... Or on the opposite end of the spectrum, do Paige and Azzi just work so well together that you have to give EW a diminished role.

 

[Blakeon18]

As I understand it, the top 4 seeds in each region will be the hosts the first weekend...games one and two...as is
customary.
I think it is possible [not likely] that UConn will not be in that group. If that is true, then they may have some difficulty getting to the second weekend..presumably they would be placed in Bridgeport for a variety of sound reasons if they win the first two

Suppose a 6 seed for the Good Guys. We would meet the 11 seed on a neutral court. Win...and we would
probably be up against the 3 seed on their home court. That win a given?

If we are truly healthy, then the seeding won't matter too much. If not...an ending might come before expected.

It has been well over a quarter of a century [1992-1993 season] since we have not gotten to the sweet 16...another streak
unmatched by other programs.

Idle thought: Assume we get to Bridgegport. Who might be the one seed there?
No way they send Stanford. No way they send South Carolina. Other possibilities...Louisville/NC State etc?
I suspect Geno might have some fun talking to the team about our rare Cinderella status and having to go thru a bracket as a lower seed. That 'fun' might well lead to focused play.

Get healthy...go Huskies!

 

[MilfordHusky]

It doesn't matter what seed UCONN is given. If UCONN is healthy they will dominate the Bridgeport Region.

If we get a 5 seed--a big if, but possible--we do NOT host the first 2 rounds. It would mean that we would play a 12 seed on the road and a 4 seed on the 4 seed's home floor. I don't like that thought. We would need to be playing much better and would have little margin for error.

Though I think it would be stupid for the NCAA to send UConn somewhere other than Bridgeport, the lower a seed UConn is, the more likely they will not go to Bridgeport. It would kill ticket sales if UConn is not in Bridgeport, but many of those tickets probably have been sold already.

Seedings matter, especially if you are comparing 1-4 with all the others. If we can beat S.C. or Tennessee, that would help our seeding tremendously. The lower the seed, the harder the path to the Final Four. We would have something like Missouri, Oregon, and N.C. State for games 2, 3, and 4. That's far harder than usual.

 

[Tonyc]

People play different when playing against tuffer teams and tuffer players. Some dont take pressure very well while others have the attitude give me the ball. Its like that in every sport. Another point when your surrounded by really good players you play better because defenses cant collapse on you and your game flows. At this point alot of the game is mental.

This is a scary time on our schedule. We dont know which team will show up and who is going to show up and who cant play. We're down to 6 kids. From what Geno said in the post game interview they are not executing plays. Geno calls a play and they screw it up. There are alot of things going on that we dont know about either. We dont know what is going on behind the scenes. All we see is whats happening on the court and in the games. There could be more to it then that.

There chemistry is missing alot of that has to do with different players playing and playing out of position. With so many kids getting hurt and so many getting sick the lineup continues to change and we're lacking of guards. Even practices must be affected. We had a few practices where we didnt have enough players. Now I would expect Christyn to be out for Fridays game and maybe Azzi will still be out. We play Seton Hall. All of a sudden we have to wonder when we will get back to normal meaning when will we be healthy again and then when will we get up to speed and play like a team again.

I am confident when we get healthy Paige Azzi and Christyn will take care of alot of the chemistry and scoring woahs. Next question is how will we be on defense? Defense could be a problem due to the fact that because of the injuries and sickness we may have lost a step or two. Many teams we will be able to out talent but a few we may not. We dont look like a UConn team because of all thats happened. The injuries and Covid have had an impact on chemistry, continuity, confidence, execution, attitude, practice, have I left anything out. When and if we get healthy this season we will be rebuilding the team much like we were building the team before the season started. Were gonna have to recreate what we had and make it better and we're gonna have to do that in just a few weeks depending on when everybody gets back. The good news is those kids who may not have gotten the minutes because of the starters being out of the rotation have gotten that playtime which should only make us a better team when everybody gets back. We have approx 6 weeks and alot has to happen in these 6 weeks. Be patient

 

[JellyBean]

I think there's a 2-part question:

1. How much will the other players improve? We have noted that some have played well, some have regressed, and some have been inconsistent.

2. How will Paige (and Azzi) mesh with the other players?

Great point. So many questions going forward.