How will UConn's WBB season End?

[BlueSkyGLW]

Through this early season travails for the UConn WBB team, there is something good developing:

1) Before the injured return, the seniors will realize they need to produce to ensure a path to the 2nd season: the tournament.....and they will deliver.
2) Dorka will continue her acclimatization and get stronger
3) Aaliyah will get over her doldrums and play like she did to be selected in the Canadian National Team.....despite the difference in position there and at UConn
4) Caroline continues her growth and Amari, too.
5) The return of Nika and Azzi will make the team more whole and they develop a chemistry (along with Caroline) similar to how Nika and Paige grew their freshman year; the team as a whole will function better when it plays the rest of their non-conference games.
6) When Paige returns, she will be reintegrating to a team which shall have grown in play and confidence in themselves - something not possible with her because Geno seldom, if ever, takes her out. It will be a team with far greater confidence than he last several games.
7) Paige then raises the team to a higher level of play, with everyone having grown in confidence and in the style of play the coach wants them to embrace, showing flexibility in multiple positions....and growth in defense will be much in display, with Nika and Aaliyah showing growth in their defensive contributions from freshman year, to go with the improvement of the rest of the team, including the return of Aubrey.

Barring new injuries, the team develops into a solid tournament team that gets back into the Final Four, this time with greater resolve derived from having to rise above the misfortunes visited upon them this early on......

...and then rise to the Championship game to win their first of more NCs to come from this roster.

So it has been conceived, so it shall be said, and so it shall be done!

The 12th Cometh!

 

[Urshurak]

Agree with most except:

1. No. Sorry. That ship sailed. Demonstrated unreliability. This group of seniors can’t do it. Proven multiple times now. They need Paige.
3. Hopeful

 

[Aluminny69]

Am I the only one who sees the irony of this season? All summer long, the main argument was, how would Geno find playing time for all the talent that UConn had? 14 players, all capable of major playing time. Six weeks into the season, and the main question is, when will Geno have enough players to field a team.

So, my answer to your question, how will the season end? Ironically.

 

[Cornell Lt]

The season will end with a loss

 

[LoboDays]

 

[hoopsfan22]

Am I the only one who sees the irony of this season? All summer long, the main argument was, how would Geno find playing time for all the talent that UConn had? 14 players, all capable of major playing time. Six weeks into the season, and the main question is, when will Geno have enough players to field a team.

So, my answer to your question, how will the season end? Ironically.

Six weeks into the season? LOL WCBB is in Week 11.

 

[SLY63]

I will give 3 options (all assume no Aubrey, Nika and AE get back to form by the BE tourney):

1. Azzi never gets to full strength, Paige either doesn't return or returns but not to form --> Sweet 16/Elite 8
2. Azzi comes comes back and gets going, Paige either doesn't return or returns only <50% --> Elite 8/Final 4
3. Azzi comes comes back and gets going, Paige returns to 50-100% --> Final 4/Championship Game

I think we would need everyone at full strength and bringing their A game to beat SC

 

[ccwarrior]

I will give 3 options (all assume no Aubrey, Nika and AE get back to form by the BE tourney):

1. Azzi never gets to full strength, Paige either doesn't return or returns but not to form --> Sweet 16/Elite 8
2. Azzi comes comes back and gets going, Paige either doesn't return or returns only <50% --> Elite 8/Final 4
3. Azzi comes comes back and gets going, Paige returns to 50-100% --> Final 4/Championship Game

I think we would need everyone at full strength and bringing their A game to beat SC

With all due respect - no.

 

[Happydad745]

Too many what ifs.....lots of players have to come back and play great, including PG being near 100%. It doesn't look like that will happen, but I'll gladly wait and see. It would take a small miracle for UConn to reach the FF or better.

 

[donalddoowop]

One of my favorites as a kid. Cliff Edwards had a really pretty voice. As far as the season, I'm with Happydad745 on how the season will end.

 

[WFFL]

This season has started as one to forget and I feel
It will end that way as well in March …..FF looks very gloomy atm

 

[Stymie]

In my opinion, for this team to end the season successfully, Dorka and Caroline Ducharme are going to have to do the heavy lifting, and I think they can/will.
Don’t believe Azzi and Paige will be able to contribute as we expected, even if they return ( which is doubtful).
Mühl returns, provides a spark , but she isn’t enough.
Mom will continue to deliver steadily, but
other seniors don’t have the ability.
Finish out in the Elite Eight, maybe a Final Four IF Christyn gets head in straight- been waiting years for that step up- why should that happen now?
I WOULD LOVE TO BE WRONG.

 

[Surly1]

It’s great to project into the future and expect nothing but good fortune. Unfortunately, a dose of reality is needed. Right now, the UConn’s women’s team is a team in limbo. I’ve tempered my expectations for this season. I hope to be proven wrong, but too many variables need to happen simultaneously for a propitious ending.
Success in the tournament hinges on the availability of having Paige back and in top form. Anyone who has played sports and attempted to come back after surgery knows there are phases to recovery. There’s returning to shape and there’s getting back to pre-injury BB shape. It takes time for an athlete to trust their body again after surgery. How long that takes is unknown.
This team w/o Paige is offensively challenged. Like Reggie Jackson once declared, ‘She is the straw that stirs the drink.’ Without her presence, UConn is a second tier team in the hunt for the NC. With a fully functioning Paige, UConn, while not the overall favorite, is a Final Four team. However, I think it unfair to expect that she can immediately return to the form we’ve grown accustomed to. Again, I hope I am wrong.
Getting Azzi back would help, How much is still to be determined. There is no track record for Ducharme, Fudd and Juhasz on how they impact UConn’s fortunes. This is not intended to impugn their skills, but simply to state that UConn is moving forward with so many question marks. The injuries, cancelled games, lack of practice time have disrupted chemistry and any cohesion that might have formed.

 

[BlueSkyGLW]

It is interesting to see the kind of pessimism that has seeped into the minds of UConn WBB fans.

True, the season has started so dreadfully - even with Paige - for a team ESPN ranked preseason #1 and viewed by fans with Great Expectations. It appeared at times that it was a team that is BADLY coached.

But to continue the gloom to season's end means many fans don't think Geno and company can't do much about these players growing into a smooth-functioning team, even as last year reminded us that a young team can finally get it sometime during the season, especially after a poor, demoralizing display because they refused to accept where they were.

This team is going through an uncharacteristically bad stretch but all of the players who turned themselves into a very good (not great) team (except in the FF) are still here. Some of the healthy additions have shown they have good things to contribute when given the chance. And, slowly recovering from the shock of losing Paige, they are beginning to show a collective resolved while looking like a poorly coached team because they lost their two PGs.

I wouldn't bet against this coaching staff turning this group of players into a excellent team, many of whom were here when that happened last year. I believe the returnees will remember by releasing the extreme pressure they put on themselves when Paige went down. The three newcomers are learning in the crucible of this malaise - the best time to be learning.

By season's end, we shall see, won't we? Otherwise, most of the fans in Boneyard and beyond should crucify the coaching staff for their failure to mold this collection of potentially excellent players into a good team to win the 12th.

 

[Carnac]

Lots of optimism in these posts. We’ll see. Before we concern ourselves with beating SC, we need to realize there are other teams between us and them. In order to challenge SC, we must defeat those teams.

Since UConn has been taken off line because of the virus, I’ve been watching other wcbb teams. Some were ranked, some were not. In each case, I asked myself could UConn beat either or both of these teams. In some cases, the answer was no.

It’s very possible UConn could see one of those teams early in the tournament. A team like unranked Texas Tech that knocked off 9th ranked Texas in Austin last night 74-61.

 

[TCC Kid]

Through this early season travails for the UConn WBB team, there is something good developing:

1) Before the injured return, the seniors will realize they need to produce to ensure a path to the 2nd season: the tournament.....and they will deliver.
2) Dorka will continue her acclimatization and get stronger
3) Aaliyah will get over her doldrums and play like she did to be selected in the Canadian National Team.....despite the difference in position there and at UConn
4) Caroline continues her growth and Amari, too.
5) The return of Nika and Azzi will make the team more whole and they develop a chemistry (along with Caroline) similar to how Nika and Paige grew their freshman year; the team as a whole will function better when it plays the rest of their non-conference games.
6) When Paige returns, she will be reintegrating to a team which shall have grown in play and confidence in themselves - something not possible with her because Geno seldom, if ever, takes her out. It will be a team with far greater confidence than he last several games.
7) Paige then raises the team to a higher level of play, with everyone having grown in confidence and in the style of play the coach wants them to embrace, showing flexibility in multiple positions....and growth in defense will be much in display, with Nika and Aaliyah showing growth in their defensive contributions from freshman year, to go with the improvement of the rest of the team, including the return of Aubrey.re

Barring new injuries, the team develops into a solid tournament team that gets back into the Final Four, this time with greater resolve derived from having to rise above the misfortunes visited upon them this early on......

...and then rise to the Championship game to win their first of more NCs to come from this roster.

So it has been conceived, so it shall be said, and so it shall be done!

The 12th Cometh!

Like BlueSkys, I see blues skys ahead of this terrible injury storm. I believe the Seniors, CW/ONO, know this may, or may not, be their last time to show the Europeans or Wnba what they can do. CW has shown her ability to defend, to score in bunches, she is far from a second string. Whether it is physical, mental, or just a natural slump something took away her early season she still can revert to the CW we know and love. ONO, I have not been overly complimentary of her game these last 2 years. It is no a personal bias. She has had great games against some undersized team. I still contend that she a forward playing post. Unfortunately, right now she is all Geno has for Post. Her best game is yet to come.

 

[TCC Kid]

Lots of optimism in these posts. We’ll see. Before we concern ourselves with beating SC, we need to realize there are other teams between us and them. In order to challenge SC, we must defeat those teams.

Since UConn has been taken off line because of the virus, I’ve been watching other wcbb teams. Some were ranked, some were not. In each case, I asked myself could UConn beat either or both of these teams. In some cases, the answer was no.

It’s very possible UConn could see one of those teams early in the tournament. A team like unranked Texas Tech that knocked off 9th ranked Texas in Austin last night 74-61.

I accept easily paragraph 1 and 3. 2 gives this "homey" a bit of a heart burn. NO absolutely no you are NOT wrong. But this being a UCONN Womens site, even reality suggests: With the return of Every injured player being 100 percent, I suggest (possible, not likely) except IMO SC Uconn could do very well/win against nearly all others. Geno with a depleted team did well in 3 quarters in all of his losses. Which says, energy, health, mental fatigue, not hanging around, Uconn will be "in" every game from here on out. Possible. Likely?????

 

[Zinethar]

I love the OP's optimism ans sentiment.I also choose to be hopeful the season will end in triumph over adversity. That is why we watch when the games are played.

 

[donalddoowop]

In my opinion, for this team to end the season successfully, Dorka and Caroline Ducharme are going to have to do the heavy lifting, and I think they can/will.
Don’t believe Azzi and Paige will be able to contribute as we expected, even if they return ( which is doubtful).
Mühl returns, provides a spark , but she isn’t enough.
Mom will continue to deliver steadily, but
other seniors don’t have the ability.
Finish out in the Elite Eight, maybe a Final Four IF Christyn gets head in straight- been waiting years for that step up- why should that happen now?
I WOULD LOVE TO BE WRONG.

Williams played well at the end of last season and played well in the FF the year before.

 

[Carnac]

I accept easily paragraph 1 and 3. 2 gives this "homey" a bit of a heart burn. NO absolutely no you are NOT wrong. But this being a UCONN Womens site, even reality suggests: With the return of Every injured player being 100 percent, I suggest (possible, not likely) except IMO SC Uconn could do very well/win against nearly all others. Geno with a depleted team did well in 3 quarters in all of his losses. Which says, energy, health, mental fatigue, not hanging around, Uconn will be "in" every game from here on out. Possible. Likely?????

I wrote that comment based on the players we have available right now. I’m not counting on anyone coming back until I see them enter a game. That includes Azzi, Nika, Paige and Aubrey. I don’t care about when they are projected to return. I’m a huge fan, but I’ve got to call them as I see them. I’m not nearly as surly and pessimistic as others here. Some thoughts I keep to myself.

Of course I’d like to see all of our wounded warriors back full strength by the end of the first week in February. If you or anyone else could assure me that none of our players will disappear in any games the remainder of the season, then I would be more inclined to share and embrace some of the positive vibe and optimism some posters have expressed. If Geno can find 7 players he can depend on to be good when he needs them to be, we have as good a chance as anyone else.

Our starters (ONO) must stay out of foul trouble, keep the turnovers in single digits, and no more 4th quarter fades or brown outs. If we can play other teams even in the 4th quarter, we should win most of our games, because we should be ahead after 30 minutes.