But this program also has 5 less titles since they last won in 2016. And a lot of that has to do with a lack of elite front court players.
Those numbers are inflated by the lack of quality on our schedule thus far. Currently we have beaten only 2 top 25 teams-UNC and Ole Miss. When we play the top teams like SoCal, SCar or even UCLA, we will need players to contribute and defend.
Agreed.
Let’s see what we get against teams that matter. I agree it’s way too early to write Ice off, I do think she will be good, but we’ve had some great players here who have recently in my mind been cheating out of a title because of no real contributions from our bigs. Paige doesn’t have time to wait for Ice to get it, that’s where I’m at. Geno doesn’t have that much time either. We have a team that is complete with everything to win it this year except we’re gonna need those young women to step up. This opportunity is here now and we may never get this close again, we need them now. I’m not trying to be rude, but this is a great collection of players we have but we need the bigs to at least rebound the heck of the ball and play super solid defense, we don’t really need scoring if thats asking too much.
With your analysis, we may see a three "Big" line-up of Ice, Jana, & Sarah with PB & Chen, then swap out Ice & Jana for a four Guard "Small" line-up and then things "in-between" with Morgan/Ice or Morgan/Jana in for Sarah & Chen. That would be hard for any of the main rivals to UConn to be able to match up with this year. Lots of opportunity for Geno, CD & Company to experiment this year. After ISU and USCal, the "biggest" checkpoints to the UConn readiness for the NCAA tourney is UT. @ Knoxville [2/6/25], and USCar @ Columbia [2/16/25], and whomever they face in the Big East tourney Championship. [5 checks of readiness starting tonight...]
Agreed on all points, @Bone Dog . The suggestion that Ice isn't filling Aaliyah's shoes is especially irksome. Aaliyah was a second-team All-American, a first-round WNBA draft pick, and an Olympian. Less than a handful of young women in the country could fill those shoes. I just hope Ice has the good sense to block out all the noise, listen to her coaches, keep working hard, and do the best she can do. That's all we can ask of her.
Of UConn’s 11 championships, 7 might be considered as won with a true AA post player as follows: Rebecca/Kara (1), Tina (2), Stewie/Steph (2), Stewie (2). The remaining 4 were won with a combination of outstanding guards/wings and decent posts/forwards.
Your assertion of getting nothing from the two centers is ludacris. The level of production may not be to your liking but it is a far cry from nothing. I'm not giving up on either one of them, and I would expect some improvement from both of them as the season moves forward.
I feel your passion, concern and sense of urgency, I wouldn't call it rudeness. And I agree the team needs more out of Ice and Jana than their getting. The same could be said of Ash, Chen and the freshmen. However titles aren't won in December. UCONN has the entire BE schedule to develop and figure it out. May there be more hiccups along the way (USC AND SC)? Perhaps, but there are a lot of games left on the schedule.
@DefenseBB , out of curiosity, when you think about elite front-court players in this case, are you thinking more of players at the traditional 5 position? Since 2017, UConn has had Azurá, Napheesa, ONO, Dorka, and Aaliyah, all of whom are doing respectably (well, more than respectably in Napheesa's case!) in the WNBA. Though some of these women tend toward the 3-4, I still think of them as front-court players, but none in the traditional 5 mold, even though some were forced into that role at UConn. Just trying to educate myself on the terminology.
I refuse to link to this guy’s videos. Any schmoe with a smartphone can make a video and throw it on YouTube. Why people give this guy credence is beyond me
Of course he was sending a message. I also hope it was received. We will see soon enough. We are not going where we want to go without them.
Nika had 4 years to develop what you regard as heart. Please remember that during her 1st year she was regarded by many here on the BY as wild, un-coachable while being nothing more than a sub. It was a couple of years, and many were still wondering if Nika would ever get it. I guess you remember it, you were here, right? 10 games, I think heart will develop and I whole heartedly believe you are correct about Morgan. I posted a month or 2 before the season that Morgan was my dark horse this year, now we are hearing from Geno that he sees what you and I see. Morgan is on the way, good for the Huskies, good for Geno, good for PacoSwede:, good for the fans here on the BY.
“if left open?” It is her job to get open.
When we play the elite teams, you will see that what we’re getting from them is not enough. It won’t matter in the big east but come tournament time, the production we are getting up front is t going to cut it. I do believe in Sarah and Aubrey but they are undersized. What if we run into UCLA or South Carolina. They are big, athletic and most importantly super aggressive on the boards.