Ice Brady on getting to Storrs "I’m just cheesing just thinking about it. I can’t wait.”

[Bone Dog]

Stef took opposing centers away from the basket which gave Stewie room to operate.

Everything is connected.

In the current form of the Huskies, if Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Lou hit from outside and on midrange jumpers, then Dorka, Aaliyah, Amari, Ayanna and Ice can have their way in the post. And all the while, Nika will be wreaking havoc on the opposing guards.

 

[hoopsdiva]

Everything is connected.

In the current form of the Huskies, if Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Lou hit from outside and on midrange jumpers, then Dorka, Aaliyah, Amari, Ayanna and Ice can have their way in the post. And all the while, Nika will be wreaking havoc on the opposing guards.

I'm hoping Aubrey can get involved there somewhere. Assuming that she's finally healthy, I have confidence in her defense and rebounding, but I'd like to see more contributions on the offensive end.

 

[Carnac]

The rebound margin for the first 5 minutes of this game was 9 to 0. UCONN did not collect its first rebound until the 4:20 mark of the first quarter (Evina Westbrook). At the end of the first quarter the rebound margin was 12 to 2 (7 Offensive rebounds for SC) . The rebounding margin for the first 15 minutes of this game was 18 to 3. (13 Offensive rebounds for SC) and SC lead by as many as 18 points. To your point UCONN was exhausted from having to defend SC on multiple possessions of the shot clock and was never able to catch up.

Women's Basketball vs South Carolina on 04/03/22 - Box Score - University of Connecticut Athletics

University of Connecticut Athletics

uconnhuskies.com

Coco, I’m beginning to think some foks don’t really understand or embrace the importance of rebounding. I’ll remind our Boneyard (BY) brethren once again what former Laker head coach Pat Riley said during the LA Lakers’ “showtime era” run of winning championships. He said: “no rebounds, no rings.”

Each rebound your opponent gets is another chance to score, and a possible chance that you don't. NO TEAM can continuously allow an opponent to out rebound them by a wide margin and expect or hope to win.

Same thing with free throws. You can’t send your opponent to the line 10-12 times more than they send you and except to win. Especially in close games. When you play teams like South Carolina (Aliyah Boston) or DePaul (Aneesah Morrow) that have rebounding machines on their roster, you’d better have a plan to neutralize them, or slow them down.

 

[Stymie]

Coco, I’m beginning to think some foks don’t really understand or embrace the importance of rebounding. I’ll remind our Boneyard (BY) brethren once again what former Laker head coach Pat Riley said during the LA Lakers’ “showtime era” run of winning championships. He said: “no rebounds, no rings.”

Each rebound your opponent gets is another chance to score, and a possible chance that you don't. NO TEAM can continuously allow an opponent to out rebound them by a wide margin and expect or hope to win.

Same thing with free throws. You can’t send your opponent to the line 10-12 times more than they send you and except to win. Especially in close games. When you play teams like South Carolina (Aliyah Boston) or DePaul (Aneesah Morrow) that have rebounding machines on their roster, you’d better have a plan to neutralize them, or slow them down.

Thank you Carnac.
You read my mind.
Simply put:
Additional rebounds=additional possessions=additional scoring opportunities=additional points.

 

[Alydar]

I think most correctly assume Dorka starts at C and gets major minutes. There also seems to be a consensus that AE starts at PF and gets big minutes as well. That I'm not so sure of. Aaliyah was a completely different player her freshmen and sophomore seasons.

Her freshmen season had me thinking we had a future All-American, and we could pencil her in as the PF for the rest of her Uconn career.
Her sophomore season by Uconn standards was mediocre at best, and that level of play could easily be topped by a talented freshmen like Ice or Ayanna, or even Amari in her second year.

Put another way I fully expect both Ice and Ayanna to be better in their first year than Aaliyah was last year. I do not expect either to be as good as Aaliyah was her freshmen season, but they might be. So which Aaliyah do we get as a junior? She was better the second half of the season and that is encouraging, but still wound up significantly short of her first year level.

The Canadian team situation may have been a negative for her, and it might have been a bad sign last summer that she was behind Amihere on that team, and I believe they were also trying to turn her into a wing, which is not a good match. Her stats convince me she was not in the same physical condition as well. Her rebounding and blocked shots per minute decreased dramatically last year, and those are two stats that usually don't change much.

The good news is we could get a major upgrade at starting PF with the same player, if it is freshmen Aaliyah. It would almost be like getting a brand new top level recruit. But at the same time, both seasons actually happened, so there is some chance we get sophomore Aaliyah as well, and if that is the case I think her starting job is certainly in jeopardy to the two talented recruits.

My speculation is that going into last summer Edwards knew that an all-B1G forward was coming and while she didn't plan on being a wing she wanted to develop perimeter skills. She just never had a chance to use them. Both ONO & Juhasz also liked to shoot outside and there aren't enough front court shots for all of them. Her midrange shot was good though. Her problem was that she hesitated and some of that was her deferring to the seniors. This year she and Dorka are the "men". No more deferring and hopefully no more hesitation.
Edwards needed to learn to shoot and defender outside but her home is still in the paint, setting screens and rolling. It's too bad that

 

[Alydar]

As much as I like USA BB I wish Brady was here for the entire strength and conditioning session.

 

[Carnac]

Thank you Carnac.
You read my mind.
Simply put:
Additional rebounds=additional possessions=additional scoring opportunities=additional points.

Stymie, that's a real simple and basic equation anyone can understand.

 

[Carnac]

As much as I like USA BB I wish Brady was here for the entire strength and conditioning session.

I was thinking the same thing!!! Another thought about Brady. It's way too early to start trying to GUESS who Geno’s starting 5 will be that first regular-season game in November. What I was thinking about this morning was who will comprise Geno’s core unit, and how many players will be in it.

I can see a rotation unit of 8-9 players consisting of Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, Dorka Juhasz, Caroline Ducharme, Aaliyah Edwards, Aubrey Griffin, Nika Muhl and Lou Lopez-Senechal. That's 9 players. I can see Amari Dewberry, Isuneh (Ice) Brady, and Ayanna Patterson working their way into the rotation also. Brady and Patterson are unproven incoming freshmen who will have to learn the system and earn Geno’s trust. That could well happen once official practice begins in mid-October.

The core players are inter-changeable. Any of them are very capable of starting. Geno tells his players: “give me a reason to play you, or a reason to keep you on the bench.” None of us know right now today how fast our two freshmen will climate and assemilate into the fabric of the team.

It could be during the first three weeks of practice, of maybe not until after the holiday break. I’m betting one of them will make an impressive debut a la Crystal and Christyn early in their freshman year.

 

[Alydar]

I'm hoping that the depth of the team and a lack of minutes becomes the hot issue here next season.

 

[Stymie]

Stymie, that's a real simple and basic equation anyone can understand.

Not on this board.
Unfortunately.

 

[hoophuskee]

Coco, I’m beginning to think some foks don’t really understand or embrace the importance of rebounding. I’ll remind our Boneyard (BY) brethren once again what former Laker head coach Pat Riley said during the LA Lakers’ “showtime era” run of winning championships. He said: “no rebounds, no rings.”

Each rebound your opponent gets is another chance to score, and a possible chance that you don't. NO TEAM can continuously allow an opponent to out rebound them by a wide margin and expect or hope to win.

Same thing with free throws. You can’t send your opponent to the line 10-12 times more than they send you and except to win. Especially in close games. When you play teams like South Carolina (Aliyah Boston) or DePaul (Aneesah Morrow) that have rebounding machines on their roster, you’d better have a plan to neutralize them, or slow them down.

If we are talking NBA - if we go recent then I'm not sure that the Golden State Warriors (the team overall most recent overall success) have that same mantra. And in Game 6 of the season you are referring to (84-85) with Lakers vs Celts, the Celts beat up the Lakers 54-44 yet the Celts still lost by 11.

The point is, I wonder if some posters think the game is all about "Rebounding" and they don’t really understand or embrace the importance of "Skill."

Anyhow- what you need is the execution to do enough of both. You need a certain "Balance." Case in point, SC's leading scorer was Henderson with 26 points. Boston had 11. What SC had was "Balance."

 

[Cuango]

Yes we are getting off track here but Boston has been the best player at her position since she was a freshman but that doesn't take away from Bueckers who if healthy appears to be a generational talent in my book.......I'm pretty sure if you asked fifty coaches whether they would rather start a team with either Boston or Bueckers it would be something of a split decision......but how about that Ice Brady!

While you cleverly hedged with the “somewhat” I would be shocked if a substantial majority did not choose Bueckers in that scenario! However, I certainly agree that some would choose Boston. Even I can’t say it wouldn’t require some thought. She (Boston) has been an exemplary example of a kid that does things the right way and who has taken herself from “really good” to “the best post in NCAA women’s basketball! She has my sincere admiration and respect and I can only say once again, wistfully, imagine if she had only come to UConn!
Actually, On rereading I see that you said, “something”! Sorry!

 

[CocoHusky]

If we are talking NBA - if we go recent then I'm not sure that the Golden State Warriors (the team overall most recent overall success) have that same mantra. And in Game 6 of the season you are referring to (84-85) with Lakers vs Celts, the Celts beat up the Lakers 54-44 yet the Celts still lost by 11.
The point is, I wonder if some posters think the game is all about "Rebounding" and they don’t really understand or embrace the importance of "Skill."
Anyhow- what you need is the execution to do enough of both. You need a certain "Balance." Case in point, SC's leading scorer was Henderson with 26 points. Boston had 11. What SC had was "Balance."

I think both you and @diggerfoot are taking that statement ( rebounding wins championships) far too literally. There is literally only one statistic that determines a champion and that is points not rebounding. Winning the rebounding battle does not guarantee that you win a championship in the NCAA nor the NBA nor the WNBA. UCONN won the rebounding margin @SC in 2020 and got blown out. UCONN lost the rebounding by 13 @Uconn in 2021 and won in OT. Rebounding (by itself) is not determinative of outcome of a game. However, a team (any team not just UCONN) simply cannot continue to operate at such big deficits in the rebounding margin ( as UCONN did in two games against SC this season) because this places significant pressure on playing the others aspects of your game well in order to win or even compete.

In the 2004 finals TN out rebounded UCONN 40 to 22. Hopefully this was the finals game @diggerfoot mentioned in the context of UCONN would have 1 less championship. How was UCONN able to win that championship? UCONN won by shooting 51%, 48% from deep and 82% from the free throw line resulting in a 5 point UCONN victory. Contrast this with the FF game one year prior when the teams played. TN won the rebounding margin 48 to 44. Despite UCONN shooting 45%, 41% from deep and 68% FT this game was a blowout and UCONN was able to hound TN into 31% shooting for the game although TN did collect 20 offensive rebounds.

Regarding Golden State the current team is currently a top 8 rebounding team in the league right behind the Miami Heat ( Pat Riley is the GM). Steve Kerr played for Phil Jackson and Greg Popovich so I'm fairly certain he does subscribe to that mantra. Incidentally Golden State might have two more championships as the were soundly out rebounded by Cleveland and Toronto in recent losses in the finals.

Rebounding is a skill so I'm not sure what you mean when you say" I wonder if some posters think the game is all about "Rebounding" and they don’t really understand or embrace the importance of "Skill. " I'm also slightly confused by the "balance" you are describing.

Ice Brady and Ayanna Patterson are going to help UCONN enormously with rebounding as will a healthy Dorka and AE. Geno would not have called them immediately after the game if he didn't know they could provide the help his team needs.

 

[Bone Dog]

Scoring more than your opponent is a direct cause of winning. Rebounding is often (not always) an indirect cause of winning. This is the distinction I’ve had in mind this whole time, and have been puzzled by those who say “it’s all about rebounding” and suggest any dissent from this mantra is utter idiocy. It’s important to think clearly about what others say and not mis-attribute foolish things to them in order to win an imaginary argument.

 

[CocoHusky]

Scoring more than your opponent is a direct cause of winning. Rebounding is often (not always) an indirect cause of winning. This is the distinction I’ve had in mind this whole time, and have been puzzled by those who say “it’s all about rebounding” and suggest any dissent from this mantra is utter idiocy. It’s important to think clearly about what others say and not mis-attribute foolish things to them in order to win an imaginary argument.

Yup, Guards win championships too. So if you good rebounding guard you should be all set.

 

[CL82]

So you understand the over “arching” theme.
Kudos.

Personally, “I’m loving it.”

 

[Carnac]

I was thinking the same thing!!! Another thought about Brady. It's way too early to start trying to GUESS who Geno’s starting 5 will be that first regular-season game in November. What I was thinking about this morning was who will comprise Geno’s core unit, and how many players will be in it.

I can see a rotation unit of 8-9 players consisting of Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, Dorka Juhasz, Caroline Ducharme, Aaliyah Edwards, Aubrey Griffin, Nika Muhl and Lou Lopez-Senechal. That's 9 players. I can see Amari Dewberry, Isuneh (Ice) Brady, and Ayanna Patterson working their way into the rotation also. Brady and Patterson are unproven incoming freshmen who will have to learn the system and earn Geno’s trust. That could well happen once official practice begins in mid-October.

The core players are inter-changeable. Any of them are very capable of starting. Geno tells his players: “give me a reason to play you, or a reason to keep you on the bench.” None of us know right now today how fast our two freshmen will climate and assemilate into the fabric of the team.

It could be during the first three weeks of practice, of maybe not until after the holiday break. I’m betting one of them will make an impressive debut a la Crystal and Christyn early in their freshman year.

That %#? auto correct ruined my post again. Of course Amari’s last name is DeBerry, not Dewberry. That should be” acclimate, not climate.

 

[hoophuskee]

I think both you and @diggerfoot are taking that statement ( rebounding wins championships) far too literally. There is literally only one statistic that determines a champion and that is points not rebounding. Winning the rebounding battle does not guarantee that you win a championship in the NCAA nor the NBA nor the WNBA. UCONN won the rebounding margin @SC in 2020 and got blown out. UCONN lost the rebounding by 13 @Uconn in 2021 and won in OT. Rebounding (by itself) is not determinative of outcome of a game. However, a team (any team not just UCONN) simply cannot continue to operate at such big deficits in the rebounding margin ( as UCONN did in two games against SC this season) because this places significant pressure on playing the others aspects of your game well in order to win or even compete.

In the 2004 finals TN out rebounded UCONN 40 to 22. Hopefully this was the finals game @diggerfoot mentioned in the context of UCONN would have 1 less championship. How was UCONN able to win that championship? UCONN won by shooting 51%, 48% from deep and 82% from the free throw line resulting in a 5 point UCONN victory. Contrast this with the FF game one year prior when the teams played. TN won the rebounding margin 48 to 44. Despite UCONN shooting 45%, 41% from deep and 68% FT this game was a blowout and UCONN was able to hound TN into 31% shooting for the game although TN did collect 20 offensive rebounds.

Regarding Golden State the current team is currently a top 8 rebounding team in the league right behind the Miami Heat ( Pat Riley is the GM). Steve Kerr played for Phil Jackson and Greg Popovich so I'm fairly certain he does subscribe to that mantra. Incidentally Golden State might have two more championships as the were soundly out rebounded by Cleveland and Toronto in recent losses in the finals.

Rebounding is a skill so I'm not sure what you mean when you say" I wonder if some posters think the game is all about "Rebounding" and they don’t really understand or embrace the importance of "Skill. " I'm also slightly confused by the "balance" you are describing.

Ice Brady and Ayanna Patterson are going to help UCONN enormously with rebounding as will a healthy Dorka and AE. Geno would not have called them immediately after the game if he didn't know they could provide the help his team needs.

If others say what you are saying - great. I just wonder sometimes if others don't think as you.

And yes I understand your point about Golden State. But all I was saying was that I don’t think that the Pat Riley mantra is the Golden State mantra. Not that Golden State wasn't/isn't a good rebounding team.

And as far as skill; I just Googled rebounding with a question: "Is rebounding a skill?" The answer came up it is - it's called "a gentle skill." However when I google basketball skills nearly everywhere they will list shooting, passing and dribbling as skills. Even Googled and found some sites in which they either call these 3 most important skills. Or with some when they refer to 4 or even 5 most important (or similar) skills these 3 are on it but for some Rebounding is not. It's a "lesser skill." Which is probably why when I did a Google and asked the question you can see the reference of Rebounding is "a gentle skill."

That's the point where I'm coming from. I highly value rebounding and it is a basic core fundamental, but I don't put it with passing, shooting and dribbling in terms of skill. Whether one agrees or not is not material- just saying I do have a reference of the three skills and I believe it to be true. That's where I'm coming from.

 

[Carnac]

Scoring more than your opponent is a direct cause of winning. Rebounding is often (not always) an indirect cause of winning. This is the distinction I’ve had in mind this whole time, and have been puzzled by those who say “it’s all about rebounding” and suggest any dissent from this mantra is utter idiocy. It’s important to think clearly about what others say and not mis-attribute foolish things to them in order to win an imaginary argument.

I did not mean to suggest that rebounding was the end-all be-all. That would be ridiculous. There should be a balance of scoring and rebounding. If you don't/can’t put the ball in the basket, it doesn't matter how many rebounds you get. You’re going to lose.

The elite teams we play are going to score. How many extra possessions they get is determined by how many rebounds they get. If anyone read my comment any other way than that, they mis-read it.

 

[Bone Dog]

.The elite teams we play are going to score. How many extra possessions they get is determined by how many rebounds they get. If anyone read my comment any other way than that, they mis-read it.

It’s clear that the reason we lost to SC both times last season is that we were out rebounded significantly. The stat line shows this plain as day. Anyone looking at those games ought to agree that we need to rebound better next season.

There may be a couple of ways to achieve this. On offense it may be more about shot selection and running plays efficiently than merely about grappling in the paint. On defense, grappling in the paint is bound to be a more prominent factor. But here too, an all around efficient defense that switches well can be as significant a factor as grappling. This is the inverse of the offensive principle: getting offensive boards is partly a result of getting the shots your scheme calls for. Denying an opponent the shots they want to take, making them take shots they don’t want, makes it much harder for them to get offensive rebounds.

In the first game against DePaul Aneesah Morrow got lots of rebounds in part because they were able to take the shots they wanted on O and we weren’t for much of the game. In the second game, we played more efficiently on O and D and with much better energy, and as a result Morrow wasn’t a significant factor, though she still scored and rebounded respectably. The Creighton games followed a similar pattern. I take this as a fuller analysis of those games than merely saying we needed to rebound better. Something similar would be true of the SC games, and even more obviously so.

 

[hoophuskee]

It’s clear that the reason we lost to SC both times last season is that we were out rebounded significantly. The stat line shows this plain as day. Anyone looking at those games ought to agree that we need to rebound better next season.

There may be a couple of ways to achieve this. On offense it may be more about shot selection and running plays efficiently than merely about grappling in the paint.

I'm with you I watched in horror as UCONN got wiped off on the glass. I still picture early in the game Evina Westbrook guarding Boston. One of our bigs was out, and the other who is now in the WNBA was hurt. There was only possible outcome and that was to get crushed on the boards. To make it more brutal Evina hurts herself in the 1st half.

And you made great points about offense too. I was a primary pretty good defensive player but as season wore on my shot went to crap. Even before and after I always appreciated "Offense." Ever since I was a kid and even now I appreciate "Offense" more (not saying anyone that prefers defense is wrong. Not one bit.). But on the Defensive end I saw we were overwhelmed on the glass, - I was hoping to see some spark on offense. To my horror and even now I can hear Lobo commenting how Henderson was denying Paige the ball. IMO watching that game there was only 1 player on offense that can make a play - and that was Paige. Between allowing the smaller player Henderson deny Paige the ball as much as she did which should never be much of a factor for someone like Paige and UCONN, for UCONN not looking for Paige as much as they should and or just not forcing the offense to get her the ball (not for her to necessarily shoot but ger her the ball in a triple-threat position) when the other players couldn't do much, or Paige turning down shots had me very, very frustrated. There is no way no way the top guard in WCBB for a quality team like UCONN should be as restricted as they were in getting Paige the ball in decent enough positions as infrequently as they were - when it was clear she was the only one capable of making potentially consistent plays.

So as you say "they better be better rebounding next season," - also imo the execution on offense had better be much better too. The lack of offense -- scoring only 49 points in which we have to hear someone like Lobo tell us that a smaller player isn't "allowing" Paige to shoot should be inexcusable too. I won't get into injuries -- just saying if Paige has an advantage - this team should not be broken enough that they can’t get her the ball if that is the best way to score in a potentially hard fought game when she has a pretty good advantage (which she did).

 

[Alydar]

I'm with you I watched in horror as UCONN got wiped off on the glass. I still picture early in the game Evina Westbrook guarding Boston. One of our bigs was out, and the other who is now in the WNBA was hurt. There was only possible outcome and that was to get crushed on the boards. To make it more brutal Evina hurts herself in the 1st half.

And you made great points about offense too. I was a primary pretty good defensive player but as season wore on my shot went to crap. Even before and after I always appreciated "Offense." Ever since I was a kid and even now I appreciate "Offense" more (not saying anyone that prefers defense is wrong. Not one bit.). But on the Defensive end I saw we were overwhelmed on the glass, - I was hoping to see some spark on offense. To my horror and even now I can hear Lobo commenting how Henderson was denying Paige the ball. IMO watching that game there was only 1 player on offense that can make a play - and that was Paige. Between allowing the smaller player Henderson deny Paige the ball as much as she did which should never be much of a factor for someone like Paige and UCONN, for UCONN not looking for Paige as much as they should and or just not forcing the offense to get her the ball (not for her to necessarily shoot but ger her the ball in a triple-threat position) when the other players couldn't do much, or Paige turning down shots had me very, very frustrated. There is no way no way the top guard in WCBB for a quality team like UCONN should be as restricted as they were in getting Paige the ball in decent enough positions as infrequently as they were - when it was clear she was the only one capable of making potentially consistent plays.

So as you say "they better be better rebounding next season," - also imo the execution on offense had better be much better too. The lack of offense -- scoring only 49 points in which we have to hear someone like Lobo tell us that a smaller player isn't "allowing" Paige to shoot should be inexcusable too. I won't get into injuries -- just saying if Paige has an advantage - this team should not be broken enough that they can’t get her the ball if that is the best way to score in a potentially hard fought game when she has a pretty good advantage (which she did).

I'll be pleased if they just learn to box out.

 

[Stymie]

I'll be pleased if they just learn to box out.

Hallelujah

 

[Stymie]

Stymie, that's a real simple and basic equation anyone can understand.

Not here.
Lotta “just have to shoot better”.
Anything to wallpaper over the rebounding deficiency.
(Again, cue the beating a dead horse meme)

 

[HopJim]

There are two conversations that appear to be getting mixed. UConn got beaten by South Carolina in Finals but to me this is an anomaly due to: 1. Boston-when playing the top center in the country, odds are you will get outrebounded. 2. Injuries and illness to many of the top 6 UConn players. UConn wasn't a great rebounding team during the year, but not our #1 issue during the other 35 games.
Its rare that the top shooting teams (i.e. Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, etc.) are the top rebounding teams. They are usually adequate-not top 5 but top10. Rather than some that are focused solely on rebounding, not sure why there isn't more focus on becoming the top offensive team in the US. Yes, we can do better on rebounding but we don't have Boston. We do have Paige, Azzi, etc.

 

[Zanzman]

Not here.
Lotta “just have to shoot better”.
Anything to wallpaper over the rebounding deficiency.
(Again, cue the beating a dead horse meme)

 

[Bone Dog]

I'm with you I watched in horror as UCONN got wiped off on the glass. I still picture early in the game Evina Westbrook guarding Boston. One of our bigs was out, and the other who is now in the WNBA was hurt. There was only possible outcome and that was to get crushed on the boards. To make it more brutal Evina hurts herself in the 1st half.

And you made great points about offense too. I was a primary pretty good defensive player but as season wore on my shot went to crap. Even before and after I always appreciated "Offense." Ever since I was a kid and even now I appreciate "Offense" more (not saying anyone that prefers defense is wrong. Not one bit.). But on the Defensive end I saw we were overwhelmed on the glass, - I was hoping to see some spark on offense. To my horror and even now I can hear Lobo commenting how Henderson was denying Paige the ball. IMO watching that game there was only 1 player on offense that can make a play - and that was Paige. Between allowing the smaller player Henderson deny Paige the ball as much as she did which should never be much of a factor for someone like Paige and UCONN, for UCONN not looking for Paige as much as they should and or just not forcing the offense to get her the ball (not for her to necessarily shoot but ger her the ball in a triple-threat position) when the other players couldn't do much, or Paige turning down shots had me very, very frustrated. There is no way no way the top guard in WCBB for a quality team like UCONN should be as restricted as they were in getting Paige the ball in decent enough positions as infrequently as they were - when it was clear she was the only one capable of making potentially consistent plays.

So as you say "they better be better rebounding next season," - also imo the execution on offense had better be much better too. The lack of offense -- scoring only 49 points in which we have to hear someone like Lobo tell us that a smaller player isn't "allowing" Paige to shoot should be inexcusable too. I won't get into injuries -- just saying if Paige has an advantage - this team should not be broken enough that they can’t get her the ball if that is the best way to score in a potentially hard fought game when she has a pretty good advantage (which she did).

I'm always looking for the bigger picture. It wasn't just about rebounding as though that happens in a vacuum. But once we were weakened in that area, everything else suffered. Henderson could play deny defense on Paige only because there weren't enough other options and they were not worried about us getting an offensive rebound. If we'd been healthier -- and especially with Dorka healthy -- the rebounding imbalance would likely have been smaller. And if that had been the case, Paige would have blown right past Henderson's deny defense and either scored or forced Saxton and Beal to foul her. That's what happened in the game two years ago even though we had a weaker starting 5 and they had essentially the same one as this year.

But sadly, none of this was the case, we had the healthy personnel we had, and that meant we'd lose the rebounding battle by a large enough margin to allow Henderson to play deny defense on Paige, and all the rest followed with grim inexorability.

Now if I slip into speculation mode and try to imagine what the next year's meetings will look like, I conclude from this not that we need to recruit/transfer even more burly post players, but that we may have enough muscle already, and that with a healthy Paige and Azzi (i.e.other-Paige) and SC minus Henderson, SC will struggle to guard the perimeter giving Aaliyah and Dorka and at least one of Aubrey/Amari/Ayanna/Ice a free hand in the paint. Two years ago, they could barely keep up with only one Paige. How will they manage, with the same personnel on their side, to guard Caroline and Lou as well? Two seasons ago, in the game we barely won -- a tight matchup to be sure -- Beal was assigned to guard Paige and she scored 30. I wonder how they'll account for Azzi, Caroline and Lou. Will Zia be assigned to Paige? Can Beal keep up with Azzi? If so, is Saxton supposed to come out against Caroline and Lou? Boston will probably out play Dorka, but will she and Cardozo collectively outplay Dorka, Amari, and Ice while Saxton and Amihere struggle to box out Aaliyah, Aubrey, and Ayanna? It really seems to me that they will have more problems to solve than we will.

 

[hoophuskee]

I'm always looking for the bigger picture. It wasn't just about rebounding as though that happens in a vacuum. But once we were weakened in that area, everything else suffered. Henderson could play deny defense on Paige only because there weren't enough other options and they were not worried about us getting an offensive rebound. If we'd been healthier -- and especially with Dorka healthy -- the rebounding imbalance would likely have been smaller. And if that had been the case, Paige would have blown right past Henderson's deny defense and either scored or forced Saxton and Beal to foul her. That's what happened in the game two years ago even though we had a weaker starting 5 and they had essentially the same one as this year.

But sadly, none of this was the case, we had the healthy personnel we had, and that meant we'd lose the rebounding battle by a large enough margin to allow Henderson to play deny defense on Paige, and all the rest followed with grim inexorability.

Now if I slip into speculation mode and try to imagine what the next year's meetings will look like, I conclude from this not that we need to recruit/transfer even more burly post players, but that we may have enough muscle already, and that with a healthy Paige and Azzi (i.e.other-Paige) and SC minus Henderson, SC will struggle to guard the perimeter giving Aaliyah and Dorka and at least one of Aubrey/Amari/Ayanna/Ice a free hand in the paint. Two years ago, they could barely keep up with only one Paige. How will they manage, with the same personnel on their side, to guard Caroline and Lou as well? Two seasons ago, in the game we barely won -- a tight matchup to be sure -- Beal was assigned to guard Paige and she scored 30. I wonder how they'll account for Azzi, Caroline and Lou. Will Zia be assigned to Paige? Can Beal keep up with Azzi? If so, is Saxton supposed to come out against Caroline and Lou? Boston will probably out play Dorka, but will she and Cardozo collectively outplay Dorka, Amari, and Ice while Saxton and Amihere struggle to box out Aaliyah, Aubrey, and Ayanna? It really seems to me that they will have more problems to solve than we will.

They're loaded with seniors and they are getting a transfer guard along with their other youth of Raven and a couple of H/S A/A's. Imo we're behind them.

 

[Bone Dog]

And in that speculation, I didn't even mention the foul problem. Boston nearly fouled out in the game two years ago and Saxton had 3, while Olivia and Aaliyah each had 4. Next time around, they'll have Cardozo as a back up to Boston, so 5 more fouls to throw at the problem. But we'll have a much deeper bench to absorb a lot more fouls.

 

[Bone Dog]

They're loaded with seniors and they are getting a transfer guard along with their other youth of Raven and a couple of H/S A/A's. Imo we're behind them.

I think you have a point about their seniors. We'll only have a few Juniors, a few sophomores and two grad students. But I have to disagree about the freshmen out of fear of @CocoHusky et al blaming us for assuming they'll develop at all. If we can't assume the same for a rising sophomore like Amari, or freshmen like Ice and Ayanna, how can we possibly allow ourselves to assume the same for Dawn's freshmen?

In other words, SC will likely start an inexperienced sophomore point guard (5 mins/game) and 4 seniors including the NPOY. By contrast, we'll likely start two juniors, including a junior point guard former NPOY, two sophomores, and a grad student, all very experienced. I think we ought to call this a wash.

Now who will we sub in? I think SC will likely sub in one junior center (14 mins/game) and no one else with any significant game experience. We'll likely be able to sub in 2 juniors and a grad student with substantial game experience, a sophomore center with little game experience, and two freshmen posts. It's all just idle speculation, but I like our odds.