I am a fan and I am not confused by the lack of bench play. There are obviously good reasons for this. When Meg was out, Kyla did what was expected (good thing) but she definitely wasn't a scoring threat, which the opponents knew (bad thing). ONO was adequate but her defense was a disaster in that she is fouling too often. And Mikayla's play certainly didn't open any eyes.
As I posted in another thread, when bench players for our opponents come in a game, there doesn't seem to be noticeable changes in how the team operates (obviously at a lower level than UConn) whereas with us, our performance usually comes down.
If anyone comes off the bench and there's no noticeable difference then I think Geno would play them. Kinda like when Gabby, Pheesa, Morgan T, MoJeff were freshmen and sophomores.
On that, I totally disagree.
1) IMHO Kayla could somewhat effectively do the same thing MW did in that game, which is hit a wide open jumper, rebound and defend.. because that is what Cal was giving up offensively, part of Cal's game plan was to let anybody other than Lou shoot from the outside.
1b)Were all 5) of Cal's players reliable scoring threats? Yet they stayed with a team that had 5), go figure.. Fatigue can affect the level of play, one team was well rested and energized by it's home crowd, one was not. Hense a come back is feesable, in what should have been easily a 20 point loss.
2) How many fouls did ONO have in the Cal game? From my point of view ONO's defense in the CAL game in her limited time, was up to par with any other UCONN player, other than Napheesa. And I didn't see her make any huge or stupid error while she was on the court, but that is said without knowing specifically what she was instructed or expected to do by her coaches. What I did notice however was that her presence in the middle dettered a few players from attacking the rim, which is something her team seriously needs.
So my question is why only two minutes in this game?
3) Is it not true that some of our subs are more skilled than their subs, so even if we drop off by putting one in the game for a short stretch, our team should still be way better than an opponent like Cal. No one is asking the coach to replace all 5 starters at once.
4) I believe after the Notre Dame game, coach said ONO is one of those kids who play better in games than in practice, and because of her performance in that game, she would be seeing more time on the court.. I'm still waiting to see this more playing time on a consistent basis that he promised... 5-10 mins a game would sure be a nice confidence booster for a player of her calliber.. vs sitting on the bench cheering and doubting herself more with each passing game, whether she is good enough to play at UCONN.
