is anyone else nervous ? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

is anyone else nervous ?

I'm good. An extra portal player would certainly be nice, but it's a pretty good roster as is, to say the least. I'm confident that with any scenario that plays out, we'll be in the hunt for the NC.
 
Charliebball said:
My mom always said better to be safe than sorry..........based on her history, the odds are pretty good that Azzi will miss some time next season.........if it's three games it's no big deal but if it's three months then that's a big problem.......adding another proven scorer seems like the prudent thing to do especially if UConn doesn't get Williams who would bring needed interior and midrange offense.....
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There is a trade-off between covering all contingencies (such as a long-term Azzi injury) and properly rewarding players who have been in Storrs since their freshman year and have performed admirably -- specifically KK and Ashlynn.

Last year at this time, Geno recruited Kaitlyn because he recognized that KK and Ashlynn, despite their copious freshman minutes, were not as experienced and poised as a championship point guard needs to be. I don't think Geno would have brought Kaitlyn to Storrs if he expected her to be "bench depth" -- that wouldn't be fair to her when she undoubtedly had opportunities to go to other NC contenders and be a starter.

But this year is different. KK and Ashlynn have another year of high-level experience, and the highlight reel plays that prove it. That doesn't mean that they don't have further development to do, but they are both ready to start (although only one of them probably will). So should he bring in a guard like Kayleigh Heckel as "bench depth" or as a contingency reserve? Again, that wouldn't be fair to her when she can go to another fine program and start. And it certainly wouldn't be fair to KK and Ashlynn to consign both of them to the bench for yet another year of backup duty.

Serah is another story. The in-house incumbents at her position (Jana and Ice) have not yet demonstrated that they have the resume to start on a championship team. They are like KK and Ashlynn were last year -- but NOT this year! So if Serah comes, it will be because Geno expects that she will probably start, barring a major summer improvement from either Jana or Ice.
 
IMHO I believe Serah Williams would be the missing piece to the puzzle for a 13th National Championship!
She has many different skills that would cover any questions in our lineup!
She will not be an extra piece she'll be valuable to UConn's success next year!
It makes a ton of sense on her part and Geno's to sign her!
 
So many BY posters are so sure Williams will succeed in the UConn system. I hope she comes but, remember, Dorka had similar stats as Williams and was a first team All-Big 10 player. She struggled her first season. Serah has only season left. I believe that somewhere among Cheli, Shade, Allie, Blanca, and Caroline, there is at least two other accurate outside shooters. I like Hayleigh but I don't believe she is any better or as good as what UConn already has.
 
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I believe that the key to the Sareh Williams talk is she a Geno type person.
We all know what he looks for in a recruit. There is something special that Geno & CD always look for: Unselfishness, family type player…You know the rest.
She must be accepted by the players!
Geno has the innate quality of sizing up a kid that I haven’t seen in all my years.
‘If it fits wear it’.
Geno knows!!!
 
Looks like a good chance Williams will choose LSU?

Not sure how people are able to post tweets from Twitter, but 94feet is reporting she will be at LSU this weekend and make her decision at the end of her visit.

"While this is her first visit of her finalist, including UConn and North Carolina, there is a strong possibility Williams makes a decision this weekend. Stay tuned"

https://x.com/94FeetWBB/status/1912992230572273813
 
On Flaujae & Mikayla Williams instagram story
You can see the LSU girls took Serah Williams out to dinner and made a whole production out of it. And Gary Redus is making a thing about Williams visit on twitter / X …

Come to UConn if you want to be a part of something great
 
I don't get a good feel for Serah and UConn...hope I am wrong/wrong/wrong.

I am assuming Geno has offered her. If so I am not at all indifferent about her.
If Geno wants her, so do I. If she chooses Elsewhere University Geno will be disappointed...
and so will I. If so...I would rather she not go to an elite program but I think that is in the cards.
I'll be glad to hear her decision...seems like forever and a day on this topic.

We'll be fine without her but we'll be 'finer' with her...imo.
 
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mmeade258 said:
And Gary Redus is making a thing about Williams visit on twitter / X …
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As I recall, he did the same thing about Sarah Strong a little over a year ago. It’s a pressure tactic, to post stuff implying a decision has already been made and it’s a done deal. Sometimes this tactic backfires.
 
I was feeling good re: Serah until this morning. I would think she would have already had a UConn visit scheduled. (Maybe she does?.) But….I think we’re an alternate in case this LSU visit doesn’t persuade her to commit with them. Just a feeling based on nothing.
 
I think Williams will pick LSU. I remember the rumored NIL packages when they were pursuing Cambridge, Strong, and Edwards. Now, those packages may have been exaggerated. But if there is any truth to them at all… that would be hard to turn down.

And if we don’t get her… well.. maybe that is fine? I wanted Beers. We didn’t get her. We still won the title.
 
Vancat said:
I was feeling good re: Serah until this morning. I would think she would have already had a UConn visit scheduled. (Maybe she does?.) But….I think we’re an alternate in case this LSU visit doesn’t persuade her to commit with them. Just a feeling based on nothing.
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If Williams would choose LSU over UConn, she's probably not the player the Huskies want ........UConn certainly will need Jana and Ice to step it up next season if UConn wants to compete for another NC....
 
I recall the “must have” commentary and the sad disappointment many expressed when we did not get Raegan Beers last year at this time. How did that work out for us?

I have no worries regardless of what Serah decides. If she goes elsewhere, good luck to her and her new team. If she picks UConn, welcome to an extended and lifelong family.
 
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Bone Dog said:
As I recall, he did the same thing about Sarah Strong a little over a year ago. It’s a pressure tactic, to post stuff implying a decision has already been made and it’s a done deal. Sometimes this tactic
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Don’t forget Zack Nagy. He wrote articles regarding Sarah Strong’s visit last year that gave readers the impression that Sarah Strong’s commitment to LSU was a done deal. He is 100% pro-LSU and is the managing editor and publisher of LSU Country which is published by Sports Illustrated.
 
Forego said:
Don’t forget Zack Nagy. He wrote articles regarding Sarah Strong’s visit last year that gave readers the impression that Sarah Strong’s commitment to LSU was a done deal. He is 100% pro-LSU and is the managing editor and publisher of LSU Country which is published by Sports Illustrated.
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Yup. The stuff Nagy and Redus put out there about Sarah had an intended audience of 1 person: Sarah. It was an attempt to pressure her into thinking she had no other choice since "it's already out there." They really misread her.

I suspect we'll see more stuff like that directed at Serah this time, and either it works or it doesn't.
 
We will be starting next season with 3 or 4 players available at the post. Yanna is coming back from injury and I do not know her status. There is a lot of time for these players to work on getting better.

When we choose to play a small lineup, we will have Blanca, Caroline, Morgan, and Sara who are tall enough to be effective.

The coaches will likely focus on getting the guards to get better to replace the defense, passing, and scoring we lost from Paige’s graduation.

So I am not worried. If we get the right players from the portal, we may improve marginally. More gains will be achieved by working on improving the talent we already have.
 
Steelerone said:
Let me think about this for a moment. We just won the National Championship and following that lost one starter, one reserve who was often injured and one reserve who saw very few minutes unless it was against a much lesser opponent. I'd say that with what we have returning, in addition to three highly though of recruits, that we might not be in desperate conditions.
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I think Chen started more games than she didn't, so we actually lost 2 starters. She had a maturity that Kay Kay is still acquiring. If healthy, we good, but not unwise to have another 5 star that fits in case of injuries; plays defense, willing to learn the triangle, understands all are rotation players until they prove they are unsubbable. I mean, Azzi was almost a rotation player throughout the year until she found her groove a bunch of the tourney games.
 
To answer the original question, yes I am nervous. Can we compete for another championship without any more additions? Sure, but we are in a much better position if we add Williams. There is no reason to believe the backcourt will be better next year. Still good, but not better. All the returnees improving a bit and adding Kelis doesn't come close to making up for the loss of Kaitlin and more importantly a superstar like Paige.

Upfront we could be better, Sarah in her second year, although I am hard pressed to figure out what she can improve on, maybe Ice a little better and Jana hopefully significantly so. Maybe Ayanna and Gandy add something to the mix, but the bottom line is only Sarah has shown herself to be a high level big, at least by Uconn's very high standards.

With Williams, both the floor and the ceiling are raised substantially. A superstar at the 4 and a very very good starter at the 5, with backups of Ice at the 4 and Jana at the 5 that would be ok, but not great at last year's level. That is the floor, great starters ok backups.

The upside is we get great backup play too, maybe a bump from Ice and/or Jana, or Ayanna shows that if healthy she is way better than she showed her first year, and perhaps Gandy is so good even initially as a rebounder/defender that she can help right away. but none of those four can realistically be expected to be as productive or anywhere close to it, as Williams next year.

We will be a contender regardless, but the potential difference is substantial, as it would have been if we had acquired Beers, Iriafen, or Betts in prior years. I'm not sure if we were even seriously in the running for the later two, but we know we were the second choice for Beers.

True difference makers are really hard to find for teams that are already contenders. They have few holes in their lineup, and only the best of the portal entrants can really improve their position. One reason why I am a little nervous with Williams is I don't see a good plan B. The next tier of bigs that might have been possible, but also might not have been an improvement, are already gone, namely Smith, Cunningham, and Koval. It is pretty much Williams or ride with what we have at this point, at least up front.
 
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I'm not nervous, let me explain why. Paige usually took something like 15 shots per game and scored 20 points. Without Paige other people will have to take those 15 shots. At 40% that's 6 made shots for perhaps 12 to 15 points. So, what UConn is losing is the delta of about 5 to 8 points. Hardly insurmountable. UConn wins almost all of their games by greater margins.

It's the same deal with assists, steals, rebounds, etc. A collection of people will get Paige's minutes, and they will get assists, steals, rebounds, etc. during those minutes, so the loss is the delta between the 2 situations.

However, no one can speak to the intangibles, well, because they're intangible.
 
Skeets said:
I'm not nervous, let me explain why. Paige usually took something like 15 shots per game and scored 20 points. Without Paige other people will have to take those 15 shots. At 40% that's 6 made shots for perhaps 12 to 15 points. So, what UConn is losing is the delta of about 5 to 8 points. Hardly insurmountable. UConn wins almost all of their games by greater margins.
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I'm sorry, but if you think that Paige versus another player was worth only 5 to 8 points, we are just going to have to disagree.
 
drsteven said:
I think Chen started more games than she didn't, so we actually lost 2 starters. She had a maturity that Kay Kay is still acquiring. If healthy, we good, but not unwise to have another 5 star that fits in case of injuries; plays defense, willing to learn the triangle, understands all are rotation players until they prove they are unsubbable. I mean, Azzi was almost a rotation player throughout the year until she found her groove a bunch of the tourney games.
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Apparently, you did not follow the team during the season, as I have to correct you on three things.
1- I believe Kaitlyn Chen started EVERY game this past season.
2- Azzi joined the starting line-up early in the season as soon as she was ready after rehab, not during the tournament.
3- KK (not KayKay) started just about every game in her freshman year, played in the final 4, so she is battle tested and ready to go to be the PG for next season.
 
CTrefugee said:
Don't we have an open roster spot? When does the portal close?
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Not at all. UConn already has the best roster in college basketball and adding a player that isn't working out elsewhere is always a gamble. Keep in mind the last few years during the injuries they were better than all but 4 of the teams with only 7 playing. They are good.
 
PvP said:
Not to be picky but we lost two starters and one was PAIGE BUECKERS! Hello!
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Um Steelerone, one was the starting PG who was a grad student from Princeton, who BTW, was drafted into the WNBA.
 
Jim said:
I'm sorry, but if you think that Paige versus another player was worth only 5 to 8 points, we are just going to have to disagree.
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Jim, I hear where you are coming from about Paige being a big loss. And I don't want to argue. But I didn't say another person, I said other people, plural. Allow me to explain it another way. How many points did UConn average this year? How many points do you think UConn will average next year? I bet the difference will be fairly small, if any. It's been that way forever otherwise UConn would be averaging about 18 points per game considering all the talent they lost over the years. Somehow the game will go on without Paige.
 
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