Is UConn WBB Ahead of Schedule?

[BlueSkyGLW]

But the team still featured half of the nation's #1 high school recruits in its starting lineup, plus a red-shirt junior who was the second best recruit in her class behind Megan. That's a pretty good foundation upon which to build a team. I think if you looked at the level of talent alone as I just did superficially, you'd say that level of talent should put a team into the final four because there are few if any others that would be as good on paper.

In many ways, one can say ahed of schedule, given the development of three freshmen. Despite not being fully healthy, Evina's contributions were remarkable. But the diminished contributions from the sophomores and uneven contributions from Liv and Christyn delayed the maturation of the returnees.

The lack of the normal Summer practice, reduced exhibition games and the cancelled obstacle course in the beginning of the season did not help their collective team growth under difficult circumstances. If the Covid had not cancelled those games, they likely would have had another loss or two but they would have been through the crucible early and the growth after Arkansas could have kicked earlier. Plus, they would have been stronger together earlier based on how they reacted after midseason loss, and would have learned the lessons they did during the NCAAs earlier in the season.

While the accelerated growth of their defense was remarkable after Arkansas, the early schedule turned out to be less effective in preparing them for the Elite 8 and beyond.

Insofar as talent inventories of a team, if 6 of them are freshmen with no seniors, potential is not the same as proven performance. And, if 8 are underclassmen, the proven performance would not have been established in looking at the inventory of talent on the team. That Paige turned out to be as outstanding as she had been was a surprise even to her coach. And to a lesser extent, he sounded that way with Aaliyah and Nika.

I think that quite apart from the growth of Aaliyah and Nika, Paige and Evina made the team look better than it was as a team at crucial moments, for the most part.....a team that was not truly tested when the stakes are high until the Elite 8. This was notable in how far behind they were in executing the intricacies of motion offense, how to move without the ball so that if a teammate is trapped she can have an outlet and how to generate offense against a pressing, swarming defense, how to generate offense well when unable to push the ball, just to name a few. In particular, Christyn's up and down season delayed the team growth on the variations in offense.

The answer to the question then depends on one's measure: if reaching the FF and beyond is the measure, then it is on schedule, given all the warts. But if you ask me, there were too many things they did not have enough time or challenges to learn, hence are behind schedule on those, given the aptitude of the new incoming players (which includes Evina).

The key 7 players of this team will be instrumental in ensuring that the newcomers will learn faster than they had a chance to. Paige, Azzi, etc. all know each other and have played in different USA teams before.....word of mouth will be busy and some of them will be working even before returning to campus armed with knowledge passed on.

In particular, Paige will want to win the NC next year in Minneapolis where the 1995 team first won it for UConn. One should not underestimate the driving force of that thought....along with Paige's and Azzi's statements when they committed that they expect to win multiple NCs. Everything Paige has learned this year will be passed on her incoming friends but specifically to Azzi in particular. Next year's team should be right on schedule and better prepared to perform under all conditions and should show it early against the usual, difficult non-conference schedule that Geno should line up......assuming that is, that they will be able to have the normal training time during the Summer. And Geno just increased his options in the frontcourt.

Although he wouldn't say it, I wouldn't bet on the 2021-2022 team losing a game on their way to a repeat NC in Minneapolis.....and it gets worse for the opponents the year after. Potholes? Stanford and South Carolina are the two closest ones equipped with elite talent. Baylor not too far behind. But in the next few years, this UConn WBB team will be loaded with capable fighters to play different styles of basketball - the small lineup with not be so small, the big lineup with be deadly. In Christyn, Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Saylor and the energizer bunny Nika, the backcourt will be comparable or maybe could even better than the great ones in the past as they mature (thinking specifically of the young ones in this list)....and Evina, a guard, is playing in the frontcourt.