Jovana Popovic and Nika Muhl

[Bone Dog]

Over the years Auriemma has told many players and relayed to the media this line. 'If I didn't think you were good, you wouldn't be here'. The most recent being Ziebell the other night. And if you're UConn good you play more than mop up duty. So since those 3 only got mop up duty and bailed for PT elsewhere, I'd call it a misevaluation since it was 75% of his recruiting class and he thought they were UConn good. Plus it was a position of need since he only had two underclass guards in Dangerfield and Bent and he likely already realized that Bent wasn't going to play much and he could only carry so many guards so he wasn't just filling roster spots.

I think you’re agreeing with me, notwithstanding his offering encouragement to individual players. The point folks have been making is that his remarks about Jovana are more than that generic encouragement.

I don’t really have a profound point here and have posted elsewhere that I doubt Jovana will get much prime playing time her first year and maybe not even her second. That’s less a reflection on her talents than on the depth chart. Next season KK Ash Kayleigh and Allie will likely dominate the guard minutes. And it’s not inconceivable that Morgan may get some guard minutes. The following season, once KK and Ash graduate, I think Jovana will probably get better minutes as the second unit with Kelis backing up Kayleigh and Allie. This assumes normal growth and progression in the system. Could she be delayed if Geno takes in a transfer or two? Sure, but I’m not counting on it.

So far, this is just a reflection on the depth chart. But we can try to go further and see if we can spot what Geno likes about her in the available video evidence. She seems to be a capable scorer and passer, with rather more skills at all three levels than Nika displayed against similar competition. She also seems to be fearless in scoring through contact. What there isn’t much evidence of is defensive tenacity, at least not compared to what we could observe in Nika. I don’t know how reliable the video evidence of her offensive skills really is. But the fearlessness is unmistakable. That’s a quality we know Geno values and I suspect this is mainly what he sees in her.

If he thinks Jovana is able to follow in the footsteps of great PGs of the past, I’m inclined to trust him. But he hasn’t exactly promised this. Right now, he is very supportive of Kayleigh and I think we can all picture how she’ll lead the team after KK and Ash graduate. I’m confident in her too. We don’t know if Jovana will be able to follow in KK and Kayleigh’s footsteps. I’m eager to see how she develops. This is the future Geno has assembled for us.

 

[Skeets]

Often a team like UConn does not 'replace' a star, but rather morphs into something new around talents of returning players.

Not just often, but just about every time a star graduates. And yet the BY will agonize over the loss, i.e. the gnashing of teeth, OMG what are we going to do. Who can replace (pick a name). Remarkable UConn almost always make the FF and have a real shot NCs after losing so many stars.

 

[JoePgh]

There is a lot of discussion in this thread about guard talent next year and later, but I saw only one quick mention of Morgan and ZERO mentions of Kelis. Morgan is injured this year and Kelis (really through no fault of her own) is at the end of the bench because of the more experienced talent ahead of her, but both have shown enough in their limited minutes to make me believe that they have star potential if they get regular minutes and practice reps, and if they are being relied on to win games.

Also, and equally important, Blanca has enough shooting and ball-handling skills to be a guard if she is needed there, so she also adds to future depth in UConn's backcourt.

I'm glad that Geno recruited Jovana, but I don't think we need to rely on future recruits to solidify the guard positions next year or the year after.

 

[Bone Dog]

There is a lot of discussion in this thread about guard talent next year and later, but I saw only one quick mention of Morgan and ZERO mentions of Kelis. Morgan is injured this year and Kelis (really through no fault of her own) is at the end of the bench because of the more experienced talent ahead of her, but both have shown enough in their limited minutes to make me believe that they have star potential if they get regular minutes and practice reps, and if they are being relied on to win games.

Also, and equally important, Blanca has enough shooting and ball-handling skills to be a guard if she is needed there, so she also adds to future depth in UConn's backcourt.

I'm glad that Geno recruited Jovana, but I don't think we need to rely on future recruits to solidify the guard positions next year or the year after.

I don’t entirely agree, but I mainly do. I’m one of the folks who wanted to see Morgan at the point last season. But Geno kept her exclusively as a 4 or arguably a 3 in the small lineup. Injury got in the way so we never saw if Geno would experiment with her at the 1 or 2. Next season, I don’t see her breaking into that guard lineup. But the following year, after KK and Ash graduate, she could look like a really interesting option at either 2 or even 1.

My prediction is Kayleigh will start at PG for her entire senior season. Could Kelis be the main backup as a junior, or would it be Morgan? Or could sophomore Jovana take that role. In HS, Kelis was better as a 2 than as a PG, in my humble opinion. She is simply an excellent slasher and might develop the rest of her arsenal in the meantime. But Morgan and Jovana were both primarily PGs. And both were substantial HS talents, Jovana as a scorer and Morgan as a defender.

I’ve expressed this in terms of traditional position designations. But other than PG we all recognize that Geno runs something much more like a positionless offense. I think what this means is that he will maximize the number of good ballhandlers on the floor together whenever he can. This means Morgan will see playing time even if she isn’t nominally in a guard position. You can see this even now when he relies on Sarah Blanca and Azzi to break presses rather than wearing out KK and Kayleigh in this role. Morgan will probably end up in a similar role.

What might that lineup look like in 27-28? Sarah’s Jana’s Allie’s and Kayleigh’s senior year, Blanca’s Gandy’s and Kelis’s junior year, and Jovana’s and Olivia’s sophomore year? And we don’t know who else Geno might have recruited by then. Here’s my guess based on limited information:

• Sarah Olivia Blanca Allie and Kayleigh start
• Jana Morgan Kelis and Jovana make up the rest of the primary rotation.

It’s just a guess, and new recruits or transfers could change the picture significantly. Is this a final four caliber team? I think so, merely because of Sarah Blanca Kayleigh and Allie. Is it good enough to win Sarah’s 4th NC? A tougher call, but I wouldn’t bet against them. Who would their competition be? Probably not UCLA, which is about to implode after this season. Not USC. Texas maybe, but without Booker? It’s hard to count out SC and Dawn, especially if Alice Agot and Ayla (the three As) develop well and support Joyce. LSU? Iowa? Maybe Vandy!

 

[Bone Dog]

One last reflection on Jovana. We know how much emphasis Geno places on character and fitting personalities together into a cohesive team culture. Somehow, he must also be making some sort of assessment of these aspects of Jovana’s game. How will she fit into Husky culture? I have no way of knowing much about this.

I remember how KK and Ash first fit in and what sort of players they were in high school. They were ranked but not very highly recruited, mainly because they committed so early to UConn. Same with Allie. The thing about all of them was that they were used to being the athletic and emotional leaders of their high school teams. This seems to be a trait Geno looks for in recruits. Morgan is another case of this, a team leader willing to become a role player. Is this also who Jovana is? I have no idea. Videos can’t really reveal this. But this is one thing I’d look for clues about when she arrives in Storrs.

When I see Sarah rip down a rebound under the basket make a quick outlet pass to Azzi who takes two dribbles and hits Ash for an easy layup on the break, all within four ticks of the shot clock — that sort of play requires athleticism. But it mainly requires timing, coordination and trust. And all of that is an outgrowth of a cohesive team culture. This is what Jovana has signed up for. I hope she is ready to work super hard on her game, but also opens her heart to her teammates. The team needs both sides of this equation from her.

Geno used to tease Nika that her hands weren’t big enough to palm the ball and that was why she struggled early with drives to the basket. She couldn’t control the ball with one hand for those finger rolls she was attempting. Well, Jovana has big hands. This may be part of why she is so confident going to the rim.

 

[Woof]

I would take the other side here, and offer that we will again be very good in the backcourt and overall next year.

Sarah and Blanca all American candidates.

Backcourt of: KK, Ash, K9, Allie, Morgan, Kelis. No superstar, but all sorts of big game experience in this group.

Often a team like UConn does not 'replace' a star, but rather morphs into something new around talents of returning players.

Fun challenge for next year is teams like Vandy, USC and Michigan will be much better to join with usual suspects of TX and SC as contenders. UCLA will drop off though as they lose their whole team.

KK will be an all-american next year. Her game took huge leaps forward this year. She is starting to show the ability of scoring at all three levels and I expect that to continue to improve. She is super efficient, runs the offense well, is fast, has become very strong, is a great ball handler and a phenomenal defender.

I am a "show me" person when it comes to freshman and transfers. We have had some that lived up to the hype and some that fell woefully short. Blanca has shown me. She will also be an all-american candidate next year.

Those two plus Sarah is already a championship core. Ashlyn will be solid. Heckle has improved quite a bit as the year has gone on and I expect her to be even better next year. Ziebell took a huge sophomore jump. No reason to think that won't happen again. That, right there, is a championship caliber first 6. Will it be better or worse than this year? Hard to say. But I really thought this year's team would take a step back after losing Paige. I knew it was POSSIBLE that they could actually be better, not worse, but that required a few things to happen that were simply tough to predict. They all happened.

As for the incoming freshman stars, I am in "show me" mode. I think we need Vukosa to be an instant impact more Jovana. That is not typical for a big. And Jana seems to be stagnating. Maybe that is injury related and she will make her big jump next year. That would take the pressure off of Vukosa. I might be tempted to try and snag a big in the portal again, if I were Geno.

 

[EricSD]

Just from watching video or something else?

The competition and defense doesn’t look
too strong.

Watching videos and games. She played against Team USA along with Olivia (on the same team) and while Serbia got stomped, she was the leading scorer for her team and the best player that day on the floor for them... I was trying to look up the video or score but couldn't find it...

 

[BobbyJ]

Watching videos and games. She played against Team USA along with Olivia (on the same team) and while Serbia got stomped, she was the leading scorer for her team and the best player that day on the floor for them... I was trying to look up the video or score but couldn't find it...

It wasn't Serbia they played with. It was Team World against Team USA in the 2025 Nike Hoop Summit. Here's a highlights video of the tv feed. It covers the 2nd half and Popovic and Vukosa are in a good chunk of it. Vukosa is #7 in black and Popovic is #11. Popovic enters at about 9:10 of the video and goes out around 22:40. She is very fast with an excellent handle and has no problem beating people off the dribble and getting to the rim while she's on the floor against Chavez, Davidson, Skinner of Duke, and Bella Hines of LSU. A good passer who can beat press coverage and defensively has excellent lateral quickness. She scored 11 in the game.

 

[Cuango]

I mean we need her to be good. Azzi is leaving. I am kind of projecting a slightly down year next year. Which just means Texas, USC, and South Carolina are probably better. But UConn would definitely still be like in the top 5.

It is hard to lose Paige and Azzi in back to back years and not have a bit of a drop off from the backcourt.

I think we’re all going to be surprised (pleasantly) at how good this team is next season! Yes, obviously, Azzi will be a big loss but will she be a bigger loss than Paige was this season? I think not. Jana is looking much better, We have an all-American post coming in, Ice might be healthy, and Gandy may be able to contribute! We have Strong, Blanca, Morgan may be healthy, and Yanna may be a contributor! We have The usual suspects in Ash & KK, Allie, Kayleigh, Kelis, and Jovana will all be better!

 

[Cuango]

I think we’re all going to be surprised (pleasantly) at how good this team is next season! Yes, obviously, Azzi will be a big loss but will she be a bigger loss than Paige was this season? I think not. Jana is looking much better, We have an all-American post coming in, Ice might be healthy, and Gandy may be able to contribute! We have Strong, Blanca, Morgan may be healthy, and Yanna may be a contributor! We have The usual suspects in Ash & KK, Allie, Kayleigh, Kelis, and Jovana will all be better!

Actually, Nan, It occurs to me I might not be supposed to post a song like this here? Sorry if that’s the case.

 

[SVCBeercats]

The competition and defense doesn’t look
too strong.

Popovic makes them look weak!!! 😉

 

[Bone Dog]

It wasn't Serbia they played with. It was Team World against Team USA in the 2025 Nike Hoop Summit. Here's a highlights video of the tv feed. It covers the 2nd half and Popovic and Vukosa are in a good chunk of it. Vukosa is #7 in black and Popovic is #11. Popovic enters at about 9:10 of the video and goes out around 22:40. She is very fast with an excellent handle and has no problem beating people off the dribble and getting to the rim while she's on the floor against Chavez, Davidson, Skinner of Duke, and Bella Hines of LSU. A good passer who can beat press coverage and defensively has excellent lateral quickness. She scored 11 in the game.

Thanks for this. Excellent video -- technically it's a low quality stream, but you do get to see how Jovana measures up against the top ranked recruits, like Betts, Chavez, Skinner, Jazzy and so on. Three things are clear from this:

1. Jovana can play with the best of last year's recruits. She belongs on the floor with them
2. She has a quick first step, really quick and can get to the rim. I'd compare her to Kayleigh. 3 possessions in a row, she blows past defenders (two ar length of the court drives) to score at the rim. She brought Team World back with those scores.
3. She can play D. This is hard to tell from an all-star game where defense isn't a priority. But she keeps her woman in front of her when she has to.

I think this video should soothe a lot of qualms. It cuts through all the concerns about level of competition.
Also, Olivia looks fantastic, and she breaks a press all by herself at one point. Great handles for a big.

 

[Cuango]

KK will be an all-american next year. Her game took huge leaps forward this year. She is starting to show the ability of scoring at all three levels and I expect that to continue to improve. She is super efficient, runs the offense well, is fast, has become very strong, is a great ball handler and a phenomenal defender.

I am a "show me" person when it comes to freshman and transfers. We have had some that lived up to the hype and some that fell woefully short. Blanca has shown me. She will also be an all-american candidate next year.

Those two plus Sarah is already a championship core. Ashlyn will be solid. Heckle has improved quite a bit as the year has gone on and I expect her to be even better next year. Ziebell took a huge sophomore jump. No reason to think that won't happen again. That, right there, is a championship caliber first 6. Will it be better or worse than this year? Hard to say. But I really thought this year's team would take a step back after losing Paige. I knew it was POSSIBLE that they could actually be better, not worse, but that required a few things to happen that were simply tough to predict. They all happened.

As for the incoming freshman stars, I am in "show me" mode. I think we need Vukosa to be an instant impact more Jovana. That is not typical for a big. And Jana seems to be stagnating. Maybe that is injury related and she will make her big jump next year. That would take the pressure off of Vukosa. I might be tempted to try and snag a big in the portal again, if I were Geno.

Definitely disagree on Jana. I think she is finally beginning to show why Geno recruited her. Yes, she’s underachieved up to now but I think she has awakened and will get better and better from here on out. Next year is a big opportunity for her to finally be the starting center on another championship contending team! I think she will use this current epiphany (rededication to the game) to springboard into the offseason and she will come back in October in the best shape of her life, with the best skillset of her life, and will be a critical piece of next season’s championship quest while at the same time, mentoring the future UConn star, Olivia Vukosa! As for the portal, I’ll leave that to Geno but my guess, if he does take someone, I would expect it to be a three point sniper with defensive ability.

 

[Suebird10fan]

KK will be an all-american next year. Her game took huge leaps forward this year. She is starting to show the ability of scoring at all three levels and I expect that to continue to improve. She is super efficient, runs the offense well, is fast, has become very strong, is a great ball handler and a phenomenal defender.

….

Blanca has shown me. She will also be an all-american candidate next year.

Those two plus Sarah is already a championship core. Ashlyn will be solid. Heckle has improved quite a bit as the year has gone on and I expect her to be even better next year. Ziebell took a huge sophomore jump. No reason to think that won't happen again. That, right there, is a championship caliber first 6. Will it be better or worse than this year? Hard to say.

Thank you for saving me the trouble of having to write that. Amen.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

I think we’re all going to be surprised (pleasantly) at how good this team is next season! Yes, obviously, Azzi will be a big loss but will she be a bigger loss than Paige was this season? I think not. Jana is looking much better, We have an all-American post coming in, Ice might be healthy, and Gandy may be able to contribute! We have Strong, Blanca, Morgan may be healthy, and Yanna may be a contributor! We have The usual suspects in Ash & KK, Allie, Kayleigh, Kelis, and Jovana will all be better!

Thanks for helping me remember that the band is so much better than Tim Buc II. 🔥 😎 🔥 😎 🔥

 

[HopJim]

There is a lot of discussion in this thread about guard talent next year and later, but I saw only one quick mention of Morgan and ZERO mentions of Kelis. Morgan is injured this year and Kelis (really through no fault of her own) is at the end of the bench because of the more experienced talent ahead of her, but both have shown enough in their limited minutes to make me believe that they have star potential if they get regular minutes and practice reps, and if they are being relied on to win games.

Also, and equally important, Blanca has enough shooting and ball-handling skills to be a guard if she is needed there, so she also adds to future depth in UConn's backcourt.

I'm glad that Geno recruited Jovana, but I don't think we need to rely on future recruits to solidify the guard positions next year or the year after.

Blanca and Morgan? Both can play all positions including power forward/Strong sub in a small ball lineup. If Geno needs them to play in a ball-handling guard position, its because of issues I don't want to think about.

 

[Bills Fan]

Fair enough. I don't remember enough of the details about Espinosa-Hunter's recruitment and what Geno may have said about her. But my memory of Mikayla and Lexi does not suggest misevaluation, just filling spots on the roster. I don't remember him talking about them in interviews the way he has about Jovana, or Ash, or KK, or Nika, or Christyn, or Crystal, or Sania, or Kia, etc.

If we're really looking at guard and guard-adjacent players, it might be more to the point to mention Mir and Saylor. Mir's injuries and early departure make it hard to judge her potential in hindsight. But Saylor -- a too big to really be a guard -- turned out to be a substantial talent who was never happy in Storrs (for whatever reason).

Saylor was one of those kids that are hard to please. Now on her 3rd school with a Mom who thinks she is AA quality while she's less than all-league quality. Maybe a Geno miss by bring her into the program as a HS senior instead of waiting for her class to graduate.

 

[packwrap]

Blanca and Morgan? Both can play all positions including power forward/Strong sub in a small ball lineup. If Geno needs them to play in a ball-handling guard position, its because of issues I don't want to think about.

Absolutely. Actually Morgan last year, Blanca and add Allie this year all tall enough, and willing rebounders to play as the small ball #4 forward.

Why do this? Geno likes the advantages of the small line up, and it gets these kids into the game!

We have a logjam of good guards, and some room at small forward.

If any of these folks suddenly start getting big minutes at 1-3, it's a good thing for the team, as this would mean they are beating out some very good guards in practice.

 

[cgshuskie]

Saw Jovana in video. I think she will be a great addition. She is fast and crafty.
She should fit well with KK adn K9 as a fast backcourt member. Add Kelis to
the picture and our future is looking good. Who do we want in 2027, Ayers?
Kalima? Adding a fast backcourt scorer will be interesting. Since we already
have to Big O we don't necessarily need another big!

 

[Bone Dog]

Absolutely. Actually Morgan last year, Blanca and add Allie this year all tall enough, and willing rebounders to play as the small ball #4 forward.

I think @HopJim meant the opposite, that if Blanca or Morgan or Allie end up playing as a guard — presumably a 1 or a 2 — Geno would be covering for a bad turn of events. The worry isn’t that we can’t play smallball with them at the big positions, but that if we end up playing ‘bigball’ with them at the little positions things have gone wrong. I’m trying not to say the bad thing, for karmic reasons, so you’ll have to fill in the blanks.

 

[jeff30189]

But Saylor -- a too big to really be a guard -- turned out to be a substantial talent who was never happy in Storrs (for whatever reason).

Whoa whoa whoa. Saylor is a decent talent, but she can't shoot AT ALL. FG% of 33-35-38-39 since leaving UConn and collective 3PT of under 30%. She would not have cracked a rotation except for the depleted COVID year.