Jovana Popovic and Nika Muhl

[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.