Lou Lopez-Senechal, Undertaker or Buried

[MilfordHusky]

I though the article was fairly balanced especially the paragraph regarding the fit for UCONN where he pretty much highlighted the areas of fit and an area of concern=Lou's low assist numbers. There is one glaring factual error in the article: " Caroline Ducharme and Ayanna Patterson are the only wings on the team. Clearly he has forgotten about Aubrey Griffin.

At a recent Mystics team meeting, Coach T. congratulated Natasha Cloud on leading the WNBA in assists per game. Natasha immediately said, “Thank you to my shooters.” Maybe Fairfield didn’t have many good finishers.

 

[Bald Husky]

My take, what a crock of S___T. Lou is in, will play meaningful minutes. Geno didn't decide on her just for her to ride the bench. Most of the posts I have read (didn't read all of them) are in support of Lou, and I believe she will be important to this team for the entire season, not when Geno needs to mop up as was implied. I don't know why this article pisses me off, but I guess I can simply say, I don't agree.

 

[TCC Kid]

Search for this and found nothing in this forum. So .... here it is! What bleak outlook. Lou has to be better than this prediction!

Private Site

Lou Lopez-Senechal

• Offense - has the potential to be a three level producer
• Defense - Geno recently went on record and insinuated that Lou had a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball. There is very little evidence that she excelled on defense.
• Fit - There are some significant issues with her fit, however. UConn is a team that is renowned for passing and assisting the majority of their baskets. Lou has never averaged two assists a game; plus, she had her worst season last year with only 1.1 assists per game. She has also averaged more turnovers than assists every season. The biggest concern that I have with fit is that she is a transfer. Transfers at UConn have had mixed results.
• Prediction - Still, I see her getting multiple DNP-coach’s decision early in the season and averaging around six minutes a game.

Lou is NOT Buried nor is she a replacement for a Top UConn guard, today. EVERY Transfer MUST learn the UConn way to play, Defense, plays, seeing the field. The Pope would have to learn all this, so why does Anyone believe this statement defines whether Lou will start (unlikely) or be an all out STAR (unlikely). She has bonus points for being, from her former coach--coachable, quick learner, wants to learn (the greatest of all attributes)

 

[Alydar]

Get ready folks because there are a ton of prospective bloggers looking at wcbb. The trouble is that most of their knowledge is 2nd or 3rd hand after it is filtered by the media and so you get guys who obviously just forgot about Lou. The hint is how extensively he researched her stats. Stats? Did he phone her former coach or find out if any other schools were courting her? I bet not.

"Lou seems to stand around on defense" - She was the primary scorer and coaches don't risk having that type of player getting in foul trouble. Maybe he watched some video from the NCAA game but that's not what anyone else said about her. Lou averaged over 34 minutes a game last season and was the primary scorer. She took 17 shots a game and hit 45% and 41% from 3. 2nd leading rebounder on the team.

My opinion is that this guy does his research reading Creme and Voepel (or else they all read someone else). Many preseason forecasts on ESPN are filled with all the incoming players that will help each team. Except with UConn where they are always ??? (except Bueckers) I just read some blogger say "freshmen at UConn don't play". Duh? Five freshmen in the last 2 years have started games, many games and not only contributed but were the best player on the court at least once. It's time to stop with "Freshmen Sit BS) You can still hear and read it with Brady and Patterson. They are generally considered "unproven". I expect them to be as good or better than freshman Edwards. If I'm right UConn is more than fine at the post. Juhasz was a 2-time 1st team all B1G forward as a sophomore and a junior. She barely got a mention in the preseason reports except "it's tough to find minutes for a transfer at UConn". SCar has a hole at pg that will likely be filled by a transfer or a redshirt freshman recovering from an ACL last November. But no need to question whether they can replace Henderson. No sir, they are expected to step right in and play well. Lou, a unanimous POY in her conference however is an unknown with flaws. The same about Siegrest, a mere mid-major player if she had transferred to a P-5 team. Does he realize that UConn plays in a mid-major conference?



The trouble with most wcbb articles I read is that the writers had made up their minds (or had their minds made up for them) before gathering facts. Once you know the conclusion you are going to make it's easy to cherry-pick facts that fit it and ignore equally valid stats that don't.

One final thing. The author made a comment about UConn's trouble shooting out at the arc the last several years. If he looked he would see that the trouble, if any, graduated.

 

[CocoHusky]

Get ready folks because there are a ton of prospective bloggers looking at wcbb. The trouble is that most of their knowledge is 2nd or 3rd hand after it is filtered by the media and so you get guys who obviously just forgot about Lou. The hint is how extensively he researched her stats. Stats? Did he phone her former coach or find out if any other schools were courting her? I bet not.

"Lou seems to stand around on defense" - She was the primary scorer and coaches don't risk having that type of player getting in foul trouble. Maybe he watched some video from the NCAA game but that's not what anyone else said about her. Lou averaged over 34 minutes a game last season and was the primary scorer. She took 17 shots a game and hit 45% and 41% from 3. 2nd leading rebounder on the team.

My opinion is that this guy does his research reading Creme and Voepel (or else they all read someone else). Many preseason forecasts on ESPN are filled with all the incoming players that will help each team. Except with UConn where they are always ??? (except Bueckers) I just read some blogger say "freshmen at UConn don't play". Duh? Five freshmen in the last 2 years have started games, many games and not only contributed but were the best player on the court at least once. It's time to stop with "Freshmen Sit BS) You can still hear and read it with Brady and Patterson. They are generally considered "unproven". I expect them to be as good or better than freshman Edwards. If I'm right UConn is more than fine at the post. Juhasz was a 2-time 1st team all B1G forward as a sophomore and a junior. She barely got a mention in the preseason reports except "it's tough to find minutes for a transfer at UConn". SCar has a hole at pg that will likely be filled by a transfer or a redshirt freshman recovering from an ACL last November. But no need to question whether they can replace Henderson. No sir, they are expected to step right in and play well. Lou, a unanimous POY in her conference however is an unknown with flaws. The same about Siegrest, a mere mid-major player if she had transferred to a P-5 team. Does he realize that UConn plays in a mid-major conference?



The trouble with most wcbb articles I read is that the writers had made up their minds (or had their minds made up for them) before gathering facts. Once you know the conclusion you are going to make it's easy to cherry-pick facts that fit it and ignore equally valid stats that don't.

One final thing. The author made a comment about UConn's trouble shooting out at the arc the last several years. If he looked he would see that the trouble, if any, graduated.

The UCONN inferiority complex (every one is against UCONN including Creme & Voepel ) is raging up again. The recent string of freshman starting at UCONN is not a good thing because it has largely been the result of injuries or the fact that the program did not have upperclassman good enough to start. This kind of situation has a tendency to show up and the most inopportune time-like in the NCAA tournament.
The comment about UCONN playing in a mid-major conference is kind of convoluted and a confounding attempt to big up Lou. UCONN fans including me continue to hope that Lou does well at UCONN.
Your view of the South Carolina PG situation is short sighted. SC returns 3 players Beal, Boston & Cooke that are 4 year starters and defending champions. I think they are going to be alright.

 

[Alydar]

Your view of the South Carolina PG situation is short sighted. SC returns 3 players Beal, Boston & Cooke that are 4 year starters and defending champions. I think they are going to be alright.

This is a perfect example. I pointed out a problem at pg and you point to their front court as if that has anything to do with pg.

Imagine if you can UConn being faced with starting a transfer or a red shirt freshman still recovering from an ACL at the point? And remember that the one who doesn't start is the only real alternative.

There would be a thousand posts with cries of "it's Geno's fault we are in this fix". "How can we start the season with 2 pg's who have a total of 1 game experience with SCar?

 

[jdote33]

Idk, watching some UConn games from last season I really do think Lou can fit in. Although I'm a fan and not a scout, it's hard for me to see why she wouldn't be able to score the same way she did at Fairfield. Last year there were times when CW was super aggressive and created her own offense, there were also quick hitter plays where she just popped behind screen and launched. Similarly E had a lot of opportunities to be aggressive. Sometimes she took them, other times she opted to facilitate. But E is a perfect example of how sometimes a player even playing like 18-22 minutes on the perimeter can have a huge impact on the game. She did that a lot the second half of the season.
I do think Nika will find her and Dorka will look for her as well and she is a 3 level scorer. I get she won't be the "number one option" but unlike the offense at Fairfield, UConn plays a style where a lot of the sets have multiple options. So it's not like she will just stand in the corner and watch Azzi try to go one on one. I understand the defensive concerns but I think UConn can be a strong defensive team and will be able to hide her a bit.

 

[CocoHusky]

This is a perfect example. I pointed out a problem at pg and you point to their front court as if that has anything to do with pg.
Imagine if you can UConn being faced with starting a transfer or a red shirt freshman still recovering from an ACL at the point? And remember that the one who doesn't start is the only real alternative.There would be a thousand posts with cries of "it's Geno's fault we are in this fix". "How can we start the season with 2 pg's who have a total of 1 game experience with SCar?

You are correct this is a perfect example of your oversight.
At PG SC has Raven Johnson recovering form an ACL; Kierra Fletcher a transfer & Talaysia Cooper top 20 ranked player in her class. Why do you keep overlooking and dismissing Fletcher? Fletcher played 113 Games at Georgia Tech, Lou Lopez Senechal play 98 games at Fairfield. Fletcher has more NCAA games under her belt than Nika, Azzi and Caroline combined. Basketball is a team sport and every team has weaknesses. If you want to persist in believing that SC has a great weakness at PG then I probably can't convince that SC will do what most good teams do, which is to off set that weakness with other part of the team. Serious question: Do you honestly believe that SC weakness at PG is greater than UCONN's weakness given that Paige is going to miss the entire season?

 

[Bone Dog]

I understand the defensive concerns but I think UConn can be a strong defensive team and will be able to hide her a bit.

I share your optimism, but I also suspect Lou will pick up her D. She’s an adult, not a teenager. She’ll be able to figure out where she needs to put her effort, and she’ll see how her own offense will be enhanced by the team’s overall D.

 

[CocoHusky]

Although I'm a fan and not a scout, it's hard for me to see why she wouldn't be able to score the same way she did at Fairfield.

Lou will be able to score at the same level she did at Fairfield for two reasons.
1) UCONN is a much more equal opportunity read and react offense that does not overly feature a go to player as Fairfield did with Lou. You can easily verify this by looking at a UCONN past season box score which shows a fairly equal distribution of FG attempts between players 2-6. Nika is somewhat of anomaly here. By contrast a Fairfield season box score will show you that Lou led the team in FGA by a margin of almost 2X- meaning she took almost twice as many shots as the next highest player on the team.
Lou is not going to be getting nearly as many FGA attempts as she did at Fairfield and quite candidly I would not be surprised even if she earns a starting stop for her to be the 4th offensive option for UCONN.

2) On a nightly basis Lou will likely be facing a much better defender that she was facing while at Fairfield. The Big East by itself is a significant step up in the caliber of player over Fairfield and the MAA. UCONN's out of conference schedule is exponential step above BE play. In the UCONN OOC schedule you can expect Lou to be matched up against some pretty awesome defenders:
Duke will feature a trio of Baluguun, Cyleste Taylor, Ashlon Jackson. NC St defense will feature Saniya Rivers and Jakia Brown-Turner.
Notre Dame will feature Sonia Cintron and KK Bransford. Maryland will feature about 6 quality players that are of similar size to Lou but the MD defense will be anchored by Diamond Miller, Briane Alexander and Abby Meyers. TN will feature Jordan Horston-who can be motivated to be a quality defender-allegedly. Lastly SC will rely on Brea Beal who is 3 and 1 in her 4 starts against UCONN and at times was the best defensive player on either team in those 4 matchups. Put any of the players that are named in this paragraph into the MAA and they are likely the defensive player of the year.

Lou has a great set of tools most importantly an accurate stroke and fluid movement but to expect her to score at the same clip she did at Fairfield is just not realistic. Thank God Lou is here though.

 

[Zarathustra]

Lou will be able to score at the same level she did at Fairfield for two reasons.
1) UCONN is a much more equal opportunity read and react offense that does not overly feature a go to player as Fairfield did with Lou. You can easily verify this by looking at a UCONN past season box score which shows a fairly equal distribution of FG attempts between players 2-6. Nika is somewhat of anomaly here. By contrast a Fairfield season box score will show you that Lou led the team in FGA by a margin of almost 2X- meaning she took almost twice as many shots as the next highest player on the team.
Lou is not going to be getting nearly as many FGA attempts as she did at Fairfield and quite candidly I would not be surprised even if she earns a starting stop for her to be the 4th offensive option for UCONN.

2) On a nightly basis Lou will likely be facing a much better defender that she was facing while at Fairfield. The Big East by itself is a significant step up in the caliber of player over Fairfield and the MAA. UCONN's out of conference schedule is exponential step above BE play. In the UCONN OOC schedule you can expect Lou to be matched up against some pretty awesome defenders:
Duke will feature a trio of Baluguun, Cyleste Taylor, Ashlon Jackson. NC St defense will feature Saniya Rivers and Jakia Brown-Turner.
Notre Dame will feature Sonia Cintron and KK Bransford. Maryland will feature about 6 quality players that are of similar size to Lou but the MD defense will be anchored by Diamond Miller, Briane Alexander and Abby Meyers. TN will feature Jordan Horston-who can be motivated to be a quality defender-allegedly. Lastly SC will rely on Brea Beal who is 3 and 1 in her 4 starts against UCONN and at times was the best defensive player on either team in those 4 matchups. Put any of the players that are named in this paragraph into the MAA and they are likely the defensive player of the year.

Lou has a great set of tools most importantly an accurate stroke and fluid movement but to expect her to score at the same clip she did at Fairfield is just not realistic. Thank God Lou is here though.

Time will tell, Lou2 does seem to have a quick release! Go Huskies, Go Lou!

 

[CL82]

The UCONN inferiority complex (every one is against UCONN including Creme & Voepel ) is raging up again. The recent string of freshman starting at UCONN is not a good thing because it has largely been the result of injuries or the fact that the program did not have upperclassman good enough to start. This kind of situation has a tendency to show up and the most inopportune time-like in the NCAA tournament.
The comment about UCONN playing in a mid-major conference is kind of convoluted and a confounding attempt to big up Lou. UCONN fans including me continue to hope that Lou does well at UCONN.
Your view of the South Carolina PG situation is short sighted. SC returns 3 players Beal, Boston & Cooke that are 4 year starters and defending champions. I think they are going to be alright.

Lol I have heard UConn fans accused of many things but having inferiority complexes is not one of them.

 

[CocoHusky]

Lol I have heard UConn fans accused of many things but having inferiority complexes is not one of them.

I know right, somewhere in there there is a oxymoron wrapped in an enigma. This version is UCONN against the world and everyone hates or is against UCONN. I usually don't care until some very good people (Charlie Creme, Mike Voepel, Kim Mulkey & Dee Kanter) get caught up in the wash and are being accused of being anti-UCONN because we expect them to be good little UCONN fan boys and girls.

 

[Bone Dog]

Lou has a great set of tools most importantly an accurate stroke and fluid movement but to expect her to score at the same clip she did at Fairfield is just not realistic. Thank God Lou is here though.

I couldn’t agree more, and for all the reasons you mention. She’ll get fewer attempts, face stiffer defenders, and face greater demands on her own defensive play. The one new factor in her favor is that she will not be the first option on offense, and hence will not attract the opponent’s best defender. Brea Beal will be covering Azzi, not Lou. And if Beal is assigned to Lou or Caroline, then Cooke will be on Azzi — good luck with that, Zia. I’m just using SC as an example. But Lou has never played on a team where she’s the 3rd or 4th option. Fewer shot opportunities but also much less pressure.

 

[CL82]

I know right, somewhere in there there is a oxymoron wrapped in an enigma. This version is UCONN against the world and everyone hates or is against UCONN. I usually don't care until some very good people (Charlie Creme, Mike Voepel, Kim Mulkey & Dee Kanter) get caught up in the wash and are being accused of being anti-UCONN because we expect them to be good little UCONN fan boys and girls.

Or professionally neutral?

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Lou is NOT Buried nor is she a replacement for a Top UConn guard, today. EVERY Transfer MUST learn the UConn way to play, Defense, plays, seeing the field. The Pope would have to learn all this, so why does Anyone believe this statement defines whether Lou will start (unlikely) or be an all out STAR (unlikely). She has bonus points for being, from her former coach--coachable, quick learner, wants to learn (the greatest of all attributes)

Very early after Lou's recruitment Geno said Fairfield pretty much played a game like UConn.

 

[Carnac]

Damn, now we are more doomed. LOL. I'll take our chances with what we have if another player doesn't join us by start of school. Let's play ball....

Geno may not be able to add another player by next Friday (classes resume Monday August 29), but not because he’s not trying. I don’t believe he’s simply looking for a “warm body.” If that were the case, he would have found one by now. I’m guessing he’s looking at a player(s) outside of the United States.

 

[Carnac]

I think that is precisely a reason to be concerned.
She is not going to be the go to scorer at UCONN and the offensive requires her to hit open teammates=an adjustment she must make in her 5th season of NCAA basketball=not exactly a trivial thing.

I agree. I think Lou comes in willing to make any adjustments Geno and the coaches ask her to. She’s there to enhance her national exposure in hopes of being drafted or signed as a free agent in the WNBA.

Showing that she is coachable and flexible will make her more appeallling to coaches and GMs at the next level. I’m sure she was told by Geno and staff exactly what they needed her to do and what her role would be when they recruited her. She enters this season eyes wide open knowing exactly what Geno needs her to do, and how she fits in to the grand scheme of things.

 

[Carnac]

My take, what a crock of S___T. Lou is in, will play meaningful minutes. Geno didn't decide on her just for her to ride the bench. Most of the posts I have read (didn't read all of them) are in support of Lou, and I believe she will be important to this team for the entire season, not when Geno needs to mop up as was implied. I don't know why this article pisses me off, but I guess I can simply say, I don't agree.

Hey baldy, why don’t you hop down off that fence and tell us how you really feel? Good post!!

 

[DEpup]

Search for this and found nothing in this forum. So .... here it is! What bleak outlook. Lou has to be better than this prediction!

Private Site

Lou Lopez-Senechal

• Offense - has the potential to be a three level producer
• Defense - Geno recently went on record and insinuated that Lou had a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball. There is very little evidence that she excelled on defense.
• Fit - There are some significant issues with her fit, however. UConn is a team that is renowned for passing and assisting the majority of their baskets. Lou has never averaged two assists a game; plus, she had her worst season last year with only 1.1 assists per game. She has also averaged more turnovers than assists every season. The biggest concern that I have with fit is that she is a transfer. Transfers at UConn have had mixed results.
• Prediction - Still, I see her getting multiple DNP-coach’s decision early in the season and averaging around six minutes a game.

Your discussion about assists is in my opinion out of place and trying to compare apples to oranges. On her previous team, she was the object of their offense. They needed her to score for them to win. Everyone's objective was to get her the ball to shoot it, not the other way around. The motion offense and having better quality teammates will take care of that stat. In my opinion, that stat has no reflection on her passing skills.

 

[jdote33]

I agree. I think Lou comes in willing to make any adjustments Geno and the coaches ask her to. She’s there to enhance her national exposure in hopes of being drafted or signed as a free agent in the WNBA.

Showing that she is coachable and flexible will make her more appeallling to coaches and GMs at the next level. I’m sure she was told by Geno and staff exactly what they needed her to do and what her role would be when they recruited her. She enters this season eyes wide open knowing exactly what Geno needs her to do, and how she fits in to the grand scheme of things.

Yeah. I mean only time will tell but I don't share the concern of her not being a willing passer/not sharing the ball. Geno/everyone knows that she's a shooter/scorer. I remember watching Caroline early this year and she didn't pass too much and I don't think Geno had a problem with that. Geno's always imploring Azzi to shoot everytime she touches the ball (CD and both averaged around 1 assist). I think Lou is a natural scorer and I think Geno does a great job of letting players play their game. I did like the points in the thread regarding her playing against better defenders, not only cuz she's playing in a better conference now, but the entire schedule is stacked with very athletic wings. The other thing I will say, despite my optimism, there is a scenario where Azzi just plays 35 minutes a game, and Caroline plays 34, and Aubrey looks super healthy and plays 15+. I could see her a scenario in which she doesn't get a lot of minutes. I really hope the opposite, but there is the possibility.

 

[Alydar]

You are correct this is a perfect example of your oversight.
At PG SC has Raven Johnson recovering form an ACL; Kierra Fletcher a transfer & Talaysia Cooper top 20 ranked player in her class. Why do you keep overlooking and dismissing Fletcher? Fletcher played 113 Games at Georgia Tech, Lou Lopez Senechal play 98 games at Fairfield. Fletcher has more NCAA games under her belt than Nika, Azzi and Caroline combined. Basketball is a team sport and every team has weaknesses. If you want to persist in believing that SC has a great weakness at PG then I probably can't convince that SC will do what most good teams do, which is to off set that weakness with other part of the team. Serious question: Do you honestly believe that SC weakness at PG is greater than UCONN's weakness given that Paige is going to miss the entire season?

There you go again. Putting words in my mouth. I never used the word weak. At least I don't think so. I don't think SCar is weak at pg. I only say that it is a position with a big question mark and if UConn were in that position the fanbase would be a bunch of chicken littles.
Are you as sure that Ravin Johnson will be on the court 12 months after her ACL as you are that Bueckers will be on the court next August? I hope both are ready to play in 12 months but I've also seen talented players take a year and a half or 2 years to trust the repaired knee.

I haven't ignored Fletcher. How many ACC title games has she played in? How many NCAA victories. She got 4 years playing tougher teams than Lou did but there's not that big of a gap between what the 2 represent to their new teams. Two solid 4 year players from non-elite programs. And yet while there are hundreds of posts about Lou, half of them calling her a ?, you and others have no doubt about Fletcher stepping onto to a championship team and just fitting in. Whether or not it's true or not is irrelevent. Even on a team as stacked up front as SCar the pg is a key player. Johnson was the heir apparent until she was injured. She may well be the heir. But she is a ?, just like Bueckers will be.

 

[CocoHusky]

SCar has a hole at pg that will likely be filled by a transfer or a redshirt freshman recovering from an ACL last November.

 

[TCC Kid]

Geno may not be able to add another player by next Friday (classes resume Monday August 29), but not because he’s not trying. I don’t believe he’s simply looking for a “warm body.” If that were the case, he would have found one by now. I’m guessing he’s looking at a player(s) outside of the United States.

Only once in the past dozen years probably in his coaching years, has Geno needed and accepted (very nearly, but not) warm bodies. In that time he came very close to not having 5 to suit up. He pulled his Geno Magic and got us some very good, nice , decent kids from Europe and Uconn "competed". I'd put money on your bet! Whenever possible Geno will not accept just ANY kid. I'm sure this is one of his --I don't want anyone but the best.

 

[TCC Kid]

There you go again. Putting words in my mouth. I never used the word weak. At least I don't think so. I don't think SCar is weak at pg. I only say that it is a position with a big question mark and if UConn were in that position the fanbase would be a bunch of chicken littles.
Are you as sure that Ravin Johnson will be on the court 12 months after her ACL as you are that Bueckers will be on the court next August? I hope both are ready to play in 12 months but I've also seen talented players take a year and a half or 2 years to trust the repaired knee.

I haven't ignored Fletcher. How many ACC title games has she played in? How many NCAA victories. She got 4 years playing tougher teams than Lou did but there's not that big of a gap between what the 2 represent to their new teams. Two solid 4 year players from non-elite programs. And yet while there are hundreds of posts about Lou, half of them calling her a ?, you and others have no doubt about Fletcher stepping onto to a championship team and just fitting in. Whether or not it's true or not is irrelevent. Even on a team as stacked up front as SCar the pg is a key player. Johnson was the heir apparent until she was injured. She may well be the heir. But she is a ?, just like Bueckers will be.

Apparently, someone doesn't like you or me to be realistic in our evaluations. Neither said this is the absolute.
I'm one of those, who has seen too many hyped up incoming newbee's fall relatively parallel to the surface to get excited until they play. Caroline, could have gotten hyped from me. She is the exception arriving with out a band behind her and EARNING her minutes.
I hope Lou is all anyone thinks she can be, we need that.