LSU vs UConn - How they Match UP - If Healthy should you put your money on UConn? A Full Breakdown

[SECbbfan24]

Hailey Van Lith and Morrow are great talents, but neither is stepping into an opening at their natural position. LSU needs Hailey to be a PG for the team to reach their ceiling. Presumably Williams will be the 2. Hailey could be a good SG or combo guard, but a pure point is stretching it for her. Maybe she can make the conversion, but it would be a big change for her.

My guess is Kim will use Hailey Van Lith similar to how she used Chloe Jackson at Baylor. Her assist/TO ration was pretty poor at LSU and finished her senior at Baylor with 203 assists to 81 TO, a major jump from previous stop. Worst case scenario, I think you have Poole and Angelica Velez (a natural PG) who could ease some of the headaches.

Just my opinion, with all the talk about Hailey Van Lith/Morrow, I personally am more excited about Mikyalah Williams and her potential much more than the other two. The issue will be she is just a freshmen but for her it will be nice to come into college and not have such pressure to perform immediately (Flaujae did not have that luxury with lack of depth for LSU this year). LSU had its issues last year but overachieved greatly last year despite probably being the third most talented team in their own conference and integrating 9 new players while having zero depth in the process.


For UCONN they are loaded, the only question obviously is can they stay healthy. Not a matter of not having the talent or coaching to win a national title or get to a final four.

 

[hoophuskee]

UCONN's team if healthy is superior. LSU doesn't have a good matchup for the former POY, Paige, if she is healthy along with the others. But if Azzi is not near her peak level, then UCONN is in trouble too. If Caroline is not healthy, it hurts a lot. We saw when Azzi was healthy, she was a machine. Her play out of the gate this past year - her 1st 6 - was absolutely amazing. And she was doing it against good competition and ofc she also did it vs Iowa.

The potential offensive machine UCONN could be if healthy rivals UCONN's past super great teams best of best of best in terms of Offense. Not saying "Defense" but "Offense."

And with the Defense, it's two players that are key Brady and Patterson. I do beleive Patterson is a good enough defender (and probably much better this year) but her offense keeps her off the floor imo. But if both or just even one is consitent overall in their game - then the Defense can become tremondously great. Right now it's already "good" (I hold a lot more value to Aubrey's defensive versatilty and Nika's terrific overall defense than others do.)
And sometimes having a great Defense is helped a lot by having a great Offense. Not all the time are they mutually exclusive if ever. But great Offenses dicate tempo. Playig to a certain tempo can help Defenses.

And I'm not giving up on Amari. If she is on the team, then in my view neither she nor Geno have given up. And I a firm believer in experience. It's why I mentioend Aubrey and Nika as well. Love the experience that can mesh with the potential supreme talent of players like Paige/Azzi. Now she is an upperclassman. And the experience coming from Aubrey, Nika and Edwards can only help Paige/Azzi/Caroline.

This team has "it" if they are healthy. Nothing is ever 100% but this team "has it."

 

[JellyBean]

Nice breakdown, but I am still picking UConn for a host of reasons. 1). Guard play. Our (UConn) guards are better than LSU guards. 2). Coaching. I will always pick Coach Auriemma. Sure, he has moments when he has been outcoached, but I am still picking Coach G. 3). We are UConn. We are the standard. Even though we have not won a NCAA title since 2016, we are still FF material and the best of the best.

 

[Jmsdawg]

To me it all comes down to Paige. If Paige can return to freshman form then I pick UConn. However, you never know how a player will respond after a serious injury and Paige has had two serious injuries in the last 2 years. LSU will be loaded next year and I think the game will be competitive even with a fully recovered Paige. BTW, I think South Carolina will also be extremely tough next season, just a notch below LSU and UConn. I am ready for next year’s season to begin!

 

[Kaizen]

The Massy predication,

 

[Tonyc]

You guys are thinkin way to much. Haley and Morrow cant compare to Paige and Azzi. Aaliyah is a tuff player and compare her to Reese this year and I think you'll be surprised. Uconn is a better defensive team then LSU too. Now take Ice and Jana with some development and I really like UConn to win it all. Oh yeah I havent mentioned anybody else either. Take it to the bank.

 

[Bone Dog]

You guys are thinkin way to much. Haley and Morrow cant compare to Paige and Azzi. Aaliyah is a tuff player and compare her to Reese this year and I think you'll be surprised. Uconn is a better defensive team then LSU too. Now take Ice and Jana with some development and I really like UConn to win it all. Oh yeah I havent mentioned anybody else either. Take it to the bank.

I'm with you on this one, @Tonyc! The wild card for me in this matchup would be Poole. She's strong and quicker than you'd expect her to be. I think she could cause problems. But as for the stars, all the vectors favor UConn.

 

[Dfoss1978]

I ran a search before I posted this. It came up negative. If I missed it, my apologies. I posted this for those that may have missed it on the world-wide-web. It's a slow week news-wise in WCBB, in UConn WBB in particular. So, here we go......If you think LSU is going away just because they won last season's national championship, think again.

Everyone apparently has forgotten about a healthy Page ‍♂️

 

[Alydar]

I am in full agreement about UConn's superiority but we should all be ready for when the ESPN hype machine watches LSU beat E Oshkosh St by 65 and declares them the best team ever. I expect LSU to roll over their OOC games and be No 1 on Jan 1st.

Of course they are as likely to suffer injuries as UConn and that could change everything, as UConn fans know. I'm hoping that all teams go injury-free.

 

[Jmsdawg]

I live in Baton Rouge and I think Kim is a fantastic coach but I still think Geno is the best. If they play in the beginning I expect LSU to give UCONN a good game but I still think UCONN has the most talent. If they play at the end of the season I think LSU will be coming apart over players bickering and not being the center of attention. UCONN will beat them handily at tournament time.

I think just the opposite, LSU will be much tougher at tournament time because Kim will have a team that knows how to play together.

 

[Bone Dog]

I think just the opposite, LSU will be much tougher at tournament time because Kim will have a team that knows how to play together.

You may be right, but I think @Rowdy831 has a point too. It could go either way. Come March-April, they’ll have imploded or they’ll have figured out how to play together.

 

[hoophuskee]

I think just the opposite, LSU will be much tougher at tournament time because Kim will have a team that knows how to play together.

I like Kim a lot. She is good for the game and one helluva coach. I expect she'll have her team coached up. I just believe if UCONN is healthy, they have a very unique team for this year.

 

[HuskyNan]

Please stop talking about egos. None of you know the players personally.

They’re teenagers and young twenty-somethings. They’re wildly popular on social media and traditional sports media is giving them a lot of coverage. How many of you were mature enough at 18-22 to handle all of that? Give them a break. Don’t forget, you’re judging them through the lens of 50-60-70+ years of age and experience

 

[sun]

Kim is trying to establish a long term winning culture at LSU to extend beyond just next year.
She's making the most of LSU's success & generating a lot of media splash over her recruitment efforts for star prospects from the classes of 2024 & 2025.
For instance, Kate Koval is scheduled to visit LSU in September in direct competition with UConn.
Kim is also receiving interest from other top 10 recruits such as five-star prospect Justice Carlton & five-star guard Keeley Parks both in the class of '25.
That means that next year is just the beginning and not the end of LSU's rise to national prominence.
Since Kim is only 61 years old she'll be coaching beyond Geno's tenure at UConn.

MSN

www.msn.com

MSN

www.msn.com

 

[meyers7]

Since UConn has been good, what teams besides Tennessee and UConn have won back-to-back?

SC was the heavy favorite to repeat, no dice. Stanford was supposed to be in the same class as SC, but could not beat us to repeat in what many say was a subpar performance for them.

The evidence suggests that, rather than an advantage, winning the year before serves as a handicap for most teams. There are some sound, logical explanations as to why that has been consistently so.

Very good point. In fact only 3 teams have won back to back. UCONN, TN and USC (the real one).

USC did it once in '84 (with Cheryl Miller)
TN has done it 3 times.
UCONN has done it 6 times.

So historically, one shouldn't expect LSU to repeat. The odds are against them.

 

[Rowdy831]

Kim is trying to establish a long term winning culture at LSU to extend beyond just next year.
She's making the most of LSU's success & generating a lot of media splash over her recruitment efforts for star prospects from the classes of 2024 & 2025.
For instance, Kate Koval is scheduled to visit LSU in September in direct competition with UConn.
Kim is also receiving interest from other top 10 recruits such as five-star prospect Justice Carlton & five-star guard Keeley Parks both in the class of '25.
That means that next year is just the beginning and not the end of LSU's rise to national prominence.
Since Kim is only 61 years old she'll be coaching beyond Geno's tenure at UConn.

MSN

www.msn.com

MSN

www.msn.com

Kim will win her share of games but what she is doing now won't bring long term success. The one advantage she has over other top coaches is she is at a university that is paying its athletes a ton of money just to come on board. For many kids the money is important because it might be the best income they ever have from basketball. The ticket to the WNBA is just too difficult to count on no matter how good you are in HS.

The second part of the comment regarding age is also interesting. Geno may retire after next year for all I know but he certainly looks at least as healthy as Kim does at this point and Geno has the best support staff (coaches) in the business.

 

[Carnac]

I hope the fouls aren't necessary, but I think (and hope) Ice and Jana will be. This is a moment for two young women to step into greatness!

Exactly........It's time. If not now, when?

While watching several WNBA games over the weekend, something occurred to me. I noticed something that was prevalent and consistent in ALL of the games I watched. Excellent team defense. I thought to myself, why can't the UConn women play TAHT level of defense? The UConn roster is full of players that can score. Any 3 players on any given night can carry the team.

UConn can keep their opponents at bay with relentless team defense from tip to buzzer. Geno will have more than enough players in reserve to keep fresh bodies on the floor during the game, especially the final 10 minutes. More than anything else, THAT is what I what to see this year from our team. Relentless consistent in-your-face defense. Or as Nolan Richardson, former coach of the Arkansas men's basketball team use to referer to his team's brand of defense....."40 minutes of hell."

 

[Carnac]

Kim is trying to establish a long term winning culture at LSU to extend beyond just next year.
She's making the most of LSU's success & generating a lot of media splash over her recruitment efforts for star prospects from the classes of 2024 & 2025.
For instance, Kate Koval is scheduled to visit LSU in September in direct competition with UConn.
Kim is also receiving interest from other top 10 recruits such as five-star prospect Justice Carlton & five-star guard Keeley Parks both in the class of '25.
That means that next year is just the beginning and not the end of LSU's rise to national prominence.
Since Kim is only 61 years old she'll be coaching beyond Geno's tenure at UConn.

MSN

www.msn.com

MSN

www.msn.com

Let's not forget...Kim knows how to close a deal. She kept DePaul portal transfer Aneesah Morrow from visiting South Carolina as she was scheduled to do. Kim "closed the deal" while she had Morrow in her presence on campus. No doubt she made Morrow a "Godfather offer." Kim and LSU are not going away. They're just getting started. If you want to compete with them, you'd better be ready to meet them where they are. Kim has the full and complete backing of the administration and the LSU fanbase ($$$).

 

[SEbluebood]

Exactly........It's time. If not now, when?

While watching several WNBA games over the weekend, something occurred to me. I noticed something that was prevalent and consistent in ALL of the games I watched. Excellent team defense. I thought to myself, why can't the UConn women play TAHT level of defense? The UConn roster is full of players that can score. Any 3 players on any given night can carry the team.

UConn can keep their opponents at bay with relentless team defense from tip to buzzer. Geno will have more than enough players in reserve to keep fresh bodies on the floor during the game, especially the final 10 minutes. More than anything else, THAT is what I what to see this year from our team. Relentless consistent in-your-face defense. Or as Nolan Richardson, former coach of the Arkansas men's basketball team use to referer to his team's brand of defense....."40 minutes of hell."

View attachment 88757

Assuming good health, they will have the numbers to play aggressive defense. But that type of defense, IMO, requires both superior effort and athleticism. What I wonder is whether they have enough athleticism to do so. Either way, I hope they give it a shot.

 

[NC28604]

I would agree with the "If everyone is healthy, we'd win" mantra. I would like to add that one piece of past UConn teams that we have not seen recently due to those injuries, score a basket, immediate full court press, ALL GAME LONG! This used to be the standard at UConn and now, with a large and talented roster, I can see this reappearing in Geno's game plan. This may help with the 'finding minutes' as our players will have more fun with the press and the rest from substitution that they might not even notice if the big wins start and keep racking up.

 

[Bone Dog]

Assuming good health, they will have the numbers to play aggressive defense. But that type of defense, IMO, requires both superior effort and athleticism. What I wonder is whether they have enough athleticism to do so. Either way, I hope they give it a shot.

I think they have plenty of athleticism of the muscular variety.

Aaliyah Aubrey Ayanna in the front court, not even counting the untested, are magnificently athletic. In the backcourt, we need to have faith that the previously injured are healthy, and if they are, they have plenty of the muscular variety of altheticism. And Nika (who is as physically strong as anyone in D1) and Inês the Fierce can lead the untested towards the sort of efforts we'll need. This group looks to me to have all the prerequisites to play 40 mins of aggressive Uconn defense.

While we're on the topic, if we mean the skilled sort of athleticism (which usually points toward offense), our core group is supremely skilled -- Paige Azzi Aaliyah Caroline Nika Aubrey -- and we have reason to believe that several of the untested have excellent skills as well, Ice KK Ashlynn Q and Jana.

And if we mean the mental sort of athleticism, mental toughness, it's hard to imagine anyone more skilled in this department than Paige Azzi Caroline, with Nika Aaliyah and Aubrey close behind them. These girls all know what winning, and toughing out a win, looks like. We'll have to see how the others develop in this regard.

Just thinking of Azzi under this last heading: last season what we saw before her injury was the supreme 4th quarter player -- and we saw flashes of this same profile the previous season in the games against Villanova (the loss), Marquette, Tennessee, to use a few examples. Last season against Texas, NC St, and Iowa, what we all saw was a series of so-so shooting performances in the first half of games, followed by eruptions of scoring in the second half. Opponents would shape their defense to cope with the eruption when it would come, but there was no dealing with it. After her injury, opposing teams played warily around her for fear that she'd find her range. Unfortunately, she only really found it in the Baylor game, when she outscored the entire Baylor team in the third quarter, effectively putting the game out of reach.

That Paige and Azzi -- if that's who we see come November -- with Caroline and Aaliyah filling up the gaps and Aubrey disrupting opposing teams, and Nika organizing the whole thing, that team will be very hard to cope with for any opponents.

 

[Carnac]

I would agree with the "If everyone is healthy, we'd win" mantra. I would like to add that one piece of past UConn teams that we have not seen recently due to those injuries, score a basket, immediate full court press, ALL GAME LONG! This used to be the standard at UConn and now, with a large and talented roster, I can see this reappearing in Geno's game plan. This may help with the 'finding minutes' as our players will have more fun with the press and the rest from substitution that they might not even notice if the big wins start and keep racking up.

UConn is an “elite” level team. They buckled under the pressure of Ohio State’s full court press. So can others. It can be done.

 

[JellyBean]

Exactly........It's time. If not now, when?

While watching several WNBA games over the weekend, something occurred to me. I noticed something that was prevalent and consistent in ALL of the games I watched. Excellent team defense. I thought to myself, why can't the UConn women play TAHT level of defense? The UConn roster is full of players that can score. Any 3 players on any given night can carry the team.

UConn can keep their opponents at bay with relentless team defense from tip to buzzer. Geno will have more than enough players in reserve to keep fresh bodies on the floor during the game, especially the final 10 minutes. More than anything else, THAT is what I what to see this year from our team. Relentless consistent in-your-face defense. Or as Nolan Richardson, former coach of the Arkansas men's basketball team use to referer to his team's brand of defense....."40 minutes of hell."

View attachment 88757

Thank you! Coach Richardson put pride in having his players in tip top shape, yes even Oliver Miller (Google him for you youngsters). That was Coach Richardson's mindset and his philosophy. He had that run & gun mindset and stayed in that mode the whole game.

I agree we have the bodies and would love to see the team go into that some type of press to create that frantic pace to turn the game into a track meet. Hopefully these conversations were discussed by the coaching staff over the summer.

 

[hoophuskee]

If UCONN were to play LSU I wouldn't expect a deep bench or "40 minutes of hell." Instead I expect "the hell" if UCONN would cause one to be "too much Paige and Azzi." This would be the best. It's what we dreamed when Azzi commited - the joy of watching them both play a lot together. That was "the hell" I envisoned for other teams once Azzi committed.

They certainly have the bodies to press but it doesnt have to be the same press some teams do to force turnover after turnover. Instead I can see prressure that pushes pace forcing teams into quicker shots but not steal after steal. And you can press to slow the opposing team into getting their offense slower than it normally would. Maybe do this vs LSU? Because they will obviously want to try to punish UCONN in the paint. The longer it takes for them to get into their offense, the harder it will be for them to get the ball in scoring position inside to pussih UCONN.

Anyway. what I'd love to see the most is for everyone to be healthy and then see see Paige and Azzi at their peak forms. That's the beauty I enviisoned. And imo that would be "the hell" opposing teams would dread the most. When healthy Paige and Azzi have shown they are as amazing offensive weapons not only scoring as you can find. And unlike Iowa - it's not a one player show. With these two at near peak it only enhances exponenitlaly their other teammates, -- and a player like Edwards is already damn good.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

My guess is Kim will use Hailey Van Lith similar to how she used Chloe Jackson at Baylor. Her assist/TO ration was pretty poor at LSU and finished her senior at Baylor with 203 assists to 81 TO, a major jump from previous stop. Worst case scenario, I think you have Poole and Angelica Velez (a natural PG) who could ease some of the headaches.

Just my opinion, with all the talk about Hailey Van Lith/Morrow, I personally am more excited about Mikyalah Williams and her potential much more than the other two. The issue will be she is just a freshmen but for her it will be nice to come into college and not have such pressure to perform immediately (Flaujae did not have that luxury with lack of depth for LSU this year). LSU had its issues last year but overachieved greatly last year despite probably being the third most talented team in their own conference and integrating 9 new players while having zero depth in the process.


For UCONN they are loaded, the only question obviously is can they stay healthy. Not a matter of not having the talent or coaching to win a national title or get to a final four.

I think there are way more questions for UConn than if they can stay healthy. I still will be surprised if they are a top ten team next year. I wouldn’t expect LSU to struggle with them until they prove otherwise.

 

[Carnac]

I’m pleased to see that this thread has generated the number of comments that it has. I’m always interested in the thoughts and concerns of my fellow boneyarders. Thank you.

 

[Carnac]

I think there are way more questions for UConn than if they can stay healthy. I still will be surprised if they are a top ten team next year. I wouldn’t expect LSU to struggle with them until they prove otherwise.

Can you please elaborate on the "way more" questions you think UConn will have this coming season?

 

[SECbbfan24]

Can you please elaborate on the "way more" questions you think UConn will have this coming season?

If anything lsu has no shot vs UConn. kim has not proven she can beat Geno, Dawn or the other elite coaches quite yet.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Can you please elaborate on the "way more" questions you think UConn will have this coming season?

Well they lose two starters one of which was their second leading scorer and best shooter, the other was their center. They have no proven frontcourt player outside of Aaliyah and the backcourt is a mystery to me because you don’t know what kind of player Paige will come back as. Same as Azzi post knee injury. Just scratching the surface of the questions honestly.

 

[oldhusky]

Well they lose two starters one of which was their second leading scorer and best shooter, the other was their center. They have no proven frontcourt player outside of Aaliyah and the backcourt is a mystery to me because you don’t know what kind of player Paige will come back as. Same as Azzi post knee injury. Just scratching the surface of the questions honestly.

I think it is possible to view this from two different perspectives. I notice most on the Boneyard qualify their optimistic projections with "if healthy", applying that to the team overall. If, however, you look at each player with a potential injury issue individually as a separate question mark, then we have quite a few including Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Ice and Aubrey. We have a lot of injury question marks because we had so many injuries over the last two years.

Those injuries are both a concern and a reason for optimism. Whatever we get out of Paige and Ice this year is more than we got last year, it is like adding two more recruits to the rest of our incoming class. But the difference between getting Paige like she was the first 6 games of her sophomore year, and her post injury return is huge so how close to 100% of what she was is a pretty major issue. Azzi is in a similar position. Her first 6 games last year were All American level, but her drop off after coming back from injury was even more dramatic than Paige's. Caroline too, do we get the freshmen version of her or what we saw as a sophomore, and it is not just the concussions, the hip surgery apparently set her back quite a bit last year as well.

So we do have many injury question marks because we have so many comeback stories. Case by case I think most are pretty optimistic. I suspect Ice will be fine and Aubrey will not have recurring back issues, I think Caroline one more year removed from hip surgery should be better regarding that issue, but the concussions could be an ongoing issue, and the biggest question is if Paige and Azzi can still be the players we have seen at their best, or has their ceiling been lowered due to multiple injuries. Good news on all or most of those fronts and we are loaded.

As far as Lou and Dorka are concerned, one is easily replaced and the other has talented but unproven prospects as substitutes. Lou was a great pickup but even a healthy freshmen level Caroline could match her, and a healthy Paige or Azzi would be a major improvement. The odds are high that we will actually upgrade Lou with playing time from someone better. With Dorka we could take a step backwards. In terms of how good Ice or Jana might be by their senior year, I might consider Ice and Jana roughly equal to Dorka, but in their first year that would be a pretty high bar to match, and of course both are unproven.

Our questions are mostly health related and how good our prospects will be at the 5, the only position where we need production right away from a newcomer. LSU has far more fit questions with both big portal additions probably playing major minutes at something other than their best position, or resulting in an existing player moving away from their best position. Kim accepted major talent and major challenges with those moves. Maybe she can make it work, maybe not, time will tell.