Making it Happen

[Tonyc]

Well we got an idea of what this team is capable of. The freshman shined bright. We are a different team. Coming back from a long layoff will we be rusty? Maybe. I think we come out on fire. We know what we can do because we've done it. Starting the freshman and letting them play like they did in high school showed me they breed confidence in what they do. With that said we still have room for more improvement. We need to rebound rebound and rebound. Early on this season when so many went down with injuries we lacked scoring. We dont now. In fact we have freshman who look to create and take their shot without hesitation. We have the scorers, we have energy, we have defense and we have a defined lineup.

Marquette and Creighton coming up both ranked and both very good. I dont expect our freshman to hit 12 shots in a row but I do expect them to play hard and with a purpose. We have been witnessing determination. UConn is now a team that believes. Shade KK and Q are not deferring to Paige and Aaliyah. They are taking it upon themselves to make it happen on both sides of the ball. Take a look at the stats and see, that once we came up with this lineup, our shooting percentage is over 48%. We are a different team. We have been impressive to say the least. We are playing without fear.

One of the best things we have is a bunch of kids that can score, and arent afraid to take a shot and when needed we have Paige to take charge. All this talk about lacking height and its true. But we can overcome alot of our lack of height if we rebound as a team because we have so many good shooters/scorers. Opponents can no longer key on Paige because of our balanced scoring attack. We have players who can create their own shot. We have players that can dribble drive and hit pull up jumpers. Overall we are shooting the ball much better which has opened up the middle. Those 2 things work hand in hand. This is a team led by Paige that could win it all. Yeah we lack height, but we have shooters and scorers and most teams depend on their height and lack depth in their height. We are better then advertised and we're beginning to show it. Our first 2 games coming back from break will tell us alot about where we are and a few weeks into the new year will tell us alot about where we're headed.

 

[Bone Dog]

Early on this season when so many went down with injuries we lacked scoring. We dont now. In fact we have freshman who look to create and take their shot without hesitation. We have the scorers, we have energy, we have defense and we have a defined lineup.

Thanks for the pep talk, @Tonyc!

On the path we've headed down, it looks like we can count on Paige Aaliyah and Ashlynn each for 16+ points each game, and two or more of Aubrey, Nika, KK and Qadence for 10+ points.

I suspect Ice will join the 10+ club pretty soon, and Liza Karen will be an interesting challenge for her to defend and try to score against. I can only hope that if her scoring starts to feel more comfortable, her rebounding will son follow. Until that happens, it's going to be Aaliyah and her power forward, Paige, who'll have to dominate the boards when Aubrey isn't on the floor.

And I wouldn't be surprised if Qadence has a breakout game against Creighton. Maly and Ronsiek may not be able to contain her and focus on stopping Aaliyah and Paige. After them, the only player with the height for it is Mallory Brake, and I don't think she'll be able to keep up. And KK should pose interesting problems for Jensen and Mogenson.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

The team needs to be aggressive on offense & defense for 40 minutes every game no-matter who they're playing!

 

[Next 12]

Well we got an idea of what this team is capable of. The freshman shined bright. We are a different team. Coming back from a long layoff will we be rusty? Maybe. I think we come out on fire. We know what we can do because we've done it. Starting the freshman and letting them play like they did in high school showed me they breed confidence in what they do. With that said we still have room for more improvement. We need to rebound rebound and rebound. Early on this season when so many went down with injuries we lacked scoring. We dont now. In fact we have freshman who look to create and take their shot without hesitation. We have the scorers, we have energy, we have defense and we have a defined lineup.

Marquette and Creighton coming up both ranked and both very good. I dont expect our freshman to hit 12 shots in a row but I do expect them to play hard and with a purpose. We have been witnessing determination. UConn is now a team that believes. Shade KK and Q are not deferring to Paige and Aaliyah. They are taking it upon themselves to make it happen on both sides of the ball. Take a look at the stats and see, that once we came up with this lineup, our shooting percentage is over 48%. We are a different team. We have been impressive to say the least. We are playing without fear.

One of the best things we have is a bunch of kids that can score, and arent afraid to take a shot and when needed we have Paige to take charge. All this talk about lacking height and its true. But we can overcome alot of our lack of height if we rebound as a team because we have so many good shooters/scorers. Opponents can no longer key on Paige because of our balanced scoring attack. We have players who can create their own shot. We have players that can dribble drive and hit pull up jumpers. Overall we are shooting the ball much better which has opened up the middle. Those 2 things work hand in hand. This is a team led by Paige that could win it all. Yeah we lack height, but we have shooters and scorers and most teams depend on their height and lack depth in their height. We are better then advertised and we're beginning to show it. Our first 2 games coming back from break will tell us alot about where we are and a few weeks into the new year will tell us alot about where we're headed.

As you always do, great post. I agree with you 100%. For once in a long while, we have a team with the freshmen that is ready to play and mix it up with the opposition with fire power that Uconn has been lacking the past 3 years, because of injuries.There will be no breaking in period as they came ready to play with the "big boys" and to prove that their choosing Uconn was the best for them.As I have posted before, Uconn has several AA's on this team in the future.It reminds me of when Katie Lou and Napheesa came to Uconn ready to play and remember what they did, highest scoring pair in Uconn history. We have 3 in Ashlynn, KK and Qadence. The future has no limits for this team. It can go as far as they want it to. GO FRESHMEN!!!! GO HUSKIES!!!!

 

[Bigboote]

. . . UConn is now a team that believes. Shade KK and Q are not deferring to Paige and Aaliyah. They are taking it upon themselves to make it happen on both sides of the ball. . .

Great post as usual, Tonyc. I've picked out what I consider the most important parts of it and want to add a couple of things Geno has said that add to your points.

"Nika thinks she can do anything, and she convinces the players around her that they can too." I think the pairing of this group of upperclassmen and this group of freshmen are wonderful. You can see it on and off the court.

One of Geno's most common complaints the last few years has been that the ball gets stuck when everybody's waiting around for Paige to do something. We saw that early in this season. But with KK, Q, and especially Ashlynn, there's much more movement on offense. And this group is getting it on defense. There was a lot of missing switches early on, but I don't think we'll be seeing much of that, nor much stuck offense, as the season goes on.

 

[Notyetready]

Thanks for the pep talk, @Tonyc!

On the path we've headed down, it looks like we can count on Paige Aaliyah and Ashlynn each for 16+ points each game, and two or more of Aubrey, Nika, KK and Qadence for 10+ points.

I suspect Ice will join the 10+ club pretty soon, and Liza Karen will be an interesting challenge for her to defend and try to score against. I can only hope that if her scoring starts to feel more comfortable, her rebounding will son follow. Until that happens, it's going to be Aaliyah and her power forward, Paige, who'll have to dominate the boards when Aubrey isn't on the floor.

And I wouldn't be surprised if Qadence has a breakout game against Creighton. Maly and Ronsiek may not be able to contain her and focus on stopping Aaliyah and Paige. After them, the only player with the height for it is Mallory Brake, and I don't think she'll be able to keep up. And KK should pose interesting problems for Jensen and Mogenson.

I think you are pretty much on the mark for who is going to score what. When I calculate the possibilities, I keep coming up with 80 plus points per game until they run into a defensive machine.