My perspective on the upcoming season | The Boneyard

My perspective on the upcoming season

C

Cornell Lt

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It really sucks that Paige will not be on the court this season. That being said, I'm really looking forward seeing what this team becomes. There is a lot to like about the roster, and there is some unknowns as well. I believe that at the end of the season we'll be talking about one of Geno's best coaching years. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.
 
Cornell Lt said:
It really sucks that Paige will not be on the court this season. That being said, I'm really looking forward seeing what this team becomes. There is a lot to like about the roster, and there is some unknowns as well. I believe that at the end of the season we'll be talking about one of Geno's best coaching years. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.
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I hope you are right; there could not be a bigger blow than Paige getting hurt.
 
Bone Dog said:
I love the way you’re thinking! I worry about overall team speed. But I’m more than curious to see how things will turn out. I’m excited for the season to start to see how the girls will rise to the occasion.
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Obviously this will be a much different team without Paige. Her injury came far enough from the beginning of the school year that everyone will have enough time to process the fact that Paige will not suit up or play in any games this season. 30-35 minutes per game opened up for other players due to her injury.

No one will replace Paige. With that said, I do believe one or more role players will step up this year. The returning starters must be the leaders for this team. The newbies and the reserves must be ready to play game 1. We need the freshmen to play like seasoned juniors.

If UConn can go the entire season without any more season-ending injuries, they should be able to hold their own against anyone. Ducharme MUST step up and play at the level she did last year as a starter before her injury.

There’s too much talent on this team to let one player going down cause a complete collapse. Everybody eats. No excuses, get it done!!
 
I just hope that the returning guards and guard/forward combo are healthy. All missed significant time last year and now the pressure on them becomes even more intense.
 
Can we get significant contribution from Ice Brady or Ayana Patterson? They are freshmen, but lately we’ve had good success from freshmen players ( Azzi, Caroline, Paige). And I’m hoping Geno finds another point guard to contribute and help Nika with ball distribution duties- stay healthy Nika!
 
Another intriguing question for me, what can we expect from Dorka? Is 10 points/ 8 rebounds too much to ask? Will she set up at the high post to pass & keep defenses honest with her outside shot if open?
 
I’m less interested in how many points Dorka scores. For her, and Amari, I think rebounding and D is what matters. They’re both good perimeter shooters, high post passers, and capable rebounders. Can they give us 30-40 mins between them at the 5 with good intensity? That’s the question for me. I’m pretty confident Aaliyah Ayanna Ice (mainly Aaliyah) can give us 50, maybe even 60 mins at the 4-5 between them. And Aubrey will need to give us 10-15 mins at the 4-3.

This is a strong rebounding and defensive group. I wouldn’t be surprised if Azzi Caroline Lou Nika produced 50-60 points/game. That’s where the bulk of our scoring will come from. The front court will get 20-30 points/game, but that’s not what we primarily need from them. They need to make the paint a scary place for opposing players, and I am confident this group can do just that.
 
Azzi and Ducharme need to make a Sophomore season close tó what Pheesa and Lou made in their second season with Edwards and Dorka each averaging around 12-14 pts and at least 7 to 10 rebounds a game. Hopefully Nika has worked on her pull up jumper and stop hesitating on her outside shots.
 
After I heard about Paige’s injury, must admit to being despondent and figured the upcoming season would be a disappointment at best.
Then I remembered the sinking feeling after the miserable Georgia Tech debacle.
I thought that , without our best player and catalyst it would be one stomach churning loss after another.
But I kept watching.
There were indeed some difficult moments ( Oregon, Villanova), but NOBODY gave up.
Some people brought their “A” game at critical moments, Geno & Company managed to keep everybody motivated( and Husky Nation) and reconstituted the team in time to make a thrilling run in the NCAA tourney.
It didn’t end the way we wanted, but we sure got our money’s worth
considering what any reasonable expectations could have been.
We had Paige Bueckers and now we don’t.
I anticipate a season of ups and downs. Some shining moments from unexpected people and some head scratching ones from others.
The only thing we know for sure is that this group won’t go quietly into the night.
Too much hard work, personal expectations and talent to just lay down and slip into mediocrity.
It’s going to be interesting to say the least.
And Paige may not be out on the floor, but I’m guessing that Geno, Caroline Doty, Jamelle and Morgan will have a little extra help on the bench.
 
Inthepaint said:
After I heard about Paige’s injury, must admit to being despondent and figured the upcoming season would be a disappointment at best.
Then I remembered the sinking feeling after the miserable Georgia Tech debacle.
I thought that , without our best player and catalyst it would be one stomach churning loss after another.
But I kept watching.
There were indeed some difficult moments ( Oregon, Villanova), but NOBODY gave up.
Some people brought their “A” game at critical moments, Geno & Company managed to keep everybody motivated( and Husky Nation) and reconstituted the team in time to make a thrilling run in the NCAA tourney.
It didn’t end the way we wanted, but we sure got our money’s worth
considering what any reasonable expectations could have been.
We had Paige Bueckers and now we don’t.
I anticipate a season of ups and downs. Some shining moments from unexpected people and some head scratching ones from others.
The only thing we know for sure is that this group won’t go quietly into the night.
Too much hard work, personal expectations and talent to just lay down and slip into mediocrity.
It’s going to be interesting to say the least.
And Paige may not be out on the floor, but I’m guessing that Geno, Caroline Doty, Jamelle and Morgan will have a little extra help on the bench.
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Auto-correct:
Should be Caroline Doty
 
Conndog said:
Another intriguing question for me, what can we expect from Dorka? Is 10 points/ 8 rebounds too much to ask? Will she set up at the high post to pass & keep defenses honest with her outside shot if open?
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It’s not all unreasonable to expect 10/8 from Dorka. Note her stats at Ohio State. I think she and Ducharme can almost score at will with Dorka passing from the high post to a cutting Caroline. Not limiting it to those two, but some of their connections last season really stood out to me.
 
cbraarj said:
Azzi and Ducharme need to make a Sophomore season close tó what Pheesa and Lou made in their second season with Edwards and Dorka each averaging around 12-14 pts and at least 7 to 10 rebounds a game. Hopefully Nika has worked on her pull up jumper and stop hesitating on her outside shots.
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I have been thinking this all morning. The 2016-2017 team lost the best player in the nation and arguably one of the best point guards in the nation to the draft and still only suffered one loss which was at the buzzer. Talent wise I think this team is pretty comparable. Of course Gabby was a unicorn and Kia Nurse had already been a starter on back to back championship teams. But I do think Azzi and Caroline are built for it and can shoulder the load this season. I do have faith in Geno and the coaching staff as well.
Looking back on Wikipedia they had a really tough schedule as well. That's my biggest worry. It's not that the team won't step up or that they are not talented enough. It's just that the field is really talented as well. So I think that Texas game to start the season will be pretty big. Texas IMO is pretty stacked. There starting 5 talent wise is one of the best in the country.
 
Too much unknown at this point. How big an impact will the new freshman have? Will CD be 100%? Will Nika score once in a while? Has Nika learned to control fouls? The list goes on. Good news is we will find out shortly. The non conference schedule is brutal, so should be interesting. I expect a couple losses, but you never know.
 
jdote33 said:
. . . So I think that Texas game to start the season will be pretty big. Texas IMO is pretty stacked. There starting 5 talent wise is one of the best in the country.
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By the end of November (first five games), they'll likely have played ##5, 6, and 8 in the ESPN way too early top 25. There's also Duke in the Knight tourney, then they play Notre Dame, Princeton, and Maryland in the following couple of weeks. (I'll be at the UMD game if tix ever go on sale.)

We'll know a LOT about this team by the middle of December.
 
Just thinking out loud here -- pay no attention. Not a dream distribution, but what we may need to get from our 10 stars. It's a little daunting. You can see that we might want more minutes from the guards than the Bigs, in order to keep the bigs fresh. The more mobile and intense their minutes are, the scarier the paint is for opponents. Right now, I suspect Aaliyah is the only one capable of doing 30 mins with intensity. If we can get 35 mins between Dorka and Amari, the others can pick up the rest down low. I think we want to have a speed lineup to harry opponents, and a Big lineup to pound them.

You can see how such a distribution depends on getting a lot from the guards: 35 min/game from Azzi and 25 from Caroline, and 30 from Nika. That's asking a lot of Aziz's foot, Caroline's hip, and Nika's fouls, but it's what we'll need to keep our Bigs fresh. If we can't get it, we'll need a lot more mins from Lou, who's got the stamina for it from Fairfield, but may not have the D-skills initially. Let's hope she develops them by Christmas.

Also, a secret wish: let Ice and Ayanna step it up and earn 20mins each by the end of the season. Strong young people running the court, fighting for rebounds, muscling into the lane to score. These two could wear opponents out. If one of your Bigs is out on the break almost every time, it crushes the spirit of opposing guards, who will be stuck trying to defend them in transition. Yikes! This is one of the things Aaliyah brought to the team freshman year, and Nika learned how to find her on the break last year. I'm not looking for this from Amari and Dorka. But the others should be able to bring this to the team. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it!

Backcourt:
Azzi 35 [split between the 1-2]
Caroline 25 [initially 20, maybe 35 by the tournament, split between the 2-3]
Nika 30 [at the 1, mainly in 1st and 3rd quarters, could fall to 20 by the tournament like last year]
Lou 15 [ at the 2-3, could rise to 20-25 in the tournament if needed]

Front court:
Aaliyah 30 [split between 4-5]
Dorka 25 [at the 5]
Amari 10 [at the 5]
Ice 10 [split between 4-5]
Ayanna 10 [split between 4-3]
Aubrey 10 [at the 3]

total 200
 
I am hoping that Aubrey returns to the court and is able to have many games that rival her freshman game at Seton Hall and that Caroline returns with the type of game that she played in the majority of her freshman games prior to her head injuries.
 
Again, thinking out loud. How about 50-60 from Dorka, Aaliyah, Caroline? Azzi will be the focus of defense, I think. Unknown = Nika offense.
 
Rixxx said:
Again, thinking out loud. How about 50-60 from Dorka, Aaliyah, Caroline? Azzi will be the focus of defense, I think. Unknown = Nika offense.
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Yes, I think Azzi will draw the most defensive attention. She would have gotten less attention with Paige on the floor. But that opens things for other players, perhaps most notably Lou.
 

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