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Message: [QUOTE="bballnut90, post: 2523242, member: 2117"] I don't see a lot of parallels between the two other than that both teams don't have much depth. For starters, UCONN in 2016-17 was MUCH better than 2017-18 Notre Dame team. They went 36-1, dominated competition and dominated good teams, including a win against a fully loaded Notre Dame team. In the semifinals, they were a 23 point favorite over an outstanding Mississippi State team. Notre Dame would never be a 23 point favorite against any 2 seed. 2nd, UCONN didn't have injuries or transfers in 2016-17, while Notre Dame has been decimated by them. UCONN went into the season knowing they'd have just 9 scholarship players and remained healthy for the year with the same crop of kids every game. Notre Dame was projected to have 12 or 13 scholarship players prior to off season transfers. Notre Dame lost Boley, Turner, Patberg, Johnson, Vaughn, and Thompson. Turner was a 2x AA, Boley a top 5 kid expected to start as a sophomore, and Thompson would compete for a starting spot. I highly doubt Mabrey or Ogunbowale expected that they'd need to man the point this season. At UCONN the players knew they'd be taking on much larger roles and they were more prepared to do so compared to the Notre Dame players. 3rd, UCONN had 2 point guards and a combo guard in the rotation last year. Chong was a excellent PG for the Huskies, Nurse ran point at times during her first 2 seasons, and Dangerfield was the top PG in her class coming out of HS. Notre Dame meanwhile has no PGs and is left with 2 shooting guards manning the position and learning on the fly. Very different scenarios. In regards to the player comparisons--UCONN just flat out had more talent and better players than 2017-18 ND. KLS and Collier both were 1st team All Americans, Williams should have been a 1st teamer, Nurse was a 2 year starter and HM AA, and Chong played her role very well. For ND, their best players are having to play out of position, and Shepard is brand new to the system and isn't the same #3 recruit coming out of high school. She didn't develop her game at Nebraska and is behind pace compared to other top players in her class (ex. KLS, Durr, Collier, Anigwe, etc.) [/QUOTE]

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