Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="oldhusky, post: 3633464, member: 9844"] In terms of expectations I think Autumn probably brings a talent level that is clearly way better than a typical walk-on, and at the same time considerably below the low end of what Uconn typically recruits. Given where we are at, that is a very good thing. Kyla and Molly are examples of the "low end" of what Uconn recruits. If you remember when they were recruited at least early in their careers, we had if I remember right 14 players on the roster potentially with twelve of those being highly rated prospects, and how are we going to find time for everyone was the question of the day. In my opinion Kyla and Molly were not recruited to be a regular part of the rotation like last year, but rather to be improved versions of Pulido and Lawlor. Even though Kyla and Molly (maybe in the 100-200 range) were clearly above average compared to the roughly 1,000 Div 1 recruits each year, they were not at the level Geno "wants" to give regular playing time to. I suspect the thought process was we can't keep everybody happy, so the tail end of the bench should be players with character who can contribute in practice, be happy just to be part of the team and can accept garbage minutes. If we can get someone rated as highly as Kyla and Molly for that role, why not? Of course as it turns out they wound up playing more important roles, with Megan's class going from 4 to 1, followed by consecutive 2 player classes, and Azura leaving early and Butler transferring, so you never know. On paper Autumn checks alot of boxes for that role. Presumably far better than a true walk-on, but perhaps not as high as Kyla or Molly. Great student, loves Uconn, happy to get this opportunity and be part of this program, and can probably be a good teammate and accept her role. Right now the roster going forward looks like it did a few years ago. Once you get past 9 or 10 highly rated recruits, it is hard to be content with a mop up role, for someone rated in the top 20-30 out of 1,000 incoming Div 1 recruits. And yet having more than ten from a team standpoint helps a-lot. Practice is hard with 10 because injuries happen, people get sick, and this year for obvious reasons that is even more true, making adding a Division 1 level walk-on of Autumn's caliber a major coup. Now if we can just find an Autumn Part 2 in the body of a big! Ha! [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

Forum statistics

Threads: 164,475

Messages: 4,397,660

Members: 10,211

Latest member: MurrDog