Now I'm really worried about upcoming games

[JBK]

Being highly ranked out of high school does not mean what it used too. With the year round BB and almost every player having a personal trainer working with them one on one since middle school, there are more talented players available out of high school who might not have gotten the PR than the ranked players. Also some players peak earlier than others. Every now and then you get a player like Paige who actually does stand out. Mostly though, there are a lot of players who are about equal in skill, just more of them than there used to be.

As I have been posting for some time, There are a lot of really talented players out there playing for teams with less coverage that are as good or sometimes even better that those that have the reputation. Most fans only get to see the players on their own team or the ones on other high profile teams.

I was not only talking about HS
Evina was number 1 in high school and played really well at Tennessee her first 2 years and would have been top 10 WNBA draft choice last year
Dorka averaged 15 a game in the big ten
Christyn is a projected 1st round WNBA along with Liv
Stop with the whole team is Paige —
This team is not a team and the confidence has been sucked out of them
Let’s get it back

 

[JBK]

I know we only have one day of practice before we play UCLA, but I
expect UConn to beat the Bruins.

But not Louisville.

Yes we will. This group of talented athletes needed a game without Paige .
They will rise to the occasion

 

[TRest]

I was not only talking about HS
Evina was number 1 in high school and played really well at Tennessee her first 2 years and would have been top 10 WNBA draft choice last year
Dorka averaged 15 a game in the big ten
Christyn is a projected 1st round WNBA along with Liv
Stop with the whole team is Paige —
This team is not a team and the confidence has been sucked out of them
Let’s get it back

I didn't see any wnba draft picks out there tonight. Westbrook is the most complete player of them and could not get anything going for herself. Williams is a smallish guard with no outside shot. And Olivia will get eaten alive by professional bigs. Great kids, who have come up short for years now.

 

[ccwarrior]

That’s the thing- they’re not ordinary. Geno’s got 3 #1ranked kids out of high school, a #2, and 2 #5 ranked kids. But playing without their point guard and emotional leader left them rudderless

But, they are very very ordinary. I said it in another thread that we are not even a top 25 team without PB. I know many hear are irrationally optimistic, but this has been a long time coming as tese highly ranked players underperform.

 

[ccwarrior]

Then UCONN will get healthy, start over and build better.

With the same players?

 

[CocoHusky]

We have way too much talent to go into a losing streak
Christyn Williams - # 1 high school player
Evina Westbrook - # 1
Olivia - # 5
Caroline -# 5
Edwards. Olympic athlete.
No wonder we are playing in the next month has the talent.
Let’s get their confidence restored and let’s Gooooooo

It is time to put the HS rankings aside because UCONN is about to graduate 3 senior (Liv,CW & Evina) that have not lived up to thier rankings. Once you come to grip with that reality there is plenty of theories as to why and certainly plenty of blame to spread around-but maybe not!
We could blame the ranking services for over rating these players.
We could blame Geno for recruiting them aka- he got the wrong kids
We could blame the players for not developing
We could blame the UCONN system for being to rigid to complex to master
We could blame the BE conference for not being competitive enough to sharpen the team.
Then along comes Paige and she single-handedly makes this blame game completely pointless because basketball is a complex, unpredictable, multi variable endeavor.

 

[Slipperman]

looks like a 6th straight year without a championship. with or without Paige, they should have handled GT.

 

[JBK]

It is time to put the HS rankings aside because UCONN is about to graduate 3 senior (Liv,CW & Evina) that have not lived up to thier rankings. Once you come to grip with that reality there is plenty of theories as to why and certainly plenty of blame to spread around-but maybe not!
We could blame the ranking services for over rating these players.
We could blame Geno for recruiting them aka- he got the wrong kids
We could blame the players for not developing
We could blame the UCONN system for being to rigid to complex to master
We could blame the BE conference for not being competitive enough to sharpen the team.
Then along comes Paige and she single-handedly makes this blame game completely pointless because basketball is a complex, unpredictable, multi variable endeavor.

We are talking just HS we are talking the WNBA.
Will Evina - Christyn - Ono get drafted.
The answer is Yes. All projected 1st and 2nd rounds.
Plus a Big ten all star and a loaded freshman recruits.
Let’s get it together, build confidence and win some games
Let’s play UCONN uptempo basketball and out work all teams —
Stop the script that this is a one person team - that is the problem

 

[CocoHusky]

With the same players?

Clearly not. The get healthy part of that would include Paige Aubrey Azzi and Nika. Any two of those players would have changed to outcome of the game tonight. Paige or Azzi by themselves would also have been enough to change the outcome.

 

[CocoHusky]

We are talking just HS we are talking the WNBA.
Will Evina - Christyn - Ono get drafted.
The answer is Yes. All projected 1st and 2nd rounds.
Plus a Big ten all star and a loaded freshman recruits.
Let’s get it together, build confidence and win some games
Let’s play UCONN uptempo basketball and out work all teams —
Stop the script that this is a one person team - that is the problem

Hardly! For two years now one player (Paige) has brilliantly masked the short comings of this team and allowed us to believe and hope that her teammates were more talented that their actual game performance. Tonight the mask came off. Three healthy senior took the floor for UCONN tonight and they were collectively exposed.

 

[donalddoowop]

I know we only have one day of practice before we play UCLA, but I
expect UConn to beat the Bruins.

But not Louisville.

Man, you are going to be disappointed.

 

[Cuango]

So much for hs rankings

Geno, as great as he is, is not responsible for ranking high school players! Every one of these players broke the hearts of numerous programs when they committed to UConn! I’m unsure why we fell apart so badly but it’s not because these kids weren’t top players in high school!

 

[ballhawk]

This is the most disheartening game I've ever seen UConn play. We want Geno to pull some magic trick out of his hat. But there is no magic and there's no hat. It's very hard to see how Saturday will be any different than tonight.

 

[willtalk]

I don't see UConn having the same problems with UCLA as they did in the last game. UCLA lost a lot of their key players before the season even started along with suffering some injuries recently as well. They are as roster thin as UConn and a shell of what they were expected to be. They are not as good as they are rated.

 

[HuskyNan]

I always enjoy having the casual fans drift over from the men’s board to offer their insights.

Ironically, a lot of posts made here tonight are pretty much mirrors of what was posted on the men’s board Wednesday.

 

[jdb50]

Every game is going to be a battle now and fans have to be ready for that. There is no player that can come off the injury list and solve all the problems accept Paige and she will not be full speed at first. We are going to need a couple players to make outside shots like G. Tech did. Our inside game is not reliable enough to keep up with teams that can hit some 3's. In the meantime just coach up the players and try keep them from getting discouraged. Fight!

 

[Surly1]

Clearly not. The get healthy part of that would include Paige Aubrey Azzi and Nika. Any two of those players would have changed to outcome of the game tonight. Paige or Azzi by themselves would also have been enough to change the outcome.

For sure. It seems too many people mitigate the importance of a point guard and the near impossibility of trying to convert someone into a point guard overnight. Nika, in spite of her outside shooting woes would help the offense immensely. Westbrook can facilitate, but she is a “2” who can occasionally play the “1”, but is not suited for it long-term.

You don’t lose the best player in the game and expect to plug in and play. An orchestra needs a conductor to seemlessly integrate the various instrumental sections to fuse a singular piece. Getting back Nika & Azzi will bring back ”life” to the offense. Hopefully, getting Paige back at some point this season will put the “doomsday“ crowd back into their coffins.

 

[LoTrader]

As @willtalk pointed out, UCLA has been hit by the injury bug even more so that UCONN. If UCONN coaching staff gives some minutes to Ducharme & DeBerry, I think they'll wipe the floor with UCLA. I also think Evina will have a big game for UCONN. Evina had success getting to the rim last night, but she didn't do it enough. UCLA doesn't have the rim protectors UCONN faced last night vs. Georgia Tech. I predict that the UCONN faithful's' faith will be restored after the UCLA game.

 

[CocoHusky]

For sure. It seems too many people mitigate the importance of a point guard and the near impossibility of trying to convert someone into a point guard overnight. Nika, in spite of her outside shooting woes would help the offense immensely. Westbrook can facilitate, but she is a “2” who can occasionally play the “1”, but is not suited for it long-term.

You don’t lose the best player in the game and expect to plug in and play. An orchestra needs a conductor to seemlessly integrate the various instrumental sections to fuse a singular piece. Getting back Nika & Azzi will bring back ”life” to the offense. Hopefully, getting Paige back at some point this season will put the “doomsday“ crowd back into their coffins.

In defense of the growing "doomsday" crown it is important to remember that many in that crowd were pointing out issues with this team for a while now. The unacceptable defensive effort against Arkansas in the first game of the season was the first game after getting dominated by Arizona. The 4th Q collapse against South Carolina was with Paige on the floor. The debacle against GT last night was with 4 seniors in the starting line up. Three of those senior starters (Christyn, Evina Dorka ) were were day 1/game 1 starters in WCBB. The other senior Liv was a UCONN starter since game 1 of her sophomore season.

 

[Dillon77]

I'm pretty familiar with a team that was hit by transfers and then multiple injuries that was forced to reassess itself mid-season: the ND team from 2017-18. Coincidentally, the injury that precipitated that change -- PG Lili Thompson suffering an ACL tear -- took place at an ND-UConn game.

The game that made ND really reassess how they were going to move forward was an absolute shellacking by Louisville on national television. Interestingly, it was then commentator Kara Lawson who said ND had the talent to not only recover, but succeed (she was right: all five starters from that team still play professionally - four in the WNBA, one overseas). The most notable moves were splitting the ball-handling among shooting guard Marina Mabrey (half court sets/no pressure) and Jackie Young (up-tempo/against pressure). One could argue that it not only saved the season, but enhanced Mabrey's and Young's skill sets for future endeavors.

Now, the most notable injury ND suffered was to center Brianna Turner, but Jessica Shepard proved to be more than an apt replacement.

However, no one on that ND team was as important to the Irish as Paige is to this UConn team: she is not only the best at several aspects of individual play, she's the proverbial "straw that stirs the drink" and makes everyone better.

So, in my mind, it was impossible for a team to change it's modus operandi in a mere one game, particularly against a veteran-laden, big front court that Georgia Tech presents. And to expect freshman Caroline Ducharme to stay molten hot against a team that probably was now focusing on her....tough.

I recall MM being pretty matter of fact around that time, but she kept digging for solutions. Fully expect Geno and Chris to reassess and figure out the best way to make this team work best collectively. Gosh knows there's talent there (it wasn't only Paige that just beat a good ND team.) Some things I'm looking at:

• How do/can Williams and Westbrook alter their games?
• Can Dorka Juhasz be incorporated into the flow to deliver the scoring and rebounding she was contributing to Ohio State?
• And can Ms. Edwards get into the flow?

Don't wish these kinds of injuries on any person or team. But I can wish the best to those left on the court, both players and coaches. Good luck, Huskies!

 

[veryolddog]

you know what, guys, they are going to lose a lot of games even in the Big East. Then all of sudden a spark will take place and they will continue to win all the way through to the national championship.

 

[Mirmir]

It is time to put the HS rankings aside because UCONN is about to graduate 3 senior (Liv,CW & Evina) that have not lived up to thier rankings. Once you come to grip with that reality there is plenty of theories as to why and certainly plenty of blame to spread around-but maybe not!
We could blame the ranking services for over rating these players.
We could blame Geno for recruiting them aka- he got the wrong kids
We could blame the players for not developing
We could blame the UCONN system for being to rigid to complex to master
We could blame the BE conference for not being competitive enough to sharpen the team.
Then along comes Paige and she single-handedly makes this blame game completely pointless because basketball is a complex, unpredictable, multi variable endeavor.

Coco - I appreciate greatly in your comment on "It is time to put the HS rankings aside because UCONN is about to graduate 3 senior (Liv,CW & Evina) that have not lived up to thier rankings" - How does this incoming recruiting Class of 2018 (although Evina was a Transfer), compare the debacle of the Incoming Class of 2017? Could that be considered 2 "Back to Back" under-achieving Recruiting Classes, and how much of both fall on the players and how much falls on Geno and the Coaching Staff?

 

[Conndog]

As they are playing now, I’ll believe they can defeat UCLA when they actually come away with a win.

 

[CocoHusky]

Coco - I appreciate greatly in your comment on "It is time to put the HS rankings aside because UCONN is about to graduate 3 senior (Liv,CW & Evina) that have not lived up to thier rankings" - How does this incoming recruiting Class of 2018 (although Evina was a Transfer), compare the debacle of the Incoming Class of 2017? Could that be considered 2 "Back to Back" under-achieving Recruiting Classes, and how much of both fall on the players and how much falls on Geno and the Coaching Staff?

That's a tough call to consider '17 and '18 (back to back) under achieving classes because Megan Walker became an AA. I would tend to agree that among the players in those two class Megan, CW, LIv turned out to be not talented enough to "sustain" this program. The addition of Evina did not move the needle because when Evina became eligible Megan Walker left early for the WNBA.
As far as who bears responsibility both the players and the coaches do (perhaps equally). Hard to fault Geno for recruiting what were the consensus best players in those classes. Keep in mind that Charli Collier would have been part of the UCONN 2018 class until that damn hurricane. IMO ultimately the players bear more of responsibility for the development of their games. Final answer: 70% player 30% Geno.

 

[Carnac]

After tonight's game, don't see how they'll beat UCLA, Louisville, Depaul and Marquette (next 4 games). 3 of these games are home at least. But, no one is going to be scared or intimidated with the team as constructed and playing now. I think they lose to UCLA and Louisville and then split last two. Hope I'm wrong!

Worried now, you should be.