We saw what Paige did in her freshman season in the NCAAs against 3 really tuff teams in the NCAAs . Her play against Indiana and NC State was monumental. I saw that look in her eye in the BE tourney. She has a better supporting staff to work with this season. I believe UConn will roll over most teams moving forward. We are to good at every position on both sides of the ball. Sarah can dominate the middle against most bigs and Jana and Ice are pretty darn good. Our defense will hold teams in check. We have enough scorers and shooters that I dont think we all go cold at the same time. We saw how well Nova shot the ball under our pressure in the BE tourney. Eventually our pressure D overwhelmed them . To loose UConn would have to have an off shooting nite by everybody and our opponent would have to be able to score over 70 pts and I dont see that happening. My thoughts are reduction to the ridiculous. The chances of UConns offense going ice cold and our defense going ice cold and our opponents being that good without a go to player are slim. Most opponenets dont have great defenses that can stop Paige Azzi and Sarah. Most teams dont have the ball handlers that can handle pressure defense. We are a fine oiled machine running on high octane with alot of energy. We are going to be very difficult to stop .
I'd like to believe what you say, clutch it to my chest like a rosary. But there are reasons to worry. And, by the way, that was Paige's sophomore season.
You're absolutely right, Paige does have a fierce look in her eye. This is definitely tournament Paige we're witnessing. Unlike some others, I don't discount the win over SC. That was for real. But the losses to ND, USC and Tenn are worrisome. Those were performances that could recur, just as easily as the way we played against SC. We've all tried to make our peace with them, and excused them in one way or another. Our explanations mainly turn on Azzi not being available or having poor shooting night, or Ash, or Kaitlyn, or Jana. We can probably get past the first two rounds without peak offense from everyone. But I don't think we can win it all firing on only two cylinders.
For me the question isn't can this rotation play awesome defense for 6 straight games. I'm sure they can and will.
The question in my mind is can Paige consistently rally enough scorers for the last 3 rounds. The freshman year ended early because she couldn't get enough help to lift the team past Arizona. Sophomore year, a similar story against SC -- injuries and illness were the problem then. Last season, Paige carried the team as far as she could, relying on Aaliyah and Nika and a bunch of youngsters. They faltered in the final four and Paige looked spent from carrying them that far, and I don't think that squad was getting past SC even if they had squeaked by Iowa.
For this campaign, Paige has better backup. She's got more experience backing her in Azzi Aubrey and Kaitlyn, KK Ash and Ice. But she's also got some freshmen who've never been under this much pressure before in Sarah and Jana. Paige is also a little better rested, though not by as much as we might have hoped for -- last season she averaged 32 mins, this season 30 mins. She also
potentially has more scorers
by one with Azzi. Mainly there's more depth and that means a little more insurance if one or another shooter goes cold. We don't have the post advantage we'd hoped to have when the season began -- Jana and Ice didn't develop as much as many of us (including me) had counted on, though Sarah surprised pretty much everyone. And we lost Ayanna. This means they are likely going to have to win the last few games despite being out-rebounded. Can they do it? Yes, I believe they can. But it is not nearly as sure a thing as it was in some previous NC campaigns.
If I had to make a prediction -- yes, it's turban time -- I'd say a lot will depend on Kaitlyn, more than any of us would like or expect. Paige and Sarah will do what they do. But I suspect at least one huge game will depend on Kaitlyn scoring 12 or more.
