On the "need" for big (ie. tall) post players

[hoophuskee]

I mostly agree with you. If healthy and UConn get some help from Lou and the freshmen UConn could be more formidable this year. But the bottom line is SC put the better team on the court and won the game. Period. That should be the end of the "what if" discussion. Time to move on to the coming year and NC #12.

As far as the SC / USC confusion, maybe they should just change to LC ("Little Carolina") as many folks just north of them refer to them

I agree. But it's hard to avoid the discussion because both teams will face each again this year (at least once) in which both are extremely loaded. And when trying to project the power of our team, inevitably the top teams in our way were the prior two National Championship Teams - SC and Stanford. In doing this, a point of reference is needed in order to compare the teams. And referencing the past is something to consider when doing this.

And the negative posters will always bring up this past reference. As a result, a counter of injuries will follow.

 

[Bone Dog]

In College Amihere is 4 that can also be a 5. Her playing pg and having her set on the perimeter is huge waste other than small minute distributions. Putting her at other positions is a waste other than 4/5 is waste. I hope UCONN doesn't try to turn Edwards into a Small Forward.

Aaliyah played point-forward in high school. You can see it in the BioSteel all-Canada game from her junior year. But she was smaller then. I don’t think she has the speed for that now.

If Amihere really could play pg now, it would be awesome. But I suspect it’d be a mistake to use her there now. She’s quick for a 4, but that’s not the same as being a quick pg. Stewie sometimes brought the ball up the court, and she was also quick for a 4. But she was nowhere near as quick as Moriah, and it would have been a waste to use her there.

 

[Alydar]

There’s more than Boston in the front court for SC. SC also returns 4 of 5 starters and adds a grad transfer from GT and has a top 5 freshman class coming in. I don’t think you can declare UConn better until the teams play, especially considering SC beat them by double digits twice last year.

There are always questions about even the strongest teams. UConn fans were concerned going into the 2016 season after winning the title for 3 years. "No KML" No Stokes". You SCar fans need to learn from experts.

That front line. Boston, Saxton, Beal, Cardoso, Amihere. I'm sure I'm missing someone. But who plays and who sits? Cardoso is a junior and was DPOY as a freshman in the ACC. Where are her NIL deals? Was everyone thrilled when Saxton returned? Maybe Cardoso will like not starting until her senior year?

See how easy it is?

Johnson.
She was the #2 recruit behind Fudd. Fudd's ACL was 3 years ago and she is still regaining her strength and yet Johnson is expected to be 100% and ready to lead the team? Yeah, her 20 minutes of actual game experience is more than enough experience? No, no concerns at all.

Winning a second in a row.
No need to explain this to Stanford fans. In horse racing it's called a bounce. A lifetime best performance is followed by a lesser effort. Not a poor effort. Stanford had a great season and got to the FF but they didn't play UConn with the same energy and efficiency that they had against SCar last year. UConn beat them without Juhasz. And Stanford was actually the biggest team in the FF. It's the mental state that is not the same. It's a lot of things. It's the constant focus on the past from the media and the inevitable "can they be as good?" BS that UConn has faced over the years.

I agree that SCar is the pre-season favorite and will remain No. 1 until they lose a game. Maybe it will be Florida or Kentucky this year.

 

[Alydar]

In College Amihere is a 4 that can also be a 5. Her playing pg and having her set on the perimeter is huge waste other than small minute distributions. Putting her at other positions (other than 4/5) is a waste. I hope UCONN doesn't try to turn Edwards into a Small Forward.

Sounds like Wilson, who entered college as a "guard". Lots of forwards can dribble foul line to foul line but like most tall players they dribble too high and when they put the ball on the floor in the paint it gets taken away.
I'm hoping to see UConn's freshman Patterson play against Amihere.

 

[Cuango]

I mostly agree with you. If healthy and UConn get some help from Lou and the freshmen UConn could be more formidable this year. But the bottom line is SC put the better team on the court and won the game. Period. That should be the end of the "what if" discussion. Time to move on to the coming year and NC #12.

As far as the SC / USC confusion, maybe they should just change to LC ("Little Carolina") as many folks just north of them refer to them

“That should be the end of the “what if” discussion.” Why? People discuss “what ifs” for virtually everything that happens. You get a ticket, you say, “if only I hadn’t run out of milk!” You throw up, “if only I hadn’t eaten that deviled egg!” You get mauled by a bear, “what if I had taken the right hand path at the fork in the trail!”
The point is, none of those things are untrue. Just as, “what if we’d been healthy” is not untrue.

As it happens, I tend to believe we would have lost anyway (for other reasons than our health) but there’s no question things would have been substantially different in that game and we had at least three players far from healthy who had previously demonstrated the ability to step up and win games under fire! One of those, is among the best I’ve ever seen in high pressure situations after only two years into her career while two others had demonstrated (to a lesser degree) that they too could “bring it” under pressure! Two others, our biggest post and our best defensive player didn’t even play! Our starting post player had a groin injury. So no, I don’t agree that the “what if” discussion is verboten!

No one is saying we would have won, just that it could have resulted in a different outcome. That is a fact and is not disrespectful in any way to SC! If they’re butthurt by that, I hate to think how they’re going to feel when we kick they’re a** in February!

 

[cancontent]

In College Amihere is a 4 that can also be a 5. Her playing pg and having her set on the perimeter is huge waste other than small minute distributions. Putting her at other positions (other than 4/5) is a waste. I hope UCONN doesn't try to turn Edwards into a Small Forward.

She's played the 3/4 position with the Canadian National team during international competition. She seems to handle it well which showed during the Olympics and the recent qualifiers. Having her as the PG was only due to Henderson's injury if I recall correctly. Highly doubt that's a long term plan.

 

[Bone Dog]

Personally, I think we would have lost the NC game under almost any imaginable scenario. We’d gonna as far as we could go with those personnel. In fact, given the way injuries disrupted the season, we played well above our heads. By contrast, SC had demonstrated consistent excellence all season long.

The previous season, we stole a win from Baylor and then lost to Arizona. Again, we’d taken that personnel set as far as it could go. More precisely, Paige carried them as far as she could and the rest of the team ran out of gas.

My main hope is that this will no longer be a team that succumbs to “Paige-watching” in the big games. That team would be unstoppable. Paige can lead us to a title, but she can’t win it all by herself.

I’m optimistic because I suspect our 1-3 are not Paige-watchers. Caroline and Azzi are indomitable players in their own right, and I suspect Lou will be another. They all said about Caroline that she plays with a chip on her shoulder, and she’s proved she can carry the team a few times. I’d include Nika in that list, since no one keeps her down. But she hasn’t demonstrated her offensive value yet.

 

[Stymie]

Nika’s value is as a disrupter, a defensive stalwart and seeing that “everyone eats”.
Scoring is just gravy.
IMHO

 

[SCspur]

There are always questions about even the strongest teams. UConn fans were concerned going into the 2016 season after winning the title for 3 years. "No KML" No Stokes". You SCar fans need to learn from experts.

That front line. Boston, Saxton, Beal, Cardoso, Amihere. I'm sure I'm missing someone. But who plays and who sits? Cardoso is a junior and was DPOY as a freshman in the ACC. Where are her NIL deals? Was everyone thrilled when Saxton returned? Maybe Cardoso will like not starting until her senior year?

See how easy it is?

Johnson.
She was the #2 recruit behind Fudd. Fudd's ACL was 3 years ago and she is still regaining her strength and yet Johnson is expected to be 100% and ready to lead the team? Yeah, her 20 minutes of actual game experience is more than enough experience? No, no concerns at all.

Winning a second in a row.
No need to explain this to Stanford fans. In horse racing it's called a bounce. A lifetime best performance is followed by a lesser effort. Not a poor effort. Stanford had a great season and got to the FF but they didn't play UConn with the same energy and efficiency that they had against SCar last year. UConn beat them without Juhasz. And Stanford was actually the biggest team in the FF. It's the mental state that is not the same. It's a lot of things. It's the constant focus on the past from the media and the inevitable "can they be as good?" BS that UConn has faced over the years.

I agree that SCar is the pre-season favorite and will remain No. 1 until they lose a game. Maybe it will be Florida or Kentucky this year.

Nothing in my previous posts stated SC to be a shoe in to repeat or that I didn’t have any concerns for this year. What’s the point of arguing hypotheticals? Amihere, Cardoso, and Feagin will all get minutes this year and if any we’re concerned of that I’m sure they would’ve hit the portal when Saxton returned.

Raven also doesn’t have to lead her team right away as we have Fletcher coming in from GT and has tons of experience. Players also heal at different rates as all bodies are different from one another. Just because Fudd is taking longer to heal that means Johnson will as well? And it’s my understanding that Fudd is recovering from her foot injury from last year not the ACL tear so if you’re going to use an analogy please be correct.

You also can’t use Stanford as a measuring stick to predetermine what will happen with SC. Just because they weren’t determined to win again doesn’t mean SC will. SC will probably face bumps in the road again this year but Dawn has everything and more at her disposal for her team to be just as good again this year.

 

[cancontent]

Nika’s value is as a disrupter, a defensive stalwart and seeing that “everyone eats”.
Scoring is just gravy.
IMHO

Nothing wrong with gravy

 

[cancontent]

There are always questions about even the strongest teams. UConn fans were concerned going into the 2016 season after winning the title for 3 years. "No KML" No Stokes". You SCar fans need to learn from experts.

That front line. Boston, Saxton, Beal, Cardoso, Amihere. I'm sure I'm missing someone. But who plays and who sits? Cardoso is a junior and was DPOY as a freshman in the ACC. Where are her NIL deals? Was everyone thrilled when Saxton returned? Maybe Cardoso will like not starting until her senior year?

See how easy it is?

Johnson.
She was the #2 recruit behind Fudd. Fudd's ACL was 3 years ago and she is still regaining her strength and yet Johnson is expected to be 100% and ready to lead the team? Yeah, her 20 minutes of actual game experience is more than enough experience? No, no concerns at all.

Winning a second in a row.
No need to explain this to Stanford fans. In horse racing it's called a bounce. A lifetime best performance is followed by a lesser effort. Not a poor effort. Stanford had a great season and got to the FF but they didn't play UConn with the same energy and efficiency that they had against SCar last year. UConn beat them without Juhasz. And Stanford was actually the biggest team in the FF. It's the mental state that is not the same. It's a lot of things. It's the constant focus on the past from the media and the inevitable "can they be as good?" BS that UConn has faced over the years.

I agree that SCar is the pre-season favorite and will remain No. 1 until they lose a game. Maybe it will be Florida or Kentucky this year.

NIL doesn't work the same way for international students. They have to be careful because it could affect their F1 status. Pasted a couple links for reference.

The first is from ESPN last year: International student-athletes face an NIL conundrum, and no one seems to have an answer

This is a more recent article from Forbes about an international athlete trying to take advantage of it: Berkeley International Student Athlete Sam Alajiki Signs NIL Deal

 

[socal613ws]

I think some people are putting a lot of unnecessary hype on Brady and Patterson and they have yet to play. Please don't do this again like people did with Fudd.

 

[CocoHusky]

There are always questions about even the strongest teams. UConn fans were concerned going into the 2016 season after winning the title for 3 years. "No KML" No Stokes". You SCar fans need to learn from experts.

That front line. Boston, Saxton, Beal, Cardoso, Amihere. I'm sure I'm missing someone. But who plays and who sits? Cardoso is a junior and was DPOY as a freshman in the ACC. Where are her NIL deals? Was everyone thrilled when Saxton returned? Maybe Cardoso will like not starting until her senior year?

See how easy it is?

Johnson.
She was the #2 recruit behind Fudd. Fudd's ACL was 3 years ago and she is still regaining her strength and yet Johnson is expected to be 100% and ready to lead the team? Yeah, her 20 minutes of actual game experience is more than enough experience? No, no concerns at all.
Winning a second in a row.
No need to explain this to Stanford fans. In horse racing it's called a bounce. A lifetime best performance is followed by a lesser effort. Not a poor effort. Stanford had a great season and got to the FF but they didn't play UConn with the same energy and efficiency that they had against SCar last year. UConn beat them without Juhasz. And Stanford was actually the biggest team in the FF. It's the mental state that is not the same. It's a lot of things. It's the constant focus on the past from the media and the inevitable "can they be as good?" BS that UConn has faced over the years.

I agree that SCar is the pre-season favorite and will remain No. 1 until they lose a game. Maybe it will be Florida or Kentucky this year.

I think you are way over thinking this and wishfully imagining problems within the SC program which do not exists.
It is this simple-Cardoso will not be a starter until Boston graduates. Kamilla knew this before deciding to transfer to South Carolina and you are really straining your basketball credibility by being this slow to catch on to that reality. Likewise with your question regarding Saxton. EVERYONE on South Carolina was thrilled to have Saxton return, not sure why that's even a question.

What is the significance of Cardoso's NIL deals and her happiness with them?

Is there such a thing a a bounce forward in horse racing? I'm fairly certain South Carolina lost to Stanford in the FF a season ago and managed to bounce forward and win the Championship in the next season.
This is also the second time you have incorrectly stated that Stanford was the biggest (tallest?) team in the FF- you prior post stated that they were the tallest team in the NCAA. Even without Dorka and if you include the bench or starting players UCONN was a taller team than Stanford. Stanford tallest starter was Brink at 6'4, ONO was taller. The tallest Stanford bench player was Prechtel-who was the same height as Amari. The shortest player (sub on starter) for either team was Wilson (allegedly) at 5'9" which is a full inch shorter than Nika who happens to be shortest UCONN player.

Look if you want to do some wishful hoping about the South Carolina program try this- Cardoso is WNBA eligible spring of 2023. I'm hoping she jumps at that opportunity.

 

[Bone Dog]

Since we’re speculating again, I’ll add this: Amihere, Cardoso, Feagin are good rotation players. I forecast something in the 10-12 minute range for each of them, maybe a little less for Feagin. From what I saw at GT last year, Fletcher is ok at pg, but may not be up to the demands of a program like SC.

All I see then is a four player rotation at 4-5, with Boston and Saxton getting 28 mpg or more. They’re an excellent duo and I can’t really imagine giving them less. No one in our post rotation really compares to Boston. But I think Edwards has played well against Saxton. Amihere is wild card. If she shows up, she can be huge. But she often does not, and she doesn’t have the muscle to push Ice or Ayanna around.

The big question mark for us is Deberry. Will she take her game up a notch and make herself a substantial rotation player off the bench? If not, Dorka will have to carry too much water against Boston and Cardoso. But if she can give 10-12 solid minutes, it’s a really different calculus. To be sure, Aaliyah and Ice can spell Dorka at the 5, but that’s not our best path forward.

 

[Alydar]

Nothing in my previous posts stated SC to be a shoe in to repeat or that I didn’t have any concerns for this year. What’s the point of arguing hypotheticals? Amihere, Cardoso, and Feagin will all get minutes this year and if any we’re concerned of that I’m sure they would’ve hit the portal when Saxton returned.

Raven also doesn’t have to lead her team right away as we have Fletcher coming in from GT and has tons of experience. Players also heal at different rates as all bodies are different from one another. Just because Fudd is taking longer to heal that means Johnson will as well? And it’s my understanding that Fudd is recovering from her foot injury from last year not the ACL tear so if you’re going to use an analogy please be correct.

You also can’t use Stanford as a measuring stick to predetermine what will happen with SC. Just because they weren’t determined to win again doesn’t mean SC will. SC will probably face bumps in the road again this year but Dawn has everything and more at her disposal for her team to be just as good again this year.

No where did I say that SCar can't repeat or isn't favored to win. I merely listed a few of the things that can upset a season.

Fletcher. Where did she lead GT other than a win over a depleted UConn team? Oh, I see now. Sorry. UConn has a fine guard transferring in named Sanchez. Good size, great outside shot. She will be the 4th or 5th guard on the depth chart.

Johnson is a question mark no matter whether you look at her college experience or her knee. She may be an AA this year but she enters a question mark. I'm sure all the reports are positive but it's July and even Geno is a Pollyanna in the summer.

 

[SCspur]

No where did I say that SCar can't repeat or isn't favored to win. I merely listed a few of the things that can upset a season.

Fletcher. Where did she lead GT other than a win over a depleted UConn team? Oh, I see now. Sorry. UConn has a fine guard transferring in named Sanchez. Good size, great outside shot. She will be the 4th or 5th guard on the depth chart.

Johnson is a question mark no matter whether you look at her college experience or her knee. She may be an AA this year but she enters a question mark. I'm sure all the reports are positive but it's July and even Geno is a Pollyanna in the summer.

Actually Fletcher sat out last season but she led that same GT team to the sweet sixteen the year prior and was All ACC. She has the experience and has played against elite competition in the ACC. Lots of unknowns for sure but like you said it’s only July.

 

[jchusky]

No where did I say that SCar can't repeat or isn't favored to win. I merely listed a few of the things that can upset a season.

Fletcher. Where did she lead GT other than a win over a depleted UConn team? Oh, I see now. Sorry. UConn has a fine guard transferring in named Sanchez. Good size, great outside shot. She will be the 4th or 5th guard on the depth chart.

Johnson is a question mark no matter whether you look at her college experience or her knee. She may be an AA this year but she enters a question mark. I'm sure all the reports are positive but it's July and even Geno is a Pollyanna in the summer.

how do we know Lou Senechal can play in a big conference? They played Texas and they got killed.

 

[Stymie]

Uconn's new additions have yet to play a game, sorry to think that 2 players that are getting their feet wet would stop the player of the year.

Do not need to “STOP”.
But will minimize the advantage.
That’s all they need to do.
IMHO

 

[hoophuskee]

She's played the 3/4 position with the Canadian National team during international competition. She seems to handle it well which showed during the Olympics and the recent qualifiers. Having her as the PG was only due to Henderson's injury if I recall correctly. Highly doubt that's a long term plan.

Olympic hoop and WNBA hoop is completely different than College hoop. They are much more physical.

As for your comment about pg; I agree. Which is why we can say Amihere is not a pg.

 

[Alydar]

how do we know Lou Senechal can play in a big conference? They played Texas and they got killed.

Remember, EDD made AA playing in the Colonial Conference. Lou played well against Texas. UConn isn't counting on her the way some others seem to be counting on their transfers to play key roles.

From what we've seen she fits in but it's July.

 

[hoophuskee]

I think some people are putting a lot of unnecessary hype on Brady and Patterson and they have yet to play. Please don't do this again like people did with Fudd.

I think most people have been accurate about the team which is most important. At UCONN we expect a top tremendous team year over year-- and the team delivered. They were decimated with injuries and still got to Finals.

The idea that late in the year they were being considered as a 3-seed by some on the media was laughable. I expect that the bitterness and pettiness from some in the media will continue again this year despite UCONN still being among the top 4 in all of America with a shot to win it all.

 

[AmeriConn]

how do we know Lou Senechal can play in a big conference? They played Texas and they got killed.

Lou had 17 points in 29 min. In that game.

 

[CocoHusky]

No where did I say that SCar can't repeat or isn't favored to win. I merely listed a few of the things that can upset a season.

Fletcher. Where did she lead GT other than a win over a depleted UConn team? Oh, I see now. Sorry. UConn has a fine guard transferring in named Sanchez. Good size, great outside shot. She will be the 4th or 5th guard on the depth chart.
Johnson is a question mark no matter whether you look at her college experience or her knee. She may be an AA this year but she enters a question mark. I'm sure all the reports are positive but it's July and even Geno is a Pollyanna in the summer.

Actually,.... Fletcher did not play in the game where GT beat UCONN last season. You are not listing things that can upset South Carolina's season you are R E A C H I N G wildly! Sanchez is the 4 or 5th guard on the UCONN depth chart? Don't think so!

 

[hoophuskee]

Personally, I think we would have lost the NC game under almost any imaginable scenario. We’d gonna as far as we could go with those personnel. In fact, given the way injuries disrupted the season, we played well above our heads. By contrast, SC had demonstrated consistent excellence all season long.

The previous season, we stole a win from Baylor and then lost to Arizona. Again, we’d taken that personnel set as far as it could go. More precisely, Paige carried them as far as she could and the rest of the team ran out of gas.

My main hope is that this will no longer be a team that succumbs to “Paige-watching” in the big games. That team would be unstoppable. Paige can lead us to a title, but she can’t win it all by herself.

I’m optimistic because I suspect our 1-3 are not Paige-watchers. Caroline and Azzi are indomitable players in their own right, and I suspect Lou will be another. They all said about Caroline that she plays with a chip on her shoulder, and she’s proved she can carry the team a few times. I’d include Nika in that list, since no one keeps her down. But she hasn’t demonstrated her offensive value yet.

I don't agree with the context of this at all other than being optimistic. UCONN was better than Baylor in 2020-2021 which is why they got the number 1 seed. To say UCONN stole the game - I think is flat out wrong. UCONN won the game. They were better.

Nor do I think it "Paige-watching" is a correct caricature the last two years. In 02-03 Dianna Taurasi took 22 shots in FF vs Texas. In 03-04 she took 17vs Minny. In 09-10 Maya Moore took 18 shots vs Stanford. That's not "Dt or Maya-watching." Sometimes, just like in the NC State game of this past year, your superstar has to be the hammer. It won't be "Paige-watching" if Paige then is able to get others involved while being the hammer. That's what superstars like DT and Maya do.

The big question mark for us is Deberry. Will she take her game up a notch and make herself a substantial rotation player off the bench? If not, Dorka will have to carry too much water against Boston and Cardoso. But if she can give 10-12 solid minutes, it’s a really different calculus. To be sure, Aaliyah and Ice can spell Dorka at the 5, but that’s not our best path forward.

I don't think DeBerry is "the big question mark." Edwards has shown time and again she is a fine backup center. So when Dorka needs a blow, Edwards can move there without question if DeBerry or Brady or even Patterson can't.

 

[JoePgh]

Actually,.... Fletcher did not play in the game where GT beat UCONN last season. You are not listing things that can upset South Carolina's season you are R E A C H I N G wildly! Sanchez is the 4 or 5th guard on the UCONN depth chart? Don't think so!

I assume that the references by Alydar and yourself to "Sanchez" are actually to Lou Lopez-Senechal. On that basis, I think that it is quite reasonable to describe her as the 4th or 5th guard, behind Paige, Azzi, Nika, and maybe Caroline or Aubrey if they are used as guards rather than as wings.

I foresee Caroline and Aubrey handling the wing (aka small forward, aka "3") position. If Paige is the PG and is backed up by Nika, then Azzi would be the shooting guard and logically be backed up by LLS (aka Lou or Lou2). On an 11-player roster, where else would she be?