We have a very good nucleus coming back that made for an exceptional defense the past 2 seasons. We will build on that and only become better. I believe Caroline and Kayleigh will add to our outside shooting. Paige was automatic and a great go to player. This season because of our balance and depth we will be a team that will operate on those 2 factors.
Geno showed everyone last season that you dont need a big to win when he played small. The key there was Sarah coming outside to shoot and her defender having to make the decision to come out and guard her or leave her open. Either way opponents had a problem with that. We are a very tall athletic team that individually and as a team can do alot. There will be alot of competition in practice to impress the coaches. This is good. Execution on both sides of the ball will determine who sees action. We have too much talent to not win and win big. I dont believe opponents have enough defensive players to guard us one on one. Think about this. Azzi and Sarah are our top scorers. Opponents will use their best defenders to guard them. Opponents also have to worry about our bigs down low. Most teams dont have the height to size up with us one on one down low with Jana Ice Serah. Now throw in Caroline and Kayleigh from the outside and a couple of slashers like Blanca and KK and you can get the idea that UConn will be very tuff to stop.
Geno builds teams that play as unselfish teams. This is what makes UConn so tuff. As the season progresses and the newbies adapt and gain confidence we will see a team that will be very hard top beat.
Thanks for this little shot in the arm. Geno’s pessimism of the last couple weeks kinda had me down a little. I know, it was a coach’s tactic, to keep his players hungry. But it still had an impact on me.
Still you have also made me nervous, giving weight to the remarks here over the last couple months to the effect that UConn may have lost too much with Paige’s departure. Azzi and Sarah can fill some of the gap she left behind, and maybe even do some things she couldn’t, things that may loom larger this season than last. But the fact is, Paige was not just an assemblage of points and assists and rebounds and blocks. She was also an inspirational figure, the ‘bucket-getter’ or the ‘run-stopper.’ I’m sure Azzi and Sarah can do this too. But we haven’t see them do it without Paige nearby.
The other worrisome fact is that Azzi and Sarah are two, not three. Like the rest of us, I also imagine that a third will emerge. But who will it be? Serah’s play at Sacred Heart gave many here a bit of pause. How long will it take her to fit seamlessly into Geno’s system? The comparison to Dorka is reasonable and she needed a second year to become truly enmeshed into the system. Playing at Wisconsin (or tOSU) simply isn’t the same as playing for Geno. So what, some might say. Even if she’s only another cog in the machine and not a major contributor, the rest of the machine is still great. But this simply returns us to the difference between two and three. Can Geno replicate with two pillars what he did with three last season?
Other candidates are available, as you and others reassure me. Caroline is a scorer who showed she can carry a hobbled team in her freshman season. She might well be able to recover that magic again, and I’m absolutely rooting for her. But there are huge question marks around this prospect. Blanca is another possibility, and optimistic me has already pictured her as a starter. But she’s not exactly like Paige. She’s a slasher and a defensive force, but not yet a perimeter shooter. In this respect she reminds me of Aubrey only bigger and more physical. Someone like this can clearly contribute. But can she really be the third pillar in her first season? This is an unnerving question.
What about the other guards? Kayleigh and KK seem like more known quantities and will likely contribute more or less what KK and Kaitlyn did last season. That’s nothing to sniff at, and it’s a relief to know that a Kaitlyn-like player is in Storrs. And Kayleigh may turn out to be even more valuable than Kaitlyn was, quicker, more physical, and a better outside shooter. I’m not worried about this, but I don’t think it solves the Paige problem.
The primary known quantity in the backcourt who might step up in bigger ways is Ash. She shot 40% from 3 and is clearly fearless. She is as ferocious and relentless a defender as KK or even Nika. She has a deadly midrange shot, though we didn’t see as much of it last season, perhaps because Paige and Azzi filled that space. A 40% three point shooter who is deadly in the midrange has the makings of becoming a ‘bucket-getter’ of Geno decides to use her that way. She’s not as long as Paige, which means when she goes into the paint on defense — which she does fearlessly — there will be ‘mouse in the house’ situations. But I think Geno can live with that.
And I’m not forgetting Jana and Ice and Ayanna. But I’m also not expecting any of them to fill the hole left by Paige. They can be fierce defenders, especially Ayanna if she’s healthy. But go-to scorers is not exactly their strength.
To sum up, what this leaves me with is the hope that Serah can be the third pillar. And if she can’t, that Ash can step up even more than we already think is likely. And if Ash isn’t the solution, then I look to Carol or Blanca, who are question marks in different ways.
And my conclusion from all of this is that the upcoming season will be awesome! Maybe the best one ever. So many challenges to face and such wonderful teammates to do it with.
I’ve felt for awhile now that this particular group of women have sort of won the lottery. They’re at the basketball capital of the world, and they can enjoy it like few before them. Sarah got to partner with Paige during her greatest season, and to get two seasons with a healthy Azzi (even Paige didn’t get to do that!), and KK and Ash got to be their best, fiercest selves on the biggest stage in WBB next to some of the greatest players of all time. Carol gets to have one more shot at recovery next to old friends like Azzi and Ayanna as well as new talents like Sarah and the others. Morgan and Allie have a shot at playing their best basketball next to their best teammates ever. Serah stumbled into a tremendous opportunity to seize what was never available at Wisconsin. Blanca may walked into the three best years of partnering with Sarah. Kelis will get to play next to KK and Ash and Kayleigh, three great role models. And of course, Kayleigh got to see how a program can fall short of her ideals and then somehow stumbled into the greatest possible program. Jana and Gandy and Ice may be the luckiest of them all, surrounded by tremendous talent and freed up to develop at the right pace. And above all, they have the chance to work with Geno, whose wisdom about the game and about its role in a college setting may be peaking like it has for no other coach.
