Right. As of last April neither Shade nor Arnold were elite. I expect them to be better as sophomores but neither has shown to be an elite 3pt shooter. Players like them have been the reason Bueckers had to focus on scoring instead of being the quarterback. Ducharme, despite her stats, proved her worth from behind the arc before she was injured as a freshman. Bueckers and Fudd are elite guards.
What current calculated use? Do you mean pf? Last year was necessitated by injuries. Do you think that Geno had Bueckers pencilled in as a 4 before El Alfy and Patterson were lost? I think there is more chance that Strong will play the 2.
If a pg isn't a major threat to score the defense can focus on guarding the other 4. With someone like Bueckers who is almost as good a 2 as a 1, the defense has to help on them and that leaves 3 defenders on 4 teammates. And if 2 of those teammates are elite 3pt shooters then scoring becomes much easier. That's what I think will happen this season.
I'm going to see two practices in about 10 days. That should answer a lot of questions for me.
No idea. I'd guess she would play either guard position.
Based on last year I would expect her to play pg for less minutes than last year. She may have added more offense which would expand her role and her minutes. I don't think the 2025-2026 season will have any influence.
The wings are Ducharme, Cheli and Strong. There will often be 3 guards and no wings. It's impossible at this point to say what combinations will emerge from practices.
Right. As of last April neither Shade nor Arnold were elite. I expect them to be better as sophomores but neither has shown to be an elite 3pt shooter. Players like them have been the reason Bueckers had to focus on scoring instead of being the quarterback. Ducharme, despite her stats, proved her worth from behind the arc before she was injured as a freshman. Bueckers and Fudd are elite guards.
What current calculated use? Do you mean pf? Last year was necessitated by injuries. Do you think that Geno had Bueckers pencilled in as a 4 before El Alfy and Patterson were lost? I think there is more chance that Strong will play the 2.
If a pg isn't a major threat to score the defense can focus on guarding the other 4. With someone like Bueckers who is almost as good a 2 as a 1, the defense has to help on them and that leaves 3 defenders on 4 teammates. And if 2 of those teammates are elite 3pt shooters then scoring becomes much easier. That's what I think will happen this season.
I'm going to see two practices in about 10 days. That should answer a lot of questions for me.
1--- I don't want to reference too much on this but I can't help it. Let me get this straight - you won't acknowledge that Paige as a "Wing"
yet you are willing to say Strong will play the 2? I've had arguments with others and I think even with you arguing with me when I callee Paige a "Forward" (whether it be point-forward or anything else associated) this past year to her as a "Forward", yet you are referring to Sarah as a possible 2?
2---I
n regard to you say that Shade and Arnold you expect to be better despite not being elite. Yet both players beat out Ice for minutes forcing UCONN to play extreme small ball. Yet you've referred to Sarah as a probable top Wing candidate which when you do this and have Azzi and Paige in the game, where does this leave Shade and KK? So, who is the other big (until Aubrey comes back)? You have Jana at center no doubt, so who is beating out Shade and KK? You think Chen will and she'll be moslty the 2 and play behind Azzi? Or?
3--- If you assume Shade and Arnold will be better, and they were good enough to help UCONN get to FF and seconds away from the Finals, then why isn't their improved play which you expect to happen won't translate into a more potent offense for this year?
4--- As I've said many times imo you (and others) vastly underrate Paige. ,You are referring to a team needs a pg to be a major scoring threat yet you minimize that Paige had pg responsibilities last year. Again I refer to watch the entire 4th qtr vs SoCal. How is it that anyone can't see that Paige was playing pg quite a bit of the time? In addition, you say the PG needs to be scoring threat, yet Muhl only averaged 7 ppg, and you have also acknowledged that KK and Shade weren't elite scorers, and if Paige wasn't playing pg, then doesn't this highlight how extra-ordinary Paige was not playing pg in your view? So, if she is that exceptional and she has Azzi coming back you don't think she is capable of getting open enough to be even greater this year if she isn't the #1 pg?
5---- UCONN wants to run the ball. Hoop is not halfcourt only. No way KK plays as much as she did last year. But UOCNN probably runs better when either KK or Chen are in playing alongside Paige. And in this manner they will probably mutually share pg responsibilities (KK or Chen playing alongside Paige) just as they have done this past year whne UCONN had Nika and KK play (instead of using for example Ice or Q more).