Poll - Will offense or defense be more important in 2023?

[HuskylnSC]

Nope.
The Offense will make the defense that much greater beucase of superior efficency.

that's cute

 

[hoophuskee]

that's cute

I don't believe opposing teams will find UCONN's offensive firepower (if healthy) very cute.

The potential from Paige, Azzi and Caroline on Offense (if healthy) is off-the-charts.

I will say though on Defense if they can show themselves to be a pressing team in which Patterson, Brady (and the swing of Griffin from PF to SF) can help out Edwards (I know Griffin can play some PF but when she swings to SF - UCONN needs another player to help Edwards)) and not be very bad on Offense (which Patterson was last year) then the Defense can be off-the charts too. This is not a super-super stretch. Patterson and Brady were top level H/S A/a's. Just not sure if they can do it though vs the Offense if healthy they should be super super.

But again, imo with Patterson - the question is her offense. And everything from what I've read about Brady on here from many of the posters that followed her that she could have played good amount of minutes last year. If that's the case then what was mostly spoken was her Offense and who she will help spread the floor.

It's about the Offense for this year. The more efficient UCONN's Offense is this year the more they can set their Defense. And even when the Defense is playing well and sets up potential fastbreaks, it's the Offense that should be much, much more tremendous than anything we've seen in a long time (if healthy). Not all fastbreaks and secondary fastbreaks get converted. And only a certain % from 3. Potentially if healthy, these numbers across the board would dramatically improve because of the potential extreme offensive talent running fastbreaks and secondary fastbreaks etc too.

 

[Waquoit]

I would agree that for the OSU game we clearly needed offense but in general, I think defense is the foundation to a winning team.

We need offense to beat the top teams. I go back to the sewer theory. You can't win without good defense. But just because you have good defense, doesn't mean you will win. The UConn men had a wonderful offense this year (great D too) and they played a couple of top defensive teams in the tournament. Blew them both out of the building. Good O trumps good D. Go back to those epic UConn-Tenn battles. PHS was all about "Defense and rebounding, defense and rebounding". And she had the upper hand to start the rivalry. But once UConn pierced that D and embarrassed them in the backdoor festival of 2002, the game hasn't looked back.

 

[Matty722]

I have always been a defense first person. If you bring defense, you have a great chance to win. However, watching the NCAA tournament this year made me rethink that a tad. Defense is still important (see Ohio State’s press destroying us), but if a team’s offense is running top notch, it is hard to stop. Iowa doesn’t play defense and that is why LSU had so many open shots; however, it was clearly LSU’s day and it makes me wonder how much even a great defensive team (SC) would have fared against their shooting.

I also think about how UConn has lacked fully healthy offensive players the last few years (especially this past season). You had so many great shooters/scorers in Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Dorka, and Ice out that it really showed on offense. Obviously talent doesn’t equal automatic points or wins, but if everyone had been healthy? That would have been scary. It will be scary this season to see what kind of level the team can hit offensively if fully healthy.

I still value defense, but I also realize that there isn’t a great replacement for great shooters/scorers. Honestly, I just want UConn to be healthy!!