Should UCONN's seniors be concerned?

[Stymie]

Regardless of who starts on day one or the first handful of games, the cream will rise to the top and it will become obvious which players should be on the floor for the opening tip or get the most minutes.
While Geno may show loyalty to returning seniors, I do not believe this is a habit he can continue to indulge.
Woman’s College BB has evolved a great deal in past several years.
My question is—If you were a top tier HS player—dedicating several years to develop into a top national talent--would you risk precious college years attending a program where you had to “wait your turn” while a less productive returning player got the minutes you earned in practice?
I will concede that a Senior or returning player must be outplayed to lose their position, and a tie goes to the returning player.
Any other approach could damage the recruiting process.
JMHO

 

[MSGRET]

A bigger intrigue for me is how much is the loss of Shea Ralph gonna have on the guards. I still say not having her in the bubble was a big loss, one of the best communicators with players and I know she will do a fantastic job at Vanderbilt. Was not a fan of her replacement, went 4-30 at Hartford and then just decided to quit on the team and comeback. I realize some hc's are bad hc's and that doesn't mean they can't be good assistants but to me it was not a good look.

Apparently Geno disagrees with your assumption on Morgan. He stated that she has brought a different perspective that Shea, JJ, Tonya never had and that she's been an asset to the team and she was with her prior teams as an Asst Coach. At Washington she coached Kelsey Plum and the other guards, Kelsey had stated that Morgan made her a better player and would not be where she is today if not for the efforts of Morgan. While at Arizona she helped coach the guards and I believe that it was Aari McDonald that stated she helped her improve and up her guard play while Morgan was there. All of the head coaches that she worked for had nothing but praise for Morgan. Let me ask you if you were the head coach at Hartford, a University that was contemplating at the time of going to Div III, and UConn offered you a Asst Coaches position what would you do? If it was me, and I had a chance to learn from one of the best coaching staffs in college basketball or stay as a Head Coach at a University that may decide to go to Div III and make recruiting impossible during the transition period, I would choose UConn.

 

[HuskyNan]

and there lies the problem, the big east games are basically just auditions but they don't get the team ready for the final four. Adding some non conference games vs Sc and Louisville are good, but it's just not up to par when Sc and Stanford and even teams like Maryland get way tougher tests week to week.

The AAC was a worse league than the Big East and UConn won 4 championships in 7 years while in that league

 

[MSGRET]

Regardless of who starts on day one or the first handful of games, the cream will rise to the top and it will become obvious which players should be on the floor for the opening tip or get the most minutes.
While Geno may show loyalty to returning seniors, I do not believe this is a habit he can continue to indulge.
Woman’s College BB has evolved a great deal in past several years.
My question is—If you were a top tier HS player—dedicating several years to develop into a top national talent--would you risk precious college years attending a program where you had to “wait your turn” while a less productive returning player got the minutes you earned in practice?
I will concede that a Senior or returning player must be outplayed to lose their position, and a tie goes to the returning player.
Any other approach could damage the recruiting process.
JMHO

Please enlighten me on who did Geno do this to last year. Paige, a Freshman, started every game that she played in. While Nika and AE started more games then Anna and Aubrey. Geno has almost always started the BEST 5 players over the past years. While UConn hasn't won the NC during the past few years, you do have to make it to the Final Four for a chance and UConn is the ONLY team to have gone to the FF over the past 13 years. With that type of consistency, he has a big leg up on many coaches who haven't even made it to the Final Four.

 

[msf22b]

and there lies the problem, the big east games are basically just auditions but they don't get the team ready for the final four. Adding some non conference games vs Sc and Louisville are good, but it's just not up to par when Sc and Stanford and even teams like Maryland get way tougher tests week to week.

Seemingly, this was not a big problem in the past, especially during the Stewie era.
(Of course in her first year they were being smacked around by ND...and Rutgers and
De Paul were worthy opponents). they jus went about their business walloping most and went into the tournaments ready.
___________________
About the question the OP raised ...Geno has already indirectly addressed it with the talk of competition...So my answer is a conditional yes....

Geno has a long tradition of taking care of his seniors whenever possible; this season may well challenge that custom.

Consider how much Stanford relied on underclassmen in crunch-time and rode them to a national championship this past season, Geno certainly observed that.

It just may be impossible to sit Dorka, Ducharme, Deberry aside from the usual suspects and of course Azzi.

Makes for much conjecture on this forum, a great deal of healthy competition (already happening), serious self introspection among the vets and a great many difficult decisions for coach and the staff.

 

[CL82]

Too bad they did not say a "deadpool" on their back...

I actually was looking for the seen in Indiana Jones where the spiders are all over the Zapata‘a back, but I stumbled onto this and thought it was funny.

 

[Stymie]

Please enlighten me on who did Geno do this to last year. Paige, a Freshman, started every game that she played in. While Nika and AE started more games then Anna and Aubrey. Geno has almost always started the BEST 5 players over the past years. While UConn hasn't won the NC during the past few years, you do have to make it to the Final Four for a chance and UConn is the ONLY team to have gone to the FF over the past 13 years. With that type of consistency, he has a big leg up on many coaches who haven't even made it to the Final Four.

No necessary enlightenment.
Last year is over and done with.
I’m on to this year.
2/3 players will put HUGE pressure on an upperclasswoman.
Last two games (where the rubber hits the road) were abysmal.
You don’t pay dividends in the Big East.
You pay them in the “Dance”.
We’ll see.

 

[Zanzman]

A bigger intrigue for me is how much is the loss of Shea Ralph gonna have on the guards. I still say not having her in the bubble was a big loss, one of the best communicators with players and I know she will do a fantastic job at Vanderbilt. Was not a fan of her replacement, went 4-30 at Hartford and then just decided to quit on the team and comeback. I realize some hc's are bad hc's and that doesn't mean they can't be good assistants but to me it was not a good look.

Yes her record was not very good but her school dropped to Div 3 I think that was a major part of her leaving UHart

 

[FormerCTrez]

Should Connecticut’s seniors be concerned? Probably. Hyper inflationary economies are toughest on those who are living on a fixed incomes.

Or did you mean something different?

Lol Your sense of humor is killing me over here in SoCal. Keep it up as it serves as my free facial therapy.

 

[oldhusky]

CW, EW and Ono have two distinct advantages. They are both incumbent starters and seniors. Those factors mean a challenger, of whom there are several, probably has to clearly beat them out to start. Having said that, I believe one returning player (Aaliyah) is probable to be a better player than all three this year, another (Azzi) could very well be better her first year, and depending on how you look at it, both Nika and Aaliyah are returning starters.

From that perspective we have 6 returning players that could consider themselves returning starters, one of which has to sit, before even considering challenges from Azzi or Dorka. A player doesn't have to lose a starting position, sometimes they could even improve a little and still be replaced if a star comes along. But clearly the burden is on the challengers to make the decision a clear cut one before changes are likely.

Azzi and Aaliyah could be substantially better than a returning senior, and Dorka is possible but not as likely in my opinion. To me the only returning starter that is a lock is Paige and only Paige.

 

[jazz]

CW, EW and Ono have two distinct advantages. They are both incumbent starters and seniors. Those factors mean a challenger, of whom there are several, probably has to clearly beat them out to start. Having said that, I believe one returning player (Aaliyah) is probable to be a better player than all three this year, another (Azzi) could very well be better her first year, and depending on how you look at it, both Nika and Aaliyah are returning starters.

From that perspective we have 6 returning players that could consider themselves returning starters, one of which has to sit, before even considering challenges from Azzi or Dorka. A player doesn't have to lose a starting position, sometimes they could even improve a little and still be replaced if a star comes along. But clearly the burden is on the challengers to make the decision a clear cut one before changes are likely.

Azzi and Aaliyah could be substantially better than a returning senior, and Dorka is possible but not as likely in my opinion. To me the only returning starter that is a lock is Paige and only Paige.

No doubt CW, EW and Liv have the experience advantage. But at minimum, by year end, this advantage will be all but completely eroded and the better players will play in big games in crunch time: , CD III and Dorka. I think you will see a changing of the guard as the year goes on.

 

[boontonbomber]

If CW ONLY averages 30 or slightly less per game that could allow her to be fresher at the end. In the AZ game she guarded there best player using a lot of energy chasing her around and also got in foul trouble. Players like Nika Aubrey and Mir even Evina should use all there energy and fouls hounding the other teams best guard. In reality for UConn they play a 30+ game pre season to get ready for a 6 game tournament. You want all hands on deck mentally physically, and cohesively ready for those 6 games.

I absolutely agree with what you say. I've felt for awhile now that UConn's starters play too many minutes. I sit and watch, and try to figure out what the point is in playing them so many minutes . And in games where they have huge leads! Is he working on new stuff? What's going on? Why not be rotating players more? You would think that the very capable assistants would be in his ear. Maybe this season, with the plethora of players they have. But I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Stymie]

I absolutely agree with what you say. I've felt for awhile now that UConn's starters play too many minutes. I sit and watch, and try to figure out what the point is in playing them so many minutes . And in games where they have huge leads! Is he working on new stuff? What's going on? Why not be rotating players more? You would think that the very capable assistants would be in his ear. Maybe this season, with the plethora of players they have. But I'm not holding my breath.

I agree boonton.
Have never been able to understand risking injury to a starter when up 64-38 in the middle of the 3rd quarter, unless EVERYONE else on the roster isn’t pushing it in practice (which I do not believe is the case).
Will be interesting (impossible?) to see that happen this coming year.

 

[MSGRET]

No doubt CW, EW and Liv have the experience advantage. But at minimum, by year end, this advantage will be all but completely eroded and the better players will play in big games in crunch time: , CD III and Dorka. I think you will see a changing of the guard as the year goes on.

I believe that Crystal Dangerfield does not have any eligibility left to play this year. Now if you mean Caroline Ducharme she would be Caroline Ducharme or CD IV. Coach Dailey is CD, Caroline Doty is CD2, Dangerfield is Crystal Dangerfield, and Caroline Ducharme is Caroline Ducharme.

 

[jazz]

I believe that Crystal Dangerfield does not have any eligibility left to play this year. Now if you mean Caroline Ducharme she would be Caroline Ducharme or CD IV. Coach Dailey is CD, Caroline Doty is CD2, Dangerfield is Crystal Dangerfield, and Caroline Ducharme is Caroline Ducharme.

Funny you mention that. I had a feeling it was CG4. I was just adding them up and previously forgot about CD2. thanks for setting me straight!

 

[PvP]

Another "who will start, who will play more minutes," post. Yawn!

Minutes, or said another way "playing time" may be a yawn to you but it is where the rubber meets the road in basketball. You may not find the actual allocation of playing time of interest, but the very fact that so many here revert back to "minutes" suggests that there is great interest in who plays and who doesn't and that is, thankfully, measurable by how many minutes of playing time players at UCONN get from Geno. So maybe you are on the wrong site?

 

[PvP]

I like Liv. She is personable and intelligent. At the same time, I can't understand why she is being anointed an opening game starter by so many. She is known over her career at UConn to simply disappear in high pressure games. Some suggest that while this is true, her performance against weaker teams is often so good that such disappearances can be tolerated. That might be true if there were, as in recent years, no viable alternatives.

But this year there may be several but let's just focus on one. While to my knowledge, ONO has not found a place on any first team conference selections even when UConn was playing in the AAC which was hardly a Power 5 conference. On the other hand Dorka has been a first team selection in the Big 10 not once but twice. She is big and according to Geno "skilled." To me, if there is to be a clear choice as the starter at 5 this November it isn't Liv.

 

[CL82]

I agree boonton.
Have never been able to understand risking injury to a starter when up 64-38 in the middle of the 3rd quarter, unless EVERYONE else on the roster isn’t pushing it in practice (which I do not believe is the case).
Will be interesting (impossible?) to see that happen this coming year.

I know. I don’t think we should even play the starters against teams in the lower half of the big east. They should sit in the locker room wrapped in bubble wrap.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

No doubt CW, EW and Liv have the experience advantage. But at minimum, by year end, this advantage will be all but completely eroded and the better players will play in big games in crunch time: , CD III and Dorka. I think you will see a changing of the guard as the year goes on.

Sometimes a good to great "practice" player does not translate into a good to great "prime time" player vs. the TOP five teams, and fair to good "practice" player turns out to be great to amesome at "crunch time" vs. the TOP five teams. I believe the starting lineup for most of the Big East confernece matchups will be determined in the Louisville game (4th of the year?!? after three in "Atlantis" - we will see). I am hoping that Geno will be able to trust a 10 - 11 player rotation in most games, with a 7 - 8 player rotation in the TOP five matachups, and inbetween those numbers for the 6 - 25 ranked matchups. UCONN will be #1 or #2 for most of the year, but hold onto #1 after defeating SC at SC in February, 2022.

 

[jazz]

Sometimes a good to great "practice" player does not translate into a good to great "prime time" player vs. the TOP five teams, and fair to good "practice" player turns out to be great to amesome at "crunch time" vs. the TOP five teams. I believe the starting lineup for most of the Big East confernece matchups will be determined in the Louisville game (4th of the year?!? after three in "Atlantis" - we will see). I am hoping that Geno will be able to trust a 10 - 11 player rotation in most games, with a 7 - 8 player rotation in the TOP five matachups, and inbetween those numbers for the 6 - 25 ranked matchups. UCONN will be #1 or #2 for most of the year, but hold onto #1 after defeating SC at SC in February, 2022.

SC game will be tough. We will need some good outside shooting in that game to win and with PB, and CD IV on the floor, we have a chance. SC bigs will have to guard Dorka from 3 as well which could wear them down and create fouls since those 2 bigs are not used to playing defense so far from the cup.

 

[mudcat]

I for one, think PB is a better defender than CW. CW is really good in stretches and then tends to fall asleep sometimes and doesn't fight through screens enough. She has been torched during the year. Stopping McD was a tough match-up for her but she needed to rise to the occasion. There were times where she didn't get out on her quickly enough on the three and times she didn't show a sense of urgency fighting through screens. One time, GA about lost his mind. As I said, she was better in the second half.

PB robably has the best anticipation defensively of any college player currently playing. That said, she is not even close to CW as a one on one defender. She would have been torched by McD as she doesn't have the stance, much less the quickness to cope with that type of guard. McD would have scored even more points, or PB would have fouled out.

 

[CL82]

PB robably has the best anticipation defensively of any college player currently playing. That said, she is not even close to CW as a one on one defender. She would have been torched by McD as she doesn't have the stance, much less the quickness to cope with that type of guard. McD would have scored even more points, or PB would have fouled out.

Christyn has decided to make her defense a point of emphasis lay season. She's very good at it.

 

[jazz]

PB robably has the best anticipation defensively of any college player currently playing. That said, she is not even close to CW as a one on one defender. She would have been torched by McD as she doesn't have the stance, much less the quickness to cope with that type of guard. McD would have scored even more points, or PB would have fouled out.

well we certainly can't disagree any more than that one. I was much more worried about McD on the perimeter shootig threes and I think PB is much better than CW out there with her length and anticipation. I didn't care if McD got past anybody since we had some bigs waiting on her. I just don't think CW is a very good defender as she looses concentration too often. As a result, PB would have been the better option, would not have given up the multiple early threes that got us behind and I don't think she would have fouled out.

As I said, we could not disagree any more. But that is ok!

 

[jazz]

Sometimes a good to great "practice" player does not translate into a good to great "prime time" player vs. the TOP five teams, and fair to good "practice" player turns out to be great to amesome at "crunch time" vs. the TOP five teams. I believe the starting lineup for most of the Big East confernece matchups will be determined in the Louisville game (4th of the year?!? after three in "Atlantis" - we will see). I am hoping that Geno will be able to trust a 10 - 11 player rotation in most games, with a 7 - 8 player rotation in the TOP five matachups, and inbetween those numbers for the 6 - 25 ranked matchups. UCONN will be #1 or #2 for most of the year, but hold onto #1 after defeating SC at SC in February, 2022.

Sometimes may be true, but the inverse of that is most of the times it is true. I think the SC game may be the game were GA decides he will go with the young ones over the more experience ones in crunch time. If he decides in the game, then maybe we win. But if he doesn't decide to go young in crunch time of the SC game and those three don't carry the load, then he leans more on the young guys after that. Of course this is all IMHO.

 

[Buzzyboy]

someone will have to explain to me why Williams is always the one that is considered to lose playing time when she has done absolutely nothing to lose her starting job, yet I never hear anything about Westbrook who's an incosistent player.

I think that's totally out of wack! Williams has been one of the most inconsistent players that I've seen on the Huskies in recent memory .... there was many occasions where she shot horribly and was totally ineffective on defense though I do concede that in the last half of last season, she finally started playing the type of ball that people have expected her to be from day one. My expectations of Westbrook leading into last season were quite low and yet her performance and her impact on her teammates was incredible ... a complete surprise .... I do hope that Williams will continue to build on the player she was at the end of last season because when she plays like that, she's a big asset but conversely prior to that, she was anything but a big asset .....