Some Thoughts moving forward

[Tonyc]

We have alot of underclassmen who need more experience and more development as we wait for our walking wounded experienced players to get back. They are not Paige Kaitlyn Azzi or Sarah. It will take time. How much time? As long as it takes, so we must be patient. With that said we will lean on Paige Sarah Kaitlyn and Azzi when she gets back. I would like to see Chen score more. We needed it against UNC and we will need Chen to be a scoring option while everyone else is coming along. When Chen becomes a scoring option it will take alot of pressure off everybody else. We have seen videos of her ability to create against top teams. We need her to show what she can do.

I expect this week in practice Geno will work on playing against a zone. We clearly were chucking up to many shots by players other then Paige and Chen who I believe the defense focused on making everybody else beat them. If everybody else was hitting their open shots the outcome wouldve been better. But because we didnt, hey we still won by double digits against a top 20 team, on the road on an off night. That says alot about how good we are at this point in the early season with a young team that is still finding their way.

We have bigs this season. Against UNC Sarah Jana and Ice performed well. They will all get better. We are seeing Ice's improvement already and it will continue. Sarah plays far beyond her years. Jana needs time at the college level. I am confident we will see her breakout game soon just because she has the talent.

Its going to come down to defense. Our defense has looked pretty good and will improve but not overnight. Geno is still filling in the pieces to the puzzle to see who fits where. Our underclassman are going through a learning curve. They will be worked in, in games where UConn can work them in. Until then in big games our rotation of 7/8 will not change.

 

[DefenseBB]

Wow, the normally exuberant TonyC has become a bit of a “Debbie Downer”.
I, for one am a lot more optimistic at this point this year than I have been in the last 4 or 5 years during the early Nov games. Paige is simply the best player in the country, Sarah has shown the ability to be a huge contributor with assist, steals, rebound, good defense, great court vision, really great body control and scoring. Ice is find her zone and Jana is coming along. We need Ash and KK to continue their development to score, play good defense and distribute. Hope Morgan and Allie can find ways to impact the game in limited minutes. Chen, needs to pick her spots in the mid-range and drives and not hurt the team on defense. Azzi‘s return should be imminent and Aubrey is targeting Mic-Decembe. I have no idea on Ayanna but her return would aid our front court depth immensely. We have a lot to be happy with right now as this will arguably be the worst we look. Geno, CD and staff always improve significantly over the season. My view is they should press more themselves as we have more depth and talent than most and as much as the other elite teams. The only question is can we hit the open jumpers which we missed on Friday. They were good shots but simply off. Is that an aberration or do we desperately need Azzi to support Paige? Time will tell. So relax and smile TonyC as all is well and “I got your back” on sunshine and positivity!

 

[blkkirk]

I agree with what you are saying! We know from watching Chen at Princeton and against us that she is a dynamic scorer. Feels like she is just starting to settle in. Almost like she doesn't want to step on anyone's toes. She will be fine. Great experience for our newbies. We want to get everyone back healthy and bring them up to speed as soon as possible. Hopefully we can be peaking around the Big East Tournament! My bigger hope is that we can get Ice and Jana feeling confident and fierce. It will take time but I am optimistic that everything will come together before tournament time!!!!

 

[hoophuskee]

Chen should not be a focused scorer. And as Geno said at end of half, the offense was running fine, they just missed.

 

[Centerstream]

We've only played 3 games, using a variety of lineups. I'm happy.
My only concern is will Q pick up her defense and become a consistent contributor off the bench. But it's a low priority at this point, which is 3 games into the season.

 

[BBallF]

Chen should not be a focused scorer. And as Geno said at end of half, the offense was running fine, they just missed.

Exactly, and he added that when the shots weren't dropping we stopped playing defense and they went on their run. That is why the zone was ineffective in the second half. Not only did we find seems but our defense led to transition baskets against which a zone is irrelevant.

 

[Ozimoto]

The Huskies have not hit juggernaut status just yet. However, it's only been three games and they did beat a top 20 team. The good. The shooting percentage leaves a bit to be desired. The bad. I think that is a very fixable problem.

 

[msf22b]

Tony
Great to read your thoughts, I missed them
I find myself perhaps a shade more optimistic and not concerned.
Chen can score and be more aggressive once she is more comfy here. I followed her quite closely at Princeton her last few there and have no doubts about her talent.
Regarding the team as a whole, a great deal of developing talent. And so much...
No worries here; not now.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

They are getting closer to what Geno and staff wants to see!
As more and more hurt players become healthy they'll set up their rotation and start running on all cylinders!
The raw talent is on the roster so get them all able to play watch out Division I WBB!

 

[Cuango]

This team is certainly going to improve exponentially in the coming months. Yes, the NC game exposed some areas of concern but not imo, of alarm. All of the not so great things that we saw in that game can be explained by youth, inexperience, and lack of game playing time. This team will, I believe, improve with every game for the next few weeks. Geno and company will see to that. Chen will get more and more comfortable, Ash & KK will settle in, our front court will grow with each game, Sarah will gradually settle in and begin showing her immense talent more and more consistently and our non starters will sort themselves into a clearly defined hierarchy!

Meanwhile, we have the reassuring presence of Paige to lead this team! Remember, we have only played three games! One of which, the toughest one, had the distracting element of Geno’s great accomplishment looming over it. Now we have Azzi and possibly Yanna joining the mix! That is a lot of distractions for a young, inexperienced team. They just need time on the court. Next time they face a zone, I believe they will be much better at attacking it. I’d like to play N. C. again in late January! I have little doubt that the MoV would be substantially different. We just need to be patient and let this team grow into something special!

 

[Blond D.]

I think everyone is overlooking Ashlynn. She had a bad shooting night but was excellent on defense.

 

[LGITB]

I think everyone is overlooking Ashlynn. She had a bad shooting night but was excellent on defense.

Thank you! I am quite puzzled with how quickly people seem to dismiss her, not to mention the "she's great!"/"she's awful" mood swing that follows every game.

 

[Alydar]

I think everyone is overlooking Ashlynn. She had a bad shooting night but was excellent on defense.

I'm not overlooking her, just her offense vs UNC. I'm very high on her. I really didn't watch her defense. Somebody shut down those UNC players. Except for that stretch of the 2nd period the team defense was pretty solid and I'm confident that this will be an outstanding defensive team, and sooner than many think.

I'm trying hard to observe and refrain from drawing conclusions.