Please don’t make assumptions about what I think. Neither you or I have any say on when these young ladies should be cleared to play, and that’s exactly how it should be. I reiterate that the determination on when these injured players return is up to the medical professionals along with the players themselves. Let’s leave it at that and wait to hear from the school on their status.
SC has beat all comers so far, and remain the unanimous number one ranked team in the country. UConn lost to Maryland and Notre Dame. Two teams that in my opinion are not nearly as good as SC.
IMO, UConn’s chances hinge almost completely on the boards and whether they can get easy points. The conundrum they have is the best way to defensive rebound is to probably have Dorka and Edwards focus on boxing out and have the others crash for the ball but that precludes Uconn from pushing the ball which means playing half court against a very tough defense. So can Edwards and Dorka hold their own and keep SC 2nd chances to a minimum? If they can, IMO, Uconn has a very good chance.
Women's NET has only two components: Adjusted Net Efficiency (which is sky high for LSU) and Team Value Index. Both of them take the opponents into account to some degree, but there is no exact formula and it's hard to tell how much LSU's weak schedule affects it. An undefeated team with a huge scoring margin is likely to have a high NET ranking even against a weaker schedule.
Uconn hasn't lost a game with Azzi though. And South Caroline has been taken to overtime and won multiple games against worse teams than Maryland and Notre Dame by single digits. To think they aren't even a threat to beat South Carolina at home, as you said in your original post, is insulting.
South Carolina shot 30/22/58% against Mississippi State Sunday. They're going to be obliterated at XL if they do anything close to that against Connecticut. I like Connecticut's chances if they're back at full strength by then (they're 13-1 with Muhl and undefeated when Fudd was available the whole game).
SC shot 37% overall and 19% on 3’s, and 65% from the line in the NC game last year and Uconn lost by 15. SC is not a team to judge on shooting %, they win on defense and rebounding.
Every team has one or two WTF games at this time of year. See @visitingcock post fr this morning
According to the Hartford Courant at 4"22 the game vs. St. John's for Wednesday is a go. Yet to announce who is back as an eligible player,From the Courant article:
The team took Saturday off, with several of the players coming to Gampel Pavilion to watch the men’s victory over Creighton. They will practice Sunday, and their status will be evaluated day to day. In order to play their next scheduled game, at St. John’s on Wednesday, they will need to consider how much any returning players can safely play in their first game back.
“We can’t put our kids in a position where they come back from an injury and we’re expecting them to play 30-plus minutes a game,” Benedict said.
For instance, Fudd, who is close to returning, certainly would not be allowed to play 30 or more minutes in her return. Players coming out of concussion protocol must also be carefully monitored.....
UConn women’s basketball season remains on hold until seven players are healthy, ready to play without limits
The UConn women's basketball team, its game postponed due to a shortage of healthy players, will not play until there are seven healthy Huskies, AD David Benedict says.www.courant.com
I’m hoping for the best and a win against SC. Right now we don’t know how many of our players will be healthy enough to play and make significant contributions to the game. To think my post is insulting depends on how you perceive it. You think it is, so be it. I can assure you others will read it and not feel that way.
Points, minimum turnovers and winning the rebounding war (the battle of the boards), I believe will be the deciding factors. Dawn will use more of her reserves than Geno will, helping to keep her starters (and their legs) fresh for the 4th quarter. I can see each of our starters playing 34+ minutes.
I hope you’re right. Nothing would please me more than a UConn win over SC. Let’s make it happen!!
Agreed completely. Uconn has overcome its turnover problem with shooting efficiency thus far. That won’t work against SCar if we don’t neutralize the rebounding. You can only rely on efficiency to overcome so many areas of the game. Even more difficult against a good defensive team.
Having Aubrey available will help immensely with rebounding.
The point is you aren’t exactly blowing out competition that is good to great. People act like it’s UConn 2016 where they win every game by 20 points. You could very easily have 1-2 losses this year already.
And Dorka. Remember she was unavailable in that title game....
I see what you've done here. Shame on you who we depend on as the official BY seerer. TonyC, please straighten Carnac out. Thanks!
Believe me, I want UConn to win that game as much as any boneyarder here.
