State of the Roster: Where Can UConn Women’s Basketball Add Depth?

[BroadwayVa]

I must sound like a broken record, but once again I have to ask the increasingly rhetorical question; Other than Stanford, name me another top program that has any significant depth they can use in big games? It doesn’t matter whether or not they have 15 players on their roster, if only 5-6 can play in big games. All of the FF teams basically went about 6 deep + or -.

Top players don’t want to ride the bench so they can maybe get 5-10 minutes of PT. That’s why there’s something like 600 players listed in the transfer portal.

I differ a bit: Ms St has used up to 9 players in many games over the last 3 years (the game UC lost to them). Even Baylor used many. ND pushed some frosh in games. Other teams as well. Point is: They had players that spent time on the bench but gave those teams pretty dumb free minutes. There are bench sitter and there are players, Uconn had too many of the former and to few of the latter recently. I agree when in tight games most top 10 teams stay with their starters

 

[BroadwayVa]

not necessarily so......there are plenty of excellent players rated outside of the top ten that have thrived such as: Rhyne Howard (#32), Hebard (#40), Sabally (#36), Mabrey (#24), Mompremier (#20), Cunningham (#28), Fuehring (#60) and my favorite Gustafson (#80)

Not a single one of them played for Geno. I think @EricLA was aluding to Starting for Geno. Still I like your list, how many will transfer into Uconn??? I'd take WNBA's rejects.

 

[Charliebball]

Not a single one of them played for Geno. I think @EricLA was aluding to Starting for Geno. Still I like your list, how many will transfer into Uconn??? I'd take WNBA's rejects.

ohhhhhh.........could be........I wonder if Geno even looked at anyone on that list................

 

[EricLA]

@EricLA I usually agree with 99 percent of your postings. Not this time.
The last 3 you mentioned were injured and saw top recruits coming in. Johnson and Engeln rarely got PT Johnson was so injured. Engeln failed to meet MY expectations and I believe Geno whispered in 3 sets of ears--transfer.
AEH, I'm one of her top supporters here on the BY. But you don't mouth off to Geno often, or fail to meet standards or fail to put effort in practice (none of this is verifiable by me as specific to AEH). As a BB player she has talent Uconn could have used. I'm sorry she left. But knocking head with Geno--you have to have the talent of SVETA or DT to get away with that.
I believe if Geno and AEH had that whole issue as a "do-over" both would have done it differently. I don't fault Geno, the Coach is the boss only one person can steer the ship at a time and AEH didn't have the experience to do it.
Kyla and Bent, good kids with BB IQ but lacked athletism. Geno isn't unhappy with their performance to date. They gave him nearly everything he expected from them and being a top Div 1 player never was in their cards. I too have moaned and groaned about them not performing well in games--Im not GENO, so I have a fans expectation--they are what they shall be.

Ummm... I'm not seeing what you disagree with...

 

[Gus Mahler]

Thank you--some may argue that Maria was a STAR, not me. Maria was a good to very good PG, played in DT's shadow, sunk 3's --so much so I moaned that she should have been given 7.5 of DT' s missed 15 3's in the ND defeat when DT was a frosh--I believed then as now--Maria would have made them. yet Geno's lasting impression--she was not fast and was slow to make up for it. The year after she left he said (words to this effect) --Who'd of thought I'd miss Maria Conlon (I'll tell you who, I would have and did).

In his book, Geno was very complimentary of Conlon.

 

[JonathanXIV]

I'm talking about at UCONN. Aside from Jessica Moore, and then before her in the old days players like Maria Conlon, I don't think we've ever had an outside the top 20 kid ever start multiple years and be a "star" at UCONN.

By the way Dolson was rated #12 by ASGR, so before you throw her name at me, I just wanted to throw that out there (yeah HG had her at 39 and 2 others at 24 and 25...)

How about Kelly Farris?

 

[EricLA]

How about Kelly Farris?

She was rated the following:

1. 34 HG
2. 9 Blue Star
3. 26 Peach State / Prospects Nation
4. 7 ASGR

I know you could add up her composite and it might be over 20, but there were 2 services who thought she was a top 10 kid...

Next!

 

[Gus Mahler]

Where Can UConn Women’s Basketball Add Depth?

Well, I would say at the 4 and the 5. Also at the 2. Probably at the 1. I think we're good at the 3.

 

[meyers7]

Geno has never used all of his scholarships, and many coaches do not. Unrealistic to have 15 scholarship players for a sport that only plays 5 players at a time

95-95 season had 15 players (I think all were on scholarship) - Better, Rizzotti, Elliott, Northway, Wolters, Berube, Rose, Williams, Marquis, Sales, Hunt, Duran, Gaine, Arnold, Hughes

89-99 season had 16 players (with 1 walk-on) - Duran, Gaine, Abrlic, Sauer, Hansmeyer, Rigby, Ralph, Abrosimova, Schumacher, Czel (w/o), Glenney, Bird, Williams, Cash, Jones, Walters

00-01 season had 16 players - Ralph, Abrosimova, Shumacher, Czel, Rigby, Bird, Williams, Cash, Jones, Walters, Johnson, Taurasi, Conlon, Valley, Battle (r/s), Moore (r/s)

08-09 season would have had 15 if EDD stuck around

But more recently he's maxed out at around 12. Which is probably a better number.

 

[meyers7]

When a team makes it to 12 straight FF’s it’s pretty easy to be confident. Quite frankly, I find it difficult to understand how some BY’ers continue to offer negative assessments in the face of continuous, overwhelming success by UConn WBB.

They are kind of the antithesis of the TN "wait til next year" fans.

TN always disappoints but fans think next year will be great.

UCONN is always great but fans think next year will suck.

 

[meyers7]

Just because a person does a thing everyday or on a regular basis means they're good at it. How many bad a** drivers did you encounter last week? They've all been driving for years, and still can't drive worth a crap.

Especially here in MA and CT. OMG, the Pilgrims and Nutmeggers are just freaking awful.

 

[BroadwayVa]

In his book, Geno was very complimentary of Conlon.

That was nice of him. I was reporting on his words when she was a player and the year following her graduation, those were not so nice and a back hand complement i.e (paraphrasing) Who'd have thought I'd miss Maria Conlon. Geno in the first, was being funny--but to me it wasn't funny. Simply I was a huge Connecticut Girl on the Connecticut team fan and remain so to this day. She too was a VALLEY girl; Naugatuck River Valley.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Especially here in MA and CT. OMG, the Pilgrims and Nutmeggers are just freaking awful.

I never adapted to the Constitution State---I'm a Nutmegger through and through.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Come to think of it--me either. What was I thinking???

Ummm... I'm not seeing what you disagree with...

 

[EricLA]

Come to think of it--me either. What was I thinking???

LOL I read your post and thought "he's saying different stuff, but i'm not sure where the disagreement comes from". Not that there's anything wrong with it - I just didn't see it LOL....

 

[BroadwayVa]

ohhhhhh....could be...I wonder if Geno even looked at anyone on that list......

Even I know that Geno has to do something--that shows you how OBVIOUS the needs appear to be.
Since we are being fed nothing along those lines, except 2 for 2020 we (maybe just me) wonder all the WHAT IF's. The other OBVIOUS is Grad Transfers or Foreign players (I throw a big net)---again, but WHO??

With the nucleus Geno has of ONO, Danger, Walker, CW, Griffin along with Touly (hope she is game ready), Coombs, Molly, Irwin (the order of players means nothing as listed). It appears that even without another big or 3 this coming (which would ensure a FF and beyond) Geno's 2019/20 team has great potential. To me ONO is the key. I believe she will defend and score and will learn to stay in the game. If Touly is 95 percent Big plus. The OBVIOUS of this comment is : CW, Walker, Griffin/Coombs will step up big time and become what their potenital showed.

 

[eebmg]

Even I know that Geno has to do something--that shows you how OBVIOUS the needs appear to be.
Since we are being fed nothing along those lines, except 2 for 2020 we (maybe just me) wonder all the WHAT IF's. The other OBVIOUS is Grad Transfers or Foreign players (I throw a big net)---again, but WHO??

With the nucleus Geno has of ONO, Danger, Walker, CW, Griffin along with Touly (hope she is game ready), Coombs, Molly, Irwin (the order of players means nothing as listed). It appears that even without another big or 3 this coming (which would ensure a FF and beyond) Geno's 2019/20 team has great potential. To me ONO is the key. I believe she will defend and score and will learn to stay in the game. If Touly is 95 percent Big plus. The OBVIOUS of this comment is : CW, Walker, Griffin/Coombs will step up big time and become what their potenital showed.

Sorry to bring it up but Coombs just announced she is transferring. All over the BY by now.

 

[Charliebball]

Even I know that Geno has to do something--that shows you how OBVIOUS the needs appear to be.
Since we are being fed nothing along those lines, except 2 for 2020 we (maybe just me) wonder all the WHAT IF's. The other OBVIOUS is Grad Transfers or Foreign players (I throw a big net)---again, but WHO??

With the nucleus Geno has of ONO, Danger, Walker, CW, Griffin along with Touly (hope she is game ready), Coombs, Molly, Irwin (the order of players means nothing as listed). It appears that even without another big or 3 this coming (which would ensure a FF and beyond) Geno's 2019/20 team has great potential. To me ONO is the key. I believe she will defend and score and will learn to stay in the game. If Touly is 95 percent Big plus. The OBVIOUS of this comment is : CW, Walker, Griffin/Coombs will step up big time and become what their potenital showed.

agreed.......................next year's team is one good big forward away from being a serious NC challenger.............I don't know if such a player is or will be available as a grad transfer or international recruit but that's where much of their recruiting efforts should be aimed

 

[BroadwayVa]

Sorry to bring it up but Coombs just announced she is transferring. All over the BY by now.

Terrible , just Terrible. I expected her to show her stuff next year. Too bad it will be elsewhere!! Someone wrote that Geno had a sit down with her and the result appears to be her going away. She was by far the best one off the bench.

 

[JoePgh]

I'm talking about at UCONN. Aside from Jessica Moore, and then before her in the old days players like Maria Conlon, I don't think we've ever had an outside the top 20 kid ever start multiple years and be a "star" at UCONN.

By the way Dolson was rated #12 by ASGR, so before you throw her name at me, I just wanted to throw that out there (yeah HG had her at 39 and 2 others at 24 and 25...)

Kelly Faris, who was around #30? Saniya Chong? Kiah Stokes?

And in the old days, there were Kara Wolters / Jennifer Rizzotti / Jamelle Eliot. Probably Rebecca and Nykesha Sales were the only players on that team who WERE Top 20, and they won an NC. You could add Kerry Bascom from the 1991 Final Four team.

The fact that it has happened less frequently in recent years is the result of the coaches' ability to recruit a lot of Top 20 players, rather than the fact that they have been unable to develop lesser players.

By the way, I think Kyla and Molly would be far more effective players if this were 1993 (or even 1995) and they were among the five best players on the team. Just getting minutes (and therefore feedback and game film) can make a player much better than she shows as a bench player.

 

[EricLA]

Kelly Faris, who was around #30? Saniya Chong? Kiah Stokes?

Good names. Faris was 9 per Blue Star and 7 per ASGR. Just because HG had her so low (as did Peach State which became Prospects Nation) doesn't mean she wasn't a top recruit.

Stokes was 14 per Blue Star, 6 per Peach State and 9 per ASGR. And I don't think she started too many games for UCONN. While her defense was at an AA level, Geno could never get her to be more aggressive offensively. Loved her on the court but she never really broke out.

Saniya didn't start till her senior season. But you are correct in that her highest ranking was 20 per ASGR.