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Message: [QUOTE="asuwish, post: 5013737, member: 1320"] With Barker going to UCLA (giving the #1,2,3, & 6 ranked HS players from the class of 2022), and Dauda going to SC (giving them 5 former HS All Americans 6'3 or taller) the rich keep getting richer. What will make the biggest difference? Potentially style of play. The UConn men the past 2 years did not have superior talent, or a superstar that just couldn't be stopped, they play a style that separates them from the rest. Style that used to seperate the women of UConn from the rest. The men's coaching staff has been studying hundred of hours of European basketball. In Europe teams use all kinds of motion, screening action, and ways to make everyone involved in the offensive flow with very little one on one play. Since it is constantly changing it makes it hard to prepare for. Many styles of offense are repetitive and you can be more prepared for them. American teams are just not used to guarding that kind of movement and the result is basketball that is enjoyable to watch and difficult to defend. A kind of hybrid read and react style. For years the men played a boring style of offense, but so does every other men's team (exception Princeton). When you have so many scoring options make teams work hard on defense, space the floor and run various different sets to get someone open. When everyone is a threat you can't focus on a particular player. With some teams possibly using massive front courts like UCLA and SC, or teams possibly running 4 guard sets like Notre Dame, or deep teams with deep rosters using many players to use a full court press to speed you up and force turnovers (I know that is a defensive scheme, but a style of play none the less), what may separate these six or seven "super teams" on the women's side is probably which team can impose it's style most effectively. Defensive schemes will also make a difference. I've always believed that even if you mostly play man to man there are variations on what you can do, and that every team should have some kind of zone and press in their pocket for when the moment calls for it. What does Geno and his staff think this team can run to make the difference in a close game? [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach