The Best Group of Guards Ever?

[oldude]

Since we are talking about defense, let's not muddy the waters. As good as Ms. Hunter was before the injuries at Duke and the surgeries that followed, she wasn't as mobile when she came to UConn. KML was the weak link on defense for the teams she was on. Her freshman year, Stewie had problems defensively the better part of the year and Tina wasn't much better, if even she was. As much as I like Morgan, her knee issues was a problem early on defensively. Dolson was a good positional defender but no good on-ball. Neither Bria nor Renee were quick enough for the press during their freshman year. Caroline was indeed a hardnosed young lady but I wouldn't consider her great defensively to the point that her work on that end during her freshman year were not memorable to me. Moriah and Stewie became really great defenders their last three years - among the best ever seen at UConn, if not the best, and as a team, owed their defensive balance to the presence of a Kiah and a Kia as well as a Gabby later.

As for how last year's group compared with previous players based on their offense AND defense, your comments are fair with some exceptions but insofar as the freshmen go, you are judging them on the development under the most difficult of conditions, no preseason and a year with so many interruptions, hence the eye test is solely the final verdict, with sentiment for the past a significant factor as well. I am not suggesting the outcome would necessarily be different but there are possibilities of it being so.

Stefanie Dolson turned out to be an excellent player as an upperclassman BUT if you compare her freshman performance with Aaliyah's, the latter had a better year. Do you really remember Tiffany to be great her freshman year? I would disagree. As great as Moriah became in the last three years, she was only good as a freshman, sort of like how Nika became for a number of games once she was in the starting lineup, except Moriah shot the ball more.

I could go on but everything here cannot escape the realm of speculation since there is no directly relevant data with which to compare the key freshmen of last year to the past - clearly, they were a disadvantaged group in development, though that did not stop Paige from becoming what she showed everyone in the world she is.....to the rave reviews of no other than DT and Sue.

One of the challenges in comparing the abilities of different classes of players, even over a relatively short 5-10 year period, is that there has been a significant increase in both the number of really talented players as well as their overall skill level.

Kids are coming out of HS “college ready.” There are literally hundreds of young players with size and remarkable skill. Many players are way too talented to lock down defensively, and just about everyone can shoot the 3. The best you can do is limit the damage.

Several players immediately come to mind: Ashley Owusu, Caitlyn Clark, Chelsea Dungee, Aari McDonald and UConn’s own Paige Bueckers to name a few. Players with that kind of talent are going to get their points almost every time they lace up their sneakers, regardless of who’s defending them.

That’s one of the challenges in making comparisons of UConn players from different classes. The players they’re competing against today are just plain better.

 

[CocoHusky]

Since we are talking about defense, let's not muddy the waters. As good as Ms. Hunter was before the injuries at Duke and the surgeries that followed, she wasn't as mobile when she came to UConn. KML was the weak link on defense for the teams she was on. Her freshman year, Stewie had problems defensively the better part of the year and Tina wasn't much better, if even she was. As much as I like Morgan, her knee issues was a problem early on defensively. Dolson was a good positional defender but no good on-ball. Neither Bria nor Renee were quick enough for the press during their freshman year. Caroline was indeed a hardnosed young lady but I wouldn't consider her great defensively to the point that her work on that end during her freshman year were not memorable to me. Moriah and Stewie became really great defenders their last three years - among the best ever seen at UConn, if not the best, and as a team, owed their defensive balance to the presence of a Kiah and a Kia as well as a Gabby later.

As for how last year's group compared with previous players based on their offense AND defense, your comments are fair with some exceptions but insofar as the freshmen go, you are judging them on the development under the most difficult of conditions, no preseason and a year with so many interruptions, hence the eye test is solely the final verdict, with sentiment for the past a significant factor as well. I am not suggesting the outcome would necessarily be different but there are possibilities of it being so.

Stefanie Dolson turned out to be an excellent player as an upperclassman BUT if you compare her freshman performance with Aaliyah's, the latter had a better year. Do you really remember Tiffany to be great her freshman year? I would disagree. As great as Moriah became in the last three years, she was only good as a freshman, sort of like how Nika became for a number of games once she was in the starting lineup, except Moriah shot the ball more.

I could go on but everything here cannot escape the realm of speculation since there is no directly relevant data with which to compare the key freshmen of last year to the past - clearly, they were a disadvantaged group in development, though that did not stop Paige from becoming what she showed everyone in the world she is.....to the rave reviews of no other than DT and Sue.

No intention to muddy the waters. Hunter and Dolson were cited as an example of the many quality players that were a part of the Faris teams not for there defensive ability. Recall that your original premise was that there were no players of Faris defensive ability on the Faris teams. I contend there were. These three Faris teammates (Kalana Greene, Kia Stokes & Brianna Banks) had significant competition to get on the floor to show those defensive skills.