The Best Without their Best

[dualskeptic]

I thought it might be interesting to begin a discussion of what the best 2014-2015 teams would be if their best players were excluded. To begin, here's a list of teams in alphabetical order.

Duke without Elizabeth Williams (DK-EW)
Notre Dame without Jewell Loyd (ND-JL)
South Carolina without A'ja Wilson (SC-AW)
South Carolina without Tiffany Mitchell (SC-TM)
Stanford without Amber Orrange (ST-AO)
Tennessee without Isabelle Harrison (TN-IH)
Uconn without Breanna Stewart (UC-BS)
Uconn without Moriah Jefferson (UC-MJ)

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Are we supposed to go somewhere with that?

 

[VAMike23]

How about the best (UCONN) without:

.....................Stokes?

Where would we be now, and how might we fare in the battles of the Final Four?

 

[dualskeptic]

How about the best (UCONN) without:

......Stokes?

Where would we be now, and how might we fare in the battles of the Final Four?

Here's a variation in ranked order:

1. Uconn without Breanna Stewart (UC-BS)
2. Uconn without Kiah Stokes (UC-KS)
3. Uconn without Moriah Jeffferson (UC-MJ)

Your thoughts?

 

[rbny1]

How about the Boneyard without Nan, who swats away bad posts with the efficiency of Kiah blocking opponents' shots. Now that would be a disaster.

 

[dualskeptic]

Is there an actual point to this thread?

A list of teams ranked without their best players would be one measure of overall team depth.

Which teams can most or least afford to lose their key player?

I thought this question was implied. Have I missed something?

 

[VAMike23]

Here's a variation in ranked order:

1. Uconn without Breanna Stewart (UC-BS)
2. Uconn without Kiah Stokes (UC-KS)
3. Uconn without Moriah Jeffferson (UC-MJ)

Your thoughts?

Hard to argue that we could win without the NPOY Stewie, but I think that when it comes to the [few] real challenging games we play in, it's Stokes that has shown to be the game-changer for us. Against 90% of our competition she is not a must-have, but against those few other teams..... she comes in and the game completely changes. Without her, we can't "go big" and sometimes going big is the winning strategy for UCONN. Tuck is awesome but against some teams, it's much better to have Stokes in the middle, giving Stewie and Tuck more freedom.

I think we could still win the NC without Moriah, but it would be a tough go.
Not sure we could win it without Stokes.

 

[NVUConnFan]

How about last year when we lost Tuck for most of the year and KML for a significant part? UConn still won the NC.

 

[triaddukefan]

Well Duke went 0-2 without EW..... lost at Nebraska and TAMU.

 

[Buzzyboy]

How about last year when we lost Tuck for most of the year and KML for a significant part? UConn still won the NC.

I don't think the KML loss was that much of a factor since it was in the earlier part of the year and even had we lost a game or two as a result of her loss (which we didn't), she was back and healthy and contributing when it mattered most, the end of the season, leading into the post season. Tuck was a potentially important piece that we were "just starting" to take full advantage of so though it hurt our depth, it didn't seem to change our team chemistry all that much since we weren't as yet "that reliant" on her. Losing a key player like Moriah at this point would have a far more profound impact, in my opinion, both based on the time of the season and also what it would do with our team chemistry!

 

[sarals24]

This thread is bad mojo.

 

[CL82]

Are we supposed to go somewhere with that?

Talk among yourselves...

 

[ndmb]

UConn and SC would still be good. Everyone else I can think of right now would be a disaster.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Actually, I don't see quite enough of SC to know if the loss of one of those players would still permit them to be good - or rather, to still be a Final Four team.

Many teams will struggle short term when they lose their star player, but can recover. Of the teams on the list, I think Tennessee could least afford to lose Harrison. The others, would struggle but might recover. UConn might become beatable, something I don't think they currently are, without Stewart. Note - I didn't say I think anyone would beat UConn, only that it would open a door a crack.

And all of that said - yep, this entire thread is bad mojo. May everyone stay healthy!!!!

 

[MilfordHusky]

UConn and SC would still be good. Everyone else I can think of right now would be a disaster.

Maybe overstated as a "disaster," but I essentially agree. UConn and SC are good enough that they would still be good without a very good player. I think ND would be most impacted. Without Loyd, they would be somewhere in the second 10. Maybe.

In terms of winning the national championship, it's hard to say how much margin we have. I like to have 8 players healthy and playing their A game. Stewie sets things up and draws defensive attention, but Morgan and Kaleena make the offense run smoothly.

I want to see K go on a 20-game year to earn her second AA recognition, break the NCAA women's mark for 3-pointers, earn Final Four MOP, finish 3rd in UConn career scoring, and become one of the top scorers in NCAA tourney history. K has had some ups and downs--a freshman slump and injuries last year--and she gets overshadowed by Stewie and other talented teammates from time to time, but Kaleena will finish as one of the greatest Huskies and greatest players in history. I'm officially on the Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis bandwagon.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

I'm officially on the Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis bandwagon.

Hope you get a good seat cause you've got a lot of company. Tampa Ho the Wagon!

 

[hoopsdiva]

This thread is bad mojo.

I couldn't help thinking that when Moriah was unable to get up off the floor tonight.