The Most Important thing this season

[Tonyc]

The most important thing this season is to make sure Azzi and Caroline get healthy and stay healthy. The goal is to get them healthy enough to play significant minutes. At this point they're not. This will take time with alot of subbing. Lou can step in for Azzi Caroline and Nika. Deberry can also sub for Caroline. We can not afford to have Nika Azzi Caroline and Lou on the bench not able to play. That means Nika who is foul prone must be on the floor and Lou must be on the floor giving Azzi and Caroline a rest. The plus for Caroline is there are other big girls that can give her a rest. I dont believe either is ready to play alot of minutes and be able to play alot of minutes throughout the first half of the season.

Lets face it, we dont have alot of guards and of the 4 two are coming back from injury and imo I dont think they can go full throttle early on and early on we have some tuff competition. What we may see is alot of lineups with 1 or two guards. Now that can change if Griff comes back and she's been out for quite a while so her impact is still a question.

Alot this season depends on the development of Ice and Yanna. When theyre ready it will take alot off the shoulders of everybody's playtime. I see Deberry getting more minutes just because we need to protect Azzi and Caroline from to many minutes. Lou for that reason will see alot of minutes too. There is a thread that Caroline is shooting but not jumping. When will she be at least 80%? We have Texas Nov 14th. Thats 3 months away.

I expect Geno to go with a bigger lineup at times with our guards working to get the ball inside. We can not have Azzi and Caroline sitting on the bench for long periods of time and they can not be hurt. They must be available to play. When they're able to play 25+ minutes and are playing at the level we know they can play at UConn is going to be tuff to beat. We may just be a different team this season. With our bigs we may play big and run plays for our bigs. Its just where we're at now.

 

[CL82]

Necessity is a great teacher. Nika will foul because she has to foul less. Don’t get me wrong, I fully expect that Geno will need to help her with this understanding. Maybe that will be by benching her after an early unnecessary foul. Maybe it’ll be letting her foul out.

She is a huge competitor and sitting on the bench when she could be helping the team will be tough for her to swallow. She’ll figure it out this season.

 

[oldhusky]

I agree with much of the assessment of the issues we face regarding the guards, but I don't see Amari as a potential solution at SF. I'm also with you that when we use a big for a necessary guard substitution, that player will usually be the SF and subbing for Caroline. My pecking order for bigs playing SF would be Aubrey first, probably the same as you, but Ayanna second, and I hope we don't have to even contemplate Amari there, but if we had to go to a third choice I guess it would be her.

I worry about the offensive end, but feel pretty confident at least Aubrey and Ayanna can defend and rebound at the position. I'm not sure Amari could stay with SF's many inches shorter.

 

[veryolddog]

Nice thoughts, Tony, as usual. I would also suggest, that they try very hard to play as a team, win or lose and work together the best they can. I would like all the individuals be consistent throughout the entire game and not let up.

 

[Centerstream]

@Tonyc this is not meant to be mean, derogatory or anything like that but I was wondering why when you mentioned the players you used Deberry but then for all the others you use their first names or nicknames. Is there any reason for this? I only ask this because when I post about any of our players, I try to use their first names or nicknames at all times.

BTW I agree with your OP comments.

 

[Bone Dog]

We tried the 3-big lineup against UCLA last year and it was very slow. We had no choice at the time, and Osborne and Penn took advantage of it.

I'm hoping Ayanna and Aubrey are available for the 3 slot, if needed, because they are much quicker than Amari, Dorka and Aaliyah.

 

[hoophuskee]

This year there is going to be odd definitions of play positions. For example good chance if Patterson and Griffin don't have an outside shot that they will be inside on offense thereby considered a 4/5 offensively, but defensive, they will be defending a quick perimeter player or just the SF even if not quick.

Likewise, if two of Amari, Brady, Dorka or Edwards are on the court at the same time along with either Patterson or Aubrey on the floor with the other 2, then they might very well be playing the "Small forward" position on offense (Amari, Brady, Dorka or Edwards) but defensively Patterson and Aubrey are much better equipped to be guarding a perimeter play on defense than all but maybe Edwards. There is no way that for example, Amari is a SF on defense unless the opposing SF is nothing but an inside player.

This year many questions now with the Paige injury. Before the injury - UCONN was a FF lock if healthy. Now to start season can see UCONN losing in Rd of 32 (especially with one more guard injury) to winning a championship.

 

[JellyBean]

Great points by all. We definitely need everyone to stay healthy. Skill development is also going to be a huge factor. From shooting to position development to decision making on both ends of the floor. Those are going to be big keys to the program. Plus keeping that overall team chemistry positive. Play to your role. Embrace whatever role the coaching staff has you in and when your moment comes to shine out there, make the most of it. Shine like a diamond! I cannot wait for the season to start!

 

[TeamFirst!]

The key is team health. 3 months is a long time though and probably time enough for Azzi and Caroline to be ready to go.

To me, Lou and Ayanna are key. Ice can certainly play but she effectively replaces Dorka and AE. We have a lot of depth in the bigs. We need more depth for the guards because we will inevitably lose at least 1-2 more guards at some point. If Aubrey is finally healthy she could really be important as well. Some players do come back from back surgery. She might be able to help as well.

 

[Bone Dog]

If anyone wants to see what it would be like to play with two injuries -- one to a guard and one to a big, watch the Villanova game from last season (we lost), or the second Depaul game, or the first Marquette game). Olivia and Caroline sat these both out, and we had six players: Nika, Christyn, Azzi, Evina, Aaliyah and Dorka. That was it, not counting Amari and Piath. It looks like 4 guards, but Evina was mainly playing the 4 next to Aaliyah or Dorka. As for all the concern about whether Azzi could handle the minutes, she played 40, 34, and 38 in those games. 39 against Tennessee just before -- Olivia played in that one, though Caroline sat it out. That was 4 games in the space of a week.

The DePaul game may be the most revealing about what playing only 6 players looks like. The previous game two weeks earlier, DePaul and Morrow had pushed the full squad to the wall and Caroline's last minute heroics were required to win it. This game, Dorka, Aaliyah, and Christyn carried the load this time and Azzi had an off shooting night. By contrast, in the Tennessee, Villanova, and Marquette games, Azzi torched them.

 

[Tonyc]

@Tonyc this is not meant to be mean, derogatory or anything like that but I was wondering why when you mentioned the players you used Deberry but then for all the others you use their first names or nicknames. Is there any reason for this? I only ask this because when I post about any of our players, I try to use their first names or nicknames at all times.

BTW I agree with your OP comments.

I dont know I just do.

 

[Stymie]

Most important thing is HEALTH.
Apart from the various and inescapable pulls, twists and strains, let’s not forget that Covid is still present and still very much a factor in day to day life.
These athletes do a great deal of traveling and come into contact with many.

 

[HopJim]

Surprised that few, when assessing the offense, mention Dorka. She has the ability to play inside and out, opening up the floor for drives to the basket and helping other players, Ducharme and Edwards in particular, get favorable match ups. With more bigs in the offense, Azzi and others will have more open shots. A different offense than we have seen in the past, but an effective one.

 

[Bone Dog]

Few mention Dorka because we're confident in her contribution. She's not who everyone's worried about. She'll be awesome.

 

[TCC Kid]

Nice thoughts, Tony, as usual. I would also suggest, that they try very hard to play as a team, win or lose and work together the best they can. I would like all the individuals be consistent throughout the entire game and not let up.

Uconn has Energizer Bunnies. Paige is the lead bunny. Nika, Caroline, (, Edwards,,when healthy Aubry. The 3 OT N Carolina game proved that. Mentally and physically, this team, this year, shall NOT let down. If the pieces work as well as expected, The top 5 teams (Uconn is one of them) shall be facing a determined TEAM. Kids that must win the NC for Paige, Uconn and themselves. I agree with your TonyC comment. It is nice to see his cheerleading again.

 

[ucbart]

I know I harp on this, but one of the most important things this season will be FT shooting. We have a lot of bigs who can do a variety of things and I think we will get a fair amount of trips to the charity stripe. We have to capitalize there.

 

[Alydar]

If anyone wants to see what it would be like to play with two injuries -- one to a guard and one to a big, watch the Villanova game from last season (we lost), or the second Depaul game, or the first Marquette game). Olivia and Caroline sat these both out, and we had six players: Nika, Christyn, Azzi, Evina, Aaliyah and Dorka. That was it, not counting Amari and Piath. It looks like 4 guards, but Evina was mainly playing the 4 next to Aaliyah or Dorka. As for all the concern about whether Azzi could handle the minutes, she played 40, 34, and 38 in those games. 39 against Tennessee just before -- Olivia played in that one, though Caroline sat it out. That was 4 games in the space of a week.

The DePaul game may be the most revealing about what playing only 6 players looks like. The previous game two weeks earlier, DePaul and Morrow had pushed the full squad to the wall and Caroline's last minute heroics were required to win it. This game, Dorka, Aaliyah, and Christyn carried the load this time and Azzi had an off shooting night. By contrast, in the Tennessee, Villanova, and Marquette games, Azzi torched them.

Last year the injuries happened after the start of the season. An offense that I'm sure was designed to feature Bueckers and Fudd at some point didn't happen until March. This season the Bueckers injury at least gives the coaches a chance to redesign the offense and it gives the remaining players months to adjust mentally. At some point the media will "discover" that UConn is still UConn, with a roster filled with MDAA's.
One other factor. Bueckers is now the team leader and she will not let them retreat.