I don't agree about "need." Stewie is the best player in the game. She is playing her best hoop, is the best in all of basketball imo by a wide margin and Tuck is a beast. While Stokes was big last year in certain games (not USC) - this year Stewie is just much much better. Tuck may be better too. And I don't agree with the word "vulnerable" at all. The other team would have to play perfect or pray Stewie wasn't at least "very good" alogn with many other failures. I wouldn't call it "vulnerable" but -- I guess nothing is assured -- but vulnerable imo is too strong. This isn't last year's Stewie or prior years. This is Stewie at an all-time level. Superior to DT/ Maya? And yet she has beast teammates? Not to mention we have the best pg in the nation. SO while the big teams have to work the ball to get it inside, MoJeff can find Stewie anywhere. And an underrated aspect is Stiew knocks down ft's too. SO "bang"" her around she goes to the ft line and hits shots.
As far as Turner - I don't agree with the context. Many of those baskets were from penetration. She also hit one ne extremely lucky outside shot that went off the backboard I think? IMO she wasn't controlling the game. They were situations where her teammates made a play for the most part- ie got her the ball in sweet spots ordrove and missed and allowed her to be setteled in a sweet position. Their other big is gone now. .
As far as "if" -- well IF Stewie didn't get hurt. I thought Tuck played nervous. IF she didn't and was her normal self. . . I was at the game years ago in Htfd with DT's amazing last few minutes vs Tenn - if she wasn't htting half-court shots . . . And if a year later Duke didn't hit the lucky end of game shot. Maybe Minnesota is on our region and not Duke's in the E8. Maybe we didn't match up to Duke as well seeing how we held on at home only to fall. I don't believe in IF's. There was a reason why Turner did what she did -imo she was a frosh. Just as Calipari spoke of how he felt Ky was nervous vs UCONN in finals. Sure they were- BUT that's why experience helps. That can't be taken away as an advantage. That's what Turner was. What if USC made one more play in the semis while Turner was on the bench?
An Geno may be talking about things to work on - he's a coach. He sees all the details. Like all coaches. But if we're talking about the details- what details are there to stop Stewie and Tuck? What are the oppsoign coaches saying that is needed to stop them? IMO our weapons even without NB are superior to anyone else's. ANythign si possible and I am veyrgald ot have NB. She will help.
Well, of course everything you say is true about how amazing an offensive player Stewie is, but my post wasn't about offense. She's also a great defensive player, don't get me wrong, but right now she's a 4 stuck playing defense as a 5. That's perfectly fine against most of our opponents, but when we've had to face really strong post players, I think she's clearly been a much more effective defender when playing alongside a Dolson or a Stokes than when she's stuck manning the paint all by herself. While she's no less athletic than anyone she guards down low, I think big, skilled centers who know how to operate in the post can sometimes outmuscle or outbody her. Geno even implied as much, about a year ago:
"When she is in the lane with Stewie, Stewie can't guard her, Stewie can't move her and when Stewie is in the lane, she can't get anything done because she just physically manhandles Stewie."
To whom was he referring? Natalie Butler, of all people.
http://www.nhregister.com/sports/20141217/georgetown-transfer-natalie-butler-will-serve-uconn-well
None of this is Stewie's fault; she's been by far the best option we've had back there since Stokes graduated. My only points were that I hope Butler can be an even better option and that we "
may" need her to be.
As for Turner, I went back and rewatched the second half of last year's NC game. By my count: two of her seven field goals came from deep dribble penetration (on one of these, she put back her own miss after a teammate drove and dished to her); another came off of a half-dribble drive and pass into the deep low post, from where she jumped and scored over Tuck; two more came from low-post isolation plays against Stewie after receiving passes from the high post or perimeter; one came on a lay-up after she appeared to shove Stewie out of the way; and the last one was the lucky jump shot she banked in as the shot clock expired. So, a little bit of everything there. I stand by my statement that we had no effective defensive answer for her in the second half of that game.
"Ifs" may not be of much practical use normally, but they can be informative if they involve events that might occur in the future. In this case, I suggested that we might've been in trouble had Turner played in the first half the way she played in the second. I think the clear upshot, moving forward, is that she's awfully good, she probably won't take 20 minutes to get going the next time we see her, and therefore, we might need to find a way to defend her more effectively in order to win again.
As far as "need," believe me, I hope we roll over everyone and Natalie turns out to be more of a luxury this season than a necessity. We're talking about the best team in the country, so this comes down to a question of margin for error. I believe this team's interior defense has been a relative weakness, at least against certain opponents we may face again this spring. If the Maryland game didn't show that, I'm not sure what will. I seriously doubt that letting Jones shoot 12-for-14 is the type of championship-level defense that Geno is looking for. Obviously we beat Maryland despite that, but we were stuck sweating out a game with a four-point margin entering the final minute. A similar type of game against that team in the tournament could easily result in a loss. On the other hand, if Natalie can improve our interior defense, as I hope she can, our margin for error increases and it becomes that much harder for the Marylands of the world to win against us when it really counts. If we're talking about merely the difference between a big win and a close win, Natalie's defensive contributions may not matter much this year. But IMHO it's not implausible that they could mean the difference between a close win and a close loss in some game coming up this March or April. Therefore, although I hope we don't, I still maintain that we "
may" need her.