The Supporting Cast

[ConnMotors]

Right now we have three players who are biding their time for minutes. You have Ice Brady, Allie Ziebell and Qadance Samuels. Then you have the injured reserved in Aubrey Griffen, Caroline Ducharme and Ayanna Patterson. Ashlynn Shade, KK Arnold and Morgan Cheli are part of the rotation.

Questions! Did anyone notice the demeanor on Ice’s face when the camera zoomed by the bench during a substitution? She just looked teed off. Is she in the dog house? Only the coaches know.

We all knew at some point minutes were going to be hard to come by. Thankfully for the pitiful teams in the Big East these ladies will get fourth quarter minutes.

Back to the players on the IR. We all know that Ayanna is done for the year. Are Aubrey and Caroline actually going to return at some point this season? Coach says that Griffen is close. But we don’t know for sure.

Is it possible that the three injured players can get another year of eligibility?

We have two quality games left prior to the tournament. It will be interesting to see what group of players will be on the floor. My guess is that they will be Paige, Azzi, Kaitlyn, Sarah, Jana, KK, Ashlynn and Morgan.

 

[meyers7]

Right now we have three players who are biding their time for minutes. You have Ice Brady, Allie Ziebell and Qadance Samuels. Then you have the injured reserved in Aubrey Griffen, Caroline Ducharme and Ayanna Patterson. Ashlynn Shade, KK Arnold and Morgan Cheli are part of the rotation.

Questions! Did anyone notice the demeanor on Ice’s face when the camera zoomed by the bench during a substitution? She just looked teed off. Is she in the dog house? Only the coaches know.

We all knew at some point minutes were going to be hard to come by. Thankfully for the pitiful teams in the Big East these ladies will get fourth quarter minutes.

Back to the players on the IR. We all know that Ayanna is done for the year. Are Aubrey and Caroline actually going to return at some point this season? Coach says that Griffen is close. But we don’t know for sure.

Is it possible that the three injured players can get another year of eligibility?

We have two quality games left prior to the tournament. It will be interesting to see what group of players will be on the floor. My guess is that they will be Paige, Azzi, Kaitlyn, Sarah, Jana, KK, Ashlynn and Morgan.

Don't know that she's in the doghouse. One, she's coming off being ill. Two, that's just the way the minutes are right now. I'm sure she isn't happy about her minutes. I assume she wants to play more. And last night she did a nice job when she came in (until the 2 fouls) so maybe she'll get a few more minutes next game.

 

[BobbyJ]

Right now we have three players who are biding their time for minutes. You have Ice Brady, Allie Ziebell and Qadance Samuels. Then you have the injured reserved in Aubrey Griffen, Caroline Ducharme and Ayanna Patterson. Ashlynn Shade, KK Arnold and Morgan Cheli are part of the rotation.

Questions! Did anyone notice the demeanor on Ice’s face when the camera zoomed by the bench during a substitution? She just looked teed off. Is she in the dog house? Only the coaches know.

We all knew at some point minutes were going to be hard to come by. Thankfully for the pitiful teams in the Big East these ladies will get fourth quarter minutes.

Back to the players on the IR. We all know that Ayanna is done for the year. Are Aubrey and Caroline actually going to return at some point this season? Coach says that Griffen is close. But we don’t know for sure.

Is it possible that the three injured players can get another year of eligibility?

We have two quality games left prior to the tournament. It will be interesting to see what group of players will be on the floor. My guess is that they will be Paige, Azzi, Kaitlyn, Sarah, Jana, KK, Ashlynn and Morgan.

1) Brady should be teed off, she can control how much PT she gets but hasn't done enough to force it. And Auriemma wants her to be teed off because like a lot of kids, she plays harder and better that way.
2) Injured players: Yes on Patterson and Ducharme, probably 2 each unless Ducharme somehow plays this year in the second half of the season. Then it would be only one for her. No on Griffin.

 

[oldude]

Everyone wants to play. While Ice might not be happy with her PT, while she was on the court last night, her play was crisp and efficient, which is exactly what she needs to do to get more PT.

The good thing about being in the BE is that, like last night, Geno can find PT for everyone. As you point out, the rotation will shorten vs TN & SC as well as once the Huskies get to the Big Dance.

As far as the injured players go, only Aubrey has a realistic opportunity to be part of the regular rotation this season, because she is a difference maker for UConn. Any player that sits out the season is certainly eligible for a redshirt year. But that’s a decision for Geno and the respective players.

 

[Jaml]

We have two quality games left prior to the tournament. It will be interesting to see what group of players will be on the floor. My guess is that they will be Paige, Azzi, Kaitlyn, Sarah, Jana, KK, Ashlynn and Morgan.

If she returns to form, I'm hopeful that Aubrey will be part of that shortened rotation.

 

[packwrap]

If she returns to form, I'm hopeful that Aubrey will be part of that shortened rotation.

Pretty sure Aubrey will be 6th or 7th man. Even if she earned it, there is no reason to start her, as she has shown over the years to play really well, as the energizer.

Ice Brady not forgotten. To be fair her preferred frontcourt position is forward, where she played last year. She's been a good teammate and growing her game at center this year. She's also a better 1on1 defender than Jana.(But Jana starting to get better as a rim protector, in model of Olivia N-O). If she gets peeved and plays better, great. Don't think she or Allie or Q have any attitude issues.

SC rotates 4 frontcourt players, so we need all of Jana, Ice, Morgan, Aubrey and Sarah to be ready to go.

 

[Next 12]

T he supporting cast was picked by GENO to play for UCONN and that's all I need to know. He saw what he liked in them and he will turn them into UCONN elite players. I like what I see out of Morgan, Allie, Jana, Ice, Shade, KK and Q. When it comes to crunch time, it will be Paige, Azzi, Sarah,Shade and Jana. Aubrey, Morgan Ice and kk coming off the bench. My opinion.. GO HUSKIES!!!!!

 

[dtbtbtb]

Ice came off the bench after Morgan which i assume she didn't like but actually played pretty well (aside than that last 3 point shot attempt). She was going strong to rebound, good defense and some nice passing.

 

[Bone Dog]

Did anyone notice the demeanor on Ice’s face when the camera zoomed by the bench during a substitution? She just looked teed off.

I was struck by her expression in that moment too. I’m not sure “teed off” quite catches it. She looked quite frustrated to me. On the one hand she’s watching herself being passed in the rotation by a [sort of] classmate, and on the other hand because of Sarah she can’t play her more natural position at the 4 next to Jana. Before the season, I had half expected to see a lineup that sometimes featured Jana Ice and Sarah in the frontcourt together. But it doesn’t seem to be working out that way, probably for a few reasons, including overall team speed. Jana and Ice are not nearly as quick as Sarah, and Ice seems be quicker than Jana.

 

[Longtime fan]

Right now we have three players who are biding their time for minutes. You have Ice Brady, Allie Ziebell and Qadance Samuels. Then you have the injured reserved in Aubrey Griffen, Caroline Ducharme and Ayanna Patterson. Ashlynn Shade, KK Arnold and Morgan Cheli are part of the rotation.

Questions! Did anyone notice the demeanor on Ice’s face when the camera zoomed by the bench during a substitution? She just looked teed off. Is she in the dog house? Only the coaches know.

We all knew at some point minutes were going to be hard to come by. Thankfully for the pitiful teams in the Big East these ladies will get fourth quarter minutes.

Back to the players on the IR. We all know that Ayanna is done for the year. Are Aubrey and Caroline actually going to return at some point this season? Coach says that Griffen is close. But we don’t know for sure.

Is it possible that the three injured players can get another year of eligibility?

We have two quality games left prior to the tournament. It will be interesting to see what group of players will be on the floor. My guess is that they will be Paige, Azzi, Kaitlyn, Sarah, Jana, KK, Ashlynn and Morgan.

If you know that Caroline is going to return sometime this year, you are the only one who does.

 

[Longtime fan]

Pretty sure Aubrey will be 6th or 7th man. Even if she earned it, there is no reason to start her, as she has shown over the years to play really well, as the energizer.

Ice Brady not forgotten. To be fair her preferred frontcourt position is forward, where she played last year. She's been a good teammate and growing her game at center this year. She's also a better 1on1 defender than Jana.(But Jana starting to get better as a rim protector, in model of Olivia N-O). If she gets peeved and plays better, great. Don't think she or Allie or Q have any attitude issues.

SC rotates 4 frontcourt players, so we need all of Jana, Ice, Morgan, Aubrey and Sarah to be ready to go.

ICE and Jana are going to be better each season. If memory serves ( I know longer count on it to do so ). Tina Charles did not " break out" until her junior year. ICE and Jana could be similar. Does ICE have the patience and insight to accept that? I think Jana does.

 

[HuskyNan]

???

 

[tchalla1]

Right now we have three players who are biding their time for minutes. You have Ice Brady, Allie Ziebell and Qadance Samuels. Then you have the injured reserved in Aubrey Griffen, Caroline Ducharme and Ayanna Patterson. Ashlynn Shade, KK Arnold and Morgan Cheli are part of the rotation.

Questions! Did anyone notice the demeanor on Ice’s face when the camera zoomed by the bench during a substitution? She just looked teed off. Is she in the dog house? Only the coaches know.

We all knew at some point minutes were going to be hard to come by. Thankfully for the pitiful teams in the Big East these ladies will get fourth quarter minutes.

Back to the players on the IR. We all know that Ayanna is done for the year. Are Aubrey and Caroline actually going to return at some point this season? Coach says that Griffen is close. But we don’t know for sure.

Is it possible that the three injured players can get another year of eligibility?

We have two quality games left prior to the tournament. It will be interesting to see what group of players will be on the floor. My guess is that they will be Paige, Azzi, Kaitlyn, Sarah, Jana, KK, Ashlynn and Morgan.

Good comments, but your speculative comments on Ice and whether she's in the doghouse by a singular camera shot is quite ill-advised, and borders on wild speculation. Don't think your body of evidence to draw such a strong conclusion needs to be broader?

 

[oldhusky]

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View attachment 106306

I think one thing that was interesting was that the minutes per game did not change much after Jana got the starting position. Whether it was Ice starting early in the season, or Jana more recently, the starting C wasn't getting much more than 20 or so, with the backup maybe a few less than that, and the total falling short of 40 by a few because we occasionally went with Sarah at the 5.

Right now Ice appears to have a role that is only a little reduced by not starting. Having said that, if Jana progresses rapidly the minutes split could become a more traditional starter/backup split than the current near sharing of minutes. In addition Aubrey could influence things for Ice. Her addition creates a very real alternative of Aubrey at the 4 and Sarah at the 5 that could eat into Ice and even Jana's minutes to a degree, and there would be even less reason to use Ice and Jana together (which doesn't happen much anyway), with Ice at
the 4.

 

[WiseWillie]

1) Brady should be teed off, she can control how much PT she gets but hasn't done enough to force it. And Auriemma wants her to be teed off because like a lot of kids, she plays harder and better that way.
2) Injured players: Yes on Patterson and Ducharme, probably 2 each unless Ducharme somehow plays this year in the second half of the season. Then it would be only one for her. No on Griffin.

Injured players: Griffin is close to returning and from what was said in the pre-games looks like she may come in at today's game to definitely loud cheers. She is a gamer. Patterson we know is unfortunately out permanently for the rest of this season and while it could change it looks like Ducharme is still questionable for returning this year. So after today there will be 11 players suited up, healthy and ready, something that this team and Geno hasn't had for a while.

Geno wants Ice and/or players teed off? Probably not a bad thing especially after listening to Hurley in the post game after the loss to Crieighton when he said that the men lost because while a bunch of great young men off the court that he loves, they lack the kind of tenacity and fierceness that he sees needed on the court to win consistently. Looking at it that way, maybe having some players a little teed off is not a bad thing

 

[WiseWillie]

Injured players: Griffin is close to returning and from what was said in the pre-games looks like she may come in at today's game to definitely loud cheers. She is a gamer. Patterson we know is unfortunately out permanently for the rest of this season and while it could change it looks like Ducharme is still questionable for returning this year. So after today there will be 11 players suited up, healthy and ready, something that this team and Geno hasn't had for a while.

Geno wants Ice and/or players teed off? Probably not a bad thing especially after listening to Hurley in the post game after the loss to Crieighton when he said that the men lost because while a bunch of great young men off the court that he loves, they lack the kind of tenacity and fierceness that he sees needed on the court to win consistently. Looking at it that way, maybe having some players a little teed off is not a bad thing

correction: Make that 12 suited up and ready, not 11.

 

[Rowdy831]

UConn has a depth problem at the post position. It baffled me why they went after a guard in the portal when they really needed to go get some size even if it was just to spell the players they already have. As good as Morgan has been, and as good as Aubrey is defensively neither one of them can play the post against a decent team. I would love to see Ice start along side Jana but they absolutely need her size to come in when Jana needs to rest.

What UConn must do is get away from a third guard that is small to a second wing player with some size. I see Morgan and Aubrey as great solutions since Morgan plays such a smart game and Aubrey brings a very level of athleticism and hustly. This team has the parts to make a deep run in March but I think it isn't the parts on the floor right now.

 

[oldude]

UConn has a depth problem at the post position. It baffled me why they went after a guard in the portal when they really needed to go get some size even if it was just to spell the players they already have. As good as Morgan has been, and as good as Aubrey is defensively neither one of them can play the post against a decent team. I would love to see Ice start along side Jana but they absolutely need her size to come in when Jana needs to rest.

What UConn must do is get away from a third guard that is small to a second wing player with some size. I see Morgan and Aubrey as great solutions since Morgan plays such a smart game and Aubrey brings a very level of athleticism and hustly. This team has the parts to make a deep run in March but I think it isn't the parts on the floor right now.

I disagree on Aubrey. When she was healthy she matched up effectively with several tall posts on defense. She’s actually quite strong, with long arms and athleticism reminiscent of Gabby, who was pretty effective as a post defender.

 

[JoePgh]

UConn has a depth problem at the post position. It baffled me why they went after a guard in the portal when they really needed to go get some size even if it was just to spell the players they already have. As good as Morgan has been, and as good as Aubrey is defensively neither one of them can play the post against a decent team. I would love to see Ice start along side Jana but they absolutely need her size to come in when Jana needs to rest.

What UConn must do is get away from a third guard that is small to a second wing player with some size. I see Morgan and Aubrey as great solutions since Morgan plays such a smart game and Aubrey brings a very level of athleticism and hustly. This team has the parts to make a deep run in March but I think it isn't the parts on the floor right now.

Don't forget that Geno tried to get Reagan Beers from the portal. She was down to UConn and Oklahoma, and chose the Sooners apparently for cultural (non-basketball) reasons (very understandable in my view).

When Oklahoma lost to South Carolina yesterday (1/19) by 41 points, Beers had 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting plus 8 rebounds (albeit with 4 fouls) in just 24 minutes of play. She certainly wasn't the reason for the big Oklahoma loss. So I don't think Geno disagrees with your point of view, or that he didn't do his best over the summer to address it.

You say that neither Morgan nor Aubrey can play "the post" against a good team. Do you mean the 5 or the 4 position? I don't think either of them will be asked to play the 5 -- when Jana and Ice are on the bench, Sarah plays the 5 (in effect). Morgan and Aubrey will play the 4, and that is well within their abilities. Geno has already acknowledged that the best current line-up is the one with Sarah and Morgan in the front court, along with three guards -- but he knows that more size will be needed against some top teams, which is why he is trying to develop Jana (and Ice, to a limited degree) to play there. If that doesn't work out, he will probably bet the ranch (this year) on Sarah with Morgan or Aubrey as the "varsity" UConn front court, and see how far that goes.

 

[oldhusky]

Don't forget that Geno tried to get Reagan Beers from the portal. She was down to UConn and Oklahoma, and chose the Sooners apparently for cultural (non-basketball) reasons (very understandable in my view).

When Oklahoma lost to South Carolina yesterday (1/19) by 41 points, Beers had 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting plus 8 rebounds (albeit with 4 fouls) in just 24 minutes of play. She certainly wasn't the reason for the big Oklahoma loss. So I don't think Geno disagrees with your point of view, or that he didn't do his best over the summer to address it.

You say that neither Morgan nor Aubrey can play "the post" against a good team. Do you mean the 5 or the 4 position? I don't think either of them will be asked to play the 5 -- when Jana and Ice are on the bench, Sarah plays the 5 (in effect). Morgan and Aubrey will play the 4, and that is well within their abilities. Geno has already acknowledged that the best current line-up is the one with Sarah and Morgan in the front court, along with three guards -- but he knows that more size will be needed against some top teams, which is why he is trying to develop Jana (and Ice, to a limited degree) to play there. If that doesn't work out, he will probably bet the ranch (this year) on Sarah with Morgan or Aubrey as the "varsity" UConn front court, and see how far that goes.

As you point out we did try and got close on Beers, and I think at least tried on Iriafen and Betts the year before. We also believe we wound up second on Somfai and were in the running for a while on some other bigs. What I found surprising was there were quite a few posters here that last summer didn't want to pursue another big in the portal.

At that time we had zero proven Uconn level returning bigs. Several of the top contenders had even 4 or 5 high level bigs. We had two incoming freshmen who had obvious potential, but we needed them to be very good from the very start. Sarah has far exceeded my expectations even though I expected her to start and be very good, and Jana has probably roughly met my expectations.

I also hoped that two sophomores could show a major leap from their freshmen seasons and perform up to Uconn standards, but frankly their first year's were not very encouraging. Ayanna got injured, and Ice improved some, but I don't think she is at the level expected when she arrived. And of course we knew Aubrey (who I would consider a proven big) would miss half the year, so she wouldn't be available from the start.

Aubrey can help a lot, but continued improvement from Jana and Ice are important too, because it is what it is, these are the players that have to help Sarah get it done upfront.

 

[Bone Dog]

Don't forget that Geno tried to get Reagan Beers from the portal. She was down to UConn and Oklahoma, and chose the Sooners apparently for cultural (non-basketball) reasons (very understandable in my view).

When Oklahoma lost to South Carolina yesterday (1/19) by 41 points, Beers had 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting plus 8 rebounds (albeit with 4 fouls) in just 24 minutes of play. She certainly wasn't the reason for the big Oklahoma loss. So I don't think Geno disagrees with your point of view, or that he didn't do his best over the summer to address it.

Totally agree. And the criticism that somehow Geno doesn’t try to get bigs is absurd. Though I can understand the frustration behind it.

And Beers chose based on personal considerations of her own, and that’s the best thing to do in the larger picture of life. I wonder if she has any regrets, from a purely basketball point of view. She would probably have had a better shot at an NC in Storrs, if that matters to her. Of course, I doubt it would make any difference to her draft prospects.

 

[BobbyJ]

As you point out we did try and got close on Beers, and I think at least tried on Iriafen and Betts the year before. We also believe we wound up second on Somfai and were in the running for a while on some other bigs. What I found surprising was there were quite a few posters here that last summer didn't want to pursue another big in the portal.

At that time we had zero proven Uconn level returning bigs. Several of the top contenders had even 4 or 5 high level bigs. We had two incoming freshmen who had obvious potential, but we needed them to be very good from the very start. Sarah has far exceeded my expectations even though I expected her to start and be very good, and Jana has probably roughly met my expectations.

I also hoped that two sophomores could show a major leap from their freshmen seasons and perform up to Uconn standards, but frankly their first year's were not very encouraging. Ayanna got injured, and Ice improved some, but I don't think she is at the level expected when she arrived. And of course we knew Aubrey (who I would consider a proven big) would miss half the year, so she wouldn't be available from the start.

Aubrey can help a lot, but continued improvement from Jana and Ice are important too, because it is what it is, these are the players that have to help Sarah get it done upfront.

High level bigs. Off the top of my head there was Betts and maybe Gardiner and Dugalic at UCLA, Iriafen and Marshall at USC, Watkins and maybe Feagin at SC, Prince at TCU, Westbeld at ND, and Beers at OK. That’s all I came up with. I may have missed one somewhere. So who are these several top contenders who have 4-5 high level bigs that are so much better than UConn’s?

 

[Bone Dog]

High level bigs. Off the top of my head there was Betts and maybe Gardiner and Dugalic at UCLA, Iriafen and Marshall at USC, Watkins and maybe Feagin at SC, Prince at TCU, Westbeld at ND, and Beers at OK. That’s all I came up with. I may have missed one somewhere. So who are these several top contenders who have 4-5 high level bigs that are so much better than UConn’s?

Technically @oldhusky only said "even 4 or 5 high level bigs." In other words, he wasn't claiming that there were several teams with 4 or 5 such players. But it does look like SC had 5 before Watkins went down -- if we think Walker, Tac, Dauda, Feagin are all high level. And UCLA had Betts Gardiner Dugalic Barker and Muse. Are they all "high level"? I wouldn't think so. But there is undeniably a lot of front court depth on those two teams.

 

[ABCDFE]

Totally agree. And the criticism that somehow Geno doesn’t try to get bigs is absurd. Though I can understand the frustration behind it.

And Beers chose based on personal considerations of her own, and that’s the best thing to do in the larger picture of life. I wonder if she has any regrets, from a purely basketball point of view. She would probably have had a better shot at an NC in Storrs, if that matters to her. Of course, I doubt it would make any difference to her draft prospects.

I wish we couldve got Cardoso when she left Syracuse.

Right now our obvious weakness is the post. When we play the top teams like ND, SC, UCLA USC. I think that's when it will hurt us greatly, because you can't count on us shooting great every game in the tournament (albeit we have great shooters) and that's a lot of pressure to put on our team. There will be need to be some good post play to help put points on the board either on post moves or offensive rebounding put backs, especially when the ball's not falling through the hoop. I'm not saying that a predominantly guard/shooting heavy team can't win it all, its just the percentage aren't as great as a team with more balance.

 

[BobbyJ]

Technically @oldhusky only said "even 4 or 5 high level bigs." In other words, he wasn't claiming that there were several teams with 4 or 5 such players. But it does look like SC had 5 before Watkins went down -- if we think Walker, Tac, Dauda, Feagin are all high level. And UCLA had Betts Gardiner Dugalic Barker and Muse. Are they all "high level"? I wouldn't think so. But there is undeniably a lot of front court depth on those two teams.

Read his second sentence in the second paragraph again, that's exactly what he said. And high level bigs play serious minutes in close games. Walker, Tac, Dauda, and Muse hardly play other than comfortable wins. Barker is a useful piece off the bench. In a competitive game against Baylor today, Dugalic and Gardiner played 13 and 14 min. and combined for 5 pts and 3 reb. None of these are high level bigs.

 

[oldhusky]

Read his second sentence in the second paragraph again, that's exactly what he said. And high level bigs play serious minutes in close games. Walker, Tac, Dauda, and Muse hardly play other than comfortable wins. Barker is a useful piece off the bench. In a competitive game against Baylor today, Dugalic and Gardiner played 13 and 14 min. and combined for 5 pts and 3 reb. None of these are high level bigs.

Let me elaborate a bit. I did mean there are several teams, at least over the last few years, that have had 4-5 high quality bigs, but your definition of high quality might be different from mine. I could see an argument against Walker and Tac, but to me Dauda, Gardiner, and certainly Dugalic would easily meet the high quality big definition.

Regardless let me give a few examples of what I meant. Using this year's SC team you have Edwards, Kitts, Feagan, Watkins (injured), Dauda, Walker and Tac. Dauda was a player some wanted us to pursue in the portal, Walker was a JC All American, and Tac was a pretty high recruit we had some interest in as well. Even if you don't include any of those three that is a very good foursome.

The 22/23 SC team had Boston, Cardosa, Saxton, Feagin, Watkins and Kitts, and I didn't even include Amihere who at 6-4 could play the 4 but often was on the wing. Another might be the 22/23 Stanford team with Brink, Betts, Iriafen, Belbi who can and did dunk in games, and a 6-5 C in Prechtel that could shoots 3's, and of course Haley Jones could also play the 4 if she needed to. Both of those teams had a 6-7 future All American level backup C, behind another even better C.

Our last championship team had 5 high level bigs. Behind Stewie and Tuck we had the best player on the French Silver medalist team in Gabby, who played the 4 for us, the WNBA's second place player in the MVP race in Pheesa, and a player in Natalie Butler who after transferring merely led the nation in rebounding her final season.

It's rare to get that much talent for the two big positions, but when a team can pull it off, they will certainly be among the very top contenders and with our injury history trying to get at least 4 and ideally 5, should be a consistent goal even if it is difficult to achieve IMO.

 

[msf22b]

Returning to the original topic, that of the supporting cast
There is one member of the starting unit who gets less ink than anyone and is frequently forgotten...our grad student via Princeton; Kaitlyn Chen.

There's one part of her game that no ones's seen (at UConn)...her scoring prowess...
I suppose we may never experience it in a game...
or Perhaps Geno's keeping it in wraps for an NCAA's surprise (semi-joke)

But it's always there, lurking...and I've been waiting all season for the right moment for it to emerge.

 

[BobbyJ]

As you point out we did try and got close on Beers, and I think at least tried on Iriafen and Betts the year before. We also believe we wound up second on Somfai and were in the running for a while on some other bigs. What I found surprising was there were quite a few posters here that last summer didn't want to pursue another big in the portal.

At that time we had zero proven Uconn level returning bigs. Several of the top contenders had even 4 or 5 high level bigs. We had two incoming freshmen who had obvious potential, but we needed them to be very good from the very start. Sarah has far exceeded my expectations even though I expected her to start and be very good, and Jana has probably roughly met my expectations.

I also hoped that two sophomores could show a major leap from their freshmen seasons and perform up to Uconn standards, but frankly their first year's were not very encouraging. Ayanna got injured, and Ice improved some, but I don't think she is at the level expected when she arrived. And of course we knew Aubrey (who I would consider a proven big) would miss half the year, so she wouldn't be available from the start.

Aubrey can help a lot, but continued improvement from Jana and Ice are important too, because it is what it is, these are the players that have to help Sarah get it done upfront.

Note the bolded lines above. SC and Stanford stockpiling forwards in a couple of recent seasons and UConn having frontline depth 9 years ago has nothing to do with the timeframe you used here. "Last summer" and "at that time", "several top contenders" did not have 4 or 5 high level bigs and still don't. You are correct, your definition of high level bigs is considerably lower than mine. To me, high level= high impact in competitive games. Not HS ranking hype, potential, or early season stats against cupcake opponents. I don't set high expectations on that stuff and then get disappointed. I wait until they've proven they can compete and succeed against serious college competition. Like Sarah Strong has.

 

[packwrap]

Nice discussion here.

With the players we have, the question will come down to who will we want to play at 4 and 5 from this year's team against an SC, UCLA or TX?

The logical answer seems to be Jana and Ice because THEY ARE TALL.

...but the right answer may be Aubrey, Morgan and Sarah because they are quick on their feet, tough and excellent defenders.

It will probably be a mix, using Jana and Ice to absorb some fouls.

We are actually lucky that 1) Sarah has turned out so good, so fast - and works very hard on improving her defense. 2) Aubrey is back showing speed and athletics already in game #1. 3) Morgan biggest surprise, in that she was billed as a guard, but she is better than competent at 4,5 spots 4) Jana and Ice do keep improving every game with their 18-23 minutes.

I agree that center is indeed our weak spot, but I am thrilled that we now have a rotation of 5 frontcourt players to work around this problem.

 

[Bone Dog]

center is indeed our weak spot, but I am thrilled that we now have a rotation of 5 frontcourt players to work around this problem.

Yup. My thinking too. SC’s frontcourt consists of Feagin Kitts Edwards Dauda Tac Walker, but only the first three get any significant minutes. We have Sarah Jana Ice Morgan Aubrey.

If Dawn sticks to her smaller frontcourt (Feagin Kitts Edwards) I expect Geno will still play his regular rotation but may favor more of Aubrey and Morgan. Their unit has lots of experience and packs some punch on offense and defense. But matchups matter, and they don’t matchup well with Sarah, especially with Jana on the court. For example, will Kitts defend Sarah on the perimeter? If everything happens in the lane, the advantage is definitely theirs. But Sarah and Morgan don’t have to play that way.

The deeper problem SC poses is that though the frontcourt is our weak spot, as you say, their real strength is their backcourt. We tend to overcome our weakness with overwhelming effort in our backcourt. But I don’t think SC’s backcourt can be overwhelmed.