Another of my non-UConn favorite players to watch went down this week – Stephanie Soares ISU Cyclones – out for the season with an ACL against Oklahoma.
I’m not an expert, but I watch and have watched for a long time and when we lose nationally-known players to injury it impacts the fan base as well as the programs & players. The women’s program is not as mature as the men’s with endless fans and unlimited air-time.
I’d love to see officials tighten up the game. Stop loose ball scrambles before there are 5 players thrashing about on the floor. Call the hard/intentional fouls that put players on the court. Manage the physicality of play when over-matched coaches play “physical” because they can’t compete on talent and toss elbows, hips, knees out of camera range to slow down a better skilled opponent – which I believe is commonplace against Connecticut. Some programs/coaches are notorious for physical play that verges on “cheap” especially when games are out-of-reach (not citing any UConn nemesis in particular).
Hopefully our injury plague of the last two seasons is an anomaly and we will regress to the mean health-wise, but it certainly should open some eyes as to how vulnerable our success is and the media value of our stars – and the star players we compete against.
Can’t control practice, can’t control Covid, but call the fouls and manage games to protect the players and our enjoyment watching them play.
My two cents.
I’m not an expert, but I watch and have watched for a long time and when we lose nationally-known players to injury it impacts the fan base as well as the programs & players. The women’s program is not as mature as the men’s with endless fans and unlimited air-time.
I’d love to see officials tighten up the game. Stop loose ball scrambles before there are 5 players thrashing about on the floor. Call the hard/intentional fouls that put players on the court. Manage the physicality of play when over-matched coaches play “physical” because they can’t compete on talent and toss elbows, hips, knees out of camera range to slow down a better skilled opponent – which I believe is commonplace against Connecticut. Some programs/coaches are notorious for physical play that verges on “cheap” especially when games are out-of-reach (not citing any UConn nemesis in particular).
Hopefully our injury plague of the last two seasons is an anomaly and we will regress to the mean health-wise, but it certainly should open some eyes as to how vulnerable our success is and the media value of our stars – and the star players we compete against.
Can’t control practice, can’t control Covid, but call the fouls and manage games to protect the players and our enjoyment watching them play.
My two cents.
