UConn: Accelerated development of key pieces amid chaos | Page 3 | The Boneyard

UConn: Accelerated development of key pieces amid chaos

Even with Paige the team started the season disjointed, a far cry of what they had become towards the end of last season. With Paige’s injury along with those of Nika and Azzi, things got much worse even with three seniors who contributed mightily last year and a Canadian Olympian, also a key player then. Then, the unexpected happened: the freshman Caroline began showing how she could contribute: as one of the pieces that Coach had been anticipating with these year’s freshmen…..an important element of the positionless basketball team he thought might come to pass. She became the team’s top scorer in the absence of the two expected to be. This was then followed by the graduate newcomer, Dorka, as she began to adjust to how the team plays.

On her return Nika helped restore the balance of the team and its play began to stabilize. Still even as Nika, then Azzi returned, misfortunes continued: last-minute scratch of Christyn at Oregon, followed by Caroline’s injury and then an even a later scratch of Olivia against Villanova kept the rotation short. This continued their prolonged crucible for mental growth even as they worked on team play. But I submit they suffered a collective depression just before the tipoff in the Villanova game and it took them three quarters to pull themselves together mentally. The absence of Caroline and Olivia put Azzi in a pressure situation, but as expected she has delivered magnificently. Then Dorka, also suffering from minor injury since the season began, joined the deliverance. The growing mental strength is becoming evident as well, even in the 4Q of the Villanova game.

On half-court offense, this still has no fluidity and lacking in motion offense. This is to be expected from the revolving door of players but there are little signs that these are coming. But the defense has been improving a lot in the last two games. Coaching? Attacking DePaul in the post from the beginning when UConn went small was excellent strategy. With only six in the rotation and Marquette being a bigger team with constant motion offense, Coach did not want them to be in foul trouble, so he waited for the 4Q to turn them loose on defense. Nika stuck to the PG like a glue and everyone was active. Marquette had no answer.

Paige, Olivia and Caroline will be back soon. I am not certain that there is enough time to become a well-oiled, positionless team but each of the 9 players that would be part of the rotation have now shown what they can do and are getting better. Together, I see them equipped to face any team without fear IF they continue in this current growth trend. They have looked that determined lately….determined not to lose any game. And, I can’t wait to see Paige and Azzi together at crunch time….Azzi is really, really good!

And so, I double down on my prediction that the misfortunes will lead to NC 12!!!
I liked the historical presentation of events leading up to where UCWCBB stands as of today, well done. The next to the last paragraph, not so much.
These kids played 4 quarters as Geno had practiced them. I saw lots of movement, sometimes stupid me, I thought too much movement. For 3 quarters theses well conditioned kids, albeit lots of injuries, kept moving, cutting, blocking, picking, but moving. AZZI in the last game in the 3rd and 4th quarter made me nervous she couldn't stop moving, cutting, scoring. When CD is in she's fluid motion personified. The same is true of Dorka, Nika, Edwards. Obviously the post players are closer to the basket on D, but even then they are moving and out to the 3 point line defending. With a limited bench, almost no bench, how do they do it?? Amazing these Uconn ladies, Amazing.
 
I wanted to weigh in on this topic because it is an important one. According to sports psychologists, a common psychological response to a serious injury is fear of reinjury. How that plays out in any individual athlete is of course unique to that individual. One of the factors here that is different from an injury occurring outside the sport is that Paige's injury was a non-contact one so it is not the same as a bad foul or being pushed while landing from a fast break lay up. She knows how it happened.

Yes, she is truly a rare athlete but I also think that she will not be immune from those thoughts. My take on her is that she will overcome that issue quickly because she has been injured before and knows the process back. I do agree however that we will not have the pre-injury Paige back immediately. It just doesn't work that way. There are timing issues, strength issues, conditioning issues and the like. Just her presence though will have a synergistic on this team as will the return of Liv and Caroline.

Although we may not see a pre-injury Paige again this year, even an 80-90% Paige makes this team a quantum leap better. I mean, I remember when MJ played with what we now know was food poisoning. He was maybe not even 80% but it was more than enough to win. The great ones just do that.
Thank you
 
I think accelerated development could apply to Liv this year as well as Caroline and Azzi. You could maybe also factor assimilation improvement for Dorka in finding her role on the team. They all have developed in one way or another but since the beginning of the year we are probably seeing the biggest team enhancements from that group.
May I observe, Dorka isn't finding a role. The role was earned and Geno directed her efforts to earn it. That role obviously is hers. Assimilation is the hard one. It takes the new kid and 13 or so "veterans" to work toward "assimilation", but this team, and to Dorka's credit , have done it well. I think this Polish lady is happy to be a Husky lady.
 
Let me put this Paige thing to rest Paige will be back soon.
 
When Paige went down, Evina and Christyn were the only options to score besides herself. Dorka was still trying to define her role, and Azzi and Caroline were nonfactors. When Paige comes back, she won't have to do as much as she did before the injury. Right now, Nika can spell her at the point so she doesn't have to play 38-40 minutes. Scoring, well the emergence of Caroline, and the return of Azzi will give her fire power that she did not have before, even last year. Also, the fact that Nika was able to run the team at the point, nobody had to play out of position, so her return will not upset the flow of the team. Another thing that will be significant is that Paige has been on the bench almost the entire time, so she is familiar with Carolines moves and tendences, and Azzi, well since she spends most of her summers with Azzi, I think she will have no problem meshing with her. The point is, Paige doesn't have to be the same player she was before (now that is) the injury. Just having her out there will change the complexion of the game, and if she plays as smart as we know she is, then this could be an exciting end to this season.
 
I liked the historical presentation of events leading up to where UCWCBB stands as of today, well done. The next to the last paragraph, not so much.
These kids played 4 quarters as Geno had practiced them. I saw lots of movement, sometimes stupid me, I thought too much movement. For 3 quarters theses well conditioned kids, albeit lots of injuries, kept moving, cutting, blocking, picking, but moving. AZZI in the last game in the 3rd and 4th quarter made me nervous she couldn't stop moving, cutting, scoring. When CD is in she's fluid motion personified. The same is true of Dorka, Nika, Edwards. Obviously the post players are closer to the basket on D, but even then they are moving and out to the 3 point line defending. With a limited bench, almost no bench, how do they do it?? Amazing these Uconn ladies, Amazing.
There is movement and there is timing of movements to create offense and convert.....they are trying - following coaching orders, I would say - but the last set of player movements on half court that led to effective offense that was beautiful to watch were last seen with Gabby as playmaker and towards the end of last year before the FF. Lately, some players are getting in sync more.....product of more run of games, to be sure.

They still tend to be static for too long sometimes
 
Here's my concern and I'll probably explain it poorly. The healthy kids are all very talented. Let's say UConn gets Paige, Liv and Caroline back, also very talented. All this talent needs to mesh like the gears of a Rolex watch to win number 12. If it's disjointed like at the beginning of the year, raw talent alone may be good enough (with a little luck) to get to the FF. But if you want the NC, the gears have to mesh on offense and defense. While concerned, I think it can happen, if I didn't, I wouldn't be much of a fan...
I agree with everything you said here. And especially what you say "as a fan . . ."

And definitely Paige, Liv and Caroline, -- they need time to work with each other and the entire team. The team is much different now for example that Azzi is taking on a bigger role (which affect for example CWill differently than when Ducharme was playing a bigger role. CWill can play differently with Azzi than with CD in some instances. Then add in Dorka's improvement . . . again chnages.). And talent alone may not be good enough. All-star teams struggle to work. Familiarity of everyone playing together in a style of play that a team works on year over year/over the course of this year is sub-par vs nearly every other team. - i.e. "not much time with all the players. So many that are so important have been out." Lost time for that much is not "good."

It's not as much "fear" as a fan. It's just that I think some fans expectations will be unreasonable.

With all that said- "Let's go get 'em (the opposing teams)!!!"
 
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That sounds very much like a Casey Stengel quote. I believe his exact quote was, “I never make predictions, especially about the future.”
Actually, i sort of thought it was a Yogiism, but did a little checking its origin has been attributed to any number of folks; sports figures, politicians, authors, even ol' Sam Clemons!
 

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