UCONN...High level talent...

[cbraarj]

There are several valid points made in this thread and then again several ones that are questionable. I am highlighting what I think are the major ones. For ONO to have a bigger body at the 4 position next year beside her, even if only part time, will definitely improve her game immediately, both offensively and defensively. There are countless examples of the bigger pair underneath in both men's and women's basketball. On the other hand, the assertion that women's basketball is still a guard's game is questionable. The last 3 NCs have been Baylor with Kelani Brown at 6'7", Lauren Cox at 6'4", and N. Smith at 6'2" underneath, ND with B Turner at 6'3" and Jessica Shepard at 6'4", and SC with A'Ja Wilson at a solid 6'4" and she was not alone. While ND won it because of the play of Arike, they would not have been in that position without the big bodies. The players have become bigger, more mobile and stronger in women's basketball year after year and the necessity of a larger inside game was never more evident than in our two losses this season. I would put our guards, which really includes Meg, CD, CW and Ania, against anyone in the country, including Oregon, but you can't shoot 3s and jumpers and win against layups, offensive rebounds and put backs and command of the defensive glass. Oregon's bigs killed us and so did Baylor's. I also think it incorrect to say that Meg is a bad passer because of her turnovers. She is second on the team in assists, only 9 in total behind CD. Many of her turnovers, which she is surely working on, were not passes but rather dribbling miscues, walks, or just losing the ball. She does throw errant passes but usually against the zone when she is trying to force and her passes can get away from her. Expect to see a lot of zone from here on in. It's the best way to defend a smaller, faster team all of which goes back to the lack of size dimension. There is still a lot of basketball left. The goal here is for this team, with the inherent weaknesses that have been very well pointed out in this thread, to be as good as it can be come mid March. The question is whether that will be enough to get us to the FF if we have to play one of the bigger, higher ranked teams in the Elite 8. I trust Geno and crew to get us there. He has a pretty decent track record.

Turner missed the NC season with Notre Dame!

 

[JoePgh]

... While ND won it because of the play of Arike, they would not have been in that position without the big bodies. The players have become bigger, more mobile and stronger in women's basketball year after year and the necessity of a larger inside game was never more evident than in our two losses this season. I would put our guards, which really includes Meg, CD, CW and Ania, against anyone in the country, including Oregon, but you can't shoot 3s and jumpers and win against layups, offensive rebounds and put backs and command of the defensive glass. Oregon's bigs killed us and so did Baylor's.

Regarding your assertions about the importance of height, please see the "Evidence vs. Prejudice" thread and my post there. You do not support your assertion (bolded above) with any statistical evidence. In my opinion, statistical evidence to support this claim is completely missing in the Baylor game and dubious in the Oregon game.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

UCONN has plenty of bigs lined up for the next 3 years so the lack of height shouldn't be an issue after this year provided kids develop.

And UCONN recently struggled big time with ONO in the lineup against Tennessee. It wasn't until they sat her in the 2nd half when UCONN went on its big run. Didn't work out as well last night when they pulled her against a much better team but was worth a shot. Hebard was scoring at will against ONO in the first half too so her size wasn't that big of a difference

I think we'll have to wait two years before a really impressive big arrives. Not looking like a great post player next year.

 

[Steelerone]

Yes, this team needs more size, but what I'm most disappointed in the team this year is Evelyn Adebayo has not been the player she was last year. She hasn't been productive when playing the lower tier AAC teams which is similar to the teams she played against last year at Murray St. I had visions that she would be the 5th starter by mid season and help with rebounding and scoring low post baskets. It obvious when she's on the floor, she doesn't know the offense and appears to be thinking where should I be or what should I be doing now. Now I'm hoping that Batouly Camara will be healthy and productive off the bench in the last eight games of the Regular Season. IMO the team needs Evelyn and/or Batouly to contribute if the team is to get to the Final Four.

I think that Adebayo was an addition by subtraction. We have had a number of players recruited transfer out of the program. I am not sure of the reason for this. Perhaps lack of playing time, maybe homesickness, even a conflict with a coach or coachs. At any rate they are gone and someone was needed for the bench and with the time element involved she was brought in. She was not recruited by Geno while in high school for the simple reason that she was considered a three star player. As for Batouly, given the history of injuries does anyone really see her ever making any type of contribution. This is not said as a negativity. This young lady has suffered throughout her entire career and is still trying but the clock is running out.

 

[Steelerone]

UConn has had some pretty big recruiting misses over the last few years as far as post players but you've also had successes (i.e. snatching ONO from SC, which in turn probably lead to SC turning up the heat on Boston and landing her). Recruiting is all about getting what you can get in that moment, sure you have to look ahead to the future but you go into it knowing that what you land in one class may affect what you land in the next.. The days of UConn landing whoever it wants and stocking the bench with top 10 D1 players are mostly gone, in my opinion.. there are just too many options and too many good players now.

The woes in the paint are real, I get it. But it'll be short lived.. you have a strong wing in Aaliyah Edwards on the way and two versatile posts in Deberry and Brady coming in the following years.

Not to mention... you have Paige Bueckers already in the bag and Azzi Fudd will more than likely head that way as well. College is still a guard's game in my opinion and you have one of the best in a long time heading that way next year and another one probably the year after.

SC, I agree with everything you've said except for college still being a guard's game. I believe that the woman's game has evolved in the past few years beginning with Baylor and then extending to Mississippi State, South Carolina and Oregon. The young women coming in are on the same path as the men have been for the past several years, bigger and more mobile for their size. It's natures evolvement and it has hit the women's game.

 

[HuskyNan]

I think we'll have to wait two years before a really impressive big arrives. Not looking like a great post player next year.

Geez, already? Give Piath a chance, would ya?

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

On the other hand, the assertion that women's basketball is still a guard's game is questionable. The last 3 NCs have been Baylor with Kelani Brown at 6'7", Lauren Cox at 6'4", and N. Smith at 6'2" underneath, ND with B Turner at 6'3" and Jessica Shepard at 6'4", and SC with A'Ja Wilson at a solid 6'4" and she was not alone. While ND won it because of the play of Arike, they would not have been in that position without the big bodies. The players have become bigger, more mobile and stronger in women's basketball year after year and the necessity of a larger inside game was never more evident than in our two losses this season. I would put our guards, which really includes Meg, CD, CW and Ania, against anyone in the country, including Oregon, but you can't shoot 3s and jumpers and win against layups, offensive rebounds and put backs and command of the defensive glass. Oregon's bigs killed us and so did Baylor's.

Brianna Turner was injured during 2017-18, so she did not play during the year Notre Dame won the title.

SC won the title after Alaina Coates was injured and did not make the tournament, as the lane was not nearly as clogged with two bigs allowing Aja Wilson to roam and operate.

Cox and Brown have completely different skillsets, with one having more perimeter skills and allowing Baylor to utilize a high/low.

It is incorrect to simply label Sabally, Hebard, and Boley as "bigs" to end a discussion, when they have vastly different skillsets. They happen to be taller players, but the similarities end there when examining their respective skills and abilities.

 

[Plebe]

Speak for yourself. Some of us aren't spoiled. In part because we dont look at 2 seaons's of 36-1 whereby losing in last seconds as "painful" in the manner than you are implying. Unless you mean "heartbreaking" = "Painful?"

Sorry but I think there are a lot of us who appreciate 36-1 teams and FF teams. That's awesome/ It's not title or bust for some of us. That's the coaches problems. .

I think the problem with some posters is that they are trying too hard to be "Coach Auriemma." Yes talk about his tactics and everything - which is fun talk. But for anyone to suggest "He has lost it" / "has got to change" or calling UCONN "painful" other than referring to "heartbreaking losses" overall then I think those fans/posters are in part or in combo spoiled or trying too hard to be the coach.

Years ago - I love Bob Picozzi but he was calling a game and the opposing team who wasn't very good in a not os close game scored a basket on a fastbreak. He said "UCONN fans can't be happy about that." I always thought that comment odd in a game UCONN was winning comfortably. He felt the need to highlight that on TV as if I was a coach. But I'm not a coach. I don't have to be told that I should be unhappy about 1 play in a game the opposing makes while UCONN is comfortably winning.

Same with the past 4 years - yeah we're flawed - but I can still appreciate a Final Four Team even if they don't go "197-0. "

I probably didn't express myself well. I would be the last one to suggest Geno has "lost it." I only meant to echo Geno's own statements about how some recruiting misses have been impactful. I am (as the kids say) "ride or die" with UConn and Geno.

Of course they're not going to win every single year, I get that, and I love and appreciate every team and every player for their effort. The 2017 season was in some ways the most exhilarating because no one expected the team to be as great as they were. The fact that the season ended as it did doesn't nullify the 36 wins that came before it.

If my use of the word "painful" was so objectionable, I'm sorry. I do believe I meant it in exactly the same way you use "heartbreaking" to describe a loss.

 

[BBallF]

Turner missed the NC season with Notre Dame!

True and my mistake. But she didn't miss the following year when they went to the Finals again and the year before Nelson at 6'4" and Westbeld at 6'2" were available for Notre Dame. The point is the importance of size now in the women's game and that it is not a "guard's game" anymore.

 

[BBallF]

Regarding your assertions about the importance of height, please see the "Evidence vs. Prejudice" thread and my post there. You do not support your assertion (bolded above) with any statistical evidence. In my opinion, statistical evidence to support this claim is completely missing in the Baylor game and dubious in the Oregon game.

Disagree respectfully. Basketball is not simply about statistics because there are plays, trends, changes, that take place in a game that don't show up in a stat sheet but that you see. I think that Nalyssa Smith getting 20 points and 12 rebounds with most of her points around the rim and Lauren Cox getting 16 points and 6 boards is statistical evidence. I also think that Ruthy Hebard getting 22 and 12 and mostly scoring in the paint and Sebally having 17 and 10 are pretty good stats to back up the assertion that their bigs killed us. In both games their bigs altered shots as well which is not in any stats but that you can see. It's not just height either, it's width, power and strength both of which we lack now although I think Meg is a strong 6'1". In the second half, size and strength become even more decisive.

 

[BBallF]

Brianna Turner was injured during 2017-18, so she did not play during the year Notre Dame won the title.

SC won the title after Alaina Coates was injured and did not make the tournament, as the lane was not nearly as clogged with two bigs allowing Aja Wilson to roam and operate.

Cox and Brown have completely different skillsets, with one having more perimeter skills and allowing Baylor to utilize a high/low.

It is incorrect to simply label Sabally, Hebard, and Boley as "bigs" to end a discussion, when they have vastly different skillsets. They happen to be taller players, but the similarities end there when examining their respective skills and abilities.

 

[BBallF]

Sebally had 17 and 10 and Hebard had 22 and 12. Of course their skill sets are different but one thing that doesn't vary between them- they are both 6'4" and got double-doubles against us and 6'4' is still a "big" in our current women's game. I'm sorry, but I don't see how you can not give significant importance in this game to the differential in size and power and our inability to offset it with a high outside shooting % since our inside game and driving game was very limited by their defensive presence. How many shots of ours, especially in going to the basket were altered by their size?

 

[hoophuskee]

I probably didn't express myself well. I would be the last one to suggest Geno has "lost it." I only meant to echo Geno's own statements about how some recruiting misses have been impactful. I am (as the kids say) "ride or die" with UConn and Geno.

Of course they're not going to win every single year, I get that, and I love and appreciate every team and every player for their effort. The 2017 season was in some ways the most exhilarating because no one expected the team to be as great as they were. The fact that the season ended as it did doesn't nullify the 36 wins that came before it.

If my use of the word "painful" was so objectionable, I'm sorry. I do believe I meant it in exactly the same way you use "heartbreaking" to describe a loss.

I wish I can give your post 10 likes. I was wondering about "painful." Yeah heartbreaking.

 

[BBallF]

SC, I agree with everything you've said except for college still being a guard's game. I believe that the woman's game has evolved in the past few years beginning with Baylor and then extending to Mississippi State, South Carolina and Oregon. The young women coming in are on the same path as the men have been for the past several years, bigger and more mobile for their size. It's natures evolvement and it has hit the women's game.

That is exactly the point I was making earlier. It is no longer a guard's game and we are a team of guards this year with Meg, CD, CW, Ania and Aubrey playing against top tier teams with size and power in their front courts. While we are at it, Aubrey has been criticized unfairly lately here. She is a young freshman playing against women who are often 3 years older than her and the best in the country. She is making great strides from the beginning of the season and as Geno has said has "unique gifts". I saw her at Seton Hall earlier this year. You can't do what she did in that game without those physical gifts. Plus she has the lineage. She isn't Maya Moore or Stewie and the expectations of her in these posts is not realistic at all. She will develop quicker than usual IMO because she has seen so much action this year but it is a process that you can't shift into light speed simply because we have certain needs right now. Huge future upside for her and Ania too.

 

[hoophuskee]

Let's be more direct; Aubrey can't make a shot, shoot free throws, or finish lay-ups. Until she can do all three, there is no point having her on the floor. Most of the turnovers she generates ( which are exciting and encouraging) are simply given right back, due to her offensive inadequacy. Sorry to say, but unless she materially adds to her game, she is trending toward being a fabulous athlete who is a terrible basketball player. The energy she brings to a game is welcome, but she isn't accomplishing anything of value.

Someone please explain to me why a superstar in high school ....all of a sudden ( same court, same basket, same ball ) ....can't make a shot, a free throw, or finish her lay-ups.

I don't get it. But it is what we are seeing.

And your answer is not allowed to be, " she's just a freshman." There are freshman all around the country who are making significant contributions. Regularly.

You are asking the wrong question imo. Did you watch the Tennessee game? Why are you ignoring that game?

 

[Husky fanatic]

Geez, already? Give Piath a chance, would ya?

Miracles do happen

 

[HopJim]

Regarding Geno's recent lack of recruiting of strong inside/rebounding players we may want to compare him to Belichick. Few would doubt that BB is one of the best, if not the best, pro football coaches in history but he has tended to whiff on wide receivers. Even with the new recruits with size coming in, it will likely take them at least 1-2 years to be fully productive. This will mean its will be about 6 years since Geno had powerful inside talent.

To make it worse, in todays game its helpful to have 2 inside players like Stewie and Tuck who can both defend and rebound. Geno done great job with 5'11" to 6'1 athletes like Gabby, Collier, and Megan but while getting close, has recently lost in NCAA's. Doesn't detract from Geno still being the Goat, doesn't mean we don't still have one of the top teams in US, but we have gone a long time since we had a women's Huskie team with balanced talent.

 

[HuskyNan]

Miracles do happen

Stef Dolson’s AAU coach told me she would be “a good role player” for UConn. He’d seen her play for several years and wasn’t sure she was a UConn-level player. Then Stef went to work, got stronger & leaner and learned how to make the most of the abilities she’d been given. She and Geno were probably the only ones that weren’t surprised by the transformation.

I’m withholding judgement on anyone’s abilities until she’s had a chance to develop them. Piath is just a senior in high school right now, for heaven’s sake. Let her at least try to improve before deciding what kind of player she is.

Man, how do some of you guys get through the day seeing doom & gloom everywhere?

 

[Longtime fan]

Stef Dolson’s AAU coach told me she would be “a good role player” for UConn. He’d seen her play for several years and wasn’t sure she was a UConn-level player. Then Stef went to work, got stronger & leaner and learned how to make the most of the abilities she’d been given. She and Geno were probably the only ones that weren’t surprised by the transformation.

I’m withholding judgement on anyone’s abilities until she’s had a chance to develop them. Piath is just a senior in high school right now, for heaven’s sake. Let her at least try to improve before deciding what kind of player she is.

Man, how do some of you guys get through the day seeing doom & gloom everywhere?

Many of us do see gloom and doom everywhere. It is called " protective pessimism." If we expect nothing, we shall never be disappointed.

 

[Plebe]

UConn has had some pretty big recruiting misses over the last few years as far as post players but you've also had successes (i.e. snatching ONO from SC, which in turn probably lead to SC turning up the heat on Boston and landing her). Recruiting is all about getting what you can get in that moment, sure you have to look ahead to the future but you go into it knowing that what you land in one class may affect what you land in the next.. The days of UConn landing whoever it wants and stocking the bench with top 10 D1 players are mostly gone, in my opinion.. there are just too many options and too many good players now.

I'm sorry but it's simply a myth that UConn has always "landed whoever it wants and stocked the bench with top 10 D1 players." There's a long list of recruits that Geno has tried hard for and missed on: Tamika Catchings and Nicky Anosike and the Ogwumikes are just some of the more prominent names that come to mind in this moment (I haven't followed recruiting that closely in the past). With the exception of just a few seasons, UConn's been known for having a short bench that was hardly "stocked with top 10 players".

Not sure how you figure that UConn "snatched ONO from SC" -- was she presumed to be a SC recruit?

 

[Zanzman]

Many of us do see gloom and doom everywhere. It is called " protective pessimism." If we expect nothing, we shall never be disappointed.

Expect nothing really .... if theydont blow everybody out or god forbid lose your over the top on what’s wrong with Geno and every player is under achieving

 

[SCGamecock]

I'm sorry but it's simply a myth that UConn has always "landed whoever it wants and stocked the bench with top 10 D1 players." There's a long list of recruits that Geno has tried hard for and missed on: Tamika Catchings and Nicky Anosike and the Ogwumikes are just some of the more prominent names that come to mind in this moment (I haven't followed recruiting that closely in the past). With the exception of just a few seasons, UConn's been known for having a short bench that was hardly "stocked with top 10 players".

Not sure how you figure that UConn "snatched ONO from SC" -- was she presumed to be a SC recruit?

She was.

 

[CocoHusky]

Not sure how you figure that UConn "snatched ONO from SC" -- was she presumed to be a SC recruit?

She was.

South Carolina was a close second for both ONO and Christyn Williams. Not sure what the deciding factors were but if you recall ONO has aspirations of being a doctor. On ONO's recruiting visit to South Carolina (or was it Duke?) they arranged for her to watch an actual surgery being performed. Williams had a disastrous recruiting trip to UCLA something to do with a bad bike ride along the beach or something. After Christyn had narrowed down her choices and taken some official visit she suddenly added back SC back into the mix and took an official visit there. Jolette Law coming on staff at SC was thought to be the reason Christyn added SC back into the mix. Kind of ironic, without ONO and Christyn UCONN would be closer to where ND is today. I think ONO being at UCONN had a lot to do with Boston being at SC today.

 

[Charliebball]

She was.

if I remember correctly Dawn pulled some strings to get ONO into the USC Hospital to watch a surgical procedure while on recruiting visit there...........Gamecock fans thought they had her locked up just like UConn fans thought they had Ms Boston........

 

[RedStickHusky]

Haha thank you for that as well. I was born and raised (and currently live) in Texas, and both are similarly grating to the soul!

Not to confuse the issue but my West Texas in-laws always referred to Oklahoma as UT Norman...