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Message: [QUOTE="EricLA, post: 2293719, member: 26"] LOL! Well, I'm not sure I have the answer but I'll give it a shot... There are very few teams who have 6'4" or 6'5" TRUE centers - big players who have no shot outside of 3' around the basket (basically layups). UCONN almost ran the tables last year with no post player taller than 6'1". They did it with Gabby and Napheesa patrolling the paint - sometimes 1 on 1, sometimes double teaming. And in spite of that, with virtually no bench depth, they were a hair away from the NC game. When I talk about depth, I am referring to legit players who Geno could rely on in big games. Last year he basically went 6 deep, 7 if you count Butler. Against Miss State, Butler logged only 6 minutes. Danger logged 17 minutes. This year IMHO he will have 9 legit players who he will be able to rely on in big games - 4 returning stars of Nurse, Pheesa, KLS, and Gabby. Then 4 top level newbies in Azura, Batouly, Megan and Mikayla. And then sophomore leap from Danger. I am not discounting contributions from the other 4 - AEH, Gordon, Bent or Irwin, but unless they come to campus showing something dramatic that we've never seen before, they won't see the court against the likes of SC, Texas, Baylor, ND, Stanford, OSU, etc. Regardless of who you think starts, we add 2 players 6'2" or taller. I don't know how Geno will deploy his defense, but given that we don't have Charli Collier this year (a true post presence), Geno will have to mix and match. UCONN has traditionally had the best defense of any team in WCBB, and it's something they do literally every year. Without the luxury of a 6'5" true center, as usual, Geno will be the master of getting his team to play the best defense in the nation, and that's not even counting the danger these kids will present for other teams on offense. The talent we have is so superior to every other team out there that even a lesser coach could probably win the NC with that. THAT'S how confident I am of this team. [/QUOTE]

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