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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 4876630, member: 12088"] This is an intriguing way of thinking about a game, though it’s a “fan’s eye view” of things. Players and coaches don’t think about differences from the previous year’s team. But it’s still worth it for us to think about. I’d add the “puzzle piece” element. Dawn had put together a juggernaut last year, the culmination of a 4 year run with essentially the same core group, the freshies. Raven and Kamila were additions and Henny a subtraction from this core group. This was one of Dawn’s most impressive achievements in team building. To complete the image, [I]she’d put the puzzle together.[/I] Geno had put together what could have been the primary competition to Dawn’s magnificent team. And then it was dismantled by injuries and [I]Geno had to reshuffle his puzzle pieces for the second year in a row to produce a competitive team.[/I] That game was probably their high point after the injuries hit. Every UConn fan wonders what could have been with more than one perimeter threat. But Geno and his players didn’t waste time on such things. They just played their hearts out and came within a technical foul and a missed call from a shot at an upset. This year, [I]Dawn has done it again[/I]. This group may be even better than last year’s but for the experience playing together for 4 years. And she’s added the perimeter threat the freshies lacked. They’ll miss Kamila for this game and this will make a difference. But their frontcourt is deep and talented, and backcourt is better (in my view) than it’s ever been. [I]Dawn has put the puzzle together again.[/I] For the third year in a row, Geno put together the main competition to Dawn’s team and then lost it to injuries, and the losses are even more extensive than ever. [I]He’s had to put the remaining pieces together into a different puzzle[/I] and has managed to build a unit around a pair of superstars. But the bench is painfully thin, the frontcourt is too small, and the freshmen are asked to do too much. Once again, the players won’t think about the pieces they’ve lost. Only the fans do that. They’ll just play their hearts out again. If enough of Geno’s freshmen can play to their potential the game will be competitive. If all of them can have season’s best games an upset is even possible. By contrast, Dawn’s core group doesn’t have to play above their heads to win. They merely have to do what they’ve already shown they can do on a regular basis. [/QUOTE]

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