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Message: [QUOTE="sun, post: 4311164, member: 11664"] Geno has said about some games, that the only reason why UConn won is because of all of the All-American or elite top ranked high school players on the team. But that doesn't seem to be enough against other top teams in this new era of WBB. More players seem to have specialized talents and aren't as well rounded in all facits on the court. That's just another way to say that less of them are as elite as they used to be, and that it requires more skill, more game planning and better player management for any one team to consistently win against all of the other good teams in the country. If the players are more specialized, then having the right players, healthy on the bench and available, actually put in when needed and then for them to perform up to expectations is more critical than ever before. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.wired.com/2012/04/analytics-basketball/[/URL] Due to injuries last season, it was not a good time for developing new ways to score. Sure PT got distributed better and Caroline stepped up big time. But the desire to blow out BE teams took away from the bench bigs to show all of their pluses and minuses in real games enough to get comfortable, confident and up to speed. IDK what will make this year any different with the rookies that are coming in. If they don't develop adequately during the regular season then how can they be expected to make much of an impact in March in the NCAAT. Any team or player can be thin in some areas of talent, and don't always perform as expected like a machine. But choices need to be made, how much PT that each receives and when, and what tweaks need to be made when certain players are on the court. The regular season should be good for experimentation, but IDK if enough of that will happen to see all of the potential that the team has. It can be limited by the need for UConn to win by blow outs to bolster their NET ranking. I'd personally like to see Dorka and Amari play on the court at the same time against tough teams, to see if they can develop some kind of scoring chemistry with the rest of the team. And then all of the substitutions that can flow from that. I'd also like to see Azzi develop as an alternate PG, to work on better chemistry with Paige. I think that they can be a dynamic duo, and if they draw all of the attention then they learn how to pass to the open shooters. New chemistry needs to be developed that can put UConn over the top. But Geno really needs to experiment in advance of any potential injuries, foul troubles, or just to develop new substitution patterns that are necessary due to changes in personnel. I'm still waiting to see if Piath will return. Someone at UConn should call in a Federal mediator to see if her situation could be worked out. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach