When fitness really mattered

[wire chief]

Have we done this recently? What player is most in your mind as one who would have put our season over the top, if not injured, My vote goes to Brittany Hunter. When she could take the court, she was a confident, dominant post, but could only go maybe 15 minutes. We needed a 30 minute Brittany her senior year.

 

[UcMiami]

I would say the tandem of Green and Thomas cost us one NC - if I can only pick one then Green
And Sveta and Shea another - if I can only pick one - Sveta
CD ... maybe a third?
Sales ... not sure she could have carried us all the way and we will never know.
But I think Hunter was probably the most frustrating over her Uconn years since she was never 'out for the season' but always day to day and limited when she could play - so much talent on display and just not able to stay on the court.

 

[winlots]

WIRE: interesting question - and good answer. A healthy Hunter could have been huge for us, and for more than one season.

The two names that popped to my mind immediately were Abrosomova and Ralph......seems to me we lost them both in the same season. Tremendous losses.

When Doty went down for the first time in college, she had just set the ALL-time CT record for consecutive threes, I believe. Would have been a star for four years.

Neither Walters nor Wolff ever really got a chance to show their stuff, though it seems to me that one of the two popped in 14 in her first (and only?) game. BOth came in with a ton of multi-year potential.

But, since you are looking for only one name and a single year, Hunter certainly a good answer.

 

[UcMiami]

WIRE: interesting question - and good answer. A healthy Hunter could have been huge for us, and for more than one season.

The two names that popped to my mind immediately were Abrosomova and Ralph......seems to me we lost them both in the same season. Tremendous losses.

When Doty went down for the first time in college, she had just set the ALL-time CT record for consecutive threes, I believe. Would have been a star for four years.

Neither Walters nor Wolff ever really got a chance to show their stuff, though it seems to me that one of the two popped in 14 in her first (and only?) game. BOth came in with a ton of multi-year potential.

But, since you are looking for only one name and a single year, Hunter certainly a good answer.

Thanks for reminding me about Wolff - she was starting her freshman year and had a great first game, but never really got her confidence back after the injuries. It was sad because she seemed to be fine physically after the first two years, just never the same player we had a glimpse of. Walters on the other hand never was able to return to the court. (NB Wolff played 10 games as a freshman then 3 her second year, and 32 and 30 her last two. Walters got 29 games her freshman year and never got back on the court.)

 

[Creaky]

Shea—freshman year, not 2001. The air really went out of the balloon when she went down.

 

[boontonbomber]

don't know about effect upon a particular season, but i would really have been interested to see what kind of player caroline doty would have developed into.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Hunter is an interesting choice. She differs from all the rest mentioned, because she was recruited (for the second time) after she had been injured and, some would say and did say at the time, misused/abused at Duke. She was a wonderful team mate and when she could go her finesse around the hoop was superb, but she does not qualify as an injury that occurred which changed UConn expectations.

 

[UcMiami]

Shea—freshman year, not 2001. The air really went out of the balloon when she went down.

Good catch - the one in 2001 clearly derailed a championship team (along with the earlier Sveta one) but that first one was a killer as well.
And ... along the same lines - Bird and Walters (don't remember if Walters injury was actually during the season?) their freshman year - hard to say what Bird being healthy might have meant by the end of that year.

 

[UcMiami]

Hunter is an interesting choice. She differs from all the rest mentioned, because she was recruited (for the second time) after she had been injured and, some would say and did say at the time, misused/abused at Duke. She was a wonderful team mate and when she could go her finesse around the hoop was superb, but she does not qualify as an injury that occurred which changed UConn expectations.

I will disagree a bit since when Hunter arrived the hope was that she would recover completely during her red shirt year. So it is not dissimilar to CD having her first ACL her senior year in HS. And many of us still blame the supershow bouncy-ball relay race for another set-back in her medical history.
There are a number of players whose future basketball careers were derailed by their multiple injuries (or complications from an original injury) - Ralph, Walters, Hunter, Wolff, Doty - that I can think of. Sure I have left some off that list.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Yes, it would have been interesting to see how Caroline Doty might have developed without the last two knee surgeries. Still, she came to UConn having had one, and was, basically, a spot up shooter in a pro laden lineup.

The 2008 team should have won despite the injuries to Green and Thomas. That UConn team was loaded, and Candice Wiggins has not played that well since; She was on fire throughout that tournament. And, Renee Montgomery has not played as poorly since that game.

The 2001 team should have repeated as national champions despite the injuries to Ralph and Abrosimova. Ralph was not having a very good year anyway, and that was, pretty much, the exact same team that ran the table the following year; A team many consider the greatest UConn team of all time.

Ralph's injury in 1997 was devastating and Coach Auriemma has admitted to not handling it well. My feeling is that he was falling on his sword. Kara Wolters, in her Player of the Year season, did not play well against Tennessee.

Sales' injury in 1998 was beyond devastating. She was the star, the injury occurred late in the season, and it is all but impossible to replace all that Ms Sales contributed; Besides being Big East Player of the Year, she was also Big East Defensive Player of the Year.

Brittney Hunter was an outstanding ballplayer. A healthy Hunter gets UConn past Duke in 2006, past LSU in 2007, and past Stanford in 2008.

So, for me, it is a tough tossup between Sales and Hunter with the slight nod to Sales.

 

[UcMiami]

VAU - nice analysis. But I will say that an injury to the defensive stopper on a team can be pretty devastating and she was the player that could have slowed down Wiggins (and had in the earlier meeting I think) and the loss of Sveta in 2001 and the resulting need to rely so heavily on a freshman in the semi-final even if it was DT was devastating too. And in both of those cases the team had found ways to compensate only to be hit again emotionally by a second major injury.
I would compare the Green loss to trying to win this past year if Kelly had gone down mid-season - maybe a little over stated but not far off.
I always forget about Sales all around game - she was such a smooth scorer added to the whole controversy of her final Uconn basket.

 

[triaddukefan]

The 2008 team should have won despite the injuries to Green and Thomas. That UConn team was loaded, and Candice Wiggins has not played that well since; She was on fire throughout that tournament. And, Renee Montgomery has not played as poorly since that game.

I expected you guys to win that year..... I wanted you guys to win that year. Yall did dispatch with Rutgers before my very eyes here in Greensboro Was rooting for yall to beat both stanford and LSU/TENN... well especially TENN.

Sales' injury in 1998 was beyond devastating. She was the star, the injury occurred late in the season, and it is all but impossible to replace all that Ms Sales contributed; Besides being Big East Player of the Year, she was also Big East Defensive Player of the Year.
s.

Actually Sales was my favorite UCONN player..... hated to see her season end the way it did.