Where we are right now.

[Tonyc]

We have 3 scorers who score primarily from the outside. Many of our plays are set up to score from the perimiter with those 3 players. When Azzi comes back we will have 4 perimeter players. We we dont have an inside game yet. Our inside game is being developed with underclassman who split time and because of that play limited minutes. It is tuff to get into a flow and develop chemistry playing limited minutes. Our strength is our perimeter shooting not our inside game. We play to our strengths for now.

The coachs know what theyre doing theyve done it before. Its nobodys fault that Jana (who is coming back from an injury and didnt play last year) and Ice arent playing like experienced upper classman because they arent upperclassman and many fans expect that they should. Once again it takes time to be developed.

We have a terrific roster of top players. All who need playtime. That means they all cant play 30 minutes. It also means at times we cant take our scorers off the floor for long periods of time either. So playtime is limited. When you have alot of top 10 players they expect some playtime youve got to play them. You need to find them minutes. When you have superstars on the team they will be your go to players and they will see 30+ minutes. So alternating everybody else especially underclassman and players coming back from injury makes it difficult to get into the flow and jell. Another point is we have some upperclassman coming back from injuries and some underclassman being developed. Both take time to get up to speed. Again they need playtime and their minutes are limited. Thats where we are right now.

I attribute the mind games are a direct result of lack of experience and limited minutes. You look at other teams rosters and see who theyve got in the lineups. How many play 8 or more players? How many have a roster of top 10 players like UConn? How many have 3 HS number 1's ? IMO you can not take a chance on not playing a top 20 player let alone a top 10 player for obvious reasons. Top 10 players can play or start for almost any team. Looking at ND. They have 3 go to scorers. They have a freshman center who is being developed. They also have experience. They dont play much more then 6-8 kids a game unless its a blowout.

Its frustrating knowing what we have and not seeing it happen as we expect. We will get there. Its just gonna take more time. We have seen glimpses of how good we can be. We've seen Ash Sarah and Azzi have some great games. Its there, its gonna take a little more time to evolve. Until then its gonna be up and down.

 

[ERWUC65]

In line with the title of your thread, we are 1/3 into the season and even with the 2nd third being relative easy BE competition, it seems like the Geno mindset is Bigs are next year (Jana, Ice, Ayanna and Mandy), and we will go into the NCAA tournament with the small lineup, perhaps Sarah, Azzi, Paige, Kaitlyn and Morgan with Ash, KK and Aubrey subbing in as required for defense, pressing, disrupting or just for someone having a bad game. I think the unknowns still her are Morgan and Aubrey, players with great potential just needing lots of playing time which Geno will give them as we approach March.

 

[Centerstream]

As I posted in another thread today, we need the players that come off the bench to play like I hope they practice and that means that they contribute offensively and defensively. I think that the Providence game proved again that the team seems lost without Paige on the court. The exception would be Sarah but she is often sitting next to Paige. These next few games will hopefully be breakout games for players off the bench.

 

[BBallF]

The two games we lost we started like we were sleepwalking. The press is designed to get us going immediately and to make us run, warm up, not be tight and to maximize our personnel. Whoever fits in to that type of pressure game plays.

 

[PacoSwede]

tonyc: i don't know, maybe stats will prove me wrong, but i think much of our scoring comes inside -- not from the posts, of course -- and the perimeter game you think so highly of his been the weakest aspect of the team (except for paige) when most of us thought it would be the team's dominating
strength ... not so far; potential doesn't count on the scoreboard.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

We have 3 scorers who score primarily from the outside. Many of our plays are set up to score from the perimiter with those 3 players. When Azzi comes back we will have 4 perimeter players. We we dont have an inside game yet. Our inside game is being developed with underclassman who split time and because of that play limited minutes. It is tuff to get into a flow and develop chemistry playing limited minutes. Our strength is our perimeter shooting not our inside game. We play to our strengths for now.

The coachs know what theyre doing theyve done it before. Its nobodys fault that Jana (who is coming back from an injury and didnt play last year) and Ice arent playing like experienced upper classman because they arent upperclassman and many fans expect that they should. Once again it takes time to be developed.

We have a terrific roster of top players. All who need playtime. That means they all cant play 30 minutes. It also means at times we cant take our scorers off the floor for long periods of time either. So playtime is limited. When you have alot of top 10 players they expect some playtime youve got to play them. You need to find them minutes. When you have superstars on the team they will be your go to players and they will see 30+ minutes. So alternating everybody else especially underclassman and players coming back from injury makes it difficult to get into the flow and jell. Another point is we have some upperclassman coming back from injuries and some underclassman being developed. Both take time to get up to speed. Again they need playtime and their minutes are limited. Thats where we are right now.

I attribute the mind games are a direct result of lack of experience and limited minutes. You look at other teams rosters and see who theyve got in the lineups. How many play 8 or more players? How many have a roster of top 10 players like UConn? How many have 3 HS number 1's ? IMO you can not take a chance on not playing a top 20 player let alone a top 10 player for obvious reasons. Top 10 players can play or start for almost any team. Looking at ND. They have 3 go to scorers. They have a freshman center who is being developed. They also have experience. They dont play much more then 6-8 kids a game unless its a blowout.

Its frustrating knowing what we have and not seeing it happen as we expect. We will get there. Its just gonna take more time. We have seen glimpses of how good we can be. We've seen Ash Sarah and Azzi have some great games. Its there, its gonna take a little more time to evolve. Until then its gonna be up and down.

Paige, Ash, Azzi, Sarah, and Ice, are the five most important players on the team, and as such should be Geno’s five starters. That’s the way things should be until Aubrey is ready, and once Aubrey is ready Geno could start her in place of Ice, depending on who UConn’s opponent is. Morgan, Kaitlyn, KK, Jana, Q, Allie, are a very strong collection of bench players, and come in in that order, depending on yesterday’s practice. Finally, If Caroline is finally cleared to play, she’s first or second off the bench.

 

[DataNerd]

Typical spot-on analysis by @Tonyc. Our biggest gap is consistent aggression: defensive poking, waving, boxing; offensive driving to the basket; hi-lo passing and posting. Aggression is rooted in having skills, and then in having confidence in self to apply them, and in your teammates to have your back if you err. We have the talent and skills, but confidence is forged in practice and tempered in games. As Tonyc noted, we have much talent that can be effective in different ways, but few game minutes, so it will take longer for us to get there this year. Having more healthy players makes this tougher, but that's the best kind of "problem" we can have.

 

[Centerstream]

Because one of the dominant subjects in many threads seems to be a lack of scoring, I decided to watch the replay of the First Round game of the 2018 NCAA Tournament against St. Francis (PA). We won 140-52 and had 6 players with double digit scoring and 3 players with a double double.
Ah, those were the days...