Which Teams Have the Best Chance to Upset the Huskies?

[skilz]

Which freshmen did Mulkey start last season? None that I can think of because she had a deep roster with many upperclassmen. She is like most coaches; if a freshman wins a starting job, she will start them. This year, she has no choice but to start one or two freshmen.

With 4 Freshman and 10 team members, how does she NEED to start a Freshman or two?

 

[EricLA]

Well we did lose 6-5 Butler. I like how we've made up for that, but we did lose her.

I plead old age. Sheesh! Yep you are right!!

 

[southie]

Great NIT PICK---but you missed that I took great care NOT to DEFINE which YEARS she PLAYED freshmen. She has however used FRESHMEN in the past and used them effectively. OPINIONS are opinions--I see Tomatoes you see Tom-ottos that's the nature of the BY. Hook em Horns!

I did realize that. But, just pointing out that she is no different than many coaches when starting freshmen who deserve to start.

 

[southie]

With 4 Freshman and 10 team members, how does she NEED to start a Freshman or two?

Your are correct. She can start 5 of the 6 non-freshmen for a starting lineup. I expect at least one freshman in the starting lineup, if not two.

 

[Coach]

I’m not so sure about Baylor. 4 out of 5 Baylor players that started last year’s game at Storrs have graduated or transferred, along with a key reserve. Wallace is back and Brown will be a force inside, but Baylor has only 10 players on the roster, of which 4 are freshmen. They will need Cox & Chou to step up big time as sophomores in order to be a factor this season.

I agree. Still scratching my head on what happened last year with Cox and Chou. I was expecting a much bigger impact since they were so highly recruited.

 

[bballnut90]

For anyone to beat UCONN, they'll need to win all of the hustle plays and control tempo. Mississippi State was the only team to do that last year, and they were the only ones to beat the Huskies.

That said, I'd say Notre Dame or Texas has the best shot of anyone since they should have the offensive firepower and athleticism to keep up with the Huskies if they're having a bad day.

Notre Dame will need a big jump from Young, steady PG play from Thompson, Shepard to come in and be effective from day 1, and great play making from Ogunbowale. They'll also need the incoming freshmen posts to be able to battle inside and Mabrey to hit shots and create for others. Basically, they need the stars to align to upset the Huskies. Teams with stellar guard play and playmaking ability have been able to upset the Huskies in the past, and Notre Dame has a number of very good guards.

Texas is the other team that I think has a good shot if their highly touted recruits are as good or better than advertised. On paper, they are stacked. Looking at a projected starting 5 and depth chart, you have:
G-McCarty, 2017 B12 POY
G-Higgs, former top 10 recruit, starter this past season
F-Atkins, former #3 recruit, averaged around 14ppg last year I believe
F-Boothe, #3 recruit in the country
C-Holmes, #2 recruit last year, Big 12 FOY and one of the better forwards in the nation

Bench:
Patterson-top incoming PG recruit, #4 overall recruit
Sutton-#6 PG recruit last year, I'd expect her to be much improved
White-RS junior who was the #7 recruit in 2014

That is 7 top 10 recruits and the reigning Big 12 POY. Atkins, Higgs and McCarty are all capable playmakers, and I'm assuming Boothe is too. If they can develop a more cohesive offense (big if), win all the 50/50 balls and win the battle on the glass, they have a shot.


Realistically, I don't see anyone coming within 10 points of UCONN this year. This might be Geno's most talented team ever with the 6th player in the rotation being ranked a top 10 player by ESPNW and the 7th being the incoming #1 recruit. The only other team with this much depth and proven talent was the 2001 squad, but there likely isn't a sleeping giant like 2001 Notre Dame waiting on the wings, and Geno is a much better coach and talent developer now than he was 16 years ago.

 

[pacific 44]

Uconn hasn't lost two games in a row since 1993 so if Stanford wins, that record goes by the wayside.I find that streak at least as incredible as 111 in a row,especially when they played so many top 25 teams on the road in the big east.Georgetown,Marquette,West Virginia,and St.Johns had teams that would rip an opponents arm off and hit them with it.Just like a few years ago TVV has had many months to devise a game plan to suprise a superior opponent. Uconn is at least 20 points better and Stanford isn't a great road team so Uconn shouldn't lose their streak,buuut stuff happens.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Two teams have very good chances of beating the UConn Huskies this year. These two teams are the ONLY teams that can defeat the UConn juggernaut. But both teams have decent odds of doing so.

TEAM #1

TEAM #2