Who is the most important player on the team?

[EricLA]

Note - it's not the best player on the team, but most important to UCONN's overall success.

IMHO it would come down to Crystal, Lou or Gabby - All of them bring something totally different to the table, but you cannot discount the importance of Pheesa, Kia or Azura.

I voted for Crystal because she's the engine that drives the machine, has shown meteoric growth from last year, and is the leader (altho Kia is a tremendous leader too), but one could make an argument for every one of the core 6 players...

 

[HuskylnSC]

Gabby can stun me.
Crystal can amaze me.
Lou can delight me.
Napheesa can calm
Azura can intrigue me
But Kia makes the engine go!

 

[dtbtbtb]

IMO Crystal is the most important player on the team with Lou second. Main reason is that everyone else have someone else who could do more or less what they do but the only real PG on the team is Crystal. While Kia plays PG when Crystal takes a break, she is not a PG.

 

[BostonCanuck]

I voted for Kia, eh?

 

[RockyMTblue2]

It's Kia.

 

[DEpup]

It was moma Morgan Tuck and now it seems to be moma Kia Nurse.

 

[mdakota]

All of them. They are an unselfish team. And that's why we'll keep winning titles.

 

[maddoggy]

Wouldn't it be fascinating to know who the players themselves think is most important to the team's success. Maybe Horde reporter could ask them to vote (and explain why) anonymously.

 

[tomcat]

I am a huge Kia fan, but honestly, right now, Crystal is the straw that stirs the drink.

 

[Sonny44]

Nonsense!

 

[boontonbomber]

UConn would win most all the time even if one of the six was not on the floor. But Gabby does more different stuff well than anyone else. Nobody's a better passer, nobody's a better rebounder, she is the defending defensive player of the year, and just seems to be around the ball all the time. She'd be averaging 10 assists a game if teammates took advantage of her passes more consistently. Her absence, more than anyone else's, would make UConn look like an entirely different team.

 

[chrissaran]

All of them. UConn will not win the championship without the top six. Hopefully, Megan makes it the top seven.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I said Lou. She is a complete player on both ends, and opens things up for teammates on offense.

Last year I would have said Collier. Incredibly, she has zero (0!) votes in this poll, which really speaks to how her game has fallen off a cliff. She seemingly hasn't had her head on straight since the MSU game.

Scoring down 6 PPG
FG% down 14%
3PFG% down 14%
FT% down 11%

I don't know what it is, but we're vulnerable if she's not playing at an elite level.

 

[Los24]

If I went with the way that Geno talks I would say Lou. Despite the scoring surge against a team that is not ranked she stirs the offensive drink. The other is Gabby as she stirs the defensive drink. Each has improved in the other areas, meaning Lou plays better D and rebounds more than last year. Gabby is hitting her shot a bit more consistently and really has the energy factor. Both are excellent passers but Gabby has way to many bad passes and needs to cut those down.

This no way diminishes the value the other players bring because Pheesa was AA last year and Kia may reach that status this year. Z is going to be needed against the bigger rebounding teams. Crystal has brought a lot of different intangibles to each game. Every opponent is going to bring a different challenge and why we need all of them. I can tell you Stewie would not have won four without Mo so even if she was more valuable both were needed (and others) to win it all every year.

 

[cohenzone]

Lexi. No one else fills the high five role so well.

The fact seems to be that each one of them brings something different and it varies from game to game, especially in the rare close one, who couldn’t have been spared. Overall, I think Crystal is the constant who keeps the flow going. But Lou is the one wo messes up a team’s D, opening up space for the others. In the Texas game, I think we lose without Z. I think that when Gabby is at her most energetic, the team feeds off of her. Kia is the assassin who makes teams pay for not paying enough attention. Interesting who is not getting votes. Pheesha does things so quietly and efficiently that it’s easy to discount her. But I think in big games we need her. Her off game against MSU last year was, to me, the difference. If she’s on, the game should become easier for Z. I don’t think any vote is a bad one. Nice problem to have, Geno.

 

[oldude]

When Lou is healthy she’s the one, not just because of everything she can do, but more importantly because every team UConn plays starts their game plan trying to figure out how to contain her, opening up opportunities for Lou’s teammates.

 

[HGN]

All of them. UConn will not win the championship without the top six. Hopefully, Megan makes it the top seven.

Chris , I couldn't agree with you more. It's like removing any spark plug out of your car engine. You're going to get less mileage , sputtering , and eventually non-performance. Same with the Huskies. Remove any one of the players named and the team starts to act like that car engine just described above.......Non-performance , power loss , and in the case of the Huskies , losses.

GO HUSKIES !! All of you.

 

[Jronp]

They don’t beat Notre Dame or Texas without Azura!

 

[bballnut90]

At this point in the year, it's Dangerfield or Stevens IMO because both neither has an equivalent backup. Dangerfield does a good know of knowing when to step up and when to deflect to others. She's the best playmaker on the perimeter and makes good decisions. She's become one of the best PGs in the country. If she disappears, there isn't someone to fulfill that role. Stevens provides size and low block ability that no one else on UCONN possesses. UCONN likely has 2 losses if not for Stevens stepping up against Notre Dame and Texas. My guess is that in any other close games this season, UCONN will look to Stevens inside down the stretch.

I'm shocked I'm not saying Gabby Williams, but she hasn't been the same player this year. She is by far the most talented player on the team, but she's been up and down all year. I think her regression has been the biggest difference between last year and this year. When she's playing well I don't think there's a better player in the country. She can dominate a game defensively and creates easy opportunities for herself and others. She dominated Brianna Turner head to head and dominated South Carolina's frontline of Wilson and Coates. She does everything exceptionally well besides shoot the ball. Last year she brought a different intensity/edge that permeated throughout the rest of her team and that seems to be missing this season. If she finds that and starts playing like she did, I don't think we'll see any other close games.

As far as the other players--Collier has been up and down and can disappear so it's not her. KLS should take home the AA hardware this year, as she's been UCONN's best player IMO, but we've seen her miss games and UCONN doesn't skip a beat. She's the best scoring threat on the team, but she doesn't bring anything to the table that another player can't replicate. Same with Nurse. If either one of them go down, Z enters the lineup and players rotate over and all of them get more shots. They not be quite as efficient or productive as KLS or Nurse, but if anything it'll be just a slight downgrade.

If you lose Stevens, you're stuck with just Collier and Williams defending posts (good luck against Brown/McCowan/Wilson), and if you lose Dangerfield, you have Nurse running the show who doesn't bring the same PG qualities to the table that Dangerfield does.

 

[StephStorrs]

Depends on what people consider the most important, I suppose. Is the most important player the best all around player? The leader? The glue of the team? An argument could be made for any of the options listed in the poll, each for a different reason.

 

[Woof 101]

Eric, this is not an attack, I use the preface a lot as many take what is said about their comments the wrong way.
There is not a coach or player that has never heard at any level there is no " I" in the word team. Again no attack on your poll, I realize you are trying to create discussion but you don't have all the players on the team listed. You have Lou but not Meg, who was most important in our last game???

This team has All-Americans that come here and understand they are not going to lead the nation in individual stats. Thus the love affair for those that enjoy pure basketball the way it was meant to be played. The bench is at practice every day working just as hard to improve their game and push the starters, are they less important? There may be a team MVP named at the end of the season but that is a ways off.

"The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts". Who would think someone more famous than Geno could look so far into the future! Then again the Greeks were always into sports!

 

[MilfordHusky]

I think an argument can be made for any of the 6. I voted for Gabby. I think she is the heart of the team and takes over games better than anyone in the country, especially for an 11 ppg scorer.

 

[eebmg]

I voted for Lou. Lou does everything well and to me, she is the connecting thread on offense that links the outside and inside game.

 

[HoopsFan21]

I went for Katie Louuuuuuuu Samuelson!!!!

 

[Lynx23]

This was addressed in another thread but as you mull over the most important player on the team, consider the following, since everyone seems so stats-minded:

Kia Nurse is currently #1 among UCONN starters in:

Minutes played per game
Field goal percentage
Total points (yup!)
Free throws attempted
Free throws made
Free throw percentage
3-pointers attempted
3-pointers made
3-pointers percentage made (leads the country)

And is second in points per game with 15.6 to KLS's 16.8 (not a huge difference)
Kia is also arguably the best defensive player on the team, often drawing the toughest assignments.
Then there's leadership....

I rest my case. We all have our favorites. Mine is obvious.