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Message: [QUOTE="oldhusky, post: 5088811, member: 9844"] In addition to your comments those 6 losses include 4 of the 6 teams generally considered along with Uconn to be the top 7 contenders this year. Of course we will be an above average rebounding team this year relative to our overall schedule, but we are usually very near the top percentiles in most statistical categories. When judging the team's relative strengths and weaknesses against a very high Uconn standard, the more relevant question is how we stack up on rebounding, size, blocked shots etc. vs those top contenders. From that standpoint rebounding could be a "relative" weakness on a team that has few. I expect shooting/scoring and passing/ball-handling to be very elite, and defense to be very good, but rebounding against the best of the best might be more mid-range IMO. There is great hope that Jana and Sarah will be very good on the boards, but they don't have a division 1 track record yet. Among the players with division 1 experience, Ayanna was maybe slightly above average (hopefully lower than her potential because of knee issues) and Ice IMO was significantly below average for her size. Q had more rebounds per minute for example. Since she was presumably recovered from her injury I don't expect her rebounding or shot blocking numbers to show much improvement, but I do expect her to be a much better offensive player in the future. So to be a really good rebounding team we need to start two bigs, Jana and Sarah. They both need to be a good on the boards as we expect, and they both need to consume the vast majority of the minutes at the 4 and 5. If we have to play Ayanna and Ice as much as Sarah and Jana, and or play small ball much of the time, rebounding could be our biggest weakness relatively speaking. [/QUOTE]

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