Who will score what?

[oldhusky]

My opinion is that Dorka will get a full complement of of ONO's minutes and
thus more points than some others have predicted. Geno, I think, wants
Dorka to have a very good senior season to enhance her WNBA credentials, so.
the # 4 strong forwards will be sharing time and points will be spread among
these three: Aaliyah, Yanna, and ICE ( ICE at # 4 and # 5). My guesses are:
Paige 16 Azzi 14 Aaliyah 10 Dorka 14 Caroline 12 = the 'starters'
Nika 4 Audrey 3 Lou 3 Yanna 3 ICE 4 for a total of 83
The "second team" may get fewer minutes and points due to the challenges of
our "out of conference " schedule, bunch of challenges there!
( so much less time for anyone not in the " first team rotation " of players )

Agree completely on Dorka. IMO she is likely to get the third highest minutes on the team. There are three players with a clear path to high starters minutes. Paige, Azzi and Dorka. It would be a shock if they didn't start, and on paper they don't have serious challenges to that starting position. Everyone else among the bigs has at least some questions that are more serious than Dorka recovering from her wrist injury. Ice and Ayanna are freshmen, look very promising but who knows, Amari is in some ways like a freshmen too in that she has not yet earned meaning-full play time, Aubrey has proven to be a very good player, but back surgery is a major injury, and Aaliyah has had two very different seasons, her first very impressive, and last year by Uconn standards very mediocre. I am hopefull but until she shows it, i don't know what version we get this season.

So for me Aaliyah's minutes are far from certain. If we get "freshmen" Aaliyah she probably starts and gets major minutes. If we get last year's version it is possible Ice, Ayanna and Aubrey could be better than her. In fact the battle for minutes at the 4 could be by far the most competitive if the freshmen are the real deal and Aubrey is healthy.

With 11 players I expect at least 1 to be DNP coaches decision in big games. If I had to guess who that would be I would say Amari. With the competition at the 4, her best chance at playing time would be to secure the role of backup to Dorka. I hope she earns that time, but she will probably get serious competition from both Ice and Aaliyah who could handle that role as well.

Another key question is the 3 position. If Caroline wins that battle with Lou, she could easily get 30 minutes a game and be the third highest scorer, ahead of Dorka, but I think at this point Dorka's starter minutes are baked into the cake and Caroline needs to beat out Lou, which I consider probable but not certain. Beyond that Nika should get all of Paige's backup minutes, the loser of the starting battle at the 3 should get almost all the backup minutes there (occasional spotting of Aubrey or Ayanna there), and who backs up Azzi is more in play, depending on if you want passing and defense (Nika) or more perimeter scoring and size (Lou or Caroline). Regardless if Nika and Paige are on the floor together with Azzi out, Nika plays the point and Paige the SG.

Much to be determined but that is how I see the playing time and related PPG battles playing out.

 

[hoophuskee]

I guess I could see Azzi averaging more points than Paige across the course of the season - especially in conference play. However, I don’t think Azzi can come close to Paige in scoring against top defensive teams. Paige can create and make shots when the defenses are clamping down on open shots. Azzi hasn’t shown that ability. When the chips are down, it’s Paige.

The third shot she takes in these highlights is just something I don’t think Azzi is capable of taking much less making:

I can see both. Just for fun argument purposes Azzi can get ahead of Paige in scoring because Paige "wants" to be more of a passer.

Secondly, UCONN is not playing SC or Texas very often. Meaning that there aren't that many "top defensive teams" that can impact UCONN. It sounds arrogant but overall the past 3 years have not been best talent-wise for UCONN's offense. If you recall several years ago Lobo made a comment during a game UCONN vs SC that "SC couldn't score enough" to beat UCONN. UCONN's offense hasn't been like that for several years. Potentially UCONN's offense is similar (though understandably not as great) to that this year. Though ofc the better the offense possibly they sacrifice defense which could be UCONN's downfall too. But just talking about Azzi- she has many more "supporting players" that may very well be much better offensively than the last several years - and they gonna look for her a lot as well because she is probably the most efficient "shooter."

Third, Azzi's mid-range jump shot was off last year. Possibly she can do more coming off of picks than KML and Katie Lou did because she can handle the ball much better. Maybe not vs "SC or Texas" but vs nearly everyone else - she can get off her shot a lot too. And if her 2pt efficiency at mid-range increases she'll even shoot more.

Fourth, Azzi did have 17 in regulation vs NC State, and vs a terrific defensive team in UCF in which they know the UCONN offense well she got 16 (of the team's total 52 points). It's not like she can't score vs either elite teams or rugged defensive teams considering she was just a freshman and has been hurt a lot over the past 2-3 years. If she isn't hurt this year - then there is potential for an enormous jump.

 

[cferraro04]

1. I believe you will see a return of Paige Beuckers to her freshmen POY form.
2. I believe you will see a tremendous sophomore leap from Azzi Fudd.
3. I do not believe you will see a first half of the season slump that you saw last year with Aliyah Edwards.
4. I believe you will a much improved Jurasz Dorka who will not have to defer to Olivia Nelson-Ododa.
5. I believe you will see a healthy more productive Caroline Ducharme reminiscent of what we saw last year when both Azzi and Bueckers were injured and on the bench.
6. I believe we as fans are going to be saying "boy did we miss Aubrey Griffin".
7. I believe we are also going to be saying..."boy did we get lucky finding Lou Lopez Senechal".
8. I believe that Nika will continue to be a defensive, jump start, spark-plug kind of player off the bench.
9. I believe that we will also be scratching our heads wondering if Amari DeBerry will ever play to her potential.
10. I believe we will be realizing how good the basketball gods were in sending us to big bodied freshmen in Patterson and Brady.

 

[JellyBean]

 

[Bone Dog]

See, you guys are enjoying this topic, stupid as it may have seemed at first. I don’t get the resistance to empty idle speculation during a dreary summer. Its this or watch pickleball and cornhole.

 

[Zarathustra]

See, you guys are enjoying this topic, stupid as it may have seemed at first. I don’t get the resistance to empty idle speculation during a dreary summer. Its this or watch pickleball and cornhole.

I hope that you can get the U18 FIBA WOMEN's Basketball Championship, Argentina, 2022
this week. JUNE 13 th to June 19th. Google the FIBA web site and the U 18 Women's (girls) link. Real LIVE Basketball.
International stuff. Sure the USA team is a heavy favorite, but UCONN's ICE BRADY is playing!
First USA game is against Columbia, Monday afternoon 3:30 PM EST. I hope you find a link to see it. There
are usually replays of the entire games in the tournament ( all teams, read CANADA! and Ms.
Cassandra Prosper ) . Enjoy, Z

 

[tchalla1]

If we assume the Huskies average 86 points/game, how much will each player score on average across the season?

Here's my guess:
Paige 18
Azzi 20
Caroline11
Nika 4
Lou 7
Dorka 10
Aaliyah 8
Amari 3
Ice 3
Ayanna 2

I guarantee Ice and Ayanna will average more than this by season's end.

 

[hoophuskee]

Looking forward to what Edwards can do. She had a terrific 2nd half of the year - actually had similar numbers to Morgan Tuck's senior season. Edwards averaged 9.2 ppg shooting 53.3% from the floor and averaged 6.2 rebounds in her last 17 games. Not as good as Tucks of course but as a sophomore Edwards had a terrific 2nd half. She has a good shot to get into double figures this season.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Some thoughts and questions on this topic:

First, don't forget about Aubrey. I think she'll be healthy and a contributor. Fingers crossed. She'll be in the middle of the pack in scoring.

Second, I think we averaged about 74 ppg last season. We were more scoring challenged than we had been in years. I expect we'll score over 80 ppg. I'm predicting 84.

Third, will anyone average 20 ppg? I don't think so. It has been rare when someone has done that. In the past 20 years, it's been Maya, Phee, Lou, Megan, and Paige.

Fourth, who will be the leading scorer? I think it's either Paige or Azzi. I expect that Paige will pass the ball more than she did her freshman year. Azzi will be a starter, if healthy, and should be much more comfortable in the offense. I'm going with Azzi at 18 ppg and Paige at 16 ppg.

Fifth, who is the 3rd leading scorer? There seems to be an early consensus for Caroline. I'm going with Aaliyah. Dorka is possible.

Sixth, who scores more--Aubrey or Nika? I'm going with Aubrey, because Nika will pass rather than shoot.

Seventh, which newcomer is the leading scorer? I think Lou outscores the frosh and is close to 10 ppg. I think Ice outscores Ayanna, because she has the better offensive game and 3-point shot.

Here's a VERY rough list:

Azzi 18

Paige 16

Aaliyah 10

Dorka 9

Caroline 9

Lou 8

Aubrey 6

Nika 5

Ice 5

Ayanna 3

This totals to 89 rather than 84. That's because some players will miss some games.

 

[cferraro04]

Milford Husky...I like it when great minds think alike. Your score totals are almost identical to mine...we switched Dorka and Aaliyah scores. But the rest were identical or within 2 points. That is the point there will be so many options, so much scoring talent that it will be very difficult to keep this team under 90 points per game.

 

[ballerfan]

Some thoughts and questions on this topic:

First, don't forget about Aubrey. I think she'll be healthy and a contributor. Fingers crossed. She'll be in the middle of the pack in scoring.

Second, I think we averaged about 74 ppg last season. We were more scoring challenged than we had been in years. I expect we'll score over 80 ppg. I'm predicting 84.

Third, will anyone average 20 ppg? I don't think so. It has been rare when someone has done that. In the past 20 years, it's been Maya, Phee, Lou, Megan, and Paige.

Fourth, who will be the leading scorer? I think it's either Paige or Azzi. I expect that Paige will pass the ball more than she did her freshman year. Azzi will be a starter, if healthy, and should be much more comfortable in the offense. I'm going with Azzi at 18 ppg and Paige at 16 ppg.

Fifth, who is the 3rd leading scorer? There seems to be an early consensus for Caroline. I'm going with Aaliyah. Dorka is possible.

Sixth, who scores more--Aubrey or Nika? I'm going with Aubrey, because Nika will pass rather than shoot.

Seventh, which newcomer is the leading scorer? I think Lou outscores the frosh and is close to 10 ppg. I think Ice outscores Ayanna, because she has the better offensive game and 3-point shot.

Here's a VERY rough list:

Azzi 18

Paige 16

Aaliyah 10

Dorka 9

Caroline 9

Lou 8

Aubrey 6

Nika 5

Ice 5

Ayanna 3

This totals to 89 rather than 84. That's because some players will miss some games.

I agree that Paige and Azzi will be the top scorers, but I don’t think it matters which of the splash sisters scores more. I can’t wait to see a full season with both of them playing together.

Happy to see Lou with 8 points. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were 10. I’ve watched her on YouTube, and she might be much better than expected.

Finally, why is Amari not on your list? Unless she has a major sophomore jump (which is possible), I’ll give her maybe two (1.6 last season). With hard work combined with her talent, maybe 4 to 6.