Why didn't Geno have a bigger bench available?
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He didn't know he'd lose 2 pre-season, and didn't know he'd lose more along the way, for multiple games, for multiple issues.
Centerstream
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That ship has sailed. He has what he has. Nuff said.
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The team has 12 players on the roster. How many do you want?
Consider that not all players recruited finish their four years of eligibility at their original school. Players who would’ve been on the roster this year had they not transferred or left early.
Senior- Ana Makurat
Junior- Mir McLean, Piath Gabriel, Autumn Chassion (walk on)
Sophomore- Saylor Poftenbarger
That’s 5 players who left the program, likely allowing room for Lou and Ines this year.
Geno was clearly worried about depth this past offseason when Bueckers got hurt, and thank goodness he was able to pick up those two guards.
Historically we have carried a roster under the maximum number of scholarship players. But next season we’ll have 14. It’s just bad luck that this season we’ve had historic number of injuries. I don’t think he’s against having more depth.
Senior- Ana Makurat
Junior- Mir McLean, Piath Gabriel, Autumn Chassion (walk on)
Sophomore- Saylor Poftenbarger
That’s 5 players who left the program, likely allowing room for Lou and Ines this year.
Geno was clearly worried about depth this past offseason when Bueckers got hurt, and thank goodness he was able to pick up those two guards.
Historically we have carried a roster under the maximum number of scholarship players. But next season we’ll have 14. It’s just bad luck that this season we’ve had historic number of injuries. I don’t think he’s against having more depth.
Aluminny69
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I believe Geno added Ines AFTER Paige was injured ( but before Brady's injury?). So, he was willing to go with 11 players.
Experience shows that good players would rather transfer than be lower than7 or 8 on the depth chart.
Experience shows that good players would rather transfer than be lower than7 or 8 on the depth chart.
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Before the injuries to Paige and Brady, a main focus of attention was " how would Geno find playing time for so many talented players?" He had two outstanding HS recruits coming in; Aubrey was coming back; Dorka had extended her stay....;he had plenty of talent. Shortly after Paige went down, he went and found Betancourt. There was no replacement for Ice Brady. Having a bunch of walk-ons is rarely an answer. Unless they have signed on from day one of training camp they can't really be helpful. And with his planned bench, there was no need. The bench problem is not due to lack of foresight on behalf of coach. It is bad luck.
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How “good” are they if they’re 7th or 8th?
Carnac
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THAT will be Geno's dilemma, but he knows how to handle it. He'll always have plenty of "intelligent and informed" imput to fall back on from the Boneyard.
Less minutes for the starters in games that are decided early. 
#1florida
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Do you really think walk ons would save the season. Stuff happens, just accept it. Ever have a flat tire, with no spare. Just enjoy the games as they come. I know I am.
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A freshman 7 or 8 playing behind an all American senior can be pretty dadgum good!
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With the experience that everyone is getting this year, and the quality of recruits coming in next year, I say go with hockey style line changes!
I think an ideal roster size would be closer to 13, and that would include one third string guard, wing, and big who were capable of being passable emergency backups when needed. The last two seasons have shown that what appears to be enough on paper can conflict with reality in a big way.
Last year we had 6 very good guards going into the season. Maybe even 7 if you wanted to count Aubrey as a guard, and at one point last year 6 was clearly not enough because three of those guards were out, we had no backup guards on the bench, and we had to use Aaliyah at the 3. This year speaks for itself.
I think we all like to project a lineup when fully healthy and what every player's role will be. When we do that, we frequently project third stringers to get mop up minutes only. I don't know what normal is with any precision, but I wouldn't be surprised if missing 1 rotation player per game isn't closer to average than having everyone healthy. I am counting season ending injuries in that estimate, so with Paige and Ice this year we start with missing two rotation players each and every game.
If you don't have season ending or lengthy missing stretches, maybe with an ankle twist here and there, you might wind up averaging less than 1 missing rotation player per game, but needing third string players to occasionally play a significant role during the season is more norm than exception.
The problem is not many players will accept that role. Seems to me there are three main approaches here. You can do your usual recruiting of top 50 nationally type players, tell them they all can compete for a rotation spot, but you need to be in the top 8-10 to get regular minutes. The good news is you probably then have excellent third stringers. The bad news is you can't expect them to stay.
Another option is the walk-ons. There you get someone who is likely to just be happy to be part of a famous program, get their 2-3 minutes in late game blowouts, be good hard working practice players and teammates, and not be a problem gripping about minutes. The downside is you are in trouble if you have to use them in a big game.
A middle ground is a pretty good player, perhaps not a usual top 50 or better recruit, but someone who feels happy to be part of the program even if they never achieve rotation status, but a player that would be way better than a walk-on if needed. Ines might be that type of player. She was recruited to be a better plan B or plan C option than the walk-on alternative, and she may fill that role pretty well.
A few years back we had a couple of players that I think were recruited for that kind of end of roster role, namely Kyla and Molly. Above average recruits, but nowhere near the usual Uconn top ranked recruit. If I remember right, we had a roster many thought was too big at that time, and how can we possibly find time for all these talented players.
I think the gameplan was for Kyla and Molly to be upgrades to the end of bench walk-ons like say Lawlor/Pulido before them. But Megan's highly touted 4 player class resulted in only one player having success, three transferring, and Megan leaving one year early. Before you know it Kyla and Molly were rotation players, so you never know.
Without having to wait a year, the transfer portal will be busier than ever. Just like with injuries, some injuries should be expected and some player movement should also be expected. Some of that player movement can even happen midseason, so with all that uncertainty and the uncontrollable luck of the draw with injuries, I think 11 or 12 is too low to head into a season with. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst seems like the appropriate strategy to me.
Last year we had 6 very good guards going into the season. Maybe even 7 if you wanted to count Aubrey as a guard, and at one point last year 6 was clearly not enough because three of those guards were out, we had no backup guards on the bench, and we had to use Aaliyah at the 3. This year speaks for itself.
I think we all like to project a lineup when fully healthy and what every player's role will be. When we do that, we frequently project third stringers to get mop up minutes only. I don't know what normal is with any precision, but I wouldn't be surprised if missing 1 rotation player per game isn't closer to average than having everyone healthy. I am counting season ending injuries in that estimate, so with Paige and Ice this year we start with missing two rotation players each and every game.
If you don't have season ending or lengthy missing stretches, maybe with an ankle twist here and there, you might wind up averaging less than 1 missing rotation player per game, but needing third string players to occasionally play a significant role during the season is more norm than exception.
The problem is not many players will accept that role. Seems to me there are three main approaches here. You can do your usual recruiting of top 50 nationally type players, tell them they all can compete for a rotation spot, but you need to be in the top 8-10 to get regular minutes. The good news is you probably then have excellent third stringers. The bad news is you can't expect them to stay.
Another option is the walk-ons. There you get someone who is likely to just be happy to be part of a famous program, get their 2-3 minutes in late game blowouts, be good hard working practice players and teammates, and not be a problem gripping about minutes. The downside is you are in trouble if you have to use them in a big game.
A middle ground is a pretty good player, perhaps not a usual top 50 or better recruit, but someone who feels happy to be part of the program even if they never achieve rotation status, but a player that would be way better than a walk-on if needed. Ines might be that type of player. She was recruited to be a better plan B or plan C option than the walk-on alternative, and she may fill that role pretty well.
A few years back we had a couple of players that I think were recruited for that kind of end of roster role, namely Kyla and Molly. Above average recruits, but nowhere near the usual Uconn top ranked recruit. If I remember right, we had a roster many thought was too big at that time, and how can we possibly find time for all these talented players.
I think the gameplan was for Kyla and Molly to be upgrades to the end of bench walk-ons like say Lawlor/Pulido before them. But Megan's highly touted 4 player class resulted in only one player having success, three transferring, and Megan leaving one year early. Before you know it Kyla and Molly were rotation players, so you never know.
Without having to wait a year, the transfer portal will be busier than ever. Just like with injuries, some injuries should be expected and some player movement should also be expected. Some of that player movement can even happen midseason, so with all that uncertainty and the uncontrollable luck of the draw with injuries, I think 11 or 12 is too low to head into a season with. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst seems like the appropriate strategy to me.
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people forget just how much the cost of lumber has increased 
No, but I also don’t think the only solution is walk-ons. Granted, he’s had an incredible streak of bad luck in terms of injurie, but if you look at other top programs, they often have 13 or 14 on their rosters. So my question is whether Geno, for whatever reason, declined to use all the available scholarships.
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A freshman playing behind and all American should wait her turn. If she good she’ll get some time. Patience
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At UConn they might be pretty good.
Expected players for this season included Paige, Fudd, Dorka, Edwards, Griffin, Ducharme, Muhl and Lou. That’s 8 so I’d say 7 and 8 are pretty good,
One of my favorite teams was 2000-01. At the start of the season the starters were Shea, Svet, Sue, Swin and Kelly Schumacher. That left Tamika Williams, Asjha Jones and DT as the 6th, 7th and 8th players so the 7th and 8th players weren’t too shabby.
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Geno may have tried to recruit some seniors or 5th year players through the transfer portal and was turned down.
He probably didn't want to recruit any more under-classman besides Ines because that could interfere with future recruiting including next year's freshmen class.
If Geno were asked during a media interview he would probably be candid about his efforts but no journalists seem to ever ask him about it.
Maybe he did try to recruit 2 , 3 or more of the nationally ranked transfer players.
He wouldn't need to reveal their names but he could at least be willing to describe his efforts & how many.
You know that if he tried to contact some players and they refused to accept his offer it's because they prefer other schools and possibly have NIL opportunities connected to where they planned to attend instead of UConn.
We'll never know unless a reporter asks Geno at the right moment.
Maybe someday Geno will write a book about his coaching years and let us know the inside story.
There aren't too many people that Geno reports to in an official capacity.
Maybe the Athletic Director knows and some of the coaching staff know about his transfer portal recruiting attempts, and the names of the individual transfer players are probably kept confidential.
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Question, are all of the practice players male? Would it make sense to sprinkle in a couple of female practice players? Obviously the best candidates would be very good HS players who would rather go to UConn than be a non-scholarship DIII player at some small school. Why would they want to do it? Probably for the same reasons the male practice players do it. It would be sort of like an unofficial farm system.
This would be better than picking up a stone-cold walk on. Kids who know exactly wat UConn is trying to do on offense and defense. Insurance for a disaster which for 2 years running seems to follow UConn.
Make sense or is it yet another stupid idea from me?
This would be better than picking up a stone-cold walk on. Kids who know exactly wat UConn is trying to do on offense and defense. Insurance for a disaster which for 2 years running seems to follow UConn.
Make sense or is it yet another stupid idea from me?
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I would say that the amount of players is determined by Geno and his coaching staff. I would prefer the maximum because UConn over the last seveeral years has been so injury prone and placed in uncomfortable playing situations. But, I am not Geno and never will be. All I know is next year the Team is losing both Dorka and Lou and there goes 35 points a game. The European market seems to be a fruitfull recruiting venue and I hope that continues and we should get as many as we can. That's it.
CL82
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So, no waiting for a stoppage in play? I think the referees may frown on that.
meyers7
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Well.....
Yes. (besides alumni who might show up once in awhile)
That's pretty much what a walk-on is for UCONN. All UCONN walk-ons in the past have been very good HS players. Walk-ons aren't just somebody who walks in off the street. And they are given a tryout to be a walk-on also.