Why UConn Doesn't have Depth?

[Twolf]

If Nelson-Ododa were to go down with a serious injury we would be forced to realized that Geno has been playing with fire by not having decent backup players for every position.

There are very, very few programs that have ”decent” backup players for every position. If they are truly capable players where you don’t have a huge drop off in performance, they are not going to be satisfied being a backup player and will be looking for a program where they won’t be riding the pine for long periods. UConn practices are tough to endure, and even tougher if the reward is limited court time in games. The days of role players and squad members just happy to be a part of a team that is successful is rapidly disappearing, even at a program that is as amazingly successful as UConn.
Negative recruiting against Geno’s system hasn’t been discussed much in this thread, but believe me it’s out there. How about the lengthy thread on tattoos recently in this forum? How about Geno’s social media policy, his demanding practice regimen, short bench, his age, his brutal honesty about players, parents, etc.? From Geno’s point of view why would he change a system that has produced such incredible, mind boggling success? Reality is that finding the types of players that produced those results in today’s world and society, is becoming increasingly difficult, and will only get harder IMHO.

 

[CocoHusky]

If Nelson-Ododa were to go down with a serious injury we would be forced to realized that Geno has been playing with fire by not having decent backup players for every position.

The bolded part is something that should never be put out in the universe.
UCONN is no different than any other top WCBB program ,if you lose your best post player you are going to struggle. See Baylor in the Championship game?

 

[paisan]

Post shortage is a recent issue. Last year you had the luxury of bringing a talented 6-6 Z off the bench. Go back 5 years and your roster had:
6-5 Dolson
6-4 Stewart
6-3 Stokes
6-2 Tuck

Geno missed out on some good kids 2016-->now but still has a highly rated post in ONO for 3 more years. Last year he was blindsided by Stevens leaving early and he probably expected Camara to be better than she has been.

Blindsided ? He refused to start her and kept pulling her in and out of games.

 

[paisan]

The bolded part is something that should never be put out in the universe.
UCONN is no different than any other top WCBB program ,if you lose your best post player you are going to struggle. See Baylor in the Championship game?

But Baylor won because they still had depth.

 

[CocoHusky]

But Baylor won because they still had depth.

My point was Baylor struggled without their best post player and gave up a double digit lead.
I get it, you guys want Geno to have a bunch of perfect basketball players with AA sitting on the bench waiting "just in case". Just point Geno in the direction where he can find such players and we are half way there.

 

[meyers7]

My point was Baylor struggled without their best post player and gave up a double digit lead.
I get it, you guys want Geno to have to have a bunch of perfect basketball players with AA sitting on the bench waiting "just in case". Just point Geno in the direction where he can find such players and we are half way there.

I'm sure Geno would love to have them too. I guess he just needs to find that tree where they grow and pick a few.

 

[MTC]

The bolded part is something that should never be put out in the universe.
UCONN is no different than any other top WCBB program ,if you lose your best post player you are going to struggle. See Baylor in the Championship game?

If you lose your ONLY post player you will struggle even more. There can be no excuses now for not bringing in two big players. Irwin is not an answer to this problem.

 

[JoePgh]

If you lose your ONLY post player you will struggle even more. There can be no excuses now for not bringing in two big players. Irwin is not an answer to this problem.

I'm not sure what point you and others are making with this line of argument. Is it that Geno should succeed with every recruiting pitch? As we all know, he recruited both Brown and Cox, and more recently Boston, and was not successful -- but not for lack of effort. So what is your point -- that we need a coach who can be more persuasive with those kinds of recruits?

Or are you saying that he should be less selective and just get a big body? He has tried that also, successfully (a long time ago) with Kara Wolters and more recently with Natalie Butler and (yes) Kyla Irwin. But then you say that isn't the answer.

So, what (in your opinion) is the answer? What should Geno and CD doing that they aren't already doing?

 

[CocoHusky]

I'm not sure what point you and others are making with this line of argument. Is it that Geno should succeed with every recruiting pitch? As we all know, he recruited both Brown and Cox, and more recently Boston, and was not successful -- but not for lack of effort. So what is your point -- that we need a coach who can be more persuasive with those kinds of recruits? Or are you saying that he should be less selective and just get a big body? He has tried that also, successfully (a long time ago) with Kara Wolters and more recently with Natalie Butler and (yes) Kyla Irwin. But then you say that isn't the answer.
So, what (in your opinion) is the answer? What should Geno and CD doing that they aren't already doing?

They will never give Geno and the staff any credit effort- that's not good enough. What they want is for the staff to be clairvoyant enough to go find a lower ranked post player like Tierra McGowan or Megan Gustafson who is willing to come to UCONN and sit and wait just in case the top tier post players that UCONN has recruited don't work out. In addition to that Geno needs to make sure that every UCONN recruit is a contributor on day 1 and God forbid one or two might want to transfer. It's a long standing whine........![/QUOTE]

 

[BobbyJ]

They will never give Geno and the staff any credit effort- that's not good enough. What they want is for the staff to be clairvoyant enough to go find a lower ranked post player like Tierra McGowan or Megan Gustafson who is willing to come to UCONN and sit and wait just in case the top tier post players that UCONN has recruited don't work out. In addition to that Geno needs to make sure that every UCONN recruit is a contributor on day 1 and God forbid one or two might want to transfer. It's a long standing whine...!

[/QUOTE]
They think it's like a draft. Every quality post in the country is waiting breathlessly for Auriemma to call.

 

[Go/huskies]

Geno thinks she is talent. He’s right more than most.

I never said she didn’t have talent, but I’m just not seeing her make a big impact on the program, and definitely not from day one, I’ve been wrong before and I could be wrong again, I hope Griffin has a lot of success.

 

[Go/huskies]

You forgot Kelly Farris. And Renee Montgomery. And for the period of UConn’s early success most of the top players were from outside the top ten.

Ok so it’s a toss up, but when you think about some of the better players UConn has had most, DT, Moore, Stewart, Charles, and Bird, most were top 10 players and some of them didn’t even start as freshmen.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Part Two: State of the Roster: Where Can UConn Women’s Basketball Add Depth?

 

[eebmg]

Pretty succinct.

Auriemma won’t recruit players for the sake of numbers — he only wants players he thinks can fit into the program. He also realizes he can’t sit back and do nothing.


“You just go through some cycles where the kids you want, you know it’s a long shot,” he said in November. “‘Why don’t you take some other kids?’” I don’t want them. But you have to do something.”

 

[JonathanXIV]

Ok so it’s a toss up, but when you think about some of the better players UConn has had most, DT, Moore, Stewart, Charles, and Bird, most were top 10 players and some of them didn’t even start as freshmen.

Of course most of UConn's best players were top recruits. Wouldn't it be surprising - and a flaw in his ability identify players - if they weren't?

 

[MTC]

Are we recruiting Nitalija Marshal? At 6-5 she would be a great fit at Uconn.

 

[Argonaut]

Are we recruiting Nitalija Marshal? At 6-5 she would be a great fit at Uconn.

Yes, but so far she's only had home visits from Notre Dame and Stanford, per Raoul's blog.

 

[meyers7]

Part Two: State of the Roster: Where Can UConn Women’s Basketball Add Depth?

Ok, so that really doesn't tell anything we don't already know.

 

[UConnCat]

Ok, so that really doesn't tell anything we don't already know.

As predicted. Thanks to Dan for providing a nice summary of the state of the roster.

 

[MTC]

I never said she didn’t have talent, but I’m just not seeing her make a big impact on the program, and definitely not from day one, I’ve been wrong before and I could be wrong again, I hope Griffin has a lot of success.

Yes, but so far she's only had home visits from Notre Dame and Stanford, per Raoul's blog.

I can't imagine why Uconn hasn't done a home visit, she is practically in their back yard. It isn't like we have a surplus of taller players.

 

[MTC]

Hell, Marshal just committed to Notre Dame. Hannah and Sarah are leaning towards Baylor. Are Uconn's staff on vacation?

 

[CocoHusky]

Hell, Marshal just committed to Notre Dame. Hannah and Sarah are leaning towards Baylor. Are Uconn's staff on vacation?

I'm sure the UCONN staff is abiding by the recruiting calendar which shows that we are in a dead period until tomorrow. Relax. Not sure Sarah is still part of the UCONN picture with Paige and Nika signing and even before that Geno did not visit with Sarah the last time he was in Texas. Where are you hearing that makes Hannah a Baylor lean?

 

[MTC]

I'm sure the UCONN staff is abiding by the recruiting calendar which shows that we are in a dead period until tomorrow. Relax. Not sure Sarah is still part of the UCONN picture with Paige and Nika signing and even before that Geno did not visit with Sarah the last time he was in Texas. Where are you hearing that makes Hannah a Baylor lean?

I think Sarah and Hannah both may end up at Baylor. I hope Geno isn't putting all his hopes for a tall player on one lady. We know how that turned out last year. We lost our FF game with Notre Dame because of rebounding; we should have learned our lesson from that beating on the boards.

 

[CocoHusky]

I think Sarah and Hannah both may end up at Baylor. I hope Geno isn't putting all his hopes for a tall player on one lady. We know how that turned out last year. We lost our FF game with Notre Dame because of rebounding; we should have learned our lesson from that beating on the boards.

I get it: UCONN missed out on Boston last year, Marshall just signed with ND, and you think Gusters will eventually end up at Baylor. UCONN women's basketball should apply for intramural status then?

 

[BleedBlue72]

Cordosa the 6’7 post out of Tennessee is the one I want for 2020. I’ve heard she’s a UCONN lean. But it could change now that holly is gone her home state could be the favor now. Until UCONN gets a few bigs they won’t be national title contenders. I don’t care how many all Americans he gets u needs bigs!! And u need a bench. We’ve been down this road to many times... the recruiting needs to change sadly due to the players and culture changing ... so hopefully things will start to look favorable going foward. The last big left on the table for a possible transfer and waiver is 6’4 Sidney Cooks. ND seemed to think they were going to get her but Marshall committing will change that. With Marshall there u still have 6’4 Vaughn 6’4 Corve 6’2 Patterson and Brunelle 6’2 that’s a lot of size and talent to compete with.