Why UConn Doesn't have Depth?

[oldude]

Not quite.....anything less than a title was the expectation in 2017-18, and most people expected a Final Four with a shot at a title this year. I'll give you 2016-17. Since UCONN wasn't that good by UCONN standards this past year (ex. 3 losses, "only" winning by 26 ppg, etc) and you lose 2 great players, next year might be a little more difficult but all of WCBB heavy weights are going to be down sans Baylor/Oregon, so UCONN is still well positioned to be a Final Four team even if it's a bumpier road to get there. Keep in mind UCONN will play in Albany again during the regionals which gives them a home atmosphere to get to the Final Four.

The closest regional to UConn in 2020 is Greenville, SC. In 2021 it’s back in Albany and in 2022 it moves back to Bridgeport, CT.

 

[BleedBlue72]

Oh forgot we also play Tennessee , if westbrook ends up staying they could be very good, 3 recruits including one of the top Aussie guards as well. I know it’s Tennessee but still .. but good thing most of the big time games are at home

 

[southofnorth]

So as far as depth goes, what is the issue with playing more the 6 players? Is it a rule of thumb kind of thing or is it just most teams’ talent isn’t good enough to play in close, tough games? I ask because I wouldn’t want to recruit someone I had no actual desire to play. That’s like hiring someone to be on call in case everyone else calls in or quits. Doesn’t seem like a smart move. Are coaches hoping for more development later on? I’m just curious to know what the rationale is for not playing more players in big games.

 

[boontonbomber]

"At the same time, over-recruiting can be a problem as well, just look at South Carolina. According to WBBBlog.com, the Gamecocks signed 16 players between 2014 and 2017. Nine of those players left before graduating, or 64%."

Let's see: Nine divided by 16 =56.25%. Even Hemmingway had an editor. This guy deserved one--with rudimentary math skills--too.

to which he would say you could use one for rudimentary spelling skill.

 

[Triad]

Hunter was a former #1 recruit and Camara top 50.....lots of schools would've taken them.

As injured as Touly was? Hunter as an uninjured player was undoubtedly a TOP number 1 recruit. Hunter as I recall was worked on at Duke with no success then (injured) was accepted by Geno. Uconn Health worked on her with minimum success. From then on Britiany was allowed to let Geno know when she could play or practice. Her game time showed glimpses of an outstanding player.
Since no one else picked up either of these players I must assume they were not widely recruited as injured. Do you have facts that states otherwise?
So, Until someone shows me otherwise I choose to believe what I saw and read at the time: Geno's extreme compassion.

 

[Triad]

So as far as depth goes, what is the issue with playing more the 6 players? Is it a rule of thumb kind of thing or is it just most teams’ talent isn’t good enough to play in close, tough games? I ask because I wouldn’t want to recruit someone I had no actual desire to play. That’s like hiring someone to be on call in case everyone else calls in or quits. Doesn’t seem like a smart move. Are coaches hoping for more development later on? I’m just curious to know what the rationale is for not playing more players in big games.

I get what you say! It make sense, however Geno recruits players, in normal years, they are spread among 4 years. So, he has players in 3 levels of development and Seniors (who are expected to know the system and meet demand (key word expected). He too tends to take walk ons or nice kids with SOME talent whose task is to be a practice player, and most know their role.
Then during the season Geno decides whom he can TRUST and whom he cannot often he is right sometimes he is not as in Jefferson. As to whom will play in big games Experience, Talent, Trust and necessity appears to be the method Geno uses.

 

[oldude]

As injured as Touly was? Hunter as an uninjured player was undoubtedly a TOP number 1 recruit. Hunter as I recall was worked on at Duke with no success then (injured) was accepted by Geno. Uconn Health worked on her with minimum success. From then on Britiany was allowed to let Geno know when she could play or practice. Her game time showed glimpses of an outstanding player.
Since no one else picked up either of these players I must assume they were not widely recruited as injured. Do you have facts that states otherwise?
So, Until someone shows me otherwise I choose to believe what I saw and read at the time: Geno's extreme compassion.

There was no indication of an injury when Batouly transferred to UConn. As a freshman, Batouly had earned a starting role at KY in the last 3rd of the season. Subsequently KY had multiple players transfer, including Batouly. Batouly was from the NY area and had been recruited by UConn in HS, although I don’t believe an offer was made.

Geno was looking for Bigs and an offer was made and accepted by Batouly.

 

[Triad]

There was no indication of an injury when Batouly transferred to UConn. As a freshman, Batouly had earned a starting role at KY in the last 3rd of the season. Subsequently KY had multiple players transfer, including Batouly. Batouly was from the NY area and had been recruited by UConn in HS, although I don’t believe an offer was made.

Geno was looking for Bigs and an offer was made and accepted by Batouly.

Are you saying that I what I believed for 2 years was not true? That Touly transferred in as a Healthy player and at Uconn became injured? Interesting, since she arrived I believe she had been injured in Ky.
All the time I thought Geno compassionate--I must revise that thought!

 

[Argonaut]

Had she not sprained her MCL in practice in November, I think we would have seen a completely different Batouly this year. I think she was ready to go and would have been major muscle off the bench. I will predict that she's a big contributor next season with a fully healed knee.

Also, FWIW, if you haven't checked out her Instagram, she's won an award from Student Life for her leadership work on campus, completely separate from the team. It's good stuff.

 

[BroadwayVa]

I think UCONN will only sign Anna Makurat. She said she wants to play for UCONN but is still playing in her Europe league and would visit over the summer. She could get paid and go pro but I think she wants to play college ball first. Sadly I don’t think UCONN will sign anyone in the off season unless Geno has something up his sleeve and can find a big post player over seas. If we don’t sign anyone for next season... hate it to be a Debbie Downer but it’s going to be a long season .. u thought our Out of Confrence schedule was hard this season wait till next season... they got Baylor, Oregon, South Carolina. Louisville and a few more. But the following year I have a feeling is going to be a special year. 2020 is already a top class and Geno hasn’t even started deep into the 2020 class. UCONN will be fine.. next year might be the rebuilding year and our expectations most likely won’t be met but u never know it’s a long season and anything can happen.

long seasons or short: it is Uconn WBB and I'll love it and complain and love it...
The last 2 pre-seasons were Woe is Me season is on it's way. Making the NCAA, is iffy, Sweet 16 not happening, Elite 8 impossible, FF Never, NC are you crazy?? Some way some how some thing happened and Geno pulled and pushed and huffed and puffed and nearly blew the NC house down. I continuously say of Geno NEVER SAY NEVER!!

 

[Bronxjeff]

I think the "big" problem we had this year was that Azure was mis-used under-used in her first eligible year. She deserved more minutes by how she impacted games - of greatest note was that we were winning the semi-game against ND with her on the floor, but Geno pulled her for some reason. We lose, she leaves...

 

[uconnfan68]

There isn’t a blanket reason for it. But one trend that emerged is that the Huskies’ recent recruiting classes are boom or bust. Either UConn gets a top-five player which turns into a star or they get someone outside the top-10 that doesn’t see much playing time or transfers out.

Since Griffin isn’t a top 10 talent, history kind of shows that she probably won’t have major success at UConn. The only players out side of the top 10 that had major success at UConn are Heartley, Gabby, Nurse, Dolson, and Stokes, and even with that only Williams, Heartley, Dolson were All Americans.

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

 

[Geesworld]

I think the "big" problem we had this year was that Azure was mis-used under-used in her first eligible year. She deserved more minutes by how she impacted games - of greatest note was that we were winning the semi-game against ND with her on the floor, but Geno pulled her for some reason. We lose, she leaves...

I think that is a big factor for Azura not returning. I wonder if it was Geno's loyalty to all of the AA he has recruited that kept him from using her more.
Geno seems to only sub for fouls purposes or just pure annoyance of the players play. I would like to see a more healthy usage of rotation for nutrition more than anything and to allow players to get familiarity in their role.

 

[JonathanXIV]

There isn’t a blanket reason for it. But one trend that emerged is that the Huskies’ recent recruiting classes are boom or bust. Either UConn gets a top-five player which turns into a star or they get someone outside the top-10 that doesn’t see much playing time or transfers out.

Since Griffin isn’t a top 10 talent, history kind of shows that she probably won’t have major success at UConn. The only players out side of the top 10 that had major success at UConn are Heartley, Gabby, Nurse, Dolson, and Stokes, and even with that only Williams, Heartley, Dolson were All Americans.

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.

 

[MTC]

There's really not that many posts that fit the way UConn plays. They could cast a wider net, but just getting someone who is ranked in the top-50 by Hoopgurlz or whatever is not going to guarantee success.

I mean, what has Maryland, Texas, or Tennessee done lately with those post players? UConn did recruit Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox. So that covers Baylor for you.

I'm not really seeing the recruiting failure here - the great posts that UConn failed to recruit. I guess Geno didn't go to Alaska to recruit Ruthy Hebard. That's about all I can come up with.

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.

 

[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?