Will we see Natalie Butler on Monday night?

[Bonpland]

Does anyone have informatuion about Natalie's availability for the Maryland game? When she was injured people began to speculate that she would be back by now. I'm hoping to see her.

 

[BigBird]

No information. One conjecture: she won't play. The staff clearly isn't in a rush to put her on the floor.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Absolutely, we will see her. The two questions are: What is she wearing? Where is she (court or bench)?

 

[Kaizen]

Hope to see both Butler and Chong ......

 

[pacific 44]

I hope she's in a 2 piece ensemble rather than a 3 piece ensemble.I also want to see a tall young lady in said 2 piece ensemble on the floor ripping down rebounds and showing what we all know she can do on offense and defense even if we only get a glimpse of it in a short period of time.She will be a key,valuable player when March and April roll around.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Seems unlikely she'd debut in a game against Maryland. Got three subpar opponents afterwards.

 

[pvdoggy]

No information. One conjecture: she won't play. The staff clearly isn't in a rush to put her on the floor.

It's not the coaching staff that is holding her back, it's Natalie that feels she was not ready. Geno said about a week ago that he was ready for her to play and asked her, but she back down.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

My guess is that she won't play unless Stewie or Morgan get in foul trouble.

 

[Sonny44]

It's not the coaching staff that is holding her back, it's Natalie that feels she was not ready. Geno said about a week ago that he was ready for her to play and asked her, but she back down.

That's difficult to believe.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Seems unlikely she'd debut in a game against Maryland. Got three subpar opponents afterwards.

I have no first hand knowledge of course, but this answer yields a thought provoking conjecture. Why would a coach hold out an otherwise ready-to-go player to wait for "softer" competition? What's the rationale? Nonconjecturly, does Geno have a history of bringing players back from injury slowly? It doesn't get any slower than sitting someone the entire game. I remember KML came back from her elbow outage against Duke who, despite appearances, was no pushover. A sample of one is hardly representative, however. Still, holding Natalie out against tough competition when she's truly 100% sends a message of some kind. Just what, though? Sure she'll need some time to get her "sea legs" but keeping her out the entire game won't hasten that acquisition. Might it be that expectations have been set a rung high?

 

[TitleTown]

I have no first hand knowledge of course, but this answer yields a thought provoking conjecture. Why would a coach hold out an otherwise ready-to-go player to wait for "softer" competition? What's the rationale? Nonconjecturly, does Geno have a history of bringing players back from injury slowly? It doesn't get any slower than sitting someone the entire game. I remember KML came back from her elbow outage against Duke who, despite appearances, was no pushover. A sample of one is hardly representative, however. Still, holding Natalie out against tough competition when she's truly 100% sends a message of some kind. Just what, though? Sure she'll need some time to get her "sea legs" but keeping her out the entire game won't hasten that acquisition. Might it be that expectations have been set a rung high?

Probably because the last time she played in an actual game was in March of 2014. IMHO there is going to be some rust and indecision and I am not sure that Coach Auriemma wants her to lose her confidence. KML was out for a few games and Butler has been out for a few seasons so that is really comparing apples to oranges.

 

[TitleTown]

That's difficult to believe.

Here is the quote from a SNY article on 12/20/15.


"I would like to (play her)," Auriemma said. "But there was a time last week when I said, 'Hey are you ready to go?' and I thought she was going to say yes, and she said no. She is the only one who knows how it feels.

"I think it's more when she is comfortable catching the ball. Right now that has been the biggest problem. She doesn't feel comfortable catching it. The issue with that is that when it is your thumb everything is affected. Your whole hand is affected. And then every time you are playing, you get hit on it again, not just with the ball but with other stuff. It's not one of those things where she is magically healed. It's just going to evolve over a period of time."

 

[Sluconn Husky]

I remember KML came back from her elbow outage against Duke who, despite appearances, was no pushover.

Well, I'll say one difference is they knew what they were going to get from KML if healthy. I still think Butler is an unknown. One year of college on a much lesser team and no game time with this squad. There was a comfort level with KML by that point that I'm not sure is there yet with Butler. And KML had at least played a few games including exhibitions prior to getting hurt. Butler hasn't done anything but practice.

Just throwing it out there. They might see it differently.

 

[Beltway]

With the rotations pretty set she may only get mop up minutes unless there's serious foul trouble in the front court

 

[JoePgh]

Either Natalie is completely out of the lineup in street clothes, or (I humbly predict) she will come in at the first TV timeout and play for at least 5 minutes. Then, if she is playing effectively and Rosemary agrees that her thumb is not being irritated, she will continue to get regular minutes for the rest of the game as long as both of those conditions are still met.

It is possible that she could have a Kaleena-at-Duke kind of game in the best - case scenario. Against Maryland (a local team while she was growing up), she should have extra motivation.

 

[Monte]

That's difficult to believe.

No, I think I read that in practice; when she tried to catch a ball in the post, that she still had pain. This was just last week. Why rush her? Let her come back at full strength.