Williams and Nelson-Ododa raring to go

[SVCBeercats]

Pheew. Megan is at 15.5.

Don't fret. A bright future can be had. Do you know who was at 15.6 minutes per game? Gabby Williams!

 

[Carnac]

Everyone said that no one would touch UConn last year too and that they were gonna lose 10 games the year before after losing top 3 draft choices. All it takes is one misstep ever so slightly in the tourney. Also remember we lost the last two years on last second shots in OT.

It's not like we still aren't a power house with 2 or 3 of the best players in the country (if you count Crystal Dangerfield as top PG.) I also don't see why CW will have to have a monster offensive year when you have two of the best offensive players in the country who will most likely average 20ppg on the team already.

Notice the effort Lou and the two ND players are giving on this loose ball. Lou is getting "sandwiched", but is not backing down. Neither are the two Domers (Westbeld and Mabrey). Lou has that "I won't be denied" look on her face (I love it!). This is the kind of effort and desire UConn players are going to have to give on every play (no plays off). Why?, because one play can make a BIG difference, especially at the end of a game. I'd like to see the team blow this picture up and put it on a wall in the locker room for all to see, and to serve as a daily reminder of what is expected from every player when they're on the floor.

You never know how close the game will be in the last 30 seconds of a game. If the ball had bounced UConn's way (or someone made a play) in the closing moments of their last two final four games, things would have turned out much different. A last second buzzer beater was the difference in both games, the affects of which still trouble some to this day.

 

[slug25]

Those Tuesday / Thursday Longer classes were brutal. Not to mention the one day a week classes argh. Ha.

I had a geography class that I never missed because I needed the sleep.

 

[UcMiami]

Geno plays freshmen who earn playing time in practice. That is it. Forget tendencies, opinions, tall-tales, etc. Since the 2000-01 season 56% of all freshmen played on average more than 15 minutes per game. That is 29 out of 52 freshmen. Sixteen freshmen averaged less than 10 minutes a game. Excepting Maria Colon, these players contributed as practice players and bench cheer squad. This does not bode well for Bent, Irwin, Gordon, and Coombs. All who averaged less the 10 minutes per game did so because they were not good players at least not at UCONN. Twenty-nine freshmen averaged more then 15 minutes per game which is the cut off for further success in the UONN program. See stats below.
View attachment 31802

Great research, but also want to point out a few things that can make a huge difference for a freshman in terms of playing time:

1. Need - when Bria and Stefanie showed up as freshman, the team desperately needed a center and PG and so they p0layed many more minutes than they would have had there been a strong post and PG returning to the team. Returners who have established themselves in the rotation get first crack at minutes. Wolff, Crockett, Turner, and Strother arrived after the TASS graduation - someone had to replace those four!

2. Injuries - when Sveta went down in 2001 in game 19, her 25 minutes/game needed to be redistributed (plus Battle and Ralph also went down.) Maya became a starter when Kalana went down and probably notched up more when Thomas went down (and every time Brittany couldn't go.) Hayes minutes (and starts increased with Doty went down.

3. Injuries also affect some of the freshman listed - Doty and Wolff both lost much of their freshman years to injury so the numbers are maybe inflated as OOC then was pretty weak. NB - Battle had two freshman years and you chose the second - her first was 5 games and 10.4 minutes/game.

4. Transfer - Walker left before the end of the first semester so again her minutes might be inflated by the OOC schedule.

5. Team size/strength - there are only so many minutes available during competitive games so how strong a team is and how quickly they finish off an opponent greatly affects the minutes played by the non-rotational players. Last year with a primary 6 player rotation, having 6 players plus 1 walk on on the bench to share the remaining minutes is very different than 2016 when the bench was 4 players plus two walk-ons. In 2016 the team wasn't really challenged so the mop-up minutes were probably greater.