(12-09-2021, 10:40 PM)chimera Wrote: I can't claim to be totally up on what is going on with UConn. I can say that Geno has for years neglected to develop his bench and got away with it because of the talent level of his starting 5 plus one or two more. Seems like this year and last year it was all about Bueckers, who is a fantastic player, but too much of any one player can bite a team if the player is off for an important game or gets hurt. Geno likes to talk a lot of negativity about his players, albeit often in a joking way. Perhaps this group of players is not finding the humor in it or are letting his coaching style get into their heads. The other issue is usually UConn has something like one superstar and two other stars who make All-America teams starting. This season aside from Buecker they don't seem to have the star power they used to have when they won all those games in a row.
Well, this season's UConn is, by far, the DEEPEST UConn team ever, as in:
- 3 former #1 overall recruits (WILLIAMS, BUECKERS, FUDD)
- 1 former #2 overall recruit (WESTBROOK)
- 2 former #5 overall recruits (NELSON-ODODA, DUCHARME)
- 4 other players who were Top 25 overall recruits (GRIFFIN, EDWARDS, McLEAN, DeBERRY)
- 1 transfer who was a 1st Team All-Star Selection from another Power 5 conference (DUHASZ)
Their pressing problem right now is that all of their natural and/or designated PGs (BUECKERS, MUHL, FUDD)
are injured for at least 2 - 3 weeks, so they are forced to play WESTBROOK (who played some PG at Tennessee
but has been a SG/SF in UConn's scheme) as their starting PG and WILLIAMS as her back-up when
WESTBROOK is resting on the bench.
They will continue to have struggles vs. UCLA tomorrow and Louisville next weekend, but I think
they will beat UCLA (which is even more challenged with more injuries) but will lose to Louisville.
So they will most likely enter Big East conference play with a 6-3 W/L record.
But once MUHL and FUDD return by the start of Big East conference play, they should be fine and
might even go undefeated in the Big East despite the absence of BUECKERS. However, interspersed
with their Big East conference schedule are road games against Oregon and #1 South Carolina and
a home game versus #9 Tennessee, so OOC losses will most likely continue to pile up.
With that, they will most likely end up as a regional 2-seed or 3-seed come NCAA Tournament time.
But if BUECKERS is back by then, watch out!