Mailbag: Is UConn still a Final Four team without Paige Bueckers?
Mailbag: Is UConn still a Final Four team without Paige Bueckers?
Answering the biggest questions about the Huskies ahead of Selection Sunday and the NCAA Tournament.
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It’s NCAA Tournament time. UConn won the Big East Tournament championship on Monday and now get the 10-ish day breather before the start of March Madness. The Huskies will learn their path to banner No. 12 on Selection Sunday and will begin play on either Friday or Saturday.
While mailbags are usually only for premium subscribers, we gave everyone who’s a member of the UConn WBB Weekly the opportunity to ask questions. If you want the chance to ask questions throughout the postseason, click the button above to become a premium subscriber.
Naturally, there were a lot of responses, so to keep this at a (relatively) manageable length, we tried to only pick questions that are relevant towards the NCAA Tournament — or haven’t been asked in a previous edition of the mailbag:
We also got a ton of questions about Paige Bueckers but we covered all the latest on her in this story. There’s not much else to say and we don’t want to speculate about her status going forward when there’s still so much uncertainty.
With all that said, let’s dive in.
Can UConn make the Final Four without Paige contributing? — John H.
If the Big East Tournament showed us anything, it’s that UConn is still a great team even without Bueckers. The Huskies have eight players who can put up a lot of points along with Nika Mühl, who sets up plenty of baskets for her teammates. The defense is playing at a high level and everyone’s confidence is sky-high.
It also helps that every other team in the country is flawed — South Carolina included. UConn absolutely has the talent and ability to not just make the Final Four but even win the national championship without Bueckers.
That doesn’t mean the Huskies will, but it just goes to show that they aren’t completely reliant on a single player like they were at the start of the year. Obviously UConn would certainly have a significantly better chance to win it all with a healthy and contributing Bueckers, but the team’s unselfishness will make them tough to shut down regardless.
What can be done about turnovers? This could turn into a serious problem with the upper-echelon teams. — Edd D.
Will UConn’s free throw shooting be the Achilles’ heel on the road to its 12th national championship? — Don M.
If UConn comes up short of a national championship, there’s a good chance turnovers and/or free throw shooting will be a major reason for its demise.
Turnovers have been a persistent problem ever since Bueckers got hurt — and even before, to a certain degree. While the Huskies have gotten better — they’ve averaged just 13.0 giveaways over their last 10 games compared to 14.4 the 10 games prior to that — they still go through too many stretches where they give the ball up easily. Bueckers could help, but that would require her to be effective (which isn’t a guarantee) and even still, she won’t fix everything. Realistically, UConn will just have to hope it doesn’t end the season.
In the same vein, the Huskies’ poor free throw shooting hasn’t really hurt them yet because they haven’t played in many close games. Currently, UConn ranks 199th in the country with a 69.7 free throw percentage and is 323 out of 356 teams nationally with a free throw rate of 31.0%. Missing free throws is the easiest way to let teams back in games late. Similar to turnovers, the Huskies probably can’t do much at this point except hope that it doesn’t end up haunting them.
Why is Edwards starting ahead of Juhász and why is the former playing more minutes than any other Husky? — Tom E.
To start, Edwards isn’t playing more minutes than anyone else. She’s fourth on the team in total minutes — in large part because she’s one of two players who hasn’t missed a game due to injury or illness — and is sixth in minutes per game. Even over the last 10 games, Edwards has only totaled the third-most minutes.
As for the first part of the question, Edwards probably starts over Juhász because 1. She’s playing better right now and 2. Edwards is a different type of player than Juhász or Olivia Nelson-Ododa. Edwards gives UConn’s frontcourt more variety and provides Auriemma with more flexibility when it comes to utilizing his bench.
Since Geno said the current team is starting to “look like the UConn teams of old,” which national championship team could it beat? I’m going with 2004. — D. Mc
This is a fun question that I have a boring answer to: None of them. I can’t imagine this year’s team could handle the height of 1995 or the four Breanna Stewart teams from 2013-16, so they’re out. 2002, 2009 and 2010 were wagons that wouldn’t lose to anyone. Maybe this squad would have a shot down 2000, 2003 or 2004 but every national championship team won it all. This year’s UConn team is still a work in progress and hasn’t proven anything.
If they win it all, we’ll circle back to this question.
How is Aubrey Griffin doing since her back surgery? — Anthony B.
Manny O., Robert D and Bob R. asked similar questions
We haven’t gotten any updates on Griffin since her back surgery, though the team did make sure to include her in the Big East Tournament celebrations.
Griffin is recovering from the surgery at home, so it’s unlikely we’ll see her on the bench the rest of the season.
Why does everyone say UConn is back to full strength when Aubrey Griffin is still out? — Rich B.
It’s simple: Not only has Griffin already been declared out for the season, she never even played this year. She’s on the roster but she didn’t factor in at any point, so it would be redundant to keep mentioning her — especially since she’s not even with the team at the moment.
Evina Westbrook did give a shoutout to her during the Big East Tournament, though.
“We're still missing Aubrey. We can’t forget about Aubrey,” Westbrook said. “But she's here in spirit.”
How’s your computer charger? — Tom B.
In case you don’t follow me on Twitter, an errant pass by Marquette nailed by computer charger in the Big East semifinals. It went flying roughly three feet and landed behind the row of court-side tables but luckily, it still works.
I’d still prefer that to a player coming over the table like Christyn Williams did back during the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
What is the class breakdown of players on the team? — Bill T.
We have a chart that lays this out clearly:
The current senior, junior and sophomore classes all have one extra year of eligibility due to COVID. For the seniors, I’d be surprised if anyone besides Dorka Juhász uses it.
Will Dorka return? — Stephen A., Luther I, Arthur, Rich
Juhász participated in senior day and while she hasn’t made a decision about returning for next year, she mentioned that she planned on taking part in senior day from the moment she committed to UConn from Ohio State. Juhász told me this over the summer:
“When I transferred, I’m definitely looking forward to having that two years,” she said. “It’s gonna be one by one. We’ll see how obviously this year goes but I’m definitely not looking forward to just use one year, I’m definitely looking forward to use two.”
If I had to guess, Juhász will be back next season. Barring a huge NCAA Tournament, she won’t be a first round pick in the WNBA Draft and while she could explore options overseas — especially in her home country of Hungary — she’s publicly stated that playing in the W is a dream of hers. Assuming there’s no outside factors at play, Juhász’s best chance to accomplish that goal is to return to UConn for her fifth year.
Is there a chance that Ashlynn Shade or KK Arnold can reclassify and come to UConn in January 2023, similar to what high school football players do? — Sean C.
UConn could definitely use some backcourt reinforcements next year with only four guards — even if those four players are Bueckers, Caroline Ducharme, Azzi Fudd and Mühl. After all, we’ve seen firsthand how quickly injuries can deplete depth.
Having said that, even if Shade or Arnold can reclassify early, UConn won’t burn one of their four years of eligibility for less than half a season. The Huskies will probably explore the transfer market to see if they can get a reserve guard but that’s easier said than done. In all likelihood, UConn will roll with the foursome of Bueckers, Ducharme, Fudd and Mühl.
When did Geno decide to use male practice players? — Jerry F.
This is a fun story. One day, Jen Rizzotti asked if her boyfriend — now husband — and his friends could practice with the team. Geno loved the idea and after UConn struggled to get the ball over mid-court against them, the male practice squad was born.
Do UConn’s assistant coaches each teach a different aspect of the game or do they overlap and is anyone specifically hired to coach one thing? — Robert R.
In general, Chris Dailey and Jamelle Elliott work with the bigs while Morgan Valley works with the guards, but that’s not a hard and fast rule. For example, KK Arnold, a guard who’s one of UConn’s 2023 commitments, said Elliott was the first coach to reach out to her. But that’s generally how the duties are split up.
I loved this update on the team. Always enjoy your take on things Uconnwbb.
Some great questions, greater answers. If Dorka leaves G get's a big from the portal. I think he will absolutely get a guard out of the portal. Thanks Dan.