Stock watch: Who's up and who's down from UConn's summer workouts
What we've learned about each (healthy) player on the Huskies' roster so far.
On Tuesday, UConn met with the media for the second and final time this summer before everyone heads home to enjoy the final two months before the school year, and preseason, begin. The quietest portion of the offseason will begin shortly.
This year, it’s been tough to get a clear picture of which players have impressed (and which haven’t) over the last few weeks. Geno Auriemma only addressed the public once and it came a little more than a week into the start of workouts. He was supposed to do so again on Tuesday at his annual Fore The Kids Charity Golf Tournament on Tuesday, but wasn’t feeling well and didn’t make it.
It also doesn’t help that freshman Ice Brady was away from the team with USA Basketball and a majority of the roster hasn’t participated while recovering from injury.
Still, we heard enough from Auriemma and the players to cobble together our first stock watch of the 2022-23 season. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that most players look good during the summer and if they didn’t, their teammates likely wouldn’t say so publicly.
Risers
Paige Bueckers
After the season ended, Bueckers took a few weeks off to make sure her surgically-repaired left knee fully healed. Now, she says she feels like she’s back to 100 percent.
“I'm mentally, physically ready to go back at it,” Bueckers said.
As last year showed, UConn’s success is dependent on Bueckers’ health, so the fact that she says she’s fully healthy is important. Now, the junior will stay on campus throughout the summer to limit distractions while bulking up to withstand the punishment that she takes throughout the season.
Nika Mühl
While one week of offseason workouts isn’t much to judge a player on — good or bad — Auriemma went out of his way to note Mühl’s progress on the offensive end since the end of the 2021-22 campaign.
“She's improved. She’s just better,” the coach said. “She's better right now than she was at the end of the season.”
Lou Lopez Sénéchal
Lopez Sénéchal has been a Husky for less than a month, but she’s already drawn rave reviews from Auriemma and Bueckers alike.
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