Should UCONN use a Kim schedule?

[Boreifs]

All of them if properly developed.

Do you realize that Ohio State had a rotation of six players? A rotation of seven players is totally the norm; your point is not well taken. Not to mention that your evaluation of our bench is quite radically different from most observers.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Still want iron sharpening iron? Kimmy's scheduling worked after sooooo many Boneyarders ridiculed her scheduling.
Probably Dawn thought this was her year to become the best women's college basketball coach. Oops! Now she is at best 3rd behind Geno and Kim. Not sure about Tara as 3 or 4.

I'd prefer he keep the competitive early season/OOC games competitive. First, it gives the team exposure in different parts of the country from a recruiting standpoint, 2nd, some of these games serve as homecoming for seniors, and 3rd, if roughly half of our BE games are not that competitive, keeping strong OOC games prep them for the NCAAT. And yes, LSU seems to be doing well, in spite of the early easy games, however their SEC season is always a battle.

They did well in this year's OOC schedule so why look to make it easier?

A tough OOC schedule is part of the recruiting tool.. IMO.

No. Take on all comers.

No.

The Big East already lacks enough in terms of competitiveness compared to other conferences. UConn’s OOC schedule is what separates them from everyone else, taking on the best the P-5 conferences have to offer.

No. Next question, please.

Etc., etc., etc.

 

[socal613ws]

if Uconn played in the SEC sure, but they don't. That's why they get tougher ooc

 

[wingsfan055]

The competitive schedule this year kinda backfired for Geno. The injuries, imo, had a direct effect on both the outcome of games (losing to good teams they normally would beat) and also led to more injuries (players playing hurt or overextending themselves).

The result was an absolute mess. Yes, we earned a good record and a 2-seed, but at what cost? We had our Top 7 back for OSU, but at least 4 of them were still clearly hurt and playing at 50% effectiveness. We looked like a shell of ourselves against a team we should have won by double digits.

Playing an easier schedule would have allowed more rest and recovery for key players during the season, without sacrificing wins.

 

[HuskyNan]

The competitive schedule this year kinda backfired for Geno. The injuries, imo, had a direct effect on both the outcome of games (losing to good teams they normally would beat) and also led to more injuries (players playing hurt or overextending themselves).

Paige, Ice & Aaliyah - injured preseason
Azzi - injured in collision with Aaliyah, second (different) injury - knocked knees with a Georgetown player
Nika - fell down because she plays like the Tasmanian Devil
Caroline - whacked In head, suffered lingering effects of concussion
Aubrey - COVID
Amari - snowed in

How are these due to the schedule?

 

[darrell]

Still want iron sharpening iron? Kimmy's scheduling worked after sooooo many Boneyarders ridiculed her scheduling.
Probably Dawn thought this was her year to become the best women's college basketball coach. Oops! Now she is at best 3rd behind Geno and Kim. Not sure about Tara as 3 or 4.








Etc., etc., etc.

UConn playing essentially Community Colleges in addition to a mediocre BE schedule makes sense for whom?

 

[HopJim]

Just like to see a more balanced schedule by UConn. Next year's out of conference schedule doesn't provide Geno enough time to work with the bench and hammers the starters physically. While it gives Geno excellent feedback regarding what to focus on, it also provides the competition with a compete view of how to game plan against them.

 

[BRS24]

I'll admit that I thought Kim's early season scheduling would hurt the team long term, and I was wrong. It worked for them, this year. No idea if it will again, and the SEC conf schedule did a good job of preparing them for the tourney. Other posters have said that she didn't have much of a say with the schedule, so now let's see what happens in '23-24.

I went back and looked at LSU's bracket and there wasn't any other team that stood out. Did I think Utah had a chance to beat them? Yup, and I would have loved an Utah/VA Tech semi, and then either of those teams vs Iowa.

 

[Bald Husky]

Playing an easy OOC schedule serves no purpose for a program that is the leader in this sport. We need these tough games to challange our core players, to show the country we are still here, to invigorate the fan base and the opportunity for us to see the best WBB teams in the country against our girls. I only have season tics to the XL as my night time eyesight makes it hard to get to Storrs sometimes. I don't want to see us play Central Conn. State, Quinnpiac, or Umass-Lowel. I want Maryland, Notre Dame, and North Carolina. It worked for Kim because she had a lot of transfers that had to learn to play with each other, and these games got them to where they ended up in Dallas. We don't need that, we have a veteran team that knows how to play together. The OOC games are the ones that get us excited in the early parts of the season, and bragging rights do exist in WBB with many of our players and the friends that are on other teams. They come here for how this team schedules and what they can become by being a Husky. I wouldn't change anything about our schedule, a challenge that we love, and in most cases, the results that we love even better.

 

[UConnCat]

LSU's 2022-2023 Non-Conference schedule that Kim had no control over:

Bellarmine
Mississippi Valley State
Western Carolina
Houston Christian
Northwestern State
George Mason
UAB
Southeast Louisiana
Tulane
New Orleans (cancelled -- dodged a bullet no doubt)
Lamar
Oregon State (how did they sneak in here)

Wow. Sign me up.

Only Tulane was an away game. A lot of these opponents look like they were paid to come in and take a whuppin'.

 

[Ron and Vida]

Was Kim’s easy schedule this year the exception or the rule?
The last few years at Baylor was her schedule tougher and this year was an exception because of the composition of her team?
I believe Freese has toughened up her schedule?
We really need the big time coaches to play their teams against each other to bring excitement and fans into our game.
I realize this has been already expressed better than here but just had to jump in

 

[Urshurak]

No. LSU won this year in SPITE of their mini middle school schedule. That schedule did them no favors, especially after the first few games. If they had lost at some point in the tournament, the narrative would have been that they have the talent, but couldn't develop it because of their weak schedule. Zoom out a bit folks......

JUst because they won, doesn't mean that schedule should be duplicated, for anyone.

 

[HuskyNan]

LSU's 2022-2023 Non-Conference schedule that Kim had no control over:

Bellarmine
Mississippi Valley State
Western Carolina
Houston Christian
Northwestern State
George Mason
UAB
Southeast Louisiana
Tulane
New Orleans (cancelled -- dodged a bullet no doubt)
Lamar
Oregon State (how did they sneak in here)

Wow. Sign me up.

Only Tulane was an away game. A lot of these opponents look like they were paid to come in and take a whuppin'.

And Tulane is an hour and a half from LSU

 

[meyers7]

Ok, yea, LSU's schedule was an embarrassment. And if I was a paying fan, I'd feel ripped off. However, it didn't hurt the team chances, preps for the NCAA run. Hey it worked out for Mulkey.

But as UCONN fan, I don't want to see a schedule like that. I doubt the players come to UCONN to see a schedule like that. They like the big games. However, true winning a NC would probably offset some of the disappointment with the schedule.

 

[wingsfan055]

No. LSU won this year in SPITE of their mini middle school schedule. That schedule did them no favors, especially after the first few games. If they had lost at some point in the tournament, the narrative would have been that they have the talent, but couldn't develop it because of their weak schedule. Zoom out a bit folks......

JUst because they won, doesn't mean that schedule should be duplicated, for anyone.

Didn't help?? Well, it did give them a very high ranking throughout the season (which helps with recruitment) and a very high seeding, which helps in the Tourney. If the people who do the ranking don't "punish" teams with a very weak schedule, why wouldnt a team like LSU not continue to do it?

 

[meyers7]

Didn't help?? Well, it did give them a very high ranking throughout the season (which helps with recruitment) and a very high seeding, which helps in the Tourney. If the people who do the ranking don't "punish" teams with a very weak schedule, why wouldnt a team like LSU not continue to do it?

Well they did make them a #3 seed. So they kinda did punish them. Same line as Ohio St/Duke/Notre Dame. They'd only lost 2 games.

 

[Rowdy831]

If you are the best team then it doesn't matter what seed you are does it?

 

[Rowdy831]

How about using an easy first half schedule like Kim's?
If the first half of the season's schedule has "easy wins," then UCONN can build a strong and confident bench by letting them play more early in the season. Practice is great but there is nothing like playing games to learn. If the coach is confident they will win the game, then coach may be less inclined to yank players for a mistake. Players learn nothing playing in fear of making a mistake. With a strong bench, injuries may not hurt the team as much. The starters should average less than 30 minutes per game. Excluding their freshman years Stewie averaged 29.3 minutes per game, "D" 31.8, and Maya 30.7. Give the starters fresher legs for any given game and for the NCAA tournament. Even the best there ever was, benefited from fresh legs. The bench would actually contribute to close games later in the season.

UCONN won 11 NCAA championships. UCONN did not win a NCAA championship in 27 years. 29%? You can do better!

First of all if Geno wanted to develop his bench he had many games this year where they could have played. He overworked his starters because he wanted to, not because he had to. UCONN could have lost 10 games and still made the tournament and would still have the best players on the court in almost every game so that wasn't an issue.

 

[Rowdy831]

As a resident of Baton Rouge and and LSU fan I wasn't happy that LSU didn't play and big name schools outside of conference. Not because of anything to do with the team, but because I would love to see other great teams that aren't in the SEC. The second part though is UCONN didn't lose because they scheduled a tough non conference slate, they lost because the players didn't execute against a team they should have beat. Blame Geno, blame a player, even the NCAA for making them travel so far, but don't blame a schedule that had zero impact on the teams loss.

 

[hoopsfan22]

One of the benefits of playing a tough schedule is more of our games get on national TV than just about any other program. More big games on TV equals more exposure which helps keep UConn front and center and on top with respect to social media dominance. Recruits notice things like that. Some schools complain about the unfair media advantage UConn has, but nothing stops the coaches of those schools from picking up the phone and offering to play the Huskies in a Big Monday or Thursday night prime time game.

 

[Geesworld]

I know our team had plenty of injuries that may have led to some of the losses. But I think nutrition took a toll on our team late in the season and at times may have led to our squad taking a lax attitude towards the inter-conference play. With our conference getting better coaching and players along with the transfer portal, we may need to get refocused on re-establishing dominance with in our conference and perhaps having fresher legs and minds. That doesn't mean we abandon the non-conference schedule but I do think maybe limit it during conference play.

One thing for certain, we need to play a team or two that likes to press.

 

[Woof 101]

How about using an easy first half schedule like Kim's?

Absolutely the way to go !!! And while at it let's get Geno to up his game attire! A little Liberace home work would do him good.

 

[veryolddog]

Yes. Unless we can get Sanogo from the Men's team to identify as femaile , then no.

 

[JellyBean]

UConn will schedule teams who they can get. No matter what, there will be folks that will complain about the schedule.

 

[Puppy Love]

I don’t know about the schedule, but I found this for sideline attire. CD is fashion forward…perhaps she would like it.