Of course, everyone wants the kids to return in full health, and stay that way through the season. I think we have the nucleus of an incredible squad... but it's a fragile nucleus as we saw this past season.
After Lou joined the team last year, the Huskies had eleven players, and the biggest question here on the Boneyard seemed to be: "How will we find enough minutes for all this talent?" Well that problem kinda solved itself, and not in a good way.
The same question could be asked today, with fourteen onboard. And as much as I want to hope for the best, I also believe in preparing for the worst, so I say, Heck yeah, if there's a grad transfer piece out there that has a good chance of fitting in our puzzle? Sign her up. And by 'fitting in our puzzle' I don't necessarily mean a five-star double-double machine.
Brittany Hunter and Batouly Camara were as important to the Huskies during their time in Storrs as Lou and Dorka. The reason for that, I believe, is that Geno and his leadership team... are uncannily good at working with personal chemistry, and getting their players comfortable in their roles. Even when those roles mean sitting at the far end of the bench. Sometimes that's a result of skill level and sometimes it's because of injury, but in all cases the person sitting there still knows she's an important part of a bigger whole.
That's why I really don't care if Amari comes back with twelve extra pounds of muscle. If she does, cool, but if she doesn't, she is still a valued teammate now.
But an added piece won't hurt. I like the grad transfer route, it's shown that it can provide some good talent and perhaps more important, maturity. It's a pretty good bet that such a player won't be bringing a lot of excess baggage, so I say try it again. As heartbreaking as the end of this season was... imagine how the campaign would have looked without Dorka and Lou.
