Yeah it was but frankly they could have melted down after that rough stretch near the end of the regular season and stayed down. At least they re-grouped enough to clinch the Reg. and BE Tourney title. Then a the first 2 games in the NCAA's. The whole season was going to be a challenge once Paige went down. Nika was never meant to be more than a backup PG at this level. I think she did pretty good considering. As for Ducharme as soon as she got smacked with that ball she grabbed her head and couldn't do anything after that. There's no way she has fully recovered from those haed and neck problems. I hope a long rest will see her return to health but it's very difficult once players start having concussion issues. It was a pleasure to see Lou if only for one season. She is a warrior. And Dorka gave it her all. I hope Geno keeps bringing in foreign players. Looking forward to next year and think it's time we get a reprieve from the injury bug.
I agree. It was a difficult season before it even started. I know some of the players and it was just a brutal grind. I've never seen a college team go through as many injuries as this team has. They were still really good even with all that, but at times they literally only had six players available, for like weeks at a time.
I worry about Ducharme's future with those injuries. Paige....I wonder if she will ever be the same. I agree that Nika is a backup being forced to start and play enormous minutes..
Next year's roster:
Paige
Azzi
Ducharme
Nika
Griffin
Edwards
Brady
El Alfy
Patterson
DeBerry
And for incoming freshmen:
KK Arnold (#6 in the country)
Ashlynn Shade (#15 in the country)
El Alfy (who I mentioned above who is already on campus but didn't play)
So if they're healthy, that group is absolutely loaded. You get Paige and Azzi starting together. You get Nika coming off the bench as a solid point guard with lots of experience who can play mad defense. You get Ducharme as a spot up shooter. You get Griffin as the super athlete. You get Arnold, who's going to be a super star (see her highlights here:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ypYLA-sl0
). And Shade is awesome too.
I actually think Patterson and DeBerry might transfer because I don't know how much playing time they'll get, but for UConn's sake, I think one of them needs to stay, because they're not super deep with bigs if they go. Edwards and El Alfy are terrific and Ice Brady is going to be fantastic, but they really need one more just in case.
But that's 12 deep as I list. Even if you shave off Patterson and DeBerry, that's 10 deep, with terrific talent.
UConn, if healthy, is going to be a wrecking machine next year. BUT....we've been saying that the last five years, and something always seems to happen to this team. Hopefully that changes next year.