Uconn adjusts to a new normal
And Caroline Ducharme probably holds the key
UNCASVILLE — This is new reality, new normal for the Uconn women’s basketball team. What used to come easily will now be hard. What used to be hard may not come at all.
So forget the win-loss record for now. Don’t dwell on the doubledigit win that might’ve been Sunday at Mohegan Sun Arena if all were right with their world.
“We know what the reality is,” coach Geno Auriemma said after the Huskies lost to Louisville 69-64 in the Hall of Fame’s Women’s Showcase. “We know what we’re dealing with. We show up and play as hard as we can for as long as we can and hope that it’s enough . ... This isn’t a one-week thing or a one-month thing. This is a seasonlong thing.”
The reality is Uconn will not get its best player, Paige Bueckers, back from knee surgery until well into February, while others, Azzi Fudd, Aubrey Griffin and
Nika Muhl, could be back sooner. Meanwhile, new glue players must be found.
Dwell instead on development, as 99 percent of teams must do every year. Dwell instead on Caroline Ducharme, the freshman who nearly carried Uconn on her shoulders to a win over the No. 6 team in the country.
Ducharme scored 24 points, beating her previous high by 10. She scored 20 in the second half, producing two personal spurts to propel Uconn into the lead, a breakout performance that opponents will remember when they have to deal with Ducharme as part of a full Uconn cast.
“Caroline played a great game today,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. “I thought she was absolutely fantastic. She willed herself to some buckets and was stronger than we were at times.”
What Ducharme could not do was will the Huskies to a victory
for a job with the soon-to-relaunch XFL, thinks Uconn will find the players it needs to sustain an FBS program in its backyard.
“If I were to look back over a decade, in the independent landscape, we’ve seen an incredible rise with a lot of programs doing a great job recruiting and developing talent,” Dykeman said. “Connecticut and the Northeast needs to be a primary focus of their recruiting. There are so many more new programs, group-of-five programs, I do think the state of Connecticut provides a phenomenal recruiting base already for Uconn, and it’s clear to me already that this new staff seems committed to doing that.”
Wholley said that, as an assistant during Randy Edsall’s first stint as Uconn coach, he focused hard on Connecticut talent and was encouraged to do that. Several of the better players on Uconn’s 2021 team, which finished 1-11, and the more successful teams of the early FBS era, have Connecticut roots.
Travis Jones, a defensive tackle from New Haven’s Wilbur Cross High, is going to the Senior Bowl and is a potential NFL draft pick. Linebacker Jackson Mitchell from Ridgefield was among the leading tacklers in the country, and tight end Jay Rose hails from Southington. Freshman quarterback Tyler Phommachanh, who had promising games before going down with a knee injury, is from Stratford and attended Avon Old Farms, the same route his older brother, Taisun, took to Clemson.
“This is my state now, as well,” said Mora, who coached in the NFL and at UCLA.
This was a point of emphasis, too, when Uconn director of athletics David Benedict was considering Mora for the job. One of Mora’s first hires was John Marinelli, a former football coach at Greenwich High, as tight ends coach. He figures to be an integral figure in recruiting state talent at both CIAC and prep schools. Coaches around the state have been buzzing about Uconn’s renewed interest.
“Right from the first couple of days, Coach Mora and Coach Marinelli were on the phone calling a bunch of coaches around the state,” Bristol Central football coach Jeff Papazian said. “There’s talk they want to do a coaches clinic in the spring. I think what they’re doing in trying to establish relationships is the way to go. They’ve got to try to keep the top kids, keep ‘em home, while still going into Pennsylvania and New Jersey and places like that.”
It has long been the perception that Connecticut does not produce enough Fbs-level talent to be a recruiting base for a major program, but many state coaches have been pointing to some of the players who have left the state without much interest from Uconn, such as Iowa receiver Nico Ragaini from Notre Damewest Haven, Miami quarterback and ACC freshman of the year Tyler Van Dyke from Glastonbury and Suffield Academy, Michigan tight end Luke Schoonmaker from Hamden Hall and former Xavier High quarterback Will Levis, who went to Penn State then transferred to Kentucky where he has led the Wildcats to a major bowl game.
“If you kept all the top players in the state, or a good majority of them, you’d have a lot of top-end talent,” said Wholley.
Dykeman, who is turning the Cheshire Academy program over to his longtime defensive coordinator Dan Mehleisen, has helped develop more than 200 players for college, and he expects several from the school to be on Uconn’s radar in the next year or two. Loomis Chaffee figures to continue providing college-ready prospects, though Moore will be recruiting them for the other FBS independent in New England.
“We want kids to play very hard, love football, be ready to rise up to a challenge,” Moore said. “Wherever those kids are, local or anywhere else, we’re going to find those kids. It can be done here.”
Wholley, who played for Jude Kelly at Southington before his college career took him to Uconn, Fordham and Mississippi State, has bold aspirations for Avon Old Farms. Avon Old Farms has some underclassmen with offers from Uconn, and Wholley expects more soon.
“Kids here are really special,” Wholley said. “It’s a really special place. It allows kids to be the best they can be, get to play a high level of football, compete against really good players. I think we can be one of the top 10 football programs in the country, something to build for, and they have a vision here where we can do that, and it keeps me hungry.”
So far, the one CIAC player to sign with Uconn is Victor Rosa, the Connecticut Gatorade player of the year from Bristol Central. There are other offers out, including one to Cam Edwards, a star running back at Norwalk High.
“Everything south of Jersey is recruited heavily, and everything north of Jersey is slept on,” said Rosa after signing his national letter of intent. “If you do your research, there’s a lot of talent in Connecticut; there’s a lot of talent in the other states in New England. There’s talent all over in C-T, and I love what Coach Mora is doing.”