Getting started
Questions, storylines facing UConn
It’s the first week of October and that means college basketball is just around the corner.
For those counting, it’s 31 days until UConn opens the season with an exhibition game against Fort Hayes State at Gampel Pavilion.
With a week until First Night and the first media availability for the women scheduled for this week, here’s a quick dive into a few key storylines and questions heading into the 2021-22 season for UConn women’s basketball:
DEPTH IS ALWAYS A GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE
UConn’s talented roster may boast the most depth it’s seen in years, but Geno Auriemma has a tendency to stick with a short rotation. So where is the room for the players who ride the seventh and eighth positions on the bench? And if Auriemma automatically brings No. 1 recruit freshman Azzi Fudd into the starting five, which player gets bounced to the bench?
Last season we saw Paige Bueckers, Christyn Williams, Evina Westbrook, and Olivia NelsonOdoda lead the team in minutes while Nika Muhl worked her way into the starting lineup and Aaliyah Edwards earned minutes.
However, this year Auriemma will have to factor in a class of three freshmen — led by Fudd — along with Ohio State transfer and All-Big Ten forward Dorka Juhasz.
Guard Anna Makurat, who averaged 20.4 minutes, left the program. But where does the crowded roster leave Aubrey Griffin (16.8 minutes), along with re
turning players Mir McLean, Piath Gabriel and Saylor Poffenbarger? While starters always need rest, players such as McLean, Gabriel and Poffenbarger could have few minutes available with such a talented core of players competing for minutes off the bench.
THE NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The Huskies have a tough non-conference slate this season, facing Tennessee, Louisville, Oregon, Arkansas and South Carolina — who they could very well end up playing twice before February. The Huskies and Gamecocks will meet Jan. 27 in South Carolina, but there’s a chance they could play at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in November.
It will be a challenge for UConn to come out of its non-conference schedule unscathed. While Big East play will most likely be as smooth for the team as it was last season, how UConn does against its non-conference opponents will be its biggest test during the regular season, both mentally and physically.
THE BUECKERS + FUDD DUO
The world saw Bueckers dominate college basketball last season in her first year at UConn, as she swept Player of the Year awards. But with her close friend and former Team USA teammate Fudd joining the team this year, UConn is set to become even stronger with two marquee players who already share a close bond off the court.
A brief highlight video posted by the team last week featured a couple Bueckers-to-Fudd assistand-score plays. With Fudd, the nation’s No. 1 recruit of the 2021 class, most likely joining the starting five, UConn’s overall ball movement will be that much more fluid.
DOES UCONN HAVE ALL THE RIGHT PIECES FOR TITLE NO. 12?
Considering UConn’s talent and depth, is this the year the Huskies get back to winning a title? Barring any major injuries or roster movement, all signs point to yes. While other teams will challenge the Huskies in the postseason — Stanford and South Carolina are strong title contenders — UConn has the talent and the incentive after falling in four straight Final Fours.
UConn is viewed as one of the teams to beat nationally. The NCAA put out its early preseason top-10 power rankings in September and ranked South Carolina No. 1 ahead of UConn. Since winning the national championship in 2017, the Gamecocks have consistently been in the conversation as one of America’s top programs. South Carolina will return its core players this season, along with the addition of three of the nation’s top-five recruits in Raven Johnson, Saniya Rivers and Sania Feagin (all three directly behind Fudd on the rankings). Stanford was third, behind UConn in the power rankings, returning all but Kiana Williams from its NCAA title team.