Unbreakable Azzi Fudd: Nothing Can Deter Her!

The only better defense played over the past century would likely be the Babe guarding his stash of beer & hot dogs during Prohibition or possibly Lawrence Taylor......  ...!!!!!

That was a really amazing article, lots of new information.

It's my theory that Nika has so concentrated on defense and ball carrier duties that her sense of the court and the hoop is just a little off.  She has to get rid of the tight, tunnel vision and reawaken  her feel for the hoop.

Geno's greatest coaching job of all time will be figuring out who plays next year and keeping all the talent the coaching staff has recruited. UConn is surpassing the cries to "break up the Yankees"

I hope you are correct. Let's be "bad for basketball" again.

I'm not on the "this will be an amazing team" train quite yet. Sure, the guard talent is unreal. And the potential underneath is very, very strong.

But to truly dominate, you need a big that people fear. Not just excellent, not just strategically good, but really fearful. Someone the other excellent teams need to game plan against. Someone who can and will break your heart by scoring 18 and snatching 15 ribbies on her own, while the rest of the team just bombs away. Someone whom you don't want to drive the lane and face.

I certainly think Aaliyah can grow into that role. Just have to wait and see.

Having a generational player at every position ... would be great, of course ... but let me challenge your statement.

Diana's teams didn't have that awe-inspiring big.  It could be argued that Kara Walters didn't quite make that level until after Rebecca left.  Maya had Tina, but Tina wasn't fully dominant until later in her career.  Stewie was tall, but the things that made her terrifying were not centered upon her utter command of the paint (though she did do that at times, and teams certainly feared her).  Can we agree that Oregon was among the favorites in the tourney that wasn't?  Ruthie Hebert was good, but no better than Liv is today.  She was more similar to Aaliyah in that respect.  Hustle for rebounds, but mostly score because the defense is focused on stopping the guard who then passes for an uncontested bunny.

Brittany Griner, Kalani Brown, Tierra McCowan, ... even A'sa Wilson were dominant bigs, but only made it to the stars when their teams got top notch guard play.

Further, that deficit may not be as big a worry as you allude. Next year Liv and Aaliyah will be more comfortable with their roles and with each other, plus there will be additional talent that defenders simply cannot leave even for a second.  Aubrey will still be here and presumably will continue to provide "can't keep her on the bench" moments.  Amari is 6'5", a top prospect and McD AA ... and can run the floor.  Will need a mean streak, but who better to teach that than Jamelle?  And don't forget Piath.  The physical tools (size, strength, athleticism) are there.  She seems to be picking up when to pass - she may even lead the team in assists per minute.  Yep-she's probably not a factor in the rotation until at least the following year, but she's one of those kids who came to basketball late in life.  That is often a profile that often portends a rapid development curve.  Did I mention that she is being tutored by the GOAT of women's college basketball coaches?  

Regular seasons are often in the hands of bigs.  Tournaments are usually won or lost by the guards ...  And ours are going to be crazy good and extremely deep.

I completely agree with you swash about the past. I think the difference between then and now is the remarkable increase in available talent at other schools. South Carolina is especially loaded, but Stanford is terrific, and we are seeing other schools in the top 4 or 5 who are playing at a higher level than the top 5 used to play at. This is the inevitable (and welcomed!) effect of professional women's basketball as well as the transfer of training techniques to the girls'/women's game, and not a little to do with feminism also.

Let's remember in all this that we only played 3 competitive OOC games this year, and each was decided in the final seconds. We are 2-1; we could have been 3-0 or 0-3. The only way to truly dominate WCBB today is to have a dominant big.

The 2001-2002 team would disagree with you.