The team looks outstanding on paper. Defensively they could be really hellacious. I am very curious about what they will get out of Gabriel defensively. UConn will now have a much bigger backcourt and the defensive tornado that is Aubrey Griffin to go with the shot blocking of ONO. We saw ONO invisible at times last year against large bodies on good teams, but she improved as the season went on and the presence of Gabriel may take pressure off of her.
Areas of improvement that are needed:
1. Chrystyn Williams has to improve her shooting. She was erratic and slump prone last year. My uncle - an astute fan who watches every game- was very critical of her play, saying that "none of her teammates ever seem to know what she is doing." One hopes that with another year of experience her shooting and half court play get better. She is an awesome player in transition and streaky shooter, but my uncle's criticism was on point sometimes with her very unpredictable half court play.
2. Griffin needs to improve her handle and calm down a little bit. One may recall the game last year in which Griffin was aggressively running a layup drill at the end of a blowout game and Geno had to take her out. As Chris Dailey said, "she is too good a kid" to be yelled at in such a situation. She just needs to learn that you pick your spots with the layup drill and it doesn't need to continue when you are up 50.
3. ONO- needs to get stronger and be a little more efficient in the post.
4. Makurat- needs to keep shooting like she did the end of last year when she was LIGHTS OUT and looking like the second coming of Larry Bird
5. Evie Westbrook- just needs to be healthy and the same player she was at Tennessee. If she is UConn will not miss a beat.
