Stock Watch: Who's up and who's down entering the 2023-24 season?

On an individual level, UConn didn’t much of a problem with consistency this past season. Lou Lopez Sénéchal played the same way in March as she did in November. The same was largely true with Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Mühl — there weren’t many ups and downs.

That was certainly a welcome development for the Huskies, but it made it difficult to keep the stock watch series going consistently. But now that the season is over and summer workouts are about to begin, it’s the perfect time to look at who’s trending up and who’s trending down at the beginning of a new year.

Rising

Aaliyah Edwards

Even though foul trouble limited Edwards in the loss to Ohio State, her overall body of work this past season was too strong to be tarnished by a single game. Edwards finally transformed into a bonafide star as a junior and earned Third Team All-American honors by both the AP and USBWA.

Not only did she put any questions about her consistency behind her, she elevated her game on the offensive end and scored in a variety of ways, whether it be off post-ups, fadeaways, elbow jumpers or offensive rebounds. Edwards also continued to show her chops on defense, limiting Villanova star Maddy Siegrist to some of her least productive games of the season.

With Paige Bueckers’ and Azzi Fudd’s injury histories, UConn will count on Edwards to be the team’s anchor next season.

Nika Mühl

Like Edwards, Mühl’s season ended on a sour note with seven turnovers against Ohio State, but that shouldn’t overshadow all she did this past year. There were long stretches where Mühl was UConn’s only true ball-handler and yet she never blinked. She played the most minutes on the team by a comfortable margin despite missing a game due to a concussion, set the program’s single game and single season record for assists and continued to provide all the intangibles that made her so valuable during her first two years in Storrs.

Even with Paige Bueckers back and Azzi Fudd (hopefully) healthy, Mühl still see plenty of playing time and will likely find herself in a role that better plays to her strengths instead of one that relies on her to carry the weight of UConn’s entire offense on her shoulders.

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