What Geno wants to see from UConn in the new year

As the calendar turns to 2025, UConn remains far from a finished product. The Huskies have been pretty good, owning a 13-2 record with their only defeats coming to top-10 competition, but they haven’t played up to their potential nearly enough. Geno Auriemma could only think of one contest in which they’ve come close to their ceiling.

“I don't even know if I'm exactly sure what this team at its best truly is,” he said. “The closest thing that I can tell you is the Iowa State game where we just were unbelievably good defensively and that was probably the best offensive game we played in a couple years.”

Beyond that, it’s been a lot of inconsistency. UConn has a veteran superstar in Paige Bueckers and an emerging one in Sarah Strong who carry the load every night. Beyond that, the surrounding cast is a mix of newcomers, players coming back from major injuries and returners in completely different roles from last season. The result?

“I guess we're constantly in a state of flux,” Auriemma admitted.

It’ll continue that way, too. While Bueckers appeared to avoid a major injury on Sunday, we still don’t know whether she’ll miss any time. The Huskies won’t get Aubrey Griffin back until at least mid-January either, so they might not have everything settled until the end of the month at the earliest.

That doesn’t mean UConn has to remain in a holding pattern, though. Since the new year is the perfect time to set goals and work on self-improvement, Auriemma highlighted some things he wants to see from his team in 2025.

Figuring out the rotation

Some of the Huskies’ struggles are self-inflicted. With nine players who can all reasonably contribute, Auriemma has spent much of the first 15 games experimenting with different lineup combinations to see what clicks and what flops. The results vary.

“There are some lineups that work very efficiently together, there are some that need some work, and then there are some that don't work at all,” he said. “It's not going to look perfect all the time but that's what we're trying to figure out.”

UConn has started to whittle down its options over the last few months. When the season tipped off, Allie Ziebell and Qadence Samuels were getting consistent minutes but now rarely see any action before the final score is decided. Morgan Cheli has gone the other direction, starting slow before earning more time with each passing game. Jana El Alfy has emerged as the top post player over Ice Brady.

The rotation has also evolved as Azzi Fudd worked her way back and will continue to do so when Griffin returns. Still, the Huskies eventually have to land on something they can trust.

“The one thing that I truly believe we can do if we settle in on a rotation is have some impact players — really impact players — coming off the bench,” Auriemma said. “There's a lot that we can do if we settle in on what these rotations could be.”

Consistent contributions

Part of what has plagued UConn’s lineup and rotation experimentation has been game-to-game inconsistency from everyone not named Bueckers or Strong.

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