Will UConn's competition for minutes affect team chemistry?

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Will UConn's competition for minutes affect team chemistry?

During Geno Auriemma’s tenure UConn, strong team chemistry has been as much a staple of the program as winning. Despite building rosters filled with top-ranked recruits and high-end talent, the Huskies manage to find players more interested in team success than feeding their own egos.

That’s by design. UConn’s coaching staff values a player’s mental make-up and personality as much as their basketball abilities.

“We work really hard to bring in kids that fit easily,” Auriemma explained. “When you got to try really really hard to plug somebody — and I don't even mean as a player, I mean as a person — it’s a pain in the ass, man. It's wearing on you that you always gotta worry about ‘This kid’s a downer’ or ‘This kid, it’s hard to fit in.’ So we generally don't have that.”

Ever since 2020, when Evina Westbrook emerged as a leader and the class of Paige Bueckers, Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Mühl arrived on campus, the Huskies’ chemistry has been particularly strong. That’s held true for the current team, at least through summer workouts.

“It's amazing right now,” Ashlynn Shade said of the team’s chemistry. “I think we're all clicking on all cylinders. I don't really think we missed a beat coming back.”

“We're very close with each other. It's kind of been the theme my four years, just how close we are and how tight-knit our group has always been,” Bueckers added. “It's continued this summer.”

Auriemma isn’t so convinced — at least not yet. Everyone might get along well now, but he wants to see if it holds up when minutes are on the line during preseason practices.

“When there's competition for playing time, that's when it's really tested, what your chemistry really is,” he said.

That hasn’t been an issue for awhile, in part because injuries have devastated the roster over the last three years. UConn couldn’t have a competition for minutes because it barely had enough healthy players.

Now, the Huskies have 14 players on the roster — all of whom could reasonably contribute if avaiable. Auriemma is hopeful that he can deploy a deeper rotation for the first time in a long time this season, but even going 10 deep would leave four players on the bench.

It’s inevitable that someone gets left on the outside or isn’t happy with their playing time. That’s when the strength of the team’s chemistry — as well as the coaching staff’s ability to pick the right kids — will either shine or falter.

“As long as everybody gets a fair shake, and everybody has an equal opportunity, and whoever comes out on top gets more minutes than those who don't, and everybody accepts that and understands that — like, KK (Arnold) and Ashlynn didn’t come here (and say), ‘If I don’t play 30 minutes, I'm transferring.’ They were happy to play three minutes every night sometimes,” Auriemma said.

Until that happens, the coach isn’t convinced.

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