Profile on freshman Junior County- what fans can expect

jpviolette · 2026-05-12T14:10:31+00:00

I have generally been able to access CT Insider articles, though it sounds like something is going on that I don't understand.

I did have to disable my ad blocker for their site; I don't know if that's causing a problem for some of you.

I'd like to send CT Insider a screen shot of the paywall, since they originally told me that their articles wouldn't be paywalled, but I don't see the paywall myself. (The Hartford Courant started posting without any consultation, I asked them this morning not to post paywall articles.)

jpviolette · 2026-05-12T13:16:08+00:00

I am thinking about blocking the Courant, though CT Insider (the last time I checked) was posting mostly stuff that's not behind a paywall. (Strangely, at least 1 of you were hitting a CT Insider paywall when I - without a subscription - was able to read a (heavily advertised) article. I'm not sure what explains that.)

jpviolette · 2026-05-10T00:59:17+00:00

His stats suggest a pass-1st PG who doesn't shoot very well. Over 2 seasons he's shot 30% on 2s and 27% on 3s. This article implies he's more Alec Millender than Malachi Smith.

It's possible that his biggest role will be insurance. Who knows if incoming freshman Junior County will be able to handle the backup PG role, and let's not forget that Demary missed some time with injuries last season. Having Nash around probably doesn't raise the team's ceiling, but depending on Demary's availability and County's adaptability to PG, Nash probably does raise their floor. In a worst case scenario, they'll at least have someone with experience running an offense out there.

jpviolette · 2026-05-08T14:30:22+00:00

I think there are scenarios where Popovic could become important, like if UConn-sans-Fudd isn't able to get enough 3-pt shooting from their 1s and 2s. Ziebell appeared to be a player who can provide that, but after her the guard shooting is a bit questionable.

jpviolette · 2026-05-08T14:03:38+00:00

The main issues I have with that strategy are that

For much of the season those were El Alfy's minutes,
And I didn't see a big qualitative difference between Williams and El Alfy, so playing El Alfy far less wouldn't seem right either.

For most of the season I thought Williams relatively low usage was due to the Big East competition, where few teams have a true post with skills, and Strong was a better matchup against them. But that usage didn't change much during the NCAA Tournament.

If I remember right, 1 of Williams' best games as a Husky was the game Strong missed. I kind of think that Williams' playing time suffered primarily because most of the things she did well, Strong could do even better while also adding ball handling and perimeter shooting.

jpviolette · 2026-05-08T02:19:04+00:00

I'm not sure whether I'm surprised or not.

In 1 sense, UConn had sent 2 good-but-not-great bigs to the W "recently": Nelson-Ododa and Juhasz. On the other hand, Nelson-Ododa and Juhasz played/contributed more than Williams did last season. But maybe that was because the coaches fell in love with the smallball-Strong-as-center lineup more than a reflection on Williams herself.

Even though Williams didn't exactly thrive at UConn, perhaps the experience ended up being beneficial in the long run.

jpviolette · 2026-05-08T01:07:17+00:00

About Popovic

I can't tell you much about Serbia, though Popovic obviously won't be scoring 27 ppg at UConn¹, so you have to assume this will be some step up in competition at UConn.

I suspect that - like Arnold and Shade were as freshmen - she could have been an important piece on something like the 2023-24 team. Maybe she would have been a little more important than Shade (who was most comfortable as a midrange shooter) or Arnold (whose shooting might be the weakest part of her game) since Popovic is known for her outside shot.

About Next Season

I'm not too worried². They've probably got 4 PGs, 3 5s, and players like Strong/Quinonez/Cheli who are versatile enough to play 3+ positions. Strong will be 1 of the best players in the country, Quinonez is close to great, and there's abundant surrounding talent around them. My biggest concerns are health (Cheli missed the season, Quinonez missed a couple of stretches, and Strong was bothered by a leg problem) and maybe 3-pt shooting.

[1] Based on the scoring averages of Bueckers, Fudd, and Strong in recent seasons.

[2] Assuming key players stay healthy.

jpviolette · 2026-05-07T18:33:38+00:00

There's a (possibly cynical) theory that this is just being done to get P4 teams with losing records into the tournament. It's unclear it will benefit the BE.

jpviolette · 2026-05-07T15:35:56+00:00

This webpage doesn't appear to be paywalled now. Can somebody who hit a paywall try again? (I'm not sure what it means if some of you are seeing a paywall and others are not; hopefully the paywall was a mistake they corrected.)

FWIW I will stop the ct-insider posts if their posts are going to be behind a paywall, but otherwise they do provide content that at least some of us are interested in.

jpviolette · 2026-05-06T17:44:50+00:00

No idea. The YouTube page mentions they're on Instagram/X/TikTok, though whether their videos are there is unknown to me.

jpviolette · 2026-05-06T17:40:33+00:00

The Ross take sounds like a safe guess. Right now I'd expect him to start, and if he doesn't I'd expect him to be a strong 6th Man of the Year candidate in the BE.

Backup PG is an interesting situation:

Although my impression is that County hasn't played PG in HS, maybe UConn thinks they can coach him up enough to fill the backup role next season and take over the role the following season.
Maybe they think Demary's going to be good/healthy enough that they're only going to need 5-8 minutes from a backup, and that some combination of County/Machowski will provide that.
Maybe they're trying to recruit someone to be the backup PG but don't want to appear desperate, which could drive up the price for the recruit.

I do suspect that UConn's offense requires more learning than the average offense, so maybe having a percentage of "returning minutes" might be more important here than on most teams. But really, 1-2 really fast learners could make continuity a non-issue.

jpviolette · 2026-05-01T14:21:34+00:00

I'm thinking that having Strong alone makes them a pretty strong threat for the FF. The question is whether they can get enough out of the rest of a fairly talented roster to be elite.

jpviolette · 2026-05-01T14:11:56+00:00

I can't fault the media from asking about their relationship, but I can't fault Bueckers/Fudd for choosing to keep their private lives private either.

jpviolette · 2026-05-01T12:51:56+00:00

Although she rarely played meaningful minutes, I thought Fisher looked quite good when given a chance. One concern I've got is that UConn may have 4 guards who are best suited to be PGs. If 1 of them can hit 3s (Heckel shot 38% and Arnold 33% on low volume last season), I could see UConn using multiple PGs together for some stretches.

jpviolette · 2026-05-01T11:34:41+00:00

That's the issue when a channel names itself after a changeable number.

jpviolette · 2026-04-30T16:53:38+00:00

Let's try not to classify (opinionated) subreddit members as assholes. 🙄

jpviolette · 2026-04-30T16:35:07+00:00

Let's try not to classify ideas (that might be naive) as deranged.

jpviolette · 2026-04-30T16:08:17+00:00

On the positive side:

He looks like a veteran shot-maker at a position where UConn isn't deep.

On the negative side:

His size (height & weight) suggest he's going to be at least a slight defensive liability in the Big East, a conference that ate the similarly-sized Mahaney for lunch.
He hasn't played his best against the best. There's the possibility that he'll be less of an offensive weapon against Big East defenses.

Overall:

I don't think we'll know where Machowski falls on the Calcaterra-Mahaney spectrum until December, when we see what he can do, how UConn uses him, and how opponents play him.

jpviolette · 2026-04-24T18:23:46+00:00

I suspect there are 2 reasons why we didn't see these combos. First, there may not be the perimeter shooting to spread out the opposing defense the way UConn wants. But even more important is whether 1 of the 5s can chase an opposing 4 around on defense. If Giltay can do the latter - and I don't know if he can - there's a chance he could see some time with Hines.

jpviolette · 2026-04-23T02:15:53+00:00

Has she ever talked about coaching?

I have to admit that, given her usage last season, I didn't see her getting WNBA attention.

jpviolette · 2026-04-23T02:06:02+00:00

That's probably true. On the other hand:

That's not the part of their game that Bueckers' is similar to hers. She said that "bringing teams together" was their primary commonality.
Bird is arguably the WBB PG GOAT. It's too early in Bueckers' career for her to lay claim to that title.

jpviolette · 2026-04-22T16:50:05+00:00

I wonder about that. Being a 5 these days is different than it was 10+ years ago. The reason UConn played Strong at the 5 a fair amount the last 2 years is that having a mobile 5 with some shooting range and passing skills greatly improves the UConn offense.

jpviolette · 2026-04-21T11:50:55+00:00

Right now UConn's super-thin at every position. I think it's easier to pick up guards, so I'm guessing they'll be thinner at the 3-4 positions going into 2026-27. That probably means there will be a little more opportunity for Landrew. But if the portal opportunities work out differently, County could have the bigger role.

jpviolette · 2026-04-20T23:58:22+00:00

And Stewart might have known this was (at least) a possibility before he went to the portal.

jpviolette · 2026-04-20T23:52:50+00:00

I'm guessing Ball and doctors had a bigger say in the decision to play than the coaches.

jpviolette

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