STORRS — State of unprecedented wave of injuries hitting the world UConn Women’s Basketball Team Moving far beyond the inconvenience, Dorka Juhaas wonders why this happened, as do the others monitoring the situation.
“We’re going through different stages trying to figure it out,” said graduate student Juhász. Karma? There were a lot of things that were difficult to adjust to. “Is this college basketball? Is this what it’s supposed to be? There’s so much crazy stuff going on, what can you say?”
Juhász spoke at halftime for the UConn men’s vs. Clayton match at the Gumpel Pavilion on Saturday afternoon. Most of the women’s team were present, and the time allotted for practice at first became time for readjustment.
The women’s match against DePaul on Sunday, announced Friday, Postponed because Huskies don’t have enough healthy players.
With each week and even season getting more dire, the situation finally got out of hand. Injuries in 2018 reduced UConn to just six scholarship players, one short of the Big East Conference minimum.
As such, the Huskies were unable to play on Sunday with one more injury or foul out from not having a substitute on the bench. Wednesday’s game at St. John’s is also a problem. The roster and recovering player status were to be re-evaluated on Sunday and Monday.
Athletic director David Benedict said in his office Saturday morning, “Sometimes what’s unfortunate and disappointing is that there are people trying to point the finger at you.” Nothing specific like, “Oh, if I stopped exercising, I’d probably be healthier.”
“Is there a pattern? Is there something we’re not doing or doing that’s having any significant impact on these injuries? Nothing that we can identify. … Sports You’ve heard the term injury-prone, and just wishing we weren’t injury-prone is just going through a vicious cycle.”
Husky is currently unavailable: Azzi Fudd (knees), Paige Bookers (ACL rupture), Ice Brady (patella dislocation), Caroline Ducharme (concussion protocol), Edwards (foot), Patterson (undisclosed, she hit her head on the floor in the Xavier match).
Currently available: Juhász, Nika Mühl, Lou Lopez Sénéchal, Inês Bettencourt, Aubrey Griffin, Amari DeBerry.
Meanwhile, coach Geno Auriemma68, stay away from the team There are no plans for his return. He has missed his four games so far, and all the while mourning the passing of his mother Marciela in December, he felt fatigued and unwell.
“To say he’s fine would be inappropriate in terms of what he’s been through,” Benedict said. “I haven’t lost my parents yet. My mother is still alive. , I’m sure it’s difficult with a few other things mixed in.”
UConn, 11-time national champions, are 13-2 this season and ranked fifth in the Associated Press’ latest national poll. Auriemma has been in regular contact with Associate Head Chris He Daly and the players.
“If we let him go, he’ll probably come back today,” Benedict said. “What I ultimately want is the best for him and for him to come back as close to 100 percent as possible. It’s a march, and wear and tear occurs.”
UConn’s injuries range in nature from debilitating injuries such as those suffered by Bueckers and Brady, to more minor ones such as Ducharme’s stiff neck and Juhász’s broken thumb. There was one puzzling moment after another, from Amari Debery being stranded in the Buffalo District due to a snowstorm to associate head coach Chris Daly passing out before a game.
None are comical. Players have made considerable sacrifices, both physically and mentally. Injuries were destroyed in a snowball. Healthy and available players are unaffected and must carry the greater load of matchday while managing hopes, expectations, friendships and the fragile nature of the situation as a whole.
Programs have become increasingly protective of players by choosing not to disclose certain injuries. It began with a succession of up to 14 plagues.th Consecutive Final Four.
“When we went through the first few times someone got hurt, we thought okay, it was going to be over,” said Juhász, who is planning a career in sports psychology. There was never a time when it was all right now.Someone was always coming in and someone was leaving.It was really hard.We don’t know what will happen yet.We are really optimistic. We support each other.
“It’s just crazy that we’re in this situation right now. We all want to play. We all want to win. We want to compete. We have enough healthy players.” It’s like your favorite candy and they’re just taking it away from you.”
Benedict defended the staff responsible for protecting UConn players.
Benedict said of Sports Performance Director Andrea Hadi, who will begin his second term with the program in May 2021. Her trainer, Janelle Francisco, has been involved in women’s basketball since 2016 and is a longtime member of her staff at UConn Athletic.
“The two most recent injuries were Ayanna hitting her head and Aaliyah hitting a chair,” Benedict continued. “It has nothing to do with them. If so, Dorka fell and broke his wrist last year, but that has nothing to do with it. Broken fingers, those things happen.
“It’s all random. No reason. But it seems some people are more prone to find ways to get hurt, even if it’s not their fault. It just happens. Part of it is how children play, I think we are playing hard.”
Social media gives an instant public voice to criticism, often anonymous and irresponsible, and the search for answers takes place where answers don’t always exist. Some social media posts even praised UConn’s problems.
“Unfortunately, the media, in terms of communication, gives people living in that type of lifestyle ample opportunity to do that,” Benedict said. It’s taken me a while to get there, but I’ve moved on, but some of that is clearly affecting the coaches and the kids.”
UConn deals with sport’s cruel coincidences, the relentless convergence of premature developments. After a COVID-disrupted 2020-21 season, the Huskies made it to another Final Four in 2021-22, but Buckers missed most of the regular season, with all but two scholarship players injured. I lost time because of this.
Coming into the season, the players and coaches were relieved to have survived what felt like an insane situation.
In 2022-2023, it will be just as bad, or possibly even worse.
Bookers and Brady suffered season-ending injuries during the preseason. Juhas, who spent the entire offseason rehabbing a horrific wrist fracture sustained in the NCAA Tournament last season, broke his thumb on Nov. 14 against Texas. Sophomore guard/forward Ducharm, who had hip surgery in the offseason, missed time with a stiff neck. Edwards played wearing a mask to protect his broken nose.
Still, behind a healthy Fudd, a prolific sophomore guard who missed most of last season, the Huskies rolled to a 6-0 record with three wins over top 10 teams. Fudd looked like a National Player of the Year contender and UConn looked like a National Championship contender. Fudd then suffered a knee injury during his UConn defeat at Notre Dame on December 4th.
“We are very optimistic that one day it will stop,” Juhaas said. “You have all these little things in your head. But at the end of the day, this is something we can’t really control. Everyone still says, ‘It’s over.'”
Players have each other. According to Juhász, one of the benefits of having so many injured players is that everyone on the team has experience working on their comeback and have advice to share.
“The only thing I can say is by observation. When I’m around them, they seem very business as usual,” Benedict said. Personally, I’m not saying that all of this hasn’t affected them. There’s a plan, a culture, an expectation, and they seem to stay focused on those things, no matter what’s going on.”
Benedict met with Daley at his office Friday morning to find out about Patterson’s injury and roster status. Later in the day, he implemented the postponement of Sunday’s game.
“As the days went on, it quickly became clear that this was not the situation to put an athlete in,” Benedict said.
