Can ( and will) Geno run a 9 or 10 player rotation

[Rowdy831]

Absolutely not. If everyone is healthy he will play his 8 (which is a lot for Geno) and let his team pull away and then get his others in the game. As weak as the Big East conference was this year they could play no starters in the 4th quarter of almost every game to get the reserves their minutes.

The bigger question will who are the 8 that will be featured. I think some fans are going to be really surprised.

 

[good2go]

Can Geno run a 10 player rotation? Can Geno run a 13 player rotation? The answer to both questions is maybe.

Geno demands his players earn their game minutes in practice. Players must earn Geno's trust to get playing time. UConn's offense and defense is not an easy system to learn.

A lot of question marks. Azzi coming off her second ACL on the right knee. Usual time from is 12 months before being cleared to play. Don't expect that to change. So we are in mid Novemeber before she can or will be cleared to play. Don't expect UConn to take any short cuts to get Azzi back on the floor. How will her knee hold up to the stress put on it to run, stop, cut and change direction? Answer - no body knows. Same applies to Aubrey. Her 12 months end in January. Again, the same question mark as for Azzi and the same answer - nobody knows. Caroline - I know people want her to come back, as do I. Is this desire realistic? I don't have answer and actually, neither does anybody else. I will continue to say Caroline's health comes first above all.

Jana - I beleive Jana wil be ready to go in October. A very big plus for the team. Ayanna - do we really know what her upside is? She show some glimpses her freshman year but not good enough to get significant minutes. Ayanna is an unknown.

So four question marks out of 13. 9 player rotation to start. That includes the 3 frosh.

Unless you are an orthopedic surgeon stop issuing medical advice!!!!

 

[huskeynut]

Unless you are an orthopedic surgeon stop issuing medical advice!!!!

good2go - I am repeating what my orthopedist told me when I asked him about ACL surgery.

I am under an orthopedist's care as I am facing knee replacement surgery in the near future.

 

[BRS24]

good2go - I am repeating what my orthopedist told me when I asked him about ACL surgery.

I am under an orthopedist's care as I am facing knee replacement surgery in the near future.

Absolutely HN. I don't think you were giving advice. Those of us that have been thru ACL reconstruction (2x for me), 12 months is a standard recovery time. Every person, access to care, other complicating injuries will affect the timing of when folks are 100% cleared for activity.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

First, I am hoping that this past season's need for the frosh to play gives Geno & staff some very good reasons to get Allie, Morgan, and Sarah into games early and often, and take the mistakes as a benefit of early season playing time.

Second, I'm not a position person, and it looks like we'll have 11 players ready to go in the fall - Paige, Caroline, Ice, Ayanna, KK, Jana, Q, Ash, Morgan, Sarah, and Allie. Azzi and Aubrey will be later season adds. Considering Paige played forward, it will be interesting to see if Geno can go back to mixing up lineups with not emphasizing traditional position roles.

Everyone keeps saying Azzi and Aubrey will be later season ads as if it’s fact but it’s just speculation. I’d anticipate Azzi is ready to go by November, 11 months post op would be more than recommended 6-9 month window. Aubrey is cutting it closer but I’d imagine she’s be very close to ready if not ready to go. Both would be on minutes restrictions I’d imagine though.

 

[mhshuskies]

If Geno has proven one thing, it is to be adaptable to having the best team he can with what he has available. He also loves full court pressure on D, which requires more players getting minutes. As many players that prove productive will get playing time.

 

[HuskyNan]

How do you have 16 candidates when 15 is the limit?

Walk on. I’ve seen rosters of 18

 

[CONN78SEJ]

This has been the dream of every BYer for as long as anyone can remember. I salute Dawn for having the discipline to do it even in the final year of the Freshies, when it would have been extra tempting not to.

Yes, he has done it many times early in the season. But the rotation has typically narrowed to 5+2 or 3 in meaningful minutes almost every season.

If I were permitted to dream, and we’re only talking about the second half of the season, not November-December, I’d pick my 10 like this, positions be damned:

• Paige Azzi KK Sarah Jana starting and
• Aubrey Ash Morgan Allie Ice as “the 6th women” or even as a second unit

I like Ash as a starter, but I like Azzi a bit more. I also focus on youngsters because it’s all about the future. In this vision of things, Caroline Q and Ayanna will have to really fight to get into the lineup.

If Caroline comes back 100%, and plays like she did the year she carried the team during Paige’s injury, that might make her the 2nd best player on the team, in my view.

 

[Bald Husky]

The question is, what will Geno do with 13 players? Now, let's say for arguments sake, we ended up adding Beers and Chen. The problem here is that all 15 players are great players, all but the last two recruited by Geno and his staff. If no major injuries occur before next November, Geno should take his time with the players coming back from injury, but what does he do when all are healthy. A 15 player, or a 13 player rotation is not possible. Hopefully all these underclassmen can hold on till next year if they don't make the rotation come January, as Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Aubrey, Chen, and possibly Beers will be out of eligibility. Actually, I believe Beers and Azzi may have another year, but I don't think they will stay. Point is, Geno will have a very tough decision, and the more players he can get on the court with decent minutes will make his rotation easier when deciding on the starters and next people off the bench. I hope he is as good as Dawn when letting players know about their future with the program, so they do not get disenchanted and look for a way out. I'm sure Geno values all of them, just hoping he can give them all hope for the future as a Husky. We want all of them, as some of them are our future for the next couple of years and I just want them all to understand that. Go Huskies.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

The question is, what will Geno do with 13 players? Now, let's say for arguments sake, we ended up adding Beers and Chen. The problem here is that all 15 players are great players, all but the last two recruited by Geno and his staff. If no major injuries occur before next November, Geno should take his time with the players coming back from injury, but what does he do when all are healthy. A 15 player, or a 13 player rotation is not possible. Hopefully all these underclassmen can hold on till next year if they don't make the rotation come January, as Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Aubrey, Chen, and possibly Beers will be out of eligibility. Actually, I believe Beers and Azzi may have another year, but I don't think they will stay. Point is, Geno will have a very tough decision, and the more players he can get on the court with decent minutes will make his rotation easier when deciding on the starters and next people off the bench. I hope he is as good as Dawn when letting players know about their future with the program, so they do not get disenchanted and look for a way out. I'm sure Geno values all of them, just hoping he can give them all hope for the future as a Husky. We want all of them, as some of them are our future for the next couple of years and I just want them all to understand that. Go Huskies.

Maybe Beers, but forget Chen. It’s a big maybe for Beers, I’d say it’s a 30% chance she comes to UConn.

 

[visitingcock]

The question is, what will Geno do with 13 players? Now, let's say for arguments sake, we ended up adding Beers and Chen. The problem here is that all 15 players are great players, all but the last two recruited by Geno and his staff. If no major injuries occur before next November, Geno should take his time with the players coming back from injury, but what does he do when all are healthy. A 15 player, or a 13 player rotation is not possible. Hopefully all these underclassmen can hold on till next year if they don't make the rotation come January, as Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Aubrey, Chen, and possibly Beers will be out of eligibility. Actually, I believe Beers and Azzi may have another year, but I don't think they will stay. Point is, Geno will have a very tough decision, and the more players he can get on the court with decent minutes will make his rotation easier when deciding on the starters and next people off the bench. I hope he is as good as Dawn when letting players know about their future with the program, so they do not get disenchanted and look for a way out. I'm sure Geno values all of them, just hoping he can give them all hope for the future as a Husky. We want all of them, as some of them are our future for the next couple of years and I just want them all to understand that. Go Huskies.

Yes, that disenchantment can be costly and it has cost Dawn one very promising player. Dawn is not perfect. After we took Tehina Paopao in the portal last Spring, then-freshman guard (HG 25), Talaysia Cooper, decided to transfer to Tennessee. She's a good player and was a decent 3-point shooter in hs but not as good from 3 as Paopao - at this point. Unfortunately, she did not decide to transfer until after the deadline and was ineligible to play this year. I wish her well (she is an SC native) and hate that she transferred to the Vols.

 

[Jim]

I think the incoming freshmen have shown that they can put the ball through the hoop, but their starter status and playing time will be dictated by how well they learn to play defense in Geno's system. And until we see otherwise, we don't know how far along the injured players are in the rehab process. So for now, I would say only the known (healthy) players, like Paige, Ash, KK, and Ice are going to get the starts. Jana has been moving well, so I might add her as a starter. Q still has some work to do getting her defense up to the level Geno likes. Until we know more, the frosh and our walking wounded will have to show what they can do at both ends of the floor in order to get minutes.

 

[Rowdy831]

The question is, what will Geno do with 13 players? Now, let's say for arguments sake, we ended up adding Beers and Chen. The problem here is that all 15 players are great players, all but the last two recruited by Geno and his staff. If no major injuries occur before next November, Geno should take his time with the players coming back from injury, but what does he do when all are healthy. A 15 player, or a 13 player rotation is not possible. Hopefully all these underclassmen can hold on till next year if they don't make the rotation come January, as Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Aubrey, Chen, and possibly Beers will be out of eligibility. Actually, I believe Beers and Azzi may have another year, but I don't think they will stay. Point is, Geno will have a very tough decision, and the more players he can get on the court with decent minutes will make his rotation easier when deciding on the starters and next people off the bench. I hope he is as good as Dawn when letting players know about their future with the program, so they do not get disenchanted and look for a way out. I'm sure Geno values all of them, just hoping he can give them all hope for the future as a Husky. We want all of them, as some of them are our future for the next couple of years and I just want them all to understand that. Go Huskies.

Am I missing something with Chen? What need does she fill on this UConn roster? Any time you dig into the Portal you run the risk of losing one of the kids you recruited and any player UConn recruits is good enough to play. I understand Beers. She is a great post and has the inside game that would be worth losing a player over. I still wouldn't myself but that is me.

 

[Cornell Lt]

No. Geno likes a 8-9 max rotation. Beyond that the starters don’t get enough minutes to get any chemistry going.

If he does that, the roster won't be so full the following year

 

[CTBballfan243]

If he does that, the roster won't be so full the following year

The playing time for starters will be 25-30 minutes for the starters and between 15-10 minutes for the others to diivy up. That should keep most happy.

 

[slug25]

Who plays will come down to one thing: can you defend the way Geno insists. Q‘s role this past season should be all you need to know. With a very short bench, he didn’t trust her on the defensive end, even if she could have contributed offensively. Can Ziebel stay in front of a quick guard? Can Strong and Jana defend bigs without fouling? We know what the injured upperclassmen can do in terms of defending, but questions remain about the newcomers as well as Ayanna, Ice and Q.

 

[Bone Dog]

Who plays will come down to one thing: can you defend the way Geno insists. Q‘s role this past season should be all you need to know. With a very short bench, he didn’t trust her on the defensive end, even if she could have contributed offensively. Can Ziebel stay in front of a quick guard? Can Strong and Jana defend bigs without fouling? We know what the injured upperclassmen can do in terms of defending, but questions remain about the newcomers as well as Ayanna, Ice and Q.

This is true enough. But you have to also keep in mind that Geno doesn’t teach merely one-on-one defense. Yes, can Allie stay in front of a quick guard — if it’s Hannah Hidalgo, the answer is no — but more importantly can she play the switches effectively, get to her spots and not drift into no-man’s land on defense. This is what happened to Q and Ice early on. They improved a lot on this. I suspect there’s more work to go for Q but I am confident she’ll figure it out before February.

Even Ash isn’t quick enough to keep Hannah in front of her one on one. Nika wasn’t either. Maybe KK is, but that’s beside the point. If they play the team concept effectively they don’t have to.