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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 5063926, member: 12088"] I understand what you are trying to say, and with any other team I wouldn't make any fuss about it. You'd be as right as anyone. With UConn, it's less clear to me how useful those categories are. Does Geno like to have lots of players with good ball skills and passing skills. Absolutely! Are they all PGs? this is less useful a designation, though I can imagine using it in a rough-and-ready sort of way. Of course, some of them will win an award based on one of these categories even though this doesn't exactly describe their role on Geno's team. I think Diana won an award like that once. Here's an example. On the 16-17 team there were a couple of players who looked like PGs and operated the way PGs normally do, at least much of the time: Saniya and Crystal each got a lot of minutes and were often on the court together even in big games. But Kia also got a lot of minutes and seemed often to operate as a PG. Did Geno really have a 3 PG lineup? I suppose it's possible to describe it that way, but it doesn't seem to me to really capture what Geno was doing there. He had a motion offense that relied on quick passing and everyone had to be a great passer. Also the transition game was a hallmark of that team and anyone could initiate the break or lead it at the other end, not just Saniya or Crystal. In several games, Gabby led the team in assists and that doesn't make her... what, a point-center? It didn't hurt that everyone ran the floor really well. For me, the hallmark of a traditional PG isn't just their ball distribution skills in the half court offense or that they typically lead the break. It's also the role they play in the defense. They don't typically crash the o-boards. What rebounds they get on either end usually come from the odd long bounce. They are usually the first person back on defense and they tend to cover the opposing PG. This means they have to ensure court balance, which they can't do from the wing or the low post. But in a motion offense, Geno's guards often find themselves all over the court, crashing the boards, driving the lane, shooting from the wing. What this means is that they all have to pay attention to court balance and any of them might turn out to be the leader of the break or even the finisher. Now the fact is that the personnel on the 16-17 and the 17-18 teams really lent itself to a motion offense and the transition game. Subsequent teams haven't always been so well suited to it, either because of who was recruited or injuries. The team two years ago that lost to tOSU in the Elite 8 was just such a team. I loved them all, but the team that lost to tOSU didn't have enough team speed or enough ball handling skills up and down the roster to play the positionless, motion offensive game Geno has seemed to prefer in recent years. He had a single PG -- Nika -- and as she went so did the team go. Good as she was, Lou could not cover the PG position, and neither could Aubrey. And though they had good handles, and they often defended at the top of the key and got back in transition defense, they weren't even point forwards. They were either wings or small forwards, though neither description quite fit them either. So will Paige play PG or point-forward? I don't think this is the right question. Will Geno look to recreate the magic formula he had in Stewie's last season, or in the Gabby years? A positionless, motion offense that breaks opponents in transition. He absolutely has the personnel for it this season. When he took Nika off the exclusive PG spot last season and let Paige and KK share it with her, they went deeper into the tournament than anyone expected -- though we all hoped for it! Was he running 3 PGs? or was he running a positionless, motion offense? I think the latter comes closest to what he was doing. So to get back to the topic of the thread, [B]if[/B] he wants to play that type of game again, [B]Geno will give KK and Ash a shot at starting in November, because this is the game they already have proven they know how to play next to Paige[/B]. And [B]Kaitlyn[/B] can probably figure it out in time -- it's similar to what Carla runs at Princeton, though not identical. I hope [B]Sarah and Jana[/B] find a place in it since they both have skills that could work in an open-court offense. And [B]Morgan Allie and Q[/B] have the right sort of skills, if they can figure out hot to fit themselves into it. And so no one tags me with ignoring anyone, [B]Azzi and Caroline[/B] already know how this type of game works, so they'll find their way into it eventually. And [B]Aubrey[/B] too!! That only leaves [B]Ayanna[/B], whose skills and athleticism could fit, though she hasn't had a lot of time to perfect her role in this type of game -- but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her! [/QUOTE]

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