A look at historical lineups from 2018-19 through today

[BRS24]

A little look at some historical lineups, as we’ve got 11 days until the next game, aka, a little holiday break fun .

In the meantime, sending out wishes of happiness, health, relaxation, and joy to all y’all BYers.

With all the recent discussion on starters, lineups, etc, I started thinking about Geno’s past philosophy, where he put his ideal starters on the floor, and then had super frosh subs coming off the bench - Shea, DT, Maya, unless there were significant injuries, then the frosh started. There were no real surprises during the season, until 2020-21. I’m not sure that Geno ever changed a starting lineup for matchup purposes, however n the Ball State post game presser, he admitted that it was a mistake to go to a big lineup to match up with Texas.

I went back a few seasons to compare stats. Last few years’ upheaval of injuries/covid/etc, certainly prepared the players for just about anything this year, although it’s still hard to make changes on the fly, aka, the pieces of the puzzle towards the whole.

To start, here’s a look at the number of lineups and changes over the last six season, inclusive of this year, that shows the entire season, and through 12 games. Note - “change(s)” indicates when Geno utilized a different lineup during the season. In this current season, Geno had already gone to lineup #6 in 8 games, so the last column shows how many lineups through 8 in prior years, as a comparison.

First chart shows a heat map of how many times a lineup was used, and the # of changes per season. Second chart shows full season, thru twelve games (current status), and lineups used by game #8, a comparison of prior years to this year when we made the 6th change.



This is a look at how many games per lineup (apologies for inconsistent colors b/w years).



If you are stalking the BY right now, please hold on commenting until I post the data for the current season, ok? Cool.

 

[BRS24]

2018-19
The last season of the dynamic duo of Katie Lou and Pheesa ended in heartbreak vs ND in the national semis, however this was what I’d call the last, “most consistent” lineup season. Lineup #1 was used 32 times (!!!), and it was only changed 4x.

The number above players’ names in all the seasons’ charts is a count of how many games they started within the season.

2019-20
In 2019-20, Geno utilized 4 lineups, and made changes 6 times, although you could argue that the senior night starters of Irwin, Dangerfield, Bent, Adebayo, Camara shouldn’t count against the tally, therefore 3 lineups and 4 changes. The chart shows the lineups, points for/against, average for/against, and the average differential for each lineup. The number above the players’ names show how many games started. The season ended abruptly after the BET due to the pandemic.


Granted, the score differentials are also dependent on opponents, etc, but an interesting view of what I’m calling the “last normal” season, albeit without the potential of up to 6 additional NCAAT games.

 

[BRS24]

2020-21
In the 20-21 and 21-22 season, the team managed to play 6 games without any lineup change. Woo hoo! But then, over the next 8 games, we saw lineups #2-6, and a total of 6 changes within that timeframe. The 15th game of the season vs SC (a loss) started a run of 11 games with lineup #6 which went through the 1st game of the NCAAT, then for the last 4 tourney games, back to lineup #2.

2021-22
This season turned into a topsy turvy, “who’s on first” kind of journey. Paige got hurt and missed 20 games, came back for the regular season ender vs. Providence, then did not start in the BET. There were 11 lineups and 13 changes in this season.

 

[BRS24]

2022-23
Last year, after the loss to MD in the 9th game, things settled down (for the most part), and lineup #5 was mostly used, with the exception of Xavier (no Dorka), and the change during the NCAAT with Fudd in and Griffin out.

2023-24
Through 12 games, we’ve seen 6 lineups, with #6 appearing in game 8. Phew. A lot more hoop to be played, so a lot off TBDs as to how lineup #6 potentially plays out as we head into the BE league games.

 

[Blond D.]

Thats a lot of work. We appreciate it very very very much!

 

[BRS24]

There's a (his)story behind all this info. I started looking at lineup changes during/after the 2021-22 season, as that was so crazy. Then looked back to the covid season, then went back a year to look at a "normal" season. There are a lot more factors such as opponents (AAC/BE vs non-con), home v away, days between games, etc, however I thought it would be interesting to view all the changes that had to be made. I'm betting if I looked at seasons prior to 2018-19, we'd see the same pattern of very few lineups used and changes made.

The other piece related to lineups is the running scoring average for and against us. I originally thought it would directionally show a certain way, and was a little surprised that it didn't as much as I thought. That's for later, as I have xmas eve & day gifts to wrap.

 

[JellyBean]

Wow. Pretty impressive work! We greatly appreciate you taking the time. This is awesome. Have a safe evening.

 

[Rowdy831]

When UConn was height challenged in the past they had players like Williams and Collier who weren't tall but played much taller than they were. They also had a couple tall players to sprinkle in which gave them an advantage in the post. Right now they have a bunch of guards that are very good and really pretty close in talent and strengths. Problem is they are way below average on their rotational height which is really where they have struggled.

Against teams close to their size they have dominated and I think they will get better. How do they get longer?