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

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

visitingcock

visitingcock

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Similar to what Dawn did this year. I mean a rotation were all nine ( maybe 10) players get over 15 minutes of meaningful time against even high quality opponents. Not counting players who only see mop up time.

I am told that Geno has used 9 player meaningful time rotations in the past but hasn’t had that lucury in recent years,
Assuming player health permits him to do so what 9 ( or ten) players would you expect him to use and at what positions?
 
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.
 
visitingcock said:
Similar to what Dawn did this year. I mean a rotation were all nine ( maybe 10) players get over 15 minutes of meaningful time against even high quality opponents. Not counting players who only see mop up time.

I am told that Geno has used 9 player meaningful time rotations in the past but hasn’t had that lucury in recent years,
Assuming player health permits him to do so what 9 ( or ten) players would you expect him to use and at what positions?
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YES.
 
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.
 
All of them!! There are no mop up players on this team. 16 potential AA candidates 16 starters at Geno's fingertips. Proven all healthy, there is no weakness in this years team. This team will bring Uconn back to it.s glory days when "Bad for Basketball". More repeat NC. Trophies. GO SOPHOMORES!!!! GO HUSKIES!!!!!
 
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Bone Dog said:
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.
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There were NO freshies on this yearl’s team. And necessity may have forced Dawn’s hand a bit. I dont think she went into the practice with any idea of a starting lineup and it just worked out that way
 
visitingcock said:
There were NO freshies on this yearl’s team. And necessity may have forced Dawn’s hand a bit. I dont think she went into the practice with any idea of a starting lineup and it just worked out that way
Expand ...
I was referring to the previous year. I think Dawn has always been a little more flexible than Geno about this
 
Next 12 said:
All of them!! There are no mop up players on this team. 16 potential AA candidates 16 starters at Geno's fingertips. Proven all healthy, there is no weakness in this years team. This team will bring Uconn back to it.s glory days when "Bad for Basketball". More repeat NC. Trophies. GO SOPHOMORES!!!! GO HUSKIES!!!!!
Expand ...
I feel confident in saying Geno won’t give 15 players prime time minutes.
 
Next 12 said:
All of them!! There are no mop up players on this team. 16 potential AA candidates 16 starters at Geno's fingertips. Proven all healthy, there is no weakness in this years team. This team will bring Uconn back to it.s glory days when "Bad for Basketball". More repeat NC. Trophies. GO SOPHOMORES!!!! GO HUSKIES!!!!!
Expand ...
How do you have 16 candidates when 15 is the limit?
 
He absolutely will do so. This is a roster that will be filled with top level recruits who are or will be capable of playing at this level against top competition.

He would have done do in 2023-2024 if he could have.

The Big East will be way down this year with all of the transfers out and there will be plenty of opportunities for Geno to experiment.

The key is to get through the regular season rested and healthy. Even with a three seed this year, UConn made the Final Four and nearly the final game. No one will average more than 30 minutes a game.

By "rotation" I'm thinking generally 8-12 minutes per game with some of that coming in the first half.

KK at PG, Paige at PG/SG, Shade at SG/SF, Sarah at SF/PF, Ice at C/PF will all be in the rotation.

Azzi SG and Jana C as well if and when both healthy.

Aubrey at SF/PF when healthy in the second part of the year.

Morgan PG/SG, Q SF and Allie SG will all see minutes especially early if Azzi is not quite ready. I predict two of them will emerge as rotation players. Allie could be a real wild card, a knock down shooter along the lines of KML.

Caroline when healthy obviously but I am not optimistic. Ayanna - very concerned as well about health and also whether if healthy she can establish a role. So I would not include either at this point. Hope I am wrong.

I'm also hoping that I have to reevaluate things when a certain center in the portal from Oregon State announces her decision.
 
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visitingcock said:
Similar to what Dawn did this year. I mean a rotation were all nine ( maybe 10) players get over 15 minutes of meaningful time against even high quality opponents. Not counting players who only see mop up time.

I am told that Geno has used 9 player meaningful time rotations in the past but hasn’t had that lucury in recent years,
Assuming player health permits him to do so what 9 ( or ten) players would you expect him to use and at what positions?
Expand ...
No. Geno likes a 8-9 max rotation. Beyond that the starters don’t get enough minutes to get any chemistry going.
 
Huskee11 said:
He absolutely will do so. This is a roster that will be filled with top level recruits who are or will be capable of playing at this level against top competition.

He would have done do in 2023-2024 if he could have.

The Big East will be way down this year with all of the transfers out and there will be plenty of opportunities for Geno to experiment.

The key is to get through the regular season rested and healthy. Even with a three seed this year, UConn made the Final Four and nearly the final game. No one will average more than 30 minutes a game.

By "rotation" I'm thinking generally 8-12 minutes per game with some of that coming in the first half.

KK at PG, Paige at PG/SG, Shade at SG/SF, Sarah at SF/PF, Ice at C/PF will all be in the rotation.

Azzi SG and Jana C as well if and when both healthy.

Aubrey at SF/PF when healthy in the second part of the year.

Morgan PG/SG, Q SF and Allie SG will all see minutes especially early if Azzi is not quite ready. I predict two of them will emerge as rotation players. Allie could be a real wild card, a knock down shooter along the lines of KML.

Caroline when healthy obviously but I am not optimistic. Ayanna - very concerned as well about health and also whether if healthy she can establish a role. So I would not include either at this point. Hope I am wrong.

I'm also hoping that I have to reevaluate things when a certain center in the portal from Oregon State announces her decision.
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I was thinking more about 15-20 minutes per game
 
No, Geno should not run only a 9-10 player rotation even they are healthy.
Just in case somethings happen, such as injure, sick or others, you still have enough backups.
A 11-12-player rotation will be good.
South Carolina has 12 players. (South Carolina Women's Basketball)
 
The game has changed, with NIL, and a wide open portal. Geno needs to get with the program, as players have options that they didn't have 30+ years ago. Dan Hurley proved that shuttling 2 bigs, along with multiple guard fwd combos keeps them fresh, and will wear down opponents to put them away in the last 10 minutes.
 
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In our most dominant seasons we had longer rotations. The shortest rotation for a perfect season might have been 1995, and that one was at least 8. The 2000 season went beyond 10, with players like “Big Rig” coming in with a third wave of players.

This leads to speculation as to whether the first seven players were so dominant as to allow more playing time at the end of the bench, or the talent being deeper allowed for more rest and the ability of the whole team to play nearer their to their peak, not to mention the practice benefits of a deeper talent pool and how that translates to game performance.

I always felt it was the latter, the deeper rotation in our most dominant years was due to the extra practice and game performance benefits from having a deeper talent pool to work with. This also accounts for why SC has been doing so well of late.

I’m loathe to make predictions when there is no data for past performance against college competition, which is the case for at least four of the newcomers, though I’m fairly certain Bueckers will be in the rotation no matter how good the newcomers are. :)
 
Kaizen said:
No, Geno should not run only a 9-10 player rotation even they are healthy.
Just in case somethings happen, such as injure, sick or others, you still have enough backups.
A 11-12-player rotation will be good.
South Carolina has 12 players. (South Carolina Women's Basketball)
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No. Our ROSTER had 11/12 OuR ROTATION had 9

We had 11 on the roster to start the season. We added 1 injured freshman ( Adhel Tac) for second semester so she could get surgery
and rehab on our dime, She didn’t play a second all season and is a redshirt. Still 11.

Backup-backup post, Sakima Walker, got very few minutes though she did start one game in Kamilla’s absence She was yanked early. Not a part of the regular rotation and averaged about 4 minutes per game, got VERY few minutes ( only mopup) at all in the SEC and NCAA tournaments

Freshman Santa Jah got 9 minutes per game. Mostly mop up against weak non/conference cupcakes, once we hit conference play in January, she was suspended and did not play again,

We went through most of conference play and the tournaments with a nine woman rotation. Each of these had starts and played in every major game. All but one led the team in scoring in at least one game,

Kamilla
Chloe
Raven
Bree
Tehina

Ashlynn
Sania
Milasia
Tessa
 
There is a good chance his rotation could include 9 or 10. He has 3 returning starters and 3 more starters returning from injury and all six of them are primarily guards.ya AG,CD,and Paige have played the 4 but they’re guards. Can’t imagine ice and strong wont be part of rotation and certainly would want at least 3 players if not 4 rotating at the 4 and 5. So the six starters plus 3 or 4 bigs that’s 9 or 10.
 
Starting with the players who finished the season.

For sure
Paige & KK

Rotation
Ice Ash Q

Key Injured returnees

Azzi, Aubrey Caroline
(Caroline has to prove herself)

Important Post
Jana & Ayanna (Could lose minutes thru impatience of Geno)

Rookies that must play
Strong- hopefully she's ahead of her years and plays a small but big roll.

Morgan and Allie will get limited minutes.

That's 11 man rotation. Geno has many options if team is healthy. Best part is he won't have to rush players ahead of their return schedule.
 
It appears a lot will disagree, but I'm not sure KK will start. If she does, who comes off the bench as PG? Frankly, Ash outplayed her in almost every way (especially from a consistency standpoint) and I could see her starting over KK, if one of them starts, even tho I think KK has a higher upside - more athletic and better defender, but she often had trouble putting the ball in the basket, even on layups as she shied away from contact. But honestly, either could start...

I assume Azzi and Aubrey won't be ready to go from day 1. IF we get Reagan, I could easily see starters of Paige, Ash, Sarah, Ice, and Reagan (or KK over Ash). First guard off the bench of KK (or Ash) and first post player of Jana. Then legit minutes for Carol, Ayanna, Qadence, with Cheli and Ziebell easing into things. I don't expect more than 10 MPG for either of those 2 freshmen, but maybe they prove me wrong. But I would think every other player (12 of them) would all get north of 10 MPG unless they don't play well.

Azzi may not start for much of the season - maybe when she's 100% replace Ash with her.

I just don't see Paige, or anyone else, averaging anywhere close to 30 MPG. When you have a legit roster of 13 or 14, you either play the kids, or they will leave. You can't play the "stars" anywhere close to 30 MPG or there simply won't be enough minutes for the rest of the players.

I have no doubt there will be injuries. There are major question marks surrounding Carol, Azzi, and Aubrey. Jana has not played a single minute of UConn college basketball. Neither have any of the freshmen coming in. BUT the team has the entire summer to work on fitness, strength, and skills with team practices. I'm sure we will hear lots of reports about "so and so" tearing it up. I'd take that with a grain of salt since Q tore it up and played great in Europe only to see her minutes disappear in almost all meaningful games.

There will be tons to debate about over the summer and we won't know till Geno rolls out the starting lineup in November for the first game. Competition will be fierce.
 
Geno, get a Proven BIG and give Jana lots of floor time. If Beers is a ‘Geno-like’ player, she can help us to ff. As noted before, the chemistry must be there. Beers, I am sure would like to be on a champion-type team coached by the very best….come on!
 
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I will be disappointed if it isn't at least a 10 player rotation. Every player on the roster should be rotation worthy, but beyond 10, a regular designated backup for every position, there isn't much reason to go more than that except for situational substitutions.

The other factor is style of play. Pressing and running all game long is possible now if it makes sense. i know you can't do it against everyone, some teams will consistently break it and make you pay, but against many we can. I also hope to wear other teams down and force them to rest their starters more. the more it is our bench vs. their bench the better.

Geno has also had his hands tied regarding strategic substitutions with a short bench. He had to manage minutes and fouls, but couldn't bring a defender or rebounder in when that was needed, or an inside or outside scorer when that was the need. That might be one way he could sometimes go beyond 10 to bring a specialist in for a particular need.
 
To answer Visiting Cock's first question, in the past, Geno has definitely used rotations of up to 9 or 10, for example the 2000-2001 team before the late-season injuries to Shea and Sveta, or both of the Olympic teams in 2012 and 2016. If everyone on this year's roster is healthy or just misses a game or two for minor issues, I expect that will happen this year. BUT ... at this time last year, I would have said the same thing about the 2023-24 roster, but that one obviously did not stay healthy.

I prefer to take an optimistic but (I think) realistic view of medical prognoses -- I think that Jana will be 100% from the beginning of the season (16 months after her injury), that Ayanna will be ready in November, and that Azzi will be ready for limited minutes in November and unrestricted minutes by early January. I think Aubrey will start playing in early January and gradually increase her minutes. Caroline is impossible to predict: she is either a 100% "go" or a 100% "no-go". If it is the former, I can imagine her as the starting 3, with Paige, Azzi (limited minutes), Sarah, and Jana as the other starters.

If anyone gets in foul trouble or is playing poorly in a particular game, Geno will have his hook ready and will show no mercy. If anyone is lazy on defense, the same will be true. In fact, defense may well be what separates the chosen 9 or 10 from the others who go to the end of the bench.

The players who are likely to get squeezed most for playing time are Q (who, in a medically optimistic scenario will have Caroline, Aubrey, and Morgan ahead of her at the 3 position), Ayanna (who will have to show a lot more than she did as a freshman to compete with Sarah and Ice), and Allie (who will have Azzi, Ashlynn, and KK ahead of her in back court slots, and who will probably have defensive deficiencies in her freshman year).

I would almost rather than Raegan doesn't come to Storrs, so that Ice could get minutes as Jana's backup, and Sarah and Ayanna could split the minutes at the 4 position (most likely not equally, however). But if Raegan does come, then she and Jana will own the 5 position. and all the other forwards will have to find time at the 3 or the 4.
 
I do not think that Geno has ever had a philosophy on the number of players in a rotation. He gives the minutes on the floor that the players have demanded by their performance in practice. There are no "bench" players on this team. All the injured players from this year and the incoming freshmen are ballers. They are all the cream of the crop in woman's basketball. Any of the incoming freshmen could beat out anyone but Paige, and Azzi, in the starting rotation as the season progresses.

I don't know if this team could beat the Stewie team or other past teams; but, this is clearly the deepest team in UConn history, and the one with the most overall talent. It will have THREE transcendent NO 1's out of high school.

There are still two opening in the roster.

It will be a team in which players with minor injuries will be sidelined until they are 100% healthy. Geno will be able to run the 40-minute full-court press of his dreams. There will never be any injured or tired players on the floor.

The team will average over 80 point per game because even the so-called bottom of the bench can score points. The only way that they will score less will be if Geno orders them not to shoot the ball.
 
EricLA said:
It appears a lot will disagree, but I'm not sure KK will start. If she does, who comes off the bench as PG? Frankly, Ash outplayed her in almost every way (especially from a consistency standpoint) and I could see her starting over KK, if one of them starts, even tho I think KK has a higher upside - more athletic and better defender, but she often had trouble putting the ball in the basket, even on layups as she shied away from contact. But honestly, either could start...

I assume Azzi and Aubrey won't be ready to go from day 1. IF we get Reagan, I could easily see starters of Paige, Ash, Sarah, Ice, and Reagan (or KK over Ash). First guard off the bench of KK (or Ash) and first post player of Jana. Then legit minutes for Carol, Ayanna, Qadence, with Cheli and Ziebell easing into things. I don't expect more than 10 MPG for either of those 2 freshmen, but maybe they prove me wrong. But I would think every other player (12 of them) would all get north of 10 MPG unless they don't play well.

Azzi may not start for much of the season - maybe when she's 100% replace Ash with her.

I just don't see Paige, or anyone else, averaging anywhere close to 30 MPG. When you have a legit roster of 13 or 14, you either play the kids, or they will leave. You can't play the "stars" anywhere close to 30 MPG or there simply won't be enough minutes for the rest of the players.

I have no doubt there will be injuries. There are major question marks surrounding Carol, Azzi, and Aubrey. Jana has not played a single minute of UConn college basketball. Neither have any of the freshmen coming in. BUT the team has the entire summer to work on fitness, strength, and skills with team practices. I'm sure we will hear lots of reports about "so and so" tearing it up. I'd take that with a grain of salt since Q tore it up and played great in Europe only to see her minutes disappear in almost all meaningful games.

There will be tons to debate about over the summer and we won't know till Geno rolls out the starting lineup in November for the first game. Competition will be fierce.
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You made great points. Love your rotation prediction. Seems as though UCONN is back to having ball handling depth issues.

I love our freshman. All 4 played big roles during the season. KK is to probably the most athletic player we have outside of Aubrey and she is hurt. Geno has to have a player who gets downhill and can be disruptive in the paint. Shade doesn't present enough intangibles to warrant a starting position over KK.
 
visitingcock said:
Similar to what Dawn did this year. I mean a rotation were all nine ( maybe 10) players get over 15 minutes of meaningful time against even high quality opponents. Not counting players who only see mop up time.

I am told that Geno has used 9 player meaningful time rotations in the past but hasn’t had that lucury in recent years,
Assuming player health permits him to do so what 9 ( or ten) players would you expect him to use and at what positions?
Expand ...
It's too hard to provide player’s names due to injuries. And it’s too hard to know which players are feeling well game-to-game because of injuries. The UCONN situation is nowhere near South Carolina. A wild guess is that he would run a lot players this year but that wouldn’t/shouldn’t be his preference if his team was 100% healthy. And this early it isn’t.

But it’s also very subjective as to defining how many minutes is considered “a rotation.” I noticed in all yourregular games that were close-to-somewhat-close (NC, Duke, Utah, LSU, Tenn, and Ga) before the last reg season game (homecoming) your 2 guards (Paopao and Raven) averaged 34 and 36 minutes respectively. And then throw in Breece Hall averaging 32.

Similarly, if Azzi were healthy and beyond an iota of concern of reinjury (which imo there is not), then the preference would be Paige, Azzi (I am not arguing to give Azzi the minutes – no way. Just saying if she were 00% healthy with no concerns of injury – you would give her huge minutes) and Sarah (assuming Sarah is near the hype) probably would see a few more minutes in big games that are close than your 3. And why wouldn’t they? Paige is a POY candidate. Azzi would have been a top 5 player candidate, and as for Sarah we’ve seen how Juju, Hidalgo and Booker have played – so at least why can’t Sarah be at least close?

So UCONN may have to be forced into using a very deep bench but if things were normal – no way would they go 10-player deep unless you want to count as “rotation” players that get for example 5 minutes?
 
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