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Message: [QUOTE="EricLA, post: 2368005, member: 26"] There's a difference between who we think should start, and who will start obviously. There were precious few of us who maintained that Crystal should start in place of graduated Saniya. As Ken (Milford) and a few others pointed out, Crystal brings the best balance to the team. Sure Kia is a competent PG. But IMHO she's far better as the 2G. Yes I know Geno likes interchangeable players who can play multiple positions, but there's a huge difference between Kia getting herself free to launch a 3 and her playing off the ball to get open to drain a 3. Additionally, if you look back over the years, players like Bird, Montgomery, Chong (2G's converted to PG's), and Jefferson, Williams (Rita), Rizzotti, etc. all ran the team ultimately as PG's. Some started as combo guards, but by the end of their careers, were the unequivocal floor generals. Kia has never been groomed to be the UCONN floor general. UCONN has struggled in years where they did not have a true PG starting. Most recently, the Doty/Hayes years. Dixon was supposed to be the starting PG and was recruited the same year as Maya, but she was just never good enough to run the team so Geno relied on a pair of combo guards to share the burden, with Doty playing more but sometimes less due to her knees. My point is, a converted 2G is not the highest and best use of a player, especially when you have a PG who is as talented as Dangerfield. You don't just start the best 5 players, especially if the 6th player in question is as supremely talented as Crystal. I hope Crystal starts. I doubt very much she scores anywhere near close to what Stevens scores this season. BUT she has the best court vision and is the best floor general, and it's not really close. And that's NOT to take anything away from Kia - she's one of the best guards in the nation and on any other team would likely be on preseason AA lists. But why ASK her to be the starting PG when you have someone as talented as Crystal? It's likely that after the first 6-7 minutes of any game, Geno will sub freely. Azura should be the first off the bench and could sub in for any of the players should Geno take them out. And Geno knows the team far better than I do, so maybe when November rolls around, he will decide Azura starts and Crystal comes off the bench. I just think there are more compelling reasons for Crystal to start than Azura... [/QUOTE]

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