Agree that Ayanna will need to be eased into the rotation. She had a relatively disappointing season that may well have been due to injury. She was ok in early season, and then fell off a great deal near the end. Last year she got fairly regular playing time mostly because somebody had to provide backup minutes to Dorka and Aaliyah, she was a better option than Amari, and Aubrey and Caroline were needed on the perimeter due to injuries there.
This year Aubrey and Caroline are available at the 4 and are far more proven than Ayanna. Ayanna playing at last years level doesn't guarantee a rotation spot, far from it, since the current presumed rotation of 8 looks strong. She needs to give Geno a reason to expand the rotation to 9, which she might due if she is substantially better than last year, which if it happens probably doesn't happen until much further into the season. I am hoping we ultimately see a player like the number 4 recruit, instead of what we saw late last year, but it is a little hard to know how much her performance was hampered by injury she was trying to play through.
I take (what I think is) a more nuanced view of Ayanna, though I mainly agree with you. She struggled on offense and we all commented on this. But on defense she could be stout when called upon, once she calmed down on the fouling -- i.e. fouled more judiciously
. How far off is her offensive development? When will she be comfortable taking midrange jumpers, which she was good at in HS? So far, it's mainly been putbacks, and she didn't seem very confident about even those last season.
On defense, I think about the Iowa game -- no Dorka, so
she was the primary backup for Aaliyah on Czinano and she held her own. Czinano is very strong and other than Aaliyah we didn't have another player strong enough to muscle with her in the low post besides Ayanna. Aubrey can't do it and Geno wasn't going to put Caroline on her with her concussion issues, even if either of them were strong enough. That was an important matchup and Ayanna really stepped up.
As for Aubrey and Caroline at the 4, I think that's a limited option. They both looked healthy, but I wouldn't want to waste either of them against a strong 4 either. In those situations, Ice is by far the better choice, or will be soon. Aubrey is a slashing scorer and rebounder. But I don't relish the thought of her fighting for position with SC's 4s for example. Caroline is not a slasher so much as a position-and-footwork player. She knows how to get a player on her hip and get them out of her way, and she has those brilliant low-post step-through moves. But here too, I don't want to wear her out against bigger 4s. This season I hope to see her shooting 3s and moving into the low-post when the opposing team doesn't have bigs down there.
So, in the longer term, I have a great deal of confidence that Ayanna will find a place in the rotation.
But as you say, it won't happen just yet. In fact, Geno has already said she won't be playing today, and that she's still working on strength drills in practice.
So, for today's game, I expect to see the same starting lineup, with Aubrey KK and Ice coming off the bench as the main rotation. The others will get in as well, but not as much as they did against SCSU. The rotation will begin to contract (slightly) today.
