Does our opinion about a Deep Bench matter? We are asking a 67 year old coach with a long history of success who keeps his starters in games in the 4th quarter with 40 point leads to change. And even if he expands a bit, there will still be good players at the end of the bench praying and scraping for 2/3 meaningless minutes at the end of a game. The best we can hope for is some experimentation in the early games. But even that will be used to determine who the core 7 will be.
Dividing Up 200 Minutes
- Thread starter BfromCT
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You are right that our opinion on the Boneyard might not matter, and Geno does have a long history, as you described of going with a short rotation. He did go 10 deep for a couple of years around the turn of the century, however, and this team will probably have as much if not more talent on the bench than those did. So he has done it, but very infrequently, and the last time was about a generation ago. We will see one way or the other.
As for the time for experimentation, Uconn's schedule is in reverse compared to most top schools. They schedule light out of conference, and use those games as a kind of extended training camp to settle down and prepare for their more challenging and important conference schedule.
For us, to get games against top teams we have to schedule most of them early before the conference schedule. We have several games where we are thrown into the fire right away, so if a new player doesn't earn a rotation spot in training camp they may not be part of the early rotation at least in big games. After that we mostly have conference games we know we are going to win, and have opportunities to "experiment" if we want to, to evolve towards whatever lineup combination would put us in the best position for the postseason.
So some players might make enough of a mark to be in the rotation of the first big game (say Azzi hypothetically) and others might try to earn a spot after proving themselves during the conference portion of the season when Geno could go deeper if he chooses to.
As for the time for experimentation, Uconn's schedule is in reverse compared to most top schools. They schedule light out of conference, and use those games as a kind of extended training camp to settle down and prepare for their more challenging and important conference schedule.
For us, to get games against top teams we have to schedule most of them early before the conference schedule. We have several games where we are thrown into the fire right away, so if a new player doesn't earn a rotation spot in training camp they may not be part of the early rotation at least in big games. After that we mostly have conference games we know we are going to win, and have opportunities to "experiment" if we want to, to evolve towards whatever lineup combination would put us in the best position for the postseason.
So some players might make enough of a mark to be in the rotation of the first big game (say Azzi hypothetically) and others might try to earn a spot after proving themselves during the conference portion of the season when Geno could go deeper if he chooses to.
UcMiami
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I think you are missing the point with Geno and who he plays - he plays the players who have proven he can trust them in practice (and previous games) unless fouls/injuries force him to play someone he doesn't trust. That generally has meant 6, 7 or 8 players in any season. At the turn of the century he had more players that he trusted, and maybe this year will be the same, though it will still be a young team. And the last time he had 12 players he could trust this was the minutes break down:
| Players | |
| Diana Taurasi | 26.17 |
| Tina Charles | 25.22 |
| Lindsay Whalen | 20.04 |
| Maya Moore | 17.35 |
| Seimone Augustus | 17.14 |
| Sue Bird | 16.56 |
| Angel McCoughtry | 16.08 |
| Elena Delle Donne | 16.05 |
| Sylvia Fowles | 14.01 |
| Brittney Griner | 12.32 |
| Breanna Stewart | 11.13 |
| Tamika Catchings | 6.33 |
I would be all for seeing a minutes breakdown like the one you posted from almost 20 years ago. It would be great for us fans to see everyone play important minutes. But ( substituting Paige for Diana) I don’t see Paige getting 26.17 minutes. And, if you leave her in for 30 plus minutes, how does he lower CW’s minutes to under to 25? Based on the conference they are in, he can certainly do whatever he wants to do without being punished for whoever he plays and for how long he plays them.
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And that’s the way Geno expects his players to be.
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I understand Geno is considering a NBA kind of lineup program next season..........Bueckers and Fudd may take every third game off to keep them in tip top physical and mental condition................they might even have time to make some personal appearances to market their new Nike footwear and clothing lines just like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on the Nets..........this will not only help those two players from suffering any fatigue in what has become an incredibly long season but it will allow other players more time to play and develop their own brands............... 
