Halloween, Danger & Z

[oldude]

Halloween is just around the corner, so this time of year the cable channels start playing all the old horror movie series like Friday the 13th, Halloween and others. One of the themes these movies have in common is that the evil being just won’t die. He gets shot, set on fire and run over by a truck, but he just keeps coming for one victim after another.

With that in the mind, we at the BY have our own debate that started 2 or 3 minutes after the heartbreaking loss to MS St in the national semifinal, and much like Jason in Friday the 13th, it just won’t die. This week the debate was given new life by none other than Luigi “Geno” Auriemma, who was very much noncommittal on who would join the Core 4 as a starter in Columbus on Nov 12.

Gabby, Lou, Pheesa & Kia are locks as starters this season, but will he 5th starter be Danger or Z? I and many other BY’ers were strongly in the Z camp. But a number of folks believed that Danger would be the 5th starter. Here we are, less than 3 weeks from the Nov 12 date with Stanford, and we still don’t know.

Position battles are nothing new. Competition for a starting spot and playing time makes everyone on a team better. Last season, Danger and Saniya battled well into the season before Saniya established herself as the 5th starter at pg. A season before, Lou, Gabby & Pheesa all competed for a starting spot, essentially at the wing. But those battles were basically between players competing to start at the same position.

The competition between Danger & Z is truly unique. Obviously, it is a competition between the shortest player on the team and the tallest, between a pg and a center. Whichever player wins the battle impacts every other player on the court. If Danger wins, everyone plays up a position. If Z wins, everyone plays down a position. Fortunately, the Core 4 are incredibly talented and versatile players who can handle whatever matchup is thrown their way.

Credit to Danger for making what appears to be a significant sophomore leap. While reviews of Z’s play have been generally positive, it appears that Geno is looking for her to become a more complete player, particularly on the defensive end.

The battle to be the 5th starter may not be resolved until Nov 12 and perhaps even longer than that. Whoever wins the battle one thing is certain, with either Danger or Z starting with the other coming off the bench, along with the Core 4 and a deep and talented bench, opposing teams will have nightmares thinking about the terrifying prospect of facing this Husky team.

 

[oldude]

While the competition for the last starting spot is noteworthy, I suspect the competition for PT among Batouly, Kyla, Molly & the 4 freshmen is far more intense.

In the big games, I doubt Geno will go much deeper than an 8 player rotation. That means PT for the Core 4, Danger, Z and only 2 other Huskies.

 

[meyers7]

Halloween is just around the corner, so this time of year the cable channels start playing all the old horror movie series like Friday the 13th, Halloween and others. One of the themes these movies have in common is that the evil being just won’t die. He gets shot, set on fire and run over by a truck, but he just keeps coming for one victim after another.

With that in the mind, we at the BY have our own debate that started 2 or 3 minutes after the heartbreaking loss to MS St in the national semifinal, and much like Jason in Friday the 13th, it just won’t die. This week the debate was given new life by none other than Luigi “Geno” Auriemma, who was very much noncommittal on who would join the Core 4 as a starter in Columbus on Nov 12.

Gabby, Lou, Pheesa & Kia are locks as starters this season, but will he 5th starter be Danger or Z? I and many other BY’ers were strongly in the Z camp. But a number of folks believed that Danger would be the 5th starter. Here we are, less than 3 weeks from the Nov 12 date with Stanford, and we still don’t know.

Position battles are nothing new. Competition for a starting spot and playing time makes everyone on a team better. Last season, Danger and Saniya battled well into the season before Saniya established herself as the 5th starter at pg. A season before, Lou, Gabby & Pheesa all competed for a starting spot, essentially at the wing. But those battles were basically between players competing to start at the same position.

The competition between Danger & Z is truly unique. Obviously, it is a competition between the shortest player on the team and the tallest, between a pg and a center. Whichever player wins the battle impacts every other player on the court. If Danger wins, everyone plays up a position. If Z wins, everyone plays down a position. Fortunately, the Core 4 are incredibly talented and versatile players who can handle whatever matchup is thrown their way.

Credit to Danger for making what appears to be a significant sophomore leap. While reviews of Z’s play have been generally positive, it appears that Geno is looking for her to become a more complete player, particularly on the defensive end.

The battle to be the 5th starter may not be resolved until Nov 12 and perhaps even longer than that. Whoever wins the battle one thing is certain, with either Danger or Z starting with the other coming off the bench, along with the Core 4 and a deep and talented bench, opposing teams will have nightmares thinking about the terrifying prospect of facing this Husky team.

Maybe they should have a jump ball to see who starts.

 

[oldude]

Maybe they should have a jump ball to see who starts.

Followed by dribbling the length of the court as fast as possible.

 

[meyers7]

Followed by dribbling the length of the court as fast as possible.

And then I guess...flip a coin.

 

[JordyG]

Maybe they should have a jump ball to see who starts.

FOTFLOL. Okay, I'm up. For all of us height challenged people I take personal offense to that. Maybe like the old XFL they should just roll the ball out and the first to the ball wins.

 

[oldude]

FOTFLOL. Okay, I'm up. For all of us height challenged people I take personal offense to that. Maybe like the old XFL they should just roll the ball out and the first to the ball wins.

The XFL did that until a couple players tore up their knees and were lost for the season in the pregame skirmishes for the ball.

 

[JordyG]

The XFL did that until a couple players tore up their knees and were lost for the season in the pregame skirmishes for the ball.

Also a bunch of players received serious concussions before the knee injuries. It was a disaster, and a fan favorite, from the start.

 

[BigBird]

As UConn fans, we sometimes seem to be semi-obsessed about who starts. Seriously, who cares? Does Geno? I am not so sure. Let’s consider the alternative. If he thinks he has six or seven (or maybe more) players capable of starting, it allows the Huskies to run like mad, press constantly, etc. In this case, the wealth of talent affects how he thinks about substitutions, their frequency and timing. This seems to me much more important strategically than who gets the spotlight intro at the front end of the game. In this case, bringing either Danger or Z off the bench forces the opponent to make a significant in-flight adjustment. Failure to quickly adjust will trigger another of those lovely UConn scoring sunamis.

Geno has said that minutes available is a puzzle, and that makes sense. But starters? I doubt he is losing any sleep. But I could be wrong; it has happened before.

 

[paisan]

Well said big bird ...rotation is much more important than starter ..let us not forget Geno likes a sixth man who can stimulate the team

 

[BostonCanuck]

As Geno once said, and I'm paraphrasing: It's not so much who gets to start that matters. Rather, it's who gets to play.

 

[HGN]

Halloween is just around the corner, so this time of year the cable channels start playing all the old horror movie series like Friday the 13th, Halloween and others. One of the themes these movies have in common is that the evil being just won’t die. He gets shot, set on fire and run over by a truck, but he just keeps coming for one victim after another.

With that in the mind, we at the BY have our own debate that started 2 or 3 minutes after the heartbreaking loss to MS St in the national semifinal, and much like Jason in Friday the 13th, it just won’t die. This week the debate was given new life by none other than Luigi “Geno” Auriemma, who was very much noncommittal on who would join the Core 4 as a starter in Columbus on Nov 12.

Gabby, Lou, Pheesa & Kia are locks as starters this season, but will he 5th starter be Danger or Z? I and many other BY’ers were strongly in the Z camp. But a number of folks believed that Danger would be the 5th starter. Here we are, less than 3 weeks from the Nov 12 date with Stanford, and we still don’t know.

Position battles are nothing new. Competition for a starting spot and playing time makes everyone on a team better. Last season, Danger and Saniya battled well into the season before Saniya established herself as the 5th starter at pg. A season before, Lou, Gabby & Pheesa all competed for a starting spot, essentially at the wing. But those battles were basically between players competing to start at the same position.

The competition between Danger & Z is truly unique. Obviously, it is a competition between the shortest player on the team and the tallest, between a pg and a center. Whichever player wins the battle impacts every other player on the court. If Danger wins, everyone plays up a position. If Z wins, everyone plays down a position. Fortunately, the Core 4 are incredibly talented and versatile players who can handle whatever matchup is thrown their way.

Credit to Danger for making what appears to be a significant sophomore leap. While reviews of Z’s play have been generally positive, it appears that Geno is looking for her to become a more complete player, particularly on the defensive end.

The battle to be the 5th starter may not be resolved until Nov 12 and perhaps even longer than that. Whoever wins the battle one thing is certain, with either Danger or Z starting with the other coming off the bench, along with the Core 4 and a deep and talented bench, opposing teams will have nightmares thinking about the terrifying prospect of facing this Husky team.

Oldude , you made some good points in your post. But I don't know whether its 'who wins' the battle so much as it is which style Geno decides to play that will give the Huskies the advantage for the long term season. As I see it , he could go Big ( If he develops confidence in Z's defense) . Or bring her offense , SIZE , and versatility , off the bench giving opposing teams fits . Obviously after last year Coach is comfortable with the a smaller team , if he starts Crystal Dangerfield , knowing that he has a stronger and deeper bench.

So I don't know if it's so much 'who wins' the battle , as much as it is what style coach decides to start with and play.............With or without a conventional center.

 

[Sonny44]

Let's see: a 5'2" vs. a 6'6". Might they have different games? Might it depend on the type of team we are playing?

 

[Coach]

Let's see: a 5'2" vs. a 6'6". Might they have different games? Might it depend on the type of team we are playing?

Although I don't recall Geno ever doing this, he could have multiple starting lineups depending on who they are playing.

 

[oldude]

Oldude , you made some good points in your post. But I don't know whether its 'who wins' the battle so much as it is which style Geno decides to play that will give the Huskies the advantage for the long term season. As I see it , he could go Big ( If he develops confidence in Z's defense) . Or bring her offense , SIZE , and versatility , off the bench giving opposing teams fits . Obviously after last year Coach is comfortable with the a smaller team , if he starts Crystal Dangerfield , knowing that he has a stronger and deeper bench.

So I don't know if it's so much 'who wins' the battle , as much as it is what style coach decides to start with and play...With or without a conventional center.

You raise a good point. Last year, playing a small team that worked together beautifully, the Huskies were 36-1, one basket short of the national championship.

Arguably the Core 4 + Danger will be even better this year, so why mess with something that works?

I could argue that while it may take longer for Z to mesh with the Core 4, once she does UConn will create tremendous matchup problems for opposing teams. Imagine a 6’6” Center who can pull opposing centers out to the 3-pt line, Gabby dominating opposing wings instead of playing the post, Lou posting up helpless 2 guards with Danger coming off the bench to speed everything up and blow the game open.

Whatever happens it sure is going to be fun to watch.

 

[oldude]

Let's see: a 5'2" vs. a 6'6". Might they have different games? Might it depend on the type of team we are playing?

Although I don't recall Geno ever doing this, he could have multiple starting lineups depending on who they are playing.

It would be truly out of character for Geno to alter his starting lineup by opponent. Almost certainly, he will adjust his rotation and minutes depending on what works in a particular game.

 

[Huskee11]

I like the Halloween connection to the starting five issue. Well done, oldude!

Previous threads abound, well-worn paths analyzing the starting five issue. So, maybe a self-imposed limit that any new starting five thread has to be tied to a holiday?

Hopefully in clever fashion, like here!

Thanksgiving up next, should be pretty easy for UConn fans to work that into the analysis!

I have steadfastly maintained that Z would be in the starting five, given how her size solves a lot of issues and that she has been mentioned as a POY candidate. But, all the stories from Storrs have been really positive for CD.

So, I`ll stick with Z but I dunno. Can`t wait to see. We will probably see six players with significant minutes and another two or three with decent minutes.

 

[meyers7]

I like the Halloween connection to the starting five issue. Well done, oldude!

Previous threads abound, well-worn paths analyzing the starting five issue. So, maybe a self-imposed limit that any new starting five thread has to be tied to a holiday?

Hopefully in clever fashion, like here!

Thanksgiving up next, should be pretty easy for UConn fans to work that into the analysis!

Whoa, whoa whoa. You are skipping over a pretty big one on here. Veteran's Day.

 

[Carnac]

[QUOTE="oldude, post: 2387178, member: 7511

The battle to be the 5th starter may not be resolved until Nov 12 and perhaps even longer than that. Whoever wins the battle one thing is certain, with either Danger or Z starting with the other coming off the bench, along with the Core 4 and a deep and talented bench, opposing teams will have nightmares thinking about the terrifying prospect of facing this Husky team. [/QUOTE]

Agreed. While the two exhibition games will give us our first look at the 2017-2018 team, other than providing the staff with a platform to test and observe different player combinations in actual games, the real (acid) test will come against Stanford in Columbus.

The difference between the two exhibition opponents and Stanford is similar to the difference between scuba diving in a swimming pool versus the ocean. Stanford will be able to present sustained challenges against the Huskies for 40 minutes that Fort Hays and Ashland cannot. It would not surprise me to see Geno start Dangerfield one exhibition game, and Stevens the other.

The decision of who the 5th starter will be for the remainder of the season, should made by the Maryland game, the 3rd game of the season after Stanford and Cal-Berkley (California).

 

[Huskee11]

Whoa, whoa whoa. You are skipping over a pretty big one on here. Veteran's Day.

Sorry, my bad.

You can start that thread. Veterans theme offers some options!

 

[Kaizen]

5th starter: Crysta/Z
1st off bench: Megan/Batouly

 

[HuskylnSC]

Well said big bird ...rotation is much more important than starter ..let us not forget Geno likes a sixth man who can stimulate the team

And for that reason, I stand by my minority opinion the best sixth man is Gabulous. No player can impact a game like she can. No one player can bring both the defensive intensity and offensive spark like she can.

Imagine playing your heart out, sprinting and husteling all over the court to stay with UCONN and then Gabby steps on the floor. Fear, terror, the worst nightmare with the most speed and the highest leaps and all with a sweet smile as she slaps your breakaway layup into the fourth row.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

"The minutes part is going to be a little bit dicey,” Auriemma said, “One of the good things is that … everything is up for grabs. Let’s see how it goes. Obviously, [Stevens] is going to get a lot of minutes, but then everybody else is competing. If you deserve it, you’ll get it. If you don’t deserve it, you won’t get it.”

This could be parsed as Geno on the nonstarters. Interpreting "everybody else" as everyone else on the team makes zero sense. But if it is obvious to Geno she will get "a lot" of minutes, is it an accurate read of Geno's assessment that she is not yet up to snuff defensively or otherwise? I suspect the issue between Crystal and Z gets resolved on the floor and it may well be that we roll through much of the season with 6 starters, though one of them being your PG is a bit unusual.

 

[Carnac]

And for that reason, I stand by my minority opinion the best sixth man is Gabulous. No player can impact a game like she can. No one player can bring both the defensive intensity and offensive spark like she can.

Imagine playing your heart out, sprinting and husteling all over the court to stay with UCONN and then Gabby steps on the floor. Fear, terror, the worst nightmare with the most speed and the highest leaps and all with a sweet smile as she slaps your breakaway layup into the fourth row.

I don't agree with the prospect of Gabby not starting, but I do with everything else you said. No one on the team could come in and impact the game the way she could!! I 100% agree with that!! Because she is a team captain, and the unequivocal leader of this team. I could be wrong, but I just don't see Geno benching a returning All-American (that started the previous year) during the tipoff. Geno might see it as you do, and do just that. Stranger things have happened. I don't think anything would be lost by her coming into the game after 4-5 minutes in the first quarter. Either way, she'll get starter's minutes this year. We'll see.

 

[Golden Husky]

You raise a good point. Last year, playing a small team that worked together beautifully, the Huskies were 36-1, one basket short of the national championship.

Arguably the Core 4 + Danger will be even better this year, so why mess with something that works?

I could argue that while it may take longer for Z to mesh with the Core 4, once she does UConn will create tremendous matchup problems for opposing teams. Imagine a 6’6” Center who can pull opposing centers out to the 3-pt line, Gabby dominating opposing wings instead of playing the post, Lou posting up helpless 2 guards with Danger coming off the bench to speed everything up and blow the game open.

Whatever happens it sure is going to be fun to watch.

Why will the Core Four + Dangerfield "be even better this year" than the Core Four + Chong was last season? Saniya shot 47% from the floor while Crystal shot 40%; Saniya shot 40% on treys while Crystal shot 32%; Saniya shot 81% from the free throw line while Crystal shot 59%. It's still basketball which means you have to be able to put the ball in the basket. What about ball handling? Saniya had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.3 to Crystal's 2.1 last season.

Sure, Crystal may make a "sophomore leap" but it takes a leap of faith to think she'll equal Saniya's senior numbers as just a sophomore.