Judging from their previous game, Jose plays a rotation of 6 players and 2 more on the cusp of the rotation.
The starters were:
Mputu 6’2” Sr
Levy 6’3” Sr
Brito 5’11” Jr
Blasigh 5’9” So
Dembele 5’6” So
Puisis 6’1” Gr
Thompson 5’10” Fr
Piper 6’0” Gr
This is a mature team of veterans featuring two grad students, two seniors, a junior, two sophomores, and one freshman.
The primary scorer appears to be Puisis, who had 25 against Mt St Mary’s in 25 minutes off the bench, including shooting 7-13 from 3. Taking away that scoring threat is going to require a big guard to challenge her on the perimeter. Maybe Paige or Morgan or Allie or Q. This is not a good primary defensive assignment for KC or KK just because of the height difference. Ordinarily, this task would fall to Aubrey.
They rebound well, especially Mputu who had 12 in the last game. And Brito and Levy are good scorers and rebounders. On the whole it seems to be a balanced lineup. And they are a team of gunners from beyond the arc.
How will they matchup against UConn? The primary matchup problems really for any team will be Paige and Sarah. But Jana could also be a huge problem since I don’t think they have anyone big enough. Mputu and Levy are 6’3” and 6’2”, but I don’t think they have the strength to hold Jana off. And if they have to focus on Jana, I can’t see them containing Sarah, who looks to be both bigger and stronger, but also more skilled than either of them.
In the backcourt, Dembele is another speedy little guard and she’ll probably get some points and assists. But I think KK and KC can hold her in check. Brito and Blasigh may matchup better against Paige and Ash size-wise, but their attention will probably be divided trying to help out on KC or Sarah or Allie.
I expect Paige to play the same reserved game as she did against BU. Right now, in these early games, getting the youngsters to play together well has to be the priority, especially in the half court offense. If Geno simply played Paige Sarah Ash Jana and KC or KK for 30 minutes, they’d blow USF off the floor. But that is not a sustainable model for this time of year. Ice still needs to recover her form from last season, and Q Allie and Morgan are on the cusp of being solid contributors. If they are needed in two months, we’ll be glad they got lots of minutes in November.
So, I expect to see some time devoted to the transition defense/offense in the first half and some devoted to the half court game in the second. This is what we saw against BU and I suspect Geno thinks they’ll need to practice the half court more.
