It will be hard to keep this team from scoring 100 points

[UcMiami]

I would say in support of the OP that it has been a very long time since Geno has had a very good second 5 players on his roster. In the last several years, not only does he stop fast break/transition offense early in the second half of blow-outs but he has been playing scoring challenged players for 15 minutes. When Stewart and Jefferson and Morgan sit this year, he will be replacing them with Lou and Collier and Boykin - it may not be as smooth, but they will be much more likely to score, and he will be much more likely to want them to play 'Uconn' basketball rather than slow motion basketball.
100 ppg - not likely, but challenging the Uconn record of 1998-9 of 91.2 is a very real possibility.

And FYI - on Chong ... see Conlon, M. for someone who emerged as a successful PG later in her Uconn career - lots of players blossom Junior year.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Mr. Bgillon by mistakenly saying Geno praised her early in the season instead of specifying the pre-season...surely doesn't make her something she isn't. What she is...is an excellent basketball player who has yet to play to her potential. I think your focus on my short comments regarding Saniya at the expense of the general content of the entire post is somewhat myopic.

How do we know what her potential is? What if what you see is what you get? More often than not that is the case.

 

[Bgillon]

cferr - your comment that Geno praised Saniya early in the season is misleading and that is why I responded. He praised her play prior to the regular season games, i.e. practice. Unfortunately her performance did not carry into the season and he inserted Nurse in her place. That said, if she blossoms this year and next, UCONN will be even stronger.

 

[cferraro04]

Thank you Bgillon...appreciate the clarification...and you are right I understand how my saying the praise happened early in the season could be misleading... I guess I could parse the words and say that the pre-season is early in the season but that would only add to the mischaraterization. In any case I believe that we have not seen the best that Ms. Chong has to offer. But, to get back to the point of the thread... Geno is going to have a hard time divvying the minutes between 10 quality players and 2 walk-ons. Additionally, with players 1-10 being capable of scoring it is going to be hard to take the foot off the gas without deliberately trying not to score... As I said in the original post no team would ever average 100 points per game...but it is going to be hard stopping UConn from doing it...if it happens more times than not it is going to be UConn stopping themselves. I do agree with the poster who said that the 1998-1999 record of 91.5 points / game is in play this year.

 

[CocoHusky]

Urban legend had it that only Dean Smith could keep Jordan from averaging 30 Points/ Game in college. Geno will make sure that this team never get near this number. Geno has too much respect for the game to allow this.

 

[CocoHusky]

And, you can't expect the players to come down the court and not try to score.

Of course I can! If Geno tells them not to score they won't score.

 

[Carnac]

Ditto on Butler's minutes. For some reason, a few BYers have trouble believing Butler will play significant minutes versus freshmen who have not played a single minute of college ball nor have adjusted to Geno's methods and demands, especially for defensive play. If their opinion is correct though, given Butler was the Big East FPOY, this team has the chance to be better than even the wild eyed optimists on this board have claimed!

Put me down for butler averaging a lot more than 12 minutes. I don't know how Geno is going to rotate his girls, but I can't see Butler averaging less than 25 minutes a game. Already having a full season behind her, and full season of practice under Geno, gives her a leg up on the freshmen. Butler has already gone through that period of adjustment.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

I don't know how Geno is going to rotate his girls, but I can't see Butler averaging less than 25 minutes a game.

The best shot blocker in the nation, Kiah Stokes, never averaged more than 18.5 in any season at UConn. Breanna Stewart, the best player in the nation, averaged 28 last season. I'll put the over/under on Butler's minutes at 18, and probably take the under.

 

[DaddyChoc]

I agree with Bonpland. The past 3 years have been very successful seasons, all ending with a NC, but UConn never came close to 10 games where they scored over 100 points in a season:

2012-13: 5 games
2013-14: 3 games
2014-15: 4 games

Geno pulls his foot off the gas so as to not humiliate the opponent (by calling off the running game, running the shot clock down in the half court, etc.), so those point totals are rare, despite the talent disparity between the teams. If I were Vegas posting a over/under, I would say 5 games. I would not venture higher.

also the "deep on the bench players cant score a lick (ugly ball, even Geno cringe at times... also I dont think the "walk-ons" will score that many points (or avg that many)

 

[DaddyChoc]

The best shot blocker in the nation, Kiah Stokes, never averaged more than 18.5 in any season at UConn. Breanna Stewart, the best player in the nation, averaged 28 last season. I'll put the over/under on Butler's minutes at 18, and probably take the under.

Stokes couldn't score, she was taking up space... without her block UConn still would have won games. I'll give her more credit for her rebounds. Who was Stokes high number of block games against last season? At times she didn't deserve to get no more that the 18.5 minutes

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Stokes couldn't score, she was taking up space... without her block UConn still would have won games. I'll give her more credit for her rebounds. Who was Stokes high number of block games against last season? At times she didn't deserve to get no more that the 18.5 minutes

We don't really know what kind of offensive player Butler is yet either. You think Stokes only gets 18 minutes per game at Georgetown? Not likely.

Stewart, Tuck, Williams, Nurse, Collier, KLS, Jefferson, Chong....Scoring isn't going to be an issue just as it wasn't with Stokes on the roster. The point is there are 200 minutes to dole out and probably 5-7 AA threats on the roster. Not everyone is playing 25 minutes a game.

 

[cferraro04]

We don't really know what kind of offensive player Butler is yet either. You think Stokes only gets 18 minutes per game at Georgetown? Not likely.

Stewart, Tuck, Williams, Nurse, Collier, KLS, Jefferson, Chong....Scoring isn't going to be an issue just as it wasn't with Stokes on the roster. The point is there are 200 minutes to dole out and probably 5-7 AA threats on the roster. Not everyone is playing 25 minutes a game.

Exactly Sluconn...exactly!

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Saniya will blossom this season into a great point guard and follow in MoJeffs footsteps next season. Saniya reminds me of what Kiah Stokes went through. Saniya will play a lot of minutes with Mojeff on the bench. JMO

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. I'd love to see beggars riding.

 

[Gus Mahler]

We don't really know what kind of offensive player Butler is yet either. You think Stokes only gets 18 minutes per game at Georgetown? Not likely.

Stewart, Tuck, Williams, Nurse, Collier, KLS, Jefferson, Chong....Scoring isn't going to be an issue just as it wasn't with Stokes on the roster. The point is there are 200 minutes to dole out and probably 5-7 AA threats on the roster. Not everyone is playing 25 minutes a game.

I like that term: an AA threat. And there are about 11 All-AAC threats.

 

[PhillyCoach]

The best shot blocker in the nation, Kiah Stokes, never averaged more than 18.5 in any season at UConn. Breanna Stewart, the best player in the nation, averaged 28 last season. I'll put the over/under on Butler's minutes at 18, and probably take the under.

Hey Slu - good point about Kiah and Stewie. And I love the Banter on Butler. IMHO the vital factor of minutes for Butler will be determined by --Is she starting or not? If Butler starts then she will be over 20 minutes. Geno has laser focus on developing his starting five so they are a killing machine. It takes 20-25 minutes a game (more in the big ones as we all know) to get that flow and chemistry. IMHO Butler will start and I will take the over 18 minutes a game. Like Chong last year, I think Butler earned (from last year)/ & will earn the starting spot this year. Her freshman year proved her determination and talent. With Butler we are not thinking of potential--Butler performed well for an entire college season--leading the team as well (as a frosh). Last point, as a navy brat I think she is smart enough and tough enough to earn the spot and "make enough adjustments quickly" to keep the starting spot. Unlike Chong.

 

[Tonyc]

This is a big year for Saniya. MoJeff leaving and this years freshman class will be only sophs next season. They will still be inexperienced and need leadership. Saniya imo most likely will start next season , unless something drastic happens this season. Dangerfield will be a freshman who I would expect to see a lot of playtime but start and run this team will only add another underclassman with little experience on the college level. JMO I think Dangerfield will start her soph year not freshman year with already two or more underclassman starting. I also think Geno will want to keep the pressure off her and allow her to blend with the team.

As far as scoring 100 pts. This team can do it. It will be hard for them not to even with Geno stopping the fast break and slowing things down into a half court game. Our bench has to much fire power and Geno needs to teach our underclassman how to execute in real game situations. Holding them back could hurt them the following season when Stewie and Mojeff are gone. I think Geno has to let them play and critique their play to have them ready for the following season . CFerr didn't say they would score 100pts he said they could and I agree they could and will in a good number of games.

 

[CocoHusky]

CFerr didn't say they would score 100pts he said they could and I agree they could and will in a good number of games.

Tony if that was the intent CFerr's post then I completely missed it. I cannot think of a UCONN team in the past decade and a half that was not capable of scoring 100 points depending on the opponent. There is no celebration, moment of joy, or even buffalo wings when a UCONN WCBB team scores 100 points-so what would be the point? I though the intent of the post was to point out that this team maybe one of most prolific scoring teams in UCONN history.

 

[alexrgct]

Well UConn has completed the fifth three-peat in WCBB championship history, and the Huskies managed below 90 PPG in each of the last three championship seasons. We just don't play our most prolific scoring kids in these beat downs. If only The end of our bench could jack up and hit treys at an excellent rate.

 

[cferraro04]

Tony if that was the intent CFerr's post then I completely missed it. I cannot think of a UCONN team in the past decade and a half that was not capable of scoring 100 points depending on the opponent. There is no celebration, moment of joy, or even buffalo wings when a UCONN WCBB team scores 100 points-so what would be the point? I though the intent of the post was to point out that this team maybe one of most prolific scoring teams in UCONN history.

CocoHusky...you certainly did miss the point... Let me quote for you exactly what I said in my OP: "I just don't know how there is enough basketballs to go around with this team. We all know from experience that no team is going to average 100 points. But unless Geno deliberately puts the brakes on, plays the reserves a lot of minutes I just don't see how this high octane group of competitors doesn't score 100 points."

Interpretation: "I don't know if there is enough basketballs to go around with this team." Meaning that there is so much fire power on this team that anyone can score going 10 deep. "We all know from experience that no team is going to average 100 points." Meaning: it is it patently clear what I meant here...NO TEAM IS GOING TO AVERAGE 100 POINTS!!!! "But, unless Geno deliberately puts the brakes on, plays the reserves a lot of minutes, I just don't see how this high octane group of competitors doesn't score 100 points." Meaning: That historically Geno will apply the brakes and he will play the reserves extended minutes rather than running up the score...thus while it will be very difficult keeping this team under 100 points...NO TEAM WILL AVERAGE 100 POINTS because Geno will not run the score up...he will put the brakes on, he will play the reserves extended minutes... In a later post I also clarify that I agree with the poster that this high octane group of players will challenge the 1998 / 1999 scoring average of 91.5...clearly a statement that I do not think this team will average 100 points...I rather simply indicated that it will be HARD to keep them under 100 not that they will always top 100 points.

 

[CocoHusky]

CocoHusky...you certainly did miss the point... Let me quote for you exactly what I said in my OP: "I just don't know how there is enough basketballs to go around with this team. We all know from experience that no team is going to average 100 points. But unless Geno deliberately puts the brakes on, plays the reserves a lot of minutes I just don't see how this high octane group of competitors doesn't score 100 points."

Interpretation: "I don't know if there is enough basketballs to go around with this team." Meaning that there is so much fire power on this team that anyone can score going 10 deep. "We all know from experience that no team is going to average 100 points." Meaning: it is it patently clear what I meant here...NO TEAM IS GOING TO AVERAGE 100 POINTS!!!! "But, unless Geno deliberately puts the brakes on, plays the reserves a lot of minutes, I just don't see how this high octane group of competitors doesn't score 100 points." Meaning: That historically Geno will apply the brakes and he will play the reserves extended minutes rather than running up the score...thus while it will be very difficult keeping this team under 100 points...NO TEAM WILL AVERAGE 100 POINTS because Geno will not run the score up...he will put the brakes on, he will play the reserves extended minutes... In a later post I also clarify that I agree with the poster that this high octane group of players will challenge the 1998 / 1999 scoring average of 91.5...clearly a statement that I do not think this team will average 100 points...I rather simply indicated that it will be HARD to keep them under 100 not that they will always top 100 points.

Your point is not the first I have missed, nor will it be the last. Your use of bold and red does nothing to enhance my chances of not missing your point. The fact that you had to clarify something in a later post and your interpretation are likely the reasons I missed it in the first place. How did you happen to settle on this magical mythical number of 100 points in the first place?

 

[cferraro04]

"How did you happen to settle on this magical mythical number of 100 points in the first place?" Have you even read the OP...I listed the minutes and per game averages of the individual players and the sum total of which was the average points per game. These minutes are based on last years PT from our returning players and the projected value of the 4 incoming players. If the players were to play the minutes projected and Geno did not put the brakes on or if he didn't play the reserves for extended minutes the fire power alone would drive UConn up over 100 points (the average in the OP was 104) for most games with the exception of maybe only 2 or 3 games that would be competitive, ie., South Carolina, Notre Dame and Maryland. The use of bold was to distinguish the quotes from the OP and the interpretation. If it does nothing to help you...I suggest you taking a little more time to actually read what is written because quite frankly it couldn't be any clearer as to the intent.

 

[UcMiami]

Well UConn has completed the fifth three-peat in WCBB championship history, and the Huskies managed below 90 PPG in each of the last three championship seasons. We just don't play our most prolific scoring kids in these beat downs. If only The end of our bench could jack up and hit treys at an excellent rate.

Yes - but this will be the first year in the past three with more than 9 scholarship players available to play - in the last two years Geno had to play at least one walk-on if he wanted to give all five starters a rest. TL and BP are great teammates, but definitely fall into the 'scoring challenged' category. (And the first year of the three-peat had a 'back of rotation' quartet of scholarship players that all struggled to meet the 1 point per 4 minutes played level in Buck, Stokes, Doty, and Jefferson on a team of only 11 scholarship players.

Who knows what we will get from Boykin, Butler, Chong, Collier, Ekmark, Samuelson, and Williams, but six of those seven will be on the bench to start games and I suspect they will be better scorers and more efficient as a group, than any group of five bench players in the last three years.

 

[cferraro04]

Yes - but this will be the first year in the past three with more than 9 scholarship players available to play - in the last two years Geno had to play at least one walk-on if he wanted to give all five starters a rest. TL and BP are great teammates, but definitely fall into the 'scoring challenged' category. (And the first year of the three-peat had a 'back of rotation' quartet of scholarship players that all struggled to meet the 1 point per 4 minutes played level in Buck, Stokes, Doty, and Jefferson on a team of only 11 scholarship players.

Who knows what we will get from Boykin, Butler, Chong, Collier, Ekmark, Samuelson, and Williams, but six of those seven will be on the bench to start games and I suspect they will be better scorers and more efficient as a group, than any group of five bench players in the last three years.

Exactly, UcMiami...exactly!!! This is why I think that this season especially given that in my opinion only South Carolina, Notre Dame and Maryland will actually be a challenge for UConn that UConn will challenge their 1998 - 1999 record of 91.2 points per game.

 

[CocoHusky]

"How did you happen to settle on this magical mythical number of 100 points in the first place?" Have you even read the OP. (the average in the OP was 104)
If it does nothing to help you...I suggest you taking a little more time to actually read what is written because quite frankly it couldn't be any clearer as to the intent.

I read your original close enough to know that the average was 104.8 not this 104 you are trying to revise it to. See Calpedaler's very humorous post about scoring that last .8 of a point. Ok, bold was to point out the original post, please refrain from using red since this is more aggravating.
Your original post= 158 Words.
Your followup post explaining the original =1622 Words. I'm still wading through this to discern your intent.

 

[cferraro04]

Pulleeese Coco...I was reserving judgement regarding YOUR intent but based on your last one your intent seems to be to troll. I mean you are going to call me out on my rounding off the average of the OP by .8 of a point... I have no need to revise my original post as 104 or 104.8 both make the point that the reasonable average point total of this version of the Huskies could and I emphasize COULD (hope capital letters don't aggravate you) go over 100 if Geno leaves them to play and doesn't take his foot off the gas or play the reserves extended minutes. The color option for text is there for a reason...Color helps poster to make a post more readable. I have read text in Red hundreds of times and I have never found the color to be aggravating. I see no rules on the Boneyard that limit the use of color for text. Maybe a chill pill is in order. My verbosity demonstrated in my follow-up post was to discuss the rationale behind the individual minutes per game and points per game that I assigned to each player. Such a post dictates many more words as I was discussing specifics instead of generalities. I do, however, appreciate your taking the time to read my 1600 word post to determine my intent...at least I didn't waste my time. By the way...I've decided to archive my OP as I think it will be interesting to pull it back out at the end of the season. Hope you are still here so we can discuss it with intention in the rear view mirror.

 

[CocoHusky]

Pulleeese Coco...I was reserving judgement regarding YOUR intent but based on your last one your intent seems to be to troll. I mean you are going to call me out on my rounding off the average of the OP by .8 of a point... I have no need to revise my original post as 104 or 104.8 both make the point that the reasonable average point total of this version of the Huskies could and I emphasize COULD (hope capital letters don't aggravate you) go over 100 if Geno leaves them to play and doesn't take his foot off the gas or play the reserves extended minutes. The color option for text is there for a reason...Color helps poster to make a post more readable. I have read text in Red hundreds of times and I have never found the color to be aggravating. I see no rules on the Boneyard that limit the use of color for text. Maybe a chill pill is in order. My verbosity demonstrated in my follow-up post was to discuss the rationale behind the individual minutes per game and points per game that I assigned to each player. Such a post dictates many more words as I was discussing specifics instead of generalities. I do, however, appreciate your taking the time to read my 1600 word post to determine my intent...at least I didn't waste my time. By the way...I've decided to archive my OP as I think it will be interesting to pull it back out at the end of the season. Hope you are still here so we can discuss it with intention in the rear view mirror.

Rounding 104.8 would result in 105- I'm just saying. Archiving till the end of the season is a good idea. That will give me enough time to make it through all 1622 words- or were you rounding there also?

 

[alexrgct]

Yes - but this will be the first year in the past three with more than 9 scholarship players available to play - in the last two years Geno had to play at least one walk-on if he wanted to give all five starters a rest. TL and BP are great teammates, but definitely fall into the 'scoring challenged' category. (And the first year of the three-peat had a 'back of rotation' quartet of scholarship players that all struggled to meet the 1 point per 4 minutes played level in Buck, Stokes, Doty, and Jefferson on a team of only 11 scholarship players. Who knows what we will get from Boykin, Butler, Chong, Collier, Ekmark, Samuelson, and Williams, but six of those seven will be on the bench to start games and I suspect they will be better scorers and more efficient as a group, than any group of five bench players in the last three years.

The question will be whether Geno wants to see "real" UConn basketball for 40 minutes, even with a deep roster. If he can barely stand to watch anything less, you will see anyone benched for taking a possession off. And then you probably will see scores regularly north of 100.

 

[Kibitzer]

Sorry, but that was EXACTLY my thinking. When you go up against Kia, you're gonna need a Nurse. As her big bad NHL brother said, roughly paraphrasing his story: They were playing basketball together and he gave her a hard shoulder. She responded immediately with an even harder elbow. At which point he shrugged and realized getting physical with her was a no-win proposition.

Just goes to show that she's a badass.

And BTW, so is Serena Williams.

 

[cferraro04]

And, here I thought it was you who first took the time to count 1622 words...so, I guess if there was any rounding it would have been on your account to save you the time for counting each word. Who does that anyway???

 

[UcMiami]

The question will be whether Geno wants to see "real" UConn basketball for 40 minutes, even with a deep roster. If he can barely stand to watch anything less, you will see anyone benched for taking a possession off. And then you probably will see scores regularly north of 100.

He is in my opinion going to want to train his new four (freshmen and Butler) during their time on the floor so while he may call off trapping defense and slow down the fast break, he will want the players to maintain focus, and play sound basketball - given the quality of the six bench scholarship players, I can't see the score being 75 at the end of the third quarter and 84 at the end of the fourth which was what happened fairly regularly last year, and in past years.