KK or Kayleigh, who's your guess?

[Monte]

I want to see who FINISHES, not who STARTS! Does anyone remember Frank Ramsey with the long ago Boston Celtics?

 

[CL82]

Missed opportunity. Should've made this a poll.

(The answer is KK by the way.)

 

[boontonbomber]

Play the player that was recruited. If a transfer shows enough then give them minutes. I trust my eyes, not stats, and KK has gotten better and better, all over the court. And I see that continuing this season. She is tough, she is durable, never slows down, and will be a big factor in their success this season.

 

[donalddoowop]

Maybe KK did not have much choice, but she went from starter to bench player but still played as though it did not affect her negatively. She should not be asked to come off the bench again in order for a transfer player to start unless that player is head and shoulders better than she is, and Kayleigh is not.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Maybe KK did not have much choice, but she went from starter to bench player but still played as though it did not affect her negatively. She should not be asked to come off the bench again in order for a transfer player to start unless that player is head and shoulders better than she is, and Kayleigh is not.

And a transfer with 3 years left. And when it comes to vocal leadership, on and off the court, KK is a perfect fit.

 

[Skeets]

KK. She's been getting better every year. I cannot i imagine Kayleigh being that much better than KK to start over her.

 

[Bone Dog]

She is tough, she is durable, never slows down, and will be a big factor in their success this season.

I completely agree with the first two. But KK does slow down. The amount of energy she puts out is enormous and I’m not sure she can sustain that for more than 20-25 minutes a game. Last season she could be her best self for 20+ minutes and that really made a difference, especially in the second half of tough games. In her freshman year she played 30+ minutes in many games and the toll it took on her was noticeable. Watch the tournament games when Geno shortened the rotation and it’s easy to see how tired they all were in the 4th quarter. Well, everyone but Ash who can run like a mad thing for 30-35 minutes without slowing down. We almost lost to Duke and USC from fatigue that season.

This is why signing Kaitlyn was so important last season. Geno needed a platoon at pg to allow KK to put out maximum energy at the end of games. Just watch the 4th quarters of the final four games to see the truth of this. KK came in and practically ran UCLA and SC off the court singlehandedly. Like @Monte says, who finishes may be more important than who starts. The only reason Kayleigh might start games is with an eye to the 4th quarter.

Of course, we may dominate the tournament again in this coming season and take huge leads into the 4th quarter. But I doubt very much Geno is counting on this. I’d bet he’s thinking of building a team that can win the 4th quarter of close games. And this may mean giving Kayleigh a larger role at the start of games.

Sometime in February, I can picture a 1st quarter lineup like this:

• Kayleigh Azzi Ash Sarah and Serah.

And a 4th quarter lineup like this:

• KK Azzi Blanca Morgan and Sarah.

Why? Because in the 1st quarter Geno will have one speedy slasher, 3 rainmakers and two awesome posts. And by the 4th quarter the opposing bigs will be exhausted if they haven’t fouled out. They will not be able to run with our 4th quarter unit.

 

[Geew1992]

I completely agree with the first two. But KK does slow down. The amount of energy she puts out is enormous and I’m not sure she can sustain that for more than 20-25 minutes a game. Last season she could be her best self for 20+ minutes and that really made a difference, especially in the second half of tough games. In her freshman year she played 30+ minutes in many games and the toll it took on her was noticeable. Watch the tournament games when Geno shortened the rotation and it’s easy to see how tired they all were in the 4th quarter. Well, everyone but Ash who can run like a mad thing for 30-35 minutes without slowing down. We almost lost to Duke and USC from fatigue that season.

This is why signing Kaitlyn was so important last season. Geno needed a platoon at pg to allow KK to put out maximum energy at the end of games. Just watch the 4th quarters of the final four games to see the truth of this. KK came in and practically ran UCLA and SC off the court singlehandedly. Like @Monte says, who finishes may be more important than who starts. The only reason Kayleigh might start games is with an eye to the 4th quarter.

Of course, we may dominate the tournament again in this coming season and take huge leads into the 4th quarter. But I doubt very much Geno is counting on this. I’d bet he’s thinking of building a team that win the 4th quarter of close games. And this may mean giving Kayleigh a larger role at the start of games.

Sometime in February, I can picture a 1st quarter lineup like this:

• Kayleigh Azzi Ash Sarah and Serah.

And a 4th quarter lineup like this:

• KK Azzi Blanca Morgan and Sarah.

Why? Because in the 1st quarter Geno will have one speedy slasher, 3 rainmakers and two awesome posts. And by the 4th quarter the opposing bigs will be exhausted if they haven’t fouled out. They will not be able to run with our 4th quarter unit.

Geno did not have a choice. Uconn had 7 healthy players. there was no shortening the bench. It was literally short.

 

[Bone Dog]

Geno did not have a choice. Uconn had 7 healthy players. there was no shortening the bench. It was literally short.

He did and he didn’t have a choice. But he did shorten the rotation. Qadence and Inês essentially dropped out of any meaningful minutes after February. The rotation went from 8 to 6. One exception: Qadence got 14 minutes against USC because Geno needed to give the guards a rest and he couldn’t afford to play Ice next to Aaliyah. And those 14 minutes cost the team because both stretches coincided with USC surges.

When I watch replays of the tournament from that season, the salient feature is fatigue. Even in the opening rounds against Jackson St and Syracuse, the team looked tired. The 4th quarter of the Duke game is almost painful to watch. And I’d say the loss to Iowa was also largely due to fatigue.

 

[JoePgh]

I agree that Geno may prioritize rebounding for Ashlynn mo re than Azzi, but the difference is pretty big. I went to HerHoops.com to look up what I consider the best rebounding stat, namely what percentage of available rebounds did that player get. It adjusts for pace, and shooting percentages for both teams. Then I looked at what percentile that would put the player in compared to other division 1 players.

Azzi 4.4 percent of available rebounds, which put her in the 10th percentile. Here are the same stats for other players

Ashlynn 7.1%, 36th percentile

Paige 8.5%, 54th

KK 6.5%, 33rd

Kaitlin 4.4,%, 10th

Kayleigh 4.3%, 9th

Caroline 8.6%, 54th (her freshmen year)

Morgan 10.9%, 72nd

Ice 10.6%, 70th

Sarah 18.2%, 98th

Jana 18.8%, 98th

Serah 18.3%, 98th

I just hope if we go small ball we don't give up too much on the boards. If Ashlynn starts at the 3, There is a big drop off from Paige on the boards and a huge one if her place is taken by Azzi or Kayleigh. Possible factors in the other direction, however, is KK if she starts is a pretty good rebounder for a 1, and considerably better than Kaitlin was, and upfront to the extent Serah and Jana consume some of the minutes Ice might have gotten, that will help the rebound margin too.

Those are interesting stats, but they would be more meaningful if the positions were ranked separately. I would be interested to see where UConn's guards rank against other teams' guards, and where the forwards rank against other teams' forwards. I suspect that Paige is high-ranked relative to the other guards listed because she was often playing the 4 in a small lineup with Sarah as the only true "big" (which is not to say that her rebounding skills were not formidable, if you don't mind the double negative).

In the list above, the players who stand out as outperforming expectations for their size and role are Ashlynn and Morgan. That says a lot about their toughness, skill, and positioning, but above all about their level of hustle.

 

[WiseWillie]

For Azzi to have her AA year, she needs to play mostly the 2 and like Paige, pick up the ball across half court. Since the Huskies have a wealth of options to go to as well, like Sarah, Serah and perhaps whoever is playing the 3, I expect the PG job will be a real challenge this upcoming year. KK has overall more team experience, but is known mostly for defense and has not as yet played a true PG in a uber competitive contest. Kaitlyn did more of that last year and was reasonably successful, but then again she had Paige. Kayleigh is basically an unknown entity at this time with limited experience in Geno's system and should be taken as a work-in-progress. Kelis is just too new, so my surprise candidate for some time at PG is Ash. She has the experience, can shoot, knows the system, is smart, durable and is usually under control. If she solves that confidence problem, watch out!

Wow. I love Ash. She is a real scrapper. Just watch her in the tournament. But I don't see her at the 1 even though she could handle it. I prefer her to be the primary back up off the bench to relieve Azzi or whoever is at the 2 and less likely but possibly the 3.

 

[meyers7]

I want to see who FINISHES, not who STARTS! Does anyone remember Frank Ramsey with the long ago Boston Celtics?

Well hopefully that's mostly Malou-Mamel, Fisher, Ziebell, Patterson, Brady? Probably?

 

[CTtoSanDiego]

No one who matters in Storrs will be influenced by anything we say here.

Wait, is this true??? They don't listen to us? Then what the heck am I doing here?

 

[SVCBeercats]

I agree with your first sentence, but not your second, if we’re talking about the usual 1-5 positions, which are of limited use in Geno’s system. Azzi is the shooting guard, no two ways about it. Shade will either start as a wing/small forward or will come off the bench, likely to spell Azzi or Caroline or later in the season Blanca.

Starters:

• Azzi – Will start – period.​
• KK - Knows the system, has experience from Big East games to the national championship. She is a defensive whiz. She is high octane for the team's up-tempo offense and defense. Need to improve three-point shooting at least 35%.​
• Ash - Geno needs two three-point makers on the floor like last season - Ash 41.1%, Paige 41.9%, and Azzi 43.6%. Ash is very good defensively. She and KK had the roughly the same number of steals in the same amount of playing time. They pair well.​
• Sarah – The best player on the team will start.​
• Serah – She possesses not only a high BB IQ, but a high IQ period. She will acclimate and assimulate quickly and seamlessly. She and Sarah will make an awesome post duo.​

With Ash and Azzi as three-point threats the floor opens up for KK drives to score or dump off to a Sa(e)rah . With Sarah going to the corner for the three threat, Serah will be wide open in the post for easy buckets. Morgan and/or Allie will be the scoring sparks off the bench from the three-point line at a minimum.

Second Team:

• Heckel – Point guard
• Morgan – Three-point threat
• Allie - Three-point threat
• Blanca – Wing/Forward Her development will be fun to watch.
• Jana – Center I can see Jana playing serious minutes against centers like Okla's Beers, ISU's Crooks, and UCLA's Betts.

Third Team:

• Kelis - Point guard
• Caroline – Shooting guard
• Ayanna – Wing
• Ice – Forward
• Gandy – Center

I know Caroline! I need to see how she handles the first "wack" to the head and how it affects her both physically and psychologically.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Wolves do not concern themselves with the opinions of sheep.

Too busy worrying about the Great Pyrenees?

 

[boontonbomber]

I completely agree with the first two. But KK does slow down. The amount of energy she puts out is enormous and I’m not sure she can sustain that for more than 20-25 minutes a game. Last season she could be her best self for 20+ minutes and that really made a difference, especially in the second half of tough games. In her freshman year she played 30+ minutes in many games and the toll it took on her was noticeable. Watch the tournament games when Geno shortened the rotation and it’s easy to see how tired they all were in the 4th quarter. Well, everyone but Ash who can run like a mad thing for 30-35 minutes without slowing down. We almost lost to Duke and USC from fatigue that season.

This is why signing Kaitlyn was so important last season. Geno needed a platoon at pg to allow KK to put out maximum energy at the end of games. Just watch the 4th quarters of the final four games to see the truth of this. KK came in and practically ran UCLA and SC off the court singlehandedly. Like @Monte says, who finishes may be more important than who starts. The only reason Kayleigh might start games is with an eye to the 4th quarter.

Of course, we may dominate the tournament again in this coming season and take huge leads into the 4th quarter. But I doubt very much Geno is counting on this. I’d bet he’s thinking of building a team that can win the 4th quarter of close games. And this may mean giving Kayleigh a larger role at the start of games.

Sometime in February, I can picture a 1st quarter lineup like this:

• Kayleigh Azzi Ash Sarah and Serah.

And a 4th quarter lineup like this:

• KK Azzi Blanca Morgan and Sarah.

Why? Because in the 1st quarter Geno will have one speedy slasher, 3 rainmakers and two awesome posts. And by the 4th quarter the opposing bigs will be exhausted if they haven’t fouled out. They will not be able to run with our4th quarter unit.

Well, I know most people here think Geno walks on water. But I've got to say that, over the the seasons, I have not been especially impressed with his handling of player minutes. He almost appears fearful of pulling starters, afraid the bench players will foul things up. He's famous for leaving a starter in with 2 fouls in the 1st half, more than once having them pick up that third foul. Anyway, rest players early, give the bench a sense that he trusts them to not screw things up, and no reason then for someone like KK to be struggling in the 4th.

 

[Veteran]

I agree with your first sentence, but not your second, if we’re talking about the usual 1-5 positions, which are of limited use in Geno’s system. Azzi is the shooting guard, no two ways about it. Shade will either start as a wing/small forward or will come off the bench, likely to spell Azzi or Caroline or later in the season Blanca.

Agree with the majority view that KK starts unless she gets hurt or goes into a funk.

Okay, you'd think in my 70th year that I would have learned to be clear in my thoughts, Bigboote. Maybe I finally will be if I make it to 80. But until then, I completely agree with your assessment that Azzi will be a starter. So, here's my 1-5 starter thoughts:

1 - K.K.
2 - Ashlyn
3 - Azzi
4. Sara
5. Jana

And here's why; Geno loves his guards. He basically started 3 guards this past season: Kaitlyn, Azzi and Paige. In my opinion, Paige was essentially occupying the 3 spot, even though she's a guard. I expect Azzi to slide over to that "spot" this season. Ashlyn Shade was somewhat overshadowed by Paige being on the floor this season. She can be streaky, but we've seen enough spurts to know that she can also be a devastating offensive presence. With Paige gone, I expect she will have many more opportunities and will be a force as a junior. I could see penciling Shade in for a consistent 15 points a game. And she's absolute gold on the defensive end, even if she does foul occasionally. I love how she wrestles rebounds away from much taller players. My sympathy goes out to Chloe Kitts, who probably has nightmares about her.

In my totally sentimental assessment, I'd love to see Caroline Ducharme break into the starting lineup at the 3 but unfortunately, I think all the injuries have taken their toll. I would love to be proven wrong about that. And I hope that Ayanna Patterson has something to say about the starting lineup if she's now completely healthy.

Anyway, thanks for your reply to my comment. I'm looking forward to learning if any of my thoughts are rational when the season starts. And I've got my fingers crossed about injuries, as always.

 

[oldude]

Well, I know most people here think Geno walks on water. But I've got to say that, over the the seasons, I have not been especially impressed with his handling of player minutes. He almost appears fearful of pulling starters, afraid the bench players will foul things up. He's famous for leaving a starter in with 2 fouls in the 1st half, more than once having them pick up that third foul. Anyway, rest players early, give the bench a sense that he trusts them to not screw things up, and no reason then for someone like KK to be struggling in the 4th.

Geno would argue that whenever he had a deep roster he played a lot of players. This past year 10 of 13 Huskies played double-digit minutes. After Morgan was injured, that number dropped to 9 players, and UConn used those 9 players for prime time minutes through all 6 games in the Big Dance

 

[oldhusky]

Those are interesting stats, but they would be more meaningful if the positions were ranked separately. I would be interested to see where UConn's guards rank against other teams' guards, and where the forwards rank against other teams' forwards. I suspect that Paige is high-ranked relative to the other guards listed because she was often playing the 4 in a small lineup with Sarah as the only true "big" (which is not to say that her rebounding skills were not formidable, if you don't mind the double negative).

In the list above, the players who stand out as outperforming expectations for their size and role are Ashlynn and Morgan. That says a lot about their toughness, skill, and positioning, but above all about their level of hustle.

I would add KK as outperforming the rebounding expectations at least for a PG. It is very subjective and a ball park estimate but I tend to relate the percentile ranking to position quite a bit at least for the stats where bigs or smalls have a definite advantage. The bigs should be much higher on rebounding and blocked shots, whereas the smalls should have an edge in assists and steals..

For rebounding I wouldn't be surprised if you took all pure PG's and averaged their percentile rankings it might be as low as 10th, or close to Kaitlin or Kayleigh, and also Azzi although she is a 2. For 2's my guess is the average percentile rank might be closer to 30th, for 3's (midsize) around the 50th, about 70th for 4's, and 90th for true 5's, and roughly a similar breakdown for blocked shots.

Ideally though, your point is well taken, a percentile ranking by position would be more usefull, but perhaps difficult to isolate since so many players play multiple positions.

 

[meyers7]

Too busy worrying about the Great Pyrenees?

Wolves worry about themselves.

Another saying.....The lion and tiger may be more powerful, but the wolf does not perform in the circus.

 

[HopJim]

Viewing the season as a whole, not just the first week. One will start, one will come off the bench, and occasionally both of them will be on the floor together. And we're just prognosticating here. No one who matters in Storrs will be influenced by anything we say here.

My guess is by February Kayleigh will be the starting PG, but they'll divide the minutes pretty evenly. And it is possible, in my view, that they'll both start. I wouldn't put it past Geno to start KK Kayleigh Azzi Sarah and Serah.

Kayleigh may start but in 2027. A guard lineup of KK, Kayleigh and Blanca would be a frightening defensive line up for other teams to face.

 

[JRRRJ]

You may be right about Kayleigh as a rebounder -- I haven't watched enough of her games to really know. But I wouldn't be so quick to judge Azzi's rebounding. Her numbers are about half of Paige's (2 to 4), but are not so different from Ash's (2 to 2.7), though playing time might contribute here. But what I mainly see is that Geno doesn't appear to want Azzi to focus on rebounding. But Ash is totally focused on scrapping for rebounds, even after opposing players appear to have secured the ball. This is a key to her game. But Azzi may have other responsibilities for Geno.

You can remove some of the 'playing time' consideration by using the Per-40 minutes spreadsheet. I tells us that Ash averaged 4.87 rebounds per 40 minutes, KK 4.44/40, and Azzi 3.02/40. The departed Paige was 5.86/40 last year.

Per Her Hoop Stats, Kayleigh averaged 3.3 RB per 40 minutes.

There's still room for dispute, of course. We don't know against what caliber of opponent, or in which part of each game these stats were accumulated. First quarter vs. garbage time would be significant.

 

[Skeets]

I completely agree with the first two. But KK does slow down. The amount of energy she puts out is enormous and I’m not sure she can sustain that for more than 20-25 minutes a game. Last season she could be her best self for 20+ minutes and that really made a difference, especially in the second half of tough games. In her freshman year she played 30+ minutes in many games and the toll it took on her was noticeable. Watch the tournament games when Geno shortened the rotation and it’s easy to see how tired they all were in the 4th quarter. Well, everyone but Ash who can run like a mad thing for 30-35 minutes without slowing down. We almost lost to Duke and USC from fatigue that season.

This is why signing Kaitlyn was so important last season. Geno needed a platoon at pg to allow KK to put out maximum energy at the end of games. Just watch the 4th quarters of the final four games to see the truth of this. KK came in and practically ran UCLA and SC off the court singlehandedly. Like @Monte says, who finishes may be more important than who starts. The only reason Kayleigh might start games is with an eye to the 4th quarter.

Of course, we may dominate the tournament again in this coming season and take huge leads into the 4th quarter. But I doubt very much Geno is counting on this. I’d bet he’s thinking of building a team that can win the 4th quarter of close games. And this may mean giving Kayleigh a larger role at the start of games.

Sometime in February, I can picture a 1st quarter lineup like this:

• Kayleigh Azzi Ash Sarah and Serah.

And a 4th quarter lineup like this:

• KK Azzi Blanca Morgan and Sarah.

Why? Because in the 1st quarter Geno will have one speedy slasher, 3 rainmakers and two awesome posts. And by the 4th quarter the opposing bigs will be exhausted if they haven’t fouled out. They will not be able to run with our 4th quarter unit.

KK will start and she won't have to play more the 20-25 minutes per game. So, not a problem.

 

[huskyd]

There are 2 things going on here, and one of those is a sense of loyalty to a popular and productive player. I'm speaking of KK. It's not for me to say how much support for KK is sentiment and how much is performance. Some of you cannot bear the idea that your favored girl may not start. But the best reason to start a game with Kayleigh is the power of bringing KK off the bench. That's what Geno did last year with both KK and Shade. They were an explosive change of pace when the regulars sagged (for whatever reason). The duo was electric, instant energizer bunnies. We'll need that again.
The second point is what Kayleigh represents, and why the team wanted her so much. She is a game manager, as Chen was last year. She will execute the game plan, she will be a steady hand, she will limit turnovers and settle her charges. The team does not need for her to score. In short, KK is a game changer, while K9 is a game manager. KK flies, K9 settles.
My argument for starting Hekel is that it's BETTER for KK to come off the bench than to start. What's best for the team will decide.