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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 5327573, member: 12088"] Wonderful post! Lots of food for thought. One recurring theme in the background seems to be smallball, which is a variant of the transition offense-defense. Geno saw how Sarah was perfectly setup for the transition game, especially since she was such a threat from the perimeter but also a great shot blocker and rebounder. Her mobility and ball skills was just the icing on that cake. In past years, the break was usually finished by a big guard like Aubrey or Christyn or even Evina. But last season, the main finisher was Sarah. She didn’t need to be quicker than opposing guards because she was too big for them to stop once Paige or Azzi or KK found her with a long pass. I expect to see more of this next season, though Blanca may do a lot of the finishing too. Danny Strong said in interviews before she came to UConn that Sarah did not want to be stuck in the low post even though she has all the skills to thrive there. I think this was meant as a warning to recruiters, and it looks like Geno really heard him. Because Geno used Sarah in exactly the way her whole family could have wished for. One interesting prospect is that the smallball lineups may not be so small this season. Geno has three little guards (~5’9”) but a lot of his ball handlers are 6’ or bigger. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a roster like this before. He can put units on the floor with nobody under 6’2” and still have them outrun all opponents. Those lineups should make ‘short’ work of Tennessee. Of course, I don’t think we’ll see many lineups that don’t include Azzi or Ash for their perimeter shooting, even with Sarah and Carol on the floor. But the potential is there and I’d really be curious to see what a lineup like Sarah Blanca Morgan Carol and Ayanna could accomplish. [/QUOTE]

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