On the starters for next year...

[rvwsleep]

I appreciate your straw man on minutes but someone is bound to chop your head off for any or all of the following: Chong is getting less minutes than last year: Gabby getting more minutes. KLS #1 player getting 12 Mins a game: What about the walkons: Courney deserve that many minutes….Yadah yadah ….

Do I look worried ?
Anyway, there are only 200 minutes. Distribute them in any manner you prefer.

 

[baggerbob]

You all need to get off Natalie's back. You probably said the same things about Stef and look at how those teams turned out. She will start and free up Breanna to take off down the court as Moriah leads the break. She will be a glass cleaner of the best kind. The points will be in the basket as fast as Moriah can get to the other end. Breanna did a lot of the dirty work when it came to rebounding. This will free her up to run the lanes as well as any big in women's college basketball.

Rebounding outside of Stewie, and Kiah, no-one else was very good at it, that's why Stewie spent so much time inside. Having Natalie in the lineup will allow Stewie to move around, and create more problems for other teams defense.

 

[Sonny44]

IMO there is no way UCONN should play like that. As CD has said for years. We make teams react to us, not us to them. If in the beginning first 4 minutes or so you see it isn't working then make the switch. No need with our talent to go back and forth vs inferior opponents.

That's rhetoric. He consistently brought in Kiah when we needed defense inside. Isn't that a reaction? And against Dayton he needed perimeter help and brought in Saniya, another reaction to what was needed. All good coaches play to opponents' weaknesses.

 

[CocoHusky]

That's rhetoric. He consistently brought in Kiah when we needed defense inside. Isn't that a reaction? And against Dayton he needed perimeter help and brought in Saniya, another reaction to what was needed. All good coaches play to opponents' weaknesses.

I don't want to speak for him but the "reaction" hoophuskee was talking about was UCONN changing the starting lineup game to game depending on the opponent. I believe you are talking about in game adjustments which every coach is required to make.

 

[hoophuskee]

That's rhetoric. He consistently brought in Kiah when we needed defense inside. Isn't that a reaction? And against Dayton he needed perimeter help and brought in Saniya, another reaction to what was needed. All good coaches play to opponents' weaknesses.

yes read coco's post. That's why I said after 4 minutes Geno can make moves. In other words when I first said Geno can make moves after the 1st four minutes I was implying "send in Stokes etc" i.e. "make in-game adjustments."

 

[hoophuskee]

Rebounding outside of Stewie, and Kiah, no-one else was very good at it, that's why Stewie spent so much time inside. Having Natalie in the lineup will allow Stewie to move around, and create more problems for other teams defense.

I'm not sure that does create "more problems." When she is on the inside she's a force too. And overall in no way this year did I think her offense was affected by not having a true center. That's what makes her so great. She was free to move all over.

 

[rugbymate]

That didn't line up well and I ran out of edit time so
Bill in Georgia brings up an interesting question. How many minutes will each player log next year.
2015 Mins. played ---2016 guess
Stewart 28.3 --------------27 mins
Tuck 25.6 -----------------25
Nurse 25.1 ----------------24
Jefferson 28.8 ------------27
Butler ---------------------24
Williams 15.6------------- 17
Collier ---------------------12
KLS------------------------ 12
Boykin ---------------------10
Ekmark 9.7---------------- 8
Chong 19.1 ----------------14
--------------------------200 mins

Very good! However, as a slight quibble, we may see Nurse up her minutes next year. She is the heir apparent to Mo for the following year and I suspect Geno will want her to spend some time at the PG position in addition to the SG position( recognizing that her starting isn't 100% certain). She had a great year and from the limited research I did, I couldn't find a UCONN freshman guard that had a higher shooting percentage.

 

[Dougie]

I'm sure some people are already sick of hearing about this and it's just the beginning of the start of next season but...

I think 4 of the 5 spots for starters are already taken - Jefferson, Nurse, Tuck and Stewie. I actually believe the 5th starter could come from any 1 of 4 players - Butler, Williams, Collier, or Samuelson. I know there are pros and cons to each one and I bet there will be interesting and spirited debates over the summer. Honestly I have little idea who I'd "prefer", but the only opinions that matter come from Geno and the staff...

1. Put Butler out there and you have a legit and skilled back to the basket center and she can bang around in the post with the other teams' center leaving Stewie more free to roam. You also have a kid who has already proven herself on a legit D1 team logging lots of minutes and putting up lots of good numbers. AND she's had 1 whole year to grow and learn without having to use up a year of eligibility.
   
2. Put Williams out there and you have an undersized kid who is crazy-athletic and tough as nails and plays like she's on a pogo stick. She might be the most athletic kid UCONN has ever had. I agree she needs to work on her guard skills, but she has 3+ years now to do that.
   
3. Put Samuelson out there and (yeah she's a freshman as is Collier) you have a kid who shoots like KML but is 3" taller. She's a kid who led Team USA U17 while nursing strep throat and a sore ankle.
   
4. Put Collier out there and you have a do everything 3/4 who has a game that is almost as good as Maya Moore's. She's a kid who was #2 in scoring, #1 in rebounding, #4 in assists, etc etc. on Team USA AND she played up a year on the U18 team with kids like Wilson and Turner (and she had stats at least as good as theirs).

You can't go wrong with any of them. I don't think Chong becomes a starter next year mainly because UCONN would them really have no "really skilled" guard off the bench. I think Saniya improved a lot based on what she showed the staff early in in terms of defense, and I look for another big jump in ability for next year...

I'd like to add a request - and this is just my personal opinion/plea to other fans - can we refrain from "blanket" criticisms of players? I think it's totally fair to comment on the need for Gabby to have a better FT%, or for Courtney to work on fitness, etc. But what makes me cringe are comments like "Player X can't hang with the big dogs", or "Player Y isn't good enough to contribute".

I'm not trying to tell people how to post, just trying to remind them that we are in the midst of the Glory Days for UCONN WCBB and a little "charity" in attitude will make everyone happier (IMHO)...

The case for Butler.

Picture this. An opposing player misses a short jumper . Natalie boxes out beautifully and as she's going for the rebound Moriah and Kia are already two-thirds the way to the mid court line on each side of the court while Stewie and Morgan are sprinting towards the other end.

This seems like the blueprint for a great running game.

In a half court set Geno can play her in an infinite number of ways. Depending on the matchups she can call for the ball down low or set a screen for Morgan. Or she can set up away from the basket where a defender will have to come out on her. She can set screens there or become the passer. Maybe Stewie will want to set up low with her back to the basket.

While I love Gabby's athleticism and uncanny ability to score from in close, I think Butler brings too many assets not to start. And this doesn't even address what she brings to the defensive end.

 

[Tenspro2002]

That didn't line up well and I ran out of edit time so
Bill in Georgia brings up an interesting question. How many minutes will each player log next year.
2015 Mins. played ---2016 guess
Stewart 28.3 --------------27 mins
Tuck 25.6 -----------------25
Nurse 25.1 ----------------24
Jefferson 28.8 ------------27
Butler ---------------------24
Williams 15.6------------- 17
Collier ---------------------12
KLS------------------------ 12
Boykin ---------------------10
Ekmark 9.7---------------- 8
Chong 19.1 ----------------14
--------------------------200 mins

It might be easier if you simply consider the minutes the seniors got.

KML 28.7
Kiah 18.3

That's 47 minutes to go to Butler, KLS, Collier, and Boykin, plus any net addition in playing time for the returning players. I think your estimate is close, but I don't see Butler getting starter's minutes. The 5th spot will rotate between going big with Butler at the 5, and going small with KLS or Williams at the 3.

2015 Mins. played ---2016 guess
Stewart 28.3 --------------27 mins
Tuck 25.6 -----------------25
Nurse 25.1 ----------------24
Jefferson 28.8 ------------27
Butler ---------------------18
Williams 15.6------------- 18
KLS------------------------ 17
Collier ---------------------12
Boykin ---------------------10
Ekmark 9.7---------------- 8
Chong 19.1 ----------------14
--------------------------200 mins

In big games, by the end of the year, you can forget about PT for the bottom 4. I would expect something closer to
2015 Mins. played ---2016 guess
Stewart 28.3 --------------36 mins
Tuck 25.6 -----------------36
Nurse 25.1 ----------------34
Jefferson 28.8 ------------38
Butler ---------------------18
Williams 15.6------------- 16
KLS------------------------ 20
--------------------------200 mins

If one of those bottom 3 really steps up, they could get closer to 25-28 mpg.

 

[pvdoggy]

It might be easier if you simply consider the minutes the seniors got.

2015 Mins. played ---2016 guess
Williams 15.6------------- 18
Collier ---------------------12
Boykin ---------------------10
Ekmark 9.7---------------- 8
Chong 19.1 ----------------14
--------------------------200 mins

If one of those bottom 3 really steps up, they could get closer to 25-28 mpg.

Based on everything I have heard and seen of Collier play, it is hard for me to believe that she will get less playing min than Williams did this year, and barely more than what Ekmark got. Also what happens to the 4 and 3 min of playing time for Lawlor and Pulido respectively ? Are they never going to see the floor next year ? Unless something changes dramatically
in her game, Ekmark will be buried on the bench next year.

 

[hoophuskee]

The case for Butler.


In a half court set Geno can play her in an infinite number of ways. Depending on the matchups she can call for the ball down low or set a screen for Morgan. Or she can set up away from the basket where a defender will have to come out on her. She can set screens there or become the passer. Maybe Stewie will want to set up low with her back to the basket.

While I love Gabby's athleticism and uncanny ability to score from in close, I think Butler brings too many assets not to start. And this doesn't even address what she brings to the defensive end.

While I agree Butler will start, why does the defender have to come out on her? She shot for the season 49% from the floor. She is probably shooting much higher inside the second lane which means she isn't real great from the perimeter. So if I'm the other team why would I send a defender at her from the outside so it would allow her easier way to pass the ball inside to Stewie or Tuck?

 

[EricLA]

How versatile a scorer is Gabby Williams? How many points has she scored from more than 8-10 feet away? I can't even imagine her shooting a three point shot based on what she's shown this year. Don't get me wrong, I love her game and her athleticism is crazy good but I need a lot of convincing that she could play the two or three!

Totally agree. I think it's likely she's still a forward next year as she works on expanding her game. As we saw, her FT accuracy was awful, even tho the shot and arc looked nice. To me that's an indication of good mechanics, but just poor skills at shooting.

Her drives to the basket indicate decent ball handling skills. But while Geno may have been somewhat sarcastic, when asked about her being PG in high school, he said "How? She can't dribble, can't pass, and can't shoot." For the most part I think he is correct. Which is why she needs to "re-develop" those skills (assuming she had them at some point in HS).

 

[chrissaran]

Gabby was not a point guard in high school. She was a 2.

 

[Bgillon]

I think it is ridiculous to suggest that Kia might not start next year. In fact I think it is an insult to her and counter productive to post that comment. It's one thing to speculate on how some people might contribute but to start a discussion about a valuable starter who far exceeded Geno's expectations in her first year at UCONN is a poor way to start the drive for the 11th.