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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 5086028, member: 12088"] And just a callback to Olivia Nelson Ododa's final two seasons at Uconn. I'm thinking about one of the setups Geno liked to use her in, stationed at the top of the key. He mainly used her this way when Aaliyah was also on the floor in a high-low scheme. It was a weakness in Liv's game that she wasn't more of a perimeter shooting threat. [B]But she was a brilliant passer from that spot[/B]. When Dorka arrived, she brought better perimeter shooting skills, and had better ball handling skills for drives down the lane. But she wasn't the passer Liv was. Aaliyah was a good combination of the two of them, with good midrange shooting by her last season, excellent ball handling and finishing around the rim and pretty good high post passing skills. This combination along with her rebounding is what got her into the W. Who will play this role for Geno this season? Jana, of course, since she has the perimeter shooting and the ball handling skills. But [B]Sarah is a rather better shooter and a brilliant passer.[/B] I expect we'll see a lot of her at the top of the key, and teams will have to bring a big out there to guard her or get burned with 3s. Expect to see a lot of opposing bigs tentatively move out to challenge her shot but worried about what is left open down low when they do. My expectation is that Ice won't get as much time at the top of the key, though I suspect she'd prefer this. Not until her perimeter shot improves. But this may come soon enough. [B]This is one of the main reasons I think the question of the PG in Geno's offense is such a complicated topic.[/B] Very few teams have the flexibility in their roster to post a big on the perimeter as a real perimeter shooting threat. Not SC. Not UCLA. Not USC, though Kiki has an excellent midrange shot. Not LSU. Stanford used to be able to do this, and Tara specifically recruited and coached for this, as Geno does. Kevin McGuff at tOSU recruited Dorka, probably thinking of this, and followed her with Rebekah Mikulasikova whom he used in the same way. And just to be clear, it's not just the shooting. It's also the passing and the ball handling. The full offensive package -- shooting, passing, driving -- is what Geno has now assembled with Jana Sarah Ice Caroline Morgan. These kids are too big to leave a small guard to defend at the perimeter, whose offensive skills are too well-developed. They create unique problems that have to be game-planned for specifically. This is also why I think there will be times when Paige and/or Azzi are the PG -- not KK or Kaitlyn -- but on offense they will mainly be on the wing. Because Sarah or Jana will be stationed at the top of the key. They won't be PGs, but they'll have taken over part of the PGs traditional roles for parts of games. And, of course, on defense they will revert to positions in the paint. [/QUOTE]

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