Pick all 5 starters next season (given the recent Megan to WNBA announcement)

[SVCBeercats]

As a comparison (Breanna Stewart vs. Paige Bueckers, vs Aubrey Griffin):
Aubrey Griffins High School (Senior Season) - 28.2 PPG, 4.3 APG, 10.4 RPG, 3.5 SPG, 2.0 BPG
Paige Bueckers High School (Senior Season) - 21.4 PPG, 9.4 APG, 5.0 RPG, 5.4 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Brena Stewarts High School (Senior Season) - 23.0 PPG, 2.9 APG, 9.8 RPG, 2.7 SPG, 3.0 BPG

Breanna Stewart
High school
Naismith Prep Player of the Year (2012)
USA Today Player of the Year (2012)
Gatorade Female Basketball Player of the Year (2012)
Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year (2012)
McDonald's All-American (2012)
Gatorade New York Girls Basketball Player of the Year (2011)
USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year (2011)
ESPN Rise All-America second team (2010)
Parade All-America fourth team (2010)
College - Freshman Year
2013 Final Four MOP
2013 NCAA Tournament Bridgeport Regional MOP
2013 All-BIG EAST Tournament Team
2012-13 BIG EAST All-Freshman Team
2012-13 All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention

Aubrey Griffin
High School
2019 McDonald's All-American
2019 WBCA All-American
2019 Miss New York Basketball
2018 New York Section 1 Player of the Year and all-state selection
2018 One of 18 finalists for the 2018 USA Basketball U-17 team
College - Freshman Year
2020 American Athletic Conference All-Freshman Team
2020 American Athletic Conference All-Tournament Team

Paige Bueckers
High School
Gatorade National Player of the Year (2020)
Naismith Prep Player of the Year (2020)
McDonald's All-American (2020)
Jordan Brand Classic (2020)
USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year (2019)
FIBA Under-19 Women's World Cup MVP (2019)
College - Freshman Year
TBD

 

[JonathanXIV]

One of these is not like the others...

 

[HuskyNan]

As a comparison (Breanna Stewart vs. Paige Bueckers, vs Aubrey Griffin):

Aubrey Griffins High School (Senior Season) - 28.2 PPG, 4.3 APG, 10.4 RPG, 3.5 SPG, 2.0 BPG
Paige Bueckers High School (Senior Season) - 21.4 PPG, 9.4 APG, 5.0 RPG, 5.4 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Brena Stewarts High School (Senior Season) - 23.0 PPG, 2.9 APG, 9.8 RPG, 2.7 SPG, 3.0 BPG

We all know that High School Basketball and playing at UCONN are "Two Totally Different Experiences". Yes, Aubrey had what many would say was a "Typical Season for a Highly Recruited Freshman at UCONN" (many would say that she was, especially in the 2nd half of the season, even better than expected). Paige, while being rated as the #1 recruit, still will be a "Freshman" at UCONN next season. Remember, Breanna Stewart's Freshman Year at UCONN she averaged:

B. Stewart: Average Minutes Per Game: 22.0; PPG: 12.2; APG: 1.0; 6.5 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 1.9 BPG

In comparsion:

A. Griffin: Average Minutes Per Game: 16.7; PPG: 6.4; APG: 1.0; 5.4 RPG; 1.5 SPG; 0.6 BPG

So remember, we all need to continue to see the great potential that is in front of us with regards to Aubrey Griffin's ability to increase her scoring and be that tremendous factor that we all know she will be for UCONN. In the same manner, many need to temper their expectations, at least for the Freshman Year for Paige Bueckers.

Breanna played her freshman year on a team withStefanie Dolson, Kian Stokes, and Morgan Tuck. The 6-5 senior Heather Buck was also on the roster to take up minutes in the post. You are comparing apples and oranges.

2012-13 Women's Basketball Roster - University of Connecticut Athletics

The official 2012-13 Women's Basketball Roster for the University of Connecticut Huskies

uconnhuskies.com

i am a big Aubrey fan but she wouldn’t have averaged more than 10 minutes in Breann’s freshman year, especially with Kelly Faris to play defensive stopper.

 

[jmail1]

Geno will start as usual his five best players he determines during preseason.

Olivia, Williams and Page I believe are starters for sure.

The last two are to be determined from the rest of players.

 

[Florida Fan]

My Maya comment went to the fact that Maya was all everything coming out of high school. She was the prize of the class and everyone knew she was a game changer and would impact the game of women's college basketball...yet Geno did not start her on day one. Can't remember who it was...but, it took a starter to get injured and Geno started Maya and never looked back after that. I just don't think Paige starts on day one...she might as she might be that good...but, either way by mid January...Geno will have trouble trying to keep the kid on the bench. In my analysis I deliberately kept scoring prophesies on the conservative side because quite frankly I think next season's version of the huskies is a better offensive team in many ways.

This year's team was hampered by inconsistent shooting by Chrystn Williams and Megan Walker. Yeah, I know Megan averaged 19.6 per game...but she often took a lot of shots and she was inconsistent against top ranked teams. Makurat didn't find her stroke until the last third of the season. ONO got better and better as the season went on as did Aubrey. As a result Crystal had to be a scoring point guard and in many cases she had to carry the offense. I don't think that is going to be the case with next year's point guard, which will eventually be Paige.

At the beginning of the season with Paige coming off the bench (and this is just a scenario that may change if Geno, et al., decide that she starts from day one)...

Christyn Williams who was essentially a shooting guard in high school but who was also counted on to play the point, will be more than likely playing the 1/2 as will Evina who at 6'0" played point guard in high school. With the two of them sharing point guard duties I think the scoring will fall primarily to Williams who we all know is capable of 20 plus points at any given time. Consistency and confidence have been her problems this past season...I look to her to get past all of that and I think she leads the team in scoring with around 18 points.

ONO is going to be hard to stop in the middle next year and she will average double figures 12 to 14 points as well, Makurat has caught up to the college game...issues of speed aside, she is one smart basketball player with a great stroke. She will play the 2/3 position where she will be counted on for threes, rebounding to go along with her beautiful passing game. When Paige gets into the game it is going to be a thing of beauty watching them work the ball around and finding open shooters.

Evina can shoot the three...at Tennessee she made 85 threes while shooting 31 percent from the arc; in sophomore year she made 100 threes, shooting 39 percent from the arc. She is a hell of a player off the bounce....and a pretty good playmaker. Here is her ESPN profile description while she was in high school: "Confident, versatile play-maker brings size to the back court; superb court awareness, passes with purpose in uptempo game; mid-range game creator moves to the arc; an elite guard in the class of 2017" Bret McCormick from the All Star Girls Report had this to say about Evina when she signed for Tennessee: “There’s nothing she can’t do,” McCormick said. “She’s a great passer. She lives on the free throw line. She rebounds. She defends. She affects the game in so many ways. She doesn’t need to score a lot of points to be effective.” I believe that next year is Evina's team...she will be the vocal leader and she has been waiting a long time to get back on that court. I am sure that I under-rated her scoring contribution in my original analysis but the was by design...as I wanted to keep scoring predictions on the conservative side... Good thing I did because I still came out with UConn averaging 88 points a game. That is a fairly high average given that Geno usually has the team take their foot off the gas in games where he is up by 30 or more. Starters usually spend a lot of time on the bench in the 4th quarter...so, players point totals take a hit. So, while Evina might score more than I attributed to her...I don't think that is a bad problem to have.

Aubrey is too athletic to be held down and to be unproductive. This year Aubrey job was to find her sea legs...she did that in the second half of the season...you could literally see the teams energy come up as soon as "the disrupter" came into the game. She has a real nose for the ball...the ball comes off the rim and bingo..there is Aubrey...her muscle twitch makes her the first person off the floor and aerial which enables her to snag rebounds away from bigger players. She will only be better next year. Some folks may not know this about Aubrey but in her senior year in high school she averaged 28.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.5 steals and 2.0 blocks per game. Interestingly, her total varsity averages over three years in high school were 26.8 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 3.5 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. That is consistency over her entire high school career. Aubrey was a versatile scorer as this description indicates: "Athletic guard with versatility; aggressive offensive threat looks to attack on every possession; exploits mismatches, finishes plays in traffic; handles and scores in uptempo; a shot maker off the dribble with range to the arc" If Aubrey becomes a starter it is going to be difficult to put her back on the bench... She will consistently score and she will consistently energize the defense which in turn will spark the offense...she will earn the title of "the disrupter".

There is no point getting into each of the freshmen...as I have already done in my original post...but suffice it to know that there will be points, assists, rebounds, steals and blocked shots from this very talented freshmen class. The more aI look at the players, the more I believe that next year's team will be slightly better than this years team and by March...I believe that next years team will be a final four team with a good shot at the championship.

Ono and Aubrey need a reliable 15 footer, for when the floor opens up and no one is in their face. If that happens it will rain.

 

[hjoerring]

All the things being imagined for PB. The forced of her skills are going to propelled her into -- not just a starting role, but the starting role; that of her personality (culled from videos and other techniques of knowledge production) will provide the natural leadership missing since the great one. I am also thinking of another (lesser for sure) heroine-- Westbrook. Left one school (the evil empire) to join another school (the bad for the game one) and was punished- forced to sit a year and; would you know it, she is coming off the bench. Well, I really don't know if she has aspirations for the WNBA or fully recovery from her surgery, so not more here. Actually, I wouldn't want Tenn. to have the last laugh on this matter. Just imagine if you can! Aubrey is another that I'm holding eyes on. Now that coach dad is home(?), can he not coach the hell out of her-- what else to do (read books, lament about the missed opportunity to show the nation that you are the NEXT ONE: as narrated by a commentator) in times of Covid-19.

 

[EricLA]

Im still trying to figure out why Megan is leaving this year. She could definitely use one more year to improve her game. She can't even make a lay up yet.

Kids leave for many reasons. I celebrate how hard she worked starting her freshman season when she was often in the dog house, to her sophomore year where she did not have a tremendous sophomore leap to her junior season, where she transformed her body and diet, and I believe she should have been on some AA teams, even 1st team AA.

I wish her the very best and while I'm disappointed as a fan of the team and what I think she could have brought in helping win the NC next season, I will root for her no matter where she goes. No one begrudged Sabally saying she was leaving for $$ reasons. Does ANYONE on the BY know Megan personally and know the exact reasons?

Once and forever a Husky. Best of luck Megan!!

 

[and one]

If you picked 5 names from.a hat that would start and play at least 20 minutes, we would get at least 30 wins.

 

[veryolddog]

Let's see.......Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, Maya Moore, and Paige Buekers. How's that.

 

[Argonaut]

Let's see.......Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, Maya Moore, and Paige Buekers. How's that.

He’ll never win with that lineup if he doesn’t get a BIG.