POLL: NOW that the roster is complete, choose your starters... | Page 3 | The Boneyard

POLL: NOW that the roster is complete, choose your starters...

Who will start on day 1? Vote for 5...

  • Azzi Fudd

  • Serah Williams

  • Caroline Ducharme

  • Ice Brady

  • KK Arnold

  • Ash Shade

  • Ayanna Patterson

  • Jana El Alfy

  • Allie Ziebell

  • Morgan Cheli

  • Sarah Strong

  • Kayleigh Heckel

  • Kelis Fisher

  • Gandy Malou-Mamel

  • Blanca Quinones


Results are only viewable after voting.
So I hope the 2 people who didn't choose Strong are just trying to be funny....
Well, if that is their motivation, they are destined to fail. The poll is anonymous unless someone tells us how they voted. So even if someone found this "funny" (hard to believe), they couldn't even connect the laugh to a particular voter. My guess is that a couple of people may have confused Sarah and Serah? I still would love to hear the rationale of these two voters.
 
I don’t know if it will be a surprise but Blanca will be next season’s Sarah Strong…. She will start on Day one!!!
Or perhaps she will be next season’s M. Moore and not start on Day one.

I would bet you a pizza Quinones will not start in the first game, except that injuries have been derailing my bets and I’m starting to get superstitious.
 
I think we can all agree on Azzi, Sarah, Serah, and KK. The other position is up for grabs, but the most popular choices are Ashlyn and Blanca. I voted for Blanca, but I believe that Ash will get the starting nod. We all have seen from Nika and Jana that players fresh from playing overseas have a hard time with the lack of physical play, in other words, foul trouble. I think Geno will have Blanca come off the bench until she proves she can control her physical play. Her talent will become obvious, and her value I'm sure will shine through, but I think as long as Ash can produce, she will be the starter for the season. She deserves it, as much as KK does. Blanca will get her minutes for sure, but Ash will be the fifth starter.
 
I'm inclined to agree with you, but I could see a lineup of Jana at the 5 Serah at the 4 and Sarah at the 3 with Azzi at shooting guard and KK at point. I didn't vote for it, but I can see it as a possibility.

(My starting five was KK, Ash, Azzi, Sarah,and Serah.)
I think four are a given Azzi KK Sarah and Williams, but the fifth starter to me is the big question. With Jana that would free up strong to wander and freelance a little bit at the 3. Without knowing the health of Caroline and Morgan Ice would be the first sub for the Biggs and Ash would be the first sub for the guards and possibly Sarah at the three go small and keep a shooter in the game.Kayliegh would be KK sub. I don’t believe that the big lineup is all that slow strong is deceptively quick and Williams is not slow. If Ash starts. We don’t know who the scorer is coming off the bench many questions about health and experience. if Caroline is completely healthy and playing as well as she can pull Jana move Williams to the five strong to the four Caroline to the three and Ashlyn first off the bench. It’s amazing how stacked this team is. In car terminology. It’s a 16 cylinder Bugatti. It will certainly be interesting to see how Geno splits playing time. Can’t wait.
 
I don’t believe that the big lineup is all that slow strong is deceptively quick and Williams is not slow.
I think this is a good question: how fast would a big lineup really be? I like to think of this in concrete terms (and I suspect Geno does too) — for a big, being fast means moving one’s feet on defense, moving without the ball on offense, and doing rim runs in transition. Sarah is really fast by all these measures, Serah appears to be fast by the first two and maybe the third. The same is true of Ice, who doesn’t really get out in transition much, but moves her feet well elsewhere. Jana was pretty fast by the first measure and maybe the second, but I don’t recall seeing her do a single rim run last season.

The next natural question is, why should Geno care if the bigs can get out in transition? Two reasons I can think of:
  • It means when he runs high hedges in the halfcourt defense there’s a constant threat of a big initiating the break.
  • It discourages opposing bigs from simply camping out near the baseline on offense.
Geno hasn’t always had bigs who were good at rim runs. Kara and Stef were not fast in transition. But Rebecca and Tina and Jess and Stewie were, to name just a few. And in recent years, it’s clear he really wanted to use Liv and Aaliyah and Dorka this way, running in transition and doing rim runs. Very few teams UConn faced were prepared to deal with Aaliyah especially when she got out in transition, which happened frequently. She generated a lot of these herself with steals out past the top of the key. Small guards were rarely able to cope with her barreling down on them one-on-one. This is obviously also true of Sarah now. But Liv and Dorka also ran the court well and made themselves available for outlet passes from Paige or Nika or Evina.

Bigs doing rim runs may not be the most important feature of Geno’s game plans. But not having it as an ever present threat removes a dimension of his defense. And it’s a clear deficiency to Jana’s current game, and to lesser extent for Ice too. When they’re both on the floor, opposing bigs are less challenged to keep up with them. I suspect they will both work hard on this for next season.
 
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I think four are a given Azzi KK Sarah and Williams, but the fifth starter to me is the big question. With Jana that would free up strong to wander and freelance a little bit at the 3. Without knowing the health of Caroline and Morgan Ice would be the first sub for the Biggs and Ash would be the first sub for the guards and possibly Sarah at the three go small and keep a shooter in the game.Kayliegh would be KK sub. I don’t believe that the big lineup is all that slow strong is deceptively quick and Williams is not slow. If Ash starts. We don’t know who the scorer is coming off the bench many questions about health and experience. if Caroline is completely healthy and playing as well as she can pull Jana move Williams to the five strong to the four Caroline to the three and Ashlyn first off the bench. It’s amazing how stacked this team is. In car terminology. It’s a 16 cylinder Bugatti. It will certainly be interesting to see how Geno splits playing time. Can’t wait.
It wouldn't be my guess at a starting lineup, but, as I noted in my post, I can see how it would be functional. Sarah is a bit of a unicorn in that she can easily play four different positions on the floor and honestly in a pinch, she could probably play any position. Similarly, Serah is a multi dimensional player, who is not an offensive liability for us. That gives us the luxury of being able to play both of them plus Jana who at this stage of her career is more of a traditional back to the basket big without sacrificing much offensive efficiency.

I agree with you. It's easy to pick the first four starters. I would put Ashlynn in the fifth slot, as she brings defensive intensity while still being a strong offensive threat, but you can make arguments for others.

We are definitely loaded, still doomed mind you, but loaded.
 
Wondering what the second 5 might be
Me too, but this poll suggests we pretty much know three of them. One big in Jana, one wing in Blanca, and one guard in Kaleigh. Of course a significant number would substitute Blanca for Ashlynn as the 5th starter at the 3, but beyond the first 8 is pretty much a crap shoot.

First if nobody else really stands out Geno could ride with that 8 player rotation. The rest of the rotation conceivably might not include any additional players, but I expect at least a couple more to do well enough to convince Geno to go 10 deep. The versatility of some of the presumed top 8, plus the rest of the roster probably means the 9th and 10th rotation players, even if we use that many, will likely be the next best players with little emphasis on position.

If i was guessing I would say one from Ice or Ayanna, plus Morgan due to her versatility.
 
I chose Jana to start over Ash, either one would work. Having a big Center, a power forward, a shooting forward, a shooting guard and a PG is the standard type lineup. As the season progresses, many things will change.
 
I voted for KK but now that I have had a look at her stats ... maybe not. She shot 21% for 3pters. However, Heckel is not much better at 28%. Big drop from Kaitlin's 35% and Paige's 42%. Shade (41%) or Azzi (43%) at the point with Cheli (37%) or Ziebell (34%) providing 3pt buckets and more rebounding?! KK as the Energizer Bunny off the bench with defense and penetration offense? KK PRACTICE 3PTERS ALL SUMMER LONG! GET YOUR EYES CHECKED ... SERIOUSLY!
I did notice that the 2 point guards on the team didn't add up to 100%.

I find it hard to believe that Geno goes from starting 2 and 3 PGs over the past two years to starting 0 point guards. And keep in mind, that Nika Muhl was a starting PG for the vast majority of her career and shooting was not an overall strong point. I am not sure how much one summer will do, but I would expect them both to shoot better in next year than this past year (although I could see K9 potentially taking over at some point if KK fails to improve all that much and K9 does improve).
 
The three starters for sure are Azzi, KK, and Sarah. I believe that the other two for the first game are Jana and Ash.
 
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I think Geno will have Ashlynn starting because of her experience in his system but I believe Blanca will be starting in 2026!
I think Ash is going to be next season's KK--coming off the bunch to give a shot of energy and disruption. She's totally fearless.
 
I did notice that the 2 point guards on the team didn't add up to 100%.

I find it hard to believe that Geno goes from starting 2 and 3 PGs over the past two years to starting 0 point guards. And keep in mind, that Nika Muhl was a starting PG for the vast majority of her career and shooting was not an overall strong point. I am not sure how much one summer will do, but I would expect them both to shoot better in next year than this past year (although I could see K9 potentially taking over at some point if KK fails to improve all that much and K9 does improve).
Nika was the last true PG that ran the offense. KC was the PG during her time at Princeton and had great moments especially late in the season here. But it was mostly Paige once the ball got over the mid stripe. If Geno's thinking is to keep Azzi at the 2, both to have her concentrate on shooting, but also watch her minutes, then the PG position becomes super critical to the success of the team. Consequently I expect to see quite a bit of rotation with KK, K9 and Kelis both in practice and early games to see who has that particular skill set to (1) bring up the ball (handles), (2) run the offense (BBIQ), and score (3's, post ups, and drives). I might also expect that Geno will take some pressure off there by more plays for the bigs and wings now with Serah and Blanca on board.
 
The three starters for sure are Azzi, KK, and Sarah. I believe that the other two for the first game are Jana and Ash.
No Serah, eh? It would be great if that was because Jana was outplaying Serah and not out of "loyalty/continuity."
 
One thing. I still don’t think the roster is complete. I think Q is coming back. Probably on a non-scholarship slot; think Autumn Chassion.
 
This is the most complete team we have had in many years. Losing Paige hurts, but we are gaining Serah, who provides great post-play on offense and defense. Serah points per game is similar to Paige's so we dont really lose any point production. She is also a very good defender and can get out on the break.
So my starting 5 is KK as point, Azzi as shooting guard, Blanca at the 3, Sarah at the 4 and Serah at the 5. That is a really good defensive team with plenty of offense.
The bench is loaded, and we haven't seen Caroline and Ayanna in a long time, so I am not sure what they will bring next year. It would be great if Allie could step it up to provide a three-point threat off the bench besides Ash. K9 adds another good point guard off the bench. We also have Jana and Ice to come off the bench. So we have plenty of bigs. We are loaded!!!!! I feel 13 is coming next year.
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One thing. I still don’t think the roster is complete. I think Q is coming back. Probably on a non-scholarship slot; think Autumn Chassion.
Unless Maryland and Connecticut have a tuition swapping arrangement she’d have to pay out-of-state tuition. And even with in-state tuition, UConn’s is $23k vs $11k at U Maryland. If she wants to be a walk-on player, Maryland looks a lot more attractive, at least from a parent perspective.
 
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One thing. I still don’t think the roster is complete. I think Q is coming back. Probably on a non-scholarship slot; think Autumn Chassion.
I don't think she'll be too excited to pay over $40K out of state tuition to sit with the trainers since 15 is the NCAA limit on how many players can dress for games.
 
I agree it doesn’t make sense. But she still has it up on her TikTok that she is a UConn WBB 27’. The more time that goes by without an announcement; the more I am expecting her to show up in June for summer training camp.
 
I just checked the pole Azzi has more votes than strong. So there are at least 3 of us thinking Sarah Strong is not a starter.
 
My inclination is to say that it doesn’t make sense to start Jana or Ice alongside Sarah and Serah. I worry that such a lineup would be too slow. But others seem to think this wouldn’t be a problem. I wonder if I'm too focused on overall team speed. After all, in seasons when we had Liv, Dorka and Aaliyah, Geno regularly had two bigs on the floor together and it wasn't a problem.

On the other hand, I remember the games right after Paige's first knee injury when Geno was forced at times to put all three of them on the floor at once -- against Ga Tech and UCLA -- and we lost the first and the second was a close call. Perhaps this is the wrong analogy.
 
I don't think she'll be too excited to pay over $40K out of state tuition to sit with the trainers since 15 is the NCAA limit on how many players can dress for games.

I'm wondering if an alum in Dallas may donate $40K in NIL money to Q? You know, the one known for being a great teammate. :D
 
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I just checked the pole Azzi has more votes than strong. So there are at least 3 of us thinking Sarah Strong is not a starter.

309 to 307 currently (out of 309).
 
I'm wondering if an alum in Dallas may donate $40K in NIL money to Q? You know, the one known for being a great teammate. :D
That would be a lot of money for Q to sit and watch games. At least she could get the replays and highlights if she watched them on TV from another campus plus actually get a chance to play there. ;)
 
That would be a lot of money for Q to sit and watch games. At least she could get the replays and highlights if she watched them on TV from another campus plus actually get a chance to play there. ;)
I am sure many of us are perplexed as to why she has not caught on with any other schools, even Div II or III. I thought she had at least as much potential as Ines or Amari. Perhaps now that the UConn roster is full, she will find a home.
 
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