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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 5284921, member: 12088"] 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) — [B]for a big, being fast means moving one’s feet on defense, moving without the ball on offense, and doing rim runs in transition[/B]. 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: [LIST] [*]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. [/LIST] 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. [/QUOTE]

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