Starting Five...Next year

[MooreMayaNY]

I love Paige already but come on! We’re already heralding her as a starter and she hasn’t even finished HS. We’ve all watched tape and I believe the hype but we all know it is very difficult for frosh to come in and immediately start. Are we ever going to have the REAL convo that UConn probably doesn’t win the national championship Stewie’s first year if Griner & Baylor hadn’t been upset?? (LUCKY US) We finally had gotten the Notre Dame monkey off our backs!

Geno has made it clear the only freshman ready since Day 1 has been Maya & sorry but she was and will be the only one. Maya didn’t even start. Paige wouldn’t even start on that 07-08 team, we were THAT good (injuries aside) and she’s no Maya Moore.

Starters :
Westbrook
Williams
Walker
Griffin
Liv

I think Aubrey will have earned that starting spot. That spot will most likely be interchangeable but here’s to hoping we maintain good health as we haven’t been this deep in a long time & have been able to avoid major rotation player injuries since the 07-08 season.

 

[hoophuskee]

I love Paige already but come on! We’re already heralding her as a starter and she hasn’t even finished HS. We’ve all watched tape and I believe the hype but we all know it is very difficult for frosh to come in and immediately start. Are we ever going to have the REAL convo that UConn probably doesn’t win the national championship Stewie’s first year if Griner & Baylor hadn’t been upset?? (LUCKY US) We finally had gotten the Notre Dame monkey off our backs!

I think you could be vastly underestimating Evina's injury along with the potential need for caution, and possibly she isn't that great of a pg but more of a wing. Maybe she is a terrific pg -- I don't know. Justsaying possibly she isn't? Secondly, please stop with the "what if's" and "Luck." How can you talk "real"in any fashion and then look to use "what if" as your primary point?!!

I'm sorry that your Baylor Bears lost. Umm actually Im not. But I think you need to get over it. Your Bears lost.

And I'm not sure of your point about ND. UCONN beat them soundly in game 4.

And why did you even bother to bring Stewart into this thread- especially bringing up vs Baylor?

 

[MooreMayaNY]

I think you could be vastly underestimating Evina's injury along with the potential need for caution, and possibly she isn't that great of a pg but more of a wing. Maybe she is a terrific pg -- I don't know. Justsaying possibly she isn't? Secondly, please stop with the "what if's" and "Luck." How can you talk "real"in any fashion and then look to use "what if" as your primary point?!!

I'm sorry that your Baylor Bears lost. Umm actually Im not. But I think you need to get over it. Your Bears lost.

And I'm not sure of your point about ND. UCONN beat them soundly in game 4.

And why did you even bother to bring Stewart into this thread- especially bringing up vs Baylor?

Im a Husky fan through & through. Everyone is on the thread discussing Paige and she hasn’t gotten here yet meanwhile Evina has proven her ability in college.

 

[Dokey]

The automatics on day one
MW overall game improves
Anna frequent great play as freshman becomes consistent
Ono learns to finesse position even more
The likely
CW junior year bounce, she missed Lou this year.
EW year off rust
With Paige possibly replacing CW or EW early

By NCAA tourney
MW
Anna
Ono
Paige
Edwards at midpoint. Just a feeling.
If ball movement is what you want, the combo of Paige and Anna just might be the best pairing in nation next year and the key to NC. I suspect Geno is already planning his offense around them, facilitators who can shoot. The question who moves well enough for them to dish to. ONO gets a lot.

But CW and EW get a lot of minutes
Aubrey is a wait and see. She is too much of a liability on offense. It isn’t just missing FTs or bunnies, that can be fixed, she just doesn’t facilitate ball movement. Watch her on offense. Her best attribute is getting ORs but she frequently misses follow ups, gets stuffed, or draws a foul and then misses FT. She is excellent on defense but once we have the ball she disappears. You need five players moving the ball.

 

[MilfordHusky]

As I stated previously there is noway in hell that Geno is not going to start Paige. She will be the best player on the team from day one. There isn't any player in the the country that can do what she can do. I predict she will be an All-American as a freshman. She is a once in a generation player.

In the modern (NCAA) era, AP All-Americans who were freshmen: Courtney Paris and Maya Moore. Paige could be the 3rd. Sabrina will be gone. Paige could be her successor.

 

[MilfordHusky]

We'll see .. I haven't seen evidence that Megan is team-oriented .. wishful thinking on my part..

I disagree. Megan is all about team. She came back after a tough freshman year, she got bigger and stronger as a sophomore, and she got leaner and a lot better this year. She'll be back and even better next year. However, next year's team may be "Paige's team." The kid from Minnesota has talent, toughness, and chutzpah. She'll help elevate Megan's play.

 

[Kevinmac]

You are right. Nothing is certain. We could walk across the street and be hit with a bus. But one thing is certain... UCONN will have a TON of talent next year. Williams, ONO and Walker are all starters and will start next year. All will have a chance to improve over the summer. Add in Evina - who was the #2 recruit in her class, and we have 4 players who were all top 5 coming out of HS, and hopefully will play up to those rankings.

Liv and Megan both showed big improvements from last year to this year. Any reason to doubt they will be at least as good if not better next season? CW spent the entire summer away from school and didn't work on her game like Liv did. A great experience for her but IMHO at the expense of working on her game. She will have a chance this summer to correct that. Evina has been injured so the question is - how healthy will she be? A healthy Evina was one of the best players on talented Tennessee teams as a freshman and sophomore.

Aubrey and Anna have both had great moments as freshmen. There aren't a lot of freshmen who have played better consistently this season. They will have a chance to work hard over the summer and hopefully have that sophomore leap.

Aaliyah has already played for the Canadian national team and had a chance to play against Team USA where she scored something like 9 points and had 6 or so rebounds. Paige is possibly the most hyped player in the history of UCONN. I don't think it's a stretch to say we are getting 2 terrifically talented players.

Nika and Mir are bigger question marks, but Nika has played on a professional Croatian team and had a chance to work hard overseas. Geno has said she's fearless. Mir is as athletic as any player we've ever gotten. Still, question marks. And I'm not counting on anything from Piath. Raw with upside, but IMHO won't contribute next season...

So I'm pretty confident in saying "we will have a tremendously talented team next season".

I think Mir will replace Aubrey in playing time as she has offense moves around basket better against power forwards as we need against top five teams. However, if Aubrey works out with Chris Daily and Shea on shooting in traffic she will play as much.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

 

[mbr33ct]

There have been rumors circulating Geno and coaches have been seen sitting in the cheap seats at some of UConn's Hockey team's practices and games and paying particular attention to the "line changes".

 

[Tonyc]

Its fun to speculate but there are some things Geno does as a coach that really dont change much unless there are circumstances that require it. For incoming classes they have to learn his system and work hard in practice. Geno has to build a nucleus within the team to make those with lesser experience (incoming freshman and transfers) successful as well as making the team successful. When you have Stewie MJ Tuck you have a nucleus and you can put in a freshman and her mistakes can be covered up because the others are that good to pick up the slack. This season we dont have that nucleus. Next season we should. Next season we will also have a bench that can play. There will a lesser learning curve next season too.

With all the talent coming in next season and the following season UConn is gonna be really talented and they will be as good as those coming in, in the next two seasons that execute and learn Genos system. We dont know that yet. Injures could plague who starts. With that said I expect to see alot of players play and gain experience. By the end of next season we should be rolling towards the FF and another NC.

 

[oldude]

There have been rumors circulating Geno and coaches have been seen sitting in the cheap seats at some of UConn's Hockey team's practices and games and paying particular attention to the "line changes".

I see a minimum of 9 players competing for serious PT next season, with the possibility of all 11 in the mix at some point in the season. That would present a coaching challenge that Geno hasn’t faced in a very long time, if ever.

 

[oldude]

Hoping Evina is 100% healthy next season. She is an extremely talented basketball player with something to prove, who will, no doubt, work incredibly hard to show everyone why she was rated one of the very best players in the nation coming out of HS.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Evina went through some tough times at Tennessee. Then she had surgery this season. I very much hope that she gets to 100% and shows everyone how much talent she has. She has been an enthusiastic cheerleader from the bench. She deserves a healthy, productive, and fun 2 years.

 

[jabstep]

Liv at the 5
Meg at the 4
Anna at the 3
CW at the 2
Westbrook at PG
This will probably be the starting lineup at the beginning of the year. It doesn't mean it will be at the end of the year. Aubrey will be the 6th man to bring energy and come in and shut down anyone who is scoring on us and for Geno to throw some zone traps at teams. Paige will get at least 15 to 20 minutes a game. We hope Edwards or Gabriel can give us some help against the bigger teams. We have been short on size the past couple of years. My assumptions are based on good health for everyone. I think the rotation will be kept to around 8 and others will get blowout time next year. The following year will have two new openings with Meg and Westbrook gone.

 

[Glenn]

Reading through, it seems like the wisdom of the crowd thinks we will have Evina, CW, Anna, Meg, and Liv as our starting five, with some votes for Aubrey and Paige. That seems to be a reasonable assessment.

My guess is that the transition from high school to college will prove difficult for many, but that Paige and Edwards have the best chances of getting minutes and Paige starting during the second half of the season. There is also some hope that we will have a bigger lineup than that--with Edwards getting minutes and Aubrey playing "bigger" than Anna.

I think in terms of the following grouping of players, and that we will have a three guard lineup with Meg and Liv providing the muscle up front. Thus, we will continue to be a smallish team.

Guards: Evina, CW, Anna, Paige, Nika,
Wings: Megan, Aubrey, Mir
Bigs: Liv, Edwards, Gabriel

 

[Martin]

They will be Liv, Meg, flex, flex, and flex.

 

[Mike_In_Storrs]

There is no way Paige is not starting from day one. So that means someone is sitting. The starting guards will be Paige and Evina.

Yeah Paige is that good.

 

[hoophuskee]

Liv at the 5
Meg at the 4
Anna at the 3
CW at the 2
Westbrook at PG
This will probably be the starting lineup at the beginning of the year. It doesn't mean it will be at the end of the year. Aubrey will be the 6th man to bring energy and come in and shut down anyone who is scoring on us and for Geno to throw some zone traps at teams. Paige will get at least 15 to 20 minutes a game. We hope Edwards or Gabriel can give us some help against the bigger teams. We have been short on size the past couple of years. My assumptions are based on good health for everyone. I think the rotation will be kept to around 8 and others will get blowout time next year. The following year will have two new openings with Meg and Westbrook gone.

There is no way no no way that Paige is only going to get 15 minutes per game. She was considered in some reports better than any of the seniors that are now playing as freshman in college. Even 20 minutes is too few. She'll get over 20 minutes and I don't mean "21". I don't know about starting because Geno could also want to do the old Celtics thing of having a super player come off the bench. Not important.

And if there is any questions regarding Evina's knee or if she isn't a natural pg-- Paige is going to get very big minutes (I know nothing of Nika. I can't tell much from the videos. She seems Jen Rizotti'ish in her manner/movement which I'm not suggesting anything more than that.). Further, because of Evina's knee- there is no reason to push her especially early. We will have a bench.

 

[diggerfoot]

I love Paige already but come on! We’re already heralding her as a starter and she hasn’t even finished HS. We’ve all watched tape and I believe the hype but we all know it is very difficult for frosh to come in and immediately start. Are we ever going to have the REAL convo that UConn probably doesn’t win the national championship Stewie’s first year if Griner & Baylor hadn’t been upset?? (LUCKY US) We finally had gotten the Notre Dame monkey off our backs!

Geno has made it clear the only freshman ready since Day 1 has been Maya & sorry but she was and will be the only one. Maya didn’t even start. Paige wouldn’t even start on that 07-08 team, we were THAT good (injuries aside) and she’s no Maya Moore.

Starters :
Westbrook
Williams
Walker
Griffin
Liv

I think Aubrey will have earned that starting spot. That spot will most likely be interchangeable but here’s to hoping we maintain good health as we haven’t been this deep in a long time & have been able to avoid major rotation player injuries since the 07-08 season.

Hmmm. So much to address with your post I'll quote its entirety. It IS difficult to start as a freshmen, but Rizzotti did it as a point guard, Rita Williams did it (sort of) as a point guard, Bird did it as a point guard, Montgomery did it as a point guard and Hartley did it as a point guard. Do you see a pattern there? On the other hand our most recent point guards, Jefferson and Dangerfield did not start. Jefferson was understandable, both because the experienced Hartley was ahead of her and she had to learn to slow down. Dangerfield not starting as a freshman was a notable departure of what Auriemma did with point guards of the past, but a sample size of one does not conclusively support your emphatic position. Bueckers does not only have the skills but the leadership of a Rizzotti, Bird or Taurasi. It should leave one with some humble uncertainty as to who will start next year.

Yes, let us have a conversation about Stewart putting the team on her back against Notre Dame. We lost three close ones to ND during the season; we lost one close one to Baylor. But we were a different team in the tournament with Stewart gelling and did not simply win against Notre Dame, but beat them handily. If Stewart had the same type of game against Baylor that we did against Notre Dame then, absolutely, yes we would win by all the evidence that we have from that tournament, Baylor was not peaking at the time. We can assume you are a Moore fan, Moore had the greatest four years of any UConn player, but if you do not think Stewart had the single most spectacular game of any freshman, indeed, the single most spectacular tournament as a freshman, then you need to remove your blinders.

Yes, Auriemma says that Moore was the only freshman ready since day one. Auriemma sometimes engages in hyperbole to make a point, such as the time he made fun of Moore for never knowing where to be on offense, yet she still would end up with the ball and score. The fact is Rizzotti was absolutely ready as a freshman. She started, played more minutes and average more points than in the season that landed her on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

I happen to think there were other freshmen also ready, like Sales, but since they did not start from day one (but neither did Moore) I will leave them out of the conversation.

 

[bluedevil]

I can't imagine Anna starting next season and I can't imagine CW not starting....my 3 cents

 

[Tonyc]

Next season is months away. The freshman need to be developed and learn UConns system. Questions need to be answered by every player vowing for a starting position. Turnovers, scoring, defense and knowing how to execute within the system. We cant come to any conclusions until we see where we're at next season.

We will need a point guard to replace CD. Who will it be? Anna Westbrook Paige Nika or somebody else? We dont know. Alot of fans would love to see Paige come in and play like she does in high school but we dont know if she will as a freshman. We dont know how long it will take for Paige and Nika to adjust to UConn ball.
We have alot of talent coming in but are they college/UConn ready to step in? Maybe not but we wont know til they get here. Will Westbrook be ready to play significant minutes and is she rusty? Will Anna be more confident and shoot consistently as we have seen at times. Will Griff develop a shot and will she shoot better from the line? Will CW score like we've seen at times?

Bottom line is we have the talent however we have to wait and see what happens in October. One thing is for sure as our underclassman develop we are going to be very tuff to beat.

 

[CocoHusky]

Next season is months away. The freshman need to be developed and learn UConns system. Questions need to be answered by every player vowing for a starting position. Turnovers, scoring, defense and knowing how to execute within the system. We cant come to any conclusions until we see where we're at next season.

We will need a point guard to replace CD. Who will it be? Anna Westbrook Paige Nika or somebody else? We dont know. Alot of fans would love to see Paige come in and play like she does in high school but we dont know if she will as a freshman. We dont know how long it will take for Paige and Nika to adjust to UConn ball.
We have alot of talent coming in but are they college/UConn ready to step in? Maybe not but we wont know til they get here. Will Westbrook be ready to play significant minutes and is she rusty? Will Anna be more confident and shoot consistently as we have seen at times. Will Griff develop a shot and will she shoot better from the line? Will CW score like we've seen at times?

Bottom line is we have the talent however we have to wait and see what happens in October. One thing is for sure as our underclassman develop we are going to be very tuff to beat.

Next season will also very likely have new transfer rules in place which allow for immediate eligibility & could potentially drastically alter the composition of the roster.

 

[and one]

Next season will also very likely have new transfer rules in place which allow for immediate eligibility & could potentially drastically alter the composition of the roster.

It is hard enough to get minutes for the talent we have going into next year without getting a transfer or two. A ready to contribute big would be of help though.

 

[HuskylnSC]

For discussion purposes I'm defining a starter as a player getting at least 30 minutes a game.

During the last championship run, the starters averaged around 25 minutes a game. I look for more of the same as the freshmen integrate into the rotation.

By January, I expect Aaliyah Edwards to be starting at the 4, Meg in the traditional 3 wing.

Westbrook should begin the year at point with, I expect, Paige taking over. CW will start the year at the off guard and if Paige is at the point Evina will play some at the 2 as well.

Minutes for Anna will be in the 2/3 rotation and Aubrey, and hopefully Mir, will eat into the 3/4 spots. Nika's minutes will affect the 1/2 minutes.

Piath may be used to spell Liv on occasion (but i will not be surprised if she has moments where she becomes a rebound monster and just destroys some poor team).

It's gonna be so bad!

 

[BBallF]

Anna, CW, Meg, Liv.....and either Paige or Aubrey. If it's Aubrey, CW plays the two and if it's Paige CW plays the 3 and Meg is back to the 4. I think you will see a lot of permutations even during the season.