The Battle for Playing Time & a Spot on the Rotation

[oldude]

Wouldn't that make her the 4th scorer behind Paige, Azzi and Sarah?

Based on her breakout game vs Villanova, Kaitlyn is UConn’s 4th scorer.

 

[Just.A.Fan]

There are few other peripheral items I want to point out: while I understand the 8-9 person rotation issue/stance, the simple fact is Geno and the team are in a new paradigm of rotation options. This is the first year in a long time that he has quality depth (albeit very young). The past two years, he had so many injuries, we lacked numbers and with Azzi and Aubrey now being cleared, we have 12 mostly healthy bodies able to play.

Roster overview:
This 12 person active roster (sans Caroline/Ayanna) are all highly ranked players coming out of High School. The least ranked player is Kaitlyn who was #66 and Q was #41. Technically, Jana was not ranked but my guess is she would fall in the high teens or low 20s had she been assessed. The point is twofold, Geno has a talented bench AND as he has stated many times, the players earn time in practice so the fact he uses 10 players regularly means all are working their tails off in practice to earn time. The games against the Big East offer our younger players opportunities to garner experience. The other P4 programs get to use their OOC for this experience but UConn does not have that luxury.

As such, to me, the assessment of who plays is wholly dependent on the type of team we are playing-Creighton offers a different skill set to defend than does Tennessee, than does South Carolina.

In all of D1 Basketball, there are really only 3-5 schools with elite front courts in terms of talent and depth (SC, Texas, UCLA to name 3). We play SC shortly so we shall see how Jana, Sarah, Morgan and Ice can manage.

While ND and SoCal have interior size, we either were missing Azzi or she was not fully healthy enough to play and we were able to keep the games close so that adds an interesting dynamic back if we play them again-a fully healthy and functioning Azzi.

Geno will use any of 11 players (assuming Aubrey can regain her game legs) to best match up as he deems fit so it will not be just an 8 or 9 set player rotation but the best 8-11 group he feels matches the opponent.

I also think there is a bit of over exuberance about Kaitlyn Chen's game vs. Villanova. Before I parse that, I want to point out a key factor in the last two games-Paige had 8 & 9 assists vs. just 2 turnovers as well as 18 and 21 points which also resulted in Blowout games against two usually steady programs. Paige handled the ball more often thus freeing Kaitlyn to play more "off guard" and still be effective as a passer. Geno addressed this in his post-game Villanova presser with Paige bringing the ball up in the middle of the court. This aspect is really the key to us evolving as no one sees the floor like Paige so we should have the ball in her hands more. Geno also alluded to using Chen and KK to produce different looks for the other teams to have to defend. I truly liked this comment and gives me hope on our other players development with Paige putting them in positions for success. This is not a knock-on Kaitlyn but she is not Paige.

Kaitlyn Chen: There is the very good, the good and the not so good.
The very good:
Kaitlyn is an experienced guard who knows how to pick her spots on what she can do well and what she can't. She is good against smaller and the mid-major teams. She has a great back board shot and knows when to drive to the basket.
The good:
Kaitlyn has improved her Assist to turnover ratio with 2.03 (75-37) over her Princeton days (1.46) and her normal FG% has improved to 51.1% vs, her career of 46.5%. Her 3 pt shooting is about the same with 32.4% this year and 32.8% last year and 29.3% for her career. In short, she knows she is not a 3 point shooter and only reluctantly shoots them. Against the 4 better teams on our schedule this year (UNC, Ole Miss, ND and SoCal) she shot 10/20 so she can pick her spots and I would encourage her to shoot more as 5 shots a game is not a lot.
The not so good:
Her A/TO stats against those 4 teams point out her issues with ball handling and decision making as she had 10 assists/11 Turnovers.
I also question her quickness and ability to defend against elite guards like Hidalgo, Miles, Watkins, Spear or Johnson to name a few. How will she handle the Tennessee press is another concern I have where I feel KK's speed and her quickness is better for us.

That said, keeping her as the starter makes sense with KK providing energy and tenacity off the bench but it is NOT a lock that Kaitlyn has earned all the time due to ONE GAME. We have to admit that this 7/8 FG and 2/3 3-pt FG was the aberration of her career as she never had a game like that at Princeton.

As a pre-emptive strike on the common Oldude refrain of "Kaitlyn killed Columbia", Ms. Chen was 6-2 in her career against Columbia with her last two years being 3-2. Her stats were good, not great with 17.6 pts per game for all 8 and only 15.6 for the last two years. Her A/TO line was 35/22 for all 3 years with 8 games but only 25/19 for the last 5 games-again, good but not great. I would not qualify that as "killing Columbia". In her sophomore year, Kaitlyn was the 3rd option on the Tiger team behind Abby Myers and Julia Cunningham. If Kaitlyn can find a way to contribute on a nightly basis with 10 pts per game (up from her 6 right now) I would be ecstatic.

The other observation is with Paige as the primary ball distributer the dynamic process with Sarah is remindful of IonescuHebard duo with Sarah being a much better all around player than Ruthy ever was. Against Villanova, with Paige as the primary ball handler, she and Sarah had 8 assists to each other!

This team will only go as far as Paige, Sarah and Azzi can carry them with key contributions from Jana, Chen, KK and others and it will be a rotating cast of contributions.

I like everything you've said here, with the exception of the harsh treatment of Chen. This young woman has a great attitude, and it wasn't easy coming onto this team, being referred to as an insulting "rent a player" by several here in the BY, and not really knowing exactly what her role should be. Least we forget that she came her from Princeton where she was the go to player on the team. For that reason she made numerous mistakes early in the season while trying to adjust, but has begun to correct them and simply adapt her game as the season has progressed. I consider her an asset and the change of styles by exchanging roles with KK has added a very interesting dynamic to this team structure. It would be nice if Chen were shown some love on occasion.

 

[Just.A.Fan]

Based on her breakout game vs Villanova, Kaitlyn is UConn’s 4th scorer.

I was correcting the statement made, not who IS the 4th scorer.

 

[HuskyNan]

We don’t have a ton of evidence. And we don’t have evidence against good teams yet. But based on what we have. I think ice has responded well to being benched. She has played a little better the last couple of weeks.

I definitely see us shortening the rotation during the tournament. Geno proved that he will do that during Caroline and azzi’s freshman season.

The ncaa tournament rotation against good teams will be imo:

1. Paige
2. Sarah
3. Azzi
4. Jana
5. Kaitlyn
6. KK
7. Ash
8. Aubrey
9. Ice

I don’t see us going 10 or deeper. I just don’t.

No Morgan?

 

[JoePgh]

The minutes distribution by both South Carolina and LSU in their game today is instructive.

LSU played 9 players, and two of them (Poa and Sheppard) got 3 and 2 minutes respectively. Their "Big 3" (Morrow, Williams, and Flaujae) got 38, 37, and 33 minutes respectively (Flaujae was in foul trouble early), and Day-Wilson got 34. Kailyn Gilbert (who has received a lot of publicity touting LSU's bench depth) got 15 minutes, shot 1-7 for 2 points and 1 rebound. Her 2 points were LSU's only bench points in the game.

South Carolina played 9 players in the game, but Dauda got only 1 minute and had no stats, so really they played only 8. Sonia Feagin was their only player to log more than 30 minutes (she had 36, reflecting the absence of Watkins). The other starters were all in the mid to high 20's in their minutes. Their top three bench players (Edwards, Fulwiley, and Tessa Johnson) had 14, 8, and 9 minutes respectively. I thought that Edwards (with 14 points on 5-11 shooting and 4 rebounds) and especially Tessa (9 points on 4-9 shooting) were really good -- Tessa seemed like she would fit on the UConn roster more than any other SC player with her intelligent decision making. Interestingly, Feagin and Edwards were the only SC players in double figures for scoring, and no one had more more than 7 rebounds -- unlike 6-1 Morrow of LSU, who had 16 rebounds. Despite SC's victory in the game, LSU dominated the offensive boards by a margin of 28-15, and took 14 more shots than SC. Too bad they only shot 30% compared to SC's none-too-great 37%.

Bottom line: I think UConn's bench is as deep as either of these teams, and I would expect that when UConn plays SC in February, the two team's bench minutes will be similar. Will their scoring and rebounding be similar? That is the question.

 

[packwrap]

Nice analytics!

Being provocative, I can even imagine a game against SC where we play:

Paige, Azzi, Chen, KK and Ash in backcourt.

and only Sarah, Aubrey and Morgan in front court.

That's 8 players with 0 minutes for Jana and Ice.

The small frontcourt can better defend the quick SC bigs, and will minimize turnovers.

 

[Ron and Vida]

During each of the past 3 seasons, UConn suffered a series of devastating injuries to key players which effectively hamstrung their efforts to win Championship #12. Last year was the worst by far as the Huskies finished the season with only 7 healthy players, an effective rotation of 6; and yet UConn came within 1 play of making the national championship game in what was both a heroic and tragic season.

Last season, when it came to decisions about who would play and how long, Geno had it easy. As he said several times about his players, “They don’t have to worry about making mistakes, because I have no one to replace them with.”

Fast forward to the 2024-25 season. What a difference a year makes. UConn fields one of its deepest and most talented rosters ever, with 12 healthy players currently vying for PT and spots in the regular rotation. Geno will earn his pay this year, and while he has indicated that he knows what his rotation will look like once we get to March, he has resisted all requests from the media to tell us what that rotation will be. Personally, I think he knows mostly what that rotation will look like. But I also think he is still puzzling over a couple of decisions on the final rotation spots.

To the credit of the players, they are making it very difficult for Geno and his coaches to finalize the rotation, with both their play in games as well as their efforts in practice. In past years, we have gotten used to seeing the wheels come off once UConn starts to sub in for the starters. Not so this year. UConn’s execution is pretty darn good throughout the game, even during mop-up time.

There is a reason why UConn continues to cut, screen, pass and score effectively, regardless of who is on the court. The Huskies roster includes no less than 7 HS PG’s: Paige, Kaitlyn, KK, Azzi, Ash, Morgan & Allie. In addition, both Aubrey & Sarah were the primary ball handlers for their teams while leading their respective HS’s in both scoring and assists. That’s a hell of a lot of basketball IQ for a single roster.

During the next month or so, Geno has to make some decisions. In past seasons, when he had some depth, Geno has typically capped his tournament rotation at 7-8 players. Whether he goes beyond that total will be dependent somewhat on the opponent and the situation encountered. I will give you my take on the factors that I believe will impact those decisions, with a couple of assumptions: 1) I assume that everyone remains healthy & 2) Neither Ayanna or Caroline will factor into the lineup decisions.

STARTERS

• Paige, Azzi & Sarah – With the possible exception of ND, I don’t believe there is another team in the country that can field 3 G/W’s with the ability to score, pass and defend like UConn’s 3-headed monster. These players will be the core of UConn’s title run this year, and their PT will ramp up once we get into March.
• Jana – Geno has made the clear decision that to win #12, he will need a post player with the size and ability to battle the likes of UCLA, USC, SC, etc. Jana is on a crash course to be ready by March, and she continues to get a little better each and every game.
• Kaitlyn – Up until the Villanova game at Gampel, I felt that the starting pg job was still up for grabs, with both KK & Ash still in the running to be the 5th starter. But after Kaitlyn’s break out performance against the Wildcats, Kaitlyn has locked up the job, imo.

GUARDS – RESERVES

• KK - While Kaitlyn is PG 1, KK is clearly PG 1A and will share the pg duties for the rest of the season. KK brings a change of pace off the bench as a fierce on-ball defender, and she has ramped up her ability to attack the basket and score. In addition, KK has one of the best A/TO ratios in the nation.
• Ash – Ash is not only UConn’s best scorer off the bench, but she has dramatically improved her on-ball defense this season and she is second only to Paige as a rebounding guard, on a team that needs all the help it can get on the boards.
• Allie – Under most circumstances, Allie wouldn’t really figure into this year’s rotation. But you just can’t rule out someone who can shoot the basketball like Allie. It was suggested that Allie releases the ball faster than Azzi and just as accurately. In a tight game, there just might be an opportunity for Geno to slide Allie onto the court to drop a couple of 3-pt bombs.

FORWARDS – RESERVES

• Morgan – More than any other player, Morgan has forced her way into this conversation. She is currently the 1st forward off the bench, typically subbing in for Jana. Morgan plays defense, rebounds, passes like a pg, scores a little and hits the floor more often than a WWE wrestler. With that said, for Morgan to lock up a spot in the rotation, I believe she must become a more consistent scorer. If Morgan can start knocking down 3’s, she gives UConn a 5th scorer on their small lineup, which would create nightmares for opposing teams.
• Ice – Ice has lost PT to both Jana and Morgan. To her enormous credit, she has not sulked or accepted the possibility of getting buried on the bench. In the last few games her play has improved significantly at both ends of the court. In March, when UConn faces opponents with big frontlines, I believe that Ice must be part of the rotation.
• Aubrey – When healthy, Aubrey is UConn’s best defender and rebounder, and no one runs the court in transition like she does. She is the X factor. Geno is bringing Aubrey along slowly. But she is yet another Husky who must figure into a championship run.
• Q – Q is the one player that does not project to be in the rotation, at this time. But you never know. Just last year she came into a key situation during the Elite 8 game vs USC and splashed a BIG 3.

We should get a pretty good sense of where Geno is going with his rotation in the upcoming games with TN & SC, although that may not be the final determination. IMO, UConn’s postseason rotation will be 8-9 players deep and will include: Paige, Azzi, Sarah, Jana, Kaitlyn, KK, Ash, Ice (+Aubrey if we go 9 deep). Leaving Morgan out of my rotation was really hard, and I have no doubt that I will receive a lot of grief for that decision. What do you think? Tell me how deep the rotation will be and who will be part of it?

Great analysis (as usual)
I think most of us love Morgan’s game and hope she can find her shit sooner than later

 

[sun]

It would be nice if Chen were shown some love on occasion.

That's how "tough love" works.

 

[mainerhuski]

While I will acknowledge that high scoring offenses have become more prolific in sports, WBB is not the NBA, NFL or MLB. If you can’t stop teams from scoring, you can’t win championships, no matter how effective your offense is. Offensive execution can vacillate from game to game, but good defense is usually far more consistent. Furthermore, the strategy behind teams that press like tOSU, TN and yes, UConn, has as much to do with offense as it does with defense.

After the recent blowout win over Villanova, Geno talked about the need to force Villanova out of their slow and deliberate offensive game plan and get into a higher scoring game where Nova basically couldn’t keep up. Pressing a team does two things. It forces turnovers, usually resulting in easy transition baskets or it forces teams to use up possession time beating the press, leaving less time to run their offense, forcing rushed shots, that lead to defensive rebounds, fast breaks and easy transition baskets. Essentially, you press to speed up the game, create more offensive opportunities and score more points.

In previous seasons UConn did not have the roster depth to commit to a pressure defense all game long. This year they do. The TN game will be interesting. The LV’s press all game long, subbing in groups of players frequently like hockey. I expect UConn to press as well, because TN does turn the ball over a lot. We’ll see who comes out on top.

One last comment. We can disagree on the Boneyard without being disagreeable. There is no reason to disparage BBallf just because his opinion differs from yours.

Thanks for your “one last comment,” Oldude. I was about to post something similar.

 

[Golden Husky]

Whither Caroline?

 

[Bone Dog]

That's how "tough love" works.

I have no idea what people are thinking, and a few people have spoken this way, but I suspect the players have little (if any) awareness of any “tough love” that occurs on the BY. It is unseemly when we criticize any of the players from our lofty and disconnected perches and we should avoid it with all our might. But the only people capable of conveying anything even remotely resembling tough love are Geno, CD and Jamelle. Theirs are pretty much the only opinions that matter to the players.

 

[fomalhaut]

if you don’t have a strong offense then the opposing defense can easily double and triple team your best scorers. It’s as simple as that. That exactly what happened to UConn when they played Notre Dame.

They have at least two elite scorers, so in order to triple-team both the opponent would have to play with six players on the court. Even double-teaming both Bueckers and Strong would leave two players uncovered. I guarantee you that El Alfy, Shade, Chen, and others can score plenty if uncovered.

By the way, Connecticut is now leading the country in scoring defense as well as A/TO ratio and field goal percentage.

 

[fomalhaut]

As far as player development, you should also remember that Geno isn't going to coach as if this is the last season of basketball. He wants
to develop all of his players, some of whom will hopefully be here for three more years after this one.

 

[HuskyNan]

Listen to Geno talk about Kaitlyn, first question

 

[oldude]

There are few other peripheral items I want to point out: while I understand the 8-9 person rotation issue/stance, the simple fact is Geno and the team are in a new paradigm of rotation options. This is the first year in a long time that he has quality depth (albeit very young). The past two years, he had so many injuries, we lacked numbers and with Azzi and Aubrey now being cleared, we have 12 mostly healthy bodies able to play.

Roster overview:
This 12 person active roster (sans Caroline/Ayanna) are all highly ranked players coming out of High School. The least ranked player is Kaitlyn who was #66 and Q was #41. Technically, Jana was not ranked but my guess is she would fall in the high teens or low 20s had she been assessed. The point is twofold, Geno has a talented bench AND as he has stated many times, the players earn time in practice so the fact he uses 10 players regularly means all are working their tails off in practice to earn time. The games against the Big East offer our younger players opportunities to garner experience. The other P4 programs get to use their OOC for this experience but UConn does not have that luxury.

As such, to me, the assessment of who plays is wholly dependent on the type of team we are playing-Creighton offers a different skill set to defend than does Tennessee, than does South Carolina.

In all of D1 Basketball, there are really only 3-5 schools with elite front courts in terms of talent and depth (SC, Texas, UCLA to name 3). We play SC shortly so we shall see how Jana, Sarah, Morgan and Ice can manage.

While ND and SoCal have interior size, we either were missing Azzi or she was not fully healthy enough to play and we were able to keep the games close so that adds an interesting dynamic back if we play them again-a fully healthy and functioning Azzi.

Geno will use any of 11 players (assuming Aubrey can regain her game legs) to best match up as he deems fit so it will not be just an 8 or 9 set player rotation but the best 8-11 group he feels matches the opponent.

I also think there is a bit of over exuberance about Kaitlyn Chen's game vs. Villanova. Before I parse that, I want to point out a key factor in the last two games-Paige had 8 & 9 assists vs. just 2 turnovers as well as 18 and 21 points which also resulted in Blowout games against two usually steady programs. Paige handled the ball more often thus freeing Kaitlyn to play more "off guard" and still be effective as a passer. Geno addressed this in his post-game Villanova presser with Paige bringing the ball up in the middle of the court. This aspect is really the key to us evolving as no one sees the floor like Paige so we should have the ball in her hands more. Geno also alluded to using Chen and KK to produce different looks for the other teams to have to defend. I truly liked this comment and gives me hope on our other players development with Paige putting them in positions for success. This is not a knock-on Kaitlyn but she is not Paige.

Kaitlyn Chen: There is the very good, the good and the not so good.
The very good:
Kaitlyn is an experienced guard who knows how to pick her spots on what she can do well and what she can't. She is good against smaller and the mid-major teams. She has a great back board shot and knows when to drive to the basket.
The good:
Kaitlyn has improved her Assist to turnover ratio with 2.03 (75-37) over her Princeton days (1.46) and her normal FG% has improved to 51.1% vs, her career of 46.5%. Her 3 pt shooting is about the same with 32.4% this year and 32.8% last year and 29.3% for her career. In short, she knows she is not a 3 point shooter and only reluctantly shoots them. Against the 4 better teams on our schedule this year (UNC, Ole Miss, ND and SoCal) she shot 10/20 so she can pick her spots and I would encourage her to shoot more as 5 shots a game is not a lot.
The not so good:
Her A/TO stats against those 4 teams point out her issues with ball handling and decision making as she had 10 assists/11 Turnovers.
I also question her quickness and ability to defend against elite guards like Hidalgo, Miles, Watkins, Spear or Johnson to name a few. How will she handle the Tennessee press is another concern I have where I feel KK's speed and her quickness is better for us.

That said, keeping her as the starter makes sense with KK providing energy and tenacity off the bench but it is NOT a lock that Kaitlyn has earned all the time due to ONE GAME. We have to admit that this 7/8 FG and 2/3 3-pt FG was the aberration of her career as she never had a game like that at Princeton.

As a pre-emptive strike on the common Oldude refrain of "Kaitlyn killed Columbia", Ms. Chen was 6-2 in her career against Columbia with her last two years being 3-2. Her stats were good, not great with 17.6 pts per game for all 8 and only 15.6 for the last two years. Her A/TO line was 35/22 for all 3 years with 8 games but only 25/19 for the last 5 games-again, good but not great. I would not qualify that as "killing Columbia". In her sophomore year, Kaitlyn was the 3rd option on the Tiger team behind Abby Myers and Julia Cunningham. If Kaitlyn can find a way to contribute on a nightly basis with 10 pts per game (up from her 6 right now) I would be ecstatic.

The other observation is with Paige as the primary ball distributer the dynamic process with Sarah is remindful of IonescuHebard duo with Sarah being a much better all around player than Ruthy ever was. Against Villanova, with Paige as the primary ball handler, she and Sarah had 8 assists to each other!

This team will only go as far as Paige, Sarah and Azzi can carry them with key contributions from Jana, Chen, KK and others and it will be a rotating cast of contributions.

DBB, I appreciate the detailed analysis which is mostly spot on. But as you indicate, I do need to comment on Kaitlyn at Princeton and the Ivies in general.

As you know, there are no athletic scholarships in the Ivy League, so while they get some outstanding players due to the prestige of an Ivy League Sheepskin, every team has holes in their lineup. The scores for most Ivy League games are in the 60’s, with lots of missed shots and turnovers.

Stats aside, you really had to watch Kaitlyn play to appreciate just how good she was at Princeton, which I’ve probably done 10-12 times. Kaitlyn was never an outstanding shooter, although she has really worked on her shooting this last year and is better from the arc than during her time at Princeton. What Kaitlyn did better than any other player in the Ivy League, including Princeton teammate Abby Myers and Columbia’s own Abby Hsu, was to take over games down the stretch and make plays. In short, Kaitlyn has the “clutch gene.”

The best example of Kaitlyn taking over a game was during the 2023 NCAA tournament when Princeton pulled off a stunning upset against NC State. Myers had transferred to MD for her 5th year, and other than Grace Stone and Kaitlyn, the Ivy POY, the Tigers were limited in their ability to score the basketball.

Kaitlyn shot a pretty mediocre 8/25 during the game, but down the stretch she made play after play by scoring, getting to the FT line and dropping dimes in a 64-63 upset. She ended the game with 22 pts, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. In the following game, Princeton put a scare into #2 seed Utah before losing 63-56, with Kaitlyn leading the team in scoring with 19 pts.

I have stated, and continue to believe, that Kaitlyn will come up big for UConn this year, stepping up in a pressure situation to be a difference maker. Time will tell whether or not I am correct.

 

[Just.A.Fan]

DBB, I appreciate the detailed analysis which is mostly spot on. But as you indicate, I do need to comment on Kaitlyn at Princeton and the Ivies in general.

As you know, there are no athletic scholarships in the Ivy League, so while they get some outstanding players due to the prestige of an Ivy League Sheepskin, every team has holes in their lineup. The scores for most Ivy League games are in the 60’s, with lots of missed shots and turnovers.

Stats aside, you really had to watch Kaitlyn play to appreciate just how good she was at Princeton, which I’ve probably done 10-12 times. Kaitlyn was never an outstanding shooter, although she has really worked on her shooting this last year and is better from the arc than during her time at Princeton. What Kaitlyn did better than any other player in the Ivy League, including Princeton teammate Abby Myers and Columbia’s own Abby Hsu, was to take over games down the stretch and make plays. In short, Kaitlyn has the “clutch gene.”

The best example of Kaitlyn taking over a game was during the 2023 NCAA tournament when Princeton pulled off a stunning upset against NC State. Myers had transferred to MD for her 5th year, and other than Grace Stone and Kaitlyn, the Ivy POY, the Tigers were limited in their ability to score the basketball.

Kaitlyn shot a pretty mediocre 8/25 during the game, but down the stretch she made play after play by scoring, getting to the FT line and dropping dimes in a 64-63 upset. She ended the game with 22 pts, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. In the following game, Princeton put a scare into #2 seed Utah before losing 63-56, with Kaitlyn leading the team in scoring with 19 pts.

I have stated, and continue to believe, that Kaitlyn will come up big for UConn this year, stepping up in a pressure situation to be a difference maker. Time will tell whether or not I am correct.

Thank you Oldude! This was worth so much more than just a like.

 

[packwrap]

I have stated, and continue to believe, that Kaitlyn will come up big for UConn this year, stepping up in a pressure situation to be a difference maker. Time will tell whether or not I am correct.

Agree. All the Chen chirping really has to do with 'why was she our transfer and not Beers/a big'.

I won't get into that, but she is here. She is a gamer, and provides insurance and depth at point/sg/scorer. Most importantly she for sure has the UConn mentality of defense, pass first, keep learning and working. Most importantly just watching you can see she is now loved by her teammates and a true Husky.

I had been mystified all season when on games first posession, or end of a quarter she would race down the floor and make a layup or pullup for 2.

This showed she could pretty much get her shot at will. Then she chose not to shoot for the rest of the game.

I was glad to see her have more of a complete game v Villanova.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

They have at least two elite scorers, so in order to triple-team both the opponent would have to play with six players on the court. Even double-teaming both Bueckers and Strong would leave two players uncovered. I guarantee you that El Alfy, Shade, Chen, and others can score plenty if uncovered.

By the way, Connecticut is now leading the country in scoring defense as well as A/TO ratio and field goal percentage.

They have three elite scorers NOW, earlier in the season they did not. Azzi wasn’t 100% then, she even had to sit out some games to recover. Now she’s back to her old self. Going forward we will be a much tougher team. Also expect some big contributions from Kaitlyn, Ash, Morgan, KK, Allie, Ice and Q. I’m hoping against hope we’ll see Caroline play some minutes on senior night, but maybe not.

 

[oldhusky]

The Creighton game was revealing regarding rotations, but far from conclusive IMO. We mostly went small ball with the two C's combining for just 17 minutes. That doesn't mean, however, that we are going small ball the rest of the season in contested games. Creighton doesn't have dominant interior bigs, so it might have been appropriate against them, but against other teams two bigs will sometimes make more sense.

In addition Aubrey was not used, but obviously most think in time she will be part of the rotation, and that could be in a big or small lineup because both she and Sarah could play the 3 or 4. There are still two rotations to settle on, small and big IMO, and both will need to incorporate the addition of Aubrey with time.

I agree, however, that the small ball lineup is largely set except for Aubrey, but feel it doesn't mean that small ball is the way we go against everybody, and in the games that matter most against very good teams with talented bigs, the big lineup may be the norm and small ball the change of pace lineup.

 

[oldude]

The Creighton game was revealing regarding rotations, but far from conclusive IMO. We mostly went small ball with the two C's combining for just 17 minutes. That doesn't mean, however, that we are going small ball the rest of the season in contested games. Creighton doesn't have dominant interior bigs, so it might have been appropriate against them, but against other teams two bigs will sometimes make more sense.

In addition Aubrey was not used, but obviously most think in time she will be part of the rotation, and that could be in a big or small lineup because both she and Sarah could play the 3 or 4. There are still two rotations to settle on, small and big IMO, and both will need to incorporate the addition of Aubrey with time.

I agree, however, that the small ball lineup is largely set except for Aubrey, but feel it doesn't mean that small ball is the way we go against everybody, and in the games that matter most against very good teams with talented bigs, the big lineup may be the norm and small ball the change of pace lineup.

The other interesting aspect of UConn’s rotation vs Creighton is that Morgan did not play in the 2nd half after a somewhat uneventful stint in the 1st half. During the 2nd half, Ice subbed in at forward and arguably contributed more to UConn’s win than Morgan…….Just one more thing for Geno to chew on as he contemplates his rotation in March.

 

[packwrap]

The other interesting aspect of UConn’s rotation vs Creighton is that Morgan did not play in the 2nd half after a somewhat uneventful stint in the 1st half. During the 2nd half, Ice subbed in at forward and arguably contributed more to UConn’s win than Morgan…….Just one more thing for Geno to chew on as he contemplates his rotation in March.

No Jana, no Ice, no Morgan, no Aubrey?....I was scratching my head. Who is our power forward?

It was Paige again...and when Paige ran the offense it was Azzi! Azzi defended Creighton forwards and played 4 for us in the quirky line up.

That also explains why Azzi had a quiet shooting day.

I find it hard to believe Geno would roll with that line up against SC, but it does give you all scorers.

KK/Chen, Ash, Paige, Azzi & Sarah.

Paige or Azzi would have to guard Kitts, and Sarah would have Feagin/Edwards.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

The Creighton game was revealing regarding rotations, but far from conclusive IMO. We mostly went small ball with the two C's combining for just 17 minutes. That doesn't mean, however, that we are going small ball the rest of the season in contested games. Creighton doesn't have dominant interior bigs, so it might have been appropriate against them, but against other teams two bigs will sometimes make more sense.

In addition Aubrey was not used, but obviously most think in time she will be part of the rotation, and that could be in a big or small lineup because both she and Sarah could play the 3 or 4. There are still two rotations to settle on, small and big IMO, and both will need to incorporate the addition of Aubrey with time.

I agree, however, that the small ball lineup is largely set except for Aubrey, but feel it doesn't mean that small ball is the way we go against everybody, and in the games that matter most against very good teams with talented bigs, the big lineup may be the norm and small ball the change of pace lineup.

Small ball works if everyone on the court can at varying degrees hit a three. That means Paige, Azzi, Sarah, Ash, and Ice. Kaitlyn has her place but not as a starter, she hasn’t shown me that she is a good shooter on either side of the arc, and she scares me when she try’s to penetrate and picks up her dribble and immediately gets double teamed, the reason that happens is because she usually is looking to pass instead of looking to score. IMHO KK or Morgan are more offensively minded and add more to the defense if it’s needed . The pluses for Kaitlyn are being a great ball handler, has fast hands on defense, and is a good passer when she doesn’t pick up her dribble.

 

[packwrap]

Small ball works if everyone on the court can at varying degrees hit a three. That means Paige, Azzi, Sarah, Ash, and Ice. Kaitlyn has her place but not as a starter, she hasn’t shown me that she is a good shooter on either side of the arc, and she scares me when she try’s to penetrate and picks up her dribble and immediately gets double teamed, the reason that happens is because she usually is looking to pass instead of looking to score. IMHO KK or Morgan are more offensively minded and add more to the defense if it’s needed .

Note: Geno played a lot of that game with no Ice, but KK/Chen in that spot. Playing Sarah and Ice together really isn't small, it's 2 posts.

I don't think the Chen/KK platoon is going anywhere. KK offers better defense, but on offense they are more similar than different. Although capable, they have both been struggling to hit the 3 and they both drive into heavy traffic without a bailout plan.

Creighton actually chose not to cover KK/Chen hoping they would shoot and baiting them to drive into their packed interior defense.

 

[HuskyNan]

The other interesting aspect of UConn’s rotation vs Creighton is that Morgan did not play in the 2nd half after a somewhat uneventful stint in the 1st half. During the 2nd half, Ice subbed in at forward and arguably contributed more to UConn’s win than Morgan…….Just one more thing for Geno to chew on as he contemplates his rotation in March.

This was Ice’s third time playing Creighton and second time on the road. Freshmen can have trouble adjusting to the travel so maybe Morgan is still learning, as freshmen do.

 

[oldude]

This was Ice’s third time playing Creighton and second time on the road. Freshmen can have trouble adjusting to the travel so maybe Morgan is still learning, as freshmen do.

No doubt. You have to wonder if Geno believes that Morgan is up to the task of playing against TN or SC, as she clearly was not completely ready for Creighton.

 

[Bone Dog]

This was Ice’s third time playing Creighton and second time on the road. Freshmen can have trouble adjusting to the travel so maybe Morgan is still learning, as freshmen do.

Yup. It’s not quite fair to critique Morgan for her struggles in this game. She has greater potential than she showed yesterday. Creighton is a scrappy team that plays really tough D, and she hasn’t seen this level of play much. The fact that Geno played Paige Azzi and Sarah for 34+ mins shows how seriously he takes Creighton as an opponent.

When we made mistakes on defense, they took advantage, and because we didn’t hit much from 3 in the first half they packed the paint. That changed in the second half once Paige hit a few, plus Creighton looked a little fatigued by their effort in the first half. In any event, it was good to see that Sarah could score even against their packed defense, with Paige’s help. And it was reassuring to see that Ice could play tough defense in the second half and that Creighton wasn’t willing to challenge Jana in the lane in the first half.

 

[Zarathustra]

Listen to Geno talk about Kaitlyn, first question

For those Boneyarders who have not listened to this
Post Game Presser (post- Villanova), I recommend it
as an insight into GENO's thoughts on NIL, the Transfer
Portal and its effect on the BIG EAST (Villanova in particular)
and the ability of any program to grow and develop their
teams. Sort of a (somewhat) different take on the Elephant in the Room.
See post # 74, above, for the link to the Post Game Presser

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Note: Geno played a lot of that game with no Ice, but KK/Chen in that spot. Playing Sarah and Ice together really isn't small, it's 2 posts.

I don't think the Chen/KK platoon is going anywhere. KK offers better defense, but on offense they are more similar than different. Although capable, they have both been struggling to hit the 3 and they both drive into heavy traffic without a bailout plan.

Creighton actually chose not to cover KK/Chen hoping they would shoot and baiting them to drive into their packed interior defense.

Of course they would rather do that and then they can double team any legit scorer who has the ball. When Ash was in, those same defenders were chasing her all over the court.

 

[Longtime fan]

The starters: Paige, Kaitlyn, Azzi, Sarah and Jana.

The subs: Ash and KK for sure. Now it becomes tricky. Morgan is probably one and I think Ice has to be one.

I would put Aubrey on the list but right now, she still has to get in gamer shape.

I would not be surprised if Geno went 10 deep for games.

Morgan isn't good enough yet. She plays okay against Xavier, but did zero positive things in limited time against Creighton. Alli never got off the bench. Kaitlyn would have been 0-10 if she didn't refuse to shoot again after 0-7. So her one good game did not carry over. Without much, much more from her, we can't get beyond elite 8. Jana is easily out classed. She is likely to get better each year-end be terrific in another 2 seasons. ICE is an enigma, but playing better. But she is no post player. She is a decent forward. UCONN has still not solved the "BIG'"problem.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Morgan isn't good enough yet. She plays okay against Xavier, but did zero positive things in limited time against Creighton. Alli never got off the bench. Kaitlyn would have been 0-10 if she didn't refuse to shoot again after 0-7. So her one good game did not carry over. Without much, much more from her, we can't get beyond elite 8. Jana is easily out classed. She is likely to get better each year-end be terrific in another 2 seasons. ICE is an enigma, but playing better. But she is no post player. She is a decent forward. UCONN has still not solved the "BIG'"problem.

Ice is a big girl and she has an outside shot now, something she didn’t have last year. She is light years better right now than Jana at kicking the ball back out to a shooter on the perimeter.