The new starting 5 will be...

[Vowelguy]

My gut says starting 5 is:
Chystal, Nurse, Lou, Pheese, Gabby

Who is Chystal?

 

[Carnac]

I disagree with you on two points. Geno is not one to change the starting lineup once set or unless it becomes absolutely necessary. The last time it became necessary was after the Stanford loss and what made it both necessary & possible was Morgan Tuck & Kia Nurse vs. Saniya & Kiah Stokes . Among the players competing for starting positions this year I just don't see a similar gap in talent that would "necessitate" a change in starters depending on the opponent. There will be plenty of minutes to develop the team for a March/April championship run.
I am predicting both Gabby and Napheesa start but this would be Gabby 3rd year playing that spark off the bench role. I think Gabby's scoring, perimeter defense, and leadership will be needed, so if Geno has to pick one I think it is Napheesa who comes off the bench.

I completely agree with your "Tuck/Nurse vs. Chong/Stokes comment. I too predict that Williams & Collier start. Yes, Geno will need a spark off the bench that Gabby provided last year. Gabby was instant energy last year whenever she came into the game. Hopefully another player can step up, and assume that role this year. I have a sneaking suspicion that the freshmen will get a considerable amount of playing time this year. Last year's team had no weaknesses.

They were a veteran team. They could score at will, They could turn you over and they could smother you on defense. If a team scored more than 60 points against UConn last year, they considered it a moral victory.
In 38 games, only 5 teams (DePaul - 70, Notre Dame - 81, Maryland - 73, Temple - 60 & Texas - 65) broke 60 points. That means that in only 13% of their games, did UConn's opponents hit for 60 or more.
Notre Dame had the distinction of being the only team to break 80.

 

[Florida Fan]

Carnac, very good point again on Gabby being a little foul prone the past 2 years. if she can learn to play without getting into foul trouble early , maybe she is the 5th starter. If not she will fill the 6th man role.

Either way I think the role of 5th starter , or 6th man , is between Gabby and Pheese. Geno is going to need a spark and some experience coming in off the bench to fill a 2, 3, or 4 position. and Gabby or Pheese is that player.[/QUOT

 

[Florida Fan]

Putting Gabby on a bigger (taller-heavier) player makes her foul vulnerable. Yes, she can jump, but against a physical post player, body contact is almost inevitable.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Putting Gabby on a bigger (taller-heavier) player makes her foul vulnerable. Yes, she can jump, but against a physical post player, body contact is almost inevitable.

I think you're hitting on a key point: How well can Gabby defend the post? She's also quite strong, but I seem to recall her struggling in the past against true bigs (who wouldn't?). But Gabby is a key to the season because of her versatility. If she can effectively defend the post, she becomes even more valuable.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I posted this on the previous STARTING 5 POST, so it also fits here:

I really believe that Chong, Butler are going to reach back into their recent past and during this off season work their tails off to bring back the PLAYER within! They have been considered by many to be very good WBB players, Chong in HS and Butler at Georgetown, so if they stay injury free we will see a rejuvenated 2 players capable of putting the Huskies on their shoulders and scoring and defending as we have hoped for.
That being said, my starting lineup for beginning the 2016-2017 season is as follows:

PG Saniya Chong
SG Kia Nurse
PF Naphessa Collier
SF KLS
C Natalie Butler
SF Gabby Williams- - - Geno has loved a player coming off the bench to add some zip to the action, Gabby is that player.

In mid to late January:
PG rotating Chong, Nurse, & Crystal Dangerfield, Bent
SG Nurse, KLS,
SF KLS, Gabby,
PF Collier, KLS, Irwin,
C Butler, Irwin

For AAC and NCAA Tournaments: Where Geno has traditionally shortened his bench: to 8 players
PG Crystal Dangerfield/ Saniya/Nurse
SG Nurse/KLS/Saniya
SG/SF KLS/
SF Gabby/Collier
PF/C Collier/Butler/Irwin

 

[Shorty Dee]

According to an article I read last night in the New Britain Herald, the only locked players for the game against Florida will be Kia and Lou. The article also stated Kia had the longest active starting streak (48) followed by Lou (22) Gabby (12) Saniya and Napheesa (9) and Natalie (1).

The title of the article "UConn women's basketball's Nurse lends experience to young Huskies"

 

[CocoHusky]

According to an article I read last night in the New Britain Herald, the only locked players for the game against Florida will be Kia and Lou. The article also stated Kia had the longest active starting streak (48) followed by Lou (22) Gabby (12) Saniya and Napheesa (9) and Natalie (1).

The title of the article "UConn women's basketball's Nurse lends experience to young Huskies"

The title & purpose of this thread was to pick 5 starter, so who you got?

 

[Shorty Dee]

The title & purpose of this thread was to pick 5 starter, so who you got?

I do not know what happened to my original post. My pick for the starting 5 are Kia; Gabby; Lou; Napheesa and Crystal. Saniya only if she has improved her defense and the IT Band isn't an issue.

 

[CocoHusky]

I do not know what happened to my original post. My pick for the starting 5 are Kia; Gabby; Lou; Napheesa and Crystal. Saniya only if she has improved her defense and the IT Band isn't an issue.

You posted in another Thread. I copied it over here for you.

I predict that the starting 5 for this year will be: Kia; Gabby; Lou; Napheesa and Crystal, and I am sticking to it . If Saniya has improved her defense and the IT band isn't an issue, she could start instead of Crystal.

 

[Shorty Dee]

You posted in another Thread. I copied it over here for you.

Thank you!!

 

[Monte]

I think Chong will start. And I think she will get the CD treatment.... she will stay the starter but will lose minutes to Crystal and Molly.
If Gabby has got that three pointer working she has the advantage over Phee. So Phee or Natalie who do you start?

Question is will Geno go back to Stef type offense?

Natalie passes well, and her screening is good. And she clogs up the middle on defense. But she tends to put the ball on the floor even when she is going nowhere... and she is foul prone .... don't expect more that 20 to 25 minutes a game.

KLS will be the center of attention this year and she is going to get beat up bad .... remember Stewie's freshman year?

and come January you can throw all this out.

I think Chong SHOULD start. She deserves it, after all she has been through. My major wish is that she and the rest of the roster can stay "injury free."

 

[bizarro aj]

I will start by saying that gabby and kls are not guards and will not play guards at all. Geno will not start a freshman early in the season especially with their tough schedule to start the season. I expect the starters in the first few weeks to be nurse, chong, kls, gabby and Collier with butler to be the first off the bench.

 

[donalddoowop]

I will start by saying that gabby and kls are not guards and will not play guards at all. Geno will not start a freshman early in the season especially with their tough schedule to start the season. I expect the starters in the first few weeks to be nurse, chong, kls, gabby and Collier with butler to be the first off the bench.

Gabby is a guard who plays forward.

 

[ricky]

Collier can do things nobody else can. She is willing to do things no one else is. She can score from all over the place. If she has gotten strong enough to grip the ball in traffic after a rebound and drive without getting knocked off track, then she can be the best UConn has. I've seen her greatness during USA play where she was one of the best but coach gave Wilson the opportunity to shine.

 

[bizarro aj]

Gabby is a guard who plays forward.

Really? How many times has she played at guard her first 2yrs for uconn? Thats like saying stewie and maya are guards!

 

[CocoHusky]

Really? How many times has she played at guard her first 2yrs for uconn? Thats like saying stewie and maya are guards!

Two years if you go by the official UCONN roster. Not sure why it really matters. Is Gabby going to start or nah?

 

[dtbtbtb]

To start the season I think it will be Kia, KLS, Phee, Gabby and Butler. Kia and KLS will bring the ball up court and you need Butler's size against teams like FSU and Baylor. During the season I can see Chong or Danger starting instead of Butler (is she didn't improve as much as we all hope she did).

 

[JoePgh]

Really? How many times has she played at guard her first 2yrs for uconn? Thats like saying stewie and maya are guards!

On defense, Gabby played guard last year on nearly every possession when she was in the game. She was only a forward on offense.

And there were a significant number of times when Lou played guard on offense, including handling the ball against the press.

Both players are highly versatile, and they will need that versatility this year.

 

[bizarro aj]

Geno will play the 5 players who have experience against a good team on the road and the ones the coaches trust the most. As far as i know the freshman have no experience and butler has limited mins against a tough team on the road mostly in mop up time.

 

[CocoHusky]

Geno will play the 5 players who have experience against a good team on the road and the ones the coaches trust the most. As far as i know the freshman have no experience and butler has limited mins against a tough team on the road mostly in mop up time.

Wait,.... some team has Freshmen with experience?

 

[easttexastrash]

It will be interesting to see who starts against Baylor. If Butler is not ready to start and log some significant minutes it could be a long day in the paint for UCONN with Baylor having players at 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and 6-7 to share playing time down low. It will be very interesting to see how Geno combats that size if he has to go with a small lineup. Cave is the shortest of the four post players but may have the longest arms, so she plays bigger than 6-3.

 

[easttexastrash]

Wait,.... some team has Freshmen with experience?

Dangerfield certainly has experience against quality players, just not at the college level. The other two...not so much. Cox has a lot of experience, just not at the college level. But you can call MVP in international play experience.

 

[DEFCONN1]

I just want to throw my milk bones in, so here goes;
Katie Lou
Pheesa
Natalie
Kia
Saniya
With Gabby first off the bench and Chrystal getting more and more playing time as the season goes on.

 

[CocoHusky]

Dangerfield certainly has experience against quality players, just not at the college level. The other two...not so much. Cox has a lot of experience, just not at the college level. But you can call MVP in international play experience.

All players have different levels of experience.
All Freshmen have Zero collegiate experience coming in thus they are Freshmen.

 

[Longtime fan]

I'm still scratching my head on this one...

I believe Geno will begin with a veteran line-up, including Soniya and Nurse at guard. Katie Lou and Naphessa will also start. So that leaves one spot.

I would be amazed if Butler can earn it, as she simply doesn't seem very athletic or reliable. So Gabby is logical, unless coach wants her off the bench. Maybe one of the freshman will earn a spot. I don't think it will be Crystal, although I expect her to start after the first month to 6 weeks of the season.

It will be interesting to watch.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

This is an old article, but Kia's remarks make me think she sees Crystal in line up sooner rather than later. Lofty expectations for UConn's Kia Nurse

"I have been playing off the ball more recently especially with the national team," Nurse said. "It wasn't my natural position but I was a point guard for most of my life so I do think I will be playing a little bit of both. I do think off the ball I can help out because I understand the offenses and those kinds of things and I think Moriah helped me out a lot with that last year. Doing a little bit of both, I think I can handle it.

"I think she (Dangerfield) has to understand that she is not alone in this. As somebody who has been here for a long time and worked with Mo (Jefferson) in that kind of sense, I learned from her and have Shea on your side and go through film, I have her back on that and I will help her out wth all of that."

 

[j66kicker]

This is an old article, but Kia's remarks make me think she sees Crystal in line up sooner rather than later. Lofty expectations for UConn's Kia Nurse

Didn't realize Nykesha was joining the UCF coaching staff....

SALES FITTING IN Aliyah Gregory was already fired up when she headed that Tahnee Balerio would be making the move from Albany along with newly-hired UCF head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson. Then when the high-scoring junior guard found out that former UConn and WNBA star Nykesha Sales would also be joining the UCF staff, she was downright giddy.

"It is amazing opportunity,' Gregory said. "I was already excited because we had Coach (Balerio) on our staff and then I found out Coach Keesh was hired and I said the two of them are going to take it to a new level."

 

[easttexastrash]

All Freshmen have Zero collegiate experience coming in thus they are Freshmen.

Wow! I had no idea! How did I make it to my 6th decade on this earth and not know that?

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Didn't realize Nykesha was joining the UCF coaching staff....

SALES FITTING IN Aliyah Gregory was already fired up when she headed that Tahnee Balerio would be making the move from Albany along with newly-hired UCF head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson. Then when the high-scoring junior guard found out that former UConn and WNBA star Nykesha Sales would also be joining the UCF staff, she was downright giddy.

"It is amazing opportunity,' Gregory said. "I was already excited because we had Coach (Balerio) on our staff and then I found out Coach Keesh was hired and I said the two of them are going to take it to a new level."

When the news about "Coach Keesh" first hit I was surprised because she had appeared to turn away from a professional connection to the sport and a total focus on her successful career in Florida real estate. Then I was delighted. The article is wrong in one particular; Keesh is very tough and she has a strong ego, but it's a mature ego.