Time for the final starting 5 poll before Geno tells us who it will be...

[Stymie]

I don't. But I chose Liv instead. Geno showed several years ago that he won't necessarily start his best when he had Dangerfield start rather than Stevens. He goes with fit too. IMO he didn't think Nurse should be the starting pg. She was a backup pg but not the player he wanted to start as a pg. My wild guess is that he felt comfortable with Danger from the prior year, and I think he'll start season feeling comfortable with Liv's superior overall defense this year, and see what Dorka brings before putting her ahead of Liv.

I chose both Liv and Dorka.
Time for the big front line era to begin.

 

[Carnac]

I assumed we are talking about the Arkansas game. The first 4 are easy imo, Paige, Christyn, Evina & Liv. I wrestled with who the 5th starter will be: Nika, Aaliyah & Azzi.

Ultimately, I went with Aaliyah because that’s the way last season ended and I expect that while the competition for PT at UConn’s practices is fierce, nothing has changed……yet.

That’s the dilemma Geno will have. I have the same 4 as locks. I’m guessing Azzi gets the nod here because Geno probably wants her to get some rhythm and confidence early in their games. Aaliyah needs no time to warm up. She and Aubrey are our version of “Vennie Johnson” they are instant energy coming off the bench. They both start making plays on both ends of the court as soon as they step onto the floor.

 

[oldhusky]

no idea how it's 33 for Dorka, so that would mean that either Edwards or Olivia would hit the bench. Don't see what they have done to lose their starting job.

I think the point is you don't have to do anything to lose your starting position. If you come back a little better and more experienced than the prior year, you can still lose your starting position if someone else is better. It is not an entitlement. There are probably many players on this year's team that will be better than last year and play less.

I'm sure Geno will consider the burden of proof to be on the challenger. If it is close the incumbent still starts, but if the newcomer is clearly better he should make the move. I think we might be too loyal to the senior starters. If Liv, Evina or Christyn winds up coming off the bench then we will have an exceptional team, because it means somebody from Azzi, Dorka, Caroline etc was clearly better.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I swung for the fences - Dorka and Azzi. But I may change my mind tomorrow, when the Last Last poll comes out.

 

[D J B]

I swung for the fences - Dorka and Azzi. But I may change my mind tomorrow, when the Last Last poll comes out.

Wait... the Last Last poll comes out tomorrow? Why didn't someone point this out a couple of pages ago? All this time wasted.

I, like you, also took a swing for the exact same fence.

 

[Skeets]

I am a huge Nika fan. We need the gnat. My prediction: Azzi is going to start if she proves to be 80% of her in coming hype. So, who doesn't start? It pains me to think that it's Nika. But it cannot be Azzi.

 

[D J B]

I am a huge Nika fan. We need the gnat. My prediction: Azzi is going to start if she proves to be 80% of her in coming hype. So, who doesn't start? It pains me to think that it's Nika. But it cannot be Azzi.

I'm a huge Nika fan, too. No matter who gets the starting job, Nika will have her role on the team. There will be times in almost every game when Geno will need someone to go out there and totally disrupt the other team's offense and game plan. Nika is that someone. Let her get in someone's face, earn a few fouls, wreak a little havoc. Take her out, put her back in, let her do it again. That's what I love about her. She holds her own in a street fight.

 

[Centerstream]

Wait... the Last Last poll comes out tomorrow? Why didn't someone point this out a couple of pages ago? All this time wasted.

I, like you, also took a swing for the exact same fence.

I swung for the fences - Dorka and Azzi. But I may change my mind tomorrow, when the Last Last poll comes out.

It's a fact, the poll coming out tomorrow will be the "Last Last poll"...that is until the next "Last Starting Five Poll" comes out...and on and on.
The off season is so much fun.

 

[JoePgh]

So, as long as the game is competitive any of 13 players can carry the team? Really? Say we are tied with SC with 1:30 to go, and you are comfortable with Piath, Amari, Caroline, Aubrey and Mir on the court? Geno, are you listening to this?

I also guess Saylor can go back to the dorm for the season and watch her team on TV?

You misunderstood what I was trying to convey in my post (maybe I didn't make it clear). I was NOT saying, by any means, that all the players in each of the two groups that I listed (within square brackets) are equal to each other or will get equal minutes. The point of my post was that there will almost always be two forwards and three guards on the floor, and they will be drawn from the groups as I listed them. I didn't say anything about how the minutes will be apportioned within each group.

I did forget about Saylor -- sorry. I would group her with the forwards.

 

[Skeets]

I'm a huge Nika fan, too. No matter who gets the starting job, Nika will have her role on the team. There will be times in almost every game when Geno will need someone to go out there and totally disrupt the other team's offense and game plan. Nika is that someone. Let her get in someone's face, earn a few fouls, wreak a little havoc. Take her out, put her back in, let her do it again. That's what I love about her. She holds her own in a street fight.

Street fight? I'm 6'2" and 200 pounds (give or take, hopefully more take than give) and I would not want Nika mad at me in a dark alley... I would have my eyeballs scratched out. UCONN needs this kind of person. Has UCONN have this kind of player since the GOAT DT?

 

[jchusky]

I'm a huge Nika fan, too. No matter who gets the starting job, Nika will have her role on the team. There will be times in almost every game when Geno will need someone to go out there and totally disrupt the other team's offense and game plan. Nika is that someone. Let her get in someone's face, earn a few fouls, wreak a little havoc. Take her out, put her back in, let her do it again. That's what I love about her. She holds her own in a street fight.

excellent strategy. Have her pick up fouls so the other team gets free throws. Bold Strategy

 

[Tonyc]

To start the season Azzi will come off the bench and Evina will start. With that said Azzi will get alot of minutes. CW and Paige are 100% starting. A little birdie told me.

 

[BostonBay]

Paige, Azzi & Dorka and Geno could get 2 players off the street and UConn would still win the Big East.

 

[BostonBay]

Nika is the perfect 6th Player. Instant energy off the bench. Can play aggressive & well in spurts. But, she's nowhere near the talent of Azzi.

 

[Cornell Lt]

I predict that the starting five will the 5 players that Geno/Chris has determined earned it, through seniority and/or their work in practice.

 

[BBallF]

I assumed we are talking about the Arkansas game. The first 4 are easy imo, Paige, Christyn, Evina & Liv. I wrestled with who the 5th starter will be: Nika, Aaliyah & Azzi.

Ultimately, I went with Aaliyah because that’s the way last season ended and I expect that while the competition for PT at UConn’s practices is fierce, nothing has changed……yet.

True but the reason AE started was because of the Nika injury. Geno loves Nika's defense at the point and the way she sets up the team. He said last year that the team was better with her. I think she starts against Arkansas and the first sub is either a big, or two, maybe for Evina and ONO, and then we see Azzi, maybe for Nika, and Paige slides to the point. It's a real conundrum because you also have Aubrey who has been overlooked by many here but shouldn't be. She is the best floor player on the team and a junior. It's a great pressing team actually. I know a lot of BYers were disappointed with Azzi in the U19 but I wasn't. She deferred to the older players on offense which is not unusual but I was impressed with her on-ball defense which I didn't know about and I think she can be very effective in a press. She has great pass lane anticipation and will get a lot of deflections this year. That's a very important part of a press.

 

[oldhusky]

Just an observation. Apparently most on the Boneyard want to keep the starting lineup, going with Aaliyah or Nika as the 5th starter depending on who you consider the incumbent there.

What I find interesting is outside shooting at least by Uconn's high standards was a relative weakness last year, with just one shooter that really scared the opposition, just Paige. Yes Christyn, Evina and Nika could make an ok percentage of them, but stopping Paige outside and Aaliyah and Liv inside is a much higher defensive priority. A three pointer from those three is something opponents can live with.

Now everyone is very excited about adding great shooting in Azzi, Caroline and perhaps Saylor, and we are all pumped about how deep we are, but the popular starting line-up choices don't address the outside shooting at all. We have the same issue until Azzi or Caroline get into the game to replace Christyn, Evina or Nika.

Unless Azzi and Caroline reduce the minutes for some of those three substantially, the problem continues. Yes we would have good "bench" three point shooting and that helps, but for a team that expects to be great, the favored starting lineups would not address in a big way what is probably our number 1 team weakness, despite now having potential solutions on the bench.

Best fit vs. best player overall could be a factor here. I would like to see one more shooter in the starting lineup, most likely Azzi at the expense of Christyn or Evina. In Azzi's case it might be better player overall and better fit.

 

[Huskee11]

A testament to the projected team depth this year is that at the time of this post, Aubrey is tenth with 1 lonely vote.

She has logged over 1,000 minutes total over the last two years and was sixth in total minutes played in 2019-2020. She also started 5 games in 2020-2021.

She is now officially flying under the radar.

This may end up being the deepest UCWBB team ever. We will see.

 

[BBallF]

Aubrey is not going to start and we all know that but she is going to play a lot more minutes than people think. I don't think she is under Geno's radar. She is a junior, great versatile defender and leaper, long wing span, unselfish, and I opine this about her PT even if she didn't improve offensively over the summer. She does a lot of good things on the court for the team. I'm very excited to see her this year. At the worst, I assume she is stronger and quicker.
Last year, she was second on the team in rebounds per minutes played for a full season behind ONO, second in steals per minutes played behind Nika by 1%, 3rd on the team in FT % for players taking more than 25 free throws, and 1st in free throws per minutes played for players over 175 minutes. Those are the stats of a valuable floor player. Plus, she is a great young woman. She was a very young player in terms of actual age when she arrived here and I am really very hopeful that she makes the "jump" this year. In fact I am confident she will.

 

[JoePgh]

Just an observation. Apparently most on the Boneyard want to keep the starting lineup, going with Aaliyah or Nika as the 5th starter depending on who you consider the incumbent there.

What I find interesting is outside shooting at least by Uconn's high standards was a relative weakness last year, with just one shooter that really scared the opposition, just Paige. Yes Christyn, Evina and Nika could make an ok percentage of them, but stopping Paige outside and Aaliyah and Liv inside is a much higher defensive priority. A three pointer from those three is something opponents can live with.

Now everyone is very excited about adding great shooting in Azzi, Caroline and perhaps Saylor, and we are all pumped about how deep we are, but the popular starting line-up choices don't address the outside shooting at all. We have the same issue until Azzi or Caroline get into the game to replace Christyn, Evina or Nika.

Unless Azzi and Caroline reduce the minutes for some of those three substantially, the problem continues. Yes we would have good "bench" three point shooting and that helps, but for a team that expects to be great, the favored starting lineups would not address in a big way what is probably our number 1 team weakness, despite now having potential solutions on the bench.

Best fit vs. best player overall could be a factor here. I would like to see one more shooter in the starting lineup, most likely Azzi at the expense of Christyn or Evina. In Azzi's case it might be better player overall and better fit.

You have provided a very detailed argument for your position, which I certainly appreciate. However:

1. Have you considered the possibility that Christyn, Evina, and/or Nika could have improved their 3-point accuracy over the offseason to the point where it is at least in the high 30's (percent) range? I think that is most likely for Evina, who was hampered by injury last year. If that has occurred, then finding another 3-point shooter for the starting 5 is unnecessary.
2. Although Azzi (based on her hyped reputation) is probably a 40% to 45% 3-point shooter over her entire college career, it seems to me quite unlikely that she will be at that level from Game 1 of her freshman year. There will be just too much of a glare of visibility/pressure on her, and unlike Paige, she is not immune to that. I expect that her freshman year shooting will be like KLS's: bad for the first 10 games or so, then pretty good for the rest of the season, but never stellar until later years.
3. But if you are right and I am wrong about both of the above points (i.e., the returning guards are no better in their 3-point accuracy than last year, and Azzi is above 40% starting in Game 1), I still think that Geno will wait to see that be proven in competitive games before he alters the starting lineup. I think the same applies to Liv and Dorka -- even if Liv is unimproved and Dorka is an All Hungarian-American, Geno will wait until about mid-December to replace Liv with Dorka in the starting lineup.
4. Either way, everyone named in this conversation will get significant minutes (15-20 minimum) throughout the season, as will Caroline if she is as advertised. If Aubrey now has a mid-range jump shot, she also will get those minutes; otherwise she will occupy the end of the bench until she is needed to defend a particularly fast opposing guard.

 

[BBallF]

I agree with the first 3 but not the 4th. I don't think Aubrey's value is one dimensional. She is a very quick rebounder, can cover not just a guard but also a 3 ( small forward) and a 4 in a pinch, gets to the line, causes and gets steals, gets junk baskets and is a solid floor player. Yes, a mid range jumper would be great and is a deficit, but even without one I don't see her at the end of the bench.

 

[D J B]

A testament to the projected team depth this year is that at the time of this post, Aubrey is tenth with 1 lonely vote.

She has logged over 1,000 minutes total over the last two years and was sixth in total minutes played in 2019-2020. She also started 5 games in 2020-2021.

She is now officially flying under the radar.

This may end up being the deepest UCWBB team ever. We will see.

I think the hesitancy of anyone to choose Aubrey as a starter goes to something Geno said about her in his presser after the SC game. I think it's her consistency, probably just waiting on a little maturity. He likes to put her in and stir things up a bit. I think she'll get there.

"Aubrey will do ten things in the first fifteen seconds she's out there. Five of them will make you think 'why'd you put her out there', and the other five will make you think "why doesn't she start and play forty minutes'."

 

[Stymie]

I have some reservations regarding point #3.
I believe we will see liberal substitutions on the front line- mixing and matching players early on in the season, looking for chemistry and lethality from the towers he has at his disposal.
Aaliyah, Dorka, Liv and yes, some Piath will all get switched in and out, searching for the right fit in the right situations.
These experiments will begin early on, hopefully.

 

[JonathanXIV]

Street fight? I'm 6'2" and 200 pounds (give or take, hopefully more take than give) and I would not want Nika mad at me in a dark alley... I would have my eyeballs scratched out. UCONN needs this kind of person. Has UCONN have this kind of player since the GOAT DT?

What was Kelly Faris. Don't recall her giving an inch.

 

[calpedaler]

Question for the person who didn't vote Paige into the starting lineup, are you kidding me?!? Protest vote? Amusing yourself? Tragic mistake?