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

[Zinethar]

If you watch YouTube videos you know there is always that one person who down votes everything. They think it is funny or cute. Of course it is not. Just makes you look stupid.

 

[Skeets]

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

I see your point. Kelly was tough, focused, and intense. I never though of her as a street fighter, but yeah, you could describe her that way. I would not be surprised if Nika let some choice Croatian words fly during the heat of battle. I don't think Kelly would do that, I don't believe she speaks Croatian

Or DT punching the basketball up right because she wanted to "hit something orange". I don't see Kelly doing something like that.

 

[and one]

I went with the consensus top four and plugged Nika in over AE because I think that's what will happen. If it were up to me I'd start AE every game until she proves she doesn't deserve it.

This is a year when there are more than five who would be legitimate starters. Who starts doesn't mean much, particularly early season. By mid-January we'll know which rotations work best, which of the freshmen are a better option than some of the older players, and which players have made the on court case that they simply have to be in the top 8 to 10.

If we have the depth we seem to, it will be hard to go wrong with any number of starting fives.

 

[Stymie]

Interesting- according to the top vote getters, UCONN Nation wants to stick with a four guard starting team.
Not my pick with all of the height Geno has amassed.
Maybe so, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing a “super sized” front line sometime in the first quarter.
(Dorka WILL be getting major minutes)

 

[Zanzman]

Aaliyah and Olivia are in the top 5 vote getters which one will be plaYing guard

 

[GoingPostal]

Just curious. Paige has 259 votes which translates to 99.6% of the voters putting her in the starting 5. Obviously .4% of the voters think otherwise. I'd love to read why they voted that way.

 

[Stymie]

Aaliyah and Olivia are in the top 5 vote getters which one will be plaYing guard

Oops
Oops

 

[oldhusky]

Aaliyah and Olivia are in the top 5 vote getters which one will be plaYing guard

You are correct that Aaliyah (clearly not a guard) is 5th in the voting and beat out Nika by a pretty close margin. On the other hand If you add Azzi's votes to Nika (guards) and combine Dorka with Aaliyah (bigs) the Boneyard appears to be near evenly split on whether that 5th starter should be a big or a guard.

I am for Aaliyah here, but clearly this has been and continues to be one of our most hotly debated issues.

 

[PacoSwede]

i'd be fine seeing how both nika and liya do the job, and letting evina sit to see how it works out ... evina's mature enough to accept coming off the bench. she knows she's plenty good enough to start but she also should know that taking the bench to start may in fact benefit the team the most. kinda like bria did a few years ago.

 

[Stymie]

You are correct that Aaliyah (clearly not a guard) is 5th in the voting and beat out Nika by a pretty close margin. On the other hand If you add Azzi's votes to Nika (guards) and combine Dorka with Aaliyah (bigs) the Boneyard appears to be near evenly split on whether that 5th starter should be a big or a guard.

I am for Aaliyah here, but clearly this has been and continues to be one of our most hotly debated issues.

In the final analysis, I believe Aaliyah will prove to be an all time great Husky.
In the meantime, I think that Dorka is going to force a tough decision.
Such problems...

 

[Eagle4]

Azzi and Dorka will have a MUCH greater impact on the team than the BY voters seem to be saying. Maybe another way of saying it matters much more who is on the floor at the end of close games than who starts.

 

[JoePgh]

Azzi and Dorka will have a MUCH greater impact on the team than the BY voters seem to be saying. Maybe another way of saying it matters much more who is on the floor at the end of close games than who starts.

If you are right (and you might well be), then they will replace Liv and (???) in the starting lineup after enough games to demonstrate the fact, but not in Game 1. Geno is not going to pull seniors out of the starting lineup until younger players demonstrate in games (not just practices) that they will play consistently better.

But the difficulty is that (I think) Geno will go with a 3-guard, 2-big lineup. If he does that, I have trouble seeing him benching any of [Paige, Christyn, Evina] unless they clearly play badly over the course of several games, which I do not foresee. I think all of them have shown enough productivity that they will not lose their starting job to a freshman even if she is really good. But if Azzi is that good, she will get 20-25 minutes off the bench, as Bria Hartley did in her freshman year.

But Geno will be quick to pull the trigger if he sees any lapse in effort or defensive performance. He demonstrated that when an overtime loss to Stanford was enough to make him pull Kiah Stokes and Saniya Chong out of the starting lineup, and replace them with Morgan Tuck and freshman Kia Nurse. That was after only 2 games in that season. Morgan and Kia held their starting jobs for the rest of that season, and indeed for subsequent seasons.

 

[eebmg]

It took a while but some goofball did not vote for Paige

 

[jchusky]

very surrpised of the 5 starters Evina got the lowest votes, I thought Olivia for sure would have gotten less. I voted Olivia tho, I think some ppl been too hard on her for one game.

 

[HopJim]

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

Suspect in practice, Aaliyah has the ability to dominate Dorka. Too strong. Too quick. Geno not likely to ignore what he sees every day.

 

[Dokey]

Well, I don't. ONO was only 2nd team in the AAC in 2020 and 2nd team BE last year. Not sure what all the dynamics of those awards are, but the results don't seem equal to me.

In big games, ONO wasn't a positive points factor. Something seems to be missing when the pressure is on.

Tennessee - 7 pts
Arkansas - 2 pts
South Carolina - 6 pts
Iowa - 4 pts
Baylor - 3 pts
Arizona - 1 pt.

One other stat that got my attention too was rebounds. Last year ONO only had 28 more defensive rebounds than Paige. By comparison, Aliyah Boston had 152 more defensive rebounds than Zia Cooke.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of ONO. She brings a lot to the team. But, on the court I think UConn can do better, and I think Geno was/is thinking the same thing with his pursuit of Dorka. He's hinted that she's going to help take the team to the next level, and we'll have to wait and see how the two of them perform and fit into his plans. Ideally, they can each force each other to be the best they can be.

Dorka
May not start first game but will start last game.

 

[Dokey]

The foam is starting to come from the mouth of the Husky faithful!! Who will start and who will perform? We have many who favor different camps. I for one think who starts against Fort Hays won't be who starts by the Big dance comes around. Seniority will affects who starts in the beginning of the year and talent who factor in who starts at the dance. With no injury's her are my first game starting 5 and my Big dance sarting five.
Fort Hays
1. Paige
2. CW
3. Evina
4. LIv
5. Aaliyah

Big Dance
1. Paige
2. Azzi
3.Dorka
4. Aaliyah
5. CW

My guess as well, with Caroline getting substantial minutes.

 

[Stymie]

Suspect in practice, Aaliyah has the ability to dominate Dorka. Too strong. Too quick. Geno not likely to ignore what he sees every day.

If that is true, then Aaliyah tramples Liv.
I don’t believe that to be true.
And we don’t know what Geno sees every day.
Dorka has much more experience against top flight competition.
Experience counts for something.
And She FINISHES.

 

[Dokey]

Folks, you do know only one person’s vote counts?

 

[Ozimoto]

But where is the fun in conceding that and not speculating?

 

[DEpup]

I don't know why we are so concerned about which forwards start.... I still believe that the post position is much more grueling than being a guard so if you want your post players able to give 110% while they are out there then you should keep their minutes in the 20-24 mpg area tops. The way I look at it there are 80 minutes to split between Olivia, Dorka, Aaliyah, and some developmental minutes for others...(Evina for me is the 3/SF in this scenario and would only get minimal minutes at the 4) I think that is plenty of minutes to keep a post player engaged and playing all out aggressive every play. The reality is that Olivia has had to manage her energy over the years with no help beyond a freshman Aaliyah and a too small Aubrey. I'm looking forward to seeing an Olivia with less weight on her shoulders. I have to think the weight of being the only big option in top tier games messes with your head. She knew a couple fouls and the game could be over for them and she would let all UConn nation down. Not everyone is Paige with no fear. I think this board often underestimates the pressure these still young adults are under and how that plays out in games. For Liv, I think she defaults to her strength which is defense and becomes tentative on offense. This shows in the big games where her points have been almost nill but her rebounds and other defense stats were good. I am hoping this year in big games she can sustain the defense and get about 10 pts with less pressure on her shoulders with Dorka and an older Aaliyah working with her.

 

[Vowelguy]

The person who didnt vote for Paige should be banned from the board for lack of intelligence (but given a free membership to the SummiTT ).

Paige, CW, Ono are no brainers.

I still go with Nika & EW, but a slight chance Aaliyah gets in there.

 

[JonathanXIV]

The person who didnt vote for Paige should be banned from the board for lack of intelligence (but given a free membership to the SummiTT ).

Paige, CW, Ono are no brainers.

I still go with Nika & EW, but a slight chance Aaliyah gets in there.

My theory is that a voter checked five boxes and clicked submit before realizing they forgot Paige. Given the choices and talent available, not a hard thing to do.

 

[Vowelguy]

My theory is that a voter checked five boxes and clicked submit before realizing they forgot Paige. Given the choices and talent available, not a hard thing to do.

That excuse is so unacceptable, you are now on a "watch" list.

 

[oldhusky]

Of the 8 players on the list (excluding freshmen Azzi and Caroline) I think it is conceivable that not one of them will play more minutes per game than last year. If they had an over/under bet on minutes per game this year vs. last year, I would take the under on everyone except probably Aaliyah.

Even in her case, she would probably need to start for that to be true.