UConn Women basketball Early 2023-2024 Starting Five Prediction | Page 3 | The Boneyard

UConn Women basketball Early 2023-2024 Starting Five Prediction

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JellyBean said:
I frigging love this lineup, especially if we press. Go into 1-2-2 halfcourt or a 2-2-1 fullcourt press and then we can use our bench more, hopefully. Plus, this allows us to be the aggressor. We can be in attack mode from the jump.
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Yes! Her sophomore year, Nika was on the player bringing the ball up almost every possession. If UConn has the depth we all hope for, then she'll be able to do that, and UConn will be apply anything between soft pressure and close full-court pressure much of the time. Paige and Aubrey are both exceptional defenders in the open court. Aubrey with her speed and jumping ability, Paige with her uncanny ability to anticipate passes.
 
Bald Huskie said:
LMAO, are we going to have another debate about Nika? She is the point guard, Paige is the SG, Azzi is the small forward. Aubrey and Aaliyah are the forwards. We need people on the floor that can score, and we need a player on the floor that can get them the ball in the best position possible. @Kaizen has the right line-up, the fight will be who will be the players off the bench, and how many. THAT is going to be the question, who will step up for the bench minutes on this team. No brainer on the starters, but after that, the competition will be fierce. Love that!
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Bueckers is a pg
Fudd is a shooting guard

They may be the best at the position in the entire country.

Why are you moving them? I'll tell you why. You want Muhl to start at pg.

UConn is a better team with Bueckers at pg. She was moved as a freshman and Muhl started because Muhl was a better pg than Westbrook was a scoring guard. There is no need for Bueckers to shift to scoring guard. Fudd is a better shooter than Bueckers. And Ducharme at the wing is also an outstanding shooter and scorer.

Here's a lineup where players play where they are best.


pg - Bueckers
sg - Fudd
sf - Griffin
pf - Edwards
post Brady

This is my starting team. It assumes health.
 
Paige can play pg, and she may be better than anyone in D1 at it. But we still may be better with Nika at pg, at least for part of the game. And Paige is also an excellent sg, maybe the best in D1. It's not like we lose anything by playing her off the ball. What we gain is Nika's fire. The team is more focused on transition scoring with Nika on the floor, and team defense may be more energetic too. The way I see it, we can have two different team personalities opponents will have to deal with, one with Nika Azzi Paige in the backcourt and the other with Paige Azzi Caroline. I think this is a powerful resource.

I also want to see Ayanna as part of the transition defense unit. Aaliyah and Ayanna running the floor directed by Nika could be a truly intimidating experience for opponents. Aubrey and Q can rotate in and out of what I'll call Team Mayhem too. The transition game is the heart of UConn and we should have the personnel to revive it.

This means the Paige Azzi Caroline/Aubrey backcourt might include Aaliyah and Amari/Ice/Jana in the front court.

And the Nika Azzi Paige backcourt could feature Aaliyah Ayanna/Aubrey and Q in the front court.
 
Bone Dog said:
Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Husky fans everywhere who would like to see her succeed. And how can hope not happen? That's just too strange for me. Hope can always happen. I'm hoping for a donut right now. Whether I get it or not, the hope still happened.

Or perhaps you meant you don't share my hope that Amari succeeds. That sounds strange to me. Don't we all hope for that?
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I don't think I said anything about "hope." While I don't hope for a donut right now, I do "hope" that every player on the team plays to the best of their abilities and that the team wins NC #12 this coming year. My point is that I don't see Amari in the rotation this coming year and that is my personal viewpoint based on watching the games the last two years. That is coupled with my belief concerning the abilities of our two front court additions, Jana and Ice.
 
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Alydar said:
Bueckers is a pg
Fudd is a shooting guard

They may be the best at the position in the entire country.

Why are you moving them? I'll tell you why. You want Muhl to start at pg.

UConn is a better team with Bueckers at pg. She was moved as a freshman and Muhl started because Muhl was a better pg than Westbrook was a scoring guard. There is no need for Bueckers to shift to scoring guard. Fudd is a better shooter than Bueckers. And Ducharme at the wing is also an outstanding shooter and scorer.

Here's a lineup where players play where they are best.



pg - Bueckers
sg - Fudd
sf - Griffin
pf - Edwards
post Brady

This is my starting team. It assumes health.
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Every off season some posters always want to delegate Nika to the bench, I guess 7pts 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 time BE defensive player of the year, and from Genos own words the pacesetter and steadying force of the team, ain't good enough, and while I agree with some of ur points it's hard to believe tht you actually, and I love her energy, put Aubrey in the starting lineup over her. Seems some keep trying to demote her but the coach keeps proving them wrong...SMH Everyone Eats but someone has to set the table and Nika's one of the best in the country at it....imo
 
Skeets said:
Nope, wrong. Since every possible combination will be covered between now and the first game, we all can't be wrong.

I can guarantee that the starting 5 will be the 5 that earned it in practice.
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I certainly agree with that last statement!
 
Bone Dog said:
Paige can play pg, and she may be better than anyone in D1 at it. But we still may be better with Nika at pg, at least for part of the game. And Paige is also an excellent sg, maybe the best in D1. It's not like we lose anything by playing her off the ball. What we gain is Nika's fire. The team is more focused on transition scoring with Nika on the floor, and team defense may be more energetic too. The way I see it, we can have two different team personalities opponents will have to deal with, one with Nika Azzi Paige in the backcourt and the other with Paige Azzi Caroline. I think this is a powerful resource.

I also want to see Ayanna as part of the transition defense unit. Aaliyah and Ayanna running the floor directed by Nika could be a truly intimidating experience for opponents. Aubrey and Q can rotate in and out of what I'll call Team Mayhem too. The transition game is the heart of UConn and we should have the personnel to revive it.

This means the Paige Azzi Caroline/Aubrey backcourt might include Aaliyah and Amari/Ice/Jana in the front court.

And the Nika Azzi Paige backcourt could feature Aaliyah Ayanna/Aubrey and Q in the front court.
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Nika, as great a season as she had, was a turnover machine. That coupled with her reluctance to shoot/score makes Paige the obvious option at starting PG.

Aubrey is great, but she needs to work on her shooting. The great thing about Dorka starting next to Aaliyah was her ability to space the floor. Jana and Ice both have that ability, which is why I‘d go with either of them to let Aaliyah work in the post.
 
As I have commented before, I am more interested in who starts at the end of the year, particularly in the NCAA's, that I am the first game of the year. Too many issues Day 1 - players coming back from injuries, frosh getting their first minutes, etc. to give this much thought. With so little news, worthy of discussion but hopefully we have better topics soon.
 
Inês proved to be a serviceable PG last year. Unfortunately that's not good enough to break into the regular rotation. Inês will remain in the position she was brought in for, that is, an insurance policy.

We gonna go through the whole Nika thing again? Is this place ground hog day? The question isn't who is the best PG. The question is where is Paige's best position PG or SG? It could very well be a toss up. If so then wouldn't it make sense to play her at SG and the assist leader, 2 time BE DPOY at PG?
 
Skeets said:
Inês proved to be a serviceable PG last year. Unfortunately that's not good enough to break into the regular rotation. Inês will remain in the position she was brought in for, that is, an insurance policy.

We gonna go through the whole Nika thing again? Is this place ground hog day? The question isn't who is the best PG. The question is where is Paige's best position PG or SG? It could very well be a toss up. If so then wouldn't it make sense to play her at SG and the assist leader, 2 time BE DPOY at PG?
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Paige does not push the ball up the court, Nika does, and who better to receive Nika's baseball passes than our best finisher, Paige Bueckers.
 
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Skeets said:
Inês proved to be a serviceable PG last year. Unfortunately that's not good enough to break into the regular rotation. Inês will remain in the position she was brought in for, that is, an insurance policy.

We gonna go through the whole Nika thing again? Is this place ground hog day? The question isn't who is the best PG. The question is where is Paige's best position PG or SG? It could very well be a toss up. If so then wouldn't it make sense to play her at SG and the assist leader, 2 time BE DPOY at PG?
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With several of our guards being the positionless type, the labels are moot. The on-court happenings are what matter and smart players find the holes in the defense led by coaches who know the talent. Paige grew inherent coaching ability while sitting out this past season. It will be exciting to see what she brings with this new diamond of knowledge. The stew our team now has includes a taste for all seasons and defenses.
 
darrell said:
Nika, as great a season as she had, was a turnover machine. That coupled with her reluctance to shoot/score makes Paige the obvious option at starting PG.

Aubrey is great, but she needs to work on her shooting. The great thing about Dorka starting next to Aaliyah was her ability to space the floor. Jana and Ice both have that ability, which is why I‘d go with either of them to let Aaliyah work in the post.
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Griffin is athletic and she has great speed in the court. There was very good chemistry between CW and Paige. I missed their full court passes and finishes. I think Griffin plus Paige is a good combination as well.
 
darrell said:
Nika, as great a season as she had, was a turnover machine.
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This doesn’t strike me as a fair assessment of what Nika did last year. Her Assist/TO ratio was 2.24 on 284 assists. Out of context this doesn’t appear to be the best in the land. But it is arguably the best of any pg not at a mid-major school who also had over 200 assists. Only Rori Harmon comes close with an A/TO ratio of 2.3 on 228 assists. Even Caitlin’s A/TO ratio was 2.07 on 327 assists. This amount to 30 more turnovers than Nika had. I’d add that Nika did what she did with patchwork lineups and a team often so short handed as not to be able to run full practices for weeks on end.

It used to be possible to fault Nika’s offense. But I think she answered those critics this season, driving and finishing at the rim in the half court offense. She was no longer limited to transition layups and wide open mortar-shot 3s. These were often statement baskets, scoring when the team really needed her to break the ice or end a drought, shots she wouldn’t have taken the previous two years. Does she have another level she can take it to? I think so. The midrange jump shot is the next thing she needs to add to her game, and she’ll have the advantage of playing and practicing next to two tremendous midrange shooters.
 
Inês has come up a few times in this thread and I find myself thinking about her a lot. She’s got a big hill to climb, but Geno says she is feisty and sneaky quick. I don’t see her starting (except in extremis) but I wonder if she will yield all her minutes to the freshmen as some have imagined. She made lots of freshman mistakes last season. But in the Princeton game she was serviceable when we really needed her to be. And she hit two clutch free throws in the closing seconds to ice the game. I suspect there’s some metal in this kid.

Maybe KK will win out over Inês in practice, but I doubt it will be easy. After all, last season she went from a JuCo to a major D1 powerhouse in the blink of an eye and still managed to get off the bench — talk about finding your sea legs in a typhoon
 
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Alydar said:
Bueckers is a pg
Fudd is a shooting guard

They may be the best at the position in the entire country.

Why are you moving them? I'll tell you why. You want Muhl to start at pg.

UConn is a better team with Bueckers at pg. She was moved as a freshman and Muhl started because Muhl was a better pg than Westbrook was a scoring guard. There is no need for Bueckers to shift to scoring guard. Fudd is a better shooter than Bueckers. And Ducharme at the wing is also an outstanding shooter and scorer.

Here's a lineup where players play where they are best.



pg - Bueckers
sg - Fudd
sf - Griffin
pf - Edwards
post Brady

This is my starting team. It assumes health.
Expand ...
Nope, don't agree that Azzi is a better shooter than Paige. No way. She was lights-out in HS, not at UConn.
 
Happydad745 said:
Right now, without really knowing how well the 1st and 2nd year players will hold up, Geno might have the option to platoon all the starters in some games to continuously run the floor, press, and exhaust the other team.
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If we can adopt that pressing mindset and if the personnel allows for that type of play, I wish that we would go with that idea of pressing more. Being the aggressor and knocking down 3-point shots. That breaks an opponent's back and their will to continue. That Ohio State game was a great example.
 
hoopsfan22 said:
She's not. Paige shoots 53/43/83 and Azzi shoots 46/39/90. From 3, MoJeff, KML, and KLS were all better shooters than Azzi to name a few.
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Beware of statistics. Context means everything, especially when you have such a small sample size. Still, I agree Paige is the better shooter in game conditions, because she's the more assertive personality. Give us a full healthy season for each of them playing side by side with their best friend and I think we'll see Azzi shooting on a par with Paige.
 
tkaes said:
Whose minutes would you reduce so Ines can play more? Paige? Certainly not. Azzi? No. Nika? I don't care how much Ines may improve, she's not going to surpass those 3.
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And where, in my post, did I state anything about her future playing minutes?
 
hoopsfan22 said:
She's not. Paige shoots 53/43/83 and Azzi shoots 46/39/90. From 3, MoJeff, KML, and KLS were all better shooters than Azzi to name a few.
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By this logic, Paige shot 35% from 3 last year. Azzi shot 45% the same year. Both had a slight Sophomore slump.

Paige is better at creating her own shot off the dribble, like Steph Curry, but Azzi is the better technical, spot-up shooter, like Klay Thompson.
 
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Carnac said:
Today is April 28, 2023. Today, I can't argue with this potential starting line-up. During the first week in November, that might change, but I can go with THIS one for now and throughout the summer. :cool: Season, experienced veterans every one of them. All of them have started in the past. You're going to get some "push-back" on the lineup. We do this every summer. There will be posters that may not have Nika or Aubrey in theirs and will give you chapter and verse why. Some might have Caroline starting and Aubrey coming off the bench. I think Paige,we Azzi, and Aaliyah are locks to start next season. A lot can happen in 7 months.
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Carnac, I agree wholeheartedly with you about Paige, Azzi and Aaliyah starting. I've gotten a lot of pushback on this but I think Niki will be coming off the bench in a sub mode. The game of woman's basketball is undergoing a change. Teams like South Caroline, Stanford, LSU and many of the other ranked ones are going bigger and whether he wants to or not Geno is going to have to join them. If we put Aubrey in there you are also getting a sort of guard/wing combo. If not her we have two other 6'5" players. And add to that the fact that we have two of the best hs guards in the nation coming in and one of them is a pure point guard. I just don't think that leaves a lot of room for Niki to start.
 
Bone Dog said:
This doesn’t strike me as a fair assessment of what Nika did last year. Her Assist/TO ratio was 2.24 on 284 assists. Out of context this doesn’t appear to be the best in the land. But it is arguably the best of any pg not at a mid-major school who also had over 200 assists. Only Rori Harmon comes close with an A/TO ratio of 2.3 on 228 assists. Even Caitlin’s A/TO ratio was 2.07 on 327 assists. This amount to 30 more turnovers than Nika had. I’d add that Nika did what she did with patchwork lineups and a team often so short handed as not to be able to run full practices for weeks on end.

It used to be possible to fault Nika’s offense. But I think she answered those critics this season, driving and finishing at the rim in the half court offense. She was no longer limited to transition layups and wide open mortar-shot 3s. These were often statement baskets, scoring when the team really needed her to break the ice or end a drought, shots she wouldn’t have taken the previous two years. Does she have another level she can take it to? I think so. The midrange jump shot is the next thing she needs to add to her game, and she’ll have the advantage of playing and practicing next to two tremendous midrange shooters.
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Agree with all you said and would add, preseason posters who identified areas Nika needed to improve in cited increasing her point production, reducing her fouls and getting to the line and making free throws. She has increased her point production each of her three years, kept fouls in check this season and went to the line 70 times this season (3 1/2 times greater than her combined 20 attempts her first two years) and finished those attempts at .729.

Each season she has increased her a/to as well. This past season Nika had the ball in her hands far more than any other player and yet her a/to was way better than everyone by a good margin. If you couple this with what Bone Dog noted above, to suggest that she is a turnover machine just is not an accurate assessment.

In many of the posts which suggest a diminished role for Nika next season, there is no acknowledgment of her leadership and voice. Several posters who experienced the game(s) live, this past season, noted how they could constantly hear Nika directing her teammates. You can add Geno to that list as well. In virtually every huddle on the court you see an animated Nika speaking and her teammates heads turned to her listening. Beyond any statistical impact Nika has, her ability to fire up and lead her teammates is something that should not be discounted. I expect Nika and Paige to be a tremendously effective pair of team leaders for the upcoming season, with Aaliyah, more so with her performance than her voice making that a triumvirate.
 
Bone Dog said:
This doesn’t strike me as a fair assessment of what Nika did last year. Her Assist/TO ratio was 2.24 on 284 assists. Out of context this doesn’t appear to be the best in the land. But it is arguably the best of any pg not at a mid-major school who also had over 200 assists. Only Rori Harmon comes close with an A/TO ratio of 2.3 on 228 assists. Even Caitlin’s A/TO ratio was 2.07 on 327 assists. This amount to 30 more turnovers than Nika had. I’d add that Nika did what she did with patchwork lineups and a team often so short handed as not to be able to run full practices for weeks on end.

It used to be possible to fault Nika’s offense. But I think she answered those critics this season, driving and finishing at the rim in the half court offense. She was no longer limited to transition layups and wide open mortar-shot 3s. These were often statement baskets, scoring when the team really needed her to break the ice or end a drought, shots she wouldn’t have taken the previous two years. Does she have another level she can take it to? I think so. The midrange jump shot is the next thing she needs to add to her game, and she’ll have the advantage of playing and practicing next to two tremendous midrange shooters.
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I’m a huge Nika fan and there’s no denying how great of a season she had. The difference between her and Rori & Caitlin (Olivia Miles is another great example) is that they can each create their own offense as well as for others.

If Nika wants a long WNBA career for herself, she has to show the ability to score the ball. 41/34/73 splits on 7 points/game. Even 10 points/game with her assist numbers would be an improvement.
 
darrell said:
Nika, as great a season as she had, was a turnover machine. That coupled with her reluctance to shoot/score makes Paige the obvious option at starting PG.

Aubrey is great, but she needs to work on her shooting. The great thing about Dorka starting next to Aaliyah was her ability to space the floor. Jana and Ice both have that ability, which is why I‘d go with either of them to let Aaliyah work in the post.
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A Turnover machine you say, Her career TO avg is roughly 2.6 a game and thts with an average of nearly 4 last year where there was no Paige and an limited Azzi and Caroline all pretty sure handed players, Paiges career average TO per game is 2.5....soooo. Nika shot 41% and 34% from 3, Azzi shot 46% and 34% from 3 and Caroline shot 46% and 34%. Players like Paige and Catlin Clark are combo guards, Azzi's more of a shooting guard and Nika's a point guard, and yes there is a difference. With a completely healthy team I thk Nika could easily avg 10 assist a game. And Before we put Ice and Jana on the wall of fame let's take the Missouri approach...Show me.
 
Alydar said:
Bueckers is a pg
Fudd is a shooting guard

They may be the best at the position in the entire country.

Why are you moving them? I'll tell you why. You want Muhl to start at pg.

UConn is a better team with Bueckers at pg. She was moved as a freshman and Muhl started because Muhl was a better pg than Westbrook was a scoring guard. There is no need for Bueckers to shift to scoring guard. Fudd is a better shooter than Bueckers. And Ducharme at the wing is also an outstanding shooter and scorer.

Here's a lineup where players play where they are best.



pg - Bueckers
sg - Fudd
sf - Griffin
pf - Edwards
post Brady

This is my starting team. It assumes health.
Expand ...
I have to disagree with you. DT was a better PG than Maria Conlon after Sue graduated and a couple championships later together I think it worked out fine.

I agree with others. Nika is better at defense and pushing the ball while Paige is a hugely better scorer and play maker in the quarter court. Start them both with Fudd in the back court. They complement each other well.

Most of UConn's championships came with at least a combo guard or a second PG in the back court.
 
Dogstar said:
A Turnover machine you say, Her career TO avg is roughly 2.6 a game and thts with an average of nearly 4 last year where there was no Paige and an limited Azzi and Caroline all pretty sure handed players, Paiges career average TO per game is 2.5....soooo. Nika shot 41% and 34% from 3, Azzi shot 46% and 34% from 3 and Caroline shot 46% and 34%. Players like Paige and Catlin Clark are combo guards, Azzi's more of a shooting guard and Nika's a point guard, and yes there is a difference. With a completely healthy team I thk Nika could easily avg 10 assist a game. And Before we put Ice and Jana on the wall of fame let's take the Missouri approach...Show me.
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“Career average” includes a small sample size seeing as she shared ball handling duties with both Evina and Paige up until this year.

She had 17 games with 4 or more TOs this year, including 7 (to 5 assists) and 3 points on 3 shots in the last game against a scrappy OSU team. Of course it’s hypothetical, but that’s not happening to Paige at all.
 
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