Updated: UConn Lineup

[Sluconn Husky]

Does any of this seem right?

Don't see how Camara played enough or showed enough to be in the starting lineup.

 

[JustinesGuy]

Don't see how Camara played enough or showed enough to be in the starting lineup.

Agreed. I have a gut feel with a healthy off season she will have a very solid year. We need a starter at 5 right?

I’m not high on MW and can’t give ONO the nod as a lanky freshman. I like Irwin but we’ll see.

 

[Phillyconn]

Please report to the AAA board! MW needs to show me something before we can call her an upgrade over GW.

In the name of that Ole Negro Spiritual “We shall see”.

 

[cferraro04]

In the name of that Ole Negro Spiritual “We shall see”.

I prefer the spiritual, "We shall overcome!"

 

[Phillyconn]

I prefer the spiritual, "We shall overcome!"

It used to be “We shall overcome “, but it’s been so long, now it’s “We shall see”. That’s from a Richard Pryor skit.

 

[maccca3232]

Here are the Game Score performances for Freshmen who played between 10 and 20 minutes since 2009-10 and also their changes from FR to SO seasons.

A couple had huge leaps (Collier and Jefferson), some good improvement (Moore, Faris, Battle, Banks), others modest improvement (Williams, Tuck, Chong, Valley. Note: Williams started from a high level but still improved) but there were also a couple that actually regressed (Stokes and Crockett).



Change from Season to Season
Huge 2/12 = 17%
Good 4/12 = 33%
Modest 4/12 = 33%
Regress 2/12 = 17%

You make your own conclusions on the expected performance of Walker next year.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I think there are 3 givens for starters next year--Lou, Pheesa, and Crystal. For the other 2 slots, picking ANYONE requires a leap of faith. Some folks seem confident about certain players, including Megan, Christyn, Olivia, Batouly, Kyla, Mikayla, and maybe Molly or Lexie. When I look at the returning players, I think Megan is by far the closest. She had a fairly typical UConn freshman season. In the games when Lou was out, Megan played some of her best basketball, including at UCLA and at Temple. She also did a solid job in the regular season against Notre Dame. She is clearly the most talented of the remaining returners. She's very athletic and has skills.

I had been thinking that Megan would start and Christyn would be the best option as the 5th starter, because she really has game. But that would be a small lineup. Then I thought about what Geno did last year. He said there were concerns either way, but the easiest thing to do was keep 4 players in the same positions as the prior year and replace the one departed player. Thus, Crystal took Saniya's starting slot. If Geno follows the same approach as last year, he replaces Kia with either Megan or Christyn. Then, he replaces Gabby with his best option, whom I view as Olivia.

We know that Geno likes to bring in a sixth player who can change the complexion of the game. Christyn seems to fit that very well. Plus, Megan has more experience, so she draws the nod to start. Some think Meg can't play the SG position, but I think she can. I know Olivia is thin, but her legs look pretty strong, she competes and runs the floor, and she has wide-ranging skills. Geno started Tina and a freshman and then Stefanie as a freshman. I think he'll start Liv. I like what she showed in the All-American games.

I may change my mind over the next 6 months, but I'm thinking Lou, Pheesa, Crystal, Megan, and Olivia, with the dynamic Christyn Williams as the first player off the bench. I hope that Kyla or Batouly and Mikayla make very large leaps, but I see a drop-off after our first 6.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Milford your a terrific poster but I must disagree comparing MW to a soph NC.
Can you start by telling me what MW strengths are on the court? Shooting? Ball handling? Defense? Rebounding? I’m still trying to figure out her sweet spot.
I know in high school she was more athletic than most.

Megan's strengths:

-Attacking the basket

-Getting to the FT line

-Rebounding

-Posting up

-Midrange jumper

-Hitting the corner three

Meg's body looks like a WNBA body. Her game is not anywhere near pro-ready. But she has a great combo of speed and strength.

 

[JustinesGuy]

Megan's strengths:

-Attacking the basket

-Getting to the FT line

-Rebounding

-Posting up

-Midrange jumper

-Hitting the corner three

Meg's body looks like a WNBA body. Her game is not anywhere near pro-ready. But she has a great combo of speed and strength.

Last year her game wasn’t uconn ready. I think in high school she was more physically gifted than her counterparts and when she stepped in to camp Geno and was playing with better players than her for the first time it was hard for her to handle. What was even more alarming was she didn’t show me she was better than our less gifted conference challengers. It should have been obvious who was premium talent when she was in those games especially with no pressure up 30 points!!

With starting slots open, and a year under her belt, yes maybe she starts to put it together. That would be great.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Last year her game wasn’t uconn ready. I think in high school she was more physically gifted than her counterparts and when she stepped in to camp Geno and was playing with better players than her for the first time it was hard for her to handle. What was even more alarming was she didn’t show me she was better than our less gifted conference challengers. It should have been obvious who was premium talent when she was in those games especially with no pressure up 30 points!!

With starting slots open, and a year under her belt, yes maybe she starts to put it together. That would be great.

Megan played pretty good competition in high school, but she was able to dominate people physically, just as Tina Charles did. In college, the talent gap is very small, so she has to up the intensity and play smarter, just as Tina did. She’s on her way, I believe.

 

[HopJim]

Great timely thread....

I think that Katie Lou, Pheesa and Crystal are locks... I also think that MW is a lock too because while not in spectacular fashion, she earned it. I think the last spot comes down to Kyla Irwin and Batouly Camara. Out of the gate and based on Geno's substitution pattern this past season I will go with Kyra Irwin getting the start. She is more consistent, understands the UConn sets both offensively and defensively better than Batouly. She can be a consistent foul line jumper threat and Geno will play more zone to cover up his weaknesses. Batouly will probably play somewhat similar minutes as Kyla and the last spot will be filled by the two of them. Meanwhile both CW and Ono will be brought along slowly so that by the end of the season...mid to end of February they will commanding more significant minutes. As far as breaking into the starting line-up...I do not see either CW replacing Crystal or Walker. I do see a possibility for Ono to crack the starting line-up but she will have to work hard, prove that she has bounced back from her injury and learn the UConn system, all of which are a daunting task for a freshmen. The only reason I give her a shot at cracking the starting line-up is because her talent / size are ahead of Kyla and Batouly, but I remain somewhat skeptical as to it actually happening.

So, with that being said: Here is my annual prediction as to scoring / rebounds per individual player....I have been fairly close in this exercise over the past half a dozen seasons. This exercise is interesting because it attempts to see where we get the points and rebounds lost by our graduating seniors/ transfers. A lot of people wonder where can we make up 41.4 points and 18.4 rebounds. Luckily with what we have returning and what we have coming in we can get pretty close to last years numbers while being fairly conservative in our estimated projections for next season. What is not apparent or ascertained in this exercise is what we lose on the defensive end with Azure and Gabby's blocking abilities, with Gabby's perimeter and around the basket defense and Kia's perimeter defense as well as what we lose by Kia and Gabby getting in the passing lanes disrupting passes, getting tips and steals. But, at least this gives us a glimpse into the offensive potential that we can expect.

2017-2018

Katie Lou...17.4 points.....4.5 Rebounds.....29.7 minutes
Napheesa...16.1 points.....7.4 Rebounds.....28.8 minutes
Dangerfield...... 9.5 points.....2.1 Rebounds.....28.7 minutes
Walker....5.8 points.....3.3 Rebounds.....15.5 minutes
Kyla....2.4 points.....1.3 Rebounds..9.4 minutes
Batouly....1.3 points......1.3 Rebounds..4.8 minutes
Combs......1.1 points---------.8 Rebounds..6.7 minutes
Molly Bent....1.0 points......1.2 Rebounds......7.5 minutes
Lexi Gordan----------.4 points----------.5 Rebounds......3.9 minutes

TOTALS: 96.4 points / 222.8 minutes (counts overtime minutes) / game; 40.8 rebound / 222.8 minutes (counts overtime minutes) / game

Minutes lost from: Azura, Gabby, Kia and Espinosa-Hunter = 80.8 minutes
Points lost from: Azura, Gabby, Kia and Espinosa-Hunter = 41.4
Rebounds lost from: Azura, Gabby, Kia and Espinosa-Hunter = 18.4

2018-2019

Katie Lou.......19 points.....5,0 rebounds.....32 minutes
Napheesa.......18 points.....8.0 rebounds....32 minutes
Dangerfield....12 points.....2.5 rebounds.....30 minutes
Walker.......14 points.....6.0 rebounds....28 minutes
Kyla........6 points.....3.0 rebounds.....17 minutes
Batouly........5 points......5.0 rebounds....17 minutes
Combs.........4 points......1.5 rebounds.....10 minutes
Molly Bent........2 points......1.5 rebounds.....10 minutes
Lexi Gordon.....4 points.......1.5 rebounds....10 minutes
Christyn Williams......5 points.......2.0 rebounds....15 minutes
Olivia Nelson-Ododa.6 points.......4.5 rebounds.....15 minutes

TOTALS: 95.0 points / 222.8 minutes (assuming the same overtime minutes) / game; 40.5 rebounds / 222.8 minutes (assuming the same overtime minutes) / game

 

[HopJim]

Nice post. Appreciate your logic. As time goes on, predict Combs, Kyla, and Molly all see minutes reduced. Other players are more athletic, fit more situations, and will earn the playing time. Skills will likely dictate a 7 person rotation with the 2 frosh in that lineup.

 

[JustinesGuy]

Let me explain. For people like me that aren’t high on walker can not justify starting her. So then let’s progress off this line of thinking. If we don’t start walker then we need a guard to replace Kia right? Who’s left? Coombs, Bent, Williams, Gordon. You correctly stated Coombs is dealing with a condition/injury, and I think we all agree Molly and Lexi are not starter candidates.
That leaves you with the best high school player. By years end why can’t she start if she’s producing? I agree it’s not easy or typical to say a freshman will start at Uconn but we live in a very a typical world. Who would of thought the leader of the free world would have been a a reality TV star. Stranger things right?

 

[hugefan]

Now you have gone too far, Strangers Things lumped with .... he who shall not be named

 

[JustinesGuy]

Now you have gone too far, Strangers Things lumped with .... he who shall not be named

I love stranger things. I have a very good show for u.... sneaky Pete on amazon prime. Very good

 

[Iowafan61]

Well to start not knowing how the up coming freshmen will practice and all the other uconn freshman talk you have to start MW,iwatched her tapes and she can jump and according to Geno in one of the practices they showed he himself said MW can really shoot,so all the poeple doubting MW i think she will be really good ,and what you have left besides the freshman coming are junior's that havnt developed at all hardly and yet we are hard on MW ,i mean really

 

[mudcat]

I don't understand why everyone keeps assuming that if Megan Walker starts, she will be the SG. IMHO her skills and body translate much better to the SF position and that is where she should play. I would much rather see Lou as the SG out there, which to my mind makes it even harder for the opposing team when she (Lou) posts up whoever is guarding her.

 

[JustinesGuy]

Well to start not knowing how the up coming freshmen will practice and all the other uconn freshman talk you have to start MW,iwatched her tapes and she can jump and according to Geno in one of the practices they showed he himself said MW can really shoot,so all the poeple doubting MW i think she will be really good ,and what you have left besides the freshman coming are junior's that havnt developed at all hardly and yet we are hard on MW ,i mean really

If Seeing is believing then how can you advocate to start Megan Walker? She did not produce enough in her freshman campaign to blindly just give her a starting spot. Do u want to consider her? See if she made a big sophomore leap a la danger? Sure sounds good. I buy that.

 

[Iowafan61]

Well i do agree on the improvement needed but i really think she has the talent ,and i also think that if there is ever a year to play freshman this will be the year,but Geno dont think that way,so what if we take a few loses beginning of or during the year,i think it bit us in the a## this year

 

[FridaFriend]

This off-season reminds me of 2014. UCONN had lost its leaders, Dolson and Hartley, to graduation. Stephanie was the big presence inside, with her rebounds and assists, and Bria ran the point and the offense. Brianna Banks was thought by many to become a great player and starter, after many injuries in the 2013-14 season, but she left UCONN before the fall of 2014. So the questions were:


Could Kiah Stokes become a post presence, learn to play offense, and become a senior team leader?


Could KML play healthy after missing 1/3 of her games in 2013-14 due to injury and illness? Could she leave the perimeter and become an inside presence and post up?


Could Moriah come out of Bria’s shadow and become the real full-time point guard? Could she become a good defender and could she learn to control her speed?


Could Stewie play in the post? She played with the US team in the late summer of 2014. While she played well in the exhibition games, she had difficulty dealing with the physical play and she played poorly during the actual tournament. Stewie was skinny and could not bang bodies around under the basket like Dolson.


Could Saniya make a big sophomore leap and learn to defend?


Could Morgan Tuck recover from her knee surgeries and play a positive role in the season?


Other than these six players, UCONN had four freshmen: Ekmark, Edwards. Nurse, and Williams. Williams had just been cleared from her own knee surgeries and wasn’t ready to play immediately. Could she ever contribute? Ekmark had issues with her foot and was out for the fall. Nurse and Edward were unknowns.


UCONN lost the second game of the year to Stanford with a starting lineup of Stewart, Mosqueda–Lewis, Jefferson, Stokes, and Chong. Nurse and Tuck fouled out.


Stokes never developed her offense and Chong did not make the leap, but the team did OK the rest of the year.


So I have great hopes for next year with Collier, Samuelson, and Dangerfield as returning starters. I agree with those who suggest that Batouly and Megan will join them as starters, but Nelson-Ododa and C Williams will play big roles quite early in the season, as Nurse and G Williams did in 2014.

 

[JustinesGuy]

This off-season reminds me of 2014. UCONN had lost its leaders, Dolson and Hartley, to graduation. Stephanie was the big presence inside, with her rebounds and assists, and Bria ran the point and the offense. Brianna Banks was thought by many to become a great player and starter, after many injuries in the 2013-14 season, but she left UCONN before the fall of 2014. So the questions were:


Could Kiah Stokes become a post presence, learn to play offense, and become a senior team leader?


Could KML play healthy after missing 1/3 of her games in 2013-14 due to injury and illness? Could she leave the perimeter and become an inside presence and post up?


Could Moriah come out of Bria’s shadow and become the real full-time point guard? Could she become a good defender and could she learn to control her speed?


Could Stewie play in the post? She played with the US team in the late summer of 2014. While she played well in the exhibition games, she had difficulty dealing with the physical play and she played poorly during the actual tournament. Stewie was skinny and could not bang bodies around under the basket like Dolson.


Could Saniya make a big sophomore leap and learn to defend?


Could Morgan Tuck recover from her knee surgeries and play a positive role in the season?


Other than these six players, UCONN had four freshmen: Ekmark, Edwards. Nurse, and Williams. Williams had just been cleared from her own knee surgeries and wasn’t ready to play immediately. Could she ever contribute? Ekmark had issues with her foot and was out for the fall. Nurse and Edward were unknowns.


UCONN lost the second game of the year to Stanford with a starting lineup of Stewart, Mosqueda–Lewis, Jefferson, Stokes, and Chong. Nurse and Tuck fouled out.


Stokes never developed her offense and Chong did not make the leap, but the team did OK the rest of the year.


So I have great hopes for next year with Collier, Samuelson, and Dangerfield as returning starters. I agree with those who suggest that Batouly and Megan will join them as starters, but Nelson-Ododa and C Williams will play big roles quite early in the season, as Nurse and G Williams did in 2014.

Very good post

 

[CocoHusky]

That would be nice, but as you say I am pessimistic at this point. I wasn't before Stevens decided to bolt. And I was certainly wrong about them two years ago. However, several things happened to make that team far better than it looked going in. One, KLS and Collier became Wade Trophy finalists. Two, Gabby Williams was probably the best player in the nation during her junior year, and she made up for several deficiencies with her smarts, versatility, athleticism, and all-around game. Throw in a very good senior season from Chong and you have a terrific team.
If we look at next season's team, where are the dramatic improvements going to come from? We all hope Megan Walker is #1 on the list. We'll see. Coombs barely played though I've always liked her skills. Even if Christyn Williams plays well as a freshmen can she be a difference-maker rather than a nice accompanying piece? Camara wasn't good/healthy enough this past year to get into any game before it was well decided. In fact, she only played 110 minutes the entire season. They're talented enough to be top-10, maybe challenge top-5. I just don't see them as a contender against the top 3-4 teams.

UCONN team next year is perfectly capable of replicating the results of ND 2017-18 or South Carolina 2016-17 or Texas A&M 2010-11. All were National Championship teams with 3, 4 and 5 loses respectively and a player rotation of ~ 6 players. This UCONN team will start the season with more talent than any of those teams.

 

[bbballfan23]

UCONN team next year is perfectly capable of replicating the results of ND 2017-18 or South Carolina 2016-17 or Texas A&M 2010-11. All were National Championship teams with 3, 4 and 5 loses respectively and a player rotation of ~ 6 players. This UCONN team will start the season with more talent than any of those teams.

Agreed, some people on here think all is lost because we won’t be as talented but they forget that we will still have plenty of talent! Last time I checked, Geno, CD & staff are still in Storrs.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

UCONN team next year is perfectly capable of replicating the results of ND 2017-18 or South Carolina 2016-17 or Texas A&M 2010-11. All were National Championship teams with 3, 4 and 5 loses respectively and a player rotation of ~ 6 players. This UCONN team will start the season with more talent than any of those teams.

Even if you think the UConn squad has more talent than Notre Dame, the Irish didn't depend on underclassmen to get the job done outside of Young. UConn will have to depend so much more on inexperienced players. That makes an enormous difference.

And South Carolina somehow missed playing any of the best teams (UConn, Baylor, Notre Dame, Maryland) and then got an emotionally and likely physically tired MSU team 1-1/2 days after the UConn upset.

If you're going to tell me someone will knock Baylor, Notre Dame, and perhaps Oregon out of the tourney before UConn faces any of them next year then, yeah, UConn's chances improve dramatically.