Where UConn's Starting Lineup is Heading

[DEpup]

I'd like to see a pro style second 5 that can come in around half way through the first and keep the press on.

As the season goes, I could see a starting 5 of:

Chen
Azzi
Paige
Sarah
Jana

With a second 5 something like :

KK
Ashlyn
Morgan
Aubrey/Q
Ice

And I'm not sure what to do with Allie, Caroline, Ayanna yet.

I like both line ups having 2 PGs to facilitate.

 

[oldude]

I don't think he will vary greatly from that strategy, but the opponent and distribution of top talent has spread further over the years. Imagine being the opponent and not knowing which UCONN team you're going to be up against. Sometimes, it only takes changing a single piece on the floor and as you suggest, it may not be right at the start of the game. I always thought when Gabby was added to the floor...it just added an exponential burden to the opposition because she could contribute on both ends of the floor in a complimentary way.

I think Geno typically likes to see how the game unfolds, before he makes a lineup change. One game stands out in my mind. Against USF during UConn's undefeated 2015-16 season, Courtney Williams was giving 2-time AA Moriah Jefferson fits, by driving to the base line, elevating and making jump shot after jump shot. After watching this mismatch for a quarter or so, Geno pulled Mo and brought in Gabby Williams to cover Courtney Williams. With her additional height and jumping ability, Gabby shut down Courtney Williams for the rest of the game.

 

[Stagnant]

With one game as evidence? Yes, I agree with the conclusion reached by the original poster. It will be hard to keep Jana out of the starting lineup. And Azzi will come into the team at some point if she is healthy.

Chen may get the nod over shade though. Or maybe even KK. Geno’s preference to have a second ball handler on the court has been so apparent the last two years. Chen initiated the offense a lot yesterday.

 

[oldude]

I'd like to see a pro style second 5 that can come in around half way through the first and keep the press on.

As the season goes, I could see a starting 5 of:

Chen
Azzi
Paige
Sarah
Jana

With a second 5 something like :

KK
Ashlyn
Morgan
Aubrey/Q
Ice

And I'm not sure what to do with Allie, Caroline, Ayanna yet.

I like both line ups having 2 PGs to facilitate.

This isn't like hockey, where you routinely play 3 different lines. Two 5-player lineups pose a number of problems. What do you do if someone is injured or gets into foul trouble? Now you have to substitute someone into a 1st and/or second unit that's not used to playing with that group. Maybe it's no big deal, or maybe unit execution goes to hell in a hand basket.

 

[Kaizen]

With one game as evidence? Yes, I agree with the conclusion reached by the original poster. It will be hard to keep Jana out of the starting lineup. And Azzi will come into the team at some point if she is healthy.

Chen may get the nod over shade though. Or maybe even KK. Geno’s preference to have a second ball handler on the court has been so apparent the last two years. Chen initiated the offense a lot yesterday.

Besides Paige, I think any coach will start Jana and Sarah. Those two have very high basketball IQ.

 

[ashfan]

The BY’s annual preseason “Who will start?” thread is always fun with lots of different ideas from everyone. But we have now seen most of the team play twice, and I am beginning to see what could be an extremely formidable starting lineup emerging as follows:

• Paige – Duh……
• Ashlynn – Last season’s BEFOY has only gotten better. We all knew she could shoot the ball. But she has undergone a serious sophomore leap, improving her defense significantly, along with her passing, her ability to attack the basket and her overall court awareness. Ashlynn is also the fittest person on the team. She is capable of playing hard for 40 minutes a night without taking a breather.
• Sarah – She is everything as advertised and will only get better. We have not seen a freshman with her skillset since…well…Paige. With all her offensive ability, the thing that impresses me the most is what an incredibly tough defender Sarah is, with remarkably quick “pick pocket” hands.
• Jana – This may not happen immediately. Jana will still have some ups and downs, and there will be times when Ice, Ayanna and Aubrey will be better options. But Jana is most definitely the future for UConn in the post, with size, a remarkable skillset and a serious BA attitude. The future for Jana will be here a lot sooner than anyone thought before the season started,
• Azzi – This is the one you need a crystal ball to see, considering that Azzi has not played in almost a year, and Kaitlyn & KK are two really talented guards who are both competing for that last starting spot. But we are hearing intriguing comments about Azzi’s game from Geno, as well as some of the BY’ers who watched Azzi warm up with the team yesterday. A couple years back, when Azzi was healthy, she was second only to CC as the best scoring guard in WBB. Once she knocks off the rust, she could be that player once again.

So that’s my take on where UConn’s starting 5 is heading. Obviously, everyone needs to stay healthy. But think about what this lineup includes: 3 HS NPOY’s, a 6’5” post with maybe the best raw skillset of any Big in WBB and Ashlynn, the Energizer Bunny. Add in a deep and talented bench and #12 is a very real possibility.

Azzi won't be a point guard--that spot is for Chen & KK, She'll take some minutes from Ash12--until Ash demonstrates that she's simply the better option. Geno praises everybody, to keep spirits up; but look whom he sends out there and for how long.

 

[hoophuskee]

I truly hope you are right, but the assumption
That Azzi will return to her best is not at all certain
I would be extraordinarily happy if she’s able to contribute on even a part-time basis

For a player like Azzi who had a very good frosh year (btw her frosh year better than Shade or KK.). And with her ceiling we saw her match Clark offensively. None of our guards outside of Paige have near that ceiling. That;s why it would be an enormous disappointment if Azzi is only part-time. Just pray she is healthy. If she is not starting then she isn't 100% unless its when she just comes back and needs time to get a rhythym.

In regard if she does come back and starts, then I favor Chen or KK over Ash. I'd rather have the better passer, KK or Chen pass the ball to Paige than have Paige pass the ball to Ash. Paige is a far superior scorer. SO give me the better passer that is going to look for Paige and also look for Sarah and what seems Jana to score.

 

[ashfan]

Paige, Shade, Chen, Strong and Jana looked like the best line-up over BU. At full strength, the Paige, Azzi, Shade, Strong and Jana line-up will be very tough to defend.

And the point guard is . . . ?

I think you will see Chen at point guard, and Ashlynn coming off the bench, along with several others.

Ash off the bench? When she's out there, she stays out there until she needs a minute rest.

 

[hoophuskee]

While many folks have suggested changing starting lineups to better match up with opponents, in Geno’s 40 years as a HC, he’s never done that. Once he’s set on his starting lineup, absent injuries, Geno rolls out the same starters game after game. That’s not to say that he won’t make an in-game personnel adjustment, depending on the opposition. But I think Geno’s belief is that the opponent needs to adjust to UConn and not vice versa.

CDailey said a long time ago and they do as you say - they want other teams to match up to them not worry about matching up to the other teams. And didn't Geno regret last year when we went big to match up ot Texas? He said he should have just gone with his best I thought he said.

 

[Kat]

Paige, Ash, KK, Jana, Sarah.

 

[Bone Dog]

So many good points in this thread. By and large, I agree with @oldude: Geno tends eventually to settle on a 5+2 or 5+3 rotation by February-March. He seems to think of the first half of the season as the experimentation phase and the second half as the time to perfect the group he's settled on. So, the folks who think he should have a big rotation are right to expect this in the sense that he will have one in November thru January. But by the middle of February, there will be very little change in his rotation, unless injury or other external contingency forces it. Churning lineups in late February or March is disruptive and he seems to prefer to avoid this.

That said, this season Geno has scheduled an interesting 'ladder' of progressively more challenging games leading up to Louisville, ND, ISU, USC in December. That will be a challenging stretch, and we'll see if can get his young team ready for it. Unfortunately, ND may not be at full strength by then -- Westbeld, Citron are questionable and Watson and Bransford are out -- but I suspect the matchup between Jana and Kate Koval will be really good. And the USC game should be a highlight of the OOC portion of the season. Juju is going to get a rematch with Paige, which should be great to see. Plus, USC has reloaded their roster with Kiki, TVO and Heckel, while Geno has added Sarah, Jana, Chen and, if all goes well, Azzi. If everyone is up to speed, this should be a great game.

 

[ashfan]

Interesting take on it all, Bone Dog... however, based on all Geno says, it would not be a surprise to him if Morgan is very much part of the rotation, and increasingly impactful... I'll take his word for it. We haven't seen enough to make a valid assessment.

I'm also curious how so many here just assume Azzi will be so great that she'll leapfrog many top players for extensive PT. As I've said on several other threads, I'm hopeful about her, but to assume she'll be the player she showed herself to be only in one brief burst of brilliance several years ago is, at best, presumptuous.

"Hopeful" is the right word for Azzi, not "optimistic."

 

[ashfan]

For a player like Azzi who had a very good frosh year (btw her frosh year better than Shade or KK.). And with her ceiling we saw her match Clark offensively. None of our guards outside of Paige have near that ceiling. That;s why it would be an enormous disappointment if Azzi is only part-time. Just pray she is healthy. If she is not starting then she isn't 100% unless its when she just comes back and needs time to get a rhythym.

In regard if she does come back and starts, then I favor Chen or KK over Ash. I'd rather have the better passer, KK or Chen pass the ball to Paige than have Paige pass the ball to Ash. Paige is a far superior scorer. SO give me the better passer that is going to look for Paige and also look for Sarah and what seems Jana to score.

Ash's passing against BU looked pretty darn good . . . and all those steals!

 

[hoophuskee]

Ash's passing against BU looked pretty darn good . . . and all those steals!

Ash is a very good player!!! Ash is a core player on a team this potentially powerful is an amazing accomplishment. And she is just a soph.

 

[uconnfan68]

Not going to add a starting group, but will say this team would allow Geno to play all of them if he chooses. There are no real weak spots. Some might be better defensively, and others offensively, but all are unselfish team players from what I've seen so far.

 

[Heytherego]

I don’t really see a world where KK is starting over Chen. Chen and Paige are the veterans on a pretty young team (given injuries). I could see KK taking a similar role Aubrey once had being that energizer off the bench. I see KK and KC splitting time with KC starting as a 5th year vet. If everyone is at their best and healthy I see it being PB, Chen, Azzi, Sarah, Jana. But at the end of the day I think the rotations will really come down to chemistry because it looks like mostly everyone has the talent.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

IMHO Geno will keep Aubrey coming off the bench when she is healthy to change the pace of the game and add that spark!

 

[#1florida]

OK. In 2020-21, Paige led the Huskies in both assists and scoring, while earning consensus NPOY honors. There’s several ways to construct a lineup. IMO, having Paige initiate the offense with Azzi & Ashlynn spotting up for 3-pt opportunities, Sarah roaming inside & out and Jana posting up down on the blocks, beats every other combination UConn can put out on the court.

Paige will still get her shots, whether on give and goes with Sarah, high screens with Jana, exchanging PG/SG roles with Azzi occasionally or simply beating her defender off the dribble.I

 

[#1florida]

I don't think he will vary greatly from that strategy, but the opponent and distribution of top talent has spread further over the years. Imagine being the opponent and not knowing which UCONN team you're going to be up against. Sometimes, it only takes changing a single piece on the floor and as you suggest, it may not be right at the start of the game. I always thought when Gabby was added to the floor...it just added an exponential burden to the opposition because she could contribute on both ends of the floor in a complimentary way.

I don't think Geno would want to wear Paige down. Maybe we should just wait for him to decide, and we will love it.

 

[Stagnant]

IMHO Geno will keep Aubrey coming off the bench when she is healthy to change the pace of the game and add that spark!

Aubrey won’t start. Geno preferred to use her in spurts even last year. With an additional injury under her belt; he won’t change his philosophy… in my opinion of course.

 

[#1florida]

It is because of the potential for foul trouble that, at least for the time being, I think he should continue to start Ice. At some point in the future, yes, she should be the starter. As for USF, I worry that Jana would get two quick fouls.

Yesterday's game said to me that she is in fact truly incredible. She can be a Double-Double Machine for this team, but not gonna happen if she has to sit the majority of the games in foul trouble. That starter role, including the hype, the pump of additional adrenalin, ... well, I guess I'm sayin that she has enough to control right now without that. I'd start Ice this weekend, but we will see.

I don't think you sit a player (Jana), that is capable of 17 or more points and 10 or more rebounds, in favor of a player that may score 4 pts and 6 rebounds. You start your best, and if they pick up a couple of fouls you bring in your back up. And you will continue to try to keep that starter in as much time as possible, but, assure she is in at the end of a close game. Ice has to develop a lot more to be in that starting line up.

 

[Boreifs]

Beg to differ. I think the big debate is Azzi, Kaitlyn or KK? Whatever the final starting lineup ends up being, these are nice problems to have, as opposed to last season when Geno had no real decisions to make after Azzi, Caroline & Aubrey all went down.

I just don’t see Geno having two point guards on the bench. Paige is also the best off the ball defender on the team and is most effective offensively from the wing. A three-wing rotation of Paige-Azzi-Ash would be unstoppable; enabling Quadance and Ali to play almost every fourth quarter. Of course, this all becomes moot if Carol ever joins the mix. Given the play of Sara and Jana, four guards doesn’t look likely, particularly if Morgan and Audrey end up getting their minutes at the four.

 

[Martin84]

I say make Azzi our 6th woman once healthy for the rest of the year. Assuming she comes back well. I say this because there will be important in season games, tournament games, maybe even a Championship game for the starters, when the ball don’t fall. I guess I’d rather trust Azzi to get the team back in the game than Q, Aubry, KK, Ash. You think any one of them could shoot this team back into the game? So I say develop Azzi to that role.

 

[Soxx]

That’s an interesting take. But consider that last season’s leading scorer in WBB, and consensus NPOY, CC, brought the ball up, initiated the offense and also led the country in assists.

Yes, but CC wanted to shoot the ball as often as possible, and her coaches and team needed her to score big numbers every night. While Geno wants Paige to score more and more assertively seek her shot, he’s not looking for her to play like CC did.

 

[Vowelguy]

I'd like to see a pro style second 5 that can come in around half way through the first

.

Geno has never ever done this.