The thing that is remarkable about this scenario is that if this had been posed last summer (before either Paige or Ice were declared out for the season) no-one would have picked our current starting five ( Nika, Lou, Dorka, Aubrey and Aaliyah) to even be competitive with Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Ice and Ayanna.
At that time Lou was a question mark as to could she be impactful at this level, concern that Aubrey would never be the same athletic player after her back surgery, could Aaliyah realize the potential she showed freshman year rather than refrain a less than stellar sophomore campaign, was Dorka going to be able to appear to be the dominant player she was at tOSU and lastly speculation whether Nika (among several posters) would even see real minutes.
Each one of these guys has shattered any doubts. Lou has been a godsend, shooting with remarkable efficiency while be hounded by defenses, as on most nights she has been the opponents primary defensive focus. Aubrey's explosiveness is as evident as ever and she has added outside range to her game while maintaining her ability to fly down court and score over anyone in run-outs as well as play stifling defense. Aaliyah is quite simply playing at an AA level as a bottom and her ceiling could possibly be NCAAW POY, all while reducing her fouling and consistently posting double doubles. Dorka has reprised her tOSU game and then some while adding great passing, a re-found outside shot and being the elder leader of the team. Nika has become the ackowledged team leader on both offense and defense, dictating the game pace all while playing the most minutes and leading the nation in assists per game (at a likely Uconn record and NCAAW top five season pace).
I'm not going to weigh in on who would win the proposed hypothetical but simply say we have a hell of a lot of talent up and down our roster!
