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Post by rockymtblue2 on Jun 16, 2024 10:22:03 GMT -5
Something to watch:
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Post by bulkey on Jun 16, 2024 12:28:26 GMT -5
"Stats are for losers" --Bill Belichick. Worth the price of watching this.
Love KK's attitude in the face of sudden competition. This will be good for everyone and make Geno's life a lot easier.
Geno clear that the point will be either Kaitlyn or KK. Not someone 6'0 and blonde from Minnesota.
Really insightful about "usage rate" when compared to Nika before last year.
He's right that KK is the more effective defender. She's the essential piece for perimeter defense. As he says, "the better defender will get more time." We'll see....
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Post by swash on Jun 16, 2024 18:49:00 GMT -5
"Stats are for losers" --Bill Belichick. Worth the price of watching this. Love KK's attitude in the face of sudden competition. This will be good for everyone and make Geno's life a lot easier. Geno clear that the point will be either Kaitlyn or KK. Not someone 6'0 and blonde from Minnesota. Really insightful about "usage rate" when compared to Nika before last year. He's right that KK is the more effective defender. She's the essential piece for perimeter defense. As he says, "the better defender will get more time." We'll see.... I think it says a lot about how Geno feels about KK that she was the player to be trusted for the dagger three that sealed that close game late in the NCAA tournament. ... and Paige, who made the assist, too. We're looking at this comparison before any sophomore bump. I'm betting this season's KK will be significantly better that last year. |
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Post by linkster on Jun 16, 2024 19:37:40 GMT -5
"Stats are for losers" --Bill Belichick. Worth the price of watching this. Love KK's attitude in the face of sudden competition. This will be good for everyone and make Geno's life a lot easier. Geno clear that the point will be either Kaitlyn or KK. Not someone 6'0 and blonde from Minnesota. Really insightful about "usage rate" when compared to Nika before last year. He's right that KK is the more effective defender. She's the essential piece for perimeter defense. As he says, "the better defender will get more time." We'll see.... All I heard him say was that he's impressed with Chen. Where did he say it was Chen or Arnold? |
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Post by bulkey on Jun 16, 2024 21:51:26 GMT -5
"Stats are for losers" --Bill Belichick. Worth the price of watching this. Love KK's attitude in the face of sudden competition. This will be good for everyone and make Geno's life a lot easier. Geno clear that the point will be either Kaitlyn or KK. Not someone 6'0 and blonde from Minnesota. Really insightful about "usage rate" when compared to Nika before last year. He's right that KK is the more effective defender. She's the essential piece for perimeter defense. As he says, "the better defender will get more time." We'll see.... All I heard him say was that he's impressed with Chen. Where did he say it was Chen or Arnold? I cerrtainly read Geno that way. Kaitlyn or KK vs. Paige. I have two chances of being right and you have one. That means the random odds of my being right as to the starting point guard the first game of the season are 2-1. Is that a bet you'd be confident taking the other side of?  |
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Post by ucchamp on Jun 16, 2024 22:46:53 GMT -5
It’s great to hear that Chen has established some sort of baseline with Geno. I’m making an assumption that her Defefense is at least adequate. And as stated I believe UCONN will go with 2 points guards that start – one will be either Chen or KK, and the other will be Paige. UCONN isn’t Iowa in which they rely on one-player basketball.
So, with that said, once Azzi is healthy, whether it be game 1 or game 5 etc – my guess is that UCONN is going to strive toward Offensive excellence because their Offense will be their strength in which they can impose their will on other teams.
I believe Chen will have to show she is ,more efficient Offensively from passing to shooting. The other pg (Paige) is going to pass Chen or KK the ball so they can shoot.
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Post by rockymtblue2 on Jun 17, 2024 8:15:55 GMT -5
I have never been high on PG as point guard, because I don't want her assist first mentality constantly fed. But I have no question but that she is the best point guard in the nation.
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Post by semper on Jun 17, 2024 9:59:47 GMT -5
My best guess: Paige will not be PG. KK will start as PG and Kaitlin will come off the bench for lots of minutes. They will split it so both are fresh. Paige will play the 2 or the 3, depending on when Azzi is back.
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Post by linkster on Jun 17, 2024 20:22:07 GMT -5
My best guess: Paige will not be PG. KK will start as PG and Kaitlin will come off the bench for lots of minutes. They will split it so both are fresh. Paige will play the 2 or the 3, depending on when Azzi is back. Sounds plausible, but let's look deeper into the murky water. Arnold & Chen - 40 min. They split the mins at pg as you project.Bueckers - 25 min Gets her 25 at the 2/3 as you wish. This is where the problems start. Front court (4/5) - 80 min Brady, El Alfy, Strong and Patterson share 80 mins. Strong seems to have the ability to play at the 3 but that would only make things worse for the group below. 55 mins is left to be shared by Shade, Samuels, Fudd, Cheli, Ziebell, Fudd & Griffin? That's about 8 mins/game. Even if we assume that Griffin and Fudd won't be ready then the 5 remaining get 11 mins each? I just can't buy that breakdown. Not unless the NCAA goes to a 60 min game. I have no alternative to offer right now. I do think that Geno will value players who have skills beyond the position they play. Of course Bueckers heads that list. If we were to list the best Husky at every position Bueckers would be the top 1,2 and 3. Find the players that can play multiple positions or that have skills that are normally thought of for positions other than theirs. Guards who can play inside at both ends or front court players with an outside shot and the ability to defend on the perimeter. A lot of that isn't found on stat sheets. On the offensive end they can create more options and on the defensive end they can switch who they defend. Depending on how the 3 freshmen play Geno may be forced to play Bueckers at the point in order to give others more minutes. Wouldn't that be ironic and somehow symetrical seeing how he was forced to move her out of the 1 in her 1st year. |
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Post by swash on Jun 17, 2024 21:00:52 GMT -5
My best guess: Paige will not be PG. KK will start as PG and Kaitlin will come off the bench for lots of minutes. They will split it so both are fresh. Paige will play the 2 or the 3, depending on when Azzi is back. Sounds plausible, but let's look deeper into the murky water. Arnold & Chen - 40 min. They split the mins at pg as you project.Bueckers - 25 min Gets her 25 at the 2/3 as you wish. This is where the problems start. Front court (4/5) - 80 min Brady, El Alfy, Strong and Patterson share 80 mins. Strong seems to have the ability to play at the 3 but that would only make things worse for the group below. 55 mins is left to be shared by Shade, Samuels, Fudd, Cheli, Ziebell, Fudd & Griffin? That's about 8 mins/game. Even if we assume that Griffin and Fudd won't be ready then the 5 remaining get 11 mins each? I just can't buy that breakdown. Not unless the NCAA goes to a 60 min game. I have no alternative to offer right now. I do think that Geno will value players who have skills beyond the position they play. Of course Bueckers heads that list. If we were to list the best Husky at every position Bueckers would be the top 1,2 and 3. Find the players that can play multiple positions or that have skills that are normally thought of for positions other than theirs. Guards who can play inside at both ends or front court players with an outside shot and the ability to defend on the perimeter. A lot of that isn't found on stat sheets. On the offensive end they can create more options and on the defensive end they can switch who they defend. Depending on how the 3 freshmen play Geno may be forced to play Bueckers at the point in order to give others more minutes. Wouldn't that be ironic and somehow symetrical seeing how he was forced to move her out of the 1 in her 1st year. Interesting thought. I think both Caroline and Morgan get some time at the four. Aubrey is almost exclusively a four ... when she gets back to it. That eases the pain you identify, but you are spot on that PT is going to be real tough for Geno. KK and Kaitlyn play exclusively PG Ash and Allie seem exclusively SGs I expect (others have demurred) that Jana and Ice will play mostly Center, but both should be able to play PF at times. Defining Center here as the one who defends the other C and not Moses Malone. Either can and will play both inside and out offensively. Everyone else is likely to play multiple positions, with a pretty nasty log jam at the two and three ... made worse by the looming outsized ability that is Paige and Azzi. |
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Post by linkster on Jun 17, 2024 23:34:57 GMT -5
I prefer to call all four front court players pf's. And if and when Ducharme and Cheli play they will play as 3's or 2's. Neither is a pf nor need they be with the depth up front this year. Geno may use them in a 4-3-3-2-1 lineup as 3's against smaller teams but don't confuse them as pf's.
I'm trying to get away from labelling players by position names. The story this year is going to be "what else can you do". Play defense like a wild woman? Rebound like the ball is your life? Do everything consistently?
"Positionless basketball" may be a misnomer. Maybe it should be called omni-positional basketball?
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Post by semper on Jun 18, 2024 4:29:19 GMT -5
I remember last year before Jana went down and Azzi went out, we thought man we are so freaking loaded, and we ended up with a first team riding the pines. You never know, do you? But right now Geno apparently has enough players to weather the kind of storms we have had for the last three years. It has been so awful. Terrible. So I'm just reveling in these kinds of arguments. We probably won't have to start two freshmen and a soph. who never played a college game. There's that.
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Post by semper on Jun 18, 2024 4:37:09 GMT -5
anyway, let's try another approach, and of course I'm not the first to suggest it. Two teams, that's 10 players, each with with two subs. That's 14 players.
Mix and match throughout the summer to see which group is the best for which situation, but also of course you can switch around within the teams too. This is just for fun, OK
Team 1 Team 2
KK Kaitlin
Paige Azzi
Caroline Shade
Aubrey Sarah
Jana Ice
Distribute the subs as you see fit. Do you not think Shade can play the 3?
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Post by doggydaddy on Jun 18, 2024 10:36:21 GMT -5
I have now seen every possible lineup under the sun.
Can we now wait until we see what Geno ends up doing?
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Post by semper on Jun 18, 2024 10:42:46 GMT -5
Ah c'mon. Some of us just like to speculate in the off season!
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Post by doggydaddy on Jun 18, 2024 11:11:32 GMT -5
Ah c'mon. Some of us just like to speculate in the off season! Ad nauseam….. |
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Post by swash on Jun 18, 2024 11:33:44 GMT -5
Ah c'mon. Some of us just like to speculate in the off season! I doubt it will end until we do hear/see it directly from the big guy. .. hehe ... so, I will fuel the fires a smidge  I would love to see Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Sarah, and Jana out there together. That's a nearly unstoppable scoring group. Biggest we could actually see for a stretch here and there ... Morgan, Caroline, Sarah, Jana, Ice I am fascinated with the dichotomy possible subbing Sarah for Aubrey or vice versa. Talk about offense/defense. Hopefully, Sarah will be a strong rebounder. How cool would it be to see this one: KK, Qadence, Paige, Aubrey, Ayanna? That may be our strongest defensive-pressing array (and pretty fair run and gun offensively, too), barring a shock from one of the newbies. Speaking of the new blood ... might we ever see this one with zero previous floor time at UConn? Kaitlyn, Allie, Morgan, Sarah, Jana 2024 Redux lineup? How about: KK, Ash, Azzi, Paige, Ice. Which we could have seen (early) last year, but never did that I can recall Will everyone get confused when/if we see a frontcourt of Jana and Yanna? Got another set that isn't just "who starts"? |
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Post by semper on Jun 18, 2024 12:15:49 GMT -5
Love it! How could this become a poll, after the summer interviews. Geno should be speaking up soon!
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Post by linkster on Jun 18, 2024 17:48:11 GMT -5
I have now seen every possible lineup under the sun. Can we now wait until we see what Geno ends up doing? Really? By November Geno will have a 7 player roster and the discussion would be boring as hell.  |
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Post by magic on Jun 18, 2024 17:58:39 GMT -5
I think they should play 4 corners and shoot as the shot clock is expiring. Just pull names out of the hat to determine who shoots. This will be done by the bench players while watching the game.
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