Should UCONN's seniors be concerned?

[SVCBeercats]

Will any UCONN senior average more than 25 minutes per game for the entire season?

Will the UCONN seniors start every game in which they play as they did last season?

Will the young talent push the seniors to reach their potential? Geno says CW is working harder than ever. She sees what could happen. Getting beat out by an undergraduate in your senior year does not bode well for the WNBA draft.

Come January will some the young guns, posts and guards, be better than the seniors? Paige is there now. Heck, she was voted best in the NCAA last season.

Liv will have Dorka, Amari, and Aaliyah pressing for playing time irrespective of position. They are all post players. Perhaps Mir and Aubrey may improve to press for minutes. Piath's health is an unknown at this time.

CW and “E” will face a serious challenge from Nika, Azzi, Caroline, and Paige for playing time. Paige of course is a given assuming no lingering issues with her surgery. Saylor may overcome her health issue and mount a challenge.

This will be very interesting to observe.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Of course the seniors will start. Geno ran Doty out there in her senior year and she could barely walk with how bad her knees were. Geno could have easily started Bria over her, but he didn't.

 

[boontonbomber]

Christyn has never sat, never will. She's averaged over 30 minutes in each of her 3 seasons. Too valuable, at both ends of the floor.

 

[chrissaran]

Nothing is guaranteed. After what Geno said about Azzi and Dorka, they could be in the starting lineup before the tournament.

 

[vtcwbuff]

No!

 

[baggerbob]

Of course the seniors will start. Geno ran Doty out there in her senior year and she could barely walk with how bad her knees were. Geno could have easily started Bria over her, but he didn't.

Actually when Bria came back and was healthy, she replaced Stewie in the starting lineup. That was part of Stewie' s problem during the year. Geno had a talk at the end of the year, and Bria volunteered to come off the bench. The rest is history.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

I could be wrong but I believe Bria Hartley volunteered to come off the bench?

And no, the seniors shouldn't be worried. Basketball is a team sport. GA and UCONN recruit team players with a team first mentality.

 

[huskyd]

Let's be truthful. Both Liv and CW have their moments, but both are too often liabilities. Recall CW's performance at the foul line at last season's end. Husky fans have been disappointed in these rising seniors; no reason to expect either of them to change significantly.
Luckily, we don't need Liv or CW to make our next season. Azzi is going to start beside Paige, and I expect Dorka to have a shot at starting, too. Aaliyah is going to be a fixture up front, so CW may start OR (hopefully) we'll get some good minutes from Caroline, Evina, and Nika. I'd almost prefer Evina to CW starting to provide a steady hand, as Doty did in days of yore. But Geno will make the right call.
The team might benefit from new bodies and a different look .

 

[wolfe613]

someone will have to explain to me why Williams is always the one that is considered to lose playing time when she has done absolutely nothing to lose her starting job, yet I never hear anything about Westbrook who's an incosistent player.

 

[bluedevil]

The unknown is the injury factor...

 

[Centerstream]

Another unknown...the number of "minutes per game/starting lineup" threads that will be started each day, week and/or month between now and November. Also the variations on each thread title is unknown but could be interesting.

 

[BostonCanuck]

CW will be just fine and will start every game she's healthy. The team's best performer during the last game played, she showed us then who she really is and who she'll continue to be.

E, bless her heart, is there because she wants the team to win, and is a true difference-maker towards those ends. That doesn't necessarily encompass having to start each and every game.

Liv on the other hand.... I would just say that she'll have every opportunity to earn her role.

 

[Mdoggie]

Concern should serve as motivation so yes….. stay concerned always.

 

[CL82]

Should Connecticut’s seniors be concerned? Probably. Hyper inflationary economies are toughest on those who are living on a fixed incomes.

Or did you mean something different?

 

[Bball244]

Geno seems to like having CW on the floor, he’s tended to play her high minutes throughout her 3 years so far, so I expect her to start every game her senior season, regardless if she has scoreless games and plays inconsistent. With that said I don’t see her playing more than 29 minutes per game, likely more around 25mpg. Some games she’ll play 38, others maybe only 18. This past season she averaged 34.4 mpg. This is a guard heavy team (1-3).
If Liv is the same player she was for her junior season, I don’t see her getting more than 21 minutes per game, though I do see her in the starting lineup all season. If she’s improved; anywhere from 23-29mpg. As a junior she played 26.1 mpg. Livs biggest competition for minutes is Aaliyah, plus maybe 10mpg from dorka. I don’t think amari will get more than 5mpg. And unfortunately I think Aubrey is gonna get lost in the mix. Good athlete, but too much of a lankey puppy.
Evina is such a team first player, that I can see her coming off the bench if the team needs her to. She does the little things for this team and is a rock and leader for the girls, but she isn’t a superstar (or wasn’t this past szn, that could change if she’s fully healthy). Although she has been a game changer for UConn a few times with clutch 3s. When she’s on, she’s great. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her as first off the bench 10 games into the season. But I think geno will try to keep her starting for her WNBA stock. It’s not like she’s a liability by any means so her starting over say, Azzi or Aaliyah, would certainly not hurt the team. Caroline definitely won’t be threatening anyone’s minutes, especially Evinas lol. I think Evina will average anywhere from 20-28mpg, realistically more in the realm of 24. She averaged 30.7 this past season.

 

[mbr33ct]

Just to reply to OP, not many players will average over 25 minutes/game for entire season...not just seniors.

 

[Dokey]

Let's be truthful. Both Liv and CW have their moments, but both are too often liabilities. Recall CW's performance at the foul line at last season's end. Husky fans have been disappointed in these rising seniors; no reason to expect either of them to change significantly.
Luckily, we don't need Liv or CW to make our next season. Azzi is going to start beside Paige, and I expect Dorka to have a shot at starting, too. Aaliyah is going to be a fixture up front, so CW may start OR (hopefully) we'll get some good minutes from Caroline, Evina, and Nika. I'd almost prefer Evina to CW starting to provide a steady hand, as Doty did in days of yore. But Geno will make the right call.
The team might benefit from new bodies and a different look .

CW will start. I have never understood this criticism of her.

 

[HuskylnSC]

NO! The question itself stinks. To be thinking of your minutes at this time is the epitome of selfish basketball and far from the UConn model of a team. This time of year the focus is to get ready to do whatever is required to win games. I don't think there are any idiots on this team and only an idiot would think that the arrival of Dorka and Azzi won't alter the distribution of minutes.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Should Connecticut’s seniors be concerned? Probably. Hyper inflationary economies are toughest on those who are living on a fixed incomes.

Or did you mean something different?

Unemployment

 

[Bald Husky]

EW, CW, and ONO will start for the team this year, no doubt. Their minutes will vary, depending on how they are playing, the matchups, and injuries. Of course their minutes will decrease, they should decrease. Not counting the talent we now possess, they played too many minutes LY. They need a blow once in a while, or even a re-grouping of thought if Geno thinks it is called for. He will finally use options he hasn't had in the recent past, so everyone will get a chance to show what they can do. Come March, it could be very different.

 

[#12in21]

Of the three returning seniors I think CW is the one that will play the most minutes and have the most starts. She has been a leader in starts and minutes throughout her career and she finished last season the strongest of any of the veterans. EW was the veteran leader of the team this past season and because of that coupled with her commitment to 'team first' and her strong work ethic she will probably get the nod from Geno more often than not this season. Personal feelings of appreciation aside, given the class coming in and strengths of the returning players, if Evina had chosen to move on to the W instead of returning this season may have been the better option for the team. I think her minutes will noticeably decrease, not sure about her starts for the reasons mentioned. Olivia will face the strongest challenge among the three to her minutes this season. Geno has been clear that she needs to come into next season significantly improved in areas of her game to hold her place in terms of minutes and starts among the bigs. If she does she will remain the anchor inside.

 

[DEpup]

It's just healthy competition. And quite frankly, if you want a pressing team that is playing full out the whole game, none of them should average over 30 m/g.

 

[JJTB]

I just like the fact there's more quality depth, or so it appears. EW and ONO looked gassed in the tournament. Fresher legs can only help.

 

[Ouremblem]

Nothing is guaranteed. After what Geno said about Azzi and Dorka, they could be in the starting lineup before the tournament.

Chris,
What has Geno said about Dorka? I live in NY and don’t subscribe to the CT papers.

 

[mbr33ct]

Chris,
What has Geno said about Dorka? I live in NY and don’t subscribe to the CT papers.

Don't really need to subscribe to CT papers. Set up a Google alert (see link below) it will walk you through the process. Basically type in the topic you want in the Google search box as you would search for anything else, in this case something like "UConn Women's basketball", "UConn Huskies Women's basketball" or "Geno Auriemma" or any other you may want to try. Follow the link and once you set "Create Alert" you will receive an email when something happens...I get about two every day...yes some will not let you read all because of subscriptions but there will be other links within the email.

Create an alert - Google Search Help

You can get emails when new results for a topic show up in Google Search. For example, you can get info about news, products, or mentions of your name. Create an alert Go to Google Alerts. In t

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