Geno Auriemma was honest when asked if he had a plan for how he’ll manage the rotation during Monday’s scrimmage versus Boston College at Mohegan Sun Arena.
“Not yet, not yet,” Auriemma said. “But we asked one of the players to write down how many minutes they thought all of the players should get.”
Seems like something a 41-year veteran and 12-time national champion head coach would do as he constructs his first rotation of the season.
That player — who was not identified — went over the 200-minute limit in their allocation and subsequently turned the planning back over to Auriemma and the staff.
“No, we don’t have a plan yet,” Auriemma said as he grinned. “[We don’t have a plan] to fit 260 minutes into 200 minutes, but we’ll do our best.”
An extra 60 minutes of rotational flexibility would be nice, especially considering it’s the Huskies’ first in-game action in 190 days and the roster is now Paige Bueckers-less, but 200 should suffice — it’s still UConn basketball.
Below are some storylines to keep a tab on during Monday’s scrimmage, which tips off at 2 p.m. on NBC Sports Boston and UConn+.
The starting five — who’s the fifth?
Three starters return from last year’s national championship team. Two of them, Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong, are shoo-ins for maintaining those starting roles. Fudd is arguably the best pure shooter in the country and a future top draft choice while Strong is, well, Sarah Strong.
Jana El Alfy, who started 27 of the Huskies’ 40 games last season, also returns, but is dealing with an injury (see below). She most likely won’t start versus the Eagles but will be in conversations when she returns to full health.
Junior KK Arnold is in line to take the reins at point guard after coming off the bench for Kaitlyn Chen last year.
Serah Williams ranked third in the Big 10 in scoring last year at Wisconsin (19.2) and is a decorated defender in the low post. She’ll likely get the nod at the five.
That’s four out of five. The fifth starter is Auriemma’s joker.
Does he go with three bigs, playing Williams with El Alfy in the low post and Strong on the wing? Will he start Ashlynn Shade (who had been dealing with an injury) and Fudd together to bolster the three-point shooting? What about a mixture of the two; Williams and Strong down low and Shade and Fudd up top — that would be terrifying.
For Monday’s sake (taking into account El Alfy’s injury), it’s safe to assume Arnold, Fudd, Shade, Strong and Williams will comprise the starting lineup.
The point guard rotation
I referred to the point guard rotation as “paradoxically good” after watching the Huskies’ first open practice of the season in Fairfield.
Arnold is a terrorizing on-ball defender. Kayleigh Heckel (USC) is a confident three-level shooter and distributor. Freshman Kelis Fisher can collapse a defense like a folding chair.
Yet they’re all woven with two common threads: tempo and defense. All three can push the ball up the court and run in transition. All three can play sticky on-ball defense and create opportunities on the other end.
It’ll be interesting to see how Auriemma rotates the three 5-foot-9 guards. Arnold is likely to start, but how long does she stay out there? Will Heckel be given the green light as a shooter right away? How does Fisher look in her first in-game action?
Sarah Strong’s “whole ‘nother level”
Auriemma said during the first media availability of the season that the biggest jump a player makes in college is from their freshman to sophomore season.
He doubled down on that Friday, telling the media that the former No. 1 overall recruit “just looks like a different person” who brought her game to a “whole ‘nother level” this summer.
There is apparently a level above being an all-conference, all-tournament and all-America selection as a true freshman that plays alongside two of the country’s best scorers in Bueckers and Fudd, and it’ll be on display at 2 p.m. today.
Strong told the media that she spent the summer doing “guard things” to see the game from a guard’s point of view.
Auriemma also praised Strong for her conditioning, her nutrition and her attempt at becoming a leader this summer.
Injuries
Three players were dealing with injuries during the Huskies’ opening practice and first media availability.
Shade (hamstring) and El Alfy (calf) were both dressed but did not practice. Morgan Cheli (foot) was at an appointment but had not practiced fully all summer.
Auriemma seemed confident in Shade’s availability for Monday and unsure — but optimistic — about El Alfy’s. Cheli was ruled out.
“Jana [El Alfy] went a little bit today in practice, actually longer than I thought,” Auriemma said. “So we’ll see how she responds [Saturday]. But Ashlynn [Shade] for sure.”