How Geno is managing UConn’s deep rotation

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How Geno is managing UConn’s deep rotation so far

Three times over the last decade, UConn has fielded rosters with 10 or fewer scholarship players. Through four games this season, the Huskies have 10 players averaging at least 10 minutes per game.

For the first time in a long time, Geno Auriemma has quality depth at his disposal. He’s still figuring out how to properly use it, though.

“I forgot how we did all that… Every game, 10 players, double-figure minutes, that’s hard,” he said. “The NBA (game) is 48 minutes. We have 40 minutes. It's 200 minutes. It's hard.”

Currently, UConn has nine players firmly in its rotation. Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd have seen the most time, as expected, followed (in order of total minutes) by KK Arnold, Ashlynn Shade, Kayleigh Heckel, Serah Williams, Allie Ziebell, Jana El Alfy and Blanca Quiñonez.

Those players have a near monopoly on first half playing time, too — a better indicator of usage since the Huskies’ last three games have been blowouts. The only two outside that group to see the court before halftime so far are Ice Brady (five minutes), who’s missed the last two games due to knee inflammation, and Caroline Ducharme (three minutes).

Auriemma isn’t just spreading minutes around for the sake of it, either. Every player has already shown they’re worthy of playing time.

Of those aforementioned nine, only Ziebell and El Alfy have yet to reach double-figures during the regular season. But Ziebell put up 13 points in an exhibition and has played well despite what her stat line might indicate, while El Alfy leads the team with 3.8 offensive rebounds and is second with 5.5 rebounds despite averaging just 10.4 minutes per game.

That makes Auriemma’s job tougher.

“It is a challenge because you'll have somebody that deserves 22 minutes and they only get 15,” he said. “You feel like, ‘I should play them more.’”

It also requires a significant amount of trial-and-error to unlock the best lineupa. According to CBB Analytics, the Huskies have totaled 118 minutes with some combination of their nine rotation members. The starting five of Arnold, Shade, Fudd, Strong and Williams account for nearly a third of that time (39 minutes, 33.1 percent) and No other grouping has spent more than six minutes together. In total, UConn has tried out 34 lineups with their rotation.

That’s a lot of data to sift through.

“I'm not a cook by any stretch of imagination… but I like to eat and I know that when you make something that's kind of perfect and then you go, ‘Let me add another ingredient,’ then you screw the whole thing up,” Auriemma explained. “So it's a challenge trying to find the right combinations all the time. We're not going to get it right all the time but I do want to see more people in more situations.”

The eventual payoff will be worth it, though. Not only do the Huskies have depth they can lean on if someone has an off-night, they can throw a variety of different looks at the opposition. They might start with their standard five but can morph in any number of ways after that. Need offense? Run a small-lineup with five shooters. Looking for size? Play Strong, Williams and Quiñonez together. Want to press? Let Arnold and Heckel run wild.

UConn can also doesn’t have to stick with a certain player just because there’s no better option. On Sunday vs Ohio State, Fudd started 0-5 from the field, so Auriemma briefly put her on the bench to help her reset. It worked – Fudd finished with 19 points. That sort of move might not have been possible in recent years.

“It's a luxury too because if somebody doesn't have it that night, move over and somebody else will come in,” he said. “That's the one luxury that you do have.”

While the Huskies should continue to make the most of their depth, they won’t necessarily stick with the same nine from now until April. Auriemma will continue to tinker with it.

“Tomorrow's rotation might be completely different than than Tuesdays and next Wednesdays may be completely different than tomorrow,” he said before the Florida State game. “So I don't want us to get too comfortable.”

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