UConn coach Geno Auriemma's opinion of his top-ranked team has been all over the place. He has seen his freshman look like the next big thing and look completely lost - all in a matter of seconds. He has seen ebbs and flows from some of the returning players which will occasionally make his giddy and other times he is left to shake his head in contempt.

Some of the early tests including Tuesday's game against Baylor will go a long way towards allowing Auriemma to figure out where his team is headed.

"By the start of finals, by December 12,in a month we will know what kind of team that we have," Auriemma said after Tuesday's practice.

Auriemma has yet to set a starting lineup. You can pencil in Maya Moore, Tiffany Hayes and Kelly Faris into the starting five. Stefanie Dolson started both exhibition games at center but her performance in the practice before the Indiana (Pa.) preseason finale had him considering starting Samarie Walker in place of Dolson. He started senior Lorin Dixon at point guard against Franklin Pierce and then went with freshman Bria Hartley against IUP. I'd expect Dolson to start but what happens at point guard is anybody's guess.

"We went back and forth," Auriemma said. "Part of me wants to (start Hartley), part of me doesn't want to. I just think it is always good to bring a really good offensive player of the bench, it is what we have done especially with a good freshman. It has worked really well in the past, I just have to see where everything is. We want to because the game starts off and we have a lot of offense, right now we are going to be scrambling around to find offense. Whther she does or she doesn't (start), it's not going to be long before she is in the game, that is for sure."

Auriemma had words of praise for Dolson, big-time words of praise.

"I think she's going to be one of those four-year, huge-impact players, there's no doubt in my mind," Auriemma said.

Don't expect to see freshman Michala Johnson for much more time than she was out there in the two preseason games. The issue is that her surgically-repaired knees kept her out of the conditioning program for so long that she has a lot of work to do to get to the point physically where the UConn staff will throw her out there for extended stretches.

"That is going to be a long time," Auriemma said of the time frame for Johnson to get significant minutes.

I asked Auriemma if it was more of a case of her knees giving her problems or a lack of conditioning setting her back.

"A little bit of both, you can't separate the two," Auriemma said. "She hasn't played and she is so weak from not having played and not being able to work out."

Speaking of weak, Auriemma was growing annoyed at seeing his players not only hit the deck a little too often but stay down too long when they were on the floor. So he instituted a three-second rule. Any player who crashes to the floor and stays down for more than three seconds comes out of practice immediately.

"We have a team that falls down more than anybody," Auriemma said. "There are guys in the NHL who go 40 miles an hour on skates who don't fall down as much as these guys. Now we have the new rule, three seconds. If you hit the floor and you don't come up in three, you are coming out. Three, two, one, you are out. We had to, we are looking like Champions' League soccer league. The trainer will come out, carry them over and get some ice and then they come out and say 'I am ready to go Coach.' Dead serious. If you stay down, that means you are hurt. You can't stay down there for five minutes and say 'I am all right Coach.'"