Over the first two exhibition games, wins against the Syracuse Orange and Texas Longhorns, the UConn Huskies women's basketball team has gotten a great boost from freshman Jovana Popovic of Serbia. 

Popovic scored 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the win against Syracuse and scored 22 in the win earlier this week against Texas. She's shown an excellent understanding of where to be on the floor, a solid ability to shoot, and she hasn't seemed overwhelmed by the prospect of playing college basketball, especially for UConn.

However, head coach Geno Auriemma is headed for an interesting discussion: What happens when Blanca Quinonez is healthy?

1) Quinonez is the reigning Sixth Woman of the Year in the Big East and she'll form arguably the top front court in the country with Sarah Strong, the defending National Player of the Year.

2) Quinonez had shoulder surgery after last season ended, and Auriemma said she actually had two surgeries this offseason. She hasn't been cleared yet, but the hope is that she'll be playing soon.

3) Popovic has played excellently in her absence. Will Auriemma start Popovic over Quinonez, forcing her to come off the bench in her sophomore season? Will Auriemma send Popovic to the bench despite how excellent she's looked in the early going? Or, will Auriemma send someone else to the bench, maybe Ashlynn Shade, to allow both players to start?

I think that both Popovic and Shade should be in the starting lineup when UConn opens its season on Nov. 2 against Cornell. Both players have played in the preseason and both have played reasonably well.

Quinonez hasn't played yet and hasn't built chemistry on the court with this particular group of players. Even if she's ready to play on Opening Night, Auriemma would be best served to have her come off the bench and ease into action.

After a few games, the lineup can/should be re-evaluated. If Popovic or Shade are struggling and Quinonez is playing well, then things can be re-shuffled, but it doesn't need to re-shuffled prematurely.

The Huskies will play their final exhibition game of the season on Sunday at Gampel Pavilion against Army. After that, the season will begin with the aforementioned Nov. 2 matchup.

UConn is coming off a 38-1 season that saw them advance to the Final Four, where they were beaten by South Carolina. UConn is ranked No. 2 in the preseason Top 25 poll. South Carolina is No. 1.