UConn stats....Nika vs Hailey Van Lith...

[DavidinNaples]

The lack of respect for Nika's offensive capabilities, by some on this board, is puzzling. So here are some stats to answer the question, who is a better offensive player, Nika or Hailey Van Lith?

1. Games - Each has played 3 years of college basketball. Hailey has been in 101 games, all as a starter. Nika has appeared in 92 games, 70 as a starter.
2. 3 point shooting - Van Lith has taken 451 threes, made 33.7% of those shots. Nika has tried 251 shots from outside the arc, made 34.3%. Nika is a better 3 point shooter.
3. 2 point shots - Van Lith has taken 882 two pt shots and made 46.5% of them. Nika tried 174 two pt shots and 50.6% went in. Nika is a better two point shooter.
4. Assists - Nika has 433 career assists vs Hailey's total of 257. Nika actually has more assists (433) than field goal attempts (425). Nika is better at assisting.
5. Points - Van Lith has scored 1,533 points in her 3 years on 1,333 shots attempts & 326 free throw tries. Her NISE (Naples Index of Scoring Efficiency) is .924 (1,533 pts divided by 1659 scoring chances). Nika has a NISE of .961 (495 points divided by 515 scoring chances). Nika has a better NISE.
6. Free throws - Hailey Van Lith gets fouled way more often, 346 foul shots vs 90 for Nika. She also makes a better %, 85% vs 67.8% for Nika. Hailey Van Lith is a better free throw shooter.
7. Turnovers - Hailey has 260 turnovers (vs 257 assists) and Nika has 222 turnovers (vs 433 assists). Nika has a much better assist/turnover ratio.

So, statistically, Nika is a better offensive player than Hailey Van Lith. Wow, who knew??
Thoughts?
Go Huskies..!!

 

[EricLA]

Love this. Thanks David! People who don't appreciate the value Nika brings simply aren't paying attention, or don't understand the game. I've said it at least 10 times on the board at various times. Nika doesn't score much because she doesn't need to.

 

[Staven]

Thank you David for breaking down the two players it was interesting to see the comparisons. I will admit that Hailey is a great player in her own right but I doubt she could match Nika's heart and hustle. Other than Jen Rizz I can't recall a player as tenacious as Nika!

 

[UConnCat]

Who knew?!? Great stuff. Thank you David.

 

[Rowdy831]

The lack of respect for Nika's offensive capabilities, by some on this board, is puzzling. So here are some stats to answer the question, who is a better offensive player, Nika or Hailey Van Lith?

1. Games - Each has played 3 years of college basketball. Hailey has been in 101 games, all as a starter. Nika has appeared in 92 games, 70 as a starter.
2. 3 point shooting - Van Lith has taken 451 threes, made 33.7% of those shots. Nika has tried 251 shots from outside the arc, made 34.3%. Nika is a better 3 point shooter.
3. 2 point shots - Van Lith has taken 882 two pt shots and made 46.5% of them. Nika tried 174 two pt shots and 50.6% went in. Nika is a better two point shooter.
4. Assists - Nika has 433 career assists vs Hailey's total of 257. Nika actually has more assists (433) than field goal attempts (425). Nika is better at assisting.
5. Points - Van Lith has scored 1,533 points in her 3 years on 1,333 shots attempts & 326 free throw tries. Her NISE (Naples Index of Scoring Efficiency) is .924 (1,533 pts divided by 1659 scoring chances). Nika has a NISE of .961 (495 points divided by 515 scoring chances). Nika has a better NISE.
6. Free throws - Hailey Van Lith gets fouled way more often, 346 foul shots vs 90 for Nika. She also makes a better %, 85% vs 67.8% for Nika. Hailey Van Lith is a better free throw shooter.
7. Turnovers - Hailey has 260 turnovers (vs 257 assists) and Nika has 222 turnovers (vs 433 assists). Nika has a much better assist/turnover ratio.

So, statistically, Nika is a better offensive player than Hailey Van Lith. Wow, who knew??
Thoughts?
Go Huskies..!!

David this is a perfect example of statistics telling a story that isn't really accurate. Hailey is a much better offensive player than Nika if scoring is what you consider an offensive player. The biggest difference is Nika has the luxury of only taking wide open shots and layups and Hailey is or was the center of attention at Louisville and had to take a lot of very difficult shots. Those two points both impact percentages.

Now if the question is who is the better player I would take Nika unless I was specifically looking for a 2 guard. She plays better defense than almost any player in the country, she can run the offense and get the ball to the scorers when and where they need it and she can even help out on the boards with her size and strength. She clearly has a fuller tool box than Hailey.

It will be interesting to see Hailey in a spot where she doesn't have to be all the offense for her team. Will she be better or will it hurt her game overall? Can't wait to see.

 

[Rowdy831]

The lack of respect for Nika's offensive capabilities, by some on this board, is puzzling. So here are some stats to answer the question, who is a better offensive player, Nika or Hailey Van Lith?

1. Games - Each has played 3 years of college basketball. Hailey has been in 101 games, all as a starter. Nika has appeared in 92 games, 70 as a starter.
2. 3 point shooting - Van Lith has taken 451 threes, made 33.7% of those shots. Nika has tried 251 shots from outside the arc, made 34.3%. Nika is a better 3 point shooter.
3. 2 point shots - Van Lith has taken 882 two pt shots and made 46.5% of them. Nika tried 174 two pt shots and 50.6% went in. Nika is a better two point shooter.
4. Assists - Nika has 433 career assists vs Hailey's total of 257. Nika actually has more assists (433) than field goal attempts (425). Nika is better at assisting.
5. Points - Van Lith has scored 1,533 points in her 3 years on 1,333 shots attempts & 326 free throw tries. Her NISE (Naples Index of Scoring Efficiency) is .924 (1,533 pts divided by 1659 scoring chances). Nika has a NISE of .961 (495 points divided by 515 scoring chances). Nika has a better NISE.
6. Free throws - Hailey Van Lith gets fouled way more often, 346 foul shots vs 90 for Nika. She also makes a better %, 85% vs 67.8% for Nika. Hailey Van Lith is a better free throw shooter.
7. Turnovers - Hailey has 260 turnovers (vs 257 assists) and Nika has 222 turnovers (vs 433 assists). Nika has a much better assist/turnover ratio.

So, statistically, Nika is a better offensive player than Hailey Van Lith. Wow, who knew??
Thoughts?
Go Huskies..!!

btw Great analysis!!

 

[ballerfan]

David this is a perfect example of statistics telling a story that isn't really accurate. Hailey is a much better offensive player than Nika if scoring is what you consider an offensive player. The biggest difference is Nika has the luxury of only taking wide open shots and layups and Hailey is or was the center of attention at Louisville and had to take a lot of very difficult shots. Those two points both impact percentages.

Now if the question is who is the better player I would take Nika unless I was specifically looking for a 2 guard. She plays better defense than almost any player in the country, she can run the offense and get the ball to the scorers when and where they need it and she can even help out on the boards with her size and strength. She clearly has a fuller tool box than Hailey.

It will be interesting to see Hailey in a spot where she doesn't have to be all the offense for her team. Will she be better or will it hurt her game overall? Can't wait to see.

This is a smart post. Thanks.

 

[Next 12]

Another thing to compare. NIKA was assigned to guard the best shooter on the other team and she was the best at it. I wonder how many points she saved by not letting her opponent score what was there average. Defense counts 40% of a teams ability to win a game and NIKA did it to become Defensive Player of the year. GO NIKA!!!! GO HUSKIES!!!!

 

[Blond D.]

Who knew?!? Great stuff. Thank you David.

I knew and so did a lot of other UCONN fans. Thanks for the great post. It shares a lot of information.

 

[PacoSwede]

David this is a perfect example of statistics telling a story that isn't really accurate. Hailey is a much better offensive player than Nika if scoring is what you consider an offensive player. ..

i don't agree with that. in basketball clearly there are many factors affecting offense other than scoring.

lots of fans don't accept that -- i'd like to know their reasoning. i'm sure maybe agree with you.

maybe some simply don't realize it's a team game. and more often than not players who love to score can hurt the team

 

[AvidFan]

Here's an interesting question that can be asked to both sides of the ball (offensively and defensively) to add to all the numbers mentioned. Does Nika's play inspire, motivate, demoralize or have no effect on her team versus Hailey's effect on her team? Are their teams significantly different without them?

 

[KY Card Fan]

Interesting discussion. Two points. Hailey Van Lith was a volume shooter who often was forced to take poor, contested shots as the shot clock wound down. Her percentage suffered as a result. Also, she was never the primary ballhandler during her career at Louisville so her assist totals don't mean much.

That said, I'll be very interested in how she fares as a PG(?) at LSU in an environment where she is not the lone alpha. And I'd LOVE to have Nika as my team's PG. I enjoy watching her play.

 

[FairView]

One again, our friend in Naples comes through with a cogent post that puts facts before hype. Thanks.

 

[Bone Dog]

I think I understand the sentiment, and share it, but the sense of the bolded statements seems mistaken to me. It was true, in my view, that Nika's lack of offense was a liability at times in her first two seasons. But last season she turned that around in all aspects of her offensive game. Her offense and especially her pg play was a major reason we got as far as we did.

The thing is, Nika is a pure pg and Hailey is not. That's why it's an apples to oranges comparison. Also, I'd isolate Nika's junior year with any other pg in the country, because that's the year when she had primary control of the team on O and D. This is the true Nika.

 

[Cuango]

The lack of respect for Nika's offensive capabilities, by some on this board, is puzzling. So here are some stats to answer the question, who is a better offensive player, Nika or Hailey Van Lith?

1. Games - Each has played 3 years of college basketball. Hailey has been in 101 games, all as a starter. Nika has appeared in 92 games, 70 as a starter.
2. 3 point shooting - Van Lith has taken 451 threes, made 33.7% of those shots. Nika has tried 251 shots from outside the arc, made 34.3%. Nika is a better 3 point shooter.
3. 2 point shots - Van Lith has taken 882 two pt shots and made 46.5% of them. Nika tried 174 two pt shots and 50.6% went in. Nika is a better two point shooter.
4. Assists - Nika has 433 career assists vs Hailey's total of 257. Nika actually has more assists (433) than field goal attempts (425). Nika is better at assisting.
5. Points - Van Lith has scored 1,533 points in her 3 years on 1,333 shots attempts & 326 free throw tries. Her NISE (Naples Index of Scoring Efficiency) is .924 (1,533 pts divided by 1659 scoring chances). Nika has a NISE of .961 (495 points divided by 515 scoring chances). Nika has a better NISE.
6. Free throws - Hailey Van Lith gets fouled way more often, 346 foul shots vs 90 for Nika. She also makes a better %, 85% vs 67.8% for Nika. Hailey Van Lith is a better free throw shooter.
7. Turnovers - Hailey has 260 turnovers (vs 257 assists) and Nika has 222 turnovers (vs 433 assists). Nika has a much better assist/turnover ratio.

So, statistically, Nika is a better offensive player than Hailey Van Lith. Wow, who knew??
Thoughts?
Go Huskies..!!

With all due respect, this is simply selective reasoning. Better point guard? Sure! Nika is certainly that! However, I couldn't help but notice the statistic you carefully excluded from your post. Hailey Van Lith 19.7 ppg- Nika 7.1 ppg. If one person shoots 5 threes and makes three and another shoots 500 threes and makes 295, that doesn’t make the first one a better offensive player!
Even putting aside the selective presentation of their respective stats, the whole idea of comparing these two is essentially meaningless. Better to wait until the end of this season! Hailey Van Lith has never played the point while thats the only position Nika has played. Reportedly, Hailey Van Lith will be playing the point this season (I have my doubts as to how long and how successful that experiment will be) and so, at the end of this season you will be able to offer a more coherent comparison.
Let me be clear, I think Van Lith is waaay overrated and I have serious doubts about Mulkey’s attempt to make her into a point guard but if you were to take a national poll on the best offensive player between Hailey Van Lith and Nika, let’s just say it wouldn’t be close! Conversely, if you take a poll on which is the best point guard well, that would not be close either. However, neither poll would be fair! They don’t play the same position and have never been asked to do the same things on their respective teams.
I’m pretty sure, especially if she (Hailey Van Lith) actually plays the point all year, that her scoring will not be anywhere near 20 points per game this season. I’d still bet though, that she will score substantially more per game than Nika. That’s not to say that she’s better than Nika but rather, that she is simply a more offensive minded player! I must say though, I am extremely interested to see if she (Hailey Van Lith) can actually become a viable point guard! I will also say that I certainly wouldn’t trade Nika for Hailey Van Lith even if she’s not as good offensively!

 

[SCNCHuskie]

David this is a perfect example of statistics telling a story that isn't really accurate. Hailey is a much better offensive player than Nika if scoring is what you consider an offensive player. The biggest difference is Nika has the luxury of only taking wide open shots and layups and Hailey is or was the center of attention at Louisville and had to take a lot of very difficult shots. Those two points both impact percentages.

First off, I want to say that I love Nika, and have loved her game, and fierce personality since she first got to UConn.

I was coming on to say almost the exact same thing as Rowdy. Having the luxury of not being the go to scorer allows you to be much more selective in your shot attempts therefore skewing the statistical output of two separate individuals.

 

[DavidinNaples]

With all due respect, this is simply selective reasoning. Better point guard? Sure! Nika is certainly that! However, I couldn't help but notice the statistic you carefully excluded from your post. Hailey Van Lith 19.7 ppg- Nika 7.1 ppg. If one person shoots 5 threes and makes three and another shoots 500 threes and makes 295, that doesn’t make the first one a better offensive player!
Even putting aside the selective presentation of their respective stats, the whole idea of comparing these two is essentially meaningless. Better to wait until the end of this season! Hailey Van Lith has never played the point while thats the only position Nika has played. Reportedly, Hailey Van Lith will be playing the point this season (I have my doubts as to how long and how successful that experiment will be) and so, at the end of this season you will be able to offer a more coherent comparison.
Let me be clear, I think Van Lith is waaay overrated and I have serious doubts about Mulkey’s attempt to make her into a point guard but if you were to take a national poll on the best offensive player between Hailey Van Lith and Nika, let’s just say it wouldn’t be close! Conversely, if you take a poll on which is the best point guard well, that would not be close either. However, neither poll would be fair! They don’t play the same position and have never been asked to do the same things on their respective teams.
I’m pretty sure, especially if she (Hailey Van Lith) actually plays the point all year, that her scoring will not be anywhere near 20 points per game this season. I’d still bet though, that she will score substantially more per game than Nika. That’s not to say that she’s better than Nika but rather, that she is simply a more offensive minded player! I must say though, I am extremely interested to see if she (Hailey Van Lith) can actually become a viable point guard! I will also say that I certainly wouldn’t trade Nika for Hailey Van Lith even if she’s not as good offensively!

Respect to you as well… I very clearly included points scored & games played. In addition, I contrasted those points with how many shots were taken to score those points. Points per game doesn’t analyze how many shots were taken, how many were made, what kind of shots or any efficiency measurement. Hailey Van Lith is a very good player, but a volume shooter. Her points per game will exceed most guards if she takes the same number of shots again this season. Of course, LSU will need to play with more than one ball if their new lineup shoots like last season.

Agree trading Nika would be undesirable…

 

[diggerfoot]

There are four types of decisions a shooter can make:

Take a difficult shot when there are better options.
Take a difficult shot when there aren’t better options.
Take an open shot when there are better options.
Take an open shot when there aren’t better options.

Before last season started I thought Muhl needed to take about 8-10 shots a game to be effective. I was wrong, mainly because I realized that while Muhl was not afraid to shoot, she only took open shots when there were no better options. With some teams shooting only in that situation might be a liability, on a team like UConn those are good decisions.

Muhl makes the right kind of decisions for the team she is on. Some keep fearing that opponents can play 5 on 4, but that has yet to happen. Granted, Muhl will never draw the opponent’s best defender, but they have played “honest” enough to allow Muhl to find better options, or else shoot when they are truly leaving her alone to blanket other players.

In the game against Texas Muhl had 9 assists, most in the first half, against 3 turnovers. Texas adjusted by denying Muhl on the in bounds. Auriemma adjusted by having Fudd bring the ball up. Whether she shoots much or not Muhl is still a danger with the ball in her hands, at least teams like Texas think so.

I agree that comparing Muhl to Hailey Van Lith is “apples to oranges,” because the two differed in their decision making in accordance to the roles they were best suited for the teams on which they played. But Muhl‘s lack of shooting is not because of reluctance in the wrong situations, nor has it created the 5 on 4 that some claim or dread.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

Here's an interesting question that can be asked to both sides of the ball (offensively and defensively) to add to all the numbers mentioned. Does Nika's play inspire, motivate, demoralize or have no effect on her team versus Hailey's effect on her team? Are their teams significantly different without them?

Van Lith assisted Louisville in losing 12 games last year. Nika has lost 12 games at UCONN in the past two injury plagued years, and has started in twice as many Final Fours.

 

[HuskyNan]

What would Van Lith have scored with an Aaliyah, Lou, and Azzi on her team? I guess we’ll find out this coming season.

 

[BobbyJ]

What would Van Lith have scored with an Aaliyah, Lou, and Azzi on her team? I guess we’ll find out this coming season.

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View attachment 91890

Nowhere near 19.7 PPG. Because she's a poor volume shooter at 41% and 29% on 3s and a small, weak defender she wouldn't have played anywhere close to 37 MPG on a team with those kids. She was fortunate to be where she was at L'ville with no competition for PT.

 

[ccwarrior]

There are four types of decisions a shooter can make:

Take a difficult shot when there are better options.
Take a difficult shot when there aren’t better options.
Take an open shot when there are better options.
Take an open shot when there aren’t better options.

Before last season started I thought Muhl needed to take about 8-10 shots a game to be effective. I was wrong, mainly because I realized that while Muhl was not afraid to shoot, she only took open shots when there were no better options. With some teams shooting only in that situation might be a liability, on a team like UConn those are good decisions.

Muhl makes the right kind of decisions for the team she is on. Some keep fearing that opponents can play 5 on 4, but that has yet to happen. Granted, Muhl will never draw the opponent’s best defender, but they have played “honest” enough to allow Muhl to find better options, or else shoot when they are truly leaving her alone to blanket other players.

In the game against Texas Muhl had 9 assists, most in the first half, against 3 turnovers. Texas adjusted by denying Muhl on the in bounds. Auriemma adjusted by having Fudd bring the ball up. Whether she shoots much or not Muhl is still a danger with the ball in her hands, at least teams like Texas think so.

I agree that comparing Muhl to Hailey Van Lith is “apples to oranges,” because the two differed in their decision making in accordance to the roles they were best suited for the teams on which they played. But Muhl‘s lack of shooting is not because of reluctance in the wrong situations, nor has it created the 5 on 4 that some claim or dread.

I, like many here, love Nika’s effort and moxi - but to say she always makes the right decisions as an elite PG doesn’t pass the eye test. She picks up her dribble, gets trapped near the sideline and has bad turnovers that has made some here on the board raise questions for the last few years. Now, would I take her over Hailey Van Lith, absolutely.

 

[Majic Hands]

David, I appreciate your attempt to get the Nika haters to think.

I personally decided it wasn't worth my time.

Now when I come across a hater I just put them on "Ignore".

Frees up a lot of time to read and enjoy posting from UConn WBB fans.

 

[Cuango]

Van Lith assisted Louisville in losing 12 games last year. Nika has lost 12 games at UCONN in the past two injury plagued years, and has started in twice as many Final Fours.

Nika plays at UConn, Hailey Van Lith at Louisville! Nuff said! I’m not a huge Hailey Van Lith fan but your comparison is completely unfair.