UConn Women basketball Early 2023-2024 Starting Five Prediction

[Bone Dog]

Don’t forget what Caroline brings to the table height wise, on top of her shooting ability, her ball handling, and her ability to score down low. She is several inches taller than Paige, Azzi, and Nika. She’s even taller than Aubrey. I seem to recall her making a few blocks also.

If you're responding to me, this is why I included her in the front court group as well as the backcourt group.

 

[Geew1992]

I have no idea who will start but I’m watching UConn vs Indiana from the ncaa tournament. For those that said nika and Paige started together, y’all are wrong. Nike came off the bench.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I have no idea who will start but I’m watching UConn vs Indiana from the ncaa tournament. For those that said nika and Paige started together, y’all are wrong. Nike came off the bench.

Thank you.

 

[hoophuskee]

If you look up Paige Bueckers on Wikipedia, her position is listed as UConn PG.
When Paige fractured her tibia, she was bringing the ball up the court as a PG.
Nika also plays PG, but will she be the primary PG or the only one playing PG?
I don't think so.
It would be an insult to the team and to KK for UConn to have a primary PG that can't consistently attack & finish at the basket while KK is on the bench.
The PG is not primarily a defensive position, it's an offensive position since great opposing players cannot usually be stopped from scoring or passing the ball, at least not without fouling them.

Wikipedia? So, you think that when Nika was moved into the starting lineup in her frosh year that she wasn't the pg? So that game vs South Carolina, as an example, you think Paige was bringing the ball up and wasn’t playing off the ball? So as a result you think what Wikipedia says is more relevant than what you saw? Unless you are going to pretend that Nika wasn't bringing up the ball mostly? I'm correct that Nika was the pg in her frosh year when Geno put her in the starting lineup, aren't I? If not, what position was Nika when she started?

As far as insult. I believe everything you said in bold above is wrong. This is why I've argued with you for a long time about UCONN/Geno and use of the bench. You and I have a completely different pov as to how the game should be played. I've agreed with Geno that he doesn't use a deep bench. And this is why your additional comments regarding KK I predict will not come to fruition.

IMO you vastly underrate Nika and overrate KK as a freshman vs Nika. It’s okay. Overall this Nika playing time has been discussed a lot on this site. Just another example of you and I disagree. So, this season, if Nika is part of the core and getting important minutes, you’re eventually going to complain and want KK more while I’m going to disagree with you?

In summation, you have to realize that what your definition of what a pg should be is completely different than mine, then we're never going to agree, right? And secondly, because I favor a core of players vs a deep bench style, that you and I are never going agree on the bench, correct? And finally, I am correct when I say when Nika was put into the starting lineup her frosh year, that she was the pg, correct?

Its okay we disagree. Not our decisions anyway.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Horse,

Saying Bueckers is better at everything is not debatable. If we were choosing up sides even the biggest Nika fan (me) would pick Paige first (duh).

But that's not the point (no pun intended). The question is, where do you get the most value out of Paige Bueckers? PG or SG? If you say SG, or if you consider it a toss up (which could be the case), then you lose nothing by have Nika as the PG with all that she brings to the table. And I don't have a problem with 3 guards being on the floor. What this trio can do easily negates any deficiency of not having a true SF on the floor (which Paige can also do).

I'm amazed at the posters who insist that Paige has to start at PG, as if she's the world's worst SG.

Basketball is a team sport, and if UConn is going to stretch the opposing defense, and other players are able to get open, then Paige is the PG. Nika playing the point with Paige at SG does not stretch the defense. You do know in Paige’s PG freshman year Nika didn’t start and came off the bench?

 

[hoophuskee]

I have no idea who will start but I’m watching UConn vs Indiana from the ncaa tournament. For those that said nika and Paige started together, y’all are wrong. Nike came off the bench.

It's their frosh year they started together. Watch the UCONN vs South Carolina game in their frosh year and subsequent games thereafter before Nika got hurt.

 

[Bald Husky]

I would like nothing better than to have Caroline healthy and in a good frame of mind come the seasons beginning but as of now, she has been the most inconsistent player on the roster, Amari included. Between all her injuries, she has not played well in long stretches, and you guys know it. If she is going to be that starter, she will have to prove it on the floor, and she will not start initially until she can show Geno that she can play a long period without having pain, and playing productively like she did as a freshman. Nika is the PG, no question. I believe for this coming year, having Caroline coming off the bench will be a great opportunity for the team to keep the momentum up without sacrificing scoring or defense. Caroline can be a huge asset, but adding another scoring forward and deleting the second-best national assist leader and best defensive player in the conference is not in the best interest of the team. If Caroline gets healthy, she will get tons of minutes, but taking Nika out of the lineup will endanger the team chemistry that was held together by her last year when the team could have given up. She has become the teams leader, they know it and we know it. Guaranteed Nika will start, and guaranteed Caroline will come off the bench.

 

[hoophuskee]

Basketball is a team sport, and if UConn is going to stretch the opposing defense, and other players are able to get open, then Paige is the PG. Nika playing the point with Paige at SG does not stretch the defense. You do know in Paige’s PG freshman year Nika didn’t start and came off the bench?

None of this is true other than hoop being a team sport. Please advise in this game if Nika is starting and who the pg is, and if the defense was stretched enough to allow Paige to score 31 points.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Yeah I agree with this. In my hunger for husky basketball, I watched a bit of Marquette game from the 20-21 season (Paige had 30 and a classic post game interview with Nika), and the team started Nika, Paige, C Williams, Evina, and Liv. I don't think starting 3 guards is an issue for Geno. On the flip side, essentially Paige would kinda be a 3 defensively next year. I know she's been in the weight room, but it's hard for me to imagine her guarding a Cotie McMahon or a Rickea Jackson. I know those matchups are few and far between but I get the idea of starting a bigger 3.

Nika’s minutes started going up in the 2nd half of the 20-21 season, she even started one or two games, for two reasons, Anna Makurat and Christyn Williams, both players had stretches where they were either hurt or in Geno’s doghouse.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

None of this is true other than hoop being a team sport. Please advise in this game if Nika is starting and who the pg is, and if the defense was stretched enough to allow Paige to score 31 points.

Oh yes it is, until well into January, Nika’s minutes were minuscule then with issues involving Anna Makurat and Christyn Williams, she started getting more, to the point where she did start one or two games. Geno did like her defensive skills, but playing for 22 minutes and scoring no points, or playing 33 minutes and scoring 3 points, shows some room for improvement in her offensive game, and that was two years ago. She needs to get some offensive skills if she wants to play post UConn.

 

[BBallF]

…….and what happened to Nika’s tenacity in the clear loss to Ohio State? OSU aggressively defended four players knowing that Nika would be distributing the ball to them, their fifth player lightly defended Nika but was also sagging off her waiting for a pass that tipped or outright intercepted. Having a point guard that is not a threat to score is a big weakness no matter how good her defensive skills are. OSU exploited that and that’s why they won. I love Nika and she has her place on UConn, even sometimes as a starter, but not all the time. Nika even got major minutes when Paige was a freshman but not as a starter with Willams and Westbrook running the show. If substitute Ducharme and Fudd for those two seniors, Nika still gets major minutes but doesn’t start.

No, OSU won because they pressed us and because we never solved the turnover problem this year not because they sloughed off Nika. It had nothing to do with her tenacity on defense. That's what Geno attributed the loss to in the post game interview- the unsolved turnover problem. We had 25 turnovers. That's more than some recreation basketball teams. Yes, Nika was a main culprit with 7 of those but they came unglued right after OSU started scoring and could press us off the inbounds and it stayed that way.

Nika's problem at the point was her unwillingness at times to make the safe pass as a first option probably because it usually stopped the offense. I think that will change this year. She doesn't have to be that creative with these weapons. We also went almost a whole season with one ball handler. A lot of things happened because of that, none of them good. We became a team where our bigs had to make plays most of the time. There was no one else to get the ball into them in the right spot after the first pass.

I may be wrong and if I am I will tip my hat to you, but Geno likes Nika and he likes the team with Nika out there. It was a unique and very upsetting season for everyone. She isn't the culprit. She broke Sue's season record and Paige's single game record and would have won the national assist title if she had Azzi all season long to pass to for 3s and spot up 2s. Remember, she did that playing the toughest OOC schedule in the country, with tired and battered players, and only one outside shooter all year long in Lou. I think what she did was remarkable and had to be done for the team to win. Not so this coming year if everyone is healthy. It will not be "Everyone Eats". It will be "Anyone On This Team Can Eat".

Many of us, including Kara Wolters, thought the turnover problem would be mollified with Azzi coming back. We were wrong. We needed Paige. She is the best secondary passer in America, CC from Iowa included. If you know basketball you know that perhaps the greatest secondary passer ever was Larry Legend. Paige has that same future vision on the court.

 

[BBallF]

None of this is true other than hoop being a team sport. Please advise in this game if Nika is starting and who the pg is, and if the defense was stretched enough to allow Paige to score 31 points.

Game, set, match.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Wikipedia? So, you think that when Nika was moved into the starting lineup in her frosh year that she wasn't the pg? So that game vs South Carolina, as an example, you think Paige was bringing the ball up and wasn’t playing off the ball? So as a result you think what Wikipedia says is more relevant than what you saw? Unless you are going to pretend that Nika wasn't bringing up the ball mostly? I'm correct that Nika was the pg in her frosh year when Geno put her in the starting lineup, aren't I? If not, what position was Nika when she started?

As far as insult. I believe everything you said in bold above is wrong. This is why I've argued with you for a long time about UCONN/Geno and use of the bench. You and I have a completely different pov as to how the game should be played. I've agreed with Geno that he doesn't use a deep bench. And this is why your additional comments regarding KK I predict will not come to fruition.

IMO you vastly underrate Nika and overrate KK as a freshman vs Nika. It’s okay. Overall this Nika playing time has been discussed a lot on this site. Just another example of you and I disagree. So, this season, if Nika is part of the core and getting important minutes, you’re eventually going to complain and want KK more while I’m going to disagree with you?

In summation, you have to realize that what your definition of what a pg should be is completely different than mine, then we're never going to agree, right? And secondly, because I favor a core of players vs a deep bench style, that you and I are never going agree on the bench, correct? And finally, I am correct when I say when Nika was put into the starting lineup her frosh year, that she was the pg, correct?

Its okay we disagree. Not our decisions anyway.

Nika was moved into the starting lineup for only a couple of games late her freshman year only because of issues involving regular starters Anna Makurat and/or Christyn Williams, and because Azzi Fudd was out the entire season. She did play well except she couldn’t fill the scoring void left by CW or AM, and in Makurat’s case also rebounding. IIRC in one game she played 22 min and scored no points, in another she played 33 min and scored 3 points, but Geno liked her defense as opposed to CW and AM’s defense so her minutes continued to go up for several games hoping her scoring ability would come with more PT.

 

[Bald Husky]

LMAO.............
If you watch any of the game broadcasts last year, especially the National games, Nikas play was one of the main focal points of the conversation by the commentators. They raved about her drive, her defense, her ability to motivate the team no matter how many players were available. As far as I know, Beth Mowens, Pam Ward, and the Fox people are not members of the Boneyard, or anything else affiliated with UConn. Their comments were real, and they, along with the coaches of other teams acknowledges her worth. It has been said that Nika is not guarded because of her shooting, but Dawn indicated that one of their strategies was to cover her closely because of how she sets up our real shooters. If we are going to become a pressure team this year, Nika is most valuable in this scenario. We can have these conversations until November, but nothing will change, she is in, a Senior leader to guide the team. I wouldn't be surprised if Paige took a back seat to Nika when they are on the floor together. You can't just shut her off as Geno has already found out. Nika can lead, Paige can score. BTY, I am not diminishing the leadership of Paige, but I want her to score, let Nika run the floor.

 

[BBallF]

Nika has a lot of work to do this summer. She needs to set her feet as she is receiving the ball, not after she gets it, for her 3s. She needs a bona fide pull up J from 15 feet, and a finish move right and left on her drives. She has a tendency to hit the glass with the ball too high or hard sometimes on breakaways or fast breaks because she doesn't twist her hand to cut the ball speed coming off her fingertips in those circumstances. These are all doable. She also needs to watch a lot of film with someone who can show her the forced passes that led to turnovers. She will not have to force them this year with a healthy Azzi, Paige and Caroline.

 

[#12in21]

Nika was moved into the starting lineup for only a couple of games late her freshman year only because of issues involving regular starters Anna Makurat and/or Christyn Williams, and because Azzi Fudd was out the entire season. She did play well except she couldn’t fill the scoring void left by CW or AM, and in Makurat’s case also rebounding. IIRC in one game she played 22 min and scored no points, in another she played 33 min and scored 3 points, but Geno liked her defense as opposed to CW and AM’s defense so her minutes continued to go up for several games hoping her scoring ability would come with more PT.

Where to begin! If you actually go back snd see who the starters were Nika’s freshman year you will see that she started the second half of the season, not ‘a couple games late in the season’. Azzi Fudd, was not ‘ out the whole season’, she was still in highschool at the time! If you listened to Geno, on numerous occasions, he has said once they inserted Nika in the starting lineup her freshman year it changed the way the entire team played - for the better! That is why she took over the starting PG spot for the second half of the season and would have held it through their finsl game if not for the ankle injury against High Point. Geno said, I believe a game after that injury, in which Aubrey stepped up and had a great game- that not having Nika was a problem giung forward because she brings something neither Aubrey or Anna could (paraphrase).

 

[Bone Dog]

While I expect Nika to start at pg next year for most games, if not all, it may make team chemistry a little more complicated. She was the floor general this season and was very vocal in huddles and in game action. I wonder if she will be comfortable leading so vocally in huddles next to Paige and what it means if she isn’t.

Last season, Paige was the leader in the tournament. But her style is not as loud as Nika’s, and when they were both on the floor, Nika was more subdued. And Paige has always seemed more of a “hype” player than a floor general. She got her teammates to succeed by involving them in her passing vision and celebrating what they do with her passes.

There’s a risk here I hadn’t considered earlier. Freshman year, everyone deferred to Paige even though she wasn’t nearly as assertive as Nika ever was this year. She could direct team movement on the floor and her passing was dynamic and efficient. But because she seemed to lead more by example than with her voice, the team also sometimes succumbed to Paige-watching, much to their detriment.

In the read-and-react game, Paige seems to be better. It helps that her mid range jumper forces defenses to overplay her. Nika’s mistakes this season often came from passing into the post without considering how well defended they may have been. I expect she’ll improve in this area next season, especially if she develops a better midrange jump shot. But when it comes to running the set offense or pushing the ball in transition, Nika is as good as anyone.

I guess all this means when Nika Paige and Azzi are on the floor together, it will still be pg by committee at times.

 

[Tonyc]

If healthy Paige Azzi Aaliyah are starting. The other 2 positions will depend on what the team needs. They are rebounding, height, defense etc. Alot of "ifs". If ICE and Jana can rebound and score in the middle like they did in AAU ball they just may start. Griff and Caroline will see alot of action. Lets face it. Paige and Azzi will put on a show and with both of them on the court Aaliyah will be defended one on one. As good as Nika is and shes earned the starting PG position if she doesnt shoot opponents will be able to double down on our 3 AAs.

I would think Geno will go with experience to start the season and we will learn alot from the trip to Europe. If ICE can perform at a high level she may be the piece we need down low allowing Edwards to move outside where she has shown she is very good. I dont see Geno using a short bench this season. He has to many top recruits that need experience which constitutes playtime. BTW I still havent given up on Amari and at 6'5 she could make a huge difference.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

The Nika nay sayers miss one crucial, important point, Geno and his staff believe Nika makes his team better with her at the Point Guard position, so Nika will start at PG her senior season!

 

[hard2please]

paige azzi jana/ice edwards kk

 

[Geew1992]

Nika was moved into the starting lineup for only a couple of games late her freshman year only because of issues involving regular starters Anna Makurat and/or Christyn Williams, and because Azzi Fudd was out the entire season. She did play well except she couldn’t fill the scoring void left by CW or AM, and in Makurat’s case also rebounding. IIRC in one game she played 22 min and scored no points, in another she played 33 min and scored 3 points, but Geno liked her defense as opposed to CW and AM’s defense so her minutes continued to go up for several games hoping her scoring ability would come with more PT.

Pretty sure Azzi wasn’t on the team Nika’s freshman year

 

[Kaizen]

Can we just say?
Paige is a guard,
Nika is a guard too.

 

[Kaizen]

Q; Can we have a three guards team?
Guard (Paige, Nika, Azzi, Aubrey?), Forward (Alaiyah), Center (We need a big ?)

 

[hoophuskee]

Oh yes it is, until well into January, Nika’s minutes were minuscule then with issues involving Anna Makurat and Christyn Williams, she started getting more, to the point where she did start one or two games. Geno did like her defensive skills, but playing for 22 minutes and scoring no points, or playing 33 minutes and scoring 3 points, shows some room for improvement in her offensive game, and that was two years ago. She needs to get some offensive skills if she wants to play post UConn

Wait a minute!!! The underlined wasn't your initial comment. Your comment was "You do know in Paige’s PG freshman year Nika didn’t start and came off the bench?"

You said the above in bold. It was wrong. Now you've compounded it by saying Nika just started 1 or 2 games. She started 15 straight games. (actually 16 but she got hurt early vs Cuse in NCAA's).

I understand you and sun and alyadar and others are concerned with lack of scoring. If she can't score a lick she'll probably eventually be replaced. But she did shoot 34.9% from 3. She was craftier this year than in the past getting to the basket with some scoring.

And by the way, Paige Bueckers did average 21 ppg in the 14 consecutive games that Nika started with her from 2/3 to 3/21 not counting the Cuse game she got hurt. So, we can throw away the comments that Nika doesn't help regardless how much she scores or spreads the floor.

Do you really think 29.1% 3pt shooter Aubrey Griffin spreads the floor? You are going to rely on the 2 freshman guards that you saw play against other h/s kids? These h/s kids in their frosh year in NCAA tourney will be going against mostly experienced juniors and 4th and 5th year seniors. It's possible but you can't say this in May with an iota of certainty they should play.

So, it comes down to Ice or Caroline vs Nika unless Aubrey can show a perimeter game. If Caroline is healthy - sure. It’s one thing if you think KK or Ashley can be that but to argue it that they certainly will for players you never saw 1 minute play college ball and with no reference of how they are performing in practices (for example we heard Ice was doing terrific in practices) would be completely absurd. It's not like KK and Ashley were thought to be Paige or Azzi coming out of H/S.

The fight you and others are showing here against Nika is ridiculous when you make comments that she was always on the bench, or others make mention that there must be a scoring pg, or others mentioning if you start Paige and Azzi and Nika, you have no pg to come off the bench completely disregarding once you take out Nika then you slide Paige to pg.