I agree about those games. But I may interpret them slightly differently. I'm not sure it's worth the trouble to explain this, since I'll just end up with a similar conclusion to yours. But here goes:
In both games against SC, Azzi didn't perform well. The first one was freshman inexperience -- no way Beal or Cooke or Henderson, does that to her again. In the NC game, I think she was under the weather, so I don't credit the defense with that. It reveals little.
By contrast, in the Stanford game, she shot well and was money from the free throw line down the stretch. BUT, she made a few freshman errors that helped allow Stanford back in the game. I don't expect those to recur. This isn't freshman Azzi anymore, as Geno himself has said.
Now, here's the thing which I think you'll agree with me about: Freshman Paige torched SC. She torched Baylor in the EE game. Beal's hair was on fire after the first one. And she would have done the same thing in both subsequent games last year if her team had been ready to "have her back." When Paige scores over Beal, or DiDi in the Baylor game, or any other great defender, it's because she knows how to use screens, how to read an opponent's stance, how to move before they're ready. She never faces down an opponent, faking one two three times before dribbling between her legs and trying to out quick them. That is not her game. She sets up plays well in advance, shoots over a defender, rubs them off a screen, throws a skip pass, etc. In other words, she makes them commit to covering too close and uses that to get past them, or she forces them to back off for fear of a drive or a pass, and then she shoots over them. She has too many weapons, and doesn't need to rely on twitchy-quickness. She beats you with her team, not with a jab step or a spin move. This is the Azzi I hope we see this season -- Paige 2.0.
By the way, I suspect a healthy Caroline can do these things too.
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