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Message: [QUOTE="EricLA, post: 5244297, member: 26"] All these questions about scoring... I'm gonna ramble but here goes. All season long, Paige spent time deferring shots and letting the rest of the team get involved. It was great for their development and confidence, but ultimately IMHO cost her NPOY. Fast forward to the NCAA tourney... The Oklahoma game perfectly illustrates Paige's mindset. The first half - she gave the rest of the team plenty of chances to score and contribute. Result? 4 point half time deficit. She scored 7 points in the first half letting Sarah and Ash and Azzi take shots and keep it close. She scored 33 in the 2nd half. Both Sarah and Azzi shot 4-13, and aside from Ash's 5-8 (12 points), the other 2 of the trio were missing a LOT. USC? When the lead was cut to 5, I know Geno ran a play for Azzi and she drained a 3, but again she shot only 3-14. But this game Sarah and Cait were on point and while Paige didn't have to shoulder it all, she still went out and got 31 points. I think if Paige doesn't defer to Azzi, Sarah, Cait, and Ash all season, I'm not sure they have as much confidence as they do now. And by the way, Paige's scoring does not come in a vacuum. The amount of screens and picks that are set to get her open - it's constant movement on offense for Paige. Shout out to Jana who has been particularly effective with screens, even tho she's gotten limited minutes. Getting back to the OP question - this team is not built around the strength of our 5's (Jana and Ice) as traditional 5's. UConn's best offense has come from small ball with Sarah at the 5. Is it easier when Jana scores 6 and Ice adds in 4? Absolutely. But those guys have shown very little in big games in the NCAA's offensively, so it's up to Paige, Sarah, Cait, Azzi, and Ash. There has not been a game this season where all 5 have gone off, but they don't need to in order to win. Early on, Geno said Paige is the most unguardable player in WCBB. I kind of scoffed at that as she'd go thru several games scoring 12-13 points or so, and I just didn't see it. Now in the NCAA's, it's on full display and I see what Geno was going on about. Do our big 5 scorers (yeah i'm including Ash and Cait) need to all have 10+ in order to win? ONLY if Paige's shot is off. I love Paige taking 20-25 shots cuz not a single one is a bad shot. She took only 18 to get 31 vs. USC. That's insane. She took 27 to get 40 vs. Oklahoma. Not as efficient. Bottom line, IMHO if we play our A or A- game, no one can beat us. But we can't afford to have our scorers shooting 20% either... [/QUOTE]

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