Evina Finishes Rehab Thread morphed into another Who Starts Next Year Thread

[The CDR-Ret]

I think two things. Many on this board are vastly undervaluing Paige because they are looking at past number ones with little regard to how well she was junior vs senior. Many are just too focused on using that number 1 recruit these last two-three years as a point of reference rather than look what happens when as a junior and you are among top 2 or 3 players. As a result, Paige is a better pg than Evina more than likely. --


But on the flipside I see no reason to expect Paige to be better than Evina as an overall player. Paige’s 3pt shot is highly suspect. Look at the AAU games. She shot poorly from 3 and/or she didn't take many shots beucase she wasn't as confident. I can’t expect a "Maya-like freshman year." On the flip side I do expect her to be a terrific pg right from the start is wrong. Players like DT, Maya, Stew and Tina Charles all had terrific freshman years. And there have be freshmen pg's at UCONN that started and had good years and Paige is even more heralded than any of them.

I am not expecting "Maya" but on the flip-side I am not expecting huge struggles unless you compare her to 1st team all-American players. She didn't get to be MVP as a junior and all these accolades this past year for nothing. Anyhow, imo the best lineup will be with Paige and Evina on the floor together. Both can play pg (I assume from others that Evina is good as a pg) and both can play off the ball. And I'll reiterate what nearly everyone is saying -- extremely extremely extremely doubtful Paige is the best player on this team for an entire season. I can't see that.

What I find significant about Paige is that she was playing significant minutes as an Eighth grader on a High School Varsity team in the State Finals after being a strong contributor all year, and then a starter as a Freshman, and qualified for the State Finals every year of High School.

She is used to playing up, and if she LOVES practice with Geno et al., she will be ready to be the starting point guard on Day #1 of the OOC schedule. Maybe not Day #1 of practice, as she has to prove she LOVES practice!!!

 

[Carnac]

I'm SMH also. The video although very good to see is of a pickup game in the park probably in her neighborhood so I wouldn't put too much stock into it. Being cleared to play with no restrictions is a great milestone but not definitive proof that she will return to pre-surgery(2X) form. At no time was Evina Westbrook ever "a elite level (top15 D1)"performer. In fact, Evina may not have been among the top 15 players in the SEC in her best season (18-19)
2019 SEC Women's Basketball Awards announced
Evina may very well start on this UCONN team but let's not get carried away. She will have plenty of competition for that starting position regardless if she is a 1-Paige, a 2-Christyn or a 3-Anna & Aubrey.
You can often spot an elite player by looking at the resume. That resume shouldn't have 20 losses on it after only 2 full seasons of college basketball.

Coco, you have completely misinterpreted my comment. It was not my intent (I made no reference to the video) to suggest that because of what was depicted in that home video that was obviously edited, influenced my perception of her physical health or readiness to begin the season. It never occurred to me as I was constructing my comment that anyone would make that assumption. When people post videos of players, I always look at the quality of the competition first before I get excited about the play. If the other team is small, slow and weak, I’m not impressed.

I didn’t mean to suggest that her play was elite, but that she played against other players (elite competition) whose teams were ranked in the top 15 in the country. This includes top ranked “elite” teams such as Baylor, Maryland, Oregon, Louisville, Stanford, etc. versus the level of competition that Paige played against. There are many D1 teams. Only a few of them are elite. Xavier is a D1 program. They are not at the elite level. I read it again, and I can see how one could misinterpret that portion of my narrative. I’ll have to do a better job in translating my thoughts to paper.

Since the end of the season, I have said in all of my comments that Evina should start. I’ve also recognized that she will have to earn it because there will be some stiff competition from her teammates, but I think she will win out. Paige may in fact become a starter at some point during the season (if there is one) , but I don’t believe as some others do that it will be for game 1. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. If she’s that good, UConn will have a much better team than we think. Regardless, Geno is going to have one heck of a bench.

As far as the losses go, I agree with Donald Doowop. You can’t blame her for those loses. She wasn’t out there by herself. There was zero chemistry on that team, and Holly had no clue how to stop the bleeding.

 

[hoophuskee]

You make good points but this is simply wrong. If you watch AAU it must have been prior years because she played USA & 3X3 most of last summer. Bueckers is a complete shooter. She'll be a 40% 3 pt shooter without being even one of the top 3 in attempts. She really never shot a lot of 3's I think because she enjoyed penetrating and passing to open team mates more. In videos I've seen in practice she is like 1 made 3 out of 25 behind Fudd who is considered an outstanding 3 pt shooter.
And don't worry about her confidence. She's good and she knows she's good. I've seen her miss shots and an occasional defensive lapse but I've never seen her sweat or be even a little intimidated. A money player, through and through. She's one of those rare people who seems to enjoy pressure. I used to play golf with a guy like that.

I meant the U17 tourney she played in last year. My typo error. Sorry about that.

I'm not worried about her confidence. She knows what she is. She's even said it. There's a reason why she didn't take many 3's in that Tourney despite her EFG% from 3 was superior than her 2pt shooting, is that she knows it's not her strength. She shot 35% from 3 doing that tourney. If she was confident in her 3pt shot she would've taken more 3's. Her EFG% from 3 was 52.94%. A player that is a legit 40% 3pt shooter and isn't hitting her 2 point shots -- is going to find a way to hoist up more shots from 3. And her coach is going to see to it too. Those last two games were tight games. One game she didn't even take 1 3pt shot. If she is a 3pt shooter it would be criminal to not take one 3pt shot in a tight game. The finals she was 1-8. SO yes she has some confidence in herself but its 100% more through penetration and passing.

As far as practice, many players are good practice shooters. Shooting 3's in practice vs game conditions is completely different. Yes if a team leaves her wide open with no one running at her - she can be a tremendous 3pt shooter. In time I believe she will be. I hope you are right- maybe she will be 40%. Bu I expect she’ll be in the 32% to 36% range. Shooting 32% isn't that bad-- it's a 48% EFG. Shooting 36% from 3 would be very, very good.

 

[BBallF]

To do "due diligence " on Nika again I watched highlights from her 2019-2020 season. Her numbers were 11.5 ppg, 5 boards, 8 assists and a gaudy 3.2 steals per game. She is a great passer with an advanced handle. She shoots a short push shot in the lane and has a quick release from 15 feet and closer but takes too long to get her 3 off. All in all, she is a fast, savvy guard with great hands and court vision who will be a surprise to many and a real weapon when we press or run.

 

[CocoHusky]

I meant the U17 tourney she played in last year. My typo error. Sorry about that.

I'm not worried about her confidence. She knows what she is. She's even said it. There's a reason why she didn't take many 3's in that Tourney despite her EFG% from 3 was superior than her 2pt shooting, is that she knows it's not her strength. She shot 35% from 3 doing that tourney. If she was confident in her 3pt shot she would've taken more 3's. Her EFG% from 3 was 52.94%. A player that is a legit 40% 3pt shooter and isn't hitting her 2 point shots -- is going to find a way to hoist up more shots from 3. And her coach is going to see to it too. Those last two games were tight games. One game she didn't even take 1 3pt shot. If she is a 3pt shooter it would be criminal to not take one 3pt shot in a tight game. The finals she was 1-8. SO yes she has some confidence in herself but its 100% more through penetration and passing.

As far as practice, many players are good practice shooters. Shooting 3's in practice vs game conditions is completely different. Yes if a team leaves her wide open with no one running at her - she can be a tremendous 3pt shooter. In time I believe she will be. I hope you are right- maybe she will be 40%. Bu I expect she’ll be in the 32% to 36% range. Shooting 32% isn't that bad-- it's a 48% EFG. Shooting 36% from 3 would be very, very good.

Uhm... Paige did not play U17 last year she played U19 and walked away with the MVP in a tournament that featured Boston and Howard-two of the leading candidates for NPOY this up coming season- if there is going to be one. The bolded part of your logic is backwards because of this thing called defense. If the defense knows you are a legit 40% 3PFG shooter, they are going to be chasing you off the line and the net result will be more 2 point shots. Paige is legit scoring threat at every level on the court and what makes her especially dangerous is that she can make every conceivable pass that leads to easy basket for her teammates. You are kind of burying the headline if you look at her shooting number from that tournament. To get to the real headline and the reason she was the MVP and is going to be a star at UCONN you need to peep her assist total from that tournament. I also don't understand why we are even talking about "confidence" as it relates to Paige when her official theme song is...

 

[HopJim]

I meant the U17 tourney she played in last year. My typo error. Sorry about that.

I'm not worried about her confidence. She knows what she is. She's even said it. There's a reason why she didn't take many 3's in that Tourney despite her EFG% from 3 was superior than her 2pt shooting, is that she knows it's not her strength. She shot 35% from 3 doing that tourney. If she was confident in her 3pt shot she would've taken more 3's. Her EFG% from 3 was 52.94%. A player that is a legit 40% 3pt shooter and isn't hitting her 2 point shots -- is going to find a way to hoist up more shots from 3. And her coach is going to see to it too. Those last two games were tight games. One game she didn't even take 1 3pt shot. If she is a 3pt shooter it would be criminal to not take one 3pt shot in a tight game. The finals she was 1-8. SO yes she has some confidence in herself but its 100% more through penetration and passing.

As far as practice, many players are good practice shooters. Shooting 3's in practice vs game conditions is completely different. Yes if a team leaves her wide open with no one running at her - she can be a tremendous 3pt shooter. In time I believe she will be. I hope you are right- maybe she will be 40%. Bu I expect she’ll be in the 32% to 36% range. Shooting 32% isn't that bad-- it's a 48% EFG. Shooting 36% from 3 would be very, very good.

Looks like Huskies will be able to revert back to the very effective motion offense they had during both the Stewie and KLS days. Alot of 3's with the outside game set up a number of cuts and layups. Some of my favorite memories are Tuck and Collier making lay up after lay up when the defense shifted to the outside to guard Stewie or KLS. Paige is a great passer but we will need her 3's to make this work 100%. With all the great shooters on this team, she will be open.

 

[JonathanXIV]

From what I've heard, Evina is really NOT a PG but a 2. She played PG at TN because she had the best skills to perform as a PG for them!
At Uconn Geno will have her play at the 1, 2, & 3 to utilize her athletic ability! As stated by some posters above I can see Paige & Evina on the court a lot together.
IMHO, Geno is going to try to get away from pinning down his players to a definite position!
All the players will be very fluid and be able to play potentially 2-3 positions! Liv is the one I can think of that will be limited to 90% at C and 10% at a 4 type position! Piath is going to be at the 5 her freshman year! Too much to learn and react to! She'll be a project to bring along!
As the 4 other freshmen learn and get stronger they will become more adaptable!
The above is what will make UCONN such a nightmare to play as the season progresses!

Try the occasional period.

 

[Alydar]

I meant the U17 tourney she played in last year. My typo error. Sorry about that.

I'm not worried about her confidence. She knows what she is. She's even said it. There's a reason why she didn't take many 3's in that Tourney despite her EFG% from 3 was superior than her 2pt shooting, is that she knows it's not her strength. She shot 35% from 3 doing that tourney. If she was confident in her 3pt shot she would've taken more 3's. Her EFG% from 3 was 52.94%. A player that is a legit 40% 3pt shooter and isn't hitting her 2 point shots -- is going to find a way to hoist up more shots from 3. And her coach is going to see to it too. Those last two games were tight games. One game she didn't even take 1 3pt shot. If she is a 3pt shooter it would be criminal to not take one 3pt shot in a tight game. The finals she was 1-8. SO yes she has some confidence in herself but its 100% more through penetration and passing.

As far as practice, many players are good practice shooters. Shooting 3's in practice vs game conditions is completely different. Yes if a team leaves her wide open with no one running at her - she can be a tremendous 3pt shooter. In time I believe she will be. I hope you are right- maybe she will be 40%. Bu I expect she’ll be in the 32% to 36% range. Shooting 32% isn't that bad-- it's a 48% EFG. Shooting 36% from 3 would be very, very good.

I totally agree she does not shoot 3's as much as she drives. My thinking is that her first priority is to involve her team. Hopkins shot a lot of 3's, especially when teams crowded the paint. Her breakout game came as an 8th grade sub on her top ranked varsity team. She hit 7-9 3's and made her first 4 attempts. Her coach said that even as an 8th grader he knew she was the best player on the team.
When watching Bueckers it's important to realize that she is totally committed to winning the game, not in her box score numbers. Now I hear that a lot from young players but don't see it nearly as much. Bueckers means it. She was very fortunate to play on a very talented HS team that had a number of really good 3 pt shooters. They got a lot of very open looks created by Bueckers, who cheered her teams baskets more than her own.

Bueckers is a coach's dream and will be a fan favorite.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

I meant the U17 tourney she played in last year. My typo error. Sorry about that.

I'm not worried about her confidence. She knows what she is. She's even said it. There's a reason why she didn't take many 3's in that Tourney despite her EFG% from 3 was superior than her 2pt shooting, is that she knows it's not her strength. She shot 35% from 3 doing that tourney. If she was confident in her 3pt shot she would've taken more 3's. Her EFG% from 3 was 52.94%. A player that is a legit 40% 3pt shooter and isn't hitting her 2 point shots -- is going to find a way to hoist up more shots from 3. And her coach is going to see to it too. Those last two games were tight games. One game she didn't even take 1 3pt shot. If she is a 3pt shooter it would be criminal to not take one 3pt shot in a tight game. The finals she was 1-8. SO yes she has some confidence in herself but its 100% more through penetration and passing.

As far as practice, many players are good practice shooters. Shooting 3's in practice vs game conditions is completely different. Yes if a team leaves her wide open with no one running at her - she can be a tremendous 3pt shooter. In time I believe she will be. I hope you are right- maybe she will be 40%. Bu I expect she’ll be in the 32% to 36% range. Shooting 32% isn't that bad-- it's a 48% EFG. Shooting 36% from 3 would be very, very good.

An outstanding 3-Pt shooting percentage will show up in PB's Sophomore "Leap" as she will be trying to "out do" the heir apparent to KML's 3 pt records (all of them) as and PB bring out the best games out of each other. It will be "bad for WCBB" but tremendous for Team GOOD. Team GOOD actually has some more BIGs on the way. No worries!!!!!

Pray for the 6' 7" center from Colorado to find her way to UCONN..... That the 'Betts!'

Just keep adding to the "Killer B's"

 

[hoophuskee]

I totally agree she does not shoot 3's as much as she drives. My thinking is that her first priority is to involve her team. Hopkins shot a lot of 3's, especially when teams crowded the paint. Her breakout game came as an 8th grade sub on her top ranked varsity team. She hit 7-9 3's and made her first 4 attempts. Her coach said that even as an 8th grader he knew she was the best player on the team.
When watching Bueckers it's important to realize that she is totally committed to winning the game, not in her box score numbers. Now I hear that a lot from young players but don't see it nearly as much. Bueckers means it. She was very fortunate to play on a very talented HS team that had a number of really good 3 pt shooters. They got a lot of very open looks created by Bueckers, who cheered her teams baskets more than her own.

Bueckers is a coach's dream and will be a fan favorite.

I agree with all you are saying here. But I would like to ask-- in the FIBA U18 Tourney - the semi-finals vs Belgium, it was a pretty tight game, -- why didn't she take even 1 3pt shot? If she hits 3's it opens up the inside more. She didn't even try 1 shot from there. She only shot 6-16 from 2pt range. Maybe she thought if her 2 pt shot isn't working then don't take a 3? But terrific 3pt shooters don't think like that imo.

And secondly, their very next game - toughest of them all- she she does take a lot of 3's (maybe she and coach talked about it before the game) - but she shot 1-8 vs the 2nd best team in the tourney. SO I'm thinking the competition was tougher in this tourney and it's a much different setting than H/S-- maybe her shot form 3 isn't that hot at this moment comparing her to big game college players. Frankly, I think she knows it but is fearless anyways because she doesn't believe anyone can stop her rolling toward the basket in a pass or shoot decision process. I think when she penetrates and overall how she plays - she has this daring swagger of "show me I can be stopped from getting in the lane and making a pass or shot."

I think as a frosh - there has to be a bit of concern with her 3pt shot though. Not a big concern (because she can be average and that would be fine as long as the others are not.). Just whether she is "average" or "Above average" from 3. I'd be shocked as a frosh if she was "outstanding" from 3. If she is-- she'd be pretty darn unstoppable even as a frosh.

 

[Go/huskies]

Paige seems like more of a passer then a scorer, that’s really my only concern about her. I think UConn has be missing a player who could flat out take over a game scoring wise similar to Maya vs Stanford her jr year or Stewart vs ND her freshman year.

 

[mbr33ct]

Paige seems like more of a passer then a scorer, that’s really my only concern about her. I think UConn has be missing a player who could flat out take over a game scoring wise similar to Maya vs Stanford her jr year or Stewart vs ND her freshman year.

Paige's career stats in high school indicates 19.0 pts/gm. She seemed to have slacked off in her 8th grade???? (2015-16), how dare she only put up 8.9 pts/gm. You take that one year out of the equation, the last 4 years she's averaged 23.3 pts/gm. To me that tells me she's a scorer. Looking at her stats, by Max Preps, Paige's stats are way above the National Avg.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

If you watch Paige's HS games you see a complete player who will pass within the offense as readily as pulling the trigger. The notion that she cannot be a take over scorer is unsubstantiated. In 2 games with Hopkins threatened this year she flipped the switch and scored 37 and 43. At times this year Paige looked like DT in her Senior year, driving Geno bonkers at times as she brought her young team mates along.

 

[eebmg]

Paige seems like more of a passer then a scorer, that’s really my only concern about her. I think UConn has be missing a player who could flat out take over a game scoring wise similar to Maya vs Stanford her jr year or Stewart vs ND her freshman year.

All our great point guards have been pass first and that is a critical part of their DNA needed to run the unselfish schemes that make UConn exceptional (like none other). Then as they mature and become upper classmen, they are continuously prodded by Geno to become selectively more offensive minded as needed and there is no doubt in my mind that Paige can handle that. Further, Maya and Stewie are not PG's so a shoot first mentality is a good thing in those cases.

Paige is exactly what this team needs to usher the next great run as long as she is surrounded by the right players which by all indications, she will be

 

[BobbyJ]

Paige's career stats in high school indicates 19.0 pts/gm. She seemed to have slacked off in her 8th grade???? (2015-16), how dare she only put up 8.9 pts/gm. You take that one year out of the equation, the last 4 years she's averaged 23.3 pts/gm. To me that tells me she's a scorer. Looking at her stats, by Max Preps, Paige's stats are way above the National Avg.

View attachment 56699

And many times she barely played half the game. She could score pretty much whenever she wanted but understood at an early age how to get her teammates engaged and why.