Freshman Paige

[Jmsdawg]

In my youth there was a song I loved called Abraham, Martin, and John. there are lyrics in the song “has anybody seen my old friend Bobby … I thought I saw him walking with Abraham, Martin, and John, well last I thought I saw Paige Hooping with Diana, Stewie, and Myra? What a performance! Finally Paige is not only playing great she is having fun even when the going gets tough. Thanks Paige, hope to see you soon walking with all the former UConn GREATS!

 

[PvP]

In my youth there was a song I loved called Abraham, Martin, and John. there are lyrics in the song “has anybody seen my old friend Bobby … I thought I saw him walking with Abraham, Martin, and John, well last I thought I saw Paige Hooping with Diana, Stewie, and Myra? What a performance! Finally Paige is not only playing great she is having fun even when the going gets tough. Thanks Paige, hope to see you soon walking with all the former UConn GREATS!

Indeed Paige was sensational last night and just as clearly UCONN needed her effort as her supporting cast was lackluster to put it kindly.
My concern is that quite a number, too high a number in my view, of her points came from drives to the basket. Many of these shots were amazing and speak to her beyond imagining skill set but all too often ended with her on the floor as she took on multiple defenders under the rim. Frankly, I fear that she won't be able to continue to take the beating that her opponents are inflicting on her still slight physique. Without the cover provided by other lethal scorers she will remain a target for hard knocks to put it politely.
She obviously knows contact will be coming when she drives the lane and prepares for it which is why she gets many "and ones". But there is a price on her that worries me.
I hope I am overly concerned but I fear her desire to do all she possibly can for a UCONN win just puts her at greater and greater risk of career threatening injury. Geno planned to protect her but the injuries to Azzi and Caroline has caused him to throw out such plans and, coupled with Paige's courage under fire, I fear is a tragedy waiting to happen.

 

[Centerstream]

In my youth there was a song I loved called Abraham, Martin, and John. there are lyrics in the song “has anybody seen my old friend Bobby … I thought I saw him walking with Abraham, Martin, and John, well last I thought I saw Paige Hooping with Diana, Stewie, and Myra? What a performance! Finally Paige is not only playing great she is having fun even when the going gets tough. Thanks Paige, hope to see you soon walking with all the former UConn GREATS!

I'm nitpicking again, but I'm guessing you meant Maya..

 

[Jmsdawg]

I share your concern, but when Paige went down, she got up with a smile. I saw a team player that did her best to get the whole team involved, true the passes were not as crisp but I that will come soon, I am really pumped because I see chemistry developing and in my opinion that will be critical for future games. We still are going to have difficulty with teams having a big post but they are going to have problems with UConn speed and outside shooting. I am optimistic.

 

[my2cents]

In my youth there was a song I loved called Abraham, Martin, and John. there are lyrics in the song “has anybody seen my old friend Bobby … I thought I saw him walking with Abraham, Martin, and John, well last I thought I saw Paige Hooping with Diana, Stewie, and Myra? What a performance! Finally Paige is not only playing great she is having fun even when the going gets tough. Thanks Paige, hope to see you soon walking with all the former UConn GREATS!

That song is about dead people, not sure how that fits Paige?

 

[JRRRJ]

That song is about dead people, not sure how that fits Paige?

Rather than "dead people", read "predecessors".

 

[RockyMTblue2]

In my youth there was a song I loved called Abraham, Martin, and John. there are lyrics in the song “has anybody seen my old friend Bobby … I thought I saw him walking with Abraham, Martin, and John, well last I thought I saw Paige Hooping with Diana, Stewie, and Myra? What a performance! Finally Paige is not only playing great she is having fun even when the going gets tough. Thanks Paige, hope to see you soon walking with all the former UConn GREATS!

Thankfully they are all still alive, unlike the song! Yeah, I get it. Good thought.

 

[Zarathustra]

That song is about dead people, not sure how that fits Paige?

HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT PERSONS... Paige, and other HUSKIES, are (IMO)
successful "on and beyond" the court!!!

 

[jabstep]

Indeed Paige was sensational last night and just as clearly UCONN needed her effort as her supporting cast was lackluster to put it kindly.
My concern is that quite a number, too high a number in my view, of her points came from drives to the basket. Many of these shots were amazing and speak to her beyond imagining skill set but all too often ended with her on the floor as she took on multiple defenders under the rim. Frankly, I fear that she won't be able to continue to take the beating that her opponents are inflicting on her still slight physique. Without the cover provided by other lethal scorers she will remain a target for hard knocks to put it politely.
She obviously knows contact will be coming when she drives the lane and prepares for it which is why she gets many "and ones". But there is a price on her that worries me.
I hope I am overly concerned but I fear her desire to do all she possibly can for a UCONN win just puts her at greater and greater risk of career threatening injury. Geno planned to protect her but the injuries to Azzi and Caroline has caused him to throw out such plans and, coupled with Paige's courage under fire, I fear is a tragedy waiting to happen.

I agree wholeheartedly that as we saw last year the Big East will use the same defensive philosophy that they used on Lou and by the end of the year she was so beat up we lost some of her abilities at the big dance. I hope early wins are not as important as team development and a rested Paige.

 

[Rowdy831]

Indeed Paige was sensational last night and just as clearly UCONN needed her effort as her supporting cast was lackluster to put it kindly.
My concern is that quite a number, too high a number in my view, of her points came from drives to the basket. Many of these shots were amazing and speak to her beyond imagining skill set but all too often ended with her on the floor as she took on multiple defenders under the rim. Frankly, I fear that she won't be able to continue to take the beating that her opponents are inflicting on her still slight physique. Without the cover provided by other lethal scorers she will remain a target for hard knocks to put it politely.
She obviously knows contact will be coming when she drives the lane and prepares for it which is why she gets many "and ones". But there is a price on her that worries me.
I hope I am overly concerned but I fear her desire to do all she possibly can for a UCONN win just puts her at greater and greater risk of career threatening injury. Geno planned to protect her but the injuries to Azzi and Caroline has caused him to throw out such plans and, coupled with Paige's courage under fire, I fear is a tragedy waiting to happen.

There is falling down and getting knocked down. Last night the version I saw was Paige taking the contact and falling down mostly on her own and fully in control of how she landed. Those types are the ones I would worry about since Paige is landing properly and jumping back up for the most part. She is the cog that moves the wheel so being concerned makes total sense.

 

[Bone Dog]

I saw at least one heavy foul she sustained on a drive. The rest were mainly a consequence of the acrobatics she had to do to get to the rim. I don’t like seeing her hit the floor. But simply saying more screens will fix it doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. Screens work when there’s more than one offensive threat. If it’s just Paige, the screens are less effective. This is why Paige is working so hard to involve the others. They’ll figure it out soon enough and then Paige will be able to use the team as a weapon against opponents. She is at her best not when she’s beating them with her scoring, but when she can use the whole team as a cudgel against opponents. She has no rivals when she has a team around her.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Question for the group: I know that Paige’s banner won’t hang in Gampel until Senior Night. But is her banner on the wall in Werth? I’m guessing not, but I’m not sure.

 

[Bald Husky]

Paige will play Paiges game, and not anything else. She will do what she has to do, because once you start doing things that are against how you play, bad things can happen. If she gets injured again, it will happen. Our luck has not been good, so as I just said, if it happens, it happens. She has worked out to avoid these injuries, but they will still happen no matter how long she works to avoid it. She knows one way to play, and that's playing hard. Instead of cringing every time she gets hit, just sit back and enjoy her game now as it is. I have a feeling she will have a year like 2020 and will dominate the game once again. We just have to allow her to do it.