Geno speaking about Paige Now

[diggerfoot]

I love Paige but if you put her in with Caitlin Clark I don't think you would have anyone outside of the Boneyard picking Paige. It reminds me of when people were saying Jordan was the same as other players when he was clearly head and shoulders above all others. The thing that really hurts CC is she stayed in Iowa instead of going and playing for a team with historical relevance. Without her Iowa was a 500 team at best and with her almost won a title. Kind of similar to when Larry Bird played at Indiana State.

Fortunately, I prefer what metrics tell me over people’s opinions.

The metrics tell me Bueckers is a more accurate shooter (better shooting percentages), makes better decisions (significantly better A/T ratio), and contributes to a more efficient offense.

How deliciously ironic that you should bring up Jordan. He also happened to be great on defense, but not Clark. Bueckers, meanwhile, had one of the highest defensive efficiency rating as well. The two are worlds apart on defense.

 

[cferraro04]

Caitlin Clark is a great basketball player...and she is a joy to watch. Giving credit where credit is due...she figured out in her junior year how to get others involved and she made other players better. However, that being said...when it comes down to picking the POY a lot will have to do with the type of season the team from which the POY candidates hail from.

There is a lot of excitement around the Huskies this year... They have a boat load of returning players, They have Paige back, everyone for the most part is healthy. There is a lot to be excited about with regards to UConn's new players... I believe we are going to see the "Paige and Azzi show" all year long...with a supporting cast of incredible players many who will be playing in the WNBA. Aubrey Griffin will be a beast; Aaliyah Edwards if you can believe it will probable be better; Nika Muhl didn't have the kind of year she had last year to disappear with the re-emergence of Paige; Ines Bettencourt...doesn't strike me as the kind of kid who is content to just ride the bench...she wants minutes...she is a great back-up point guard who with all the talent on this team may just end up getting some quality minutes when the score gets run up as I expect it to. Caroline Ducharme...if healthy is poised to have a great come-back season. Ice Brady, Ayanna Patterson, Jana El-Alfy, Amari DeBerry; KK Arnold; Ashlyn Shade, Qadence Samuels. With all this fire power it is going to be difficult to keep this team out of the 90s.

If Paige stays healthy and Caitlin stays healthy there is no reason to believe that Paige won't be as good or even possibly better than her freshman run...if so, it would take an even better year for Caitlin than she had last year and Iowa would also need to go deep into the NCAA Tournament. I believe that Paige will be the best player on the best team (no disrespect meant to LSU and South Carolina)...and we all know what that means.

Then we have the comparative stats:

Paige only played 29 games in her freshman year and 17 in Sophomore year for a total of 46 games...yet~~~her college career stats are:

FG Attempted - 617
FG Made - 327
FG Percentage - .530

3 PT Attempted - 189
3 PT Made - 82
3 PT Percentage - 434

FT Attempted - 112
FT Made - 93
FT Percentage - .830

Paige averages 13.41 shots per game and takes 4.1 three pointers per game

Caitlin, of course, has had the benefit of staying healthy and playing all three years and she was able to get 100 games under her belt..her college career stats are:

FG Attempted - 1912
FG Made - 890
FG Percentage - .470

3 PT Attempted - 920
3 PT Made - 347
3 PT Percentage - .380

FT Attempted - 688
FT Made - 590
FT Percentage - .860

Caitlin averages 19.12 shots per game and takes 9.2 three pointers per game

 

[Bone Dog]

It's no disrespect to Caitlin to say that Paige is the best player in WCBB. Caitlin is pretty good too. But fans gotta fan, and this is a Husky board.

As for folks who think that even though UConn will be better this year than last, every other team will be better, too... well that's just false. Lots of teams will be worse for the talent they lost to graduation or injury, and others may return to form if key players rehab effectively.

Who's not likely to be as good as last season? Louisville, Iowa, Stanford, MD, ND, Iowa St., Indiana, NC St., Villanova, DePaul, Marquette. If everything breaks the right way for ND, they probably belong in the next list.

Who might be as good or even a little better? SC, LSU,VPI, tOSU, Utah, UCLA, Tennessee, Texas, Baylor.

Are any of these teams likely to be as much better than last season as the Huskies are likely to be? That's hard to imagine, which doesn't mean they won't be tough. They were all good last season (or at least for parts of it) and are likely to pose challenges to opponents again this season. But a fully healthy Husky squad has the potential to run the table against all of them. Will the huskies need some better karma than they've had recently? Yes, of course, and they'll need a couple of freshman to step up as well.

 

[Bald Husky]

I think Shakespeare said something about names.

It used to be called the British Open but in a egoistic moment the R & A decided it was now "The Open Championship" and admonish those who don't agree with it's paramount status. If British Open was good enough for Henry Longworth and Ben Wright then it's what I'm going to continue to call it.

That tournament in Cromwell is the GHO to me and I played there when it was called Edgewood Golf Course

I also played there when it was the Edgewood Golf club. We lived on the street adjacent to the course as a kid, and we had a family membership. I also worked in the Grill Room during one summer.

 

[Bone Dog]

I love Paige but if you put her in with Caitlin Clark I don't think you would have anyone outside of the Boneyard picking Paige. It reminds me of when people were saying Jordan was the same as other players when he was clearly head and shoulders above all others. The thing that really hurts CC is she stayed in Iowa instead of going and playing for a team with historical relevance. Without her Iowa was a 500 team at best and with her almost won a title. Kind of similar to when Larry Bird played at Indiana State.

Are we talking hypothetical Paige and hypothetical Caitlin, or real Paige and real Caitlin? The one season they competed directly against each other, Paige was the clear choice for the NPOY. So, I think that means folks outside the Boneyard would disagree with you.

But what about what Caitlin did since? Well, the next year she played even better, won a conference title, etc, and folded up early in the NCAA tournament. How do we compare Paige's second season to that? Well, she was injured for much of the year, but when she came back, clearly still hobbled, she carried her team to the NC game, including heroic games against NC St and Stanford. So, then, stats wise, Caitlin had a better season. But in terms of real accomplishments, I'm sure even Caitlin would say Paige's season turned out better. And neither of them would be satisfied with it.

How about the third season? Paige couldn't play at all, and Caitlin had the best season of her career so far. If she'd had this season as a freshman, she might have won the NPOY over Paige. But she didn't. What's more, when she played against the sort of players Paige is used to playing against every week, in other words when she faced UConn, her team lost and her numbers suffered and, even worse, were rendered irrelevant by Nika, of all people. In other words, it was a great season for Caitlin and she deserved the NPOY for it. But there is still a Paige-question-mark hanging over it in my view.

This coming season, we once again have a chance to compare real Caitlin to real Paige -- no more analogies and hypothetical guesses. I think if all goes well, this will be the most exciting year in WCBB in a while. I can hardly wait.

As for Micheal Jordan, I am reminded of the Celtics' playoff strategy against the bulls early in his career. It was effectively, Let MJ score 50 and they'll be eliminated. When he matured, he got a lot better at making his team win. Caitlin's career has followed a similar arc.

 

[Majic Hands]

I'm often impressed with the knowledge and ability of so many posters here in the BY. As well as their ability to provide data to support their opinion.

As much as I would like to not attach a health/wellness to a post. With the way things have been for the last two years "If" everyone is well enough to play this year we will be amazingly entertained by beautiful basketball.

I'll probably get some eye-rolls with what I'm getting ready to type but I believe this will be a big reason why.

All the players not Paige have realized they can play. The "team" has grown . The "team" has been put through the fire. The days of the teammates waiting for Paige to do something's over. Waiting on Paige to save the day is over.

Will Paige be the best player on the floor? Probably? I'm hoping that from game to game we are debating who the BadAss of the game was and it not being Paige.

 

[Bone Dog]

Will Paige be the best player on the floor? Probably? I'm hoping that from game to game we are debating who the BadAss of the game was and it not being Paige

I love this thought!!! In fact, there may already have been hints of it last season. During the Texas game, Azzi was so dominant in the second half that the bench looked stunned... including Paige. Maybe they were just tired from all the high-fiving in celebration of what Azzi was doing on the court. Or maybe they were disoriented at the sight of someone else actually doing Paige-things in a game.

 

[jdote33]

I recently watched the first half of the game at Seton Hall in Paige sophomore year. That game always sticks out to me cuz that was one of the first games post the Bahamas loss to SC and I remember the team starting slow and Paige picking it up in the first quarter. I also remember Geno going crazy about her passing up an open jumpshot. Lol. It's a nostalgic, great watch in any event. I've probably posted about it before and can't remember.
Paige was everywhere, truly competing on both ends. She's mostly playing point, doing her best to guard Park-Lane, diving on loose balls, throwing full court passes. I actually thought of two threads when watching, the starting point guard thread because Paige's ability to push the ball up and transition is like a whole nother dimension to an offense. She constantly did that with CW. I could see her doing that with Aubrey if she was a starter. But if Paige and Nika start, I guess Paige is more the wing soooo....
But more poignant to this thread, Paige mentality was huge. She played with a fearlessness and energy. I know the mental hurdle she'll face getting over her injuries have been talked about ad nauseam but just being reminded of the type of player she was and effort she put forth was alarming. I think one of her off season quotes was about this and trying to be a bit smarter about whether to exert energy. I really wonder if that takes away from her game.
Another thing watching her, and it's obvious but I just forgot, is how much of a facilitator she is. She's getting people into the right spots and directing the offense. So in some ways I've thought Lou's 16 a game and great shooting will just be replaced by Paige's. But Paige's game is so different, it's not that simplistic.