Very different than DT in 2003 or 2004. Paige is the only player mentioned in this thread that has a returning All American in the lineup (Edwards), as well as a 4 year starting PG who was an HM All American a year ago. And UCONN is currently ranked 8th in the country with 3 losses, not #1 undefeated all year like UCONN did in 2003.
Hidalgo>Sherrod.
Well Taurasi wasn’t coming off an ACL tear and 600 days away from competitive basketball. That team also didn’t lose 5 players for the season, 4 of them during the season itself. So there’s that. I’m sure Taurasi considers herself to be in a much more favorable position to Paige.
That’s all true, it just further illustrates their situations are vastly different
Not over JuJu.
I’d say they are as similar as they can be in terms of UConn comparisons, which is what that person was making. The only way UConn can win a national championship is if Paige carries them and pulls off some heroics. Very few UConn players have been put in that situation. This team is most similar to those 2003/2004 teams both, imo.
That 2004 team was undersized and guard heavy with just Jessica Moore as the anchor in the middle and a super star guard. . Pretty similar to the current construct with Aaliyah as the undersized anchor and Paige as the star guard. People underestimate the talent on that team imo because it didn’t materialize in the WNBA but it’s comparable.
I should also say I don’t think Paige is at Taurasi’s level so I don’t think the results will be near the same if that’s the struggle you have with the comparison. But Geno has clearly revisited his playbooks from the early and mid aughts post roster decimation in November when UConn played much more guard and forward heavy and big lite.
I agree with you that Watkins numbers have slipped since USC started playing better teams in conference play whereas Hildago's have maintained. Hannah is clearly the better player now and the Game score stat of 29.0 to Juju's 25.3. Paige's game score average has been increasing as she gains her "sea legs" and the team gets used to playing with her. Her current score is 24.8 but I would think within the next 2 weeks she will pass Watkins.
I'm not sure what you are smoking or have been viewing, but to state what Paige has done so far doesn't merit AA status is ludicrous. For a reminder, she's returning after missing an entire season and a large portion of the prior. If shooting 56% overall and 48% from 3-pt land, averaging 20 ppg while only taking an average of 12 shots a game are not metrics that validate AA status, then please explain what does Paige need to do.
Not sure why missing time in previous season should matter. Paige is on a borderline top 10 team with three losses and is barely scoring 20 PPG. To me, that's not a first team AA resume.
no borderline to it. She is the leader of a top Ten team with ONLY three losses against the toughest schedule in the game. And yes, I think leadership is a factor.
She was named player of the year with pretty similar stats. The only noticeable differences is her drop in assists from 5.7 to 3.8. Otherwise she’s increased her bpg from .4 to 1.1 and decreased turnovers from 2.5 to 1.4. FG% is up from 52.4 to 56.5. UCONN is not a borderline top 10 team, they are a top 10 team.
They are currently 8. Thats borderline to me. A loss this week they fall out of the top 10, and will be closer to 15.
There are a number of UConn first team AA who have scoring averages less than twenty points a game. Look at the resumes of other first team AA.
Great they were probably on a better team than this one. Possibly undefeated national championship team. This ain’t that.
Having a fabulous freshman campaign. Just fabulous. One might almost forget Miles is missing. Almost. The two of them are going to be an extraordinary backcourt next year.
I do feel like women’s college basketball was robbed of what would have been an insane year due to all these injuries. Notre Dame, LSU, UConn, UCLA, Utah, and Texas all lost starters for the season (at least one) that would have had brought them each to a different of play. Other top teams have also lost star players for varying amounts of time as well like Kansas St, Stanford, and Virginia Tech recently. Really just a shame.
Not true for some of them. UConn players rarely average over twenty points.
Notre Dame has not exactly played a murderer’s row schedule so far this season.
Continuing on your point in the last sentence the Uconn/Notre Dame game could be a big factor in both Paige's and Hanna's rank and reputation, probably more so for Hannah. I personally think both that Paige is an AA lock and that Hannah is the real deal and a big time star.