In Defense of Nika Muhl

[hoophuskee]

Excluding her defense and passing and just to talk about her shooting, I’ve been reading some posts over the last several weeks that Muhil is overrated because she never has shown an ability to shoot. As a result, Geno shouldn’t play her when team gets healthier. This year no arguments her shooting has bene atrocious. And if it continues certainly there is a strong argument to limit her.



However, the belief that she was never good at shooting is flawed. Part of the reason she should play is if she shows she can shoot like she did last year. And once she got her feet wet and got healthy, and then before her last injury, the 16 games below show a 3pt % of 38.3% (which is equivalent to 57.45%). A player that shoots 57.45% from the floor is not good?

So- “Yes” – many of us have been positive about Nika Muhl. If she is going to shoot going forward like she did over the below 2020 16 game stretch, then why shouldn’t we be?

The 1st game and going forward was the start from when Geno began to give Nika a pretty good number of minutes. If she showed it to Geno last year, why are there comments that she wasn't shooting well? If she is knocking down 3's at 38.3%, that's pretty darn good.


Vs GTOWN 1/23 36min 2-5 from 3

Vs Ark 1/28 25min 2-4 from 3

Vs DePaul 1/31 19min 1-4 from 3

Vs St Johns 2/3 35min 3-4 from 3

Vs Marq 2/5 38min 2-6 from 3

Vs South Car. 2/8 35min 1-3 from 3

Vs Seton Hall 2/10 24min 1-4 from 3

Vs GTOWN 2/12 28min 1-5 from 3

Vs ST Johns 2/17 25min 0-1 from 3

Vs Xavier 2/20 33min 0-4 from 3

Vs Creighton 2/25 38min 3-6 from 3

Vs Butler 2/28 30min 3-6 from 3

Vs Marq 3/1 26min 0-2 from 3

Vs ST Johns 3/6 21min 1-1 from 3

Vs Nova 3/7 18min 0-0 from 3

Vs Marq 3/8 31min 3-5 from 3

 

[genzhusk]

i think the major contention is the quality of the opponent. as evidenced by this last week, having good games against butler is not transitive to having good games against a healthy oregon or SC, or any top-10 team.

hopefully she can be a threat to top teams (not just the bottom of the big east) cause lawd knows we need it! we are trying to win a championship. winning big east isn’t even a moral victory in regards to this team’s goals.

 

[hoophuskee]

i think the major contention is the quality of the opponent. as evidenced by this last week, having good games against butler is not transitive to having good games against a healthy oregon or SC, or any top-10 team.

hopefully she can be a threat to top teams (not just the bottom of the big east) cause lawd knows we need it! we are trying to win a championship. winning big east isn’t even a moral victory in regards to this team’s goals.

That wasn't the major contention. My 3rd and 4th sentences mention this year has been awful as well. But the major contention of my thread is that I've read posts that she wasn't even a good shooter last year. While 2 point shooting was probably also bad, but her 3point shooting at 38.3% was pretty darn good.

You agree that she shot pretty well from 3pt range last year once she got her feet wet, right? So when we read posts from some just not believing she was a good shooter at all, we know at least from 3 she was good was my point. So it shouldn't be outlandish to expect she can do the same this year; thus she is in play to get decent minutes even as the season moves on -- if she can hit similar to last year.

Maybe pushing out the 3pt line has hurt her and others. Not that that is relevant anyhow.

 

[eebmg]

I think Nika shot so well last year because she was playing with Paige and she really helped give her confidence. and a calmness that allowed her to relax . Also, shooting is contagious and watching Paige knock them down and being encouraged to shoot by her surely helped.

 

[HuskyNan]

The question isn’t “can she shoot?” but “will she shoot?”. When the team is desperate for scoring and Nika is wide open, she will not shoot the ball. She’s very quick, but she passes rather than look for an open lane to the basket although those are in short supply due to the lack of 3 point shooting.

A good guard can pass the ball, a great guard initiates the offense - driving into the zone and dishing to the open player, finding open players when Liv is double-teamed (Dorka, anyone?) and getting the ball to her before the defense can shift. A great guard knows when to shoot the ball rather than pass it. And a great guard can read the defense and know where the weak spots are.

Nika is a good guard and at times a very good guard. But maybe she needs to slow down a little without losing her aggressiveness, then she can learn how to read defenses better and know where the ball should be going before the defense has time to set up. Still only a sophomore, Nika has time and she’s another one that will benefit when Paige is back to help mentor her friend.

 

[oldude]

I think Nika shot so well last year because she was playing with Paige and she really helped give her confidence. and a calmness that allowed her to relax . Also, shooting is contagious and watching Paige knock them down and being encouraged to shoot by her surely helped.

Paige gives everyone confidence, allowing them to be calm and relaxed including Nika, the rest of her teammates, Geno and the coaching staff and most especially the Boneyard.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Nika is still working her way back from injury. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt. She was tied with Christyn last season for best three point shooting percentage by players not named Paige.

 

[Majic Hands]

In another thread" that is closed you quoted me and asked:
You have a quote from Nika or Geno saying that Nika feels she doesn't need to shoot well from the outside?

As a matter of "Fact" I do. After the previous game post game interview just over 6 minute ln.



If you notice I didn't say IMO. This example is not the first time, just the most recent.

 

[CocoHusky]

I think Nika shot so well last year because she was playing with Paige and she really helped give her confidence. and a calmness that allowed her to relax . Also, shooting is contagious and watching Paige knock them down and being encouraged to shoot by her surely helped.

Nika did not shoot well last year. There is a case of major inflation, selective parsing, and urban legend at play here.
Nika shot 38% overall last season. That was the 2nd lowest FG % on the team. The selective parsers will point you to
her 3PT FG percentage as being the 2nd best on the team. The urban legend whispers will have you believe that she was a very good player once she became a starter in conference play. The reality will tell you that Nika's FG% actually went down during conference play to 33% and that she was the only player on the UCONN roster to shoot worse in conference play than she did during the tougher non-conference portion of UCONN's schedule. Not only does Nika need to shoot more she needs to shoot much more accurately.

 

[HopJim]

Nika is the perfect sub to come in and add energy, pester the other team's guards and give the starters a rest. Suspect this was the role Geno envisioned. She is not only reluctant to shoot but will not drive. Worst of both worlds for a guard. Defenders play off of Nika when she is outside and double her when she is inside or at the key. Her turnovers increase when she plays major minutes against top teams. She doesn't deserve the criticism she gets but she is what she is. Expecting her performance to be the same in a critical game as it was against a low level team isn't realistic.

 

[genzhusk]

That wasn't the major contention. My 3rd and 4th sentences mention this year has been awful as well. But the major contention of my thread is that I've read posts that she wasn't even a good shooter last year. While 2 point shooting was probably also bad, but her 3point shooting at 38.3% was pretty darn good.

You agree that she shot pretty well from 3pt range last year once she got her feet wet, right? So when we read posts from some just not believing she was a good shooter at all, we know at least from 3 she was good was my point. So it shouldn't be outlandish to expect she can do the same this year; thus she is in play to get decent minutes even as the season moves on -- if she can hit similar to last year.

Maybe pushing out the 3pt line has hurt her and others. Not that that is relevant anyhow.

nika absolutely did not shoot 38.3% from 3 for the season last year.

 

[#1florida]

Excluding her defense and passing and just to talk about her shooting, I’ve been reading some posts over the last several weeks that Muhil is overrated because she never has shown an ability to shoot. As a result, Geno shouldn’t play her when team gets healthier. This year no arguments her shooting has bene atrocious. And if it continues certainly there is a strong argument to limit her.



However, the belief that she was never good at shooting is flawed. Part of the reason she should play is if she shows she can shoot like she did last year. And once she got her feet wet and got healthy, and then before her last injury, the 16 games below show a 3pt % of 38.3% (which is equivalent to 57.45%). A player that shoots 57.45% from the floor is not good?

So- “Yes” – many of us have been positive about Nika Muhl. If she is going to shoot going forward like she did over the below 2020 16 game stretch, then why shouldn’t we be?

The 1st game and going forward was the start from when Geno began to give Nika a pretty good number of minutes. If she showed it to Geno last year, why are there comments that she wasn't shooting well? If she is knocking down 3's at 38.3%, that's pretty darn good.


Vs GTOWN 1/23 36min 2-5 from 3

Vs Ark 1/28 25min 2-4 from 3

Vs DePaul 1/31 19min 1-4 from 3

Vs St Johns 2/3 35min 3-4 from 3

Vs Marq 2/5 38min 2-6 from 3

Vs South Car. 2/8 35min 1-3 from 3

Vs Seton Hall 2/10 24min 1-4 from 3

Vs GTOWN 2/12 28min 1-5 from 3

Vs ST Johns 2/17 25min 0-1 from 3

Vs Xavier 2/20 33min 0-4 from 3

Vs Creighton 2/25 38min 3-6 from 3

Vs Butler 2/28 30min 3-6 from 3

Vs Marq 3/1 26min 0-2 from 3

Vs ST Johns 3/6 21min 1-1 from 3

Vs Nova 3/7 18min 0-0 from 3

Vs Marq 3/8 31min 3-5 from 3

Geno played Kelly Ferris for defense, rebounds and passing, not a lot of scoring, and the fans loved her. When the team wins, the fans love all of the players. Not every player is a major scorer, but, they contribute.

 

[hoophuskee]

The question isn’t “can she shoot?” but “will she shoot?”.

But she won''t shoot if she lost her confidence. So if she is missing, she won't shoot. She is 3-20 from 3. When you are 3-20 form 3 and you are not a fearless shooter, you will eventually stop shooting.

 

[Monte]

nika absolutely did not shoot 38.3% from 3 for the season last year.

Nika shot 34% from 3-point range last year(she was 24 for 70).

 

[hoophuskee]

Geno played Kelly Ferris for defense, rebounds and passing, not a lot of scoring, and the fans loved her. When the team wins, the fans love all of the players. Not every player is a major scorer, but, they contribute.

And Geno also said when she was in on offense it was like they were playing 5 on 4 on offense early in her career. She knew she had to learn to shoot the ball which is why every year her 3pt shooting improved. In her frosh year she played with Maya and Tina. Soph year she had Maya with Tiffany Hayes and Harlely. In 11-12 she had amcuh better Dolson with Hartley, Hayes and KML.

 

[eebmg]

Nika shot 34% from 3-point range last year(she was 24 for 70).

I dont remember the details but I think the argument is after she became a starter (or some similar filter)

 

[HuskyNan]

nika absolutely did not shoot 38.3% from 3 for the season last year.

She shot 34.4% last year, not a bad percentage at all

Nika Mühl - Women's Basketball - University of Connecticut Athletics

Nika Mühl (10) Guard - CAREER STATS CAREER HONORS 2024 AP All-America Honorable Mention 2024 BIG EAST All-Tournament Team 2024 All-BIG EAST Second

uconnhuskies.com

 

[sun]

It would be great if there was a fly on the wall that reported everything that Geno tells the girls in private conversations and during practice.
For whatever reasons, Nika has become tentative and maybe her development as a PG & shooter was stunted.
She was an awfully good PG & player in Europe before she was recruited.
I still believe that UConn is short of adequate PG's and there's no one left to try to "potentially" stimulate the offense at the PG position as much as Azzi.

Nika played 40 minutes yesterday which there really wasn't a dedicated back up PG for her.

I look at it as we're going to really appreciate any help that CW, Nika and Azzi can bring to the offense.
There's inadequate info. to figure why some aren't playing as well as they were last year.
But that can change at any time as players can improve.
There's bound to be some tough games coming up in the Big East. and someone will be sitting on the bench more often if the team falls behind.
If I were Geno I would stick with the best players at each position as much as possible, and let the chips fall where they may.
Ideally we need a playmaker and a scorer at the PG position.
Geno is the one that makes the choices about who subs and who starts and when.

 

[hoophuskee]

Nika shot 34% from 3-point range last year(she was 24 for 70).

Yes but why look at whole season, and not when Geno began to play her significant minutes once she got healthy?

When we are evaluating Carolyn Ducharme, are we going to look at her 1st few games as part of her barometer to evaluate her performance or look at when Geno began to give her time? We give Ducharme a caveat that she has been the team's leading scorer once Geno gave her more time due to injuries, so why is it okay to selectively say Ducharme is the leading scorer once she got minutes but not okay to say the same thing once Geno began to give Nika significant minutes that she was a good 3pt shooter? Ducharme is not the team's leading scorer outside of Paige. CWill is. But we add the caveat, right?

You can check prior games before Georgetown with Muhl. She was getting inconsistent minutes and not playing much. You think it lucky that at the exact moment Geno started to give Nika more minutes, that her 3 point shot got massively better?

If Azzi Fudd comes back from her injury and defense well and begins to average near 20 a game after her 1st week back - are we going to use the current low point per game output she currently has had when she started as a barometer, or use the 20 points per game output as a defining stats that she would show in this example?

The point being Nika Muhl was hurt as a frosh. Secondly, she was a frosh. We give caveats to nearly all frosh before evaluating them, yet we aren't going to do that for Muhl? Why? Especially since she was hurt?

 

[hoophuskee]

nika absolutely did not shoot 38.3% from 3 for the season last year.

See the post I made to Monty, and per below I made this initial comment on this thread:

"And once she got her feet wet and got healthy, and then before her last injury, the 16 games below show a 3pt % of 38.3% (which is equivalent to 57.45%)."

For freshmen we recognize the 1st few weeks is not indicative of much, right? Just as we are doing now with Ducharme and her scoring.

And we also know injuries also impact performance which Muhl had.

So this is two factors that are undisputable, right?

 

[hoophuskee]

In another thread" that is closed you quoted me and asked:
You have a quote from Nika or Geno saying that Nika feels she doesn't need to shoot well from the outside?

As a matter of "Fact" I do. After the previous game post game interview just over 6 minute ln.



If you notice I didn't say IMO. This example is not the first time, just the most recent.

Interesting. I would love a follow-up question to her with someone asking her about "shooting" rather than scoring.

There's a differentiation between a scorer and a shooter. When ND beat us they had guards that were more "scorers" than "shooters." Nika will never ever be a scorer. But as you imply and I do (my last 2 sentences of 1st paragraph)- she has to be able to shoot with efficiency.

And the point of this thread was that I feel I brought up relevant data that showed she did that last year. Agree?

 

[HuskyNan]

But she won''t shoot if she lost her confidence. So if she is missing, she won't shoot. She is 3-20 from 3. When you are 3-20 form 3 and you are not a fearless shooter, you will eventually stop shooting.

You’re allowed to shoot inside the arc, too. It might help Nika’s confidence to get some garbage points from rebounds, steal the ball for a layup, or drive the damn lane. Caroline is the only one that will do it.

 

[hoophuskee]

You’re allowed to shoot inside the arc, too. It might help Nika’s confidence to get some garbage points from rebounds, steal the ball for a layup, or drive the damn lane. Caroline is the only one that will do it.

I'm all for everything you said except she should limit herself from driving the lane in halfcourt sets. She doesn't have a jump shot and is not that quick and is not tall. But I'm with you- it doesn't mean she should never do it. Though that might take experience to know when to penetrate.

 

[Brewski]

I don't think Geno has given Nika the green light to shoot the ball like he has for PB and CD. So I think that limits her to some degree. CocoHuskey is right; she needs to shoot more and do it accurately. Easy, huh?

 

[#12in21]

I am a huge fan of Nika's as evidenced by many of my posts in various threads. I also, in an earlier thread, pointed out that Nika's 3pt % last year once she was playing significant minutes, was as Hoophuskee said, 38.3%. I did it for the same reason he did, responding to numerous posts saying she can't shoot and got the same pushback from some of the same posters. As HuskyNan pointed out, for the season Nika shot 34.4% for threes last season which is good, particularly if the expectation is that you just need to make the defense cover you - not playing the role of one of the primary scorers on the team. If Hoophuskiee's post is taken for what I believe was his intent, which was to point out that saying 'Nika can't shoot' is not a valid statement based on what she showed last season, I would certainly agree and doesn't seem like a point to be argued.

This season thus far, Nika has without question not shown anywhere near the shooting proficiency that she did last season. She has also shown a noticeable reluctance to shoot at times that most would think that was the best option. In several instances, as some of stated, it appears she hasn't even considered that option, instead catching and passing immediately. In the last presser I too noted her response when asked about her lack of shot attempts ( in the context, I believe, of was that best for the team). In essence she responded that it wasn't an issue because their were much better shooters on the team to do that. I am quite sure that Geno was not on board with that understanding of what her role needs to be.

I agree that Nika needs to take more shots and make more shots particularly in this period when we are not finding points easily. I think after this game, watching tape, getting feedback from the coaches and in honest self reflection she will come to accept, in the best interest of the team. she needs to as well. She is not the natural scorer many of her teammates are but she is very capable of knocking down open shots, getting finishes on steals and even on occasion penetrating the lane (she has shown those skills in her pre-UCONN Europe play and last season). I think her main issue is mindset, she needs to accept that that is part of what her role needs to be for her team. I think that will happen - perhaps not as abruptly as some would like. Assuming she does, I expect her to continue to be an important piece of the puzzle of, once whole, can be a team contending for the NC.