Everyone says Geno doesn't use the post players. Seems to me Dolson to Stewie, and in reverse. Tuck and Stewie did the same. Lou passed to Collier. This year should have been ONO and Edwards, but the lack of great shooters. On the other teams you had KML, Kia Nurse, or KLS.Think we all love Geno & staff...but, they aren't perfect. While many have talked about last nights offensive woes, when it comes to an opponent with a "Iverson" type guard as the main offensive threat, who can shoot and penetrate, seemingly at will, why, doesn't our coaching staff ever consider a zone. In this case, with the taller front line, it not only would have given us an advantage on the boards, but, the zone, could have prevented penetration and concentrated on their star.....just a thought
Misuse of Paige
- Thread starter MuchoDogYears
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One game in 20 is not what decides a player's merit
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I just listened to Geno's press conference. Not sure how throwing Paige under the bus helps Uconn going forward.
He obviously resents the attention she gets, the social media stuff, etc. But Paige, as a freshman, came into a unique Uconn situation. No seniors and no other AA's. He basically said she carried us all year but thats not ideal. Thats not how you build championships, but in this case she got us to a FF4.
Saying she needs to improve a lot, both on and off the court, should have been said in private. I wonder how he feels about how ONO performs in big games????
He obviously resents the attention she gets, the social media stuff, etc. But Paige, as a freshman, came into a unique Uconn situation. No seniors and no other AA's. He basically said she carried us all year but thats not ideal. Thats not how you build championships, but in this case she got us to a FF4.
Saying she needs to improve a lot, both on and off the court, should have been said in private. I wonder how he feels about how ONO performs in big games????
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Coaches use the media as a motivation tool. Stuff you say in private can go in one ear out the other, but when it’s said in public it can light a fire. He mentioned that everyone has to be off campus next week, and be back in June, so they will have to be motivated to work out on their own for two months. He’s probably tying to make sure she does the right things in that time - hit the weights, get stronger, polish some flaws in her game, etc.
I think he typically has a good feel on what buttons to push. Calling out ONO publicly when she’s down might be the worst thing for her right now. But he‘s not always right, either. What worked with Taurasi might not necessarily work again.
Best comparison between Paige as a Freshman is Stewie who had to truly earn her awards her Freshman year, not annonted them by an East Coast Bias press. When Stewie was a Freshman she was in a much tougher Big East conference where ND, led by Skylar Diggins and other future WNBA allstars (KMac, Jewell, & Ace), were able to beat Stewart and UConn three times. When UConn beat ND the 4th time in that Final 4, Stewart was clearly the best player on the court. She totally earned that MVP and subsequently led UConn to 4 straight National Championships. I know she didn't win any AA awards her Freshman year and not even sure she won FOY in the Big East.
Paige needs to play in tougher games and make sure her teammates are in the game. I actually think Crystal was far more effective helping UConn win and get her teammates involved. She still was clutch even if she didn't play as much "hero ball". For Paige she will get better against tougher teams with experience. I think she got handed too much too early and the far more experienced, even if less talented, Aari McDonald handed her her lunch yesterday. Frankly I think Smith, Evans, or Aari should have been National POY as all things being equal go with the upperclassman. Aari had a higher scoring average than Paige and clearly is a better defender and is surrounded by much less talented teammates. It was a travesty that she wasn't a first team AA as she earned both Conference POY anf DPOY playing in the toughest conference in the country. The tourney sure proved that.
Paige needs to play in tougher games and make sure her teammates are in the game. I actually think Crystal was far more effective helping UConn win and get her teammates involved. She still was clutch even if she didn't play as much "hero ball". For Paige she will get better against tougher teams with experience. I think she got handed too much too early and the far more experienced, even if less talented, Aari McDonald handed her her lunch yesterday. Frankly I think Smith, Evans, or Aari should have been National POY as all things being equal go with the upperclassman. Aari had a higher scoring average than Paige and clearly is a better defender and is surrounded by much less talented teammates. It was a travesty that she wasn't a first team AA as she earned both Conference POY anf DPOY playing in the toughest conference in the country. The tourney sure proved that.
MooseJaw
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I call a big BS on your premise. If you think back and remember to when Paige was the primary point we struggled defensively, it wasn't until Nika found a home that the team started to gel. Could Paige have had the ball in her hands more, of course, it is the reason we are out of the tourney before the NC game, not even close. Factors that contributed to last nights loss.
!. injury to Nika
2. Liv reverting to having hands of stone last night, missed bunnies ad nauseum
3. lazy defense, no hands up, defense must start with the feet
4. poor anticipation
5. team speed, yes we have it, but they were faster
Ok that's 5, I know there are others who could add a number more.
That said, we have just experienced an amazing season, a team heavily bolstered by 8 people who were new to the Husky's, 7 freshmen. 1 transfer 2 returning starters one injured and 1 sub. They took this team to a 2 loss season imo an amazing accomplishment, along the way beating a preseason favorite newer rival SC another long time rival Tn., while having an unblemished conference regular and tourney record.
Only in one or two teams could this be perceived as a down season by some. One game away from the big dance, a loss that was crushing. It may seem like devastation, but what we have seen this year is the ground work for what could be the next best WCBB dynasty. I'm on board and hungry for more.
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Thank you for the ND perspective, you can now go back to the Bench where all things Uconn is nothing but vile s*&t.
If people vote freely, what is Paige to do , turn the awards down? As for the lunch, Paige scored 18 points, 5/13..2/3 from threes, playing all 40 minutes.
These championship level games are kinda different then regular season ones in that everyon'es shooting % go down.
My issue is Paige plays in a 1980's style offense geared towards 4 other AA's on the floor. If Geno just isolated her, got everybody else out of the way, the result would have been much different.
No matter what team I liked, I'd take Stewie her Freshman year over Paige any day. We will see if Paige ultimately is as great as other UConn legends like Stewie, Bird, Maya, & DT to name a few. Next year the two "once in a generation" talents will be together and if they can't win an NC for Geno he might be sad.
I think Geno likes to play a certain style of basketball, and his style only works best when he has weapons at all 5 spots. No way to sugar coat that we play in a weak league, and a majority of our games were against weak competition. We barely beat South Carolina on some late game heroics, and got a break in the Baylor matchup. We were never head and shoulders above competition, we were just another horse in the race.
The team was good, but had obvious flaws. Nika wasn’t a real offensive threat, EW, CW, and ONO were up and down all year. Paige was the consistent bright spot, but without the proper help, a defense can key in on her as Arizona did.
Next year we bring in another really talented offensive player, which should help space the floor and draw some attention from Paige. But I don’t think there was any misuse of Paige. She was a huge part of this team, had a heck of a season, and did a lot to get us to a final four.
If everyone returns, we will have a lot more depth. And when players disappear in a big game, there should be another player ready to step up. At the end of the day, we had 3 freshman playing enormous roles. Can’t win them all.
The team was good, but had obvious flaws. Nika wasn’t a real offensive threat, EW, CW, and ONO were up and down all year. Paige was the consistent bright spot, but without the proper help, a defense can key in on her as Arizona did.
Next year we bring in another really talented offensive player, which should help space the floor and draw some attention from Paige. But I don’t think there was any misuse of Paige. She was a huge part of this team, had a heck of a season, and did a lot to get us to a final four.
If everyone returns, we will have a lot more depth. And when players disappear in a big game, there should be another player ready to step up. At the end of the day, we had 3 freshman playing enormous roles. Can’t win them all.
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Couldn't agree more. It's too bad the PAC-12 makes it so difficult for others to see PAC-12 games.
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Agree. We have some great prospects coming but I’d love to get a big from the portal with all these players entering it now
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Just my opinion. If Paige plays off the point, they should be running more plays and screens for her. Then she can shoot or pass. Asking her to bring the ball up and shoot/pass is a lot to ask. However, after the ball crosses half court, they should play through her the majority of the time. I did not see that last night. I saw a stubbornness to score in the paint. I also saw lax defense On the perimeter without Nika.
I think it is because GA wanted to run her off screens first, second and third since CW is so inconsistent shooting the ball. In addition NM was great at finding PB in rhythm for shots. PB still had some Pt responsibilities but GA also wanted her as the primary shooter and NM is a great passer to get her the ball. CW is a solid passer but not great like NM.
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It wasn’t a travesty. She had a mediocre regular season. Against the top 4 teams in the PAC, she shot 28-88. Was 3-18 and 8-24 against Stanford and 10-30 combined against UCLA, while Paige lit No. 1 South Carolina up like a Christmas Tree. Paige didn’t get anointed anything, she earned it on the floor during the regular season by lifting us to No. 1 while our juniors were wildly inconsistent, including a signature performance in a 1 v 2 game.
If Aari played anything like she is during the tourney during the regular season, she’d have maybe won more awards, but she didn’t, so it’s moot, and I’m sure she’s happy with the way it all turned out (as was Stewie when she had a mediocre regular season as a freshman and wasn’t one of the 22 all big East players). She shot below 40 percent in the regular season, 30 percent from 3, and her A to TO ratio was bad too.
Paige also had 28 in a 2 point Elite Eight win, so let’s not act like she didn‘t step up at all against tough teams.
I don’t even want to touch the ‘hero ball” comment - no term describes her less than that one.
Agree. Do you think we still lack a bit of guard speed ..
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As good as Paige is, she isn't the quickest person on the floor. A quicker defender can negate her. McDonald was that defender. We simply don't have a super quick person on the team. Even CD says AE might be the quickest, and we know she can't stay with quick guards. Speed kills in every game.
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LOL. Who cares who you like? its your BIAs that makes your opinion here worthless.
You would take a future HOF, Stewart over a freshman who has played 28 games. Sure.
Because of covid we missed two big games, Baylor and Louisville which would have easily replaced anything we saw in the Old big east.
( Forget ND, that would be like playing another Marquette)
Paige was asked more from any freshman in Uconn history, and delivered. We will see how her total career plays out but I would guess its going to be pretty impressive.
I'm not in love with Geno's offense and I've said so in a million posts. Without rehashing that stuff, why does this offense hit a wall in the NCAA tournament? The sample size for the assessment is getting larger, as in 4 straight losses in the final four. The other 3 were closer because UConn has talented players. His offense is obviously sophisticated and his players benefit from exposure to the concepts, but it is not successful against stronger, more physical teams. Why not? I think it could be an interesting discussion. Is it because our bigs have been less than stellar?
I agree 100%. According to Geno's comments in other pressers, he was "along for the ride". It's textbook, unassertive management, when a supervisor suddenly lashes out versus giving constant guidance/criticism. Not what I envisioned
with Geno. Remember he laughed that the team and Paige in particular did not listen to him. In the same breath he said Paige was a great teammate. Maybe the team itself "whitewashed" these discrepancies with their "togetherness" and "apparent love for the coach". Did it come to the surface like an ugly boil or pimple in the Arizona game (Baylor too?)
In sports, we learn what our instincts are when our backs are against the wall. What we do can be affected by practicing the right things. Think of that crucial golf shot. Are we up to it? Again- Geno's passing game does not work against strong, physical teams, which he meets in the Final Four. One more point, sorry- he corrects Paige, on and off the court, like he should have according to his comments, the team loses 5 games, gets in the tournament as an at-large, 3 or 4 seed, who cares? You do your due diligence!! Everyone comes out of it better for a run. These famous coaches are scared to lose. It might shatter their legacy. I played for a famous high school coach in Washington, D.C. We pleaded with him to let us play tougher competition. We would do 3 hour road trips to play schools our size. St. Joseph's in Emmitsburg MD. What a joke! We wanted to crush those preppies at St Albans and Georgetown Prep.
huskeynut
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Well, you have your opinion.
Let's just say I disagree a whole lot.
The season has ended and not the way we wanted. That happens. A young team that took us on a great ride. They will be back. This is a great team to watch play.
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His opinion here is not worthless but the way you are treating him is adolescent grow act your age ,if you don’t like his opinion you can say so in an intelligent way( least I think you can)
Disappointed but not totally surprised. The PAC-12 was arguably more competitive than the Big East this year and Stanford and Arizona had more opportunities than did UCONN to experience and adjust to different styles of play and levels of competition than did our Lady Huskies with our pandemic-shortened out of conference schedule. Never underestimate the power of motivation for an underdog opponent that feels disrespected -- remember 1995? Arizona's defensive prowess was only amplified by our inability to make the shots we needed to make. With ONO and Aaliyah struggling and Nika on the floor with C. out on a phantom 5th foul that might have well have been called on Geno, we had very limited offensive options for a comeback in those last 3 minutes down by 5 when we struggled to even make layups and at least 80% of our free throws. I can't wait to visit Minneapolis next April 
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