Misuse of Paige

[LoTrader]

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.

PAC-12 is a defensive focused conference. PB’s performance & every UCONN player’s performance last night may have been better had they played against PAC-12 defenses each game this season

 

[my2cents]

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)

I didn't like his opinion and I said so. I don't like your opinion either, and I am saying so too..

 

[Artifact]

Last night, looking at Geno's facial expression, for me, seemed to indicate panic & frustration ! Same as seen in the seasonal Nebraska Game. One had a 5th yr. & the other a 6th yr. graduate student player, who lead their respective teams to winning !

 

[Dokey]

Let me throw this out there as the reason the game was lost last night. Its been an “overthinking things” move made surprisingly by Geno early on this year.

Paige is the best point guard in women’s college basketball. Period. End of discussion. Her passing and court awareness skills are extraordinary, once in a generational, even outshining her offensive shooting skills.

Why is the single best, most dominant, point guard in college basketball not playing point? She would’ve controlled the game from the start, setting up players, taking shots when available. Would’ve been a W.

Instead the best PG in college basketball is used as a decoy to spread the floor and basically not have any ability to impact the game at the huge level she can.

A tremendous mismanagement of talent.

That’s why Geno needed to get Anna into the game in first quarter, giving us another ball mover and free Paige more.

 

[Cuango]

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????

You seriously believe that Geno is jealous of Paige? In a thread full of ludicrous takes on last night’s game, that is way up near the top. They are a very young, inexperienced team who don’t have an alpha leader and who were clearly overwhelmed by the moment! Just last week people were howling that Geno should have been recognized for the magnificent job he’s done with such a young team. Now, after a game where the team missed 15-20 layups he is suddenly a bad coach. I doubt there’s another coach in all of basketball who could have taken this team to the Final Four! It is tough to beat a team with a senior leader who is “in the zone” and who is playing the best basketball of her entire life. The simple truth is, we simply had no answer for McDonald. She lifted that whole team onto her back and that, together with the bigness of the moment, was simply too much for this young team to overcome! This same thing almost happened in the Baylor game but didn’t for two reasons. One, Didi Richards got hurt, and two, the kids were somehow able to get their mojo back after Anna read them the riot act for looking scared! This time, they never had the mojo to begin with.

 

[UConnCat]

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.

I'd also point out that Stewart's teammates her freshman year included some experienced and really good upperclassmen who allowed her to shine in the tournament. That list included Dolson, Hartley, KML and Farris. Geno made the point last night that you're only as good as your teammates and your team. He mentioned that as amazing as Aari was last night, her teammates helped her by performing their roles really well. They made shots and plays when they had to. Other than Christyn, Paige didn't have much help last night and certainly not the help Stewart had as a freshman.

 

[my2cents]

You seriously believe that Geno is jealous of Paige? In a thread full of ludicrous takes on last night’s game, that is way up near the top. They are a very young, inexperienced team who don’t have an alpha leader and who were clearly overwhelmed by the moment! Just last week people were howling that Geno should have been recognized for the magnificent job he’s done with such a young team. Now, after a game where the team missed 15-20 layups he is suddenly a bad coach. I doubt there’s another coach in all of basketball who could have taken this team to the Final Four! It is tough to beat a team with a senior leader who is “in the zone” and who is playing the best basketball of her entire life. The simple truth is, we simply had no answer for McDonald. She lifted that whole team onto her back and that, together with the bigness of the moment, was simply too much for this young team to overcome! This same thing almost happened in the Baylor game but didn’t for two reasons. One, Didi Richards got hurt, and two, the kids were somehow able to get their mojo back after Anna read them the riot act for looking scared! This time, they never had the mojo to begin with.

Your post is the most ridiculous summary of a comment I have ever read.
I wasn't talking about the game, I was making points about the Geno press conference. The only player he called out by name was Paige, " She needs to improve a lot both on and off the court". As you pointed out, Paige was not the one missing the layups.
He also made comments about awards won by vote are not as important as earned accomplishments.
There are other posts and people that have noticed how negative he was about what this team accomplished, not just me,

 

[hayman522]

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.

Totally concur Paige was asked to do almost everything during the season, single handedly stopping UConn from long scoring droughts.

 

[hayman522]

I'd also point out that Stewart's teammates her freshman year included some experienced and really good upperclassmen who allowed her to shine in the tournament. That list included Dolson, Hartley, KML and Farris. Geno made the point last night that you're only as good as your teammates and your team. He mentioned that as amazing as Aari was last night, her teammates helped her by performing their roles really well. They made shots and plays when they had to. Other than Christyn, Paige didn't have much help last night and certainly not the help Stewart had as a freshman.

Bingo

 

[homer the dog]

Oh for goodness sakes, all last night shows is that we are a young team that needs to toughen up. That’s it. That’s all. Let’s hope they all work on their game, and hit the weight room over the break

they say that to play a position you have to be able to guard that position. is paige the best one to guard people like the small, fast and quick point guards? having said that did geno realize how bereft of offensive talent this team was that he needed paige more for her scoring than her playmaking from the point and so played her accordingly?

 

[CL82]

Evina came to Uconn as a PG. Now I would consider her more of a natural combo guard

She’s more of a swing man. She is just smart enough to be able to play the point.

 

[hart2hart]

I’m going to write to Geno first congratulating him on a wonderful season. Second, I’m going to ask him if he would consider adding double screens for Paige next season. He incorporated them a lot when Dee was there! He usually answers me!

 

[RedStickHusky]

Megan was out of position at the 4,

Could've used her there for another year... You're right though, the loss of any meaningful minutes from Anna took us from thin to bare at that spot.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

All year we struggled with an inescapable truth. We struggle to put UConn type points on the board. We only had one consistent scorer - Paige Buckets. Everyone else was inconsistent to put it charitably. CW came out of hibernation late in the season. Nika showed 3 ball signs late, though her bread and butter rim offense stayed home in Croatia. The Canadian Crusher does show promise. EW's shot is there, just not there enough.

Next year's team needs a big dollop of scoring power added. Azzi can provide a lot. CW can too if she can keep her mind right. Saylor is a weapon to listen to Geno (and he is generally a good fellow to listen to). Caroline has a 3 that makes opponents weep. I'd play the freshman as much as I could to get them battle tested. Absent dramatic changes I'd use Mir and Aubrey to give people a break. I know too little about Amari to suggest how she might impact ONO minutes.

 

[UConnCat]

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.

You seem both mad and sad about Paige. No need to be that way. It'll be okay.

 

[UConnCat]

I'd also point out that Stewart's teammates her freshman year included some experienced and really good upperclassmen who allowed her to shine in the tournament. That list included Dolson, Hartley, KML and Farris. Geno made the point last night that you're only as good as your teammates and your team. He mentioned that as amazing as Aari was last night, her teammates helped her by performing their roles really well. They made shots and plays when they had to. Other than Christyn, Paige didn't have much help last night and certainly not the help Stewart had as a freshman.

Just to expand on this point a little further, Stewie's older teammates during her freshman year:

Bria Hartley (2x WBCA All American)
Stef Dolson (1x WBCA All American)
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (2x WBCA All American)
Kelly Faris (2013 BE DPOY, 2013 Final Four All Tournament Team)

Paige had Christyn, Liv and Evina.

 

[jonson]

PAC-12 is a defensive focused conference. PB’s performance & every UCONN player’s performance last night may have been better had they played against PAC-12 defenses each game this season

I also believe that this surely would have been the case--and then go a step further and say something many here will likely find boneheaded. Namely, that one of the reasons UCONN has recently had difficulty getting past semifinal games in the tournament, despite having in almost all cases (if not all) more talent than their opponents, is that the American Athletic Conference, and now the Big East, doesn't adequately prepare them for the challenges of an Arizona no matter how hard Geno tries to make up for that fact by scheduling as many tough out-of-conference games as possible. (In my view, the challenges presented by a difficult schedule are quite different and much more daunting within a conference setting than without.) That doesn't matter when UCONN is a juggernaut (Stewie's last 3 years), but I think it does when the team is only marginally better or even at about the same level as the best teams it will meet in the tournament.

 

[UConnCat]

I also believe that this surely would have been the case--and then go a step further and say something many here will likely find boneheaded. Namely, that one of the reasons UCONN has recently had difficulty getting past semifinal games in the tournament, despite having in almost all cases (if not all) more talent than their opponents, is that the American Athletic Conference, and now the Big East, doesn't adequately prepare them for the challenges of an Arizona no matter how hard Geno tries to make up for that fact by scheduling as many tough out-of-conference games as possible. (In my view, the challenges presented by a difficult schedule are quite different and much more daunting within a conference setting than without.) That doesn't matter when UCONN is a juggernaut (Stewie's last 3 years), but I think it does when the team is only marginally better or even at about the same level as the best teams it will meet in the tournament.

Does this also explain the failure of a PAC-12 team to win a championship for the past 29 years? Were PAC-12 teams that made deep runs not sufficiently challenged during conference play? If not, what is the explanation?

As I've said many times in the past, I have trouble keeping up with the theories about why UConn hasn't won a championship in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 years. When UConn first joined the AAC all the pundits asked whether the weak conference would adequately prepare UConn for the NCAA Tournament. After 4 straight championships (3 while in the AAC) and 2 losses on last second shots in the Final Four, the new theory became: it's so unfair that UConn gets to rest its player against an inferior conference. Now we're back to the team is not adequately challenged in conference play.

Like I say, it's hard to keep up.

UConn was not the best team in the country this season. That's my explanation.

 

[fomalhaut]

That is because no team has ever been successful double/triple teaming McDonald. Maybe the COY & POY Awards should be handed out after the NCAA Tournament is completed? Don't get me wrong, I thing PB is an unreal talent, and will likely lead her team to a NCAA title, but McDonald has demonstrated throughout the NCAA Tournament that she is the best, and MVP, in the NCAA.

5 for 20 in the National Championship game doesn't indicate you're the best player in the NCAA.

 

[GoUconn7961]

they say that to play a position you have to be able to guard that position. is paige the best one to guard people like the small, fast and quick point guards? having said that did geno realize how bereft of offensive talent this team was that he needed paige more for her scoring than her playmaking from the point and so played her accordingly?

I’m not going to beat this loss to death. I don’t get paid to analyze the team or Geno’s coaching. They lost. I look forward to next season.

 

[LoTrader]

5 for 20 in the National Championship game doesn't indicate you're the best player in the NCAA.

AM got her team to the championship game.

 

[HuskylnSC]

"Paige is the best point guard in women’s college basketball. Period. End of discussion. Her passing and court awareness skills are extraordinary, once in a generational, even outshining her offensive shooting skills."

What game were you watching last night?

Did you happen, by chance, see Caitlin Clark play?

 

[Big Mick]

.

Lots of folks commenting on here are "pretend" UCONN fans.

Come on here to throw shade at the best ever Women's basketball Coach.

Get lost!


.

 

[Buzzyboy]

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????

You don't expect Paige to improve next year??? You think she's a finished product??? I don't think his remarks comes anywhere near throwing her under the bus ... if you asked her if she has things to work on and does she think she can improve, what do you think her answer would be ... If it was no, then she's not the person or player that I and many others thought she was or is .... do you think that he kissed Diana's or Maya's or Stewies feet, particularly when they were underclassmen??? Absolutely not!!!! She can improve and will improve ... she has wonderful instincts and is highly skilled but can't she get stronger, wiser, more decisive??? Certainly .....

 

[my2cents]

It's amazing to me that someone can read my statement and then quote it back and totally change the meaning.
"Should have been said in private" means that he can tell Paige all he wants about improving, and that in a national press setting , IMO ,was inappropriate.
"resents" doesn't mean "jealous" as others have misquoted. Geno has stated more than once that social media is was more prominent now and "stars" coming in have followers that need content. There is no doubt he feels that's a distraction, and that these players don't listen to him. That is the "off the court" improvement he was talking about.
As for your points, of course all players can improve, and you watch Uconn play and think that Paige COMPARED to her team mates has the the biggest margin to improve? I would say ONO.
Lastly, in case you haven't noticed CBB has changed dramatically since DT and Maya. Looser and Open transfers have made it way easier to transfer if players have issues with their coaches. Coaches should be aware of that.