Misuse of Paige

[my2cents]

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????

 

[Gurleyman]

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????

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.

 

[domerduck]

As great as Paige is Geno said after she won POY that she needed to get a lot better.. than last night added not only on the court. So let's put the chisel down for awhile on the mountain.He has dealt with phenoms before..Stewie,Maya,and the G.O.A.T. DT..They each could have scored 30-40 points a night if they wanted to.Someone posted last week if they didn't win the dance it would taint Paige winning the POY..At the time I disagreed but thinking about it why do players come to Uconn..#1 to win a national championship and #2 to to be the best they can be.So Paige can own all the records but when you play for Uconn your defined by how many Ncaa's you have won..hopefully it will start next year

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.

 

[MooseJaw]

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.

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.

 

[my2cents]

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.

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.

 

[domerduck]

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.

 

[Rb335]

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.

 

[LoTrader]

One game in 20 is not what decides a player's merit

Couldn't agree more. It's too bad the PAC-12 makes it so difficult for others to see PAC-12 games.

 

[Heytherego]

I think UCONN WBB team is one dominant center away from winning it all.

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

 

[Stinger92860]

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.

 

[jazz]

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.

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.

 

[Gurleyman]

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.

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.

 

[JBK]

Last night showed that we need more scoring options. I am so upset about the play of the bigs and I agree with the "dog". Paiges' biggest asset is her passing which is what she was famous for. With Nika on the floor we only have four scoring options, because it isn't that she can't shoot, but its that she refuses to shoot. Her defense and grit do help us, but if we don't score, we don't win. Next year return Paige to her natural position, place Azzi at the 2, and have Nika come off the bench to spell the guards. Hopefully Amari can provide us with some interior scoring more consistently than we have seen this year.

Agree. Do you think we still lack a bit of guard speed ..

 

[uconnfan68]

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.

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.

 

[my2cents]

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.

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.

 

[MD#12Fan]

Last night showed that we need more scoring options. I am so upset about the play of the bigs and I agree with the "dog". Paiges' biggest asset is her passing which is what she was famous for. With Nika on the floor we only have four scoring options, because it isn't that she can't shoot, but its that she refuses to shoot. Her defense and grit do help us, but if we don't score, we don't win. Next year return Paige to her natural position, place Azzi at the 2, and have Nika come off the bench to spell the guards. Hopefully Amari can provide us with some interior scoring more consistently than we have seen this year.

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?

 

[MD#12Fan]

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????

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]

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.

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.

 

[Zanzman]

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.

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)

 

[RobbieGee]

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

 

[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?