So, I guess for you, “tough to guard” is important criteria. I prefer someone who scores points, who doesn’t miss free throws because of “nerves,” and who doesn’t think a semifinal opponent will be easy.
She averaged 22.6 ppg in her last 3 games? Nice cherry-picking; in the 5 postseason games before those 3, she had 14, 26, 16, 13, and 11 points. She averaged 16.3 ppg in the regular season. I prefer my best player, especially when she’s a junior, to show up for every game. Maybe that’s what Geno had in mind when he called her “uncoachable”?
Btw, it’s UConn’s fourth consecutive loss in the semifinals, and ties UConn’s record for longest title-less drought since their first title in 1995.
14 points against St Johns - second highest scorer to Paige at 17
26 points against Villanova - highest scorer, Paige second with 18
16 points against Marquette - second highest scorer to Paige 23
13 points against High Point - third highest scorer to Paige 24, ONO 22
11 points against Syracuse - fourth highest scorer to Paige 20, Aaliyah 19, ONO 17
27 points against Iowa - highest scorer, Paige/Aaliyah second 18
21 points against Baylor - second highest scorer to Paige 28
20 points against Arizona - highest scorer, Paige second with 18 (she also was 4-4 on FTs which was a nice bounce back after the Baylor incident)
I think she proved in the post season that she was finding her footing as the second option on the team. In the game against Syracuse, she may not have put up a lot of points, but she was efficient 4-9 FG, 3-6 from 3. The only player more consistent offensively during this stretch was Paige, who also happened to sweep NPOY awards.
Williams is far from perfect, I'll be the first to admit that she needs to shoot a better percentage from the line and from the perimeter. But without her, this team might not have even gotten past Iowa. Our title drought is certainly long, but it is by no means the fault of CW. 2017/2018 had teams that lost on buzzer beating shots, 2018 being a year we should have won. In 2019, CW played really well in the post season as a freshman to help keep our FF streak alive with a team that was barely FF material. 2020 cancelled. And this year, she did as much as anyone to try to get us a title.
Our issues stem from the recruiting class of 2017, where 3 players transferred and Walker declared early. If Walker was around this season, we would have had the outside threat we needed and another potent offensive player. Likely would have won a championship in my opinion. Combine that with the class of 2019, which is now just Aubrey. It takes multiple good classes back to back to assemble the right cast. Our classes for 2020, 2021 & 2022 seem to have us set up to challenge for a few titles.