Nika +13

[sun]

Including the ND game, UConn averages 83.5 PPG while ND averages 83.3 PPG.
The final score of 82 - 67 shows which team scored closer to its average.

Paige could have played better but she was only 3 points below her scoring average of 20 PPG, & she ended up needing to play more minutes.
Some of UConn's shots were close but just wouldn't fall.
Perhaps ND's defense was tougher than expected.
I noticed that ND was able to rip some rebounds right out of UConn's hands.
The ND players were just a little bit tougher & a little bit more productive than UConn this time around.

 

[Wilderness]

I'd like to see Geno try Ines as first up sub for 1-3. She's done some good things in her limited playing time.

 

[Spaceman213J]

I agree with 2/3-s of what you write here. Fouling out is NOT always up to the player, see above. What is the one factor that sets Nika from every other husky? What one factor got her PT as a freshman/soph? --Actually--what 2 factors makes 99 percent of all Uconn WCBB fans love Nika? She is what she is--I like what she is.
Nkia didn't lose this game. Citron and The glowing yelllow head --and a coaching game plan and way off game Ashlynn and Paige. We could say defense by ND took them out--that happens, but My gut says : The last game of Paige had more than a little effect on her mind and body. As the lead dog goes --so go the pups.

I agree about the fouls, but that's part of my point. In a game where the rotation is set at 7 ahead by your coach, you have to figure a way to stay out of the floor. She's smart enough to do that.
She is loved for her toughness and tenacity. There is nothing wrong playing full throttle, but you also need to know when to back off a little and not let the refs even have the ability to take you out of the game.
Nika didn't lose the game, but I would like to have seen what would have happened if she had been on the floor 10 more minutes.

 

[darkstar1]

While I am fully in the camp of "Nika is one of the best defensive guards in the country," I wanted to add another perspective. While a great defender against most guards, Nika has never excelled against quick guards (few do). She often gets called for fouls when she tries to steal the ball and gets to the play a half step slower than her opponent. Geno constantly yells about her tendency to hand check and slap at the ball as the opponent dribbles by. These have been issues all 4 years. We need Nika since we are very thin with subs, but she is not a silver bullet against teams like ND. To me this is a coaching issue where Geno needs to put a game plan based on match ups.

Again, I wonder if I am watching the same game. Hidalgo went nuts EXCEPT when Nika was on her. Without Nika it was embarrassing to see how easy it was for her to drive for uncontested layups. I really believe that if Nika wasn’t in foul trouble in the second 1/4, the run that out UConn up by double digits would have continued and the game may have been a lopsided UConn win. That is how important it is that Nika not get in foul trouble.

 

[Cornell Lt]

Very surprising to see Nika have such a poor performance. She's a Senior leader but played like a star struck Freshman.

 

[Linart]

We all laugh about Nika believing she has never committed a foul but that could be her undoing. A foul is what the refs say is a foul. Period. It seems to me that after getting called for a couple of fouls, a player should be able to determine how tightly or loosely the game is being called and adjust their aggressiveness accordingly. Even if they draw an additional couple of undeserved fouls, they're still on the floor.

 

[msf22b]

Even in this thread, in the face of empirical evidence, there is still talk of Nika having a "bad" game...

It's hard to understand discussion that refuses to accept conclusive, factual evidence.

Yes Nika was absent with regard scoring...she had her hands full on the other end...That's not what lost us the game...+13 is a very big, decisive, and illuminating number.

 

[JoePgh]

Even in this thread, in the face of empirical evidence, there is still talk of Nika having a "bad" game...

It's hard to understand discussion that refuses to accept conclusive, factual evidence.

Yes Nika was absent with regard scoring...she had her hands full on the other end...That's not what lost us the game...+13 is a very big, decisive, and illuminating number.

I think the main criticism of Nika that is being made in this thread is that, as a senior, she should have exercised more judgment and restraint in playing defense so that she could stay on the floor for as long as the team needed her, which was probably 35 minutes or more. Those who criticized her offense while she was on the floor are (shall we say) badly misguided.

 

[wbbhoops278]

So, the bench played 25m total and ICE played 18 of those minutes. Given Geno subbed in ICE for a PG it's obvious that she was going to be the first one off the bench regardless. I can't help but feel like, given how weak our bench is, this same +/- would have been the case for almost any of the starters. Pull AE for 20m because of foul trouble. Pull Paige for 20m because of foul trouble. I think the +/- is far more indicative of how bad our bench is than some sort of 'savior metric' about Nika. I think that's why people are clamoring for them to get more playing time. If we legitimately want to make a post season run, it can't be the same thing as last year where the team is out of gas by the time the tourney rolls around and if games like this happen where someone gets in foul trouble (because it only takes one), the bench is maybe more reliable.

I want to be very clear - I don't think Nika lost the game for us or anything remotely close to that. Regardless though, I think the points being brought up about her performance are valid. I've seen criticism of Paige too, which is also justified and valid. I do get why people get more protective of Nika b/c some folks on here are WEIRD about how they obsess about specific players. (I won't even get into that) That said, at least come to the table with more than one cherry-picked metric to defend someone's performance when it's obvious from the game that they didn't play well.

 

[Huskygamble19]

Nika definitely should play smarter. They have a very short bench and she has to realize she can't go all out aggressive. It sucks, but that is hand they have been dealt AGAIN!! the last foul was bad and was well away from the basket and sealed the deal for her night.

I love Nika and how she plays, but under these circumstances she has to be aware of the bench problems.

Edwards was on fire and I don't understand why they were not trying to get her the ball in the last quarter, especialy with Nika out. I guess Nika being out was a big reason, but the freshman have to feed the big dog in the middle.

 

[TheFarmFan]

Super late to this party, but finally had time to finish the Notre Dame - UConn game. I don't think this was a terrible loss for UConn. A few thoughts, probably all already shared, but:

-Most critically, and as the topic of this thread indicates it was very clear Muhl was critical to defending the Domers' exceptionally guard-heavy offense, and without her Brady just couldn't keep up, which meant everyone had to shift and all of UConn's defensive matchups were second-best. Not sure why so many people criticized Nika - I thought she played well apart from her fourth foul, which was definitely silly and unnecessary.

-I was surprised Geno didn't try zone more since it was working well during parts of the first half, but I guess without Nika it really didn't work as well. Which is surprising to me, because if there's anything the Huskies are known for on defense, it's gold-star helpside defense. You guys have long been among the best in the country at that.

-The difference between UConn teams of yore and this year's team is that much of your success rests on the shoulders of one player: Bueckers. She had a night off, you had some foul trouble to a key cog in your machine, and that was the difference. See Stanford (minus Brink) @ Gonzaga. See UCLA (minus Betts) @ Washington St. Etc. I didn't see anything in this loss that concerned me about UConn's prospects, apart from the delicately short bench, which we already knew.

-The one surprise to me from a coaching standpoint was that Geno didn't push harder to get the ball inside to Edwards during the fourth quarter. That was working so well for three quarters, including some nifty high low action with Bueckers. Was she just tired?

-Last thing: I haven't seen enough of Ines play to know whether what I'm saying is crazy, but I didn't understand why Geno kept Brady in for so much of the second half. She seemed to be playing either the 4 or 5 and what UConn really needed was someone who could absorb fouls while defending Hidalgo tightly. Just seemed like the wrong personnel was on the floor for that critical stretch during the fourth quarter.

 

[Blond D.]

We all laugh about Nika believing she has never committed a foul but that could be her undoing. A foul is what the refs say is a foul. Period. It seems to me that after getting called for a couple of fouls, a player should be able to determine how tightly or loosely the game is being called and adjust their aggressiveness accordingly. Even if they draw an additional couple of undeserved fouls, they're still on the floor.

Nika hasnt been in foul trouble the whole year. Since none of us were on the court and played in her shoes, its a little presumptuous of us to say how reckless she was or wasn't or how inconsistent the refs might have been.
No Nika didnt score but neither did Hildigo when Nika was covering her.
I have to give Nika the benefit of the doubt on this one.

 

[Redux]

I have never seen the officials booed as they walked off the court at halftime. The last three minutes of the second quarter was the worst officiating I have ever seen live; the whole crew was embarrassing.

When the officiating is lousy, even if it is random, you wind up with a different game. I don't want the officials creating the game; I'm there for the players not the refs. And it's not a random effect even if the officials display no bias. A team that has a player as overwhelmingly important to the overall defense as Nika is is going to be impacted more proportionately when excessive fouls are called, as is a team that is more fine-tuned to avoid fouling in their overall style of play, as is a team trying to pound an undersized #5 low and she's getting tossed to the floor and into the seats with no calls. That latter hurts not just the offense but subsequently at the other end: ND essentially got at least 6 free points with 5 on 4.

You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist or paranoid on behalf of your team to see that inept officiating hurts, even without discriminatory intent.

All that said: UConn wouldn't have been imperiled by the officiating had they played even their B/B+ game. They lost because they didn't play as well as ND. Doesn't mean I have to like what was going on.

 

[Dognusty]

+/- stats are not always very meaningful, but this time it is glaring...

During the 19 min with Nika on the floor, UConn outscored Notre Dame by 13.
During the 21 min with Nika on the bench, Notre Dame outscored UConn by 28.

Read the two lines above. And then read them again. And one more time

Even with Paige banged up, Ash going 0-6 on threes, etc., we would have still won if Nika wouldn't have been pulled out of the second quarter with foul trouble and not playing but the first minute of the fourth after fouling out.

With Nika on the floor, the offense flows and the defense is in synch (btw, Hidalgo was exceptional but she scored 24 of her points when Nika was out...). With Nika on the bench, the offense stagnates and the defense is out of sorts. Geno said it point blank in the post-game presser. She largely got the foul trouble under control the past year and a half. She won't fall into it again this season.

I am not worried. The sky is not falling.

She is getting fouls because of bad play. Yes your plus minus looks great when you foul out. Reaching right now

 

[HuskyNan]

She is getting fouls because of bad play. Yes your plus minus looks great when you foul out. Reaching right now

Do you know what the +/- is? It mean Nika’s team scored 13 points more than ND while she was on the court. A primary reason for that is Nika’s defense. When she fouled out, everyone else’s +/- went down.

 

[Viet Vet]

When the officiating is lousy, even if it is random, you wind up with a different game. I don't want the officials creating the game; I'm there for the players not the refs. And it's not a random effect even if the officials display no bias. A team that has a player as overwhelmingly important to the overall defense as Nika is is going to be impacted more proportionately when excessive fouls are called, as is a team that is more fine-tuned to avoid fouling in their overall style of play, as is a team trying to pound an undersized #5 low and she's getting tossed to the floor and into the seats with no calls. That latter hurts not just the offense but subsequently at the other end: ND essentially got at least 6 free points with 5 on 4.

You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist or paranoid on behalf of your team to see that inept officiating hurts, even without discriminatory intent.

All that said: UConn wouldn't have been imperiled by the officiating had they played even their B/B+ game. They lost because they didn't play as well as ND. Doesn't mean I have to like what was going on.

Former ref here. I have reviewed the game many times over, and all of the fouls called on Nika were correct. For those who either may not be familiar with (or don't like) the rule, if ANY part of the defender's body is in the semi-circle at the base of the "paint", the offensive player cannot be called for a charge. Nika had one foot (no matter if it was only a heel) in the semi-circle on the block/charge call. Hence a blocking foul.

Look, I don't like the rule. That's moot. The refs do NOT make rules, they administer them. The call was correct, and all gripes should be directed to the rule-making body, not the refs. They did their jobs.

 

[HuskyNan]

Former ref here. I have reviewed the game many times over, and all of the fouls called on Nika were correct. For those who either may not be familiar with (or don't like) the rule, if ANY part of the defender's body is in the semi-circle at the base of the "paint", the offensive player cannot be called for a charge. Nika had one foot (no matter if it was only a heel) in the semi-circle on the block/charge call. Hence a blocking foul.

Look, I don't like the rule. That's moot. The refs do NOT make rules, they administer them. The call was correct, and all gripes should be directed to the rule-making body, not the refs. They did their jobs.

The rule about the restricted area is no longer in effect in women’s basketball

NCAA rule changes: Women's basketball removes restricted area, adds flopping penalty

Big 12 officials liaison Patty Broderick discussed this season's rule changes, which included removal of the restricted area in the paint.

www.lubbockonline.com

Panel approves flopping rule in women’s basketball - NCAA.org

Women's basketball players judged to have flopped will be issued a warning on the first offense, with a technical foul being charged for any subsequent infractions,

www.ncaa.org

 

[Viet Vet]

The rule about the restricted area is no longer in effect in women’s basketball

NCAA rule changes: Women's basketball removes restricted area, adds flopping penalty

Big 12 officials liaison Patty Broderick discussed this season's rule changes, which included removal of the restricted area in the paint.

www.lubbockonline.com

Panel approves flopping rule in women’s basketball - NCAA.org

Women's basketball players judged to have flopped will be issued a warning on the first offense, with a technical foul being charged for any subsequent infractions,

www.ncaa.org

Thank you Husky Nan. I stand corrected.

 

[Redux]

all of the fouls called on Nika were correct

No. Objectively and clearly wrong..

However, you raise an interesting point, by related inference. Many of the other calls I objected to WERE technically correct (the traveling calls for example), it's simply that customarily to maintain the flow of the game officials let little blips go by, except when they don't. That is maddening, but you can always go back and say "that was a correct call."

 

[Redux]

Thank you Husky Nan. I stand corrected.

That was straight up. Good you.

 

[Dognusty]

Do you know what the +/- is? It mean Nika’s team scored 13 points more than ND while she was on the court. A primary reason for that is Nika’s defense. When she fouled out, everyone else’s +/- went down.

Dude just justified my point. If you cant stay on the court because of fouls you are net all of that.

 

[Redux]

Dude just justified my point. If you cant stay on the court because of fouls you are net all of that.

Nika has been averaging 2 fouls per game while covering the best players we face and being aggressive offensively when needed. She's doing just fine, thank you very much.

 

[maple]

The fact that Nika HAS been so good about not committing fouls this season is what makes the ND game so shocking.

But even as a senior learning moments can still be had, I guess. I was very critical of Nika for fouling out earlier in this thread but a day+ removed now I feel like maybe she’s gotten the bad game out of her system and can go back to playing like before.

 

[Steve UConn72]

RE: +/- Anyone else notice that Paige was "only" a -5 despite playing 37 minutes? That means ND outscored UConn by 10 in her missing 3 minutes. Could be a statistical anomaly, but that's pretty amazing.

 

[Skeets]

The rule about the restricted area is no longer in effect in women’s basketball

NCAA rule changes: Women's basketball removes restricted area, adds flopping penalty

Big 12 officials liaison Patty Broderick discussed this season's rule changes, which included removal of the restricted area in the paint.

www.lubbockonline.com

Panel approves flopping rule in women’s basketball - NCAA.org

Women's basketball players judged to have flopped will be issued a warning on the first offense, with a technical foul being charged for any subsequent infractions,

www.ncaa.org

Maybe the active refs don't know that either.