Nika Muhl and the Croatia U18 Team | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Nika Muhl and the Croatia U18 Team

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DaBball

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Sluconn Husky said:
75-48 Germany over Croatia. Hoping that game was an aberration.

Nika made some plays late against the German bench but also missed an uncontested layup after a steal, her second uncontested miss of the day. She finished with 12 points, 6 rebs, 5 assists, and 5 steals. They only had her with 3 turnovers which seemed low. She forced a bunch of passes in spots where nobody was open and also forced some driving shots that might've been a result of trying to do too much.

She made two jumpers but missed most of them overall, sometimes barely grazing the rim, finishing 5/18 from the field and 2/4 from the foul line.
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She had at least one more turnover (she had one in the first half and they had her at 0). Some of her no look passes were a bit of target. She was an aggressive rebounder, which was a plus. She is going to have to probably learn to play without the ball a little better (seemed very ball dominant), and NEEDs to develop a mid-range or long-range shot if she wants to play.
 
RockyMTblue2

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Only watched the first half. Very cold shooting Croatian team. Nika passed a number of times when she could have shot. Germany overwhelmed them and I suspect is a favorite to repeat.
 
Alydar

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Muhl looking better today. I only put in on and have only watched the 3rd and she played very well. I particularly liked a play on defense where she slapped the ball away got possession and drove the floor scoring on a layup with 2 defenders right behind her. Foul, 3 pt play. Another play I liked was her going up for a rebound surrounded by taller players and just ripped it away. She is tough and ready to scrap. :D;)
 
UConnCat

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Muhl is a fearless rebounder. At some point in her career she'll need to be a threat from the perimeter. Hopefully that happens while she's in Storrs.

Meanwhile, Germany hardly missed shots yesterday and hardly made any today. Italy beat Germany 58-36. Emily Bessoir didn't score.
 
RockyMTblue2

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In the extensive interview of Nika at the NBA camp in April she mentioned her shooting needed a lot of work.
 
Sluconn Husky

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Muhl played more under control today. She makes plays and mistakes, the latter of which I think can be cleaned up with coaching. We'll see about the shot. There isn't much doubt about her toughness or competitive nature.
 
Alydar

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RockyMTblue2 said:
In the extensive interview of Nika at the NBA camp in April she mentioned her shooting needed a lot of work.
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Sluconn Husky said:
Muhl played more under control today. She makes plays and mistakes, the latter of which I think can be cleaned up with coaching. We'll see about the shot. There isn't much doubt about her toughness or competitive nature.
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I watched a lot of the loss to Germany and hoped that Muhl was ill or just having jitters. Today made me hopeful that it was an aberration. While I agree that she needs to get better at some things they are mostly just skills and are correctable. She has 16 months to practice and she seems to be self-driven so I'm hopeful.

What impressed me most was her feisty play, often against bigger players. She also has that move I dislike, of boxing out a much bigger player by backing into them while bent over, and IMO a form of undercutting. I think that move should be banned but until it is I like that Muhl does what it takes.
Next summer I expect a stronger player with range to the arc.
 
HuskylnSC

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Alydar said:
I watched a lot of the loss to Germany and hoped that Muhl was ill or just having jitters. Today made me hopeful that it was an aberration. While I agree that she needs to get better at some things they are mostly just skills and are correctable. She has 16 months to practice and she seems to be self-driven so I'm hopeful.

What impressed me most was her feisty play, often against bigger players. She also has that move I dislike, of boxing out a much bigger player by backing into them while bent over, and IMO a form of undercutting. I think that move should be banned but until it is I like that Muhl does what it takes.
Next summer I expect a stronger player with range to the arc.
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The best way to box out is to push your backside against the bigger players thigh. This locks their leg and prevents them from jumping at all. Under cutting, to me, is when the player is in the air and you push back so they can't land on their feet. That's dirty, disgusting and once gave me a black out/concussion. Make contact while the ball is in the air, pin their thigh and hold position gets the rebound and is safe because the opponent can't even get in the air.
 
Alydar

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HuskeyinSC said:
The best way to box out is to push your backside against the bigger players thigh. This locks their leg and prevents them from jumping at all. Under cutting, to me, is when the player is in the air and you push back so they can't land on their feet. That's dirty, disgusting and once gave me a black out/concussion. Make contact while the ball is in the air, pin their thigh and hold position gets the rebound and is safe because the opponent can't even get in the air.
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What I am talking about is that once they get their backside on the player they continue to back up and move the player backward. N Ogumike tried to do that to a UConn post, the post moved to evade her and NO stumbled back into KML, in that scary incident where she banged her elbow on the floor falling down and was out for several weeks. It may not be undercutting but it is displacement and as we learned then, it can lead to serious injuries.
 
RockyMTblue2

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On a different note, high five form looks stellar:

44623
 
Sluconn Husky

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Croatia lost 80-60 to Italy on Monday.

Nika sat for long stretches today. I don't know if that was to rest her because it was the third game in three days or what.

She only took 2 shots and scored both her points from the foul line. She had 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 turnovers.



Bessoir bounced back from her poor game with 18 points (8/14 FG) and 11 rebounds
 
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Sluconn Husky said:
Croatia lost 80-60 to Italy on Monday.

Nika sat for long stretches today. I don't know if that was to rest her because it was the third game in three days or what.

She only took 2 shots and scored both her points from the foul line. She had 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 turnovers.



Bessoir bounced back from her poor game with 18 points (8/14 FG) and 11 rebounds
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Probably some rest because they would have known that they would need a pretty decisive win or some help to change what place they finished in for the final standings. They now get a day off and I think they got a relatively favorable position in the bracket. The teams that finish in the bottom three in the tournament will be dropped down to the Division B tournament in the 2020 European U18 Championships so a win in either of the next two games means avoiding that fate.

Full video:
 
Husky fanatic

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Luckily she has a year to master foul shooting, shooting from the field, and eliminating turnovers.
 
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Nika's U18 stats: 11.3 PPG (33.3 FG%, 14.3 3FG%, 50 FT%), 6.3 RPG, 7.3 APG, 4.8 TOPG, 2.3 SPG.

She led in APG, but had the second highest TOPG. If she can work on both shooting percentages and eliminating turnovers, as @Husky fanatic mentioned, she will be a very good asset. I think she will also have to adjust to learn to playing without the ball, because she appears to be very ball dominant, which isn't really a thing at UConn.
 
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