Nika Muhl will have expanded role

[Alydar]

I didn’t introduce the term “her team,” but it is applicable as a sort of metaphor for leadership. Lots of players contribute, but on great teams, one or two will generally emerge as the players everyone relies on at the key moments, not just for passion, but also to carry the load. Passion alone does not win championships. If you’re not one of those players, you can still have a role on the team and in its victories. When we talk about someone else stepping up after Paige’s injury, this is what we mean. We are looking for that leader, that go-to player, the one who gives everyone else the confidence to achieve great plays, too. And she does it by taking the pressure off the rest of the team so they can step up.

Right now, if I had to guess, I’d say that player will be Azzi and Caroline. They will be who everyone looks to to get that essential bucket that sparks the blowout, or the comeback or that seals a close victory.

It's hard to use last season as evidence of much except how continual upheaval in the roster can be overcome.

This may seem just a matter of semantics but If Mühl tried to "replace" Bueckers it would be a disaster. Bueckers isn't replaceable. Her level of play is unreachable for the rest so don't waste time trying.
Focus on improving what you have. This is an extremely talented and deep group. Two 5th year players, 2 juniors who started as freshmen. Two sophomore guards who both started despite injuries and who are both much healthier and ready for that sophomore jump. Ducharme and Juhasz are just starting to play 5x5 and they have 2 months to gel. This isn't 2021. Roles will be defined. And by January someone will start a thread asking if bringing Bueckers back "now" would be a bad move for the team chemistry.

 

[Notyetready]

There are finally some voices of reason on this forum to counter the love affair with Nika Muhl. A wonderful young lady to be sure, but to pretend she has any natural basketball talent or skill, or the hope that she develops into a complete player at the age of 21, is pure fantasy. Don't be surprised if Azzi Fudd, is the pt. guard for many games, allowing Auriemma to have his best 5 on the court , depending on the level of competition.

Ignores the fact that Geno (who flew to Croatia to meet with Nika and her parents when recruiting her) really likes and lauds her game. It's just that he wants her to, and expects that she will, improve her offense and reduce her stupid fouls.

 

[CocoHusky]

I wish there were a statistic on "turnovers forced per minute played". I think Nika would look outstanding on that stat. Between her steals and the charges that she took, she would have a ton. Also (not often noted) is the number of rebounds that she got as a fairly small guard playing a long way from the basket, in limited minutes. That was also due to hustle, pure and simple.

@CocoHusky, when Geno said that "we look different when Nika is playing", it was a definite compliment -- in context, he clearly meant "better". Remember that he replaced Evina in the starting lineup when Evina was not injured, and to my "eye test", the team looked noticeably better after that change. That lineup lasted until Paige returned, so I guess Geno agreed.

I also agree with @nastynatty that UConn's team defense factored into Nika's selection: she was the best defender on the best defensive team (and I will bet that DePaul was one of the worst defensive teams in the conference).

The DPOY award an individual award and you would have to completely ignore or severely manipulate an awful lot of statistics to convince me that Morrow's Defense was less valuable to DePaul than Nika defense was to UCONN or that Nika was UCONN's most valuable defender. In fact you would have to ignore just about ALL the defensive statistics (Rebounding, Block shots, steals) because there were UCONN players that out performed or was close to Nika in these defensive categories.
Among the regular rotation players only Azzi averaged fewer RPG than Nika.
Among the regular rotation players Nika was last on the team in blocks.
Among the regular rotation players two players Evina and Christyn Williams had more steals than Nika.

You can manipulate the stats to equalize for a per minute basis but I would counter that by asking you to place a relative weighting on each of those stats. For example are ONO blocks more valuable to UCONN than NIka's steals? Even if that weighting was 2X in favor of steals over blocks and 1/2X in favor of rebounds over Steals ONO would decisively emerge as UCONN most valuable defender. BTW I would disagree with that weighting but I'm just presenting them to inform the conversation. IMO the weighting is closer Steals=Blocks=.5 Rebound.

I can see how some might interpret Geno saying "we look different when Nika is playing' as being better but there is more context to that. The largest context is that UCONN had lost the turnover margin in 7 of the first 9 games of the season and was getting ready to start a stretch of conference games. UCONN was not creating turnover and quite candidly after starting red hot Evina was not cutting it as the PG. A few of us speculated that there was an injury to Evina because she was not the same player that started the season. The speculation heightened and can be confirmed by the Creighton (1st game ) box score in which Evina played 33 minutes and attempted 1 shot. So Geno decided to insert Nika into the starting lineup the next game to create some turnovers. I have a hard time with better because so much happened around that time. Nika wend down for a stretch, followed by Caroline and then ONO, Evina got noticeable healthier and right around this time Aubrey was ruled out for the season to have back surgery.

DePaul was defensively ranked 9 of 11 teams in the Big East conference this past season. UCONN was not ranked first, Villanova was. Again. This is yet another place where we might want to throw out the stats. Does anyone believe that Villanova is a better defensive team than UCONN? I certainly don't & just think where DePaul would be ranked defensively without Morrow.

 

[The deacon]

If there is one statistic of Nika’s I would acknowledge, it would be her plus minus. I remember her having great plus-minuses throughout the NCAA tournament because of her ability to make key defensive plays, get out in transition, and start crucial runs for the team.

I've written this type of post several times and there are several of you who have taken it as a personal attack on Nika. They weren't, and this is not. As many of us who root for all the Huskies, and, more important, for the Huskies as a team, I simply want to point out very telling numbers based on Nika's impact on the team's on-court performance.

Nastynatty, if you'll refer to the UConn women's basketball game by game PDFs from last season (and even the '20-21 season), you'll find consistent evidence that the more minutes Nika plays in a game, the poorer the team's +/- is.

You noted her great plus-minuses during last year's tournament. However, of the nine post-regular season games, the only two games in which she was in the top four for +/- of the regular eight rotation players (discounting Amari here) were vs. UCF and NC State, games in which she played just 6 and 8 1/2 minutes, respectively. Said another way, of the six tournament games in which Nika played at least 17 1/2 minutes, she ranked 9th, 8th, 6th, 9th, 7th and 4th (the latter vs. SC).

Some of you would say +/- numbers can be deceiving, and you'd be right given a particular game or even a small sample. However, those numbers are clear. If you care to check them out in more detail, you'll find often it was by rather large margins that Nika trails her teammates.

All that said, what those +/- stats tell me is that Nika can be a real impact player in short spurts, firing the team up, making a couple of quick steals, etc., which she is really good at doing. She is a valuable player to have on the team, no denying, and one of the most fun players to root for. I'm with you all on those points.

Still, if Azzi and Caroline are healthier than last season and either or both of Lou and Ines prove positive assets, it's very difficult for me to see the Huskies' fortunes being better served with Nika playing 20 minutes or more per game. Of course, a new and improved offensive version of Nika would be most welcomed... we'll see.

 

[CocoHusky]

One more pt. of interest, Aubrey Griffin after 2 seasons had stats that are off the charts. Based on playing 28 minutes, she would average 12 pts. 11 rebs. 3 blocks and 2.5 steals per game with consistency. She will be defending the opponents best player most often than not, health permitting.

Not really. Aubrey has her own struggles on offense in her first two healthy seasons at UCONN.
She arrived with all the athleticism in the world and quickly learned that athleticism alone was not enough to justify more minutes on the floor. Her struggles were two fold 1)Her understanding of the UCONN offense and her role in it. This was clearly visible in her few minutes on the floor where you could see more thinking and hesitation about what happens next and where do I go now.
This resulted in some collisions on the floor and I do literally mean collisions.
2) The wing three is a stable of the UCONN offensive and to effective play the wing you have to be able to hit that wing 3 ball and Aubrey just could do it often enough to justify more minutes at that position. Aubrey is 4 for 30 in 3PT FGA in her first two season.

Defensively Aubrey was the best perimeter defender on the team when she was healthy but these issues are going to have to get corrected for her to get to 28 minutes per game and even then I don't see a liner projection of her stats as you have presented.

 

[HopJim]

I am reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s quote, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

Considering the source, surprisingly harsh (although one of the lines in the original email was over the top as well).

 

[Hey Adrien!]

What’s kind of reassuring about Muhl’s role in the starting lineup is that it’s clear what the other starters bring to the table that will help balance Muhl’s attention to defense, distributing and ability to shoot when needed.

Fudd and Ducharme will step up their scoring while Juhasz and Edwards bring size.

Obviously, with Bueckers out, UConn’s ceiling takes a hit, but now they have a bit of an underdog swag to them.

 

[Zarathustra]

My thoughts about the DPOY award for Nika is: wasn't this award given
based on the voting by the HEAD COACHES in the BIG EAST?? In my way of
thinking, the stats mentioned in some of the comments (supra vide, huh, are
not as important as the sentiments of those coaches who had to deal with
the reality of our "gnat" flying around in the faces of their respective teams!
Go Nika, train Ines well!! GO HUSKIES!

 

[#12in21]

With the exception of one or two posters, even distracters as to Nika’s past contributions/value to the team, have expressed hopes that she actually will make the desired/needed improvements on the offense end. Among those who have expressed the view that her past contributions have been significant, I have heard no one suggesting that Nika can replace Paige or that she is/will be the best player on the team. I believe all, or at least the vast majority, of those posters have acknowledged that Nika needs to have a bigger impact on the offense end this season.

I have a difficult time understanding why several posters in the former group feel a need to go way beyond pointing out where she has inadequacies in some areas of the game and have a need to paint her wholly inadequate, with noted exceptions that she’s a nice kid that brings alot of energy.

There may be a reason that more than one thread that was titled showing Nika in a positive light, after degrading to a great number of Nika bashing posts, eventually ends up locked.

I expect the response - that posters are just pointing out her inadequacies, which is as it should be. I agree, those can be noted, but it goes beyond that in a fairly passionate ways at times. By the way Nika being selected by the coaches of the Big East as DPOY was not part a big conspiracy driven by the boneyard Nika fan club. I doubt any of them look to the boneyard for direction any more than Geno does. They, as I believe Geno does and those posters who have spoken generally positively about Nika, see the value she brings. That doesn’t mean they don’t believe she has several areas where she can improve her game.

I expect Nika to be our starting point guard. i take her at her word that she has had a change of perspective and is working towards improving her offense game and wants to step up as a leader. I am hopeful she does just that and, if that transpires, I look forward to all those that have doubted she can/will, who have said they remain hopeful she does, are front and center giving her her due.

 

[Sincebascom]

Now we're talking! 12 at 21, you stole my thunder! I hold Husky Nan responsible for , while historically forbidding boneyarders from overtly criticizing the play of individual huskies, allowing a vicious constant assault on the play of Nike Muhl, on the part of(husky Nan, allowing me to turn the tables)jc husky, coco husky, Bobby J, the deacon, team first!, and some brand new guy who just introduced himself, likely just to further trash Nika Muhl. The deacon may come up with "Nika Muhl only had the 5th best +/- on games played on an island ". JORDY G(OVERLOOKED HIM) during a discussion of the pyramids of Egypt will find a way to add why Nika muhl sucks a player. This is not a love affair with Nika, coco husky, but I AM a fan of her play. She is one of the players who can take us to the TOP! She is an excellent defender, a very good, potentially excellent assister(/), a truly outstanding rebounding guard, an opportunistic thief, and if given the chance(in her own mind, also) a likely contributer with her own hoops. And I honestly think she DOES get a raw deal on fouls; Stef Dolson could murder a cow and not get called for a foul- Nika gets called every time, if it's even close! But this previous core of "Nika Nockers"(title meant as a dismissal of their unfair tactics, and not in any admiring way) is determined to undermine her play. Now this new boneyarder, this director of hundreds who follow exactly what he says has decided that his own word holds more weight. I think his companies are bound to fail, if what he has written here in the past week is all he's got! In conclusion, I'm not sure why these people are trying to lead people to believe that Nika is just getting worse and worse, even since she last played. Her 3point % was not bad, but to hear them, she never gets within five feet of the rim. I don't understand it at all, but one may guess at the reason. It may be simple jingoistic anti-euro feelings, but I doubt it. I believe this is the greatest forbidden to mention prejudice, surfacing in the umlaut thread. Just my opinion.

 

[Bone Dog]

Still, if Azzi and Caroline are healthier than last season and either or both of Lou and Ines prove positive assets, it's very difficult for me to see the Huskies' fortunes being better served with Nika playing 20 minutes or more per game. Of course, a new and improved offensive version of Nika would be most welcomed.

This just about catches it for me, with one addition, as embodied in this question:

If Nika doesn't play 20+ mins/g, who does?

We have 5 guards and 120+ mins (including times we play 4-out), and if Nika can't be relied on for 20+, and Ines is not ready for that, and Lou's D doesn't stand up to what we need, we're looking at keeping Azzi and Caroline on the floor 35+ mins/g each. That's asking a lot of two players recovering from serious injury.

My wish list is, then:
1. Nika picks up her offense
2. Lou picks up her defense
3. ...so that we can get 50 mins/game between them
4. Ayanna and Aubrey prove capable of giving 5 mins/g between them at the 3 in addition to whatever they give at the 4
5. Ines is able to give us 5 mins/g at pg
6. ...so that Azzi and Caroline can play no more than 30 mins/g each
7. ...and so that Azzi plays only minimal mins/g at pg

 

[GEAinAustin]

CocoHusky, my statement about Griffin is a reference to the amount of production vs. the minutes she has played /no more, no less.

 

[Alydar]

Ignores the fact that Geno (who flew to Croatia to meet with Nika and her parents when recruiting her) really likes and lauds her game. It's just that he wants her to, and expects that she will, improve her offense and reduce her stupid fouls.

As a Mühl lover I say I never expected her to be a 3 way scorer or a shutdown defender because she would have started somewhere else. Mühl came to UConn be the backup pg and a spot starter. UConn was lucky (and is lucky) that she signed, and "But it's UConn" was a factor. No elite HS pg was going to be willing to sit behind Bueckers for 3 or 4 years. I'd wager it kept 2019 pg's away too.

Mühl will have had 3 months of personal coaching from Bueckers before the season. She is a willing pupil. I'm confident that she will be more than adequate.

 

[Skeets]

Dennis Rodman (Bulls version), Draymond Green, & Rajon Rondo (Celtics Version) each took the floor with a minimum of two HoF caliber players as teammates. On the current UCONN roster only Paige is of that caliber and Azzi potentially. The need for Nika to score more and be more aggressive was evident over the past two season because she became a starter due mostly to injuries. That need is now more critical since Paige will be lost for the season. It is not just Nika that needs to step up and be more aggressive it is the entire team. This is not an either or proposition- it is and. While the BE DPOY is an excellent award Nika will need to continue to play excellent defense and improve her offensive production.

Coco, I can't argue with that. I'd just like to add, if you attend UConn games and are close enough to the court to hear what is going on, when in the game it's Nika calling out what needs to be done on offense and defense. The other 4 on the floor react to Nika's instructions. That's what you would expect from a point guard. I would also expect that from a leader.

 

[Skeets]

The Big East coaches vote on the DPOY.

One thing Nika always does is hound the opposing guard bringing the ball up. When she does that, it takes 2-5 seconds off the shot clock. This both delays the opponents setting up their offense and allows UConn to set up their defense.

I suspect this factored into the decision to give her the award, but even if it didn’t, the opposing coaches thought she was the most disruptive defender.

I would imagine the coaches voted for the player that annoyed/disrupted them the most. It came up the gnat.

 

[Skeets]

My thoughts about the DPOY award for Nika is: wasn't this award given
based on the voting by the HEAD COACHES in the BIG EAST?? In my way of
thinking, the stats mentioned in some of the comments (supra vide, huh, are
not as important as the sentiments of those coaches who had to deal with
the reality of our "gnat" flying around in the faces of their respective teams!
Go Nika, train Ines well!! GO HUSKIES!

I posted the same thing before I read your post. Go gnat!

 

[CocoHusky]

Coco, I can't argue with that. I'd just like to add, if you attend UConn games and are close enough to the court to hear what is going on, when in the game it's Nika calling out what needs to be done on offense and defense. The other 4 on the floor react to Nika's instructions. That's what you would expect from a point guard. I would also expect that from a leader.

I have been to UCONN games and seen exactly what you are describing and to her credit Nika was providing a necessary ingredient to winning basketball. Being a "the glass is half empty" type of guy I didn't necessarily think this was a good thing. I understand that Paige was not present to provide the required on court leadership. My question was this: Where are the seniors two of who were 4 years starters in WCBB and the other a 3 year starter.

 

[Skeets]

I have been to UCONN games and seen exactly what you are describing and to her credit Nika was providing a necessary ingredient to winning basketball. Being a "the glass is half empty" type of guy I didn't necessarily think this was a good thing. I understand that Paige was not present to provide the required on court leadership. My question was this: Where are the seniors two of who were 4 years starters in WCBB and the other a 3 year starter.

Yeah, I don't know. The PG is the one I would expect to be the most vocal. Paige commands respect when she plays PG or anywhere else, but Nika is definitely louder and more vocally involved in the game. Some people are vocal and loud, and some aren't. (Paige is loud on the bench .)

BTW, I've played with a loud mouth (maybe we all have) and I did not appreciate him...

Here is a mystery. Why isn't the center the most vocal on the court? In the half court they see everything in front of them on both offense and defense. I think of Meadowlark Lemon dancing in the paint calling out plays

 

[MSGRET]

I suppose that’s possible. The pg is the most important position And it needs an outsize personality to be great in it. But it also needs mastery of every aspect of the offense, including ones own scoring, and it is not clear Nika has achieved this. We spent the last few weeks arguing over whether Nika will make herself a credible scoring threat. No one has suggested she’ll be a great one. It’ll be her team if she can consistently finish at the rim (through contact) and sink the midrange jumper in the half court set. This is what Jen, Sue, Renee, Moriah, Crystal all brought to the pg role. If she can’t live up to that standard and is merely a serviceable passer and ball handler, we may well have a great season but it won’t be her team no matter how much passion she brings to the floor.

Moriah did not become a scorer until her Junior year, she hardly played in her Freshman year and her Sophomore year she was basically a passing guard who took very few shots. She even admitted it during her Junior year that she had to improve her offensive game.

 

[CocoHusky]

I posted the same thing before I read your post. Go gnat!

Do both of you honestly believe that Nika was more of a gnat to the big East Coaches than Morrow was?

Morrow 30.4 MPG:13.8 RPG: 89 Steals :60 blocks
Nika 21.7 MPG : 3.0 RPG : 47 Steals : 6 Blocks

Even when you look at it on a per minute played basis if Nika was a gnat, Morrow must have been a sledgehammer.

 

[CocoHusky]

Moriah did not become a scorer until her Junior year, she hardly played in her Freshman year and her Sophomore year she was basically a passing guard who took very few shots. She even admitted it during her Junior year that she had to improve her offensive game.

Not really. At the beginning of her sophomore year teams were sagging off of Moriah and daring her to shoot. At Christmas break she went home got in the gym fixed her stroke and never looked back. As a sophomore she actually lead the team in FG% and here is the real eye popping part. For both her sophomore and junior seasons Moriah Jefferson would shoot a higher 3PT FG percentage that KML.

 

[CocoHusky]

Now we're talking! 12 at 21, you stole my thunder! I hold Husky Nan responsible for , while historically forbidding boneyarders from overtly criticizing the play of individual huskies, allowing a vicious constant assault on the play of Nike Muhl, on the part of(husky Nan, allowing me to turn the tables)jc husky, coco husky, Bobby J, the deacon, team first!, and some brand new guy who just introduced himself, likely just to further trash Nika Muhl. The deacon may come up with "Nika Muhl only had the 5th best +/- on games played on an island ". JORDY G(OVERLOOKED HIM) during a discussion of the pyramids of Egypt will find a way to add why Nika muhl sucks a player. This is not a love affair with Nika, coco husky, but I AM a fan of her play. She is one of the players who can take us to the TOP! She is an excellent defender, a very good, potentially excellent assister(/), a truly outstanding rebounding guard, an opportunistic thief, and if given the chance(in her own mind, also) a likely contributer with her own hoops. And I honestly think she DOES get a raw deal on fouls; Stef Dolson could murder a cow and not get called for a foul- Nika gets called every time, if it's even close! But this previous core of "Nika Nockers"(title meant as a dismissal of their unfair tactics, and not in any admiring way) is determined to undermine her play. Now this new boneyarder, this director of hundreds who follow exactly what he says has decided that his own word holds more weight. I think his companies are bound to fail, if what he has written here in the past week is all he's got! In conclusion, I'm not sure why these people are trying to lead people to believe that Nika is just getting worse and worse, even since she last played. Her 3point % was not bad, but to hear them, she never gets within five feet of the rim. I don't understand it at all, but one may guess at the reason. It may be simple jingoistic anti-euro feelings, but I doubt it. I believe this is the greatest forbidden to mention prejudice, surfacing in the umlaut thread. Just my opinion.

You should be ashamed of yourself. Stefanie Dolson would never murder a cow .....unless the cow deserved it.
Jingoistic anti-euro feelings are not simple, they are highly complicated.

 

[Skeets]

Do both of you honestly believe that Nika was more of a gnat to the big East Coaches than Morrow was?

Morrow 30.4 MPG:13.8 RPG: 89 Steals :60 blocks
Nika 21.7 MPG : 3.0 RPG : 47 Steals : 6 Blocks

Even when you look at it on a per minute played basis if Nika was a gnat, Morrow must have been a sledgehammer.

I didn't vote. You didn't either. The BE coaches felt she was DPOY. Maybe you should contact them with your concerns.

 

[CocoHusky]

I didn't vote. You didn't either. The BE coaches felt she was DPOY. Maybe you should contact them with your concerns.

 

[Billineckz]

The Big East coaches vote on the DPOY.

One thing Nika always does is hound the opposing guard bringing the ball up. When she does that, it takes 2-5 seconds off the shot clock. This both delays the opponents setting up their offense and allows UConn to set up their defense.

I suspect this factored into the decision to give her the award, but even if it didn’t, the opposing coaches thought she was the most disruptive defender.

Not a good look for whoever those coaches are, especially knowing the importance of Rebounds, Steals, Blocks, interior presence, minutes played (Morrow) is to winning games. I don't think a credible coach would say being a disruptive defender would supercede any of the outlined. But it's a good quality to have though.