Nika Muhl

[Littlemin]

"Offense impresses those who don't really know the game." When our offense is clicking....players and ball moving....getting good shots...hitting a good percentage...you don't find that impressive?

Yes I do but the optimum word is “When”, the old bball adage -
“offense comes and goes but the defense never rests“ is as true today as ever. It You watch highlight tapes of offense, but you win consistently on the defensive end.

 

[David54]

My problem is geno forces Paige back in and kills the confidence Caroline has built carrying this team when its needed it most, now he pines her (2 missed layups) for the second half. What happen the next game, does she think I can’t miss a shot or make a mistake? Nika I’m not sure what she did wrong, she sparked the team and because she’s working her butt off has a couple fouls late in shot clock, so he sits her the 2nd half, He needs to look in the mirror 2 time out in late game situations and no shots, Geno is the best coach ever but even the best coach screws up and he really messed with these two ladies minds IMHO

Caroline has not played the same since her head injury

 

[Beemer]

Hope not because Paige isn’t cooperating. There were times last night when many were hoping Paige would take over but she didn’t. Is it a physical thing? Confidence? Who knows. It’s a tough spot.

I think it might be a confidence issue, she's coming off a fairly serious knee injury. That can raise h-e double hockey sticks with an athlete even if they're not consciously aware of it.

 

[Beemer]

That does not explain the missed layups, at least 8? Make 3-4 of those and it’s a different game at the end.

That's certainly true too. Both can be true at the same time.

 

[sun]

It was unbelievable to me that Nika only played 6 minutes yesterday and no I don't want to see Nika out there instead of Paige, I want to see her with Paige more. Geno said she wasn't out there because he wanted offense. Evina played 18 minutes with no scoring, Nika played 6 minutes and hit the three that put us ahead. In my opinion she is a better ball handler under pressure than Evina, a better pressure defender and better at getting the offense going quicker. If Evina was as effective offensively as she has been of late, stay with her, but that wasn't the case so why not split those 24 minutes evenly between Nika and Evina and see what Nika was able to do for the team with that additional 6 minutes. I heard the argument about the two quick fouls, clearly not great choices by Nika but she wasn't the only Husky making bad choices ( fouls or turnovers). Also it should be noted that UCF did not score on either of those fouls.

Her energy and intensity triggered us to take the lead in the second, besides hitting the three she should have had two assists as well, one after a great steal and pass to Caroline who missed the easy layup and the second, a great feed to Olivia who was called for a 3 sec violation. If Nika was on the floor six more minutes ( getting six of Evina's minutes) does anyone seriously think she wouldn't have had additional positive impact. BTW Geno in his presser indicated that he expected Nika to play a bigger role going forward, in this particular game he sat her in hopes of getting more offense ( which as I would argue above didn't happen).

I can only think that at times, Evina has shown that she's more versatile & aggressive on offense as a ball handler and scorer.
She has scored using all kinds of different shots throughout the season, many more different types than I've ever seen Nika attempt to make.
Nika may be capable of more aggressive offense, but she rarely if ever shows it.
Being crunch time, Geno said he wanted more offense and Evina would probably be much hungrier and better able to score than Nika.
Just like in baseball, some players produce more offense while others are more defensive subs.
It's simple analytics according to the stats.

 

[CocoHusky]

Has Nika fouled out of a game this season? I would add that Geno specially in response to the questioner said that Nika's two fouls were not the reason she didn't play in the second half. She has played with fouls several times this season and has harnessed her aggression to stay on the court. She did the same to finish out last season as well.

No she has not. Why are you asking?

 

[Beemer]

Lol. I’m old enough to remember Fluff. Who can forget the Fluffernutter sandwich on white bread?

I still have a Fluffernutter from time to time. On whole wheat or rye bread though

 

[CB360]

All this in fighting among the Boneyard, second guessing the GREATEST Woman's BB coach of all time. I love Nika, I love Paige, I love Caroline, in fact I love the whole team, all really really good players (A hint of Geno) or better. I nor anyone of us know better then Geno. Let him coach and whether we like it or not live or die by his decisions of who starts and who doesn't....... Some of you crack me up ......

 

[CTisballers]

I hate to say this but i think Geno maybe losing a little bit of touch. He should of went small with Nika/Westbrook running the point Pagie flash to the middle where she can attack the basket hit the mid range or kick it out to Azzi or CW Caroline and had Liv Dorka AE or down low for post ups. That middle was open all night. Also our problem is we didn’t attack the press. Soon as they crossed over the half court line they slowed it down or brought the ball back out. Nika always will be a force cus her energy and passion. I believe she can be a good scorer because when she wants she can penetrate streaky shooter but she is too unselfish.

 

[Blond D.]

Its not a question or Paige or Nika. Both can be in the game and I actually like it better that way. But Nika get the team down the court in a hurry, sets up the offense an provides energy to offense, defense and transition. Nika can hit the 3 or drive the ball but if she can find a shooter she will or get it inside. Nika needs to be on the court at least 50% of the time.

 

[#12in21]

No she has not. Why are you asking?

Specially in response to, "What makes you so sure that Nika would get the message in the second half of this game when she has failed to receive the exact same message for almost two full season now".

 

[Beemer]

Its not a question or Paige or Nika. Both can be in the game and I actually like it better that way. But Nika get the team down the court in a hurry, sets up the offense an provides energy to offense, defense and transition. Nika can hit the 3 or drive the ball but if she can find a shooter she will or get it inside. Nika needs to be on the court at least 50% of the time.

You took the words right out of my post

To read some posts it is like they're not allowed to play together, you have to pick one or the other. I'd love to see them play together more often than they have. Each brings so much to the team I hate to see them wasted apart.

 

[CocoHusky]

Its not a question or Paige or Nika. Both can be in the game and I actually like it better that way. But Nika get the team down the court in a hurry, sets up the offense an provides energy to offense, defense and transition. Nika can hit the 3 or drive the ball but if she can find a shooter she will or get it inside. Nika needs to be on the court at least 50% of the time.

Let's be clear, Nika is on the court more than 50% of the time she averages 22.9 MPG on this season. This particular pity party and assault on Paige is because Nika only played 6 minutes last night and people are mad.

 

[CocoHusky]

Specially in response to, "What makes you so sure that Nika would get the message in the second half of this game when she has failed to receive the exact same message for almost two full season now".

Right so for two full season now Nika has not fouled out of a game. She has apparently also failed to receive the message that she needs to be in more control on the court.

 

[sun]

You took the words right out of my post

To read some posts it is like they're not allowed to play together, you have to pick one or the other. I'd love to see them play together more often than they have. Each brings so much to the team I hate to see them wasted apart.

Because then she would need to replace someone else, like Azzi or CW.
And both of those players produce more offense plus have other abilities.

Each game is different and there will be other opportunities for Nika as the team's needs change.

 

[#12in21]

I can only think that at times, Evina has shown that she's more versatile & aggressive on offense as a ball handler and scorer.
She has scored using all kinds of different shots throughout the season, many more different types than I've ever seen Nika attempt to make.
Nika may be capable of more aggressive offense, but she rarely if ever shows it.
Being crunch time, Geno said he wanted more offense and Evina would probably be much hungrier and better able to score than Nika.
Just like in baseball, some players produce more offense while others are more defensive subs.
It's simple analytics according to the stats.

I get that Geno went with Evina in hopes of getting more offense but that is why I said, " If Evina was as effective offensively as she has been of late, stay with her, but that wasn't the case so why not split those 24 minutes evenly between Nika and Evina and see what Nika was able to do for the team with that additional 6 minutes."

And I wouldn't agree that Evina "would probably be hungrier", Nika is fiercely competitive. Also she may not personally put the ball in the basket as much as Evina but as a point guard making the overall offense more effective, I would argue, is a greater asset, which I believe Nika has shown she can do.

 

[jazz]

It was unbelievable to me that Nika only played 6 minutes yesterday and no I don't want to see Nika out there instead of Paige, I want to see her with Paige more. Geno said she wasn't out there because he wanted offense. Evina played 18 minutes with no scoring, Nika played 6 minutes and hit the three that put us ahead. In my opinion she is a better ball handler under pressure than Evina, a better pressure defender and better at getting the offense going quicker. If Evina was as effective offensively as she has been of late, stay with her, but that wasn't the case so why not split those 24 minutes evenly between Nika and Evina and see what Nika was able to do for the team with that additional 6 minutes. I heard the argument about the two quick fouls, clearly not great choices by Nika but she wasn't the only Husky making bad choices ( fouls or turnovers). Also it should be noted that UCF did not score on either of those fouls.

Her energy and intensity triggered us to take the lead in the second, besides hitting the three she should have had two assists as well, one after a great steal and pass to Caroline who missed the easy layup and the second, a great feed to Olivia who was called for a 3 sec violation. If Nika was on the floor six more minutes ( getting six of Evina's minutes) does anyone seriously think she wouldn't have had additional positive impact. BTW Geno in his presser indicated that he expected Nika to play a bigger role going forward, in this particular game he sat her in hopes of getting more offense ( which as I would argue above didn't happen).

I agree with you. I'm not sure why NM didnt play more. It is easy for everybody to say that it is because we needed offense. Well how did that work out? 53 points is horrible. I'm very comfortable to say that if NM played more and say EW played a bit less, that we would have not done any worse and probably better. That is not all on EW either.

NM gets the ball to players, pushes the ball and then finds open shooters in the open court. That creates offense. EW also looked very tentative in her ball handling under pressure. This surprised me a bit but she looked cautious, even scared of quickness around her when she had the ball in the open court. NM, on the other hand, has no fear of this and its just push push push the ball up the court. My guess is she aggravated an injury that was noted at the half and GA didnt want to aggravate it more and thought the other players were better than an injured NM, which I can't disagree with.

Our offense was not good last night and it wasn't great in the first game either, but none of that has anything to do with NM. We just can't make layups and open shots. I said before that we when we throw the ball to the post, we might have a 33% success rate otherwise it is breaking backboards and TOs.

It would be nice if CW could carry us in these scoring droughts but sadly that didnt happen. She hasn't been AA material thus far...shows glimpses but not quite the AA hoped. Still a good player and our best finisher at the rim. Off ball and face up defense has been good as well. Just want more and hope to see her get hot at the right time for a game or three.

 

[Dynastic]

Nika Muhl brings the humility, intensity, power, & contagious energy that UConn needs to start games. Paige brings swagger & skill, but not the leadership that jumps from intensity & energy. Auriemma spent time developing all his players without Paige. Auriemma has to focus on the team & not Paige. The road to a championship is through Nika with sharpshooters Fudd & Williams.

Patently disagree… they are not even remotely close to one another in talent level, as Paige is way more talented. Nika can play defense (hopefully w/o fouling) and bring an emotional level of play but lets be realistic here.

 

[sun]

I get that Geno went with Evina in hopes of getting more offense but that is why I said, " If Evina was as effective offensively as she has been of late, stay with her, but that wasn't the case so why not split those 24 minutes evenly between Nika and Evina and see what Nika was able to do for the team with that additional 6 minutes."

And I wouldn't agree that Evina "would probably be hungrier", Nika is fiercely competitive. Also she may not personally put the ball in the basket as much as Evina but as a point guard making the overall offense more effective, I would argue, is a greater asset, which I believe Nika has shown she can do.

That's one way of looking at it but because the team won it shouldn't matter.
Geno decided to bring Evina off the bench in an effort to make her more productive both offensively & defensively and it has largely worked out to the benefit of the team.

If Nika were playing instead, what would have been different except the level of satisfaction of some fans?
Would you admit that changing any variable in the past tense could have also resulted in a UConn loss?

After all, a win is a win, and it's about respect for Geno's decisions that is really being discussed, and not whether Nika should have played more minutes or not.
Since UConn won a close game, it shows that Geno made the right choices for his team.
Maybe Geno has been watching video of past games and makes decisions based on past performances as a predictor of future performance.
If that's the case, then coaches only have hunches & opinions, just like posters on the BY.
If Evina wants to get drafted, then she has a lot of incentive to play at her best.

 

[JellyBean]

All this in fighting among the Boneyard, second guessing the GREATEST Woman's BB coach of all time. I love Nika, I love Paige, I love Caroline, in fact I love the whole team, all really really good players (A hint of Geno) or better. I nor anyone of us know better then Geno. Let him coach and whether we like it or not live or die by his decisions of who starts and who doesn't....... Some of you crack me up ......

 

[donalddoowop]

iirc Geno said that Nika is nursing an injury and her minutes would be limited. We need her spark on defense but give Geno credit for knowing a little bt more than we do.

What makes you think Geno knows more than the Boneyard does? No way!

 

[donalddoowop]

Caroline has not played the same since her head injury

Caroline has not played as much since her head injury. That also makes a big difference. When she played a lot, she was given more opportunity to make mistakes and overcome them.

 

[PacoSwede]

Last year she was possibly the greatest Husky ever and now she’s somehow lacking intensity, energy, and leadership? “Fickleness, thy name is: The Boneyard!” I like Nika, I think she is an important part of this team, but Paige (even as she is right now) is simply at a different, higher level than Nika. I wonder if Paige ever missed 2 out of 3 free throws back when she was all-world? You know, back in the day.

NOBODY says that nika is on paige's level. of course not. everybody wants to see paige play. everybody thinks she's an extraordinary player.

but it is not just nika who is gonna look lacking compared to her. this is not a matter of PAIGE YES, NIKA NO or vice versa. why do some of you see it that way?

some of us say that nika makes a real, obvious and unique difference in the team's success. we're not saying that she can replace paige. gawdalmighty. i seriously doubt anyone is attacking paige, and it's absurd that some are happy for some reason to use this bruhaha as a reason to attack nika.

she's hardly the first husky to make mistakes (and not an outlandishly number or outrageously egregious, at that), but she is one of the few who always is trying to light a fire -- like, for example, jenn rizzotti. ...who was not at paige's level either

 

[TeamFirst!]

I think at this point Geno has hurt Caroline's confidence and he may not be able to fix it the remainder of this year. Caroline is decent at breaking the press and the 4 small lineup has it's merits sometimes. She would help move the ball quickly up the floor and maybe get some layups off that press. I hope he gives her at least 20 minutes against Indiana as we could really use her later on.

Regarding Nika, the only reason she got 3 points is because they layed off her 3 times in that possesion. They were daring her to shoot. I think she can knock down some 3's but she's got to shoot it. I think she should get around 6-10 minutes PT against Indiana and I wish her well. She should be #9 on the depth chart though. She's still our 6th best guard. I'm fine with the team running a lot of players out there and wearing them down.

 

[HopJim]

Holly crap! Do people here realize what team they played last night. UCF has given UConn fits since their last year in the AAC? Plus, I bet that no one wanted UCF in their brackets either. I know that I didn't. These ladies bang bodies. Like the announcers said it was like Rutgers of old. The game was physical. Our BIGS held their own. Our offense sucked. They couldn't buy a layup. Thankfully we went on a spurt at the end but then had to hold on. I wish UCF my best. Let them fight it out in the Big 12 now. I think that Indiana will be more of an offensive minded game. Lets hope that our guards come to play. Elite 8 lets get there.

Villanova, Creighton, and others gave UConn issues this year and the revamped lineup crushed them all. The conversation is on keeping the team's energy and performance at the same level as the past few weeks.