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Message: [QUOTE="eebmg, post: 4371464, member: 7548"] A bit harsh imo. It is clear that Nika's mindset coming to UConn was as a facilitator and to provide an energy spark on the defensive end and Geno was fine with that. To even want to be a part of UConn, you need to be pretty unselfish but I think Nika stands out in that category and may not have some of the same motivations others like Paige and Azzi have to be WNBA and Olympic stars. I think her goal was to be the best version of herself and then play international ball. From what I recall, Geno sits players down and asks them what they want to accomplish at Storrs and I can visualize Nika saying she wants to be the energy spark and help in any way to facilitate the team to NC's while Paige may have said I want 4 NC's and be the best player ever I am sure once Nika saw what Paige can do freshman year, that just reinforced her desire to be more of a background / glue player and with Paige and Azzi ready to become this generations Sue and Diana, she (and Geno) probably felt quite comfortable in her role. And even then, Nika did improve her offensive game. She became a good 3pt shooter (and perhaps more under control on both ends) and even then, teams would give her room because others were still better. No shame Only now with injuries and depth issues so apparent does Nika see how important it is for her to be a major offensive threat and I am sure she is digging hard this summer to do what she can in spite of an extremely deferential mindset that has to be reprogrammed and it takes alot of time and effort. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach