Nika's Journey

[PhillyCoach]

Nika plays a great "two-man" game. 99% of the time Nika is the conductor setting up a good pass. As the chart of who was the pass catcher and scorer. The ball has to go in on every assist. Lots of team mates were on the other end of 2 man Nika. What interested me was Aubry was on the connection quite a few with much less minutes--and Ash is high the charts in only one year. Anyway, Nika has more assist records than any women in WBB College History.

I just want to mention her defense. WOW! Yes, Nika controlled Dyaisha Fair and UConn pushed on to victory. I know a few posters mention they focus on one player for any period of time--one play to the entire game. Well if you have not done that" focus on one thing lately; you should try if for the first quarter against Duke. Her work ethic, tenacity, determination, and physical toughness will impress you.

Anyway, Nika has been lucky enough to compete head to head with Fair and contain her.
An old head I knew in Philly called it "Quick as a water bug." Dyaisha was the quickest guard I saw this year. Nika now knows quick. Yes, maybe the quickest. And contained it?

Duke's Richardson has the hot hand and is scoring 20+. Richardson is 5"9' or so. NIka is a smidge taller, stronger, more experienced, and was sharpened by playing/containing quickness. If Richardson scores 14 or less then UConn has a nice edge. Have you seen Nika face guard for a full quarter? UConn looks good here.

UConn proved-- if Nika holds the opposition to 10 less than their average--then Nika does not have to score 10. Nevertheless, Nika should have a goal of--1 or 2 pts per quarter. In other words, some scoring. 1 or 2 pts per quarter ads up to 4 to 8 pts a game. Small goals with a big reward.

A final thought, Ash & KK are top defenders and probably nationally top defenders. Nika is the role model and real time example. Ash & KK have a hidden talent called "Fast Learners."
Their D is top notch. They listened, tried, practiced and then accomplished certain goals.
And they learned fast! And they have the Heart to enter competition prepared and confident.

Any one that knows two or more languages, automatically has better receptors for that skill.
Oh Yea--my wife of 52 years said, "Nika was cute as a button." We will miss her.

 

[Blond D.]

When Ash, KK and Q first started and even Ice this year, you could see Nika pointing , yelling and sometimes pushing the rookies into the right position. They learned how to communicate and when to switch and now we have a killer defense. A lot has to do with the coaches but a lot also has to do with Nika teaching the youngsters real time proper defense.

 

[PvP]

Nika plays a great "two-man" game. 99% of the time Nika is the conductor setting up a good pass. As the chart of who was the pass catcher and scorer. The ball has to go in on every assist. Lots of team mates were on the other end of 2 man Nika. What interested me was Aubry was on the connection quite a few with much less minutes--and Ash is high the charts in only one year. Anyway, Nika has more assist records than any women in WBB College History.

I just want to mention her defense. WOW! Yes, Nika controlled Dyaisha Fair and UConn pushed on to victory. I know a few posters mention they focus on one player for any period of time--one play to the entire game. Well if you have not done that" focus on one thing lately; you should try if for the first quarter against Duke. Her work ethic, tenacity, determination, and physical toughness will impress you.

Anyway, Nika has been lucky enough to compete head to head with Fair and contain her.
An old head I knew in Philly called it "Quick as a water bug." Dyaisha was the quickest guard I saw this year. Nika now knows quick. Yes, maybe the quickest. And contained it?

Duke's Richardson has the hot hand and is scoring 20+. Richardson is 5"9' or so. NIka is a smidge taller, stronger, more experienced, and was sharpened by playing/containing quickness. If Richardson scores 14 or less then UConn has a nice edge. Have you seen Nika face guard for a full quarter? UConn looks good here.

UConn proved-- if Nika holds the opposition to 10 less than their average--then Nika does not have to score 10. Nevertheless, Nika should have a goal of--1 or 2 pts per quarter. In other words, some scoring. 1 or 2 pts per quarter ads up to 4 to 8 pts a game. Small goals with a big reward.

A final thought, Ash & KK are top defenders and probably nationally top defenders. Nika is the role model and real time example. Ash & KK have a hidden talent called "Fast Learners."
Their D is top notch. They listened, tried, practiced and then accomplished certain goals.
And they learned fast! And they have the Heart to enter competition prepared and confident.

Any one that knows two or more languages, automatically has better receptors for that skill.
Oh Yea--my wife of 52 years said, "Nika was cute as a button." We will miss her.

Nika certainly doesn't have "the most assist records in wbb history". No where close.

 

[#12in21]

Something for longtime fans to ponder. I recently saw a 2018 Boneyard thread that asked what are your top ten former or present UConn wcbb players that are not on The Wall (first team all-Americans)? That made me wonder, has there been any player(s) that graduated dominating a major statistical category that aren't on the wall besides Nika (leads all season and career assist lists)?

 

[boontonbomber]

All that said, UConn needs her on the floor for the whole game. Needs to be more under control than last game, not let emotions overwhelm her, as Brink did last night.
.

 

[MSGRET]

Nika certainly doesn't have "the most assist records in wbb history". No where close.

I believe that @PhillyCoach was thinking UConn, at least I hope that is what they meant.

 

[Bone Dog]

A year ago, I don’t think many folks thought Nika would have any prospect of catching on in the W. Now I hear lots of people thinking she is a draft prospect. Go Nika!

 

[PhillyCoach]

For those that caught the error. It should have been all the UConn records, not the entire WBB history. Sorry!!

 

[Bigboote]

A year ago, I don’t think many folks thought Nika would have any prospect of catching on in the W. Now I hear lots of people thinking she is a draft prospect. Go Nika!

Absolutely true, although I wasn’t a member of that club.

Many of the mock drafts, even a year ago, had her going in the low-first to second round, and that hasn’t chended since then. I think that’s realistic. I could see her being effective coming in as a change-of-pace disruptor for a Hiedeman or Canada, say.

 

[Geew1992]

A year ago, I don’t think many folks thought Nika would have any prospect of catching on in the W. Now I hear lots of people thinking she is a draft prospect. Go Nika!

The draft.... People thought she'd be coming off the bench and barely playing