Oops Geno

[Ellie]

Paige’s defense reminds me of D Taurasi ... opportunistic. Liked the L Bird comparison by MD#12 Fan also. Gee, if Paige ends up like those two disappearing defenders I’ll be thrilled!

 

[DefenseBB]

i've seen similar mentions elsewhere in BY commentary. i hope this isn't a preoccupation of a lot of BYers while we're rooting for THIS year's players.

Remember, for some BYers, the glass is ALWAYS half empty and most times someone has spit in it. Also remember that 5 years from now, those same BYers will be extolling the virtues of this years team and how the current crop of Husky's can't measure up. Such is the life in this elite program...

 

[JoePgh]

Hopefully Muhl isn't too stubborn to learn..

I assume that is meant to be a pun, and for that (only) I will give it a Like.

 

[Littlemin]

Not only did we hear that we saw it in here highlight video and it was pointed out that she would not be able to get away with that reach in swipe around steal in the NCAA. Despite that I had Nika pegged as a far better defender than she's shown so far.

She appears to be trying to do too much too soon when she gets in the game, not uncommon for someone used to playing major minutes. She will adjust or not but I think she is a far better player than she has shown in the small sample size but she needs to adjust to all that is new, as did Makurat.
One word on Makurat, many this board seem obsessed with every player for Uconn being an AA and compared with their greats; but I think she and Westbrook have played really good ball while not scoring. Neither player has looked for their own offense but have contributed heavily in other ways.

 

[bluedevil]

I assume that is meant to be a pun, and for that (only) I will give it a Like.

Thank you..much appreciated.

 

[CocoHusky]

She appears to be trying to do too much too soon when she gets in the game, not uncommon for someone used to playing major minutes. She will adjust or not but I think she is a far better player than she has shown in the small sample size but she needs to adjust to all that is new, as did Makurat.
One word on Makurat, many this board seem obsessed with every player for Uconn being an AA and compared with their greats; but I think she and Westbrook have played really good ball while not scoring. Neither player has looked for their own offense but have contributed heavily in other ways.

Those are such excellent points that bears repeating and expanding upon. We do have a tendency to get caught up on shooting and neither Evina nor Anna has shot the basketball well this season but both have played excellent basketball. Anna is playing the 4 and has done an excellent job of learning that position. Anna is a very active backline defender within the first few minutes of the Seton Hall game she deflected a pass and rotated to block a shot with two hands after CW was beaten on a backdoor cut. That's text book defense and she always working to improve her rebounding position. Both players are helping the team greatly by advancing the ball in transition for easy baskets resulting in both players having more assist than Paige thus far.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Remember, for some BYers, the glass is ALWAYS half empty and most times someone has spit in it. Also remember that 5 years from now, those same BYers will be extolling the virtues of this years team and how the current crop of Husky's can't measure up. Such is the life in this elite program...

Perspective, my friend!

 

[jabstep]

Paige is versatile. You can "hide" her on D. IMO her strength on D is anticipation off the ball and also defensive rebounding/boxing out. She's deceptively (at least on TV) long. So, could she play D on the 2 and even the 3, as opposed to the 1. Maybe Evina should have been matched up on that girl, not Paige. Hide Paige while her straight up D on the ball improves. Heck, Larry Bird (sorry guys, I'm stuck on the analogy today) played a career hiding on D, laying for steals, and defensive rebounding. He was so good at that that they even considered him for All-defensive teams when he was in his prime.

I agree with you totally. When I watched Paige's HS games she would get beat with a player going right on her. She will learn to overplay her right and move her feet. Her anticipation is her strong point. She played the middle on their zone trap in HS to go for the first pass interception and she plays the passing lanes very well. I am a little surprised by her playing Azzi one on one so much she didn't learn to stop her from going right.

 

[Bama fan]

Hopefully Muhl isn't too stubborn to learn..

ISWYDT!

 

[phil sampieri]

Agree. Looks like she was unfortunately taught a lot of that turn, follow, and reach defense over there in Europe. If she wants to play, she'll need to learn to keep her man in front of her in a hurry.

Once called the Sue Bird defense by Geno