Paige final season

[#12in21]

Paige Bueckers aims to make this her final season at UConn … and to go out with a bang​

Article from The Athletic ( I was able to read for free as a non-subsriber)
Quotes:

“There’s a much larger sense of urgency,” Bueckers said. “This is my last year to get what I came here for, which is a national championship. … No more ‘Passive Paige.’”

“I want to be an unselfish player, somebody that people love to play with, but at the same time, I’m trying to balance that with also being like, a killer, a scorer, a bucket getter,” she said. “It’s always been a battle of me trying to find the happy medium, but I think for the most part from here on out I gotta be more aggressive first.”

link:

Paige Bueckers aims to make this her final season at UConn ... and to go out with a bang

 

[AmeriConn]

You can be selfish for this season Paige. I promise, we won’t hold it against you!

 

[yhun89]

Paige takeover season incoming

 

[Bone Dog]

Paige takeover season incoming

Paige missile incoming. Take cover!

 

[jdote33]

I liked the article. It's definitely easier said than done. I remember LeBron used to get similar criticisms for being unselfish. He also got some criticism for being unable to post up. People just looked at his size and athleticism and expected him to be great everywhere but it takes time. I think Paige has similar high expectations, to be able to create shots and score on anyone which may be premature or unfair (especially when u don't have super elite athleticism and ur not physically stronger than most ur size).
I was actually thinking Paige would take a step back because of the anticipated added scoring (Azzi, Kaitlyn, Jana). I don't think the team or Geno has to wait for her to get going

 

[REB1094]

I'm here for it!

 

[PacoSwede]

“I love to score. I’ve always felt like I’m a pass-first player. I love to get my teammates involved. I love to make sure everybody’s happy,” Bueckers said. “But at the end of the day, everyone is happy when we win, and I think we have a better chance of winning when I’m aggressive.”

she finally gets it. 'bout time

 

[AidanFan20]

I've been watching Paige play online and on TV since way back when she was a high-school sophomore... I still think she's gonna be the best ever to lace 'em up. Go get 'em, Paige!!!

 

[oldude]

Paige has seen up close what Caitlin Clark accomplished at Iowa with a far less talented supporting cast than Paige has this coming season at UConn. While I don’t expect Paige to average 30+ ppg and fire away from the cheap seats like Clark, clearly Paige will be the most effective scorer in college basketball whenever she needs to be.

In addition, this year will be the first time since she arrived in Storrs that Paige has been healthy for an entire season followed by being healthy for an entire offseason. Remember she had ankle surgery after her freshman year, injured her knee during her sophomore season and tore her ACL during the summer before her jr season.

Paige was a 1st team AA last season and I have no doubt is working harder than ever in preparation for this coming season. I strongly suspect we will watch the best version of Paige Bueckers that we’ve ever seen this coming season.

 

[Surly1]

Following up on what oldude wrote (I concur), I believe Paige has taken note of Clark mania, and realized she can be a killer, scoring, but also a facilitator. While her new, stated aggressiveness remains to be seen, my only criticism of Paige has been her passivity at times, particularly at the beginning of games. We know she has the ability to take over, but it's like she has an angel on one shoulder, telling her to pass, and a devil on the other, telling her to take the shot. She's been hesitant at times to stamp her mark, like a Caitlin Clark or JuJu Watkins, but she would never do so at the expense of her team.

Fortunately, Paige seldom attempts a forced shot, but I feel the team will benefit from the outset by her aggressively looking for her shot. I want to see more of the Paige from the season opener of her sophomore year against Arkansas, when she shot 15-19 and scored 34 points.

I think Paige has a thirst, a hunger for a NC, and I couldn't be happier.

 

[EricLA]

Good. Paige has a strong enough supporting cast, but there are a TON of unknowns. So many coming back from injuries, key players still aren't 100%, no idea of the sophomore leap of Brady, Shade, KK or Q, and will the reserves actually be needed to contribute during meaningful games, or will they mostly be working on developing and helping in mop up time?

 

[donalddoowop]

This is probably the one season Paige won't need to be a shoot first guard with the talent she will have around her.

 

[Geew1992]

“No more passive Paige”…. We’re in for a treat

 

[Alydar]

It seems like some want Bueckers to be more like Clark. Is it because Clark outshone her last season?

How many titles did Iowa win using a one-man-offense philosophy? ZERO ZERO. How may titles in wcbb have been won ever by a team offensively dominated by one player? How many times did Taurasi average 20pts/game in a season? ZERO. Some posters seem to put stats above winning.

I've seen every HS game Bueckers played that's available. She has always prioritized involving her team mates. Her coach wished she shot more despite her averaging 22pts/game on a team where the other 4 starters and the first player off the bench got P-5 scholarships but who were fresh/soph that season. She also averaged 9 assists. Hopkins did not lose a game in her last 2 years.


This year is a lot like her senior year in HS. The roster is filled with underclassmen. Fudd, Chen and Griffin are experienced but 2 of them may not be 100% by November. Bueckers biggest job is molding them into the juggernaut I think they can become and leading them to a title. Regularly taking 20 shots a game is not on the agenda. Aggression and scoring aren't the same thing.

 

[yhun89]

So if we have a non-passive Bueckers, what do we think her numbers will do?

If "non-passive" means shooting the ball more, I expect her to have a 25-30 PPG average because as Dawn, Geno, etc have said "she doesn't take bad shots" and she was one of the only guards/possibly the only guard to end with a 50%+ FG percentage. If she was able to shoot around 45-50% a night taking only 10-11 shots, imagine what she could do taking 20+ every game. Think a more efficient Juju, who was able to get 30 a night off of 9-27 shooting. I don't believe that Paige would do a 180 and all of a sudden become a shot chucker to become less passive. She chooses her shot wisely.

 

[ScottCT]

Why do people find any kind of way to bring up Clark?

 

[cferraro04]

As we fans begin to assimilate what Paige has stated and her conversion to a more "shoot first" kind of guard one cannot help but think of it in the context of a previous thread that was titled: "Are there enough minutes to go around". In that thread, we were hard-pressed to be able to spread the minutes around so that our players could all play meaningful minutes. I was criticized by some because I cut Paige's minutes down to 21. With Paige's recent declaration that she is going to be more aggressive, I will have to double-down on my statement because if Paige is more aggressive as she says she will be...then we can assume that UConn will burst out to early leads and will go up big early which will cause Geno to have to substitute bench players earlier. We could see Paige Bueckers averaging around 22-24 points a game because she will only average 21-24 minutes per game.

Here is my minute allocation from the previous spread:

Paige Bueckers..............................21
Azzi Fudd........................................21
KK Arnold.......................................13
Jana El-Alfy....................................17
Qadence Samuels.......................12
Allie Ziebel.....................................10
Ashlyn Shade................................13
Kaitlyn Chen.................................16
Sara Strong...................................17
Morgan Cheli...............................10
Ice Brady........................................17
Carolyn Ducharme.....................11
Ayanna Patterson.......................10
Aubrey Griffin..............................12
Total..............................................200

Point Guard / Shooting Guard total minutes: 94 Total available minutes at the point guard and the shooting guard = 80
Small Forward / Power Forward total minutes: 72 Total available minutes at small forward, power forward = 80
Center total minutes: 34 Total available minutes at Center = 40

Analysis: There are 14 excess minutes at point guard and shooting guard. This analysis is 8 minutes short at the small forward and the power forward position and 6 minutes short at the center. So, one or more of the guards will have to put some time in a small forward. Some of the point guards will have to give up minutes to the Power forwards and the Center positions. Or, the coaching staff will run with a 3-guard line-up or they may decide to play big...at the end of the day there are 200 minutes available and these 14 players will divvy them up among them. Some days they will play more minutes other days they will play less. The above list is simply an average over the year. Minutes will be adjusted if players miss games because of injuries.

 

[oldude]

Why do people find any kind of way to bring up Clark?

For me, Clark is an example of a great player who elevated an average team to back to back championship games. Of course Iowa lost, but without Clark, the Hawkeyes probably don’t make it to the Sweet 16.

But if you don’t want to talk about Clark, then how about DT. Her first national championship team consisted of 4 top 5 draft picks, part of a loaded UConn squad, among the best ever. After that, DT carried the Huskies on her back for two more national championships.

This coming season, there are some loaded teams in WBB including SC, USC, UCLA, ND & LSU to name a few. But Geno and a lot of UConn fans believe that Paige has the ability to carry this year’s UConn team to a national championship. To do that, her mindset must be to “Take over the game when necessary.” It’s not like Paige has never done it before. SC her freshman year, NC St as a sophomore, USC last season were all games when she had to take the ball and score for UConn to win.

 

[bballnut90]

As we fans begin to assimilate what Paige has stated and her conversion to a more "shoot first" kind of guard one cannot help but think of it in the context of a previous thread that was titled: "Are there enough minutes to go around". In that thread, we were hard-pressed to be able to spread the minutes around so that our players could all play meaningful minutes. I was criticized by some because I cut Paige's minutes down to 21. With Paige's recent declaration that she is going to be more aggressive, I will have to double-down on my statement because if Paige is more aggressive as she says she will be...then we can assume that UConn will burst out to early leads and will go up big early which will cause Geno to have to substitute bench players earlier. We could see Paige Bueckers averaging around 22-24 points a game because she will only average 21-24 minutes per game.

Here is my minute allocation from the previous spread:

Paige Bueckers..............................21
Azzi Fudd........................................21
KK Arnold.......................................13
Jana El-Alfy....................................17
Qadence Samuels.......................12
Allie Ziebel.....................................10
Ashlyn Shade................................13
Kaitlyn Chen.................................16
Sara Strong...................................17
Morgan Cheli...............................10
Ice Brady........................................17
Carolyn Ducharme.....................11
Ayanna Patterson.......................10
Aubrey Griffin..............................12
Total..............................................200

Point Guard / Shooting Guard total minutes: 94 Total available minutes at the point guard and the shooting guard = 80
Small Forward / Power Forward total minutes: 72 Total available minutes at small forward, power forward = 80
Center total minutes: 34 Total available minutes at Center = 40

Analysis: There are 14 excess minutes at point guard and shooting guard. This analysis is 8 minutes short at the small forward and the power forward position and 6 minutes short at the center. So, one or more of the guards will have to put some time in a small forward. Some of the point guards will have to give up minutes to the Power forwards and the Center positions. Or, the coaching staff will run with a 3-guard line-up or they may decide to play big...at the end of the day there are 200 minutes available and these 14 players will divvy them up among them. Some days they will play more minutes other days they will play less. The above list is simply an average over the year. Minutes will be adjusted if players miss games because of injuries.

Realistically I'd expect the minutes allocation to be trimmed to 7 or 8 deep max as the season gets deeper. Geno has never been a coach to utilize his bench much, even when he has a lot of talent sitting there. Paige will get less minutes against Big East teams but against good teams I don't see her sitting. In the NCAAs this year she played every minute of their last 4 games.

 

[ConnMotors]

I was actually hoping that Paige would have held off on saying anything about next year. Reason being that I keep looking at the WNBA standings from last year along with this season. Thankfully the Fever are starting to win. But will that be enough to keep them out of the lottery. I am not a Sky or Wings fan. But it looks like they are heading into the lottery as well. As much that I’m happy that Dan Hurley didn’t leave for LA I would mind seeing the Sparks get a chance at Buckets. That basically leaves Washington in play at the moment. With Ella DD taking the year off the Mystics suck. So they get a chance at landing the number one pick. Then EDD returns and they have a top team with and awesome new player. I would love this outcome. She would get to play with Aaliyah once again. The expansion team I doubt if they get a chance at the number college pick. They will more than likely draft fifth. Its to bad that the Lynx or Sun don’t have a chance. But Seattle and Phoenix still might. Paige should have waited until the draft lottery took place. So she could have come back for her sixth year.

 

[bballnut90]

This coming season, there are some loaded teams in WBB including SC, USC, UCLA, ND & LSU to name a few. But Geno and a lot of UConn fans believe that Paige has the ability to carry this year’s UConn team to a national championship. To do that, her mindset must be to “Take over the game when necessary.” It’s not like Paige has never done it before. SC her freshman year, NC St as a sophomore, USC last season were all games when she had to take the ball and score for UConn to win.

Agreed. For UCONN to win those types of game this year, I think she likely has to put the team on her back and take 20+ shots to make it happen. In 2 of the 3 games cited she took 20+ shots, and if you include the Elite 8 game vs. Baylor, that makes 3 of 4. In the 3 post season losses, the number of shots she took dropped significantly (down to 14.3 FGA per game) and I think for UCONN to win against a dominant team like South Carolina, she has to be in attack mode the whole game.

 

[JoePgh]

As we fans begin to assimilate what Paige has stated and her conversion to a more "shoot first" kind of guard one cannot help but think of it in the context of a previous thread that was titled: "Are there enough minutes to go around". In that thread, we were hard-pressed to be able to spread the minutes around so that our players could all play meaningful minutes. I was criticized by some because I cut Paige's minutes down to 21. With Paige's recent declaration that she is going to be more aggressive, I will have to double-down on my statement because if Paige is more aggressive as she says she will be...then we can assume that UConn will burst out to early leads and will go up big early which will cause Geno to have to substitute bench players earlier. We could see Paige Bueckers averaging around 22-24 points a game because she will only average 21-24 minutes per game.

Here is my minute allocation from the previous spread:

Paige Bueckers..............................21
Azzi Fudd........................................21
KK Arnold.......................................13
Jana El-Alfy....................................17
Qadence Samuels.......................12
Allie Ziebel.....................................10
Ashlyn Shade................................13
Kaitlyn Chen.................................16
Sara Strong...................................17
Morgan Cheli...............................10
Ice Brady........................................17
Carolyn Ducharme.....................11
Ayanna Patterson.......................10
Aubrey Griffin..............................12
Total..............................................200

Point Guard / Shooting Guard total minutes: 94 Total available minutes at the point guard and the shooting guard = 80
Small Forward / Power Forward total minutes: 72 Total available minutes at small forward, power forward = 80
Center total minutes: 34 Total available minutes at Center = 40

Analysis: There are 14 excess minutes at point guard and shooting guard. This analysis is 8 minutes short at the small forward and the power forward position and 6 minutes short at the center. So, one or more of the guards will have to put some time in a small forward. Some of the point guards will have to give up minutes to the Power forwards and the Center positions. Or, the coaching staff will run with a 3-guard line-up or they may decide to play big...at the end of the day there are 200 minutes available and these 14 players will divvy them up among them. Some days they will play more minutes other days they will play less. The above list is simply an average over the year. Minutes will be adjusted if players miss games because of injuries.

At least you put forward some specifics on how the minutes will be distributed on the hypothesis that everyone remains healthy for the full season. I don't think anyone else on this board has done that.

HOWEVER, as I said in a previous post, I think Geno will find that he has to think about the interest of capable seniors in being seen by pro scouts, and give them a slight preference if they are performing at essentially the same level as underclass candidates. Therefore, the biggest problems that I have with your minutes allocation is that Aubrey at 12 is way too low, and Kaitlyn at 16 is also low.

If Aubrey and/or Kaitlyn knew that even if they performed admirably, they could only expect these average minutes, it would not have been a good decision to come to UConn (in Kaitlyn's case) or to remain at UConn (in Aubrey's case). I think Geno understands this, and will offer them 20-25 minutes per game if they perform at the level that he expects, and that they have shown in the past.

Also, while I think 34 minutes at center for Jana and Ice combined is reasonable, I think Jana will probably get more than half of those minutes, because I think her performance (relative to Ice) will justify that. But I wouldn't be surprised if (at least in competitive games) the two of them divvy up the full 40 minutes at center, because their size and skill will be needed there, and no one else can really provide that.

 

[CTBballfan243]

As we fans begin to assimilate what Paige has stated and her conversion to a more "shoot first" kind of guard one cannot help but think of it in the context of a previous thread that was titled: "Are there enough minutes to go around". In that thread, we were hard-pressed to be able to spread the minutes around so that our players could all play meaningful minutes. I was criticized by some because I cut Paige's minutes down to 21. With Paige's recent declaration that she is going to be more aggressive, I will have to double-down on my statement because if Paige is more aggressive as she says she will be...then we can assume that UConn will burst out to early leads and will go up big early which will cause Geno to have to substitute bench players earlier. We could see Paige Bueckers averaging around 22-24 points a game because she will only average 21-24 minutes per game.

Here is my minute allocation from the previous spread:

Paige Bueckers..............................21
Azzi Fudd........................................21
KK Arnold.......................................13
Jana El-Alfy....................................17
Qadence Samuels.......................12
Allie Ziebel.....................................10
Ashlyn Shade................................13
Kaitlyn Chen.................................16
Sara Strong...................................17
Morgan Cheli...............................10
Ice Brady........................................17
Carolyn Ducharme.....................11
Ayanna Patterson.......................10
Aubrey Griffin..............................12
Total..............................................200

Point Guard / Shooting Guard total minutes: 94 Total available minutes at the point guard and the shooting guard = 80
Small Forward / Power Forward total minutes: 72 Total available minutes at small forward, power forward = 80
Center total minutes: 34 Total available minutes at Center = 40

Analysis: There are 14 excess minutes at point guard and shooting guard. This analysis is 8 minutes short at the small forward and the power forward position and 6 minutes short at the center. So, one or more of the guards will have to put some time in a small forward. Some of the point guards will have to give up minutes to the Power forwards and the Center positions. Or, the coaching staff will run with a 3-guard line-up or they may decide to play big...at the end of the day there are 200 minutes available and these 14 players will divvy them up among them. Some days they will play more minutes other days they will play less. The above list is simply an average over the year. Minutes will be adjusted if players miss games because of injuries.

I expect Shade will be playing around 26 minutes a game. KK will be playing in the twenties, Paige will be playing 30 minutes + a game. Those 3 are lock for minutes, we have no idea what anyone else will bring to the table.

 

[bballnut90]

I was actually hoping that Paige would have held off on saying anything about next year. Reason being that I keep looking at the WNBA standings from last year along with this season. Thankfully the Fever are starting to win. But will that be enough to keep them out of the lottery. I am not a Sky or Wings fan. But it looks like they are heading into the lottery as well. As much that I’m happy that Dan Hurley didn’t leave for LA I would mind seeing the Sparks get a chance at Buckets. That basically leaves Washington in play at the moment. With Ella DD taking the year off the Mystics suck. So they get a chance at landing the number one pick. Then EDD returns and they have a top team with and awesome new player. I would love this outcome. She would get to play with Aaliyah once again. The expansion team I doubt if they get a chance at the number college pick. They will more than likely draft fifth. Its to bad that the Lynx or Sun don’t have a chance. But Seattle and Phoenix still might. Paige should have waited until the draft lottery took place. So she could have come back for her sixth year.

She's probably more concerned about starting her pro career than landing at the right franchise. She's basically a lock to go #1 and is going to be ready for the next level. Plus she'll be 23 next summer.

Sparks would be an ideal landing place for her. Indiana would be really compelling too. I love the idea of her and Clark in the backcourt together along with Boston upfront in Indiana as much as a lot of people dislike the idea of her playing with Caitlin. If Fever are in the lottery, they'll likely be a favorite to land the #1 or #2 pick considering they had the second worst team record a year ago.

Washington wouldn't be a bad landing spot, though they're in rebuilding mode. Wings also will have a good shot at #1 since they have the right to swap with Chicago, so if either team lands #1, it's going to Dallas. Her playing alongside Arike isn't a great fit though IMO.

 

[yhun89]

I was actually hoping that Paige would have held off on saying anything about next year. Reason being that I keep looking at the WNBA standings from last year along with this season. Thankfully the Fever are starting to win. But will that be enough to keep them out of the lottery. I am not a Sky or Wings fan. But it looks like they are heading into the lottery as well. As much that I’m happy that Dan Hurley didn’t leave for LA I would mind seeing the Sparks get a chance at Buckets. That basically leaves Washington in play at the moment. With Ella DD taking the year off the Mystics suck. So they get a chance at landing the number one pick. Then EDD returns and they have a top team with and awesome new player. I would love this outcome. She would get to play with Aaliyah once again. The expansion team I doubt if they get a chance at the number college pick. They will more than likely draft fifth. Its to bad that the Lynx or Sun don’t have a chance. But Seattle and Phoenix still might. Paige should have waited until the draft lottery took place. So she could have come back for her sixth year.

I will fall to my knees in a Walmart if Fever lands the No. 1 pick again, Christie Sides cannot be allowed to touch Paige Bueckers with a 20 foot pole. I do not like her coaching style or her weird lineups and rotations.

Would rather she go to the Wings/Mystics (If the coaching changes over there because Thibault seems clueless sometimes). Huge lack of ball sharing because of Arike on the Wings, they honestly played better than I expected without her on the floor against the Lynx. Mystics are rebuilding and PB is the perfect PG/SG for them to get.