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Message: [QUOTE="NycUcWbbFan, post: 5082780, member: 13453"] I guess Diana was not her most aggressive self by playing a position other than point guard? [LIST] [*]End-of-season fatigue — due to playing the 4 with mostly 6-7 players — was a major factor in the drop-off in Paige’s aggressiveness that was noticeable in the Iowa game, no? Something a full roster will fix, no? [/LIST] As already pointed out, Paige is already very well known: [LIST] [*]expected number 1 draft pick, [*]former NPOY as a freshman, and [*]an All-American powering a team that was mostly written-off to two points short of last year’s finals. [/LIST] As to your other points: Paige can still do point guard duty within the half-court read-and-react shoot-dribble-pass (motion)-pass(point) motion offense: [LIST] [*]without being the point guard that brings up the ball past mid-court; [*]without being the point guard that initiates the offense past mid-court. [/LIST] She can do so: [LIST] [*]by making passes within the motion read-and-react offense once she recognizes offensive opportunities (pass-point); [*]in a reset of the possession, after a few fruitless seconds in the possession, where she becomes the point guard. [/LIST] Effectively thus, in normal-flowing possessions of the motion offense, she becomes one of four off-ball scorers that the defense needs to guard. All the above minimizes defensive pressure on Paige without sacrificing Paige as a scorer or Paige’s passing abilities. If Geno follows your seeming suggestions (which he hasn’t in most of Paige’s playing career thus far): [LIST] [*]If Paige has the most minutes of the point guard responsibilities (ball handler, table setter, primary team barker, safety, scorer), the defense will key-in on her. Stop UConn by bodying up on Paige all the time — when she has the ball (most of the time) and when she doesn’t! [*]Even when Diana was not the point guard, she still wore down in the long seasons when Sue was not her backcourt mate. Imagine Diana’s aches and pains if she was the main point guard. Diana possibly would not have been able to get her last two championships due to more intense aches and pains. [/LIST] But we won’t have to wait long to see what Geno will actually do with a full roster. [/QUOTE]

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