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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 5086816, member: 12088"] I know you're arguing in a more complex context here, and you may be right overall. But this statement, and the claim you're making in paragraph 3 of this post doesn't seem factually accurate here. Here, too, I think your point makes a certain amount of sense, but the underlying facts may not be accurate. Here's the problem: Geno did not replace Aubrey with Nika -- at least if we're talking about the 20-21 season. Anna Makurat was the fifth starter who was replaced first by Aaliyah, then Aubrey and then Nika. There was some experimentation going on for a while. But by the SC game, Nika's position in the lineup was pretty much settled. I think the experiment began because Anna was working through a leg injury, and I don't think she ever made it back into the starting lineup. In the early part of the season, when Anna was a starter, the PG was either Paige or Evina. It would be bizarre to say that Nika replaced either of them. But perhaps it's fair to say that she clarified the lineup. And in the tournament, when Nika turned her ankle against High Point, she wasn't replaced by Aubrey or Anna. Instead Geno went with Aaliyah and a bigger lineup, which became the default for the rest of the way. Nika only made it back for the Arizona game, but not as a starter and she seemed noticeably impaired by her ankle. And just by the way, it would be instructive to consider why Christyn was never a PG for Geno. She certainly had the sort of skillset for the role. And she could be tenacious on defense, as in the Iowa game of that season. But she may not have had the temperament for it. It was right around the SC game, I think, that Geno said the team's energy is just better with Nika on the floor. And it's striking that against their main rival, SC, who was significantly at least as large and athletic as any lineup he could put out, he chose to start 4 guards. Did Nika give him better passing than Aubrey or Anna? Yes, that seems right. But she also gave him a fiery leader on the floor, which neither one of those two were. It's interesting that he didn't think of Paige as that sort of court presence. Don't get me wrong -- I'm sure he saw her as a leader. But at any UConn game of the past 4 years, if Nika's on the floor you hear her voice all over the arena. And if you look at the really big games of that season (Tennessee Arkansas and SC) Paige carried the team in those games. But she wasn't always enough, as in the Arkansas game. Against SC, she scored almost every point from the middle of the 4th quarter through the overtime period. This is why, in several games from that stretch, Geno complained to Meg Culmo and Kara that the team was prone to "Paige-watching." I'm not sure which of them coined that phrase, but it was right on the mark. I'd say more than anything else, what Nika brought was a solution to that problem. At least, that's what Geno was looking for from her. This is where the Nika discussions seem to go awry. It's not about the specific skillset she brought as a freshman, but about the chemistry she created on the court. Her skills expanded quite a bit over the years, but her ferocity was a constant. This is also why comparing Nika to Paige is a mistake. Paige has more skills than anyone in all of D1 WBB. Thus if Geno wanted Nika on the floor, it wasn't because she brings something Paige doesn't have in her arsenal. It's because he liked her temper. I think you could say something similar about Angel Reese. As an athlete she's not all that remarkable among bigs. She's a mediocre shooter even near the rim and her foot speed isn't spectacular. But she is utterly ferocious under the rim. Her heart and her persistence is what makes her so formidable. A coach can't teach heart. All you can do is teach a player how to channel it. Now, back to Paige. She also has as much heart and tenacity and fearsomeness as any player. And I suspect the disappointments of the last few years may have taught her how better to unleash it at strategic moments. It will help her to have a fiery PG on the court with her, someone like KK or Kaitlyn, because she can pick her spots. If she's the lone PG on the floor, she won't necessarily have that luxury. She doesn't want to be the one with the loud voice all the time. That's going to have to come also from Kaitlyn, and this is the most important thing KK can learn this season: how to be the fierce leader with the commanding voice. Next season, she may be the only one who can fill that role. [/QUOTE]

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