Question: Who Is Our SECOND Best Player?

[TWG236]

Is really important who is 2nd best? On this team it appears it's a committee. Each game someone steps up. Doesn't matter who as long as someone does. Hard for the other coaches to scout and plan.

 

[my2cents]

2nd most important CW, no title without her playing well.
Next AA, other than Paige, AE....she has the potential to be great.

 

[Sicilian]

This team is still waiting for someone to demonstrate that they want to take the shot during crunch time. Unless that person emerges teams will be able to harass Paige at critical moments, knowing that she is the only option for the Huskies.

 

[JellyBean]

Putting it where the goats can get it, the 2nd best player is Evina. Followed by CW and then ONO.

 

[huskyd]

Second Best or Second Most Important?

Second most important is clearly Liz.

Second best, on the season Liz, recently Westbook, tournament Edwards? Who knows.

I though that "maccaca" sounded like it was something. Here's what the Urban Dictionary sez:
Macca A person possessing extremely large sex appeal in spite of being a care bear. Possibly the most gorgeous and sexy and cute thing ever invented, better than The Beatles and Darius put together. Also has good taste in music and smells nice.
As for your comment: I think it's a better question to ask who has been the second most important player, and that has varied from game to game. Evina IMO is the best player not named Paige, though, yes, she has been off probably due to physical limitations. Yet you must remember the late game 3s she hoisted up vs SC. Liv has made some important rebounds. Edwards and Muhl provide energy. I especially like Mir as a quality athlete with a lot of upside. The whole appears greater than its parts.

 

[NormanDale]

Williams is the second best player on the team! She has been struggling lately and has had consistency issues, but she will be a huge part to UConn's success in the tournament. Williams struggled during the middle part of last season as well, only to regain her confidence and play some of her best basketball down the stretch. I think the Georgetown game was the start of the turnaround for Williams and expect her to be a vital part of the Huskies come tournament time. Coach Auriemma is a master of a lot of different aspects in coaching, but one in which he excels the most is by instilling confidence and having his teams peak at the right time. Make no mistake, Williams is going to have a damn good remainder to the year, and some of you who have written her off are going to have a buffet of crow to munch on!

 

[Happydad745]

This question sums up UConn's ability to win a championship this year.

 

[Jingo]

As of today, it's CW. But, she's also the most inconsistent. She doesnt play to her strengths, which is a slasher type of scorer & mid-range shooter. That's the problem - the gap between Paige & everyone else is too big. If Paige has an off-game or is shut-down, what do we have??

Well, without Paige, we beat Georgetown by 30 points; Liv had 19 points and 9 boards in only 24 minutes.
We could have won by 40+ if CW hadn't [as usual] shot so poorly - 2/12 [on treys] in 40 minutes.
The team is better with CW not starting and playing too many minutes.

 

[Jingo]

To me it's not 2nd best, it's next most indispensable after Bueckers. People can bitch all they want about ONO but without her there is almost no interior defense and IMO there will be no FF or NC.

I like your use of the word 'indispensable', a good description of Liv, not only on defense, but on offense as well, Liv facilitates the offense from the high post, and sets most of the screens for Paige's pullup jumpers inside the arc.

 

[AmeriConn]

Jamelle Elliott

 

[Dokey]

I’m having a hard time with this one, which could be a problem come tournament time. (It wouldn’t be a problem if the question was hard because there were SO MANY good choices.)

CW should be the obvious choice, but her lack of consistency and confidence have been well chronicled here on the BY.

Evina might have been my choice 4 or 5 games ago, but her production has tumbled off a cliff lately. Hopefully, she can regain her form.

ONO is a possibility. She’s at least tall... lol. Her defense has been just okay, IMO. She’s still prone to fouling and bringing the ball down low where anyone can swipe at it. Her 15 ft shots seem to be improving, but I can do without her launching from 3 pt land.

The final starter recently is Nika… she plays hard, for sure, and her defense is good. Shot is still inconsistent, but better than it was. I’d have a hard time saying she’s our second best player, though… and if she is, I think we are in real trouble.

Aubrey and Aliya don’t get enough minutes to qualify, I don’t think. Both bring energy, toughness and rebounding. Maybe if we combine them into one, they could be our second best?

If Anna ever returns and can find the form she had at the end of last season, it’s very possible she could be our second best. I consider that possibility a long shot.

So, do we even have a second best player… and what is all this going to mean at the Big Dance?

Haters stay in your corners, please. Everyone else, I’m interested in your opinions.

Anna might be the second most valuable, if not second best, but I am not optimistic for her return.

 

[hoophuskee]

IMO Westbrook- but game to game it changes.

 

[cohenzone]

With all due respect to all the rabid fans here, the obsession with individual rankings and comparisons for a program built on a total team game is ironic to me, essentially being a non-rabid fan from afar for a good while and relatively new to this board.

While team is certainly the UConn personality, the OP question is a good one. If some team figures out how to at least minimize Paige, there are no other players easily identified to be reliable to fill the gap. On the other hand, there is more than one who might fill the bill. We are talking about against the top competition. If Paige is quieted, possibly the entire team effort would be enough.

 

[MD#12Fan]

I choose the glass half full approach here.
The answer is, we do not have one 2nd best player. We have about 10 2nd best players. Maybe it's a good problem to have. What I want to see is all of these solid players learn, accept, embrace, and excel in their roles.
Then we can't be beat. It can be a different player every night.

 

[Jingo]

I don't agree the EW is 2nd best, not after her total disappearance against South Carolina - zero points, zero assists, one rebound. It's easy to spot the five best players [who hold up under pressure]: 1) Paige, 2) Liv, 3) Aaliyah, 4) Nika, 5) Evina.
Our two best defensive players [besides Liv] are Aubrey and Mir and should [both] be given "spot" minutes as often as possible. They also improve team rebounding and turnovers dramatically, eh?

 

[Go/huskies]

Is there another player on the roster who would be voted 1st team All Big East right now? If there is it would Liv, so I would say she’s our 2nd best player.

 

[Jingo]

Is there another player on the roster who would be voted 1st team All Big East right now? If there is it would Liv, so I would say she’s our 2nd best player.

Yes I agree!

 

[HuskylnSC]

I like a lot of these posts specially the ones that focus on the positives. I think @hoophuskee made the important point with, "... but game to game it changes." We've kind of hemmed and hawed our way through this to make the point that several players bring important aspects to the team. While they don't fit the typical definition of role players each and everyone brings a different skillset into the game. And it seems like every game someone uses their skillset to have a positive impact on the game. And I think that is fantastic. The epitome of great coaching is being able to put your players in a position where they can succeed. We have seen that several times throughout this season. So while Paige is the point of the spear, the team fills out the head, and the strength and stability come from the staff. And that's why we are UConn.

 

[Happydad745]

Anna might be the second most valuable, if not second best, but I am not optimistic for her return.

I never learn what her injury was specifically...do you know?

 

[eebmg]

Geno. ?

 

[Littlemin]

While team is certainly the UConn personality, the OP question is a good one. If some team figures out how to at least minimize Paige, there are no other players easily identified to be reliable to fill the gap. On the other hand, there is more than one who might fill the bill. We are talking about against the top competition. If Paige is quieted, possibly the entire team effort would be enough.

What does a naming of a 2nd best player on a message board have to do with anything concerning a real game situation? Bueckers was quiet points wise against Tennessee but Williams and Westbrook filled the scoring void, that’s what a good TEAM does. Basketball Is a team game and the ranking of players on a team is meaningless to me; others may disagree, differences of opinion are a good thing.

 

[jazz]

Not sure what you mean by Liv "isn't as good as hoped" .. I think you should heed the sage advice of Bette Davis who said, "Let's not ask for the moon, for we have the stars!"

I was hoping for a more consistent 12 and 10 player against top competition and better than that against lower level. She still struggles to finish and doesn't hit the jumper with consistency. There were some times against Boston that she looked intimidated to me. She still is pretty good as I said.

 

[jazz]

Agreed. EW may be the 2nd best BB player (still debatable) but she is not the second most important player. Liv is the second most important player we have and I don't think it is even close. We cannot replace her size and length.

I do not think Liv held her own against Boston. However, GA found out for the second time this year that going long stretches without Liv is not a winning formula. The small line-up has a short shelf life. I think it was poor coaching by Ark and SC to not be more aggressive as soon as Liv left the game. They finally got around to it and shortly thereafter GA went back to Liv. Amihere is a one dimensional player and Liv should be able to shut her down.

On the other hand, Liv did a nice job exploiting the fact that Boston refused to guard her from the outside, but not by her shooting. Instead, Liv was wide open to pass the ball to cutters and to her credit, she made those passes and some were made in really tight spacing and timing. She also made some nice picks (that is nothing to take for granted) that freed PB for several short jumpers. Because Boston was camping in the lane, there was no help on the screen. Great piece of coaching and recognition by GA!

On another note, Dawn is not match for GA as far as coaching is concerned. To allow Boston to take only 2-3 shots in the first half is negligent at best and even criminal! Not many post ups by Boston either. Also DS must have told her kids to go at NM and she is the one who really held up. She played quite well. It seemed like every possession, SC guards thought they could just take NM to the rim and they found out they could not. They had minimal success throughout the game with this strategy, neglecting Boston in the process.