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Message: [QUOTE="CocoHusky, post: 4132802, member: 5823"] My assessment that UCONN does not have the ability to determine pace it applicable to this season as well. Paige is a world class PG. PGs "help" to determine pace of play but as I have said there are other more significant factors. UCONN is at it best when it is creating turnovers and getting out and running. What's preventing UCONN from running are these two other factors; 1) Our wing players CW, Evina, and Paige are all averaging over 30 minutes per game. Paige is over 36MPG. When the starters have to play that many minutes you have to conserve energy and that is usually on the defense end of the floor. For example you can't use these players to press for even a few possessions. The toll on a players legs to get out and run the floor even a few times a game is astounding and we are already seeing the effects on this many minutes on this team in the 4th quarter of games. 2) Paige is second on the team in rebounding and that is not conducive to UCONN going up tempo. When any guard or perimeter player gets that many rebounds they are usually crashing down from the perimeter which means they have to change direction to start the transition. This is not an indictment of page for getting too many rebounds it is an indictment of our front court players for not getting enough. More dominat front court rebounding from UCONN would allow Paige, CW and Evina to get that first step up the court to start the transition and that first step up court could be everything. 3) Our defense is severely lacking in a couple key defensive metrics. For the season our opponents have more FTA (90 to 86). UCONN has committed more turnovers (108 to 91) than the opponent. UCONN is tied 282nd in steal among D1 teams. UCONN is ranked 42nd among Di teams in committing fouls. Historically the best UCONN defensive teams are never below the top 10. Collectively what these defensive stats are telling you is that UCONN is not dictating the pace of play. How could UCONN be dictating pace when they are committing more turnovers , committing more fouls and and the opponent is getting to the FT line more often? [/QUOTE]

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