Now that Paige appears to be healthy again with no ill effects & on the verge of returning tonight, permit me to posit that her early season injury may actually have been a huge blessing in disguise for this UConn team's March fortunes.
Teammates have a tendency to defer to great players & expect them to carry the group, sometimes standing around or not asserting themselves individually like they would or are capable of otherwise-- perhaps even with a confidence erosion to boot. Aside from giving the likes of Caroline Ducharme a big opportunity to play, acclimate, & shine-- & Azzi Fudd the same without Paige overshadowing her & the team clearly needing her at times, thereby forcing her aggression (@ Depaul, etc.), Paige's absence has allowed every player & the team collectively to stand on their own feet & prove to themselves that they are good & can play at a high level, without such dependency. This is a massive psychological shift that is necessary for any team to achieve greatness, regardless of the caliber of any individual player.
Note that Stanford had a protracted, months-long stretch of road games most of their regular slate last year due to COVID. When they won the title, Tara Van Derveer & her players cited coalescing in the face of this adversity to enable overcoming it. Growth often comes from discomfort. Sometimes stuff happens that on its face is or seems terrible but in fact can become a positive over time, depending on how it is handled and/or future developments. I am reminded of the following Zen master proverb from the film, Charlie Wilson's War:
Teammates have a tendency to defer to great players & expect them to carry the group, sometimes standing around or not asserting themselves individually like they would or are capable of otherwise-- perhaps even with a confidence erosion to boot. Aside from giving the likes of Caroline Ducharme a big opportunity to play, acclimate, & shine-- & Azzi Fudd the same without Paige overshadowing her & the team clearly needing her at times, thereby forcing her aggression (@ Depaul, etc.), Paige's absence has allowed every player & the team collectively to stand on their own feet & prove to themselves that they are good & can play at a high level, without such dependency. This is a massive psychological shift that is necessary for any team to achieve greatness, regardless of the caliber of any individual player.
Note that Stanford had a protracted, months-long stretch of road games most of their regular slate last year due to COVID. When they won the title, Tara Van Derveer & her players cited coalescing in the face of this adversity to enable overcoming it. Growth often comes from discomfort. Sometimes stuff happens that on its face is or seems terrible but in fact can become a positive over time, depending on how it is handled and/or future developments. I am reminded of the following Zen master proverb from the film, Charlie Wilson's War:
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