UconnCat - thanks for searching out those comments, i remember reading them but was too lazy to search for them. Certainly seems pretty clear what the former and new coach are looking for.
NWHoopfan - the Uconn system is much more likely to produce 4 or 5 players each year with 100 assists than a player that comes close to the top 5 in total assists per year. Uconn consistently as a team is in the top three in total assists each year (and often #1) just as they are near the top of points per game - but no individual player dominates either scoring or assists - The career totals for the Uconn 'great' PGs - Sue, DT, and Moriah are half of what the NCAA career records are.
I agree that PGs need to be scoring threats to be really good - even a great passer needs to demand defensive attention as a scorer to be really effective. Early in Moriah's career she was left unguarded by a few teams (Tara and Stanford for example) and struggle to make them pay - by her junior and senior years no one was taking that chance. The reason Sue and DT are the best ever international backcourt (and were so deadly in 2002 in college) is because DT is a scoring guard who is a great passers and Sue is a PG who is a very efficient scorer.
The trick for a great PG is knowing when to shoot and being efficient - the first job is to get the offense running smoothly and the other four players on the court comfortable and passing them the ball in the best spots for them to score, the second job is to provide an outlet for the other players when the defense closes them down and be a threat to score on that return pass while knowing when to take that opening vs. making another pass to someone else. Too many of the really good guards spend so much time on teams where they are expected to carry a significant amount of the scoring that it is hard for them to know which of their normal shots they should take and which they shouldn't. On a national team loaded with scoring stars, if the PG is averaging 1/5 or more of the shots taken in the minutes she is on the court there is a problem - in any given game she might average over that 1/5 based on the defense being played, but in aggregate over multiple games it suggest the team is in trouble.
The same issue exists for all the other players on the USA national team to a lesser extent - with so many scoring options on the floor all the time figuring out who should actually shoot on each possession is different from pretty much any other team they play on. Which shots they should take and having no doubt about it when they do shoot is part of the learning process.
And we see that learning process every year with the Uconn team as well - Napheesa in particular really frustrated Geno her freshman year. In practice he said they would pass her the ball in the lane and no one could stop her scoring, but as soon as she got into a live game she would refuse to shoot when she got the pass - she was too busy deferring to the older players. She seemed to solve that issue pretty effectively last year!
(To the point that Geno starting commenting on her lack of assists!
)
NW - on the non-scoring PGs - Allen (ND) and Johnson (Baylor) both had tons of college assists and were great PGs but have struggled catching on with WNBA rosters because they aren't good enough scorers - I think they both can get there, but they are the examples of players who are too far into the 'pass first, pass only' class of PG. Kelly Faris (not a PG) is another player who has struggled for the same reason.
