UConn’s Emotional Exuberance

[Carnac]

Two general reactions to last night's game: first, in PB we have almost a team-in-one; second, I'm not sure the rest of the team could win the Big Least w/out Buckets. Paige literally won the SC game by herself (on offense). The rest played hard, especially on D, but had few points to contribute. Now, with Miss Magic, UConn might wind up with an NC.
I'm surprised that no one has yet compared Paige to the divine Sabrina . . .
We can probably relax for the rest of the regular season, maybe cheer on Saylor.

I agree with these comments. I especially like the moniker of “miss magic.“ So much so that you will see it again in one of my posts.

 

[Argonaut]

I know these are highlights, but watch the emotion...



Because while the play was what it was (sometimes good, sometimes bad) the bear hug that Jamelle gives Paige and the excitement in the locker room when Coach walks in tells me everything I need to know. Regardless of how this season ends, this is a special mix of kids.

 

[Argonaut]

 

[MD#12Fan]

Is it written in stone that she starts?

Gotta say something. Why this post? Everyone is watching the same thing. Of course it's not written in stone. Nothing is. Then 3 responses that weren't necessary either have to follow your crap!
If you can't acknowledge the improvement and significant contribution to this team of Nika, then I officially (oops maybe I can't do that, oh well) ordain you to be of total insignificance! Just shut up!

 

[Geew1992]

 

[Florida Fan]

I am in the minority but I think CW will start next year as well as Paige, Liv,Fudd, AE....IDK.....

If Christyn is not hurt, she can come back from this slump. She is too talented not to climb out of this, whatever this is. I agree with others that she should beat the perimeter defender, approach the basket, using the pull-up off the window or drive to the hoop. She can draw the post defenders and dish to the cutter of to the perimeter shooter. Dangerfield was good at this. Certainly Williams is strong and athletic enough to test the defenders packing into the post. But she shouldn't despair or get caught up with the naysayers.

 

[jabstep]

As a freshman, Paige is a significantly better player than Ionescu was as a freshman. Hell, as a freshman, Paige may be better than Ionescu was as a senior.

I think she plays very controlled like the Jr and Sr version of Sabrina. Sabrina was more of a scorer as a freshman. Paige is far better than her as a freshman just as good as her as a senior right now. Sabrina just had more experience obviously.

 

[ccwarrior]

If Christyn is not hurt, she can come back from this slump. She is too talented not to climb out of this, whatever this is. I agree with others that she should beat the perimeter defender, approach the basket, using the pull-up off the window or drive to the hoop. She can draw the post defenders and dish to the cutter of to the perimeter shooter. Dangerfield was good at this. Certainly Williams is strong and athletic enough to test the defenders packing into the post. But she shouldn't despair or get caught up with the naysayers.

When, her senior year?

 

[Cuango]

That locker room was pretty sweet! I’m sure those kinds of moments mean a lot to Geno!

 

[chrissaran]

Paige's numbers as a Freshman are way better. ( So far) As a senior , Sabrina shot up dramatically in rebounds and assts. As our current crop of freshman improve and great recruits, the same thing will happen to Paige, especially with assts.

You can't get as many assists when you need to shoot the ball, which is what Paige did against SC.

 

[chrissaran]

Hard to argue with this. To many bodies to know, I bet Geno hasn't really given it any serious thought yet.

You think Nika comes off the bench?

 

[chrissaran]

As the season progresses, it will become harder and harder to keep Aaliah off the court whether starting or not.

There's not much she can't do now, and continued discipline and sophistication will improve all aspects...possible a bit small for a 5, but goodness, she sure is a bruiser (in the best aspect of that word).

I expect her value to exceed that of Olivia shortly, with the gulf widening.

She played better against Boston than Olivia did because of her strength, which kept Boston from posting low so easily.

 

[caramel]

This team reminds me of the 300 Spartans. They seem outnumbered at times, but they fight on and hold their ground and win.

 

[npignatjr]

She played better against Boston than Olivia did because of her strength, which kept Boston from posting low so easily.

There was a stretch, before Liv got her 4 th foul, the the offense was the best it had been all game, passing from high post both on the court together.

 

[shiverz45]

Paige does a lot for this UConn team. Duh! Awhile back I suggested that Paige also functioned as UConn’s head cheerleader. It now appears that Paige’s emotional exuberance has infected her teammates as well.

The freshman have been unconstrained in displaying their emotions from day 1. But they are reaching a new level of celebration. Nika is perhaps the most intense person on this team. While her energetic chest bumps with teammates are great to watch, I have started to worry that she just might hurt someone.

Lately the upperclassmen have started to give in to displays of emotion. Christyn has always been an emotional player. But over the past few games I have been amazed to see both Liv and Aubrey, among the most stoical Huskies, fire their fists in the air while letting loose primal screams.

Even Evina, who is all about poise and quiet confidence, has been seen smiling broadly of late. For her that’s about as close to losing control as she gets.

The great thing about all of this emotional exuberance is that the team is having fun and experiencing success. The pure joy that players are exhibiting is thrilling to watch and infectious for everyone, including the millions of UConn WBB fans around the world.

You called it "emotional exuberance". I was just thinking if SC was to behave that way a lot of your fellow boneyarders would have called it something else. Personally I have no problem with it but I really hate hypocrisy. I am not saying you but I am speaking in general.

 

[LouS]

Could this be a prelude of things to come next season and beyond once Azzi arrives? It’s very possible.

YES...And not only Azzi....it's Azzi +

 

[oldude]

You called it "emotional exuberance". I was just thinking if SC was to behave that way a lot of your fellow boneyarders would have called it something else. Personally I have no problem with it but I really hate hypocrisy. I am not saying you but I am speaking in general.

We’re talking about kids having fun. Not sure why you would qualify it with a negative spin.

 

[shiverz45]

We’re talking about kids having fun. Not sure why you would qualify it with a negative spin.

I am good with that. I just remembered some on this board always like to use the work "cocky" and "classless" when it comes to SC when they show signs of emotion. For instance, One of your players blocked a shot and screamed out and said something which you can hear because there are no fans. If SC would have done that it would have been seen as "classless". Personally I am fine with it. I am just saying I wish we can be consistent if it is your team or not on how we view these players.

 

[oldude]

I am good with that. I just remembered some on this board always like to use the work "cocky" and "classless" when it comes to SC when they show signs of emotion. For instance, One of your players blocked a shot and screamed out and said something which you can hear because there are no fans. If SC would have done that it would have been seen as "classless". Personally I am fine with it. I am just saying I wish we can be consistent if it is your team or not on how we view these players.

I think we both have fans who can be a little over the top in support of our two respective teams. It’s the nature of sports.

 

[Bills Fan]

Yes, I'm still having a happy face from last night's game.

I actually did not realize that Page scored the last points in the game and all the posts in overtime.

Normally, I would be concerned with one player taking all the shots. I think you can win a lot of games but not a NC set up like that.

However. We didn't have a team with 4 players standing around while 1 player creates her own shots. There were 4 players working their butt's off setting screans, picks, just interfering with SC players ability to move where they wanted to go. Page, I don't think could have worked any harder running around screens to get the ball and score. Pages teammates were getting her the ball where she could do something with it as well.

I'm thinking that by the time this team gets in the tournament the opposition will be dealing with more players knocking down shots along with Page.

When talking about Paige scoring all our points in the final XXX minutes of the game, it makes it seem like she took all the shots. Not true, but she is the only one that made a shot.

Also, while I am as excited about Paige as anyone on this Board, it's fair to point out a FR mistake or two when, if, they occur. She made a mental mistake in SC's final possession when we were leading by 4. As the SC guard was shooting from behind the arc with just moments left in the game, Paige came out to contest the shot and almost fouled the shooter. In fact if the shooter had been smart enough she would have leaned forward as she was shooting to draw the foul and possibly turn it into a 4 point play. With just seconds on the clock at the time of the shot and a 4 point lead, the shot should not have been contested. Many coaches practice "time and score" situations and I bet Geno, at least, has a discussion of this before tonight's game.

She is only 99.9% perfect!!!

 

[MilfordHusky]

I watched a lot of Nika's videos (games and highlights) from Croatia. I really loved the way she led the fast break. Some passes were fancy, while some were basic. But when her teammate scored, Nika celebrated as if she was going to Disneyland. I thought to myself, "I need to watch this kid in person as part of a crowd!"

 

[jonson]

As a freshman, Paige is a significantly better player than Ionescu was as a freshman. Hell, as a freshman, Paige may be better than Ionescu was as a senior.

While I believe that your initial point in this thread is a crucial one, I do wish that UCONN fans would (could?) get off the "better than" bandwagon. I believe that Paige is, in the current parlence, "a generational player," and, if I had a vote, I would certainly chose her as POY. But--to repeat myself one more time--context matters--and in this case Paige's and Sabrina's could hardly be more different. When Sabrina came to Oregon she joined a program that hadn't had a decent WBB team since (about) 2000, had more recently been nearly destroyed by a previous (part-time at best) coach who wanted the team to shoot as soon as the ball passed half court, and whose play left Geno almost speechless when the teams met sometime in the early teens. The next best player on the team (Hebard) was a very raw freshman from Alaska who actually considered redshirting and who likely had not been on, would never have been on, Geno's radar. Everything, and I do mean everything, had to be built from scratch, with Sabrina at the center of it all.

That's not the kind of challenge Paige faced this year, and will face in the years to come. I'm not saying she doesn't have ones of her own and that being at UCONN doesn't bring its own special set of burdens, but they are very different from the ones Sabrina encountered, and Paige has had, and will have, a lot more help: most importantly from a long-established culture that assumes winning is a given and knows how to do that, but also from a wealth of talented teammates (in the current recruiting rankings, #1, #2, #6, #22 ,#25, + Nika, etc.) that Sabrina could hardly have imagined. (Hebard was ranked #40 and considered a major "catch"--as she turned out to be--for Oregon at that time.) Maybe Paige could have willed/led Oregon to the success it had with Sabrina; maybe Sabrina would have looked very different in a UCONN uniform. Who knows? What truly does make them comparable is the impact they have had/will have on their teammates and so the success of their respective teams.

As for your first post with which I agree completely: since the Stewie years the UCONN offense has to me too often looked (for lack of a better word) "cramped" rather than the kind of masterclass in basketball at its best that had been the norm previously. Perhaps too much overthinking and/or worrying about making mistakes, and maybe some passivity as well. But, in any case, it didn't always seem to flow as it had in the past. (This seemed to me one of the major differences between UCONN and Notre Dame during that time.) This year's freshmen (but not the juniors) are, I think, already moving past that--due to Paige mostly, but also to Nika's fiercenesss, and the quiet but very formidable "don't mess with me" aura that Aaliyah exudes. And that, to me, is what makes this class quite different from some (very talented) recent ones, and I believe it will be a major difference maker going forward.

 

[oldude]

While I believe that your initial point in this thread is a crucial one, I do wish that UCONN fans would (could?) get off the "better than" bandwagon. I believe that Paige is, in the current parlence, "a generational player," and, if I had a vote, I would certainly chose her as POY. But--to repeat myself one more time--context matters--and in this case Paige's and Sabrina's could hardly be more different. When Sabrina came to Oregon she joined a program that hadn't had a decent WBB team since (about) 2000, had more recently been nearly destroyed by a previous (part-time at best) coach who wanted the team to shoot as soon as the ball passed half court, and whose play left Geno almost speechless when the teams met sometime in the early teens. The next best player on the team (Hebard) was a very raw freshman from Alaska who actually considered redshirting and who likely had not been on, would never have been on, Geno's radar. Everything, and I do mean everything, had to be built from scratch, with Sabrina at the center of it all.

That's not the kind of challenge Paige faced this year, and will face in the years to come. I'm not saying she doesn't have ones of her own and that being at UCONN doesn't bring its own special set of burdens, but they are very different from the ones Sabrina encountered, and Paige has had, and will have, a lot more help: most importantly from a long-established culture that assumes winning is a given and knows how to do that, but also from a wealth of talented teammates (in the current recruiting rankings, #1, #2, #6, #22 ,#25, + Nika, etc.) that Sabrina could hardly have imagined. (Hebard was ranked #40 and considered a major "catch"--as she turned out to be--for Oregon at that time.) Maybe Paige could have willed/led Oregon to the success it had with Sabrina; maybe Sabrina would have looked very different in a UCONN uniform. Who knows? What truly does make them comparable is the impact they have had/will have on their teammates and so the success of their respective teams.

As for your first post with which I agree completely: since the Stewie years the UCONN offense has to me too often looked (for lack of a better word) "cramped" rather than the kind of masterclass in basketball at its best that had been the norm previously. Perhaps too much overthinking and/or worrying about making mistakes, and maybe some passivity as well. But, in any case, it didn't always seem to flow as it had in the past. (This seemed to me one of the major differences between UCONN and Notre Dame during that time.) This year's freshmen (but not the juniors) are, I think, already moving past that--due to Paige mostly, but also to Nika's fiercenesss, and the quiet but very formidable "don't mess with me" aura that Aaliyah exudes. And that, to me, is what makes this class quite different from some (very talented) recent ones, and I believe it will be a major difference maker going forward.

Agree with your comments. I was overwhelmed with Emotional Exuberance...🙃

 

[JRRRJ]

I will add that it is Paige's willingness to work her butt off to find ways to score that had gotten the whole team to play coherently and move without the ball and do the little screens and cuts. Night and day.

I think you will find, if you watch the last half-dozen or so games sequentially, the coherence of the offense began to evolve rapidly when Nika became a starter. She's vocal and demonstrative about what she wants her teammates to be doing, and they generally do it, so it's becoming a habit.

 

[BobbyJ]

While I believe that your initial point in this thread is a crucial one, I do wish that UCONN fans would (could?) get off the "better than" bandwagon. I believe that Paige is, in the current parlence, "a generational player," and, if I had a vote, I would certainly chose her as POY. But--to repeat myself one more time--context matters--and in this case Paige's and Sabrina's could hardly be more different. When Sabrina came to Oregon she joined a program that hadn't had a decent WBB team since (about) 2000, had more recently been nearly destroyed by a previous (part-time at best) coach who wanted the team to shoot as soon as the ball passed half court, and whose play left Geno almost speechless when the teams met sometime in the early teens. The next best player on the team (Hebard) was a very raw freshman from Alaska who actually considered redshirting and who likely had not been on, would never have been on, Geno's radar. Everything, and I do mean everything, had to be built from scratch, with Sabrina at the center of it all.

That's not the kind of challenge Paige faced this year, and will face in the years to come. I'm not saying she doesn't have ones of her own and that being at UCONN doesn't bring its own special set of burdens, but they are very different from the ones Sabrina encountered, and Paige has had, and will have, a lot more help: most importantly from a long-established culture that assumes winning is a given and knows how to do that, but also from a wealth of talented teammates (in the current recruiting rankings, #1, #2, #6, #22 ,#25, + Nika, etc.) that Sabrina could hardly have imagined. (Hebard was ranked #40 and considered a major "catch"--as she turned out to be--for Oregon at that time.) Maybe Paige could have willed/led Oregon to the success it had with Sabrina; maybe Sabrina would have looked very different in a UCONN uniform. Who knows? What truly does make them comparable is the impact they have had/will have on their teammates and so the success of their respective teams.

As for your first post with which I agree completely: since the Stewie years the UCONN offense has to me too often looked (for lack of a better word) "cramped" rather than the kind of masterclass in basketball at its best that had been the norm previously. Perhaps too much overthinking and/or worrying about making mistakes, and maybe some passivity as well. But, in any case, it didn't always seem to flow as it had in the past. (This seemed to me one of the major differences between UCONN and Notre Dame during that time.) This year's freshmen (but not the juniors) are, I think, already moving past that--due to Paige mostly, but also to Nika's fiercenesss, and the quiet but very formidable "don't mess with me" aura that Aaliyah exudes. And that, to me, is what makes this class quite different from some (very talented) recent ones, and I believe it will be a major difference maker going forward.

Great points. I agree.