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Message: [QUOTE="nastynatty, post: 4301623, member: 11900"] Starting Paige put her on an accelerated timeline for getting back to her old self which the coaching staff knew the team would need to make it past the regional final. Geno consistently said that making it to a Final 4 requires an exceptional performance from (at least) one player. We do not win the NC State game without Paige’s performance and she doesn’t give that performance without getting those starting minutes to begin the NCAA tournament. Regarding Nika and Caroline: While Nika’s minutes obviously went down quite a bit, her impact on the game did not. It was still clear that the coaches trusted her to play in key momentum moments and she continued to deliver. I don’t think the number of minutes she played is reflective of the level of trust the team & staff had with her. As for Caroline, I would have loved to see her play more but I agree with Coach’s assessment about her skiddishness following the head injury. When every game is win or go home, playing a freshman (even one who carried the team through the middle of the season) on such a big stage is a going to be a gamble. You can’t really to give her the time to figure it out like you would someone like Paige because what she is capable of on the big stage is still an unknown. Paige proved that she can come up big for this team when they need it most and on the biggest of stages last year. She earned the right to figure it out on the court rather than on the bench. Again, love Caroline and can’t deny that she was a massive part of everything the team accomplished this year. But if there is only enough minutes for 1 of 2 recovering players to find their footing, I’m betting on Paige and Auriemma did too. [/QUOTE]

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