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Message: [QUOTE="#12in21, post: 4539444, member: 10763"] As Geno has said Nika's ability to be maximally effective depends on the four players with her to be so as well. Her focus and the strength of her game is to 'feed her teammates'. I looked at stats from the last 6 games (post Tennessee) and compared them with season averages. Arguably the only good game we played during that stretch was against South Carolina. Over that stretch Nika played all except 3 minutes (237 out of 240 minutes). Over those six games her assists were 3.25/gm lower than her season average (currently at 8.08/gm), her turnovers were down .09/gm and her shooting percentage was 16% higher than her season average. Over that same period the team assists/game was 2.32 lower, turnovers down .42/gm and shooting percentage 12% lower than the season average. Below is a chart comparing the last six games to season averages for the starters and team as a whole I would argue that rather than errant/ill advised passes etc., being a current concern, our real problem is a big drop-off in our ability to finish in this last stretch of games. I have noticed a reluctance several times by various players to actually take the open outside shot but rather pass the ball unproductively. Also there have been a lot of instances where the ball has gone inside and the shot has been forced up, against double or triple teams resulting in a miss and the ball going the other way. The drop off of shooting % as a whole and in particular by Lou and Aaliyah is particularly glaring. Nika's noticeable singularly improved FG % during this period, although a positive personal achievable, speaks more to her trying to find a way to positively impact the games when her main strength has been negated than an overall uptick in the teams performance. I would argue that she is still making a great many solid passes but they are not resulting in assists. Her turnovers are actually slightly reduced over this period. I would have to go back and rewatch games but I don't think she has been as actively involved in the ball movement after her initial pass off, which IMO, is not a positive sign. Perhaps all the minutes she is playing has reduced her movement due to not having the energy or, which I have noticed at least a couple times, her teammates have looked her off and tried to make the play themselves (which may be a sign of their own tiredness and resultant inability to constantly move). Either way I think her getting more touches benefits our historically good ball movement and the ability of teammates to move to find good positions to receive a pass from her or another teammate. If we can increase ball movement, particularly by passing back out quickly by the posts if the easy finish isn't there and then passing to find the open player coupled with taking the shots from the outside when open rather than being reluctant to do so, then a lot of our early success should return. Particularly with the return of Caroline and hopefully imminent return of Azzi, we can get back to Nika's double digit assist games (which is a harbinger of good ball movement and higher % finishes), return to high shooting percentages by Lou and Aaliyah and continued solid play by Aubrey and Dorka. [/QUOTE]

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