What was Paige doing for 2.5 quarters??

[BBallF]

The young lady scored 27 points, making 2/3rds of her attempts. Not enough?

Certainly enough points, certainly not enough shots. Paige is 51% from the arc, CW is 28%. CW has shot 64 3s, Paige has shot 35. Who should be shooting more 3s? Paige is 55% from the field, Evina is 57% from the field and CW is 45% from the field. Who should be shooting more from the field? Geno has been saying publicly she needs to shoot more but that she is too nice. I think she is deferring to the upper classmen. Time to stop.

 

[JordyG]

What I dont get was Paige was practically invisible for 2.5 quarters. Most thought her ankle was bothering her, so why is she on the court to begin with? Then, out of nowhere, she takes over the game & just dominates. So, why wasnt she doing this from the beginning of the game? Makes no sense. If she's on the court, then she needs to be shooting & much more involved. Period. If she's hurting, dont play her. Very confusing.

 

[MSGRET]

No, it was not, stats lie and if she had played that way from the start the game would have been much different. You play to win, not to be satisfied with good stats and I believe she would be the first person to agree with that.

Yesterday Paige had at least 5 bunnies missed by players that she fed the ball too, most of those in the first half of the game. Then in the 3rd quarter she had to basically take over because they had 3 other Freshman and Evina on the floor after the time out. Four of her five missed shots were in her first 2 quarters of play, she sat out the last 4 minutes of the 2nd qtr. She was playing on a bad ankle and might have had to get it warmed up or may have been tentative because of the injury. But to say that she DIDN'T play hard or PLAY TO WIN for those first 2.5 quarters is just wrong. If those missed bunnies had gone in she would have ended up with at least 7 assists and UConn would have won the game. So in a way you are correct STATS do lie because they don't tell the whole story on how hard someone plays a whole game.

 

[BBallF]

Sigh...Many of you missed my point. I think Paige is the best Frosh in the country & probably Top 3 to 5 player in the country. Given that (!), it was just baffling to me why she wasnt involved more for such a long part of the game. Is there a problem with UConn's pre-game strategy, execution, in-game adjustments, etc? It's a bigger question that I'm calling out - not Paige's ability or faults.

No, I got your point and I think it was definitely thread worthy. The answer lies with Paige though. She is unselfish, extremely gifted, a freshman playing with older players, and a genuinely nice young woman. She wants to get everyone involved early as CocoHusky pointed out which to me is very reminiscent of DT and the best example of which on the men's side was MJ who would start the game by passing but could take over a game at will. Only the truly great ones can elevate their teammates play to the level of excellent. How much better was Marie Conlon with DT there? My point is that some of the older players are shooting too much or making poor decisions with the ball when Paige is deferring to them, even later in the game, so eliminate that from the equation and realize it's you and Evina who need to shoot the most when it matters the most and sometimes that is not just in the 4th quarter but earlier as well when the game needs to be put away. It's an easy fix but it has to come from Paige.

 

[OneTrickPony]

What I dont get was Paige was practically invisible for 2.5 quarters. Most thought her ankle was bothering her, so why is she on the court to begin with? Then, out of nowhere, she takes over the game & just dominates. So, why wasnt she doing this from the beginning of the game? Makes no sense. If she's on the court, then she needs to be shooting & much more involved. Period. If she's hurting, dont play her. Very confusing.

The women on the team are making statements to each other. They are strong statements ... winning games will come next for those of us patient enough to wait for them ... and even for those who aren’t,

 

[chrissaran]

What was Paige doing for 2.5 quarters? Being the freshman she is. Hopefully, this game will show her she needs to shoot more. She's the team's best shooter and best player.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

coaching, teammating 101, for those interested only in winning the game/tourney:
'listen bub, we have our best chance to win if you (top scorer or hot hand) shoot the dang ball more.'
sumtimes, the coach/teammate has to remind the playa that we have our best chance to win when they jack up more shots. take, for example, the team dynamic when they see that playa take that shot that they expect/hope she takes. harmony.
(nothing implied aboot this game, just stating a 'winning' truth aboot bball. if there was an award for 'most likely to start a fight in the huddle,' i'd prolly win it most years, as i only care aboot winning the game, and not aboot my pals 'feelings.' funny how that works, especially after winning that game. then, it's all lovey-dovey. this also includes the playa saying 'gimme the dang ball, and i'll put the dang biscuit in the dang basket, and we will win.' note: as far as that biscuit/basket thing, usually not me. on the udder hand, the pass or the board, often me. winning ballers will walk on broken glass to get the ball to that playa. my feet hurt a lot, but my meaningless, except to me, trophy collection is big fun. 'hey cliff, 'member that time we won the city 8th grade tourney? u almost tore my head off for not shooting enuf early in that game. thanks!')

 

[Husky pride]

What I dont get was Paige was practically invisible for 2.5 quarters. Most thought her ankle was bothering her, so why is she on the court to begin with? Then, out of nowhere, she takes over the game & just dominates. So, why wasnt she doing this from the beginning of the game? Makes no sense. If she's on the court, then she needs to be shooting & much more involved. Period. If she's hurting, dont play her. Very confusing.

Somehow I interpreted this post as not whining, but the voicing of an observation— which I thought was allowed. A bit naive on my part.

 

[Florida Fan]

Because she’s a freshman playing her 11th college game?

She was recovering from a debilitating ankle sprain. At the end of the game adrenalin took over, the rest of the time Paige was just holding on.

 

[JonathanXIV]

What I dont get was Paige was practically invisible for 2.5 quarters. Most thought her ankle was bothering her, so why is she on the court to begin with? Then, out of nowhere, she takes over the game & just dominates. So, why wasnt she doing this from the beginning of the game? Makes no sense. If she's on the court, then she needs to be shooting & much more involved. Period. If she's hurting, dont play her. Very confusing.

Watch the game carefully. Arkansas was focused on her defensively. When Paige got the ball she almost always had someone guarding her closely. Rather than force a shot, she played within the context of the offense. If you recall, in the 4th quarter Paige was looking for her shot. Think of the time she tried to dribble into the lane and then backed out before hitting a three. She wasn't invisible. She just was hunting for her shot.

 

[jazz]

What I dont get was Paige was practically invisible for 2.5 quarters. Most thought her ankle was bothering her, so why is she on the court to begin with? Then, out of nowhere, she takes over the game & just dominates. So, why wasnt she doing this from the beginning of the game? Makes no sense. If she's on the court, then she needs to be shooting & much more involved. Period. If she's hurting, dont play her. Very confusing.

She wasnt invisible. We still scored 43 in the half and if certain players hit some shots, we would be close to 50. She took over at exactly the time we needed her too. I can't complain with her performance. Other players simply need to hit shots when they are wide open!

 

[Cuango]

Even great players are not always in the “zone”, sometimes it can happen right away, other times it may take awhile or not happen at all. It can also be triggered by something in the game. I’m reasonably sure that if you asked Paige if she was trying harder in the second half than the first, she would deny that she was. Something just clicked in the second half and she went off. We haven’t seen Paige at her best yet. That is going to really be something! “Be afraid, be very afraid!”

 

[PacoBlaze]

She was recovering from a debilitating ankle sprain. At the end of the game adrenalin took over, the rest of the time Paige was just holding on.

Where did you get that it was a debilitating ankle sprain? Never saw that it was considered debilitating.

 

[jazz]

One one possession ONO had a player leaning on her from behind when a pass came inside. Immediately 2 munchkins started to close on her so ONO made the brilliant decision to dribble the ball and was almost immediately stripped. It's like it's an improv show where they make it up as they go along. ONO seems to never know what to do and so she hesitates. Part of it may be that she isn't given the ball at the right moment. She sometimes slides over the middle all alone but whoever has the ball didn't see it or didn't expect it and is late with the pass.
It's all part of players who just haven't played enough together to anticipate each others moves.

Liv is doing what she is taught.

The problem is she hasn't seen a lot of 'munchkins' coming at her and swiping at the ball. Liv is not an instinctual player. Now that she has seen how the munchkins can disrupt her game, she can practice that too....hopefully she takes her lumps, learns and gets better at it.

 

[jazz]

A very legitimate question but obviously Bueckers is beyond being treated with anything but undying adulation. I get a kick out of Makurat and Muhl getting nothing but grief while trying to play hurt but Bueckers gets nothing but praise and a built in excuse for playing more than half the game pretty passively. She is a tremendous player, tremendous, as good a young player as I have seen, male or female, but the question you asked is perfectly legitimate in my book and frankly, completely in concert with what Auriemma identified as what the team needed from her very early in the season. Obviously, she has it in her to dominate and that’s what she should be doing. She has stated she hates to lose and I believe it, as soon as she realized that might happen last night, boom, she started playing for real. Don’t turn it on and off, play that way from jump street, she is that good.

Scoring was not a problem. Defense was the problem. If PB takes every shot in the first half, we still lose.

 

[tomcat]

I don't think he or she is saying that but he or she is saying something important. CW takes too many shots and it seems as though the team, especially Paige, are deferring to her at least in the beginning of the game. 0-5 from the 3 last night was a real problem, even more so when you have 2 high % 3 point shooters in Paige and Evina. This isn't going to magically change for CW. It's a major weakness in her game and has to be curtailed. She has great drive and pull up moves and that's what she should be taking. Why did Aubrey shoot three 3s? It was their game plan to leave her open. Pass it to Paige or Evina or even an open Nika.

At last I'm seeing someone else saying what I thought I was noticing. More than once Paige went out toward the corner and was absolutely free, and no one -- no one - thought to get her the ball. This was throughout the first half. I'm not saying Paige wasn't giving the effort, and neither are the others. The point is that for whatever reason, the team looks to her only as the game goes on. It's almost as if they want to try to do it without her, and if they can't, then they turn to her later.
If Geno wants Paige to shoot more than, well, she has to actually get the ball in a place where she can shoot, or advance the play. That requires other players to be involved.

 

[hart2hart]

Let’s see what plays out tomorrow. Possibly more shot by Paige? Love her, either way!

 

[Fore!]

So I guess we have a new coach in town???

To be fair, that is exactly what Geno has been saying all season, Paige needs to be more selfish offensively; she finally did so in the last quarter.

 

[npignatjr]

Sigh...Many of you missed my point. I think Paige is the best Frosh in the country & probably Top 3 to 5 player in the country. Given that (!), it was just baffling to me why she wasnt involved more for such a long part of the game. Is there a problem with UConn's pre-game strategy, execution, in-game adjustments, etc? It's a bigger question that I'm calling out - not Paige's ability or faults.

Yes and Arkansas had 1 too in Dungee a 5th year senior

 

[Shenandoah]

My thoughts on ONO. First of all, when she is on, and motivated, she is an incredible talent, with strong post moves, and a nice jump shot from the elbow. However, she seems to get tentative in the "big games". She is having trouble, at times, recognizing when the D collapses down on her, and she continues to put the ball on the floor. Lastly, when she plays good D, the blocks come, but she has fallen in love with the intimidating, knock it into the 23rd row, block. That is where her fouls come from. JMO

 

[oldhusky]

I don't know if this was addressed in the postgame thread...it had a bit too much length to delve into it but I was really concerned when Paige went to the bench with about 4 minutes to go in the first half. I did think her ankle might have been bothering her. But she played the entire second half and seemed to be moving just fine,...what a relief!
We know that Geno has been on her about shooting more and maybe she got that message in the halftime chat.
She was 10-15 from the floor...with maybe only 4 of those in the first half. So clearly by the numbers and the eye-test she was looking for her shot in the second half.

A silver lining last night was the rather sudden emergence of Nika as a solid back-up type point...hope that continues.
She seemed comfortable handling the ball against athletic guards and that should enable both Paige and Evina to let her have some of the point guard responsibilities in bringing the ball up court while letting those two focus on getting open.
I want the ball to go thru Paige and/or Evina practically every possession when the game is tight...and Nika can help there. I love her overall intensity to fit in/get better/help the team in practice and now games. Nika was a very bright
light yesterday.

Many good points here. Paige is an unselfish pass first player at heart. Geno wants her to think a little more like a scorer, like her second half. He belies that partly because he knows we are lacking very good shooters, and the only one other than Paige (Anna,) is out, so who can she pass to?

On the pecking order of who should create something from nothing, clearly Paige is the first option and probably the only strategic one vs. running the offense. If time is running out on the clock Evina I think is next followed by CW, but Paige is the only player that you could say rather than run the offense, lets just let her create something.

The Nika part of the strategy depends on if she is used as the Paige backup, or as more of the third guard in a three guard rotation. In the later role, when paired with Paige, it think it is much better for Nika to play the point guard role, and Paige think more like a SG with more shot attempts as Geno wants. Even more important if you had to grade Paige at either position it would be great at both. Nika can be a good point guard, but is largely miscast as a SG, or standing in the corner at the three point line. So letting nika handle the ball more when both are in helps her game, doesn't hurt Paige's, and turns Paige into more of the scorer Geno and much of the Boneyard is looking for.

 

[60'sfan]

I agree that CW takes too many shots. Well, the real problem is she misses too many shots. Not just in the Ark game, but all season. You can look it up yourselves. Her shooting pct stinks. I also don' think she is very good on the drive. I recall a least 3 times she drove into a wall of 2 or 3 opponents and lost the ball. This was not an anomaly. she looses the ball in some form or fashion before the ball makes it at least to he rim far to often.

Those of you who disagree with me (and I know from previous posts that includes most of you}, must be watching different games than me.

I think it may be that Kristen is drawing the best defenders. After all she is a junior who was the number one player coming out of high school. I think she will come around and be the Kristin we saw against Notre Dame two years ago.

 

[Dokey]

I hope Bueckers stays a pass first player. She recognizes shooting opportunities and takes them already.

Here is where Anna is missed. Her passing means more opportunities for Paige to shoot.