Who is the point guard?

[Bald Husky]

I thought a lot about talking about this because to some it was a sensitive subject. Last year, when Nika was our only point guard, a rebounder would automatically get that first pass to Nika and they would be off to the races. Nika broke the UConn yearly assist record by getting many transition baskets, running up the floor on almost every play. When Nika came off the bench 2 or3 years ago, she would change the complection of the game with her running style, a contrast to Paiges deliberate style. It seems to me that now we have lost that. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge Nika fan and find it not smart for anyone to think that she should not start. Now, I am thinking that may be one of our problems, that our running game is almost non-existent. When Paige and Nika play together, even when Nika brings the ball up, our offence is slowed down. Lets face it, our outside shooting this year is horrendous, so we are turning the ball over and not productive at all at the half court. Paige is the best player in the country in my book, but as we already know she is not a pusher of the offence, at least not like Nika. Maybe Nika should come off the bench, and maybe we can catch our opponents off guard like we used to with the chance of aggression. For this to work, we need Caroline to play so we can be assured of having adequate shooters playing with both point guards if Geno decides to go that route. We also need Ayanna to be in the mix for rebounding. If everyone else gets healthy (not Azzi of course), we have enough players to field two entirely different teams, the deliberate Paige team, and the running Nika team. Of course, Nika and Paige would be on the floor together occasionally, but we have to do something to get better as a team, because now we don't look any better than an average team, and that is not UConn. So, what do you guys think, should Nika and Paige be separated, or do you have a better solution to this problem? We have a week before Texas, so I hope Geno can figure something out, because right now we are not playing well, or together, which is UConns trademark.

 

[Shenandoah]

My wife and I both noticed the difference when Paige takes the ball upcourt, as opposed to both Nika and KK. Paige is very deliberate, as you said, but that seems to lead to everyone else parking themselves on the 3 point arc, and standing around, instead of cutting the lane looking for a pass. Even when they do run the lane, it's with head down, and at a slow jog. A few video sessions of the old UConn/UT NC games will remind them of their legacy, and what separated UConn from the rest of the field.

 

[Bone Dog]

Maybe Nika should come off the bench, and maybe we can catch our opponents off g

It’s an interesting thought. I’m a big proponent of having a player come off the bench to change the complexion of a game. Aubrey has often been that player, and in her first two seasons so was Nika.

Last year it was all Nika for almost 40 mins/g and in the beginning of the season we ran ranked teams off the court. It was a wonderful strategy, and it worked really well until it didn’t. Injuries mainly took the wind out of our sails. Now the injury bug seems to have arrived and we need a new solution. I wonder what Geno can come up with.

We still have the personnel for an uptempo pressing game — at least we have a few freshmen and a sophomore (and Nika of course) who seem ready to run for as long as Geno will let them. All they need is to get up to speed with whatever system Geno decides to run, and that could take a few weeks or a few months.

 

[hjoerring]

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but, talks about having 2-teams, and running other teams to death sound irresponsible to me. We have 4 upper-class wo/men: AE, PB, Nika and Aubrey. Of these 4, PB and Aubrey are the ones competing at a high level. Sadly, AE has not hit her stride-- perhaps overburdened by her tasks, being the sole big that must score, rebound and defend the middle. All this without fouling and sitting. Nika has regressed to making bad passes which are stolen, or result in her teammate picking up a useless foul. The problem for her is that teams are now picking her up early and she lacks the ball-handling skills to get by them. It slows her down as well as the team. AE is undersized meaning that she is extremely effective when she doesn't have a fixed defense and being doubled in the middle. Here comes trouble. The 3 1/2 or 4 freshmen are getting good experience and are playing, in my view, to their ranking out of HS. They will win the game for you one night and then be the culprit the next time, perhaps. Fair. Q might be fearless (as so many are saying), or you may say when in doubt shoot. Or, just shoot it period. Don't burden her by intimating that she is (now) a replacement for the injured ones. Hopefully, there will be benefits to reap when the BE tournament followed by the big one at year-end.
I'm not pessimistic, but it seems useless to expect much from the injured players at this juncture. Fudd is out, CD should not be counted on (perhaps the hardest thing for an athlete is to say no more), Patterson??? Who knows isn't saying, but everyone else is pretending to know. Let us remember that PB and Aubrey have returned from serious illnesses. My point. let us deal with the players we have today and sneak out one or two ranked wins for a middle-level seed.

 

[#12in21]

At the beginning of last season in an interview, in response to a question, Geno said, (paraphrase) for Nika to be great she needs the players around her to be as well. We all saw the results, an uptempo offense and stifling defense, where all of our top players were excelling and in sync.

Coming into this season we had lost Lou but gained Paige and lost Dorka but gained Jana and Ice, so on paper we should have been able to play that style again, especially since we had a much deeper more talented bench. Last season even faced with some early injuries to key players we managed to keep it going. When Azzi went down for an extended period and Caroline continued to be hampered by ongoing issues things became much more difficult. We saw a lot of heroics from Lou, but with no real help from the bench - well you all saw what happened.

With key injuries to Jana and Azzi, continued recovery time for Ayanna and Caroline's ongoing issues, the intended gameplay for this season took a huge hit. A huge difference this season is that besides having Ice and Paige back we have three gifted (each in different skillsets) freshmen added to the mix.

IMO, Geno and the rest of the coaching staff over the next few weeks will find how to effectively use the very talented pool of players we have. I don't think that will look like a deliberate grind it out approach, rather it will be an uptempo offense looking for transition baskets and lots of passing to find the best shot paired with an aggressive defenselookig to disrupt the opponet. In other words, the goal will be to play like what we originally envisioned.

Combinations rather than individuals will need to replace replace the talent we are missing. Before Azzi's season ending injury it looked like we just needed to mesh and wait for Ayanna's return for some more depth at the bigs.The path is much more difficult without Azzi but unlike last year we have talent anxious to fill the void, particularly if we can get a healthy Caroline back.

Last season Aaliyah, Aubrey and Nika all played the best they have at Uconn and Paige can excell in any style of play but I believe will be most effective in the uptempo motion offense and aggressive defense. KK is a great compliment to Nika in playing this style of game as it will allow us to always have an aggressive PG on the floor with the occasional option of at times using them together to add an extra burst on either end of the court when we have the opponent on their heals.

 

[topogigio]

Nika's play this year seems off compared to previous years - am I off base?

 

[boscolino]

Paige and Nika shuold play separately.Let's say 25 and 15. So Paige get less fatigue
Who plays guard? Q or Ashlynn, imho. And KK?
I think I better leave the coaches do their job. They will solve the puzzle. Go Huskies.

 

[ERWUC65]

Why so bad in the start of the first and 3rd quarters? With Paige at PG, the pace is slower and everyone stands around waiting. And, knowing she is the offense, the opposition keys on her. This half court style play allows the other team to pack the paint and nullify Aaliyah. How about Nika and KK at the 1 and 2, Paige at the 3, Aubrey at the 4 and Ice/Amari at the 5. Bring Aaliyah and Q/Ashlynn off the bench as the game dictates?

 

[uconnfan68]

After reading some of these posts, I’ve come to conclusion that maybe Paige needs to slide to the 2. Leave Nika as the PG, and only sub KK for her, but let KK also sub for Paige when needed. All 3 need to play uptempo as much as possible. Hope the bigs can keep up.

 

[MooseJaw]

Too many point guards in the game at the same time. Often confusing offensive flow, one guard or another acting like who's on first, with who's the real point guard, we have 3 points and each one of them are outstanding players, just no real flow when 2 or even three of them are playing the same position at the same time.

 

[Cuango]

Paige has the ball most because she is currently the only consistent scorer! Until we manage to get Aaliyah back on track Paige will, by necessity continue to dominate the ball!

 

[Blond D.]

I think Nika and Paige play great together. One problem we are having is the newbies dont spread the floor properly when we're on fast breaks right after a rebound or a steal.
Aubrey is a master at knowing when and where to be on a fast break. KK is getting better but the freshmen tend to crowd the middle getting in each others way.
Nika brings the ball up at the pace Geno wants. Shes always in contact with him. Shes constantly directing the traffic like a point guard should.
She doesnt have that many turnovers and if theres someone open on a fast break she will hit them.
With our lack of bigs its good to have a lot of guards who can handle the ball. Our problem is our shooting right now.

 

[freshler40]

Nika's play this year seems off compared to previous years - am I off base?

No, not off base, chemistry is lacking but will grow. New players in different roles are being sorted out. The coaches should have a good idea of best combinations against different style opponents. We are growing and it shows in spirts like the two great quarters against UCLA.

It sure seems like we have speed that other teams don't. Rebounding is a problem as the guards are doing much of it but also can't rush down the court for easy hoops. To make us more effective our bigs need to REBOUND and pass out quickly. That is not happening well. The rebound totals of bigs and easy hoops are few and far apart.

Our opponents swarm for offensive rebounds and we don't block out well so far. Our bigs need to clear out more under the hoop and hold defensive position for our fast break game to work. With only one or two at best of our bigs under I'm not sure the current line-up can play to our quickness strength. Ice, Griffin & Patterson are a key. Our guards, then, don't need to crash the defensive boards as much putting them out of position for ensuing fast breaks.

 

[Skeets]

Nika's play this year seems off compared to previous years - am I off base?

Not off base. Nika can play better, we've seen it. However, everyone not named Paige can play better. Are any of those returning players having a better year than last year? Well, maybe Aubrey is playing about as good as last year, but that's it.

If you are expecting Nika to be piling up assists again that's hard to do when there is only 1 player she can throw the ball to who is a dependable scorer right now. UConn has enough talent that this situation should change. The sooner, the better.

Wouldn't hurt if Nika put up a couple more shots per game. She can shoot, but doesn't (head scratch).

 

[Gordo]

For Nika to be effective she needs to run the team, and she needs her four teammates on the floor to play well. The problem IS, now we have Paige in the lineup (thank goodness) and when she takes over, Nika is left wondering what to do. If she's not the point guard and running the team then it's questionable if she should be out there? I don't believe Nika would start on any top level team if she weren't the point guard. She plays great defense, is tough as nails (and I love her), but is reluctant offensively when out of position. It's quite the dilemma for Geno in my opinion.

 

[PacoSwede]

i want to add this, which i and others have mentioned regularly:

nika's top value to the team is ... the huskies tend to play better when she is on court.

it's not because she is a scorer (it would be nice if she was but she isn't) or even because she is an above average facilitator or defender. it's some combination of the above. add in her leadership, the example she sets as a teammate.

other BB players possess these traits, in varying degrees -- some are better passers or defenders, and better scorers obviously. as for the leadership: it doesn't get much better from anyone, especially for this Huskies team.

bottom line is: the huskies perform best with nika in the mix. BUT she can't do it alone. when the team plays lousy, she is not to blame, yet she is a key to its success.

that's my take. you can disagree. i'm sure some do. i wish they would not overlook this while debating other pluses and minuses of nika.

 

[CL82]

In my opinion, Nika is the same player this year she was last year. The difference is the level of competition, and an additional scoring big down low.

Nika is quick, but not as quick as a top high major guard. So, against the very best competition she will have more trouble guarding them or driving on them. I think this year's team suffers from the loss of Dorka. Dorka and Aaliyah, the double double twins, down low forced people to pack the paint to be able to stop them, but they also had to chase Dorka out to the arc. That is a whole lot of effort and focus on those two players. That benefited Aaliyah, and certainly opened up the floor which was a benefit for Nick for passing, driving, and taking the open shot.

Sometimes, people look at the stats and say wow what happened to "player X" they're not the same player they were last year. Sometimes that's true, but more often than not it is a change in personnel changing spacing or scheme. That's what I think is happening this year.

 

[PacoSwede]

she needs to start at pg? for you i guess.

kk has played a handful of games in college, but she needs to be the starter? RIDICULOUS!

who else needs to be something? amari needs to be the next female wilt?

and, yes, lou and dorka did have a lot to do with nika's success last year, just as nika had a lot to do with their success. so what's your point?

 

[Kat]

Geno has the only opinion that counts, but I'm thinking Nika starts every game.

 

[rubymae4]

Nika's play this year seems off compared to previous years - am I off base?

It’s not Nika whose play is off, it’s the entire team whose play is off. They are definitely working on incorporating new players into the system, and so far, that traditional UConn chemistry is not there.

I don’t worry about it now—it just needs to be there by tournament time for the team to be successful.

I like watching the process unfold on the screen. We don’t often get to see that.

 

[cwaduke]

I have wondered about Nika this year. Is there nagging injuries or?? In any case, she is not playing with the tanacity that I have come to enjoy from her.

 

[JBK]

When we lose an Azzi - who is good for 17 / 20 points per game, it is devastating when have no one to fill the void consistently- yet So now Nika needs to contribute to the offense and she never has had the confidence to do that.
Approx
Paige 20 points
AE -15
Aubrey - 10.
We need another scorer to step up. !!!

 

[Blond D.]

I have wondered about Nika this year. Is there nagging injuries or?? In any case, she is not playing with the tanacity that I have come to enjoy from her.

you need to watch her when she doesnt have the ball. She's still the same in your face type of defense, its just this year she has help bringing the ball up the court and distributing it. I love watching her fight those big 6'+" players inside when she has to switch onto them.