Who is the point guard?

[MSGRET]

A lot of people are complaining about Nika's numbers being down, have they looked at some of the shooters that are missing the bunnies that they didn't miss last year? Nika should have at least another 20 assists, if not more, on the missed bunnies over the first 6 games.

 

[Skeets]

Duh, how insightful! The only way to pile up assists is if other people are putting the ball in the basket. So, not only Lou and Dorka but a few other people had something to do with Nika's success last season.

KK will get her minutes this year and it's looking like she's the starting PG next year. "Starting" doesn't necessarily make a player any more or any less effective.

 

[Bald Husky]

When Paige and Nika are in together, Paige should play the 2 and Nika the 1. We got a lot of baskets in transition last year, and no matter who scored, Nika was the person that got them the ball. She is the only guard that pushes the offence, so Paige and company can run down the court to retrieve one of Nikas passes. Right now, we don't need Paige to be the assist person, we need her to score. Until somebody else steps up to the plate to knock shots down, Paige is our best option. Obviously if Paige wants, or needs to create her own magic, even if Nika is on the floor, she will. I'm not trying to stifle Paiges game, just give her more opportunities to get easy baskets on the run. We can't leave everything to Paige, and that is one of our problems. Let's go with what worked last year, and with Paige out there as a shooter, we should at least do as good this time. Aaliyah, Aubrey, and Caroline did well on the break, so lets stop trying to figure new ways to score, and let's get back to what has always worked. KK can also push it, but she needs more experience to be the #1 pusher.

 

[reelfan]

Do we select ONE PG for the rest of the season or does that choice depend in part upon who the opposing team is ??

 

[Huskyfan63]

I'm definitely not seeing any justification for that on the court. Lou and Dorka scored baskets after receiving passes from Nika. No big mystery.

 

[Blond D.]

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.

Nika sets a lot of screens and picks for the other players When Paige is up top she takes the corner position and also runs cuts to the basket and puts herself in position to get rebounds. She watches to make sure Paige isnt in trouble and goes back up top if needed there. Nika is NEVER lost or wondering what to do.

 

[Gordo]

Nika sets a lot of screens and picks for the other players When Paige is up top she takes the corner position and also runs cuts to the basket and puts herself in position to get rebounds. She watches to make sure Paige isnt in trouble and goes back up top if needed there. Nika is NEVER lost or wondering what to do.

Yes, should have used a better choice of words other than she "is left wondering what to do". 40 lashes!!!

 

[Blacketh’D]

Nika is really the only guard who can only capitalize at point guard. I don’t know enough about KK to tell how good she could be there but it seems like the rest of our front court are combo guards. Yea Paige and kk can be our points but they don’t need to be and the team doesn’t necessarily need them to be either. Nika’s value to the team offense hinders on passing more than the other two. Like I’ve always said during the offseason, who the starting guards are don’t matter as long as they work together and improve the teams offense. So far they all seem to not be able to get over their own game and how they lead. Nothing flows.

 

[diggerfoot]

Hmmm. Let’s look at some actual A/T number for three most recent years these women played.

Bueckers - 2.3, 2.3, 1.5 to date
Clark - 1.7, 2.1, 2.5 to date
Muhl - 1.7, 2.2, 3.5 to date

First off, I was surprised by Clark’s numbers. I thought they would go down this year because of the roster, but so far they have elevated to what elite pros like Bird and Vandersloot have for career A/T. We really should give her due credit as a facilitator.

But the more impressive trajectory is Muhl’s. Contrary to popular belief, her teammates do not shoot better than Iowa, nor do they shoot better than other great UConn teams.

 

[Jokerman619]

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.

Aubrey is a energy bunny, never knows how to slow down. And also she has her shot coming to her. Nika is made of the same model. They just need to get back to Paige being on the court. And play as a team. Like uconn does. And like last year playing with a real short bench, but pulled through some amazing games, only losing to S C by 4.(maybe not sure on final score) but you all know what I mean. When that happens, this team will be unstoppable. Just my opinion.
Go Huskies.

 

[Bigboote]

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.

Yeah, don't forget: "I'm not 4-5, I'm 5-11, I can switch on bigs." Probably my favorite quote from Nika.

 

[jeff30189]

Yeah, don't forget: "I'm not 4-5, I'm 5-11, I can switch on bigs." Probably my favorite quote from Nika.

Play Nika at the 4 against Texas and let her annoy the $%&*!@ out of their post players every time they try to dribble.

Kidding not kidding. Bet she'd get 8 boards and 4 steals.

 

[JRRRJ]

I'm afraid @topogigio is mistaken.

Here are NIka's figures:

	FG%/3FG%	Points	ORB/DRB/TRB	Assists/TO	A/TO	Steals
2022	41.2/34.3	7.11	0.53/3.39/3.92	7.89/3.53	2.24	1.39
2023	51.5/35.7	7.00	1.67/2.67/4.33	4.67/1.33	3.50	0.67

Note that these stats are on a per-game basis. Nika has played about 20% fewer minutes per game this year than last, and on a per-minute basis her points and rebounds are higher and assists are closer to last year's figures.

Note that she's taking much better care of the ball this year, and has much better FG% and A/TO figures.

 

[Blond D.]

I'm afraid @topogigio is mistaken.

Here are NIka's figures:

	FG%/3FG%	Points	ORB/DRB/TRB	Assists/TO	A/TO	Steals
2022	41.2/34.3	7.11	0.53/3.39/3.92	7.89/3.53	2.24	1.39
2023	51.5/35.7	7.00	1.67/2.67/4.33	4.67/1.33	3.50	0.67

Note that these stats are on a per-game basis. Nika has played about 20% fewer minutes per game this year than last, and on a per-minute basis her points and rebounds are higher and assists are closer to last year's figures.

Note that she's taking much better care of the ball this year, and has much better FG% and A/TO figures.

Right!! This year she has help.