Will the real Paige Bueckers please stand up

[and one]

I think that you probably meant: "Sarah and Azzi MAKING their share of THEIR
shots". Just a modest clarification??

What I meant is what I said. Both Sarah and Azzi are proven good shooters and as such need be shooting when good shots are available. Poo

 

[packwrap]

This was the Roster and stats for the 2003-2004 season (Taurasi's senior year.​

Thanks for this info!

Quite illuminating that Taurasi with 16 4 and 5 was carrying the team,

while Paige with 21 5 and 4, is not performing to her potential.

If one end of my bench is Ziebell and Q, who both played well last night, and the other end of the bench is Paige, Azzi and Sarah, this is all going to work out.

 

[oldude]

I continue to see suggestions from my fellow BY’ers to the effect that Paige should have the ball in her hands more, or just about all the time. While that worked for CC and to some extent for JuJu, there are a bunch of reasons why it doesn’t make sense for Paige.

First off CC & JuJu have had some abysmal shooting games when they became the only real scoring option for their respective teams, resulting in several ugly losses. Add the fact that CC in particular didn’t waste a lot of energy on defense and what we see is an all or nothing at all strategy by Iowa & USC respectively.

The misconception stems from the idea that Paige should have the ball in her hands for 94’ every possession, bringing the ball up the court, initiating the offense and, more often than not, taking the shot. UConn has had a number of great players through the years. But that style of play has never been the way Geno coached the game. Even during Paige’s NPOY season, she shared the PG responsibilities with both E & Nika.

Assume that Paige brings the ball up on every possession. First off, she will be dogged by the opposing team’s best defender. Once she gets to the top of the key and attempts to initiate the offense, opponents will double her, force the ball out of her hands, and the other 4 players will be “stuck” running the offense.

Add the fact that Paige does more running on defense than any other Husky, and certainly more than CC. Not only does she guard her man, but she also drops down to double the post when the ball goes there and also flies out to the arc to close on open shooters when UConn is in “scramble mode” on defense. Take a look at Paige when there’s a stoppage of play. She’s in great shape. But when you see her in a closeup during a time out, she is often breathing deeply trying to recover from literally playing her butt off.

The way to get Paige the ball is to let somebody else bring the ball up and initiate the offense. Get the ball to Paige with a dribble handoff, elevator screen, feed her in the low post, etc. The absolute key for Paige to be successful is for everyone else on the team to make more plays and hit their shots with a lot more frequency.

 

[HuskyNan]

This was the Roster and stats for the 2003-2004 season (Taurasi's senior year)​

​

Roster​

• Glossary

Player	#	Class	Pos	Height	Summary
Diana Taurasi		SR	G-F	6-0	16.2 Pts, 4.0 Reb, 4.9 Ast
Barbara Turner		SO	G-F	6-0	13.7 Pts, 4.8 Reb, 3.0 Ast
Ann Strother		SO	G-F	6-3	11.0 Pts, 4.3 Reb, 2.3 Ast
Jessica Moore		SR	C	6-3	9.5 Pts, 7.1 Reb, 1.2 Ast
Ashley Battle		JR	F	6-0	7.3 Pts, 4.4 Reb, 1.4 Ast
Maria Conlon		SR	G	5-9	5.9 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 2.9 Ast
Willnett Crockett		SO	F-C	6-2	4.1 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 0.4 Ast
Liz Sherwood		FR	C	6-4	4.3 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Ashley Valley		JR	G	5-9	3.0 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 1.4 Ast
Morgan Valley		SR	G	6-0	2.1 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 1.3 Ast
Kiana Robinson		FR	G	5-8	1.7 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Stacey Marron		JR	G	5-9	0.8 Pts, 0.2 Reb, 0.1 Ast
Nicole Wolff		SO	G	6-0	3.0 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 0.7 Ast

It was really a 6 man roster

 

[HuskyNan]

Thanks for this info!

Quite illuminating that Taurasi with 16 4 and 5 was carrying the team,

while Paige with 22 5 and 4, is not performing to her potential.

If one end of my bench is Ziebell and Q, who both played well last night, and the other end of the bench is Paige, Azzi and Sarah, this is all going to work out.

The real meat and potatoes is the post-season, not the regular season. Here are the NCAA tournament stats for Diana's senior year

 

[packwrap]

The real meat and potatoes is the post-season, not the regular season. Here are the NCAA tournament stats for Diana's senior year

View attachment 105855

This still makes my point. Great info.

I'm not knocking Diana, she's the GOAT. She played tough and got to the foul line, as she initiated contact in the lane instead of trying to avoid it.

Still, if Paige (or JuJu, Hannah etc) averaged 20 4.5 4.5 shooting 47 37 76 splits, the headline would read:

'Despite sub par tournament from Bueckers, Huskies hang in there to win 12th NCAA title.'

Expectations are just sky high.

Note also the poor teammates Diana had contributed 53 points a game!

 

[Plebe]

This still makes my point. Great info.

I'm not knocking Diana, she's the GOAT. She played tough and got to the foul line, as she initiated contact in the lane instead of trying to avoid it.

Still, if Paige (or JuJu, Hannah etc) averaged 20 4.5 4.5 shooting 47 37 76 splits, the headline would read:

'Despite sub par tournament from Bueckers, Huskies hang in there to win 12th NCAA title.'

Expectations are just sky high.

Note also the poor teammates Diana had contributed 53 points a game!

The quality of Taurasi's supporting cast in her junior and senior years is consistently underestimated on this forum to the point of bordering on disrespect. Players like J. Moore, Turner, Strother, Battle, etc. may not have been All-Americans but they were mentally and physically tough, played strong defense, were warriors on the glass, and did all the little things it takes to win big basketball games.

Obviously Diana was the star and leader, and they wouldn't have won without her, but their contributions were substantial and they deserve to be remembered as much better than chopped liver.

 

[Bald Husky]

I think that Paige is being held back by Geno, not her play. She is mostly playing off the ball when Chen is in the game and that limits what Paige can do. Defending her without the ball is much easier than defending her with the ball. Secondly I think that is also what limits the team. Paige is great with the ball. She makes great decisions and can beat the defense in a number of ways.

To me UConn will start to dominate when they remove Chen from the line up and put in Azzi as the shooter. I would have Sarah and another person with some length on the wings and Jana in the middle. I realize a few players need more time but time on the bench isn't going to get them any better.

Chen can be a great player to spell Paige when she needs a rest but other than that her skillset is not at the same level as other players on the team. I still think a line up with Ice and Jana might be their best.

Kaitlyn Chen is just fine and are glad that Geno went after her. She shouldn't be disrespected.

 

[Steelerone]

Sadly, she is not the best player in the country. Ju ju is the best player and massively outplayed her straight up. Paige is a great player but not meant to take over scoring against great teams. She needs some help and unfortunately not getting it. uConn should have won tge USC game. paige took an poor transition 3 and chen took a 1 on 3-4 shot in successive possessions. Chen needs to play less and let the better youngsters have those minutes so they are ready for march. Paige needs more help to shine, she can be the best but she needs more help to let all of ger skills shine. Azzi can’t stay on the court so the sophomores need to elevate their play otherwise paige will not win a championship.

Thank you fan. I've watched several games this year and while trying not to compare her with some of the past point guards (or off or shooting guards) it seems that the better players she is vested to defending leave her in the dust and when she shoots the ball she doesn't take that necessary second to set herself properly. I would much rather see KK or some other younger player get the needed experience knowing that they will get better.

 

[Steelerone]

Kaitlyn Chen is just fine and are glad that Geno went after her. She shouldn't be disrespected.

BH, I don't think people are disrespecting Kaitlyn Chen. They are just saying that she is not "just fine" and that not everyone is happy Geno went after her with some of the talent he has on the bench.

 

[donalddoowop]

The quality of Taurasi's supporting cast in her junior and senior years is consistently underestimated on this forum to the point of bordering on disrespect. Players like J. Moore, Turner, Strother, Battle, etc. may not have been All-Americans but they were mentally and physically tough, played strong defense, were warriors on the glass, and did all the little things it takes to win big basketball games.

Obviously Diana was the star and leader, and they wouldn't have won without her, but their contributions were substantial and they deserve to be remembered as much better than chopped liver.

I have mentioned the same thing before. There were some other good players on that team. Strother was my favorite player.

 

[The deacon]

Add the fact that CC in particular didn’t waste a lot of energy on defense

Add the fact that Paige does more running on defense than any other Husky, and certainly more than CC.

I liked your post, Oldude, but was very sorry to see you fall prey to that age-old BY habit of dragging down Caitlin Clark to build up Paige. That's too bad.

Caitlin was certainly not a defensive stalwart in her freshman season, and even into her sophomore season, but anyone who watched her play most of her games, as I did, recognized the effort she made to improve, and how her play on D became an integral part of the Hawkeyes' success that led to back-to-back NCAA title game runs.

If she were such a slouch on defense, and had an aversion to running, how do you explain that she guarded other teams' perimeter players and yet averaged more than 7 rebounds per game for her four-year career?

Let's just focus on Paige, who deserves our undivided attention while we still have her in Storrs.

 

[Alydar]

Bueckers is not lacking aggression. She may not be scoring enough for some right now, but it's a long and tiring season and for once it would be nice to have her at full energy level in March/April. A lot of Bueckers' value lies in how she makes use of the talent around her. Right now she and Geno are developing an array of talented but inexperienced players on this roster so that they might be legit weapons in March. It's worth losing a few games during the season.

 

[Martin84]

Watch how the ship "magically" will be righted once Azzi and Aubrey are healthy.

 

[Martin84]

Watch how the ship "magically" will be righted once Azzi and Aubrey are healthy.

That would be magic for these 2 players

 

[NycUcWbbFan]

As has been pointed out, Geno’s teams win championships the UConn way.

For timing expectations on evaluating UConn’s 5 incomers (JMASK: Jana, Morgan, Allie, Sarah, Kaitlyn &2) and 4 sophomores (KK, Ash, Q and Ice), it might be instructive to remember Nika’s freshman season:

• Nika didn’t become Nika-the-basketball-player until after the Nika-in-tears game on January 19, 2021 in her freshman season;
• See: How Nika Mühl escaped the doghouse to become a UConn legend
• Nika would become the starting PG on a #1 seeded UConn by the NCAAT;
• Nika got injured in the first round of the NCAAT; Geno: “No, I’m not happy [with the rotation]. I’m not as happy as if we had Nika 100 percent,” he said. “If we had Nika 100 percent, we’re a different basketball team. Much different basketball team.”

Geno and CD — coaches of 40 years — have a knack for producing the best basketball player versions of the team for the postseason, and this year should be no exception. Note that one of Geno’s highest compliments of a player is when he says that such player is a basketball player not just a player who plays basketball.

Other than Sarah, each of the above-mentioned players have partly mentally-handicapped aspects to their game that is currently hurting the team with elite competition through 13 of this season’s 31 regular season games.

• With enough seasoning, the number of such aspects, will diminish enough to produce UConn’s best possible postseason team;
• This is based on a belief that this team is just too talented, too together and too desirous &1 to succeed for each other and Geno and CD’s (particularly prior year) excellence will not allow for failure.

I am of the camp that it is just a matter of time before each and every major rotation player will round to form by the postseason.

&1 Differently expressed than the molten “I want to hit something orange” aura of Diana, Shea, Jen and Nika. Some have somewhat criticized the demeanor in this regard by Paige, Azzi and Aubrey etc. when such demeanor is perhaps more the norm among Geno’s championship teams.

&2 About being “unhappy” on Geno’s decision to bring in Kaitlyn:

• It is Geno’s team, and he had a calculus in bringing in Kaitlyn which is probably something like this;
• In addition, I would imagine he surmised that there was a great chance that only Paige and the four sophomores were the most experienced players for the bulk of the 2024-25 out-of-conference schedule and he didn’t want that;
• And he loathed when he lost Nika to injury (above) and when Nika fouled out of games (such as the Notre Dame game) and probably when end-of-season fatigue affected play.

 

[Skeets]

Bueckers is not lacking aggression. She may not be scoring enough for some right now, but it's a long and tiring season and for once it would be nice to have her at full energy level in March/April. A lot of Bueckers' value lies in how she makes use of the talent around her. Right now she and Geno are developing an array of talented but inexperienced players on this roster so that they might be legit weapons in March. It's worth losing a few games during the season.

I respectfully disagree. Losing is never a good thing. Who was it that said: "Losing teaches you 1 thing, how to lose"? Was that Belichick? Geno? Someone else?

Funny thing, only losers say: "it was a good loss".

Now I agree developing players is important. One of the most important things to teach developing players is that it's never, ever OK to lose.

 

[hoopsfan22]

I respectfully disagree. Losing is never a good thing. Who was it that said: "Losing teaches you 1 thing, how to lose"? Was that Belichick? Geno? Someone else?

Funny thing, only losers say: "it was a good loss".

Now I agree developing players is important. One of the most important things to teach developing players is that it's never, ever OK to lose.

Last 3 seasons have seen more losses than the prior decade. Guess it's working?

 

[oldude]

I liked your post, Oldude, but was very sorry to see you fall prey to that age-old BY habit of dragging down Caitlin Clark to build up Paige. That's too bad.

Caitlin was certainly not a defensive stalwart in her freshman season, and even into her sophomore season, but anyone who watched her play most of her games, as I did, recognized the effort she made to improve, and how her play on D became an integral part of the Hawkeyes' success that led to back-to-back NCAA title game runs.

If she were such a slouch on defense, and had an aversion to running, how do you explain that she guarded other teams' perimeter players and yet averaged more than 7 rebounds per game for her four-year career?

Let's just focus on Paige, who deserves our undivided attention while we still have her in Storrs.

Point taken. My point is that trying to add additional responsibilities to Paige’s incredible workload (I.e. handling the basketball for 94’ every possession) is not viable and potentially a recipe for disaster.

As for CC, let me clarify my remarks. I think she is more than a capable defender. Lisa Bluder determined that the best version of Iowa basketball required CC to be in attack mode and have the ball in her hands all the time. That takes enormous energy. On the flip side, Bluder limited CC’s defensive responsibilities as a way of focusing her energy on offense.

Iowa generally beat teams by outscoring them. For this UConn team to make a deep run in March, they need to hang their hat on defense, and that will take a total commitment from everyone.

 

[BRS24]

The real Paige has been with us the whole time. She's managed to grow in her role(s) from freshman year to present date. She's matured as a player, is doing more incredible things over the last year than first. She's not only working with the team to get the best outcome possible, and performing as the coaches request, she's also prepping herself for a career in the W. Freshman P was great, Super Senior Paige is even better.

 

[packwrap]

Iowa generally beat teams by outscoring them. For this UConn team to make a deep run in March, they need to hang their hat on defense, and that will take a total commitment from everyone.

I got a chuckle out of this, as many of the posters on our 'lack of bigs' and 'New Tennesee' threads claim that 'you can score a lot of points, but can't win games' with the up tempo, 3 point heavy & press strategy.

It's an interesting year to see different approaches and to watch the Huskies get into form.

 

[hoophuskee]

I got a chuckle out of this, as many of the posters on our 'lack of bigs' and 'New Tennesee' threads claim that 'you can score a lot of points, but can't win games' with the up tempo, 3 point heavy & press strategy.

It's an interesting year to see different approaches and to watch the Huskies get into form.

IMo the Offense is more important but understand those that say Defense. I believe no matter what they do their Defense is limited. However, the ceiling for their Offense is prolific.

 

[Zarathustra]

What I meant is what I said. Both Sarah and Azzi are proven good shooters and as such need be shooting when good shots are available. Poo

Sorry, I was not trying to be critical. I apologize if it came across that way.
My mistake, poor wording (to be sure). GO HUSKIES!
This reminds me of a chapter in one of my favorite children's books:
"In which TIGGER (meaning "me"/Zarathustra, of course) is Unbounced".
..... a Friendly Tigger, a Grand Tigger, a Large and Helpful Tigger, a Tigger
who bounced, if he bounced at all, in a beautiful way a Tigger ought to
bounce....