Will the real Paige Bueckers please stand up

[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.

 

[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.

 

[Mandoo]

Expecting Paige to step and do more is just a ridiculous comment to make. In the two games we lost she needs other players to step up and they haven't. She gets the oppositions best defender and the player guarding Brady, because you don't have to guard her.
Win or lose, I am just going to enjoy watching her play her last games for UConn.

Many people have said absolutely correct things about Paige and her fall-off. Some people disagree justifiably and some are not willing to be analytical. You cannot fool all of the many astute observers, however. Personally, I think Geno has a bit of rust on himself despite the 11 natty's etc etc yada yada. I think recruiting has omitted personality analysis, there's plenty of tigresses in womens' BB. Team does not seem aggressive and our 5's are in a deep sleep. The Amari thingie left a bitter taste making us wonder about some of the recruiting choices. Legitimate critiques are not blasphemy, they signify things that are not hunky dory in StorrsLand.

 

[Mandoo]

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.

We need Azzi shooting at least 16 times each game. This may be the only way to shake her out of her funk.

 

[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....