UConn Women's Basketball Weekly

[RSHERMVIKES]

Nika Mühl is laser-focused on a national championship

After three seasons ending in heartbreak at UConn, the senior point guard will do whatever's necessary to earn a ring.

www.uconnwbbweekly.com

 

[Carnac]

A clip from Giannis Antetokounmpo...“Every year you build towards something,” he began, “… there’s always steps to it. Michael Jordan played 15 years, won six championships. The other nine years are a failure? … There’s no failure in sports. There’s good days, bad days, some days you’re able to be successful, some days you’re not. Some days (years) it’s your turn, some days (years) it’s not your turn. That’s what sports [are] about. You don’t always win. Someone else is going to win.”

I believe that philosophy. When the injuries kept mounting and mounting, I saw the writing on the wall and said many times that last year WAS NOT our year. There's nothing wrong with that. It was somebody else's (LSU) turn to win. When it's your year, you will win. When it's not, you won't. Nobody wins every year.

Personally, with all the injuries UConn suffered last year, at times having only 6 players who were able to dress for a game, UConn did quite well. Better than most teams would have given the same circumstances. If you were a betting man/woman, who would you take to win this year's championship.......LSU or the field?

I think this coming season, given the talent and depth Geno has, this is his best chance to win number 12 since the Stewart era ended 7 years ago. He has a veteran upperclassmen starting line up, and an unusually (for UConn) deep bench of 9 reserves.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Carnac- -
I believe that philosophy. When the injuries kept mounting and mounting, I saw the writing on the wall and said many times that last year WAS NOT our year. There's nothing wrong with that. It was somebody else's (LSU) turn to win. When it's your year, you will win. When it's not, you won't. Nobody wins every year.
Personally, with all the injuries UConn suffered last year, at times having only 6 players who were able to dress for a game, UConn did quite well. Better than most teams would have given the same circumstances. If you were a betting man/woman, who would you take to win this year's championship.......LSU or the field?

Carnac- - YES! I think that it was just one of those years for LSU!
No matter what happened to LSU they were destined to win the NCAA!
Every mistake turned their way, players off the bench having career games, etc.
Like the Mets in 1969, nothing was stopping that runaway train!
I don't think LSU will be as dominate this coming season!
After the last 2 years this is UCONN's turn to shine!

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Nika Mühl is laser-focused on a national championship

After three seasons ending in heartbreak at UConn, the senior point guard will do whatever's necessary to earn a ring.

www.uconnwbbweekly.com

"There’s no failure in sports. There’s good days, bad days, some days you’re able to be successful, some days you’re not. Some days it’s your turn, some days it’s not your turn. That’s what sports [are] about. You don’t always win. Someone else is going to win.”

@RSHERMVIKES, this is really a great quote from Muhl. And it begs a few questions.
Is Charles Barkley a failure because he did not win an NBA title? Is he not as great as another player who did not have the MVP hardware or All-NBA nods but who won a title? Does Barkley's 10 straight years of First Team or Second Team All-NBA (and 11 straight All Star nods) take a back seat to players like Anthony Davis (8 All Stars, 4 All-NBA nods) or Robert Parish (9 All Stars, 2 All-NBA nods) because those players won NBA titles?

Is Michelle Kwan a failure because she did not win an Olympic gold medal? Do her five World Championships, 9 US Championships (8 in a row), Olympic silver medal, and Olympic bronze medal mean she ranks behind Tara Lipinski and/or Sarah Hughes on the list of all-time greats? As an aside, Kwan went six straight figure skating seasons finishing either first or second in every competition and nine straight years finishing no lower than third in any event in which she competed.

Turning to something more personal, was Gail Goestenkors' tenure at Duke a failure because she did not win the NCAA Championship? There is something to be said for sustained excellence (in Coach G's case, it was 7 Elite Eights, 4 FInal Fours, and 2 NCAA title game appearances in her last 10 years at the helm of the Blue Devils -- after she took over the program when it was at the bottom of the ACC).

In any event, thank you for posting the article. And it is a insightful observation from Muhl.

 

[Bone Dog]

Carnac- -
I believe that philosophy. When the injuries kept mounting and mounting, I saw the writing on the wall and said many times that last year WAS NOT our year. There's nothing wrong with that. It was somebody else's (LSU) turn to win. When it's your year, you will win. When it's not, you won't. Nobody wins every year.
Personally, with all the injuries UConn suffered last year, at times having only 6 players who were able to dress for a game, UConn did quite well. Better than most teams would have given the same circumstances. If you were a betting man/woman, who would you take to win this year's championship.......LSU or the field?

Carnac- - YES! I think that it was just one of those years for LSU!
No matter what happened to LSU they were destined to win the NCAA!
Every mistake turned their way, players off the bench having career games, etc.
Like the Mets in 1969, nothing was stopping that runaway train!
I don't think LSU will be as dominate this coming season!
After the last 2 years this is UCONN's turn to shine!

Agree, though I'd substitute "lucky" for "dominant." We were unlucky. They were lucky. Every champion needs a little luck. The key is being ready for what luck brings you.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

To the guys above- - Having coached HS Wrestling for 32 years in MO and Ct I have come to believe the "clubhouse makeup" is so important!
I was named CT Coach-of-the Year in 1998 and in 2005 I was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame even tho my teams in CT never won a state title we were UNLUCKY in that we were always in the hunt but always just fell short! BEYOND FRUSTRATING! But we always had 5 to 6 outstanding individuals that would make the finals and were GREAT Wrestlers! So my Assts and me must have done something right! We coached great Wrestlers and GREAT PEOPLE!
To me failure occurs when the player STOPS trying and gives up!

 

[Carnac]

Agree, though I'd substitute "lucky" for "dominant." We were unlucky. They were lucky. Every champion needs a little luck. The key is being ready for what luck brings you.

Doggy........I'd rather be "lucky" than good. In order to win the BIG ones, the ball has to bounce "your way" a few times. Any coach in any sport will tell you that.

 

[Surly1]

Doggy........I'd rather be "lucky" than good. In order to win the BIG ones, the ball has to bounce "your way" a few times. Any coach in any sport will tell you that.

Unfortunately, UConn has been blessed with "bad" luck the past two years. Lucky better than good. Ok. In my opinion, the only luck UConn needs this season is a healthy roster, particularly Paige. If they have "luck," they will be very good.

 

[Carnac]

Unfortunately, UConn has been blessed with "bad" luck the past two years. Lucky better than good. Ok. In my opinion, the only luck UConn needs this season is a healthy roster, particularly Paige. If they have "luck," they will be very good.

If UConn can go through the entire season healthy, like LSU and South Carolina did last year, things will take care of themselves. UConn is too talented and too deep not to be successful this year.

Few if any teams have the "firepower" or the ability to score as they do. Geno can put 5 starters on the floor that can score 20 points in any given game. How many other teams can do that? I also expect this team to be very very stingy on defense as well.

 

[Bone Dog]

Doggy........I'd rather be "lucky" than good. In order to win the BIG ones, the ball has to bounce "your way" a few times. Any coach in any sport will tell you that.

Totally agree. Though to repeat a championship you need to be good as well as lucky.

 

[temery]

Doggy........I'd rather be "lucky" than good.

have to be both to win it all.

 

[UcMiami]

In almost any single elimination tournament, the winning result comes down to a few plays in a few games for both the winning team and the premier contenders. If Louisville doesn't end up in Baylor's bracket, and go off on a tremendous tear in the tournament, Stewie might only have 3 rings. And Uconn/MsSt final four could have been won by either team on numerous plays.

Very seldom is 1 team so dominant that it takes a major landslide of bad luck to derail a championship. In the Stanford/Uconn final, there was a landslide and yet Tina/Maya were still able to pull out a win because that was one of 'those' few teams. I'd say 1995 was another that faced a landslide of a first half and still won. And I'd say 2001 was a team that had a landslide of bad luck throughout the season and could not survive the last bolder that hit them.

 

[Bald Husky]

In almost any single elimination tournament, the winning result comes down to a few plays in a few games for both the winning team and the premier contenders. If Louisville doesn't end up in Baylor's bracket, and go off on a tremendous tear in the tournament, Stewie might only have 3 rings. And Uconn/MsSt final four could have been won by either team on numerous plays.

Very seldom is 1 team so dominant that it takes a major landslide of bad luck to derail a championship. In the Stanford/Uconn final, there was a landslide and yet Tina/Maya were still able to pull out a win because that was one of 'those' few teams. I'd say 1995 was another that faced a landslide of a first half and still won. And I'd say 2001 was a team that had a landslide of bad luck throughout the season and could not survive the last bolder that hit them.

Once you get to the Final 4, two first team All Americans on the bench would derail any team.

 

[Next 12]

If UConn can go through the entire season healthy, like LSU and South Carolina did last year, things will take care of themselves. UConn is too talented and too deep not to be successful this year.

Few if any teams have the "firepower" or the ability to score as they do. Geno can put 5 starters on the floor that can score 20 points in any given game. How many other teams can do that? I also expect this team to be very very stingy on defense as well.

I agree Carnac. But we have one more aspect going for Uconn. Our past history and our striving for perfection and the NC. Paige and Nika and Azzi had thought that when they signed with Uconn that they would have a NC ring by now. The same with Caroline. With the players we have now on the roster, we now have the fire power, defense, grit and determination to go all the way. This team, unlike past teams, are on a quest to accomplished what was predicted of them and thru bad luck injuries, deterred them. They are GOOD and they know it, so they will not be denied. This is their time, this is their destiny and they will prevail! GO HUSKIES!!!!

 

[Carnac]

I agree Carnac. But we have one more aspect going for Uconn. Our past history and our striving for perfection and the NC. Paige and Nika and Azzi had thought that when they signed with Uconn that they would have a NC ring by now. The same with Caroline. With the players we have now on the roster, we now have the fire power, defense, grit and determination to go all the way. This team, unlike past teams, are on a quest to accomplished what was predicted of them and thru bad luck injuries, deterred them. They are GOOD and they know it, so they will not be denied. This is their time, this is their destiny and they will prevail! GO HUSKIES!!!!

I completely agreed with your take. Ergo my personal mantra for the season......................"it's time."

 

[Carnac]

Totally agree. Though to repeat a championship you need to be good as well as lucky.

If you're really really good as the 1995 team, or the Breanna Stewart era teams were, luck played a very small part in that equation. Most of the games weren't close enough for luck to have an effect on the outcome.

 

[Carnac]

Agree, though I'd substitute "lucky" for "dominant." We were unlucky. They were lucky. Every champion needs a little luck. The key is being ready for what luck brings you.

Doggie....seriously, I think the only team that can stop UConn this year is........UConn. I know there are other teams that are talented and formidable. The usual cast of top 10 teams. BUT.........................I really think THIS is our year. I'm going to keep believing it until we're out of the tournament, or hoisting the trophy.

After Paige and Ice went down before the season began, I didn't feel this way. I really think this is our year!!! As a UConn fan....nothing would please me more than for this team to kick ass and take names one game at a time. Run the table. Run the table like they did in 1995 - 35-0. UConn has 6 undefeated seasons under Geno, so it's not a bridge too far.

 

[Bone Dog]

Doggie....seriously, I think the only team that can stop UConn this year is........UConn. I know there are other teams that are talented and formidable. The usual cast of top 10 teams. BUT.........................I really think THIS is our year. I'm going to keep believing it until we're out of the tournament, or hoisting the trophy.

After Paige and Ice went down before the season began, I didn't feel this way. I really think this is our year!!! As a UConn fan....nothing would please me more than for this team to kick ass and take names one game at a time. Run the table. Run the table like they did in 1995 - 35-0. UConn has 6 undefeated seasons under Geno, so it's not a bridge too far.

I’m with you. This is what luck will have brought us — a healthy team — and we have the gunners and the bruisers and the runners and the slashers to know what to do with this bit of smiling luck.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

A clip from Giannis Antetokounmpo...“Every year you build towards something,” he began, “… there’s always steps to it. Michael Jordan played 15 years, won six championships. The other nine years are a failure? … There’s no failure in sports. There’s good days, bad days, some days you’re able to be successful, some days you’re not. Some days (years) it’s your turn, some days (years) it’s not your turn. That’s what sports [are] about. You don’t always win. Someone else is going to win.”

I believe that philosophy. When the injuries kept mounting and mounting, I saw the writing on the wall and said many times that last year WAS NOT our year. There's nothing wrong with that. It was somebody else's (LSU) turn to win. When it's your year, you will win. When it's not, you won't. Nobody wins every year.

Personally, with all the injuries UConn suffered last year, at times having only 6 players who were able to dress for a game, UConn did quite well. Better than most teams would have given the same circumstances. If you were a betting man/woman, who would you take to win this year's championship.......LSU or the field?

I think this coming season, given the talent and depth Geno has, this is his best chance to win number 12 since the Stewart era ended 7 years ago. He has a veteran upperclassmen starting line up, and an unusually (for UConn) deep bench of 9 reserves.

I would take the field in the LSU Vs. the field bet, because UCONN is in that field.

If the bet was UCONN or the field, I would still take UCONN.... The main reason is the "refuse to lose" mentality of Paige, Nika, AE, Azzi, Caroline, Aubrey, Ice, KK, Shade, Amari, Peterson, Inez, Jana, Qadence, all the way down the line, and the Coaches ARE the BEST!!!!!

Can hardly wait for all the joy and happiness to be released all at once at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland in April with the Huskies earning the BIG trophy that matters! Undefeated or not - don't care!

Go HUSKIES!!!!!

 

[Skeets]

Totally agree. Though to repeat a championship you need to be good as well as lucky.

I never understood that expression. Good is good, and luck is fleeting and uncontrollable. Look at all the great athletes. How many were good versus lucky?

 

[Bone Dog]

I never understood that expression. Good is good, and luck is fleeting and uncontrollable. Look at all the great athletes. How many were good versus lucky?

We were a great team last season, and profoundly unlucky. If we hadn't lost Paige and Ice early on, and then Caroline and then Azzi, and then Dorka for a stretch, and even Ayanna and Nika briefly, I think we could have run the table. That's what luck can do to a great team.

I still remember how we talked about the team's prospects last summer, all of us recognizing potential greatness and trying not to jinx it. Think of it: we might have started Paige Azzi and Caroline, Dorka and Aaliyah all season long, with Aubrey and Nika first off the bench, and the magical Lou, who none of us really knew how to estimate the true worth of then. Ayanna and Ice could have worked their way into important roles with little pressure. OMG! Looking at that team with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been awesome, maybe even run the table great. Instead, a startlingly persistent run of bad luck cut the legs out from under us.

It's not enough to be good, or even great. You also need a little luck.

 

[Carnac]

We were a great team last season, and profoundly unlucky. If we hadn't lost Paige and Ice early on, and then Caroline and then Azzi, and then Dorka for a stretch, and even Ayanna and Nika briefly, I think we could have run the table. That's what luck can do to a great team.

I still remember how we talked about the team's prospects last summer, all of us recognizing potential greatness and trying not to jinx it. Think of it: we might have started Paige Azzi and Caroline, Dorka, and Aaliyah all season long, with Aubrey and Nika first off the bench, and the magical Lou, who none of us knew how to estimate the true worth of then. Ayanna and Ice could have worked their way into important roles with little pressure. OMG! Looking at that team with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been awesome, maybe even run the table great. Instead, a startlingly persistent run of bad luck cut the legs out from under us.

It's not enough to be good, or even great. You also need a little luck.

Luck in your sport can be a simple bounce of the ball or a “clutch” play, or sometimes a play that wasn't made by an opponent. How many times have we seen the outcome of a game be decided by a last-minute or last-second play?

Remember a couple of years ago when Stanford advanced to the NCAA Tournament championship game because Aliyah Boston missed a last-second layup and the putback, and won by 1 point? Some call it luck, some might call it destiny.

 

[HuskyNan]

I never understood that expression. Good is good, and luck is fleeting and uncontrollable. Look at all the great athletes. How many were good versus lucky?

Lucky not to have injuries, lucky to have good refs, lucky in which opponent wins the previous round…

 

[temery]

Totally agree. Though to repeat a championship you need to be good as well as lucky.

Not sure who said it first, but "fortune favors the prepared."

 

[Bone Dog]

Not sure who said it first, but "fortune favors the prepared."

That was Edna Mode in The Incredibles. She’s always been a role model for me.