It sounds like Nika Muhl is still uncertain for tonight's Final 4 Matchup with Arizona. Yesterday, Geno said she was "progressing" but that "we will not know until shoot-around."
Muhl will be needed, even if for only 15 minutes off the bench to rest the other guards, because UConn is matching up against probably the best guard they have seen all year in Pac 12 Player of the Year Aari MacDonald. I saw this girl play for the first time in the Elite 8 game between Arizona and Indiana and she is fantastic and fun to watch. 5'6", left handed shooter who is VERY lefthanded, extremely quick, and seems to zig and zag through defenses very perceptively. She has been called the "female Allen Iverson", although I do not think she plays that much like AI and relies more on high IQ plays and less on her quickness than AI, from what I saw. Until the NCAA Tournament started she had only been around a 30% shooter of 3s on the season, but in her last few games she has been on a torrid stretch of shooting 3s (I think she is 11-18 in the last 2 games). This is because teams are playing off of her to respect her drives and she is making the open shots. Christyn Williams will get the first crack at covering her but TBH I do not think this is a good matchup for UConn. The only player UConn has seen this year remotely like Aari McDonald is the small quick guard on Seton Hall who dropped 29 points on UConn (I forget her name but she is not nearly as good as Aari is).
The scouting report on Aari is that she plays very lefthanded and the defense needs to make her go right, but I have not seen anyone have success with this plan and she seems very capable of reading defenses and darting in all different directions. The way that she handles and zig zags through defenses reminds me a bit of Khalid El Amin, who was crafty with the dribble.
I think UConn will try traps to get the ball out of her hands and we will see how that goes. Meanwhile, the Arizona roster is smallish. They do bring a 6'5"" girl off the bench, a freshman, but other than her they only have one starter who is as tall as 6'2", and the rest of them are 6'0" and under. So UConn might be able to hurt this team inside.
Muhl will be needed, even if for only 15 minutes off the bench to rest the other guards, because UConn is matching up against probably the best guard they have seen all year in Pac 12 Player of the Year Aari MacDonald. I saw this girl play for the first time in the Elite 8 game between Arizona and Indiana and she is fantastic and fun to watch. 5'6", left handed shooter who is VERY lefthanded, extremely quick, and seems to zig and zag through defenses very perceptively. She has been called the "female Allen Iverson", although I do not think she plays that much like AI and relies more on high IQ plays and less on her quickness than AI, from what I saw. Until the NCAA Tournament started she had only been around a 30% shooter of 3s on the season, but in her last few games she has been on a torrid stretch of shooting 3s (I think she is 11-18 in the last 2 games). This is because teams are playing off of her to respect her drives and she is making the open shots. Christyn Williams will get the first crack at covering her but TBH I do not think this is a good matchup for UConn. The only player UConn has seen this year remotely like Aari McDonald is the small quick guard on Seton Hall who dropped 29 points on UConn (I forget her name but she is not nearly as good as Aari is).
The scouting report on Aari is that she plays very lefthanded and the defense needs to make her go right, but I have not seen anyone have success with this plan and she seems very capable of reading defenses and darting in all different directions. The way that she handles and zig zags through defenses reminds me a bit of Khalid El Amin, who was crafty with the dribble.
I think UConn will try traps to get the ball out of her hands and we will see how that goes. Meanwhile, the Arizona roster is smallish. They do bring a 6'5"" girl off the bench, a freshman, but other than her they only have one starter who is as tall as 6'2", and the rest of them are 6'0" and under. So UConn might be able to hurt this team inside.
