I think two things were responsible for the team turning around things for the BE tournament. One they returned to 'Uconn practices' instead of abbreviated ones to 'rest' the overly burdened starters. Nika said shortly before the turn around that they needed to do that and that is what happened. Practice is where they have always worked out any deficiencies, running it again and again until they got it right and became intuitive.
I disagree with the connotation of Geno's statement that the team was playing selfishly, I think players were trying to make something work when nothing seemed to be (when essentially left to their own devices) . They historically have been prepped in practice to make the right choices/adjustments through repetitive reinforcement. They have been prepared in practice to know how to handle various scenarios when adjustments had to be made in games, when things went off the rails. If Geno gave them in game directives that they seldom/never worked on in practice, he shouldn't have been surprised that they didn't get realized on the court, nor should he have been surprised when they didn't and that they then reverted to an approach they felt most comfortable/competent in working (rightly or wrongly). They were frustrated and resultantly exhausted so its not surprising that things spiraled somewhat. I put that more on the coaches than the players. The coaches made the call to reduce practice time and intensity, not the players.
The second factor was the return of Azzi and Caroline and thus having a ten woman roster available. Players could play more intensely and take more risks, which they did, because they knew there was a relief if needed. They didn't need to temper how they played, they were able to play at the pace and in the fashion that was their identity rather than playing the slower and more 'careful' game they had been forced into (which was way more wearing physically and, more so, mentally due to the pressure of their need to virtually play the entire games, with little or no relief).
So with the full roster and a return to regular practices I don't see where it would be so surprising that there game performance in the BE tournament significantly improved over the prior couple weeks. Its not like how they looked in the tournament was an anomaly, quite the opposite that approached what they looked like at start of the season when they last had a full roster. I expect them to continue to improve through the early games of the NCAA tournament and hopefully return to the level of play of the beginning of the season in short order. If they do, there is no-one that they cannot defeat on a given day!
