Reality Check

[dtbtbtb]

This game was a very bad one for UConn, and while credit goes to Baylors defense what bothered me the most were the hurried and many times bad shots taken by Lou, Phee and Danger. It was clear that Baylor gambled that MW will not beat them and gave her all the open shots she wanted and she just missed.
At this point this is a small team who needs an A game from at least 3 or 4 of the starting 5 to beat a top team. Yesterday, none of the players had their A game.
If UConn have a chance to become anything more than a jump shooting team it must develop ONO. If i'm Geno I let her play 15 to 20 min. every game going forward so she can get some confidence and develop faster.

 

[HuskyNan]

But they could have scheduled Baylor later in the month once they got into the groove of the AAC schedule. Perhaps those efforts were made and Jan 3rd was the date of last resort. And yes I hope Geno doesn't yell at the players too badly like he did to Katie Lou that one time in the locker room.

Both teams have to play conference games and ESPN gets the last word.

 

[JustinesGuy]

I hear Notre Dame is taking applications for new fans.

Your Kidding right? A ridiculous comment. I am a UCONN graduate, donate to the school, support the girls team with my attendance at some home games and watch every game thats televised. I was past friends with former Uconn players and competed against former uconn players in the field house. You don't need to check my uconn credentials. If you disagree with my post just let me know whats so off base.

 

[DeeHusky]

Agreed that Baylor is not that great of a team. I think they still don’t have what it takes to get to a final four this year. UConn did not play the offense we are use to seeing last night. There wasn’t much Napheesa could do last night and she still tried her best, but she was hesistant at times. Lou just plays TOOOOOOOOOO soft for me. She made a couple of plays last night and did good job rebounding, but has got to take over if she is the go-to player. — Megan Walker had ample opportunity last night to create something, but she didn’t. I’m not sure why. They were giving her the space to create. You have got to make those wide open shots to keep the defense honest, you have to!!! Even when you miss, you have to! They didn’t give Williams that space to create, she was put in a position to have to make plays. She just wasn’t as aggressive as I’d like. Crystal took some really odd shots last night. They didn’t screen for her like they in the Cal game where she had several midrange field goals or maybe they did and the height made her fade-away plenty of times. All in all that game would have been a different story had UConn showed up to play offense. The two difference makers in the game were Brown’s shots from the high post and Nalyssa Smiths putbacks. I still have faith in this team & Geno. The days of Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck, and Moriah Jefferson are over. Someone else has to decide that they are going to step and be the leaders that they were.

 

[luckyhusky7]

I just hope Geno isn't mean to the team. It's not like they wanted to lose. One can't help but think the outcome might have been different if they flip-flopped this game with Sunday's game.

It’s not Geno that’s being mean though....it’s the fans bc God forbid we lost.

 

[Charliebball]

Megan Walker had a bad game last night but can we please stop with this crap about her Not being a #1 recruit or not a starter. Name a player from the class of 2017 that is playing better basketball?

I can think of two...............................Evina Westbrook (15.5 ppg, 5.5 assts) and Chennedy Carter (20.8 ppg 4.3 assts, 4.3 rbds)

 

[CocoHusky]

I can think of two......Evina Westbrook (15.5 ppg, 5.5 assts) and Chennedy Carter (20.8 ppg 4.3 assts, 4.3 rbds)

Nope.

 

[Charliebball]

Nope.

'

Megan Walker 10.7 ppg, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists

really???? Westbrook leads Tenn in both scoring average and assists and is the catalyst for their great start this year and she's not having a better season then MW?...............same for Carter...........I know you're a homer but that's crazy talk....................

.

 

[CocoHusky]

'

Megan Walker 10.7 ppg, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists

really???? Westbrook leads Tenn in both scoring average and assists and is the catalyst for their great start this year and she's not having a better season then MW?.....same for Carter......I know you're a homer but that's crazy talk......

I am definitely a homer. Flip that around, would Evina Westbrook or Carter be averaging Megan's numbers playing at UCONN? Before you answer that, both players lead their teams in turnovers by a wide wide margin, that would never work at UCONN. It's a question of efficiency. Carter is shooting 40% on the season and has more than twice as many shot attempts as Megan. 40% shooting would put you 2nd to last on the UCONN team and get you a seat on the bench.

 

[donalddoowop]

One stat that stood out to me was that Christyn only attempted 6 shots. She played so much differently than in the ND game. Alas, freshman inconsistency has reared its ugly head.

After she hit those two three point shots, did she ever get the ball again with a chance to shoot it?

 

[hoopingcrane]

I can think of two......Evina Westbrook (15.5 ppg, 5.5 assts) and Chennedy Carter (20.8 ppg 4.3 assts, 4.3 rbds)

Hmmm. Check each of their stats from their last games. Carter 3-19, Westbrook 7 points.

 

[BroadwayVa]

After she hit those two three point shots, did she ever get the ball again with a chance to shoot it?

No--it is hard to score from the bench.

 

[Charliebball]

I am definitely a homer. Flip that around, would Evina Westbrook or Carter be averaging Megan's numbers playing at UCONN? Before you answer that, both players lead their teams in turnovers by a wide wide margin, that would never work at UCONN. It's a question of efficiency. Carter is shooting 40% on the season and has more than twice as many shot attempts as Megan. 40% shooting would put you 2nd to last on the UCONN team and get you a seat on the bench.

while I'm hardly a Westbrook fan, I think most knowledgeable basketball folks would agree that she is having a far more dominant season so far...........her leadership and aggressive play far outweighs any shortcomings in her numbers.............she has single handedly won numerous games for her team...............while Walker has had some good moments I can't remember too many games where she was the main cog leading to victory

“Evina is a terrific player,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “She’s tough to guard and can score both on the inside and outside. … I think we worked really hard against her, and she still had a really good game with 10 assists, only four turnovers and 29 points. She is an outstanding player.”

 

[DeeHusky]

Hmmm. Check each of their stats from their last games. Carter 3-19, Westbrook 7 points.

Carter and Westbrook both had green lights to shoot the ball whenever they get it from the time they signed letter or intents. Megan Walker had 3 WNBA players in front of her last year and two this year. She has not had to be the star of her team.

 

[DallasBUFan]

Carter and Westbrook both had green lights to shoot the ball whenever they get it from the time they signed letter or intents. Megan Walker had 3 WNBA players in front of her last year and two this year. She has not had to be the star of her team.

No but has had the opportunity to do so and has not embraced the chance yet.

 

[ME Husky Fan]

When Kalana Brown is hitting 12 to 15 footers on a consistent basis you have to think the night would be a long one, and it was. Frankly, I'm surprised it was a close as it was at times but you win some and you lose some and with this program the losses are very few and very far between so we move on.

 

[j66kicker]

But they could have scheduled Baylor later in the month once they got into the groove of the AAC schedule. Perhaps those efforts were made and Jan 3rd was the date of last resort. And yes I hope Geno doesn't yell at the players too badly like he did to Katie Lou that one Time in the locker room.

Why not? The need it. Like he said after halftime they weren’t cutting hard or doing enough to play offense, too much standing around. If they want to win these games they have to bring more energy on offense. They can do it but somebody needs to wake them up.

 

[meyers7]

I watched the Baylor game a few times and it just confirmed what I've felt about this group post Stewie and Uconn's prospects for next year. First of all Baylor is not a great team, they have a great coach with solid players and some good height. That said they are by no means a great team. We played the worst first half ive seen us play in years and we were only down by one?
We are going to have to face it, this group post BS are very very mortal. As good as Lou and NC are they just do NOT take charge and will the team to win. This game is a glimpse into what next year is going to hold, only next year is going to be worse. I don't know if Geno has what it takes at his age to rebuild this, and this is a complete rebuild when Lou and Phese graduate. I hate to break the news to all of you guys but were going to have two players that can play at a high level coming into next year. We have CD and CW as the only premium talent. MW is not what we hoped for when she committed. She's a nice player but not a super star, not worthy of a number one recruit out of high school. Our recruiting has become flawed, maybe lazy! Sure our freshman class looks promising, but only 2 kids committed? Our incoming class is a class of 1? REALLY? I can almost guarantee you she's not a generational talent. Next year we are a top 25 team and can GENO handle it? More importantly at his age does he have the gusto to turn this around? IDK.

I blame Justine. Seems everytime we lose, she's not around on the sideline reporting. Hmmmm?

 

[LoTrader]

I can think of two......Evina Westbrook (15.5 ppg, 5.5 assts) and Chennedy Carter (20.8 ppg 4.3 assts, 4.3 rbds)

There are more 2017 players from the PAC-12 that you can add to this list.

 

[Charliebball]

There are more 2017 players from the PAC-12 that you can add to this list.

I haven't even gone back to look at that class but I suspect there are probably at least a few more out there...............of course if Coco really thinks Walker is playing better then Westbrook this season then you might as well not even bring anybody else up........

 

[LoTrader]

I haven't even gone back to look at that class but I suspect there are probably at least a few more out there.....of course if Coco really thinks Walker is playing better then Westbrook this season then you might as well not even bring anybody else up...

PAC-12 class of 2017: Kiana Williams & Maya Dodson of Stanford, Satou Sabally of Oregon, Taya Corosdale & Aleah Goodman of Oregon State.

 

[CocoHusky]

There are more 2017 players from the PAC-12 that you can add to this list.

There are a bunch of pac 12 players for the 2017 class having very good season. Williams & Dotson at Stanford, Owenyere at UCLA, Dotson at Horvat at UCLA....Smith at Cal...Sabally at Oregon. The criteria though was having a better season than Megan Walker and none are. This is not a statistical argument it an efficiency and impact argument.

I haven't even gone back to look at that class but I suspect there are probably at least a few more out there.....of course if Coco really thinks Walker is playing better then Westbrook this season then you might as well not even bring anybody else up...

 

[Charliebball]

PAC-12 class of 2017: Kiana Williams & Maya Dodson of Stanford, Satou Sabally of Oregon, Taya Corosdale & Aleah Goodman of Oregon State.

[
I'd have to look at the numbers................I know that Williams has been playing well at Stanford..................am I right that .Dodson doesn't see as many minutes? That's the older Sabally, right? Thought about Corosdale and don't know much about Goodman................let's see some numbers.......

 

[Charliebball]

There are a bunch of pac 12 players for the 2017 class having very good season. Williams & Dotson at Stanford, Owenyere at UCLA, Dotson at Horvat at UCLA....Smith at Cal...Sabally at Oregon. The criteria though was having a better season than Megan Walker and none are. This is not a statistical argument it an efficiency and impact argument.

so you're honestly saying that Walker is having more of a positive impact for UConn then Westbrook is for Tennessee this season? I'm really hoping your just pulling my chain............

 

[LoTrader]

There are a bunch of pac 12 players for the 2017 class having very good season. Williams & Dotson at Stanford, Owenyere at UCLA, Dotson at Horvat at UCLA....Smith at Cal...Sabally at Oregon. The criteria though was having a better season than Megan Walker and none are. This is not a statistical argument it an efficiency and impact argument.

The players I mentioned from the PAC-12 are all having a better year than MW. And they are all better players than MW, whether they were playing in UCONN's system, or, their current system.

[
I'd have to look at the numbers......I know that Williams has been playing well at Stanford...am I right that .Dodson doesn't see as many minutes? That's the older Sabally, right? Thought about Corosdale and don't know much about Goodman......let's see some numbers..

Hard to compare numbers when they all play in different systems. And you would have to decide which stats matter? It is purely an individual's judgment. I have watched MW play in nearly every UCONN game that I can get on the west coast. And, have seen nearly all the PAC-12 games of the players I mentioned. I would take every one of these 2017 PAC-12 players on my team before MW. My 1st thought was when I read the original post, is this a joke? There are so many excellent players across the country from the 2017 class. Not to say MW won't be the best of the 2017 class by the time she finishes her career at UCONN.