"This is not a Good Team"

[msf22b]

A few weeks ago, I posted this here or a different site.
Obviously, something (many things?) has changed.
Yesterday, they started looking like the UConn of lore
What happened?

1. It always helps to have a dependable shooter; it spreads the D
leaves space in the middle to run stuff. Azzi's coming out was
more significant than Caroline's loss...and it puts points on the board.

2. Aside from Azzi, Aaliyah had an almost perfect game, shooting well
aggressive, tough D, rebounding, making bunnies, confident, disrupting
She is a force to be reckoned with when she plays like that

3. The passing was so crisp, the ball moving like lightning (at times)
and with intent. The first I've seen all season.

4. One could see discernible plays, mainly to get Azzi free, with double
(triple?) screens...and it works. And her pick and roll to Olivia was wonderful

5. I imagine that the team, if not scared stiff, was concerned enough to fully
embrace the coaching, that the staff is more than willing to impart...It showed.

6. (maybe not so positive) reality...I theorized (not particularly popular) that the homegrown seniors were not necessarily the key to this teams success...Christyn and Olivia certainly contribute mightily especially in the 3rd period, but the changing of the guard may have tentatively begun.

7. As more than one of our young woman expressed last night, this team has the potential to be Nasty.

 

[my2cents]

Weird thread title

 

[Adesmar123]

A few weeks ago, I posted this here or a different site.
Obviously, something (many things?) has changed.
Yesterday, they started looking like the UConn of lore
What happened?

1. It always helps to have a dependable shooter; it spreads the D
leaves space in the middle to run stuff. Azzi's coming out was
more significant than Caroline's loss...and it puts points on the board.

2. Aside from Azzi, Aaliyah had an almost perfect game, shooting well
aggressive, tough D, rebounding, making bunnies, confident, disrupting
She is a force to be reckoned with when she plays like that

3. The passing was so crisp, the ball moving like lightning (at times)
and with intent. The first I've seen all season.

4. One could see discernible plays, mainly to get Azzi free, with double
(triple?) screens...and it works. And her pick and roll to Olivia was wonderful

5. I imagine that the team, if not scared stiff, was concerned enough to fully
embrace the coaching, that the staff is more than willing to impart...It showed.

6. (maybe not so positive) reality...I theorized (not particularly popular) that the homegrown seniors were not necessarily the key to this teams success...Christyn and Olivia certainly contribute mightily especially in the 3rd period, but the changing of the guard may have tentatively begun.

7. As more than one of our young woman expressed last night, this team has the potential to be Nasty.

Or is Tennessee really that bad?

 

[msf22b]

Or is Tennessee really that bad?

In my view, they can be disrupted mightily, if one has the bigs to prevent
their omnipresent 2nd chance points and the guards to match up to their
fallback one on one offense.

Geno, set that in motion and the team executed

To answer your question: No, they're not as bad as they looked

 

[MooseJaw]

Or is Tennessee really that bad?

Yes, yesterday Tn was that bad. However a lot of the bad was because the Huskies were bad ass on defense. Cutting off passing lanes, denying the Lv's open space while beating them at the rebounding advantage. All in all, a masterful defensive game by the Lady Huskies.

 

[BRS24]

Weird thread title

I think this might be related to a comment by Geno in the past month or so, something about "we're not a good team right now"

 

[huskies29]

Imo Azzi’s outside shooting and the return of edward’s especially as a force down low again were the keys.

 

[bballnut90]

Or is Tennessee really that bad?

It's this, plus UCONN played incredibly well in the second half once more shots started falling. UCONN was as good as I've seen them play this year, largely due to big efforts from Westbrook, Muhl, Edwards and Fudd. Tennessee isn't playing like a tournament team at this point, with double digit losses against UCONN (19), Florida (25) and Auburn (10) in 3 of their 4 last games.

 

[BobbyJ]

I dislike the flailing arms and resultant foul problems as much as anyone but IMO the biggest key to getting to a FF is ONO's interior defense. Sure, without Bueckers it's probably not happening anyway, but with the way UConn's perimeter allows penetration like Horston's to break them down, without the threat of ONO in there I don't see it.

 

[UcMiami]

I know a lot of folks aren't very enamored of Nika, but what I see is that since she has been back, the defensive intensity has gone up, and the offense is becoming more organized. There was a reason she started as much as she did last year, and while integrating and relying on freshmen for offensive spark isn't ideal, Caroline and Azzi are coming around.

 

[SLY63]

1. It always helps to have a dependable shooter; it spreads the D
leaves space in the middle to run stuff. Azzi's coming out was
more significant than Caroline's loss...and it puts points on the board.

I posted something similar in another thread...

Azzi's shooting performance means every team we play will have to know exactly where she is at all times, and that will open up the middle for Liv, AE and Dorka, the driving lanes for CD, E and CW, and clean looks for Nika. I don't even want to think about what it will mean when a healthy Paige comes back.

 

[pacific 44]

We had a really good coach come in and take over the team for just one game and look at the difference in how the team plays. She sure taught them a lot.

 

[Boreifs]

Tennessee was a first seed for the tournament just two weeks ago. Without our two top scorers, with mediocre games from our two four-year seniors, limited minutes from our starting four, we beat them handily. They are struggling right now, to be sure, but nevertheless it was a very impressive team victory.
It is also a lesson that having a 6’1”” score-first point guard is very seldom a recipe for success.

 

[hoophuskee]

As I said many weeks ago - with Paige out- the team needed Azzi. Not that she is the best player. Whether she is or not is irrelevant. It's what she brings vs the other players. An enormous weakness all last year Geno stated was shooting. And even after the Lousville game Waltz mentioned how he set up his defense to collapse the paint.

That's all this team needed to be "good/very good."

They are still having way too many injuries which hurts continuity.

 

[DefenseBB]

The current limit on this team is the volume of turnovers they commit. Currently, it is 14.9 per game, last year was 14.1 per game (13.75/11.7/12.0 from '20 back to '18). Their Assist to Turnover ratio is not up to UConn standards and is currently 1.21 (previous 4 years were 1.45,1.36,1.68,1.84) and yes, losing Paige has created some of that. We still had 2 other experienced point guards on the team-Nika and Evina (don't even argue that Evina wasn't a point guard at Tennessee-she was) and frankly the rest of the team is not great at ball movement. The team average of 18.1 is our lowest in these past 5 years.

Basically, this team needs to up its assists by 2 per game and lower it's turnovers by 2 per game and that would help quite a bit. Spacing helps, outside shooting helps and so does ball movement AND player movement. We did more of that yesterday and despite CW shooting 1-7 (3 pt line) and Evina 1-5 (3 pt) the rest of the team was 10 of 14 led by Fudd's 7/9.

Side note-CW and Evina have never been a great outside shooters and both need to drive to the basket more, take the mid-range jumper and maybe dish to a big going to the basket instead of getting blocked among the trees when confronted.

 

[Longtime fan]

Or is Tennessee really that bad?

Good point. It doesn't detract from AZZI, but Tennessee may not be so good. South Carolina is the standard. Stanford is right up there with them. Not sure about NC STATE snd Louisville. ND getting better and they are deep with young talent. But uCONN is gradually getting better. It is fun to be over-looked.

 

[ucbart]

It's this, plus UCONN played incredibly well in the second half once more shots started falling. UCONN was as good as I've seen them play this year, largely due to big efforts from Westbrook, Muhl, Edwards and Fudd. Tennessee isn't playing like a tournament team at this point, with double digit losses against UCONN (19), Florida (25) and Auburn (10) in 3 of their 4 last games.

Yup-That second could very well be the turning point of this season. We were good against a good team. And I don't care how "bad" Tennessee is this year-they're still good.

 

[MilfordHusky]

The current limit on this team is the volume of turnovers they commit. Currently, it is 14.9 per game, last year was 14.1 per game (13.75/11.7/12.0 from '20 back to '18). Their Assist to Turnover ratio is not up to UConn standards and is currently 1.21 (previous 4 years were 1.45,1.36,1.68,1.84) and yes, losing Paige has created some of that. We still had 2 other experienced point guards on the team-Nika and Evina (don't even argue that Evina wasn't a point guard at Tennessee-she was) and frankly the rest of the team is not great at ball movement. The team average of 18.1 is our lowest in these past 5 years.

Basically, this team needs to up its assists by 2 per game and lower it's turnovers by 2 per game and that would help quite a bit. Spacing helps, outside shooting helps and so does ball movement AND player movement. We did more of that yesterday and despite CW shooting 1-7 (3 pt line) and Evina 1-5 (3 pt) the rest of the team was 10 of 14 led by Fudd's 7/9.

Side note-CW and Evina have never been a great outside shooters and both need to drive to the basket more, take the mid-range jumper and maybe dish to a big going to the basket instead of getting blocked among the trees when confronted.

Assists usually require 2 things: good passers and good finishers. I think we have been missing both. Many post entry passes have been late or telegraphed. But the more glaring thing is so many missed layups. The low number of assists correlates with the relatively low shooting percentage. But there is a solution: pass the damn ball to Azzi.

 

[Bigboote]

1. It always helps to have a dependable shooter; it spreads the D
leaves space in the middle to run stuff. Azzi's coming out was
more significant than Caroline's loss...and it puts points on the board.

7. As more than one of our young woman expressed last night, this team has the potential to be Nasty.

It also helps to have a game plan to allow her to get her open. UConn's screening yesterday was fantastic. Tennessee went into the game intending to deny Azzi clean looks, but it didn't do any good.

If UConn can continue that with the full complement of shooters, they will be nasty, and let's hope they have an attitude.