UConn - TMU post game thread

[HopJim]

Ice is playing timid, perhaps because fear of reinjuring. As for Amari, I agree she did better last nite; but, it was still not even close to being good enough to show she deserves to be on the floor when it counts.

Suspect that Ice still has some residual effects from her knee surgery, both physical and mental. Hoping she takes advantage of having players like Edwards, Paige, and Griffin around her this year. All are great at shooting layups by using their offhand to shield the ball while shooting it slightly away from the defender's body. Ice is shooting a bit like Patterson, almost pushing the ball into the defender. Ice appears to know what to do but has been slow to make these changes. May be a case where the seniors can be better coaches than Geno's staff.

 

[Cornell Lt]

View attachment 94312

That's a coach that sees the big picture, congrats to her for speaking up.

 

[Zarathustra]

That's a cupcake LSU score, but it got Aaliyah a home game and I'm sure many Canadian's wanted to see Kia's old club again.

I believe the "cupcake" score was because PITTSBURGH backed out of the original plan for the Husky
celebration of Aaliyah's "senior game". TMU was outmatched but it was not planned, circumstances
dictated a reshuffling of the deck. Many thanks to TMU for taking on the challenge! (and taking it
on the chin!)

 

[Charliebball]

Suspect that Ice still has some residual effects from her knee surgery, both physical and mental. Hoping she takes advantage of having players like Edwards, Paige, and Griffin around her this year. All are great at shooting layups by using their offhand to shield the ball while shooting it slightly away from the defender's body. Ice is shooting a bit like Patterson, almost pushing the ball into the defender. Ice appears to know what to do but has been slow to make these changes. May be a case where the seniors can be better coaches than Geno's staff.

Ice clearly has the skills to score but she's trying so hard that she's rushing every aspect of her game.........hardly the first freshman to have that issue........it's going to take one or two good games to get her over the hump but I'm confident she'll get there......

 

[Zarathustra]

Ash had 22 against Butler on Monday. Maybe she’s a consideration?

I've already made my "consideration" ..... 22 + 20 + those tangibles and intangibles = FPOW!

 

[Tonyc]

This game breeds confidence. Yes they were overmatched however this is what we needed. Our early schedule was tuff and having the lineup we have now I think our losses might have faired better. There were no jitters or hesitation. Our kids played their game and they shined. KK with pull up jumpers just what the doctor ordered. Shade the second game shooting lights out. Q played like she was in charge. Alot of good things happened and it seemed a light went on.

Now the long layoff and we come back to a very tuff Marquette team in Hartford. This game was a great way to end the long layoff. Our girls and coaches go home with confidence. Hey as overmatched as it was look at the shooting percentages. Im not sure many kids can shoot like that in practice games. Very impressive.

Coming back we have Marquette and Creighton. 2 tuff games. Expect to be rusty and expect Geno to have them back right after the holiday to get ready. It is truly amazin what a different team we are now that Geno has put the puzzle together. Some of you are concerned about ICE. Dont be. She will come around. It is taking a little longer then the others but remember shes a big who sat out due to injury. Be patient. Right now we are a really good shooting team and very good defensive team. It almost seems over the past few games that we've picked up the scoring that we lost and we are playing much better as a team.

Watching other top teams play their cupcakes makes me wonder. Our tuff game prepared us for last nite. Those who are playing cupcakes are not looking quite as good. JMO

 

[HuskyNan]

That's a coach that sees the big picture, congrats to her for speaking up.

That’s why she’s a coach for Canada Basketball and on their National Team’s coaching staff

 

[Centerstream]

Debbie Downer here...I thought that the game was an awesome showing of our shooting, even if Paige only took 6 shots.
But it was another game where our opponents seemingly were able to shoot uncontested 3s. I am not, nor ever been, a BB coach or stayed in a Holiday Inn Express recently, so is this something that needs to be worked on? Personally I think with the way our one on one defense just swarms the offense, it gets hard to keep a hand in everyone's face.
Also I realize that our offense put the game out of reach in the 1st quarter, but still, TMU was able to chuck up 36 3s, making only 7.
Just wondering...

 

[BBallF]

Ice is playing timid, perhaps because fear of reinjuring. As for Amari, I agree she did better last nite; but, it was still not even close to being good enough to show she deserves to be on the floor when it counts.

I hope it's not fear of re-injury. She dislocated her patella and had a procedure to correct it. I understand the fear of it happening again but usually the confidence attained by playing fixes the fear. I think it is because she is still out of game shape, needs to be better conditioned, and get her timing back. If she can move more quickly it will go a long way. She was better against Butler and seemed fresher so that supports the conditioning theory. We really need her and she does have good basketball skills and seems like a great teammate. Her timeline is more attenuated than the other freshmen but I do believe by the end of January she will be a different player.

 

[BBallF]

Debbie Downer here...I thought that the game was an awesome showing of our shooting, even if Paige only took 6 shots.
But it was another game where our opponents seemingly were able to shoot uncontested 3s. I am not, nor ever been, a BB coach or stayed in a Holiday Inn Express recently, so is this something that needs to be worked on? Personally I think with the way our one on one defense just swarms the offense, it gets hard to keep a hand in everyone's face.
Also I realize that our offense put the game out of reach in the 1st quarter, but still, TMU was able to chuck up 36 3s, making only 7.
Just wondering...

Every true fan is a coach so no worries. The real test for the "new" team against the 3s will be Marquette and Creighton.

 

[HuskyNan]

Debbie Downer here...I thought that the game was an awesome showing of our shooting, even if Paige only took 6 shots.
But it was another game where our opponents seemingly were able to shoot uncontested 3s. I am not, nor ever been, a BB coach or stayed in a Holiday Inn Express recently, so is this something that needs to be worked on? Personally I think with the way our one on one defense just swarms the offense, it gets hard to keep a hand in everyone's face.
Also I realize that our offense put the game out of reach in the 1st quarter, but still, TMU was able to chuck up 36 3s, making only 7.
Just wondering...

The Bold are not a good team from the perimeter, making only 26.8% of their threes. Geno might have decided to give them that shot, although I have to say they were rushed so for the most part

 

[Geew1992]

Debbie Downer here...I thought that the game was an awesome showing of our shooting, even if Paige only took 6 shots.
But it was another game where our opponents seemingly were able to shoot uncontested 3s. I am not, nor ever been, a BB coach or stayed in a Holiday Inn Express recently, so is this something that needs to be worked on? Personally I think with the way our one on one defense just swarms the offense, it gets hard to keep a hand in everyone's face.
Also I realize that our offense put the game out of reach in the 1st quarter, but still, TMU was able to chuck up 36 3s, making only 7.
Just wondering...

That’s because Geno switched the offense to zone. They weren’t making the same shots in the first half when UConn was playing man

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Ice clearly has the skills to score but she's trying so hard that she's rushing every aspect of her game.........hardly the first freshman to have that issue........it's going to take one or two good games to get her over the hump but I'm confident she'll get there......

Charliebball- - -I don't think Ice has gotten used to the speed and the physicality of the college game!

 

[Rixxx]

The most impressive part of Ashlynn's shooting is her lightning quick release. It reminds me of Katie Lou when she was in the zone. Does anyone else come to mind who hit 3 pointers for UCONN with that style?

All I know is Ash has a very nice shot. It seems "soft" to me and every shot has the potential to tickle the twine.

 

[DEpup]

This is not a game to read anything into at all. Playing bad teams or teams that are clearly not any better than a good HS team should not be a cause for celebration. All this does is allow a team to make a ton of mistakes and have none of them show up in the stat line. UConn is playing better than they were but that is 100% on the play of Aubrey.

I have to disagree when it comes to the freshman. For the upperclassman, sure means nothing playing a cupcake but for freshman there is still the mental confidence of seeing the ball go through the hoop or getting the play executed in a live game that can carry forward for them.

 

[DEpup]

Ice clearly has the skills to score but she's trying so hard that she's rushing every aspect of her game.........hardly the first freshman to have that issue........it's going to take one or two good games to get her over the hump but I'm confident she'll get there......

I agree. She looks like a person who is thinking too much, rushing her shot, and not being fully committed to her movement. That can be a combination of trying to hard and not having 100% confidence in her body yet.

 

[ABCDFE]

Even though the score was lopsided, I really enjoyed watching the game because it allowed us to see how the Freshman are developing before our very own eyes. When Ash, Q, and KK play with a purpose and don't hesitate to shoot when they're open or when there's a shot, we are a totally different team. I also believe all three can be above average to very good defenders by years end. It's early, but getting to this 8 man rotation will help Paige, Nika, and AE to play within themselves and not feel like it's a heavy burden each time they face a really tough team.

I only hope that Ice can also play with a purpose and on instincts and not be afraid to fail. These early games is where she needs to get comfortable growing her game both interior and in the midrange. If we can get her to play good defense, rebound and have some presence in the low blocks I think there's really a chance we can compete with any team this year.

As for Amari, I'm all for her getting as much playing time as possible. You see she's got amazing talent and that height and wingspan (OMG) can alter any shot close to the rim or on a close-out. I think as long as she rebounds and doesn't turn the ball over, her value-add on the just being a big body with arms up in the air is just something no one else can provide.

 

[HuskyNan]

As for Amari, I'm all for her getting as much playing time as possible. You see she's got amazing talent and that height and wingspan (OMG) can alter any shot close to the rim or on a close-out. I think as long as she rebounds and doesn't turn the ball over, her value-add on the just being a big body with arms up in the air is just something no one else can provide.

Amari had 2 rebounds last night, Ines, at 5-9, had 3. She has talent but can’t seem to find her aggressiveness

 

[sun]

KK's ball handling & quick hands & feet on defense were a joy to watch.
She brings a different pace to the game on both sides of the court.
Ines's play has also improved probably due to watching & playing with Paige.
Her passes have a nice touch & she knows how to thread the ball & make one handed passes.
It was nice to see where she's at developmentally.
More & more it seems that UConn has taken a PG by committee approach & employing "just go" which is refreshing.
KK's dribbling is very crisp.

 

[Centerstream]

Suspect that Ice still has some residual effects from her knee surgery, both physical and mental. Hoping she takes advantage of having players like Edwards, Paige, and Griffin around her this year. All are great at shooting layups by using their offhand to shield the ball while shooting it slightly away from the defender's body. Ice is shooting a bit like Patterson, almost pushing the ball into the defender. Ice appears to know what to do but has been slow to make these changes. May be a case where the seniors can be better coaches than Geno's staff.

Let's be honest, was Aaliyah's game up to the BY standard after the first 10 games of her UConn career? I think not. It may take Ice the whole season to meet expectations, if not longer. But it sure would be something if it took less games.

 

[MSGRET]

This is not a game to read anything into at all. Playing bad teams or teams that are clearly not any better than a good HS team should not be a cause for celebration. All this does is allow a team to make a ton of mistakes and have none of them show up in the stat line. UConn is playing better than they were but that is 100% on the play of Aubrey.

Why is that? LSU does this for almost all of their pre-conference schedule and they won it all last year.

 

[MSGRET]

Charliebball- - -I don't think Ice has gotten used to the speed and the physicality of the college game!

She has only played less than 10 games of college ball, many first year players have problem with the speed of the game. Heck UConn has some that are Juniors and they aren't ready for the speed.

 

[Charliebball]

Even though the score was lopsided, I really enjoyed watching the game because it allowed us to see how the Freshman are developing before our very own eyes. When Ash, Q, and KK play with a purpose and don't hesitate to shoot when they're open or when there's a shot, we are a totally different team. I also believe all three can be above average to very good defenders by years end. It's early, but getting to this 8 man rotation will help Paige, Nika, and AE to play within themselves and not feel like it's a heavy burden each time they face a really tough team.

I only hope that Ice can also play with a purpose and on instincts and not be afraid to fail. These early games is where she needs to get comfortable growing her game both interior and in the midrange. If we can get her to play good defense, rebound and have some presence in the low blocks I think there's really a chance we can compete with any team this year.

As for Amari, I'm all for her getting as much playing time as possible. You see she's got amazing talent and that height and wingspan (OMG) can alter any shot close to the rim or on a close-out. I think as long as she rebounds and doesn't turn the ball over, her value-add on the just being a big body with arms up in the air is just something no one else can provide.

UConn hasn't had a real shot blocker since ONO and there's no doubt having that intimidation factor in the lane is missing from this year's team.....

 

[oldude]

UConn hasn't had a real shot blocker since ONO and there's no doubt having that intimidation factor in the lane is missing from this year's team.....

Well, you can block shots in the lane or you can strip the ball before it gets into the lane. In KK, Nika, Paige & Aubrey, UConn has a pack of ball thieves that put tremendous pressure on opposing offenses. Until UConn faces a dominant BIg like Cardoso, I think the Huskies can hold their own against just about anyone with their undersized, quick lineup.

 

[Charliebball]

Well, you can block shots in the lane or you can strip the ball before it gets into the lane. In KK, Nika, Paige & Aubrey, UConn has a pack of ball thieves that put tremendous pressure on opposing offenses. Until UConn faces a dominant BIg like Cardoso, I think the Huskies can hold their own against just about anyone with their undersized, quick lineup.

true but as you remember it was a comforting feeling to know that very few guards were able to drive down the lane without being menaced by Ms. ONO