what we didn't know in October that we think we know now?

[bags27]

A good time to take a breath and for some stock taking. I'll start it off:

1. That the sophomores would be super-sophs. Not that surprised by Lou, but Pheesa has taken a giant leap, and may be one of the best players in all WCBB already.

2. That Natalie is probably playing at the top of our realistic expectations from October, and our hopes are that she will progress even more.

3. That Crystal has nearly unlimited potential, but that she still needs lots of maturation, as she should.

4. This one's sort of cheating: that UConn would land Megan and Charli and the future of UConn WCBB couldn't be brighter.

5. And that Geno is still looking to get his ass kicked.

 

[msf22b]

A good time to take a breath and for some stock taking. I'll start it off:

1. That the sophomores would be super-sophs. Not that surprised by Lou, but Pheesa has taken a giant leap, and may be one of the best players in all WCBB already..

I would have reversed it: not surprised by Pheesa but Lou has taken a giant step.

 

[msf22b]

That Geno is slightly bewildered and bemused by what the team has accomplished
Of course he knows he's a great coach with a great staff.
And he knows that he has fine talent.
And he's gunning for coach of the year.

But on a day to day basis, he still doesn't know who will show up.
Can any coherence be achieved?
Will they follow his instructions?

Can they overcome the limited role they all played last season?

We all know what the answer is...at least through 12/4
We'll have a better idea for the rest of the season after Wednesday.

 

[huskyd]

OK. So they're tall, rough, athletic, quick, well-coached. That's TEXAS I'm talking about. It's also Baylor. How are we beating these talented teams? It appears to be the death by a thousand cuts. UConn just keeps going at more or less the same pace, running essentially the same Husky game on both ends. They are relentless, AND they have found a way to exploit every strength they have precisely when they need it. Mostly, they're smarter, more resistant, better conditioned, more committed, more willful, AND someone steps up every time to get the job done on both ends. The question isn't how good are these women really; the question is can this go on forever? Forever is next Wednesday.

 

[UcMiami]

Great OP and great follow-ups! This is just fun - nerve wracking, but fun. How good they can be is still a mystery, and how good the competition will be come March is as well. Really does remind me of 2003 - no body could really believe that they weren't losing some games, but they just kept find a way.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Great OP and great follow-ups! This is just fun - nerve wracking, but fun. How good they can be is still a mystery, and how good the competition will be come March is as well. Really does remind me of 2003 - no body could really believe that they weren't losing some games, but they just kept find a way.

Maybe now is a good time to give the coach an extension. Just sayin'.

 

[tomcat]

Great OP and great follow-ups! This is just fun - nerve wracking, but fun. How good they can be is still a mystery, and how good the competition will be come March is as well. Really does remind me of 2003 - no body could really believe that they weren't losing some games, but they just kept find a way.

Let's all hope we can say that after Wednesday night.

 

[dcdon]

Any of us who watched Collier play during her time with USA basketball should not be surprised by what she's doing now. I recall her completely taking over some of those games. I think some of the problems she experienced last year were injury related. And for Lou, once she's gotten used to being caromed off every defender when she cuts through the lane, that'll be quite a twosome.

 

[JavaMan]

Any of us who watched Collier play during her time with USA basketball should not be surprised by what she's doing now. I recall her completely taking over some of those games. I think some of the problems she experienced last year were injury related. And for Lou, once she's gotten used to being caromed off every defender when she cuts through the lane, that'll be quite a twosome.

Couldn't agree more. I'm one of the "any of us who watched Collier play during her time with USA basketball..." As I posted last week after someone mentioned how fantastic Napheesa is becoming: I had a feeling this would happen.

 

[huskeynut]

Great post Bags!

I would add that Geno is letting this team figure things out as each game evolves. I think his little speech during the first quarter was brilliant. And listening to the players post game comments, there is a lot of responsibility being placed on their shoulders to work through game situations.

 

[Sonny44]

A good time to take a breath and for some stock taking. I'll start it off:

1. That the sophomores would be super-sophs. Not that surprised by Lou, but Pheesa has taken a giant leap, and may be one of the best players in all WCBB already.

2. That Natalie is probably playing at the top of our realistic expectations from October, and our hopes are that she will progress even more.

3. That Crystal has nearly unlimited potential, but that she still needs lots of maturation, as she should.

4. This one's sort of cheating: that UConn would land Megan and Charli and the future of UConn WCBB couldn't be brighter.

5. And that Geno is still looking to get his ass kicked.

6. That we are at least a FF team.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Beginning of the season, my thoughts with their tough schedule and probably going undefeated in the AAC, this team would be a 2 or 3 seed and end up in Bridgeport. Now that the team has run half of the gauntlet, they're playing for a #1 seed. Didn't see this coming as I thought they would have two losses by now.

Also thought that after the Texas game, we'd be talking about the possible end of the streak of not losing two games in a row.

Have to stop under estimating this team. They're tough and resilient. They'll need all their toughness going into Notre Dame with a hostile crowd facing what most likely will be the #1 Ranked. team. If UConn gets So Carolina's first place votes, UConn might be Ranked #1 in one of the polls this week.

 

[eebmg]

What I learned (and should have known all along) is that if you play defense (especially help defense) in an intelligent connected fashion at high (manic) intensity, you will always be there in any game and more importantly, you demoralize opponents forcing them into errors and ultimately into self doubt. This then leads to a draining of energy and focus on the other end. I think this is the underlying reason we pull away in the 4th quarter.

I also learned that our coaching staff top to bottom is exceptional. We were fortunate to hear Geno say how he gave his reverse psychology
talk to them at the 5 minute break (dont worry guys. Just relax. They are just better than you) but did anyone notice that at that break, happy go luck coach Marisa Moseley lit in to the team like a tornado. I imagine she said something to the effect that you better rebound and play tougher because you are getting your asked kicked like little JHS girls.

I also learned that close nail biter games are alot of fun. Your stomach in knots. Glorious.

 

[eebmg]

What I learned (and should have known all along) is that if you play defense (especially help defense) in an intelligent connected fashion at high (manic) intensity, you will always be there in any game and more importantly, you demoralize opponents forcing them into errors and ultimately into self doubt. This then leads to a draining of energy and focus on the other end. I think this is the underlying reason we pull away in the 4th quarter.

I also learned that our coaching staff top to bottom is exceptional. We were fortunate to hear Geno say how he gave his reverse psychology
talk to them at the 5 minute break (dont worry guys. Just relax. They are just better than you) but did anyone notice that at that break, happy go luck coach Marisa Moseley lit in to the team like a tornado. I imagine she said something to the effect that you better rebound and play tougher because you are getting your asked kicked like little JHS girls.

I also learned that close nail biter games are alot of fun. Your stomach in knots. Glorious.

Oops. asses kicked. (To early in the morning)

 

[Kibitzer]

Oops. asses kicked. (To early in the morning)

LOL. "asked/asses" -- close enough for a Boneyard post.

 

[cbraarj]

Beginning of the season, my thoughts with their tough schedule and probably going undefeated in the AAC, this team would be a 2 or 3 seed and end up in Bridgeport. Now that the team has run half of the gauntlet, they're playing for a #1 seed. Didn't see this coming as I thought they would have two losses by now.

Also thought that after the Texas game, we'd be talking about the possible end of the streak of not losing two games in a row.

Have to stop under estimating this team. They're tough and resilient. They'll need all their toughness going into Notre Dame with a hostile crowd facing what most likely will be the #1 Ranked. team. If UConn gets So Carolina's first place votes, UConn might be Ranked #1 in one of the polls this week.

Give Notre Dame the votes! After Uconn wins Wednesday they will take back the No.1 ranking! After that the only ranking I care about is the Last One!

 

[jcoton56]

Learned we would be 172-1 dating back to around Noah's Ark, or the Ming Dynasty or some rather ancient era.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

What I know now that I didn't in October? I know Morgan could have saved me a lot of angst:

"I don't know that people on the outside could see what some of the young players could do because the attention was so much on me, Mo, and Bre," Tuck said. "But we saw them everyday. When we left, I knew it was going to be different because each year is different, but I knew it was still going to be a great team, they're still going to make the Final Four, they're still going to be an elite team. Honestly, it's just fun watching them because you get to see all the stuff they did in practice kind of come to light."

Tuck Likes What She Sees Of UConn

Those must have been some practices last year, huh.

 

[bags27]

What I know now that I didn't in October? I know Morgan could have saved me a lot of angst:
"I don't know that people on the outside could see what some of the young players could do because the attention was so much on me, Mo, and Bre," Tuck said. "But we saw them everyday. When we left, I knew it was going to be different because each year is different, but I knew it was still going to be a great team, they're still going to make the Final Four, they're still going to be an elite team. Honestly, it's just fun watching them because you get to see all the stuff they did in practice kind of come to light."
Tuck Likes What She Sees Of UConn
Those must have been some practices last year, huh.

I caught that, too, Rockie. I wonder if Morgan herself could have known in May what she knows now, that going out with a year's eligibility left wasn't going to help her knee. IF, if, if, she had instead gone to UConn's School of Business, what a team we'd have now!

 

[VAMike23]

I think in October, what we didn't know had more to do with the team collectively than it did with any particular individual. Would Collier take a step forward, would Natalie show up, would Danger contribute ? etc. , etc., - I think these and others were all reasonable expectations.

HOWEVER -

What we did not know was how the team would react in tight situations late in games, how the team would respond to early challenges on the road, how the team would learn to trust each other and demand excellence (see Gabby's comments over the couple of weeks). Those kinds of things.

It was not at all a foregone conclusion that the team would come together the way that it has so soon. At least that's my take. Very impressed with their collective development more than anything else so far!

 

[alexrgct]

A good time to take a breath and for some stock taking. I'll start it off:

1. That the sophomores would be super-sophs. Not that surprised by Lou, but Pheesa has taken a giant leap, and may be one of the best players in all WCBB already.

2. That Natalie is probably playing at the top of our realistic expectations from October, and our hopes are that she will progress even more.

3. That Crystal has nearly unlimited potential, but that she still needs lots of maturation, as she should.

4. This one's sort of cheating: that UConn would land Megan and Charli and the future of UConn WCBB couldn't be brighter.

5. And that Geno is still looking to get his ass kicked.

It's Meghan. Clearly, you don't know nuttin' now.

 

[BobbyJ]

Any of us who watched Collier play during her time with USA basketball should not be surprised by what she's doing now. I recall her completely taking over some of those games. I think some of the problems she experienced last year were injury related. And for Lou, once she's gotten used to being caromed off every defender when she cuts through the lane, that'll be quite a twosome.

Exactly. Collier is a coaches' dream. She never stops and never takes a play off. Her positive on court attitude never changes and she's just relentless. Her fundamentals are excellent, right down to using her left hand to block right handed shots. IMO, she's one of the top 3 or 4 all around players in WCBB.

 

[Charliebball]

OK. So they're tall, rough, athletic, quick, well-coached. That's TEXAS I'm talking about. It's also Baylor. How are we beating these talented teams? It appears to be the death by a thousand cuts. UConn just keeps going at more or less the same pace, running essentially the same Husky game on both ends. They are relentless, AND they have found a way to exploit every strength they have precisely when they need it. Mostly, they're smarter, more resistant, better conditioned, more committed, more willful, AND someone steps up every time to get the job done on both ends. The question isn't how good are these women really; the question is can this go on forever? Forever is next Wednesday.

This season more than any other in recent times is a day to day proposition..........win or loose against ND, we won't know what this team is all about until they're deep into the NCAA Tournament..................

 

[GiladKatzDeli]

I would add:
-Kia Nurse looks to be a more confident player, especially on the offensive end (at least the last couple games). This hasn't always been the case in the past. I used to say that I could tell what kind of at bat A-Rod would have by looking at his face when he was getting into the batters box. It's the same with Kia. When she's playing relaxed, she plays better.

-Gabby Williams would be terrific in fantasy basketball, a player capable of stuffing the stat sheet in multiple categories. She's the team's 2nd leading rebounder, 1st in steals, and tied for the team lead in assists!

 

[UcMiami]

I also learned that our coaching staff top to bottom is exceptional. We were fortunate to hear Geno say how he gave his reverse psychology talk to them at the 5 minute break (dont worry guys. Just relax. They are just better than you) but did anyone notice that at that break, happy go luck coach Marisa Moseley lit in to the team like a tornado. I imagine she said something to the effect that you better rebound and play tougher because you are getting your asked kicked like little JHS girls.

Don't forget, Marisa has responsibility for the posts - I think I saw Shea smirking at her during the first 5 minutes, and suspect there were a few little verbal digs - life in the 'assistants seats' is pretty cutthroat, and Shea is one mean _____!