Search results

The excitement of the BE tournament this year calls to mind exciting tournaments of the past .. and the legendary coaches involved. There were many, so many that I wonder if the BE leads by a wide margin in this category, or if this is just my BE bias showing. Calhoun, Thompson, Boeheim...

Before the UCLA game I posted that we would be fine, as long as there were no more injuries. What happened since then played out mostly as I expected, with three exceptions/concerns. 1. Based on her HS career I thought Brady would be like Dolson, the exception to the rule that it takes posts...

We predict starters. We predict minutes. We predict production/points. What I have to see on the BY are predictions on efficiency. UConn has been about efficiency more than production, though our efficiency tends to make us productive. Here are my annotated efficiency predictions based on...

Bueckers landing in Minnesota would be great for her, a hometown heroine returned. We know that Reeve wants that from statements she has made. My intuition has been this would be good for the WNBA and fans in general, as her beautiful to watch efficiency would be maximized there. However...

The success of Juhasz with the Lynx makes her the third player in a row that outperform my expectations for a UConn rookie there. I did not expect Dangerfield to get ROTY. While I did not find that surprising for Collier, her performance exceeded my already high expectations. I expected M...

Like every BYer I find the latest news devastating. I mainly feel bad for the athletes, but in the case of Fudd and Bueckers I also lament watching the beauty of basketball as executed by these extremely talented women. I also lament not seeing what Brady could do, as my impression of her was...

I’ve been taking a self-imposed exile, as I have done in the past whenever I get a little snarky. I’m thinking of making this one permanent due to other factors, but not before settling some unfinished business. First I apologize to @CocoHusky , for being a little snarky, though we have a...

Ten years ago, on May 24, my wife and I finished our 5,000 mile walk across the country along the American Discovery Trail, to reboot our lives and her brain health in the face of cognitive decline. She improved during our journey but regressed afterwards; for the past three years she has been...

Ten years ago, on May 24, my wife and I finished our 5,000 mile walk across the country along the American Discovery Trail, to reboot our lives and her brain health in the face of cognitive decline. She improved during our journey but regressed afterwards; for the past three years she has been...

I should have posted this after the Villanova loss, but life gets in the way. Currently, things look promising regardless of the past but, for those with a pessimistic inclination, there are a few precedents from the past that offer promise for the future. The first already has been brought up...

In 1997 injuries, including to their PG, derailed the regular season for Tennessee and they lost something like ten games. However, they got everyone back, particularly the PG, for the tournament and became champions. We went into that tournament as the favorite but then sustained our own...

An assist for this post goes to @Bald Huskie, who used the phrase "winning hand" in one of the Cardoso threads. A full house is typically a winning hand in poker. Three of one kind, two of another, can be compared to having three good guards and two good forwards (the best hand probably is one...

..... or fraction of a second as the case may be. Conventional wisdom holds that Williams should have intentionally missed her second foul shot. I do not believe the probabilities necessarily favor that strategy. If the fouls shot was missed, Baylor’s only option would be to heave a shot as...

In an earlier post, in response to something about playing your “A” game, I mentioned that if we shot 45+% from three and Baylor shot 30% or less we would win. In a game decided by two points we shot 47% from three, Baylor 22%. If Baylor made one more three they would have shot 33%; if UConn had...

In the separate threads praising Muhl and Williams I see a common theme. Their improvements are at least partly attributable to improvements in team defense. Once upon a time Park-Lane would blow by all our players and they would either look slow (Williams and even Griffin) or lost (Muhl and...

First, a little historical background for PONs (Pointing Out the Negatives). From 2005-2008 UConn went through a slump (a much greater slump than the past four years) in which we did not even reach the FF for three of those years. (Oh, the horror!) Then, like the sun blazing through the mists...

I figured this is the best use of my 1000th post (many more posts under my former handle Mapper). Regarding recruiting classes: I believe we have the best back-to-back recruiting classes in our history, now that Fudd is on board. They are both large classes, combining quality with quantity...

There have been championships won with large and small rosters, including by UConn in both cases. There have been championships won by multiple bigs over 6,2" and no bigs over 6'2", including by UConn. A large roster insures against injury or other unfortunate mishaps; a small roster provides...

Which UConn player was most hampered by injuries. I will not state my preference but will give a brief rundown of the choices. Shea Ralph would not appear to be thwarted much. After all she still managed to become first team All-American and MOP of a Final Four. Yet this poor woman had...

The women have had a few exciting, unexpected championships, but nothing like the two most recent championships on the men's side. For the 2014 tournament in particular the men marched through a gauntlet of vaunted programs: Villanova, Michigan State, Florida, Kentucky. With the chance of UConn...

I support keeping expectations down for players and Bueckers has the most hype I have seen since Stewart. However, neither do I support default narratives that are based more on generalities than specifics. In Bueckers case the caution about her defense and strength seems to be based out of...

As soon as Rizzotti put on a Husky uniform in the fall of 1992 she became a force. Even as a freshmen she was taking charge of the team, getting in the faces of those who held seniority over her when they needed to play or practice better. She in fact played more minutes as a freshmen than her...

Let me start with "bad news first." BAD: We do not have the ideal roster. An ideal roster would have a point who was at least 5'10" (to see over the defense and have less to close out on the perimeter), have excellent court vision and anticipation and is a commanding leader. The ideal post...

I watched the Tennessee game, this time with two questions in mind. I had claimed that the lack of assists to made baskets was due to "heroic" play, not missed put backs, at the beginning of the game. The first quarter indeed was a lot of one-on-one basketball with Dangerfield, Walker and...

Much like Andre the Giant was perplexed at his colleague's use of "Inconceivable!"; I find myself perplexed by the meaning of some phrases used here on the Boneyard. Here is a thread for deciphering phrases that should not be taken literally. I'll start off with two; add on to this as you wish...

We critique games based on what we perceive are the best strategies for the goal of winning each game. Yet that goal is not the highest priority for Auriemma. While acknowledging the audacity of me speaking his mind, by his comments I think there is a hierarchy of goals that Auriemma has for the...

I never before had any interest in following players during their high school careers, but I am captivated by Bueckers. I mentioned elsewhere that she represents more than the promise of winning and greatness; she represents the promise of fun. Now I see a quote from Auriemma also associating...

I know there are many BYers rejoicing over the Tennessee loss to Texas. However, consider the hit to our SOS from scheduling Tennessee. Not only that, we have three SEC teams but only one B12 team on our schedule. From the B12-SEC challenge we can see what kind of damage that does to our SOS...

"You can't teach height," is one of the most used basketball sayings. The sentiment accounts for why Taurasi was not a consensus #1 coming out of high school, and why that appears will be the case with Bueckers. If you combine height, which you "can't teach," with guard like abilities, well...

The recent poll with reference to realism, a recurring concept among fans, prompts these reflections. Before becoming focused on brain health, my research hobby included studying how the meaning of words become distorted and/or diluted. Both have consequences, as in leading one to believe and...

Previous threads led me to reflect on what our championship teams have in common. There were four factors that jumped out at me; I hope others add different commonalities that come to their mind. Out of 11 championship teams: 4 had multiple bigs of 6'4" or taller. 8 had at least one big 6'4" or...

When Auriemma was interviewed up 11 points in the fourth quarter he said the focus would be to deny 3 pointers, a conservative strategy, but a sound one. With some teams, anchored by Dolson or Stewart, the strategy probably does not make a difference, but with this team's disadvantage inside...

Bird? Taurasi? Berube? Nah. Let's assume Auriemma/Dailey will coach another fifteen years and our next UConn coaches will be: SAMUELSON and COLLIER! Think about it. Samuelson has Auriemma's passion and the desire to coach 'em up. Collier provides Dailey's balanced calmness and attention to...

The fan battle between Samuelson and Collier supporters is more intense than I've seen for any other two UConn players. Because they bring two completely different things to the table I personally do not know, nor care, which one really is "better." However, I can make a prediction about who...

Ralph gets left out of the discussion of the Big Three, for good reason, or the Big Four (adding Bird) for good reason, or the Big Five (adding Charles or Lobo, take your pick) for good reason. Because she is not in these discussions I understand why her impact as a freshmen has been forgotten...