1 persons thought on the game

[asuwish]

I had a few thoughts after watching the game last night.
Uconn needs to attack the basket, and become that bull in a china shop. Because Stef is a good passer and outside shooter she comes out hi to play. She has become a great outside shooter, but other than the backdoor cut, except for Farris, Uconn didn't attack the basket looking for fouls like ND does. Even KML and Tuck are very hard to defend inside and where both effective inside. The inside out game is like boxing go to the body hard and when they cover the body knock em out with a shot to the head. ND's biggs can't stop Dolson inside.
Breanna didn't use her length advantage and hasn't for a while. I think she would be more effective at the elbow and Stef down low in the blocks.
At the end of the game when ND was fouling get KML and her 90% Foul shooting the ball
As a senior Doty should never have been in a position to have her back to the basket with the ball just over half court. When she was trapped she could not see her teammates.
Since Geno made Farris the primary decision maker, I think in overtime he should have used Jefferson over Doty. Moriah is the fastest, and most disruptive player normally. Considering ALL the other players were winded she would be even more. She could have even cherry picked a little after a ND shot. Doty just wasn't disruptive on defense, wasn't scoring, but most importantly, she wasn't playing like a senior.
Moriah, Diggins is driving hard right at you, and you aren't going to block her shot, so take a CHARGE! Moriah had plenty of time to just freeze and wait. It would have been her 5th foul
Morgan was effective on offense, use her more!
Uconn should have put ND away, but just kept letting them back in. They need to learn to shut the door. With games like this Geno is going to skip over going grey and go right to going bald from pulling his hair out.
I like the new uniforms, their cool enough I guess, but I don't like how Uconn's athletic department, or someone at Nike does this in big games (remember the silver ones). Does anyone know Uconn's record at new uniform days?

 

[meyers7]

As a senior Doty should never have been in a position to have her back to the basket with the ball just over half court. When she was trapped she could not see her teammates.
Since Geno made Farris the primary decision maker, I think in overtime he should have used Jefferson over Doty. Moriah is the fastest, and most disruptive player normally. Considering ALL the other players were winded she would be even more. She could have even cherry picked a little after a ND shot. Doty just wasn't disruptive on defense, wasn't scoring, but most importantly, she wasn't playing like a senior.

Have to agree here. We all love Doty and what she has accomplished (well most of us anyway). But she just doesn't have it physically to play at that level (Baylor, ND games level). And that seems to be affecting even her mental play at that level. She got herself stuck in bad places quite a few times. Things a 5th year senior should not do. Especially if she is not in to score, but rather to help run the offense.

Sadly, I don't think it would be much worse with Jefferson getting some of those minutes. At least she can do the physical part.

 

[UConnCat]

The problem was the UConn guards had trouble handling ND's pressure and couldn't get the ball inside. ND's guards attacked and trapped UConn's guards and they didn't handle it well. Dolson came up top to help relieve pressure but she ended up throwing the ball all over the court too. The only two players who attacked the basket -- which is what you should do against that kind of pressure -- were Faris and Tuck, though not enough.

Moriah entered the game in the 2nd half and pretty much handed the ball off to Diggins. She's not ready. Heading in to this game the team had lost 2 games to #1 and #2 by 1 and 6 points, respectively. There was no reason to throw Moriah in before she's ready. Doty's minutes have been limited and now she's not starting. Hartley just has to play better and not foul out.

 

[DaddyChoc]

Moriah not taking the charge was a freshman mistake

 

[Bestiarius]

I have to give ND's defense much of the credit. Doty didn't get herself into that position, ND forced her into it. Late in the game, it was ND's stellar defense that won the game, not some failing on UConn's part.

Regarding Diggins, as much as I wish I didn't have to admit it, she is a fantastic player. I can't count the number of shots she's taken where I said to myself, "she's screwed now", and the shot ends up going in. She somehow has the ability to thread the ball through a myriad of outstretched hands to find the basket.

If Geno didn't get the T, would we have won the game by 1 point?

The difficulty of deciding who's the best player is that there are no established criteria for determining it. I'd be interested in seeing who emerges as "best" if the rules were changed to make the players rotate positions after every play (like in volleyball). Who from each team would rise to the top under those rules?

 

[OneTrickPony]

Geno needs to put in some double screen action to get Kaleena looks when the offense gets bogged down...ND ran her ragged and that catches up with everyone...

 

[DaddyChoc]

Geno needs to put in some double screen action to get Kaleena looks when the offense gets bogged down...ND ran her ragged and that catches up with everyone...

Dolson wasn't there to set the screens and BStew is too light hold her position.

 

[jimazee]

I always enjoy reading all the analysis...great thoughts...many very true. While a game often comes down to a few critical plays, there are countless contributing factors that influence the outcome. I won't add any more as most have been covered at least once. It is just a matter of picking your favorites.

IMO, more important, is that UConn has the possibility and capability of beating ND two more times this season ...both would be in friendlier venues. If UConn wins both, the last two games won't matter much. Interestingly(?) if ND wins both, the last two games won't matter much.

While I can make a good argument either way, I would not bet my farm against the Huskies yet.

 

[OneTrickPony]

Dolson wasn't there to set the screens and BStew is too light hold her position.

Breanna needs to set them and let them knock her over...

 

[DaddyChoc]

sometimes its a timing issue... maybe she slips too fast creating an offensive foul or doesn't stay in position long enough to complete the play.

 

[OneTrickPony]

sometimes its a timing issue... maybe she slips too fast creating an offensive foul or doesn't stay in position long enough to complete the play.

That used to be Stef's problem...she's been much better with her timing this year...with Kaleena on the team, every other player needs to be able to set effective screens...

 

[boontonbomber]

here's another person's thoughts on the game: i came away from it thinking, maybe for the first time this season, that this team can win it all. to me , tuck and stewart looked more ready to contribute in big games than they have all season. and faris had to come away from that game more convinced that she can, and must, be more aggressive offensively. and bria looks to me like her confidence is continuing to grow. yeh, she had a bunch of turnovers, but she continues to not be afraid to attack. there were some great passes, 6 assists, she made a couple of shots that she hasn't made in awhile, and looked more comfortable at the foul line. after calming down , i really felt that it was a pretty gutsy, and revealing, performance in a very difficult atmosphere. i hope that the players dwell on all the positives of this game, and , more importantly, that the coaches do , also. call me crazy( you won't be the first) but i just feel really good about their chances after that game.

 

[OneTrickPony]

here's another person's thoughts on the game: i came away from it thinking, maybe for the first time this season, that this team can win it all. to me , tuck and stewart looked more ready to contribute in big games than they have all season. and faris had to come away from that game more convinced that she can, and must, be more aggressive offensively. and bria looks to me like her confidence is continuing to grow. yeh, she had a bunch of turnovers, but she continues to not be afraid to attack. there were some great passes, 6 assists, she made a couple of shots that she hasn't made in awhile, and looked more comfortable at the foul line. after calming down , i really felt that it was a pretty gutsy, and revealing, performance in a very difficult atmosphere. i hope that the players dwell on all the positives of this game, and , more importantly, that the coaches do , also. call me crazy( you won't be the first) but i just feel really good about their chances after that game.

That's the game I saw...

 

[MilfordHusky]

I have to give ND's defense much of the credit. Doty didn't get herself into that position, ND forced her into it. Late in the game, it was ND's stellar defense that won the game, not some failing on UConn's part.

Regarding Diggins, as much as I wish I didn't have to admit it, she is a fantastic player. I can't count the number of shots she's taken where I said to myself, "she's screwed now", and the shot ends up going in. She somehow has the ability to thread the ball through a myriad of outstretched hands to find the basket.

If Geno didn't get the T, would we have won the game by 1 point?

The difficulty of deciding who's the best player is that there are no established criteria for determining it. I'd be interested in seeing who emerges as "best" if the rules were changed to make the players rotate positions after every play (like in volleyball). Who from each team would rise to the top under those rules?

I don't like Diggins either, but I noticed that she shoots inside with her right and also puts the ball on the rim softly. Both are nice skills.

 

[Drumguy]

How about make some darn free throws and it all goes away.

Or if Bria won't shoot, take her out. They could key too much on our other players. MoJo should have been in the game earlier and ok, she made a mistake but she's too good comparative to CD not to have her in.

 

[Tenspro2002]

If Geno didn't get the T, would we have won the game by 1 point?

If Geno didn't get the T, we would have lost by 20 with our starting five fouled out and Notre Dame attempting fifty free throws. He reined in the refs until the last minute or so of regulation.

 

[UConnCat]

here's another person's thoughts on the game: i came away from it thinking, maybe for the first time this season, that this team can win it all. to me , tuck and stewart looked more ready to contribute in big games than they have all season. and faris had to come away from that game more convinced that she can, and must, be more aggressive offensively. and bria looks to me like her confidence is continuing to grow. yeh, she had a bunch of turnovers, but she continues to not be afraid to attack. there were some great passes, 6 assists, she made a couple of shots that she hasn't made in awhile, and looked more comfortable at the foul line. after calming down , i really felt that it was a pretty gutsy, and revealing, performance in a very difficult atmosphere. i hope that the players dwell on all the positives of this game, and , more importantly, that the coaches do , also. call me crazy( you won't be the first) but i just feel really good about their chances after that game.

I agree with everything you say. I might quibble on Stewart offensively as she still looked lost at times, but defensively she looked pretty good. I'm hoping that the confidence she should gain from her defense translates to offense. The big key will be, as you suggest, how the team responds mentally and emotionally. That will be up to the coaches and the leaders (Kelly and Dolson). Assuming all goes according to seeding, UConn should play DePaul and Syracuse before a meeting with ND again.