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Message: [QUOTE="bballnut90, post: 2667020, member: 2117"] I'll respond to this in chunks: Last year's win felt like a fluke. Last night's didn't. I didn't have the impression that UCONN was a far superior team to ND this year, where I thought UCONN was much better than Mississippi State last season. Two great teams battled last night and ND came out on top, while last year Mississippi State pulled off a miracle. I think other teams are catching up to UCONN (or have caught up to UCONN). In terms of individual player performance, everyone last year just seemed off with the exception of Gabby and Lou in stretches. This year Nurse and Dangerfield struggled (yet came up huge in the clutch) but the rest of the starters were solid. Z was fantastic. It wasn't a poor showing from UCONN by any means--49% from the floor, 20 assists, and you won the rebounding battle--but the difference was ND really attacked UCONN and won a lot of the hustle plays. On a team level, last night was a much faster game than last season's Mississippi State game. Notre Dame's offense was much smoother than Mississippi State's, and they had better playmakers in Arike and Jackie. The biggest downfall for UCONN was leaving Z on the bench for too much of the 3rd and ND got right back into it and played aggressively the rest of the way. In the 2nd quarter, ND couldn't get anything going and struggled stopping whatever UCONN wanted to do. ND took full advantage when Z was out in the 3rd and were able to get back into it and played more confidently the rest of the way. Last year Mississippi State played with a lot more confidence while UCONN played with something to lose. I didn't see UCONN playing to lose last night, but they finally played a team who could execute against their defense. No one on ND had a significant advantage in height or in athleticism, but Arike played much better this time and didn't settle for bad shots, and UCONN gave too much space to Young early which got her going. Having a creative post player like Shepard was also huge. I don't think Butler would have many any difference tonight. She put up her big numbers against poor competition and likely wouldn't have the same level of confidence in herself playing on UCONN IMO. The lack of bench production could have been a factor, I'm surprised Geno didn't at least give Walker a shot after her good performance against ND in December. Curious to see how players develop in the offseason. Most players make a huge jump from their freshman to sophomore seasons at UCONN, so we'll see if Walker/Coombs/Gordon can make an impact next year. Same with Camara. I don't see Bent or Irwin ever being regular rotation players TBH. UCONN's success next year hinges on the development of these players, plus the impact that incoming recruits can have. The core you have coming back though, is fantastic. Collier is a 2x AA, KLS will be a big POY candidate, Dangerfield is one of the better returning PGs in the country, and Stevens has huge upside still. I don't think UCONN is going to be head and shoulders better than everyone next year like I thought they'd be this year, but UCONN will still be the #1 team. If Notre Dame wins on Sunday, they may get the preseason #1 ranking, but we'll see. Both teams will be loaded though, that's for sure. [/QUOTE]

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