2018 may be one for the ages

[Blueconn]

It’s a work in progress but the stuff is there.

DePaul was first game that’s made me want to watch it again; carefully. Wow. Everything on display all night long. Even the last minutes with the bench playing : a clinic in knowing what to do when the pace remains all out.

I’m going out on a limb. Undefeated. Haven’t seen this athleticism (top to bottom) since ‘02. And I may be wrong, but isn’t this year’s chemistry contagious ?

 

[chrissaran]

This team has the makings of a great team. An all-time great team? We will find out if they win another championship.

 

[eebmg]

It’s a work in progress but the stuff is there.

DePaul was first game that’s made me want to watch it again; carefully. Wow. Everything on display all night long. Even the last minutes with the bench playing : a clinic in knowing what to do when the pace remains all out.

I’m going out on a limb. Undefeated. Haven’t seen this athleticism (top to bottom) since ‘02. And I may be wrong, but isn’t this year’s chemistry contagious ?

DePaul plays such a strange style with it's all out press that I would hesitate to use this game as a defining moment. We match up really well with them. As Crystal said, the outside was open and the inside was open. Like Syracuse except not as athletic and we all know what that looked like.

Still, there is such clear signs of growth that I think come tournament time, we will be overwhelming favorites even if somewhere in the regular season, we trip up.

 

[JoePgh]

I don't recall any other undefeated teams being down 11 in the 4th quarter to anyone, even the #2 team in the country. I don't think this is 2015-16 all over again.

 

[Sonny44]

This team has the makings of a great team. An all-time great team? We will find out if they win another championship.

To be a great team you have to have great competition; not sure we have that.

 

[Zorro]

It looks as if Z has finally figured out what the staff want her to do and is really enjoying doing it.

 

[BostonCanuck]

Agree, agree, agree. And once Gabby is 100% again, look out!

 

[augustaTC]

They're finally beginning to mesh.

 

[Blueconn]

This team has the makings of a great team. An all-time great team? We will find out if they win another championship.

Here’s the thing about this group...it’s all there. What hit me the other night was just how fast it’s coming together. Geno likes these guys. The 4th quarter with Notre Dame was no fluke.

 

[JordyG]

Here's the deal. Geno said at the start of the season that this is a special team, but at times it's not going to look pretty. Defensively the team has been fairly steady, but they've been more inconsistent on offense than at any time last year. Yet clearly there some very dynamic pieces on the UConn board that have just begun to put themselves into position.

To me Z and CD 3 are this teams best vest pocket cards and the ND game was a prime example. With Gabby on the bench having a bad migraine day Z came forward and ND just couldn't handle her combination of size, athleticism and shot making. The truth is most if not all teams in WCBB are going to have that problem. Crystal is just starting to "see" Z very well: Finding her in the spots she likes, giving her the ball where and when she likes it etc. One of Crystal Dangerfield's great advantages is, like a small, quick running back, she gets lost by the opposing defense among the trees. Also Crystal is just starting to find the spots on the floor where her shots are most effective. The biggest problem on offense is as Geno has stated. Pheese and Z have very similar games, and when one has the ball the other has had a problem figuring out their role in the offense. Honestly Pheese to this point hasn't shown herself to be the best passer on the team from the high post. Also as I've stated before, Z's has grown comfortable over the years with passing from the perimeter and not the high post. But because they are two very gifted athletes these are solvable issues with game PT.

Meg is this teams wild card. As with most freshmen her problems have been finding her role and finding consistency with it. Nevertheless, at times her athleticism jumps off the screen. She has size, runs like a deer, has almost (almost) as much spring as Gabby, a surprising amount of girth, long arms and large hands. Like Gabby she also has a nice ability to get off her second jump on the defensive boards very quickly. If she develops consistency with her intensity, her on ball defense and rebounding, any offense she gives will be a bonus. Yeah, this team could be special, and as each team it has some very special problems it needs to solve.

 

[CocoHusky]

One stat to keep an eye on that would prevent this team from being "one for the ages" is the rate at which this team is committing fouls. Through 8 games this team is averaging 14.5 fouls per game, if that trend continues that would be a bad UCONN record. UCONN teams typically foul less than 12 times per game and the ability to defend without fouling is a characteristic of all great UCONN teams and something that the staff places great emphasis on. With WCBB going to quarters and doing away with the 1 and 1 a high rate of fouling is now more costly.

 

[JordyG]

One stat to keep an eye on that would prevent this team from being "one for the ages" is the rate at which this team is committing fouls. Through 8 games this team is averaging 14.5 fouls per game, if that trend continues that would be a bad UCONN record. UCONN teams typically draw less than 12 fouls per game and the ability to defend without fouling is a characteristic of all great UCONN teams and something that the staff places great emphasis on. With WCBB going to quarters and doing away with the 1 and 1 a high rate of fouling is now more costly.

On the money. Also this teams TO rate is too high. Combined with the rate at which they commit fouls you have 2 disturbing trends. Thankfully they are solvable issues.

 

[oldude]

One stat to keep an eye on that would prevent this team from being "one for the ages" is the rate at which this team is committing fouls. Through 8 games this team is averaging 14.5 fouls per game, if that trend continues that would be a bad UCONN record. UCONN teams typically foul less than 12 times per game and the ability to defend without fouling is a characteristic of all great UCONN teams and something that the staff places great emphasis on. With WCBB going to quarters and doing away with the 1 and 1 a high rate of fouling is now more costly.

I don’t disagree with your concern about fouls, but it’s worth noting that UConn is putting a lot more pressure on the ball this season as a means of speeding up the tempo of the game. That pressure defense is likely to result in more fouls being committed. Given time, I do believe the Huskies will get better at pressuring teams without fouling.

 

[bags27]

Well, the OP, Blueconn, is comparing athleticism. To me, that's correct: this is the most purely athletic team in a long, long time. Everyone is in incredible shape; everyone can play multiple positions. The only "lag" is Z having to adjust to a new position and she's actually done a remarkable job so far. There have been injuries, but surmountable ones. So, from a purely talent/athletic point of view, I'd say this team compares to any team ever put on a court in WCBB. Whether they live up to their potential is the question. Sometimes people/teams/institutions can be so great that they can't get out of their own way.

 

[oldude]

Relative to “athleticism” the OP is spot on. Over the past 10+ years, Geno and his staff have made a concerted effort to recruit athletic players who can run the court, spread the floor and run a motion offense and switch all over the court on defense.

It’s one of the primary reasons why UConn recruits only a small percentage of the many talented post players in the country. Most traditional posts will not be effective in UConn’s system. It’s also the reason why I believe ONO is a much better recruit for UConn than Charli Collier, although I certainly wouldn’t mind having both of them.

 

[Blaneylover]

I tend to agree with the assertion that this team has the potential to be one of HCGA's best. They have superior talent at every position. KLS is vastly improved this year...and that is a scary notion. NC will be fine. I think she just has a few nagging injuries. I am a tad worried about GW. She is a supreme competitor and I sometimes think she is pressing a bit this year because she is so intent on avenging last season's loss in the Final Four. She is pushing the envelope on passes and her TO's have gone up. On defense, she is fouling a tad more. CD is the most impreoved player on the team. She has a chance to be thought of in the same breath as Jefferson and Bird. That is high praise, but I think that her body of work this year speak for itself.

Sit back and enjoy the ride. This show should be playing into early April.

 

[donalddoowop]

To be a great team you have to have great competition; not sure we have that.

Not necessarily true. The Stewart, Tuck, Jefferson teams were great. UCONN's competition has not been great since they have been in the AAC. Great teams overcome that kind of situation, imo. Many teams that play a much tougher schedule than UCONN have been blown away by the Huskies on a consistent basis.

 

[oldude]

Not necessarily true. The Stewart, Tuck, Jefferson teams were great. UCONN's competition has not been great since they have been in the AAC. Great teams overcome that kind of situation, imo. Many teams that play a much tougher schedule than UCONN have been blown away by the Huskies on a consistent basis.

Good point about competition. After last season, when we looked at the usual suspects typically listed as the very top echelon in WBB (SC, ND, MD, Baylor & Stanford) they all lost key players to graduation, transfer or injury. Only UConn was clearly going to be a better team this year. As for the 2nd tier WBB teams (Lou, tOSU, MS St, TN, TX, UCLA & OR) the jury is still out on all of them with the possible exception of MS St who appears to be for real.

As a result, the gap between UConn and everyone else may be as wide as ever this season.

 

[CocoHusky]

To be a great team you have to have great competition; not sure we have that.

I agree. I would even go so far as to say that UCONN has not had a competitor (team or person) to be feared since Skylar Diggins and Britney Griner graduated. This spring, that will have been be half a decade ago and only two losses in that time.

 

[Blueconn]

DePaul plays such a strange style with it's all out press that I would hesitate to use this game as a defining moment. We match up really well with them. As Crystal said, the outside was open and the inside was open. Like Syracuse except not as athletic and we all know what that looked like.

Still, there is such clear signs of growth that I think come tournament time, we will be overwhelming favorites even if somewhere in the regular season, we trip up.

Depaul’s Speed of game is much better than Syracuse has even been. It’s value is that doing everything fast for the entire 4 quarters is exactly what we needed. The Orange play choppy sequences when they scrap hard for a few minutes. Usually (certainly historically) that’s how we have no trouble playing at any speed, any time, for a whole game...if you think you can keep up. Syracuse never has. DePaul kids don’t watch the scoreboard. They run everywhere all night. And we did also.

 

[iri10]

UConn's overall style has certainly changed over the last decade - the Maya years through to Stewie's first year, and the rest of the Stewie class's career on through to today.

The older teams played much more of a methodical half court game, and played a very conservative - yet still excellent - defense. Now we're getting a ton from transition and turnovers, and are arguably a bit less methodical in the half court. In exchange for greater production from our defense into transition offense, we allow a few more opportunities for the opposing team to score. But our offensive explosiveness seems to drain the opposing teams even more often than before.

UConn has retained the same important building blocks for all those years. Good passing, good defense, intelligent shotmaking. Other than that the 2010 team and the 2018 teams' play are mutually unintelligible. A decade sounds like a generously long time to effect a major change in the way you allow your team to play...but then you remember that some coaches change their team's play style far less over a 40 year career. Geno apparently hasn't ossified yet - it's part of the reason why he's been so successful.

 

[Blueconn]

I agree. I would even go so far as to say that UCONN has not had a competitor (team or person) to be feared since Skylar Diggins and Britney Griner graduated. This spring, that will have been be half a decade ago and only two losses in that time.

Griner was outplayed by Tina early and Stef later. Kelly and Mo owned their backcourt.

 

[Blueconn]

UConn's overall style has certainly changed over the last decade - the Maya years through to Stewie's first year, and the rest of the Stewie class's career on through to today.

The older teams played much more of a methodical half court game, and played a very conservative - yet still excellent - defense. Now we're getting a ton from transition and turnovers, and are arguably a bit less methodical in the half court. In exchange for greater production from our defense into transition offense, we allow a few more opportunities for the opposing team to score. But our offensive explosiveness seems to drain the opposing teams even more often than before.

UConn has retained the same important building blocks for all those years. Good passing, good defense, intelligent shotmaking. Other than that the 2010 team and the 2018 teams' play are mutually unintelligible. A decade sounds like a generously long time to effect a major change in the way you allow your team to play...but then you remember that some coaches change their team's play style far less over a 40 year career. Geno apparently hasn't ossified yet - it's part of the reason why he's been so successful.

The older teams actually astonish me with their fluid, high speed game. Full court start to finish. Time has indeed passed and things are different. But 100% Auriemma is timeless. The ‘02 team was electric.

 

[Blueconn]

I don't recall any other undefeated teams being down 11 in the 4th quarter to anyone, even the #2 team in the country. I don't think this is 2015-16 all over again.

That 4th quarter was vintage and I don’t think it was a fluke.

 

[Longtime fan]

To be a great team you have to have great competition; not sure we have that.

Well, we are playing as many top teams as we could schedule, I'm sure. True, most of these games happen early, before anyone's team has "solidified." Tennessee won't play us. But what other top team are we missing? Oregon, I guess. It is true that we go into a deep funk once we hit our in-conference teams.......that will be time to clean up weaknesses, secure some experience for the bench, and try out some new ideas. Geno would like to play only the top 25 teams in the nation all season long, if he could.