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Message: [QUOTE="tomcat, post: 2248509, member: 961"] I think you've got it right. They came out looking out of sorts and never really got themselves together for the whole game. They have played slow-down teams in the past and have pulled out the wins. They should have known how to do it. However..... .....MS State got to dictate the pace, as you said, and UConn missed a remarkable number of layups (Gabby and Napheesa both) that were absolute money for them in other games. They messed up a number of other plays that in other games, also were near-guaranteed to work. Some of this was because of the opponents' aggressive defense, but I don't believe that they were so good that they simply shut UConn down. The Huskies did it to themselves in this game, finding themselves one step behind and not being able to create solutions that worked. I do have to say that in overtime, I did not get the impression that the UConn players acted as if they were in control of the situation or of themselves. I give MsState all the credit for a great game plan and for taking advantage of what they were given (and we showed up at the finals to root for them against SC), but this loss was on UConn for not being able to do the things they needed to win. And I will say this again: There is no doubt in my mind that if UConn had pulled out a win against MsState, they would have come out flying in the finals and would have easily beaten SC. Why? Because they would have been so angry with themselves for almost blowing it that they would have been completely on top of their game the next time. Based on what I saw in the final game, I was less impressed with SC, which was good but not great, than I was with MsState's collapse. They simply could not rise to the same level of performance two games in a row, and they would have had to do that to win, because there's no doubt that on paper and on the court, SC is better than MsState 8 games out of 10. [/QUOTE]

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