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Message: [QUOTE="jdote33, post: 5066628, member: 11252"] I can't find the thread but someone mentioned that they were watching last year's games and it being encouraging, so I decided to watch the Uconn vs ND game. I just remembered losing, Paige not playing well, Nika fouling out, and Hannah Hidalgo kinda going crazy. But I just rewatched the first half and it was such an interesting game. First off, the atmosphere seemed pretty insane. I thought the team kinda started out the game tight, but I can't blame them. I remember a sports analyst once said game 7s are so unnatural, like the amount of pressure is not normal for a human being. I know these athletes are conditioned and live for these moments but I kinda thought it must've been so intense to play in that game. In any event, upon rewatching I can't believe we were up 30-18 in total control in the second quarter, with Diana Taurasi being interviewed. It really felt like we were about the win the game handily but then we went into a serious drought. On the flip side, Nat Marshall really changed the game for them, and Westbeld was a force in the first half. Which made me think, we really did need more size out there. It will be good to have a rotation of bigs this season. ND was so smart, and really punished mismatches. They were pretty disciplined. The firs half also made me think of how much of a Caroline Ducharme game that was. She lives for those type of games, and one of her breakout games her freshman year was against Notre Dame at home. I thought of Azzi as well, as she has had pretty big games vs ranked opponents at home. Lastly, I thought of Kaitlyn Chen. She would've definitely cracked a smile, and got the team to loosen up a bit. Maybe I'm optimistic but I did feel like everything that was missing from the team in that game is kinda on the way this year. In even remembering Paige having a "bad game", she was quite unlucky on a couple of her shots in the first half (they went in and out). I know there's the aggressive Paige talk but I actually think this year there won't be as much pressure on her to make every play. You could see them trying to get her the ball at times in the first half but Citron on ND was doing a great job of denying, which bogged up the offense. I almost wanted to see KK just run screen and roll or take the defense herself, instead of waiting to run a set play. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach