A Flaw In My Praise of Tricia Fabbri,

[RockyMTblue2]

You know how things can just bubble up when you aren't thinking too hard? I'm driving home from some chore listening to Steven A. Smith, well no really listening, just too lazy to change the radio channel. And smack: Tricia Fabbri was just as misguided as Joe Haigh until she sat down and watched the utter destruction of St. Francis. She really had to be gob smacked like that to rethink running on UConn? What's her excuse? She follows UConn and even if she tried to, in the Husky crazed state of Connecticut she couldn't avoid knowing that was probably a foolish endeavor.

And if you listen carefully to her press conference she in essence says "if we had a few more days to run strategy number 2 it would have been a different game. Good for her. Proud of her team, but don't lay that on us. You should have strategy 2 in your playbook as part of creating a team capable of taking on whomever comes along. Truth be known, I bet it is something that is in there play book, because I think she's a pretty darn good coach. So day and a half, just chest beating maybe?

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Just so we are clear, Fabbri's team held UConn to 71 points, its third-lowest output of the year...and lowest output for a home game this year. In fact, it is UConn's lowest point total for a home game in the last two seasons and fourth lowest point total overall in the past two years.

With all due respect, she got her team to take 12 more field goal attempts than UConn (though Quinnipiac did not shoot well at all), and her team only committed 7 turnovers (and had more assists - 9 - than turnovers). I cannot recall a UConn opponent that only committed 7 turnovers.

As an aside, even if she follows UConn, if she is coaching her own team, she may not be paying attention to the style of play other teams run against UConn during the season. She may see the final scores, and she might catch a game here and there, but a good coach is focused on her own team and scouting her next opponent(s).

 

[ME Husky Fan]

Just so we are clear, Fabbri's team held UConn to 71 points, its third-lowest output of the year...and lowest output for a home game this year. In fact, it is UConn's lowest point total for a home game in the last two seasons and fourth lowest point total overall in the past two years.

With all due respect, she got her team to take 12 more field goal attempts than UConn (though Quinnipiac did not shoot well at all), and her team only committed 7 turnovers (and had more assists - 9 - than turnovers). I cannot recall a UConn opponent that only committed 7 turnovers.

As an aside, even if she follows UConn, if she is coaching her own team, she may not be paying attention to the style of play other teams run against UConn during the season. She may see the final scores, and she might catch a game here and there, but a good coach is focused on her own team and scouting her next opponent(s).

Thumbs up to Quinnipiac on the low turnovers but I think one needs to look at the consumption of time on each possession to really put meat on the bones to the turnover amount. If I was a betting man I'd bet she and many other coaches around the country take more than a casual view into what UCONN is doing as they ARE the measuring stick which others want to emulate, right Kelly Graves, Vic Schaefer, and others?

 

[cohenzone]

Just so we are clear, Fabbri's team held UConn to 71 points, its third-lowest output of the year...and lowest output for a home game this year. In fact, it is UConn's lowest point total for a home game in the last two seasons and fourth lowest point total overall in the past two years.

With all due respect, she got her team to take 12 more field goal attempts than UConn (though Quinnipiac did not shoot well at all), and her team only committed 7 turnovers (and had more assists - 9 - than turnovers). I cannot recall a UConn opponent that only committed 7 turnovers.

As an aside, even if she follows UConn, if she is coaching her own team, she may not be paying attention to the style of play other teams run against UConn during the season. She may see the final scores, and she might catch a game here and there, but a good coach is focused on her own team and scouting her next opponent(s).

QU played well. And yes UConn scored less than usual - and won by 25 points. Would have been more if the bench isn’t cleared. I give QU credit for some of the turnovers. But what held UCinn under 80 or more aside from using the end of the bench, was QU minimizing UConn touches by using a lot of clock on each possession and not contesting for their own misses by dropping back right away and preventing easy fast break points. That strangely works fine if your ball hallhandlers are skilled enough to prevent UConn steals. QU is a well schooled, smart team, but I’ll take scoring 71 and winning by 25 every day.

 

[vtcwbuff]

Throughout the game I wondered about UConn's defensive effort. Where was the full court press and the swarming, suffocating D? For example, UConn typically turns over opponents 19 times per game. Quinnipiac typically turns the ball over 12 times a game against a weak schedule. Last night UConn forced 7 turnovers.

I concluded that just as Q's style of play was their coach's decision, so was UConn's. Since the outcome was certain, I think Auriemma opted to keep the game reasonable.

Kudos to Fabbri for having a plan B, unlike the kamikaze coach from St Francis.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

With all due respect

I guess you misread what I'm saying. She is a damn good coach, but her saying uh oh to a running game against UConn 36 hours before the game is nutty.

 

[connie]

For what it's worth, Quinnipiac's 3FG% as a team on the year is .340. Against UConn they were 4-24 (.167). Many of the misses were uncontested looks. If Q shoots its average, then that gives them an extra 12 points (8 for 24). Hardly enough to make a difference on retrospect. But it is impossible to predict how made 3s at the right occasion may have changed things. If Q has a good or even great night shooting 3s, they could have had as many as 17-21 more points. Not saying that would necessarily make it a one-possession game with a minute left. But it gives a disciplined team a chance against a great team with superior personnel.

I can see no reason at this point to offer anything but praise for Fabbri and her team. They showed that even a team without the best players in the country can play great basketball.

 

[JoePgh]

I noticed something else about her strategy which I think is to her credit: For nearly the first three quarters of the game, her team was deliberately burning off the first 15-20 seconds of the shot clock to slow the game down and not risk turnovers with aggressive passing. Only at that point would they start to run their offense. I think the low shooting percentage arose from the fact that they were rushing when they finally tried to get a shot up with only 10 seconds remaining on the clock. Some of their 3-point attempts were just heaves as the shot clock was expiring.

HOWEVER, with about 3 minutes left in the third quarter and her team down by about 19 or 20 points, she realized that continuing with the same strategy might keep the losing margin respectable, but it had no chance of winning. UConn was up by too much at that point, and there were only 13 minutes remaining to make it up. So she called a timeout, and during the timeout, she obviously told them to stop freezing the ball and run their normal offense from the beginning of the possession. That is very important because it shows that she was still actually trying to win the game, not lose by a respectable margin. As a result she lost by 25 points (and was down by 31 when Geno started to pull his starters). She might have lost by 15 if she had stayed with the original approach, but the altered approach gave her team its only chance to win at that stage of the game. In the past, I have seen teams like Rutgers, Villanova, and Central Florida stick with the "slow-ball" strategy even when they were down by a significant margin, thereby giving themselves no chance to win. Quinnipiac didn't do that.

I'm sure that if she had only been down by (say) 5 points at that point in the game, she would have continued with the original strategy on the theory that anything could happen in the last few minutes of the game.

I think the reason why the Bobcats had so few turnovers (fewer than their season average) is that they spent all that time in the first three quarters just dribbling the ball and making no attempt to score. They didn't play that way against Miami, and I'm sure they had more turnovers as a result. It had nothing to do with the quality of UConn's defense, which (to my untrained eyes) was excellent for the entire game.

 

[ME Husky Fan]

Throughout the game I wondered about UConn's defensive effort. Where was the full court press and the swarming, suffocating D? For example, UConn typically turns over opponents 19 times per game. Quinnipiac typically turns the ball over 12 times a game against a weak schedule. Last night UConn forced 7 turnovers.

I concluded that just as Q's style of play was their coach's decision, so was UConn's. Since the outcome was certain, I think Auriemma opted to keep the game reasonable.

Kudos to Fabbri for having a plan B, unlike the kamikaze coach from St Francis.

I concur - I think Geno has a soft spot for the Quinnipiac coach and to that decided to pick-up at half-court.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Throughout the game I wondered about UConn's defensive effort. Where was the full court press and the swarming, suffocating D? For example, UConn typically turns over opponents 19 times per game. Quinnipiac typically turns the ball over 12 times a game against a weak schedule. Last night UConn forced 7 turnovers.

I concluded that just as Q's style of play was their coach's decision, so was UConn's. Since the outcome was certain, I think Auriemma opted to keep the game reasonable.

Kudos to Fabbri for having a plan B, unlike the kamikaze coach from St Francis.

I had the same read of UConn's defense. Geno is conserving shins, etc etc.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

I concur - I think Geno has a soft spot for the Quinnipiac coach and to that decided to pick-up at half-court.

With all due respect, I cannot, for the life of me, understand the concept that Geno Auriemma consciously deciding to keep a score reasonable because he likes the opposing coach or has a soft spot for the coach of the opposition.

If that were the case, would Coach Auriemma keep the score in the Sweet 16 reasonable because of all of the blowouts Duke has had at the hands of UConn during the Coach P era? Would he have a soft spot for the Duke players, given how many blowout losses (8 games against Coach P's teams while at Duke; 8 wins by UConn, with an average margin of 28.6 points per game) UConn has delivered t0 Duke?

If that is the case, then I hope it comes to fruition...as the closest game between Duke and UConn during the Coach P era at Duke was in 2012, at Duke, by a score of 61-45 (16 points).

 

[Crossover]

I guess you misread what I'm saying. She is a damn good coach, but her saying uh oh to a running game against UConn 36 hours before the game is nutty.

Umm, when were you expecting her to begin game planning in earnest? There was the minor matter of having to wait for the bracket to come out, followed by the pesky need to dispatch Miami. It would not have been wise to look past the Canes. Nor was it obvious that QU would be better off milking the clock (something they have no experience doing for 40 minutes) rather than playing more up tempo and in rhythm. St. Francis was such a hot mess because they played (1) hyper fast on offense and (2) not at all on defense.

You keep suggesting that teams should be prepared to play multiple ways. There is a reason, several actually, why that rarely happens, including player limitations and the absence of infinite practice time.

 

[Monte]

With all due respect, I cannot, for the life of me, understand the concept that Geno Auriemma consciously deciding to keep a score reasonable because he likes the opposing coach or has a soft spot for the coach of the opposition.

If that were the case, would Coach Auriemma keep the score in the Sweet 16 reasonable because of all of the blowouts Duke has had at the hands of UConn during the Coach P era? Would he have a soft spot for the Duke players, given how many blowout losses (8 games against Coach P's teams while at Duke; 8 wins by UConn, with an average margin of 28.6 points per game) UConn has delivered t0 Duke?

If that is the case, then I hope it comes to fruition...as the closest game between Duke and UConn during the Coach P era at Duke was in 2012, at Duke, by a score of 61-45 (16 points).

Yes, Geno is human. Yes, he does have good "friends" who are opposing coaches.
I do not think he ever walked around wearing a DUKE t-shirt. Being human, I do believe he has had his team "ease up" on some teams near the end of the game.
I will admit I am wrong if I see him wearing a Duke shirt in Albany, and putting the reserves in early.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Umm, when were you expecting her to begin game planning in earnest? There was the minor matter of having to wait for the bracket to come out, followed by the pesky need to dispatch Miami. It would not have been wise to look past the Canes. Nor was it obvious that QU would be better off milking the clock (something they have no experience doing for 40 minutes) rather than playing more up tempo and in rhythm. St. Francis was such a hot mess because they played (1) hyper fast on offense and (2) not at all on defense.

You keep suggesting that teams should be prepared to play multiple ways. There is a reason, several actually, why that rarely happens, including player limitations and the absence of infinite practice time.

Nobody get's my point, so I'm guilty of being too subtle. She's too good a coach not to have plan B in her team's arsenal all season and every year. What nit wit other than the St. Francis folly prepares a team to only play one way. Probably has a C and D too. The day and a half thing is a fable. A lie. A construct. Yet you buy it and say it is the norm. Teams are taught to only play one way. So she implemented a whole new offensive scheme in 36 hours. I have a bridge you can buy if you are interested.

 

[GoUconn7961]

I need to analyze my life as completely as we analyze each and every game played by our Huskies..
Maybe I'd be in a better place.

 

[UConnNick]

For what it's worth, Quinnipiac's 3FG% as a team on the year is .340. Against UConn they were 4-24 (.167). Many of the misses were uncontested looks. If Q shoots its average, then that gives them an extra 12 points (8 for 24). Hardly enough to make a difference on retrospect. But it is impossible to predict how made 3s at the right occasion may have changed things. If Q has a good or even great night shooting 3s, they could have had as many as 17-21 more points. Not saying that would necessarily make it a one-possession game with a minute left. But it gives a disciplined team a chance against a great team with superior personnel.

I can see no reason at this point to offer anything but praise for Fabbri and her team. They showed that even a team without the best players in the country can play great basketball.

I think Fabbri did the best she could have in Q's approach. However, if they did have a lights out shooting night from beyond the arc, then Geno would have countered with adjustments for better perimeter D, and more importantly, he leaves the starters in, and Q never gets close enough at the end to make it competitive. I think we still win in the 15-20 point range, at the very least.

 

[eebmg]

Everyone is commenting that the low turnovers is part of the slow down strategy and that is true but it is not like we did not pressure them. We often ran hard double teams at them (albeit on our end of the floor) and they were very poised in passing out of it most of the time . I was surprised and impressed. True, we really did not try and run a brutal full court defense in their end but I imagine their was good strategy for that choice.

 

[ME Husky Fan]

Yes, Geno is human. Yes, he does have good "friends" who are opposing coaches.
I do not think he ever walked around wearing a DUKE t-shirt. Being human, I do believe he has had his team "ease up" on some teams near the end of the game.
I will admit I am wrong if I see him wearing a Duke shirt in Albany, and putting the reserves in early.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[VaConnFan11]

To me, the low number of turnovers for Q is a little deceiving. I consider every shot thrown up with less than 5 seconds on the shot clock a turnover. They did make a couple, but they missed a lot and didn't get very many offensive rebounds.

They played the right type of game to beat UConn. If they had the players that a few of the other team's have, they would have had a chance to win. Not saying they would have, but they would have had a chance.

 

[donalddoowop]

Everyone is commenting that the low turnovers is part of the slow down strategy and that is true but it is not like we did not pressure them. We often ran hard double teams at them (albeit on our end of the floor) and they were very poised in passing out of it most of the time . I was surprised and impressed. True, we really did not try and run a brutal full court defense in their end but I imagine their was good strategy for that choice.

Maybe since Q was making UCONN play defense for 20 seconds or more, Geno did not want to tax his players energy so much by playing a full court press. Playing defense that long and pressing full court could be really hard on a team that plays mainly six players. Just saying.

 

[mhshuskies]

Just so we are clear, Fabbri's team held UConn to 71 points, its third-lowest output of the year...and lowest output for a home game this year. In fact, it is UConn's lowest point total for a home game in the last two seasons and fourth lowest point total overall in the past two years.

With all due respect, she got her team to take 12 more field goal attempts than UConn (though Quinnipiac did not shoot well at all), and her team only committed 7 turnovers (and had more assists - 9 - than turnovers). I cannot recall a UConn opponent that only committed 7 turnovers.

As an aside, even if she follows UConn, if she is coaching her own team, she may not be paying attention to the style of play other teams run against UConn during the season. She may see the final scores, and she might catch a game here and there, but a good coach is focused on her own team and scouting her next opponent(s).

Jeff Walz take on how to approach the Huskies, play it safe for a respectable loss or go for it

 

[PhanTom]

With all due respect, I cannot, for the life of me, understand the concept that Geno Auriemma consciously deciding to keep a score reasonable because he likes the opposing coach or has a soft spot for the coach of the opposition.

If that were the case, would Coach Auriemma keep the score in the Sweet 16 reasonable because of all of the blowouts Duke has had at the hands of UConn during the Coach P era? Would he have a soft spot for the Duke players, given how many blowout losses (8 games against Coach P's teams while at Duke; 8 wins by UConn, with an average margin of 28.6 points per game) UConn has delivered t0 Duke?

If that is the case, then I hope it comes to fruition...as the closest game between Duke and UConn during the Coach P era at Duke was in 2012, at Duke, by a score of 61-45 (16 points).

Obviously you do not watch or follow the Huskies much, as the "concept" as you call it is actually much more, it's "for real". Ask any of UCONN'S faithful, and nearly every long time fan will tell you that it is especially noticeable when he faces Temple, Cincinnati, Hartford/Rizzotti, and Pitt with Shea Ralph. Geno has a long list of friends where his "heart" makes an appearance, despite the critics who jump on him way too often. The absence of the full court press is one clear signal, though I'm not convinced he did that last night for Fabbri. I do think he went to his bench earlier than he would have for most any other opponent. The game was closer than I had expected, though it did not take a genius to predict the strategy, only the degree she'd slow it down. We knew during the SF game it was the only way to play it. Personally I was hoping for a standard full court blowout, as I am not quite a fan the Q coach. Too much complaining, esp. on obvious calls that were correct, incl. one last night when the defender was flat footed inside the arc. Same for her "Potty mouth". I'm also Marist fan, so I see way too much of her style.

 

[Alydar]

• Those who point to the score as evidence of the effectiveness of Q's strategy are either too young to remember or forgot about the days before the shot clock and the use of freezing the ball. In those games the halftime score was often 7-4. At some point in the second half however the better team (and usually the much much better team) would open a lead and the coach of the team behind would abandon the strategy, play to score and lose by 15. It also led to boring games that only had any appeal for the undergog's fans. It led to the shot clock more than anything.Q did the modern version of that but they reached that point Monday and lost by 25. Now maybe it was a defeat with dignity but it was still defeat. This notion that avoiding being blown out by UConn is some sort of Pyrrhic victory is a joke.

• I liked the way UConn reacted to the slowdown. Last year when Miss St used it they were in large part aided by UConn becoming impatient at both ends of the court, making mistakes on defense that led to easy MS baskets and rushing their offense to try and pick up the pace of play. Monday, they were always in control. They worked their offense patiently and didn't overplay their defense. That will go a long way in helping them if a better team tries it.

• I don't think Geno gave Q a break. I think if anything Q gave UConn a break by effectively turning 40 minutes into 30 minutes of actual play. It gave UConn's wounded starters an easier game.