A Lesson Learned | The Boneyard

A Lesson Learned

Tonyc

Tonyc

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Alot went wrong for us and alot went right for ND. We have been playing really good with 13 wins in a row and we have 5 wins over top ranked teams and now 4 losses against top ranked teams. That not bad at all. We found yesterday we have some things we have to work on and clean up. They were exposed yesterday and now we go to practice and figure them out. This team has come along way this season. We're all disappointed and were expecting better. I dont need to mention what went wrong and what went right because everybody else has done a good job of that. What will be done at practice is we will pick up the pieces and take another step forward. This team is better then they showed yesterday. We arent as bad as we looked, we had a poor game. It was a good lesson to learn from
 
Tonyc said:
Alot went wrong for us and alot went right for ND. We have been playing really good with 13 wins in a row and we have 5 wins over top ranked teams and now 4 losses against top ranked teams. That not bad at all. We found yesterday we have some things we have to work on and clean up. They were exposed yesterday and now we go to practice and figure them out. This team has come along way this season. We're all disappointed and were expecting better. I dont need to mention what went wrong and what went right because everybody else has done a good job of that. What will be done at practice is we will pick up the pieces and take another step forward. This team is better then they showed yesterday. We arent as bad as we looked, we had a poor game. It was a good lesson to learn from
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All good points, however it should also be noted ND is a better team than you assumed they were. Even when things were going well for UConn, they were battling each step of the way.

This game helps UConn see where they need to get better and I believe it will also serve as motivation to prove to those waiting for them to fall apart wrong.
 
It is what it is. We have key players (a lot of them) on the bench. Two years in a row now. The team we field is what we have. It’s not an elite team. It just isn’t. Sorry.

This team will be lucky to get to the sweet 16. Very lucky. And if they do, very little chance of winning that game. Almost zero.

Hopefully next year they have no injuries and can field a complete team. Wouldn’t that be something?
 
Are we a top 25 team, yes. Are we a top 10 team no. The only big wins we have are against Louisville and UNC. Maryland is a dumpster fire , Marquette and Creighton are not what we thought. We have no helpful bench against the top teams. We can ill afford foul trouble and poor shooting against the top teams and expect to succeed. I will consider this season a big success if we reach the sweet sixteen.
 
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Topsail said:
Are we a top 25 team, yes. Are we a top 10 team no. The only big wins we have are against Louisville and UNC. Maryland is a dumpster fire , Marquette and Creighton are not what we thought. We have no helpful bench against the top teams. We can ill afford foul trouble and poor shooting against the top teams and expect to succeed. I will consider this season a big success if we reach the sweet sixteen.
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All those good wins were with Aubrey
Her loss changed the team completely
 
Tonyc said:
Alot went wrong for us and alot went right for ND. We have been playing really good with 13 wins in a row and we have 5 wins over top ranked teams and now 4 losses against top ranked teams. That not bad at all. We found yesterday we have some things we have to work on and clean up. They were exposed yesterday and now we go to practice and figure them out. This team has come along way this season. We're all disappointed and we’re expecting better. I dont need to mention what went wrong and what went right because everybody else has done a good job of that. What will be done at practice is we will pick up the pieces and take another step forward. This team is better than they showed yesterday. We arent as bad as we looked, we had a poor game. It was a good lesson to learn from
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Again all good wins with Aubrey
 
Big games are going to be very hard to win with only five players and no contributions from the bench. The team has shown a lot of grit but we are way too thin to go deep in the tourney.
 
Zonepress said:
All those good wins were with Aubrey
Her loss changed the team completely
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Agreed. What helped me last season was to evaluate the season as different teams based on who was injured. Very similar to how the committee evaluates teams bodies of work.

This year, you have the team with Azzi and CD, then the stretch before Aubrey’s injury, then post Aubrey.

Team A- 3-1 with wins over Maryland, Minnesota, and Dayton. Loss to NC State. Should note that the Maryland win continues to hold less weight as they aren’t close to being ranked.

Team B - 8-2, Best wins over UNC, Louisville, Kansas, Marquette, Creighton and losses to UCLA and Texas. The strongest win is arguably Louisville, and Aubrey torched them for 25.

Team C- the current squad - 6-1, 6 wins against unranked opponents, 1 loss against ND at home by 15. This was truly the first real test post Aubrey, and I thought her presence was missed greatly. Especially the defensive quickness from the post. Imagine swapping Aubrey for Ice in those Hidalgo ball screen actions.

This current squad, like previous years, gains confidence beating big east squads. But what many fail to want to admit is that the big east is really weak compared to the P5 conferences. Morrow, Park Lane, and Siegrest are all gone, the conference gets zero top 100 recruits besides Uconn. It’s easy to see the conference isn’t as strong this year.

I’d say us as fans remember the legacy of Uconn, and when we start rolling in conference we get excited. Last night was that wake up call, to showcase that unranked wins don’t necessarily provide accurate measurements of where we are at. For the first time post Aubrey, we played a top 25 team and got beat. A lot of the breakdowns weren’t new, it’s just that in the big east, most teams fail to take advantage like ND did. Geno can get on players about not switching, or poor shot selection. Sometimes you need to feel an opponent punish you for it to have it sink in.

We have one more chance to measure ourselves at South Carolina. Besides that, I fear we’ll get back to playing the small lineup that works in the big east, continue to draw confidence from that. But likely be exposed in the tournament when we face teams with the size, length, and athleticism to take advantage.

Think of how much tougher this team would be able to get if we were currently in the ACC. It would be a grind with likely some losses, but they’d be put in these types of games time and time again, and they’d have the chance to figure out how to win them.
 
Zonepress said:
All those good wins were with Aubrey
Her loss changed the team completely
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In the 3 losses she scored 13 points total. Her strength man to man defense, weakness team switching defense.
 
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This team had too many walkovers in the Big East and it showed in this game that was really competitive. Paige wasguarded tight as a drum and that team has size across the board.

This was not Geno's best coaching job either. Defense was very suspect. Aubrey's loss was very evident and Notre Dame just wore them down in the end. It would be nice to have a full complement of players just for one year, Don't you think?
 
Artifact said:
Did ND. make us play a bad game ?
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You could make that argument with respect to Paige. She did not have a good game, one of the worst games I can remember her having. Not trying to make excuses for her but the refs did allow ND to manhandle her for most of the game. That being said, she seemed just worn out by ND’s heavy handed defense by the end of the game. If that doesn’t happen, Shade and KK would’ve been wide open for some shots. Also, as the op said, we definitely miss AG. Nika also didn’t play well, and her early 4th foul seemed to be a turning point.
 
veryolddog said:
Just remember what league that they are playing that makes them look good. Look at what is left for players. Shouldn't that tell you something.
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I have been criticized for pointing out that moving to the NBE was in the long term a dead end move for the athletic department.
Besides the fact having to pay the AAC 17 million dollars.
 
I agree that this will be a learning experience, and although today we look like a Sweet 16 team (but not Elite 8), that can change. IMO, the biggest issue with the loss is that unless we perform really well at SC, we will be a 3 or 4 seed, which puts us against a 2 or 1 seed in the Sweet 16. If we end up a 4 seed, I don't see us getting past the 1 seed.
 
I think it is too optimistic to just look at this as a learning experience, we go back to the drawing board and fix things in practice. Of course we will try to do that as any good program would, but some things are un-fixable and probably unavoidable.

We are not deep and we won't be. If we are lucky from this point on, we won't lose anybody else, but if we do we don't have answers. Right now we use seven because we have to, not because we want to. The team is not as good when either Ice or Q is on the court vs. one of our starters.

I'm not down on Q, I think she has probably exceeded expectations, but if this team was healthy she would be gaining her experience mostly in mop up minutes, this would be a learning year and maybe by next year she could be counted on to make more of a contribution.

Ice is more of an enigma and disappointment. She is playing more than Q not because of how she is performing, but because we are hurting even more for bigs and it is Ice or Amari. She is obviously nervous, makes a lot of mistakes and is far from a Uconn level backup, at least for now.

We have no margin for error with fouls. If any starter gets in foul trouble it is a big deal. We don't have the flexibility for strategic situational substitutions, because managing minutes for rest is a bigger priority. Whether small ball works or not against a particular opponent, it is who we have to be now, regardless of results.

For the most part the players have handled the situation very well given the circumstances, and I'm sure some things will be fixed in practice, but injuries have lowered the ceiling for this year's team substantially, the talent is reduced, the bench is shallow, the vulnerability to foul trouble or further injuries is huge, and our situational strategies and flexibility are largely gone.

With all of those negatives it is pretty impressive that this team is ranked, dominating it's conference, and maybe heading for a #3 or #4 seed, With a couple of freshmen starting and two off the bench they can eliminate some mistakes but the limitations due to injuries are real. This team might be playing to their potential better than most Uconn teams.
 
It will be very interesting to see how the Huskies defend Olsen Wednesday night. She's another guard that seems to score a lot against quite a few teams. Can Nika be Nika against her?????
 
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Sad to say the results of last night's game were not totally unexpected...........everything has to go right for this year's team to beat really good competition.........certainly not a lack of effort, just a lack of offensive firepower and defensive aggression........I can still envision this team making it to the round of eight in the big tournament but with so many games in a short timeframe that's likely to be the end of the road.......I hesitate to say wait till next year when the team will be loaded because as we've learned, things don't always work out as planned.....
 
“When Nika wasn't in the game, it hurt us on both ends,” Auriemma said. “… On the defensive end, the communication breakdowns, they happen mostly when you're younger. The game is moving real fast, and things are happening real quick. … How do you learn? How do you become an experienced player? You just have to play more games.”

www.ctinsider.com

Why UConn women's basketball loss to Notre Dame could be learning opportunity: 'They'll figure it out'

The UConn women's basketball team came up short in its latest test, but the Huskies have time to learn from the loss to Notre Dame.
www.ctinsider.com www.ctinsider.com
 
Last edited:
browns said:
The 3 previous losses were with Aubrey also
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Yes, and they were against two teams currently in the top five or six in the country and another one before Harmon got hurt was undefeated and ranked in the top five before she got hurt
And two of these games were on the road

Even with a healthy team winning, those games would have been difficult

I
 
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A couple of things I did notice. When Nika sat with 2 fouls ND got going. Hidalgo gots right alot. Why not double team her going right?? When Nika fouled out ND went on another roll. I read somewhere Geno mentioned he want to get Paige more involved. Well Edwards was getting her way and Shade and KK were scoring on pull ups and dribble drives. Geno said later that may have been a mistake. Re watching the game it seemed Edwards slowed down. With 8 minutes left in the 4th we were tied. Geno has some work to do.
 
Questionable defense
Paige not taking over
They outhustled us (the worst problem)
 
Tonyc said:
Alot went wrong for us and alot went right for ND. We have been playing really good with 13 wins in a row and we have 5 wins over top ranked teams and now 4 losses against top ranked teams. That not bad at all. We found yesterday we have some things we have to work on and clean up. They were exposed yesterday and now we go to practice and figure them out. This team has come along way this season. We're all disappointed and were expecting better. I dont need to mention what went wrong and what went right because everybody else has done a good job of that. What will be done at practice is we will pick up the pieces and take another step forward. This team is better then they showed yesterday. We arent as bad as we looked, we had a poor game. It was a good lesson to learn from
Expand ...
I hope you learned to set your alarm clock.
 
I am still having trouble digesting that all of Notre Dame's points were scored by only 4 players. Hildago, Westbeld, and Citron accounted for 72 of Notre Dame's 82 points, and a freshman off the bench (Marshall) came in and scored the remaining 10 points. If Notre Dame's team is just those four players then I have to say this was an off game for UConn. It is also hard to get out from under the fact that we have Azzi, Caroline, and Aubrey on the bench along with two post players who would have made a difference.

I am not saying yeah if we had those five we would have won...it is what it is. We have injured players so does Notre Dame. What I am saying is that if Notre Dame only has 4 players and that would be three players who can score and who can impact the game then it shouldn't be hard to devise a defensive scheme that would limit the effectiveness of those players. There is no way that Hildago should be allowed to go off for 34 points and drive the basket without impunity. Weak-side help, stepping in to take the charge, taking away the right side of the basket would change that immediately. Westbeld should have been defended better...she got too many open shots. Nobody put a body on Marshall, the kid is a freshman...Ice has to do better.

Lessons learned from this game:

1. Get up for every game
2. Understand that on a team that is depleted by injuries you have to be able to stay on the floor and play...no dumb fouls.
3. Nobody comes into your house and takes away your will to win.
4. You cut off the head of the snake and the rest of the body has no venom.
5. You have to rebound the basketball and box out.
6. Do not let the other team out-hustle you.
7. Set screens and free up your shooters.
8. You must communicate on defense, bring the weak side help; step in, and take a charge.

Seriously, do we really believe in the luck of the Irish or do we believe in making our own luck?
 
1) Need to know how to play a zone, which should have been tried against Hidalgo.
2) Need everyone to know who covers who, which was missing yesterday- there was a lot of mad scrambling with missed assignments
3) Obviously, need to know how to stop a player like Hidalgo and a play like the pick & roll
 
Maybe we, UConn fans, expect too much from a team that has lost too many players to injuries this year and last....No one feels worse about that, than the players themselves. I hated seeing them lose so badly, especially to ND.
 
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