A New Emphasis on Defense

[PvP]

Both our loss to Ohio State and Iowa's defeat of South Carolina were in large part due to defensive schemes that forced turnovers.
Of course we were aware of OSUs press but we still couldn't handle it. Iowa used a zone in which Clark would drop back to double the post and South Carolina couldn't handle it.
With the full house of 14 players likely available to Geno, I hope he can find a way to incorporate a level of defense that wasn't possible this year.
We've used the press effectively in the past and would seem to have enough defensively effective players to cause havoc.
And a similar drop back zone could utilize Aubrey's phenomenal athleticism.
I'm sure there are other alternatives and Geno has often said that defense wins championships. I think this year's tournament is proof of that.

 

[freshler40]

Coaching and player development can and did make a difference. Injuries and some problems with the development hurt the Huskies this season. I'm sure the staff will, like reviewing players, have some self-awareness of what changes, including among themselves, need to be made. Our season was a challenge. The future looks bright, we will not go away.

 

[Bone Dog]

It’s a complicated knot of things this year. Defense depends more on practices than offense does. It also depends a lot on team culture which is primarily developed when players depend on each other as much as on themselves. Another year beset by injuries undermined their ability to practice and defensive unity suffered. The trademark team culture was still strong, but it was more dependent this year on emotional bonds forged in suffering and sympathy than on the shared work in practices. If we can avoid injury next year, I’m confident Geno and CD will be able to build the culture and committed team D that we’ve all come to know and love for many years.

 

[npignatjr]

Both our loss to Ohio State and Iowa's defeat of South Carolina were in large part due to defensive schemes that forced turnovers.
Of course we were aware of OSUs press but we still couldn't handle it. Iowa used a zone in which Clark would drop back to double the post and South Carolina couldn't handle it.
With the full house of 14 players likely available to Geno, I hope he can find a way to incorporate a level of defense that wasn't possible this year.
We've used the press effectively in the past and would seem to have enough defensively effective players to cause havoc.
And a similar drop back zone could utilize Aubrey's phenomenal athleticism.
I'm sure there are other alternatives and Geno has often said that defense wins championships. I think this year's tournament is proof of that.

Aubrey off the bench

 

[Blond D.]

One reason UCONN has been at the top of the womens teams for so long (Since Geno took over)is becuz Geno teaches defense first. UCONN has always been a great defensive team. When you get the defense down you not only have to score less points to win but you score points OFF the defense.

 

[Rowdy831]

I thought UCONN struggled more making the big shot in games they lost than they did on the defensive end. Ohio State was there for the taking and they simply couldn't hit a wide open shot. People talk about the press but the press only works if you don't attack it once it is broken and UCONN didn't and VaTech did.

UCONN had a better team than most in the tournament, maybe all of them. What they didn't have was clutch moments in games that counted. Even in games where a player looked great they missed a wide open shot that could have changed the direction of the game. I didn't see defense a huge issue this year at all.

 

[Blond D.]

Our defense is why we held Maddy to 25-22 points and Clark to 25.

 

[oldhusky]

I think a key to our defensive potential is how big our rotation is. Yes we might be more cohesive and have better communication with a short one, but this year for most of the year every starter had to be extra cautious not to get in foul trouble, and to save a little energy because they would have to play more than optimal minutes.

If we expand with an effective deep rotation everyone can go all out, all the time. That by itself will make us much better and reintroduce the press as a defensive option that was largely unavailable last year due to injuries.

 

[hoophuskee]

Both our loss to Ohio State and Iowa's defeat of South Carolina were in large part due to defensive schemes that forced turnovers.
Of course we were aware of OSUs press but we still couldn't handle it. Iowa used a zone in which Clark would drop back to double the post and South Carolina couldn't handle it.
With the full house of 14 players likely available to Geno, I hope he can find a way to incorporate a level of defense that wasn't possible this year.
We've used the press effectively in the past and would seem to have enough defensively effective players to cause havoc.
And a similar drop back zone could utilize Aubrey's phenomenal athleticism.
I'm sure there are other alternatives and Geno has often said that defense wins championships. I think this year's tournament is proof of that.

Or maybe if Paige and Azzi are healthy our Offense will be too great to handle?

Defense does not win championships. Overall play wins championships. Didn't Iowa also shoot the best fg% than anyone else vs SC? That doesn't matter?

And no way UCONN should play zone unless as a strategy vs tough opponents unless vs maybe a specific team or two which is a huge maybe. Arguably UCONN will have two players among the top 5 in all of basketball in which they are guards that are eilte shooters. So, the idea should be to give them the most shots as possible in the open floor (ie a running game) as much as possible. Why would UCONN want to slow the game down by going into a zone which woudl allow the other team ot slow the game down which ultiamately will give both Azzi and Paige less shots/ and/or chances in the open floor?

Paige and Azzi's number 1 calling card are their Offensive capabilities. And probably the 4th best player on our team next year is Caroline Ducharme and her strength is her offensive capabilities.

So why would UCONN want to slow the game down by going zone?

 

[hoophuskee]

I think a key to our defensive potential is how big our rotation is. Yes we might be more cohesive and have better communication with a short one, but this year for most of the year every starter had to be extra cautious not to get in foul trouble, and to save a little energy because they would have to play more than optimal minutes.

If we expand with an effective deep rotation everyone can go all out, all the time. That by itself will make us much better and reintroduce the press as a defensive option that was largely unavailable last year due to injuries.

Iowa seemed to do pretty well with a 7 player rotation, didn't they?

Wasn';t South Carolina able to go "all out" in defending Clark with ther deep bench? How many different players did they put on her? 4? How did "all out" work for them?

You really think "an all out bench" would have shut down Lobo. Bird/Sveta/Ralph, Taurasi, Maya, Prime Tina Charles, Stewart/Stef, Stewart/Jefferson?

 

[UcMiami]

You can only be aggressive defensively if you don't worry about fouling, and with a greatly reduced bench, which was the norm this past year it just wasn't possible. If healthy which hopefully we will be next year then pressing and aggressive half court defense will be possible because there will be a replacement option on the bench.

 

[reelfan]

Lack of players, primarily injuries has badly hurt us the past 2 years. To get the kind of play we have seen from Iowa requires not only really good players but constant practice and game time execution over a full season.
Hopefully we will have healthy players next year.

 

[TCC Kid]

Both our loss to Ohio State and Iowa's defeat of South Carolina were in large part due to defensive schemes that forced turnovers.
Of course we were aware of OSUs press but we still couldn't handle it. Iowa used a zone in which Clark would drop back to double the post and South Carolina couldn't handle it.
With the full house of 14 players likely available to Geno, I hope he can find a way to incorporate a level of defense that wasn't possible this year.
We've used the press effectively in the past and would seem to have enough defensively effective players to cause havoc.
And a similar drop back zone could utilize Aubrey's phenomenal athleticism.
I'm sure there are other alternatives and Geno has often said that defense wins championships. I think this year's tournament is proof of that.

UConn doesn't have to emulate other teams to be great. The Ohio Press shocked more than UConn but they too were taken out. Defense isn't going to win games without 3 or more top scoring players. Teams have to know if you shutdown Paige, Azzi
will step up, if the 2 are shutdown Caroline, Nika, ICE, Ashlyn will fill up the hole. Without OFFENSE, defenses only beats weak teams. Uconn WINNING teams of OLD had multiple scoring options or one exceptional player (Stewiie).

 

[huskeynut]

You cannot measure UConn's defensive efficiency and offensive efficiency accurately for this season.

At best, we had 10 healthy players - but not in that many games. Too many injuries, both short term and long term. The efficiency on both sides of the ball was affected by having too few players.

The post season evaluation is or has taken place. We know Geno does this every season. He will meet with individual players to asses the performance and set goals for next season.

We wait until August to start to see what will happen.

 

[McFly]

Both our loss to Ohio State and Iowa's defeat of South Carolina were in large part due to defensive schemes that forced turnovers.

True enough, but turnovers were a problem in most games, even games UConn won. OSU's press only exacerbated an already existing problem.