A Win is a Win, BUT???

[jsloanjr]

UCONN has not played its "A" game this season, yet. They still looked out of sorts from the DePaul game and were making the same Offensive miss Q's and too many unforced errors IMO. Kia is nowhere near the player she was this past summer for Team Canada. I counted 5 or 6 open 3's she did not take when ND was daring her to shoot. ND played a good game and made UCONN's offense look less than superior even with the height advantages .......The good news its December and Geno has 3 months to mold them into the best team in WCBB......They are still the best team today, but they will be so much better come March....Plus, no injuries..

A Win is a WIN!!!!

 

[johnnyc]

91 points.....less than superior?

 

[uconnever]

UCONN has not played its "A" game this season, yet. They still looked out of sorts from the DePaul game and were making the same Offensive miss Q's and too many unforced errors IMO. Kia is nowhere near the player she was this past summer for Team Canada. I counted 5 or 6 open 3's she did not take when ND was daring her to shoot. ND played a good game and made UCONN's offense look less than superior even with the height advantages ..The good news its December and Geno has 3 months to mold them into the best team in WCBB.They are still the best team today, but they will be so much better come March....Plus, no injuries..

A Win is a WIN!!!!

Kia is the same as she was last year. She just isn't and wasn't last year good at driving. Full head of steam, head down and runs Into the other teams players. I'm not complaining, but she did this all of last year and her 3pm shot is good but it's not the greatest either, she to me is and was last year, a player that does a little bit of everything good.....a piece to a puzzle. I wouldn't expect the team Canada game from her often....or ever again.

 

[Kaizen]

Good news is KLS starts to score more pts game by game

 

[ThisJustIn]

BUT....I'm sure three games in 6 days, two on the road, had nothing to do with it... Lordy. If only folks had the same expectations for themselves as they have for a bunch of leg-tired youngsters...

 

[UcMiami]

ThisJustIn - nailed it!
They had too much practice time and not enough games the first two weeks, and then too many games and not enough practice time this past week - 4 games in eight days with three travel days as well - got back early Thursday morning (like 2 AM I am guessing) and maybe had a full practice Friday.

 

[donalddoowop]

91 points.....less than superior?

And they seemed to let up a bit after taking a 22 point lead. They could have scored more; that's without many three point goals, just timely ones. There is nothing wrong with the offense. 91 points in my opinion is definitely superior.

 

[Fiftyish]

91 points.....less than superior?

And 81 points ain't chopped liver....defense could be termed less than superior also.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

BUT....I'm sure three games in 6 days, two on the road, had nothing to do with it... Lordy. If only folks had the same expectations for themselves as they have for a bunch of leg-tired youngsters...

Sure, but one could also make the case that had players like Chong and Ekmark developed the minutes would've been spread out more evenly this week.

And then Collier's minutes were significantly reduced against the smaller, guard heavy lineups.

 

[hoophuskee]

UCONN has not played its "A" game this season, yet. They still looked out of sorts from the DePaul game and were making the same Offensive miss Q's and too many unforced errors IMO. Kia is nowhere near the player she was this past summer for Team Canada. I counted 5 or 6 open 3's she did not take when ND was daring her to shoot. ND played a good game and made UCONN's offense look less than superior even with the height advantages ..The good news its December and Geno has 3 months to mold them into the best team in WCBB.They are still the best team today, but they will be so much better come March....Plus, no injuries..

A Win is a WIN!!!!

What is with the "but?"

UCONN beat the number 3 team in the country by 10 which the number 3 team (whom just beat Ohio State) shot 65% from 3. We still won comfortably / ie after the 3rd quarter the game wasn't in doubt. PLUS we have a lot to work on going forward- so it's not like we've peaked. SO why the "but?"

DePaul was shooting 28% from three before our game with them. You were expecting them to drill 25 footers in that one?

 

[Husky Rich]

I think that this years version of the Huskies is very much a work in progress,as wouldany Geno coached team. We have all become quite spoiled in our expectations for twenty year old kids. We actually have plenty of offense, its just that the points come differently than last year and the last two games the girls did not make those definitive surges when the lead went from single to double digits and then to multiple double digits for good. The three is not as reliable a weapon as it was last year when KML would often provide a barrage of threes to put a game suddenly out of reach. But that team had time to find its equilibrium offensively. This team still has to find where its offensive flow comes from and who delivers inthe clutch. The team and especially the freshmen need some time with Genos practices to incorporate the lessons learned as games expose learning opportunities. There are I think two issues that play handin hand that Geno will resolve. We have had an unusual number of passing turnovers and even uncharacteristic forced dribbling tnovers wìh Mo. Many of these turnovers lead to transition offense for the other teams and in the case of hot shooting DePaul and ND exposed a weakness in our transition defense. For the most part our defense was effective when we get to setup, less so in transition. Cutting down onthe turnovers would also improve the offensive efficiency. Everything will be fine given time with this teaching coaching staff and time to integrate lessons learned and the normal development of the freshmen. Stewie had a rollercoaster first year and finally came into consistent form around tournament time. Let's not be too spoiled and give this team time to develop and time for Geno and company to work their teaching magic.

 

[cohenzone]

What do people not understand about basketball? We're winning against some decent to vrry good teams by double digits. Tte last two teams shot out of their minds from deep, and the team won by double digits with no chance of being caught in the last few minutes. Tte other team's style affects how we look, especially if they are good. Some people are used to us being in cruise control over bad teams.

 

[Sonny44]

I do think that Geno did not have the greatest "game plan" and/or wasn't quick enough to make adjustments on defense. Looking at it ahead of time the only way ND could compete with us was to bomb three's all night. We let them do it.

 

[vtcwbuff]

The game plan wasn't bad. Mabrey played the first half over her head and ND was hot from outside. ND made 13 three point shots when their average before the game was less than 6.

At half time Auriemma made the needed adjustments to defend Mabrey and the game was over.

 

[Geno-ista]

I do think that Geno did not have the greatest "game plan" and/or wasn't quick enough to make adjustments on defense. Looking at it ahead of time the only way ND could compete with us was to bomb three's all night. We let them do it.

They also attacked and penetrated the paint and beat us off the dribble a lot when we went out to really pressure on the perimeter. They scored a lot of lay ups and interior shots with great interior passing after penetrating.
Kudos to them! If Turner was in this game with their 3 pt shooting- we may still be at Gampel! I was shocked at how well they played. They are the only team, or one of the few that plays as smart as us.

 

[Siestakeyfan]

ThisJustIn - nailed it!
They had too much practice time and not enough games the first two weeks, and then too many games and not enough practice time this past week - 4 games in eight days with three travel days as well - got back early Thursday morning (like 2 AM I am guessing) and maybe had a full practice Friday.

Notre Dame Shooting was WAY beyond their averages they traveled here

 

[jsloanjr]

Now, Geno has a few days to correct the few flaws and rest up a few players tired legs......

 

[Bestiarius]

Both teams played a great game. Geno's game plan was good enough to win by 10. Yes, Jefferson could have employed her lock down defense of Marina sooner, but perhaps Geno knew there wasn't enough gas in the tank to do that. Besides, Marina's ability to get the 3 ball off quickly is amazing. It's more like she just redirects passes to the basket in one motion. All the ND guards shoot quickly. They're tough.

I'm just thankful that rough stretch was navigated successfully and now there is a 4 day break before the next game and plenty of recovery and practice time through the holidays. Plus, we'll hopefully have Butler on the court to provide a range of skills currently missing from the team. The future is looking bright.

 

[iamcbs]

UCONN has not played its "A" game this season, yet. They still looked out of sorts from the DePaul game and were making the same Offensive miss Q's and too many unforced errors IMO. Kia is nowhere near the player she was this past summer for Team Canada. I counted 5 or 6 open 3's she did not take when ND was daring her to shoot. ND played a good game and made UCONN's offense look less than superior even with the height advantages ..The good news its December and Geno has 3 months to mold them into the best team in WCBB.They are still the best team today, but they will be so much better come March....Plus, no injuries..

A Win is a WIN!!!!

So a team that you say hasn't played its "A" game and looks "out of sorts" has played the #3 team in the country and scored 91 points and beat the them by 10 point, even though ND shot 13 of 20 from the the 3-point line.

 

[Intpseeker]

And 81 points ain't chopped liver....defense could be termed less than superior also.

While 81 points certainly isn't chopped liver, shooting 65% from 3 is bullspit, and had nothing to do with the D. You don't start a game face guarding a frosh who has been less than stellar? Correct that shooting to normal levels and it isn't 81 points.

 

[mrmojack]

We must remember that Natalie Butler is still in the equation, just like Kiah Stokes was last
year. She will be a very valuable player as we go forward.

Notre Dame played a great game, shot the lights out from 3 point land. I was really impressed
with the way they played at GAMPEL. With a tremendous crowd cheering on the Huskies, the
Irish stood tall minus two interior starters and a top recruit. The two sisters of Notre Dame
were exceptional shooting, as were the other guards. I was impressed how they competed
on our campus with a sellout crowd. I was stunned at half time, but knew they would adjust
at half time. It was a great game to be at with a sellout crowd.

ND shot 49.2%, made 13 of 20 3 Pt shots, we won the rebounding battle by only 33-29.
We won the game at the FT line 19-6. We did not play a bad game, maybe it wasn't our
best, but it was good enough to build a 20 pt lead and win by 10.

I'm sure Geno is addressing the problems we encountered against DePaul and Notre Dame.
Getting Butler and Boykin on the floor will change the chemistry of this team. It's early and
we are adjusting in the fly without our aircraft carrier. GO HUSKIES.

 

[hoophuskee]

I do think that Geno did not have the greatest "game plan" and/or wasn't quick enough to make adjustments on defense. Looking at it ahead of time the only way ND could compete with us was to bomb three's all night. We let them do it.

How do you expect to stop that going into the 6th game of the season? They have guards all over the court. It's easy to say "stop the three." But after 6 games with our frosh and soph along with as I said - when they go small they will have quickness advantages somewhere, right? The other team is competent too. And the coach is competent too. When they go small, they are quicker at some positions. You just can't say - "let them get a layup." You still have to defend for easy cuts to the basket. It's not so easy when at some positions you have youth or not as quick at other positions, will a coach's game plan work. And while their big players aren't Turner or Reimer- they aren't lousy either. They have scholarships too.

Our threes were Just as open as theirs were they not? So what happens if they go 6-18 instead? And how many did they score in transition after turnovers or bad shots? And in some cases they can run good transition too, right? So is that bad coaching too?

When they have 5 players that shoot 50% and above from three- it's much easier said than done - "Stop the 3."

 

[Fiftyish]

While 81 points certainly isn't chopped liver, shooting 65% from 3 is bullspit, and had nothing to do with the D. You don't start a game face guarding a frosh who has been less than stellar? Correct that shooting to normal levels and it isn't 81 points.

I disagree. Yes, the high percentage is way above their norm, but they got off 20 three point shots many that were wide open. If tight D denied them the opportunity to shoot the 3 then they could not have made 13 of them.
This defense also gave up 70 points to DePaul that had 13 three pointers.
Last year the defense gave up an average of 5 three pointers per game. Last year the defense held opponents to an average of 48.6 points per game. In the last two games the Huskies have allowed opponents to score 70 points and 81 points. Again, I say that is less then stellar defense.

 

[BroadwayVa]

UCONN has not played its "A" game this season, yet. They still looked out of sorts from the DePaul game and were making the same Offensive miss Q's and too many unforced errors IMO. Kia is nowhere near the player she was this past summer for Team Canada. I counted 5 or 6 open 3's she did not take when ND was daring her to shoot. ND played a good game and made UCONN's offense look less than superior even with the height advantages ..The good news its December and Geno has 3 months to mold them into the best team in WCBB.They are still the best team today, but they will be so much better come March....Plus, no injuries..

A Win is a WIN!!!!

Uconn didn't look like Uconn will look in APRIL--put that on your bumper~!!
Uconn didn't play well against DePaul and ND because they both played their AAAA plus game with small line ups and hectic defense. Please note: Uconn won both.
Still Geno must have some cringes and a lot of Tape to watch and change offenses and defenses.
Either the Mabreys are the world greats 3 point shooters or they played above their talent.
If any team playes against any team that played as DePaul played Uconn most teams would lose.
Same is true of a determined ND team and very excellent game plan by little miss Muffet.
As you say----A WIN is a Win...but each game was fun to watch.

 

[feste]

And they seemed to let up a bit after taking a 22 point lead. They could have scored more; that's without many three point goals, just timely ones. There is nothing wrong with the offense. 91 points in my opinion is definitely superior.

"They" is Geno. He directed a change of the game's pace in order to take time off the clock. The team walked the ball up the court, and rhythm altered. Notre Dame took advantage. Result: 10-point win. Still . . . that's a win.