Another point of view

[Plebe]

my point is that you get better by playing top level teams

we didn't play enough of them til the tourney thereby gaining experience

play top teams and you learn these lessons

that's it

not difficult to understand

And exactly what "lessons" did we fail to learn due to lack of competition? The lesson that we need to score more points than the opponent?

UCLA played 5 games combined against Stanford and Arizona, and yet they laid an egg against TX. How did they not learn the lessons that "playing top teams" guarantees?

As the sage @Sifaka would surely remind us, via H.L. Mencken: "There is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong."

 

[stormsurge]

maybe how to respond to a top level defense that has the talent and coaching to make you go to Plan B?

maybe how to respond when a talented aggressive team punches you in the mouth?

but maybe you're right.

we can learn how to beat top level teams without having to play top level teams and getting better from it.

I suppose that's why Geno never schedules them.

i bow to your superior knowledge.

 

[Boreifs]

This weak conference stuff is so tiresome. How did we manage to win 11 titles without playing in a Power five conference. How have we made so many consecutive Final Fours. It’s an argument with no factual basis that surfaced every time we (perish the thought) lose a game.

 

[Plebe]

maybe how to respond to a top level defense that has the talent and coaching to make you go to Plan B?

maybe how to respond when a talented aggressive team punches you in the mouth?

but maybe you're right.

we can learn how to beat top level teams without having to play top level teams and getting better from it.

I suppose that's why Geno never schedules them.

i bow to your superior knowledge.

Okay then, please break it down for me since I'm so slow on the uptake.

Prior to the Arizona game, UConn played:
—3-seed Tennessee, in a game that went down to the wire.
—4-seed Arkansas, in another game that went down to the wire.
—1-seed South Carolina, in yet another game that went down to the wire (overtime, in fact, giving our team an extra 5 minutes of "lessons")
—5-seed Iowa (Big Ten tourney finalist, and one of the hottest teams in the country in March)
—2-seed Baylor (deemed a strong contender for the title)

That's 5 of the other 19 teams in the top 20 (per the seedings)—clearly not enough, you say. So exactly how many top-20 opponents did UConn need to avoid a poor performance vs. Arizona? I'm looking for a minimum number, and you seem to know it.

 

[stormsurge]

No, you are correct. The players suck. Geno sucks.

Geno never schedules top flight competition in the regular season.

This yearin the reg season we only played SC. Couldn't play Baylor. Tenn is a joke and Depaul is not top tier.

Playing top flight teams is important especially for a YOUNG team.

As to Baylor, we were quite fortunate to win that game. An injury to their player changed that game. Otherwise we'd be having this conversation a few days ago.

Geno should hire you as a consultant. Hell, as his successor.

 

[Carnac]

Unfortunately, we don’t get enough experience in competitive games against teams with different styles of play in our weak conference. Missing what probably would have been competitive games in the regular season against Louisville and Baylor to covid didn’t help.
This team certainly gave us a lot of enjoyment this season. As Nan said they will learn and we can look forward to an exciting future for our favorite team.

This is the only comment I’m going to make regarding this season. Then I’m taking a 1-2 week break from the yard. I was emotionally drained after the Baylor game.

In short, I’m not disappointed one bit. This is a young and for the most part inexperienced team. I throughly enjoyed watching our team in what had to be the most difficult and unpredictable season yet. They were a good team, but not a great team. They never led in their last game, and I don’t believe they would have beaten Stanford.

During the summer I formed the opinion that if this team made it to the final four, they would reach their potential. They reached the final four. This year’s team is not a championship team, it was not their year. I believe next year it will be. Yes, I’m going in to next season expecting our team to win the national championship.

I look forward to welcoming our new freshmen to the team, and debating (as we do every summer), who the starting 5 will be. I look forward to the resumption of the season in the fall, but I also welcome the spring and summer seasons as well.

 

[ScottCT]

No, you are correct. The players suck. Geno sucks.

Geno never schedules top flight competition in the regular season.

This yearin the reg season we only played SC. Couldn't play Baylor. Tenn is a joke and Depaul is not top tier.

Playing top flight teams is important especially for a YOUNG team.

As to Baylor, we were quite fortunate to win that game. An injury to their player changed that game. Otherwise we'd be having this conversation a few days ago.

Geno should hire you as a consultant. Hell, as his successor.

What nonsense are you talking about? Uconn is known for scheduling the toughest OOC year after year. Uconn never runs away from playing anybody. You also left Louisville off your teams we were supposed to play until covid stopped it.

This year we really couldn't do anything about the schedule because everyone was forced to limit OOC games due to covid. You act like Geno deliberately didn't schedule tough games which is absolutely false.

 

[cohenzone]

One of our most experienced players had a terrible game. Terrible. That hurt a lot because she missed shots when the ball movement had AZ beat. Liv is not a young player and has played against good competition many times. A coach can’t fix a player missing layups that often. She needed to be a steadying influence against that defense. She was ok defensively but picked up those early fouls, one far from the hoop. Had to sit.

As far as this being our 13th straight FF and AZ’s first, we have only two players who played in a FF and that was 2 years ago. One was Liz whose experience didn’t help. AZ had basically as much FF experience as our kids and is overall a more mature team that executed great and had a star who pretty much did to us what Ivory Latta did several years. Their maturity was a factor and so was their intensity.

 

[stormsurge]

no, i agree that covid cost us those needed games

my point is that there is a purpose for scheduling those teams and btw covid and our conference we didn't get that much needed experience for this very young team

re-read my earlier posts to understand my point

 

[Pilot B52]

Our girls worked so hard all year and I am very proud of this team, each and every one of them. I can imagine the feelings and emotions involved in a loss like this. We saw an example up close of such emotions when the cameras focused on SC's Elyah Boston's reaction to her missed point-blank put-back at the buzzer that would have won the game with Stanford. You had to feel the pain as you watched her reaction. In our game with Arizona we played catch-up the whole game and did close the gap but too late before the intentional foul action began. We would not have been in this position late if we had not shot so poorly (35%) overall and if LIV could have made an offensive contribution, particularly early on. I feel so badly for her and the others because they put so much of their heart and souls into this season under very difficult conditions. But we are hopeful for next year and I am certain the girls are ready to show us what they can do. God bless

 

[sivad40]

Really? How many Pac-12 teams reached the Final Four in 2017-2019? How many reached the national championship game during that time? Did the Pac-12 conference go from horrible to outstanding in the short period of time between then and now? Why didn't it help UCLA (fresh off a dominant win over none other than Arizona) get past Texas?

I don't understand why people love reaching for such irrational tribalist thinking. Stanford is a great team. Arizona is a great team (though they waited until March to really show it). It's two separate and distinct great teams that played well enough to win five games in a row. Being in the same conference as Washington and Cal and Utah had nothing to do with it, I assure you.

Over in the general forum, a team is judged by their strength or weakness of the teams in their conference all of the time. Why should it be different now?

 

[FridaFriend]

In this Forum and before the start of the tournament, many people said that this year a dozen or more teams could make it to the championship game. A team that had not been as highly ranked could get hot and a tough opponent could be unlucky in an early match or could have a bad luck day. Maryland was predicted to beat South Carolina and go to the Final Four and a clearly inferior, but inspired, Texas team defeated them. NC State and Texas A&M, which were highly thought by some, went out early. I know Texas A&M was dismissed as overrated, but just maybe, they were good and the Arizona team that beat them was really really good. Baylor was a better team than UCONN for the regional final until they lost Didi.

I don't think the problem is the Big East or lack of a physical post player or poor coaching that lost UCONN their semifinal game. I think that when you have a group of very talented teams, like there were this year, it comes down to luck and who has the great game at the right time. I think UCONN just faced a very good and hot team and, when things started not working, things snowballed until there wasn't time to pick up the pieces. I disagree with the criticism of Olivia. Sometimes shots don't fall. When they stop going in, I think it messes with your head and suddenly nothing works.

Another thought that I had at halftime was that this was like the first half of the 2010 championship game, in which a UCONN team, led by Maya Moore and Tina Charles, scored only 12 points against Stanford. I thought the 2021 team would talk about it at the break, fix everything, and come back in the second half to win going away. Unfortunately, we didn't have Tina Charles and Maya Moore and sometimes things just don't work. Instead, the game ended like the 2011 semifinal UCONN had against a 2 seed Notre Dame, with a terrific guard, Skylar Diggins, who had upset Tennessee to get to the Final Four. It ruined the end of Maya's senior year. She scored 36 points trying to close, but UCONN lost by 9. Sometimes a hot team gets in the way, Notre Dame lost the championship game to a 2 seed, Texas A&M, who had defeated Baylor, then Stanford, to get to the championship.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

I know we are young and will come back stronger. But, the juniors were the ones missing most of the layups.....when can we expect that to stop?
Also, the "Punch in the mouth" seem to be getting closer to being literal rather than figurative.

Having CW get fouled out on a phantom foul call after to touch fouls called earlier on her did not help when she had 20 points at 36 minutes and getting hot again with her shooting. This was just after Paige and Edwards had been thrown to the hardwood with no fouls called.... I could give further examples, but am sure that it is not helpful in building toughness....

 

[The CDR-Ret]

It was so strange to watch Liv miss so many shots underneath. It felt like she was expecting her shots to be blocked when she had the height advantage. I don't think she will ever be a physical player like AE,

I was shocked that she went O for the game and only 1 for 4 from the charity stripe. A couple of the put backs had her hands over the rim. She should be encouraged to dunk those, because I think she could have at the time....

 

[willie99]

I think they exceeded expectations. I never expected such an inexperienced team to do as well as they did.

Then, just when I was beginning to think maybe just maybe, their inexperience decided to show up. Could have taken a couple of more days off

 

[Jingo]

there’s a lot to like of this team and I think we get tougher next year. What we are missing is a savvy and crafty post player with a midrange game like Pheesa or Tuck. I think our guard play and defense will be fine but we just don’t have that crafty smart post player that will fight for 14 points and get us critical baskets down low in tough games. I don’t think we get that next year as the class doesn’t have that player so we will need AE to develop more moves and have a better feel around the basket to eliminate fouls and finish better. With Azzi it will certainly help give more opportunities for the bigs. I believe Geno should consider looking at the portal for a crafty big, I think we are missing that for the team.

I think we need some crafty guards who can make crafty passes to the post when they're open [which was quite often, but missed] .. Nika knows how to do it [crafty] and so does Paige, eh?
IMO, you won't find better 'bigs' in the portal than ONO & AE. As a matter of fact, if ONO or AE entered the portal, they would be snatched up in a nanosecond!

 

[browns]

there’s a lot to like of this team and I think we get tougher next year. What we are missing is a savvy and crafty post player with a midrange game like Pheesa or Tuck. I think our guard play and defense will be fine but we just don’t have that crafty smart post player that will fight for 14 points and get us critical baskets down low in tough games. I don’t think we get that next year as the class doesn’t have that player so we will need AE to develop more moves and have a better feel around the basket to eliminate fouls and finish better. With Azzi it will certainly help give more opportunities for the bigs. I believe Geno should consider looking at the portal for a crafty big, I think we are missing that for the team.

How many of them are around

 

[Huskygamble19]

I don't worry about AE, she is a freshman with freshman mistakes, but we had 3 freshman carrying us toward the end of the season. that has to be a positive in their growth that fast. i am amazed that they got as far as they did and that Baylor game was a drag out war. their is no shame in this loss to me. they will be better for it next year. i am confident that the immaturity will vanish and we will see some stellar shooting next year.

 

[Stymie]

One of the observations over the last few seasons is we are predominantly a finesse team without ultra-athletic guard. No team has every thing, but these gaps have hurt us over the past few years. Outside of AE we haven't had a physical presence inside since Dolson/Tuck, and we haven't had an athletic guard since Jefferson/Nurse. I am looking forward to AE filling one of those gaps.

Could Mir fill that function?
Seems to have the athleticism?

 

[blackbird]

It was so strange to watch Liv miss so many shots underneath. It felt like she was expecting her shots to be blocked when she had the height advantage. I don't think she will ever be a physical player like AE,

She missed layups all the time, especially in big games.

Williams, I think, turned a corner this year, and it was evident in the final four game.

Im not sure what ONO needs. I almost think it’s a strength issue, but smarter people than me can figure it out.

and I think it might be better for her to come off the bench next season. Not as a punishment, but because I think playing against a great team’s post off the bench would be an advantage to her.

that being said, this game was always going to come down to Paige and Aaliyah...and that’s what a team dependent on freshmen looks like in a final four game.

I don’t blame them at all - If the pressure of the final four can get Diana Taurasi and Kemba Walker as freshman, it could get anyone.

furthermore, although I think this team is more talented than the team Diana played on in her final two seasons...In the 20 years that I’ve watched UConn, Bueckers is the only player I’ve seen who had to carry the load in the way that Diana did.

Expecting a freshman - as great as she is, to do what the greatest woman’s basketball player of all time did as a Junior and Senior is asking a lot, and a damn near impossible task. And getting the team to the Final Four is beyond what our expectations should have been.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Because we have two excellent slashers and Liv is a very good passer from out there. Her move to the top coincided with her improved shooting form 15-17. With the middle open CW and PB can slash to the rim or to the mid range and Aaliyah (and Aubrey) will not have to fight their post for offensive boards but the other teams 4 where she dominates. It is a sound offensive strategy based upon our strengths and our poor 3 point shooting from everyone except paige.

CW can’t slash to the rim when she’s sitting on the bench with 5 fouls. I lost all respect for Dee Kantner after she stated after examining the replay that CW’s 5th foul was a good call. The replay showed to the home audience that Christyn never even touched her. Rebecca and her co broadcaster were incredulous when everything was replayed on tv. I hope Kantner is brought up on dereliction of duty or something by college basketball. Saying there was not enough evidence to overturn the foul call was a blatant lie.

 

[faithfulfan]

My goodness. The desperate need to cast about for excuses shall not be denied ...

No one forced Geno to play his freshmen.

Brought up a fact, and it bothers you!
You'll notice I didn't say this is why UCONN lost these 2 games, but its a fact they did lose to these 2 teams who would gave been nothing without their 23 yr old 5th year players!

 

[CL82]

Not reasons we lost:
—the refs
—the conference
—the NCAA
—Covid, global warming, the Illuminati, etc.

Conspiracy Kitty says:
Oh, it’s always the Illuminati‘s fault.
[whispers] They‘re everywhere.

 

[Papa33]

In short, I’m not disappointed one bit. This is a young and for the most part inexperienced team. I throughly enjoyed watching our team in what had to be the most difficult and unpredictable season yet. They were a good team, but not a great team. They never led in their last game, and I don’t believe they would have beaten Stanford.

During the summer I formed the opinion that if this team made it to the final four, they would reach their potential. They reached the final four. This year’s team is not a championship team, it was not their year. I believe next year it will be. Yes, I’m going in to next season expecting our team to win the national championship.

Damn! What a welcome and pleasant surprise after all the teeth gnashing and eager fault finding-- a balanced, sane, knowing assessment of this year's team, one that understands and appreciates their— players AND coaches— remarkable work and successes. Carnac, thank you.

 

[MSGRET]

This is the only comment I’m going to make regarding this season. Then I’m taking a 1-2 week break from the yard. I was emotionally drained after the Baylor game.

In short, I’m not disappointed one bit. This is a young and for the most part inexperienced team. I throughly enjoyed watching our team in what had to be the most difficult and unpredictable season yet. They were a good team, but not a great team. They never led in their last game, and I don’t believe they would have beaten Stanford.

During the summer I formed the opinion that if this team made it to the final four, they would reach their potential. They reached the final four. This year’s team is not a championship team, it was not their year. I believe next year it will be. Yes, I’m going in to next season expecting our team to win the national championship.

I look forward to welcoming our new freshmen to the team, and debating (as we do every summer), who the starting 5 will be. I look forward to the resumption of the season in the fall, but I also welcome the spring and summer seasons as well.

Enjoy your break @Carnac, get some rest and recuperation, but I want you to know that I will miss your incites during your absence my friend.

 

[Waquoit]

Our upperclassmen didn't provide needed leadership. But going forward, our best players have FF experience now so the team won't have to rely on the seniors next year.