Anyone feeling better about this UCONN?

[bbballfan23]

After seeing underwhelming performances from Baylor, Oregon & ND does anyone else feel better about our chances? It’s early but I think some have forgotten we have 3 of the top players in the country.

Ionescu doesn’t have much help, Baylor’s bigs (Cox & Brown) have been average & Arike has shown she is willing and able to shoot ND out of a game. UConn certainly has their flaws but let’s not forget other teams have them as well.

 

[shiverz45]

Wow! I can't believe you are drawing all those conclusions after watching one game. At least wait until December.

 

[hoopsfan22]

ND also did not play a bunch of people due to injuries. I would not read too much into these early games.

 

[Carnac]

I must admit that the news of the underwhelming performances of those 3 teams to begin the season was welcome, as opposed to hearing that all 3 had blowout 50 point wins. And yes, we should feel good about UConn’s 32 point win over an Ohio State team that they should have defeated.

Especially after USF tee’d them up for us. Imagine some of the comments that would have been posted here if UConn had lost? Not to mention that a loss to Ohio State Sunday would have broken their streak of not having loss back to back games in 25 years (since March of 1993). No doubt THAT would have been mentioned in a few posts.

At the beginning of the season, I feel more comfortable waiting until a team (especially UConn) plays 5 games before I make any judgments or conclusions. Five games gives me a larger sample size to use than just a single game. Performances or actions in a single game can be an anomaly.

The strength of the opponent must also be taken into account. Was the opponent a top 10 ranked team, or a low mid-major cupcake with no height? Like Fox sports analyst Skip Bayless always says: "I need to see more".

We’ll have a better idea about individual players, and the team as a whole, and an idea of what we can expect after they play the 3 paradise games in the Virgin Islands.

We’ll know exactly what we've got by the Christmas break, after UConn has played most of the ranked teams on their schedule.

 

[tomcat]

Way too early to feel anything but worry, it seems to me. We've seen some good things, but as was said above, give it some time.

 

[oldude]

One of the characteristics of UConn WBB is that they “hit the ground running” at the start of the season, while other teams usually struggle to get it together, unless they’re playing cupcakes. However, with ND, Baylor & Oregon all having experienced teams, I would have expected better performances from all of them.

 

[MainefanSC]

Your enthusiasm is kind of comical. I have reserved encouragement having seen our graduate replacement's abilities. As all have stated, time is the deciding factor as to what we have. As these kids continue to develop and mature as a team, I will begin to draw some personal conclusions as to how excited I will become. As to how much faith I have in their ability? I have my FF tickets.

 

[Charliebball]

I'm not particularly interested about how other teams are playing right now.........................I will be very concerned when March rolls around.................

 

[UConnCat]

ND also did not play a bunch of people due to injuries. I would not read too much into these early games.

A bunch? One player, Mabrey.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

A bunch? One player, Mabrey.

And some of their starters were still on the floor way into the 4th quarter even with 25 or so lead over Penn.... sound like any other coach

 

[Jmsdawg]

After seeing underwhelming performances from Baylor, Oregon & ND does anyone else feel better about our chances? It’s early but I think some have forgotten we have 3 of the top players in the country.

Ionescu doesn’t have much help, Baylor’s bigs (Cox & Brown) have been average & Arike has shown she is willing and able to shoot ND out of a game. UConn certainly has their flaws but let’s not forget other teams have them as well.

Any reason you left out MSST?

 

[HuskyNan]

How many of those other teams are starting a freshman?

 

[oldude]

How many of those other teams are starting a freshman?

With Mabry out, I believe ND is starting Jordan Nixon at pg.

 

[HuskyNan]

With Mabry out, I believe ND is starting Jordan Nixon at pg.

A freshman PG is an excellent reason for a team to need extra time to find traction.

In early season games, most teams are getting used to new lineups, knocking off rust, and implementing whatever new schemes the coaches have come up with over the summer. I wouldn’t get too excited either way over November game results.

 

[hoopsfan22]

A bunch? One player, Mabrey.

It was my understanding that Muffet said Mabrey, Cosgrove, and a third player were going to be unavailable.

 

[UConnCat]

It was my understanding that Muffet said Mabrey, Cosgrove, and a third player were going to be unavailable.

Cosgrove was suspended for a game but played last night. Patterson played as well. Only Mabrey did not play but she’s obviously an important piece.

 

[j66kicker]

One of the characteristics of UConn WBB is that they “hit the ground running” at the start of the season, while other teams usually struggle to get it together, unless they’re playing cupcakes. However, with ND, Baylor & Oregon all having experienced teams, I would have expected better performances from all of them.

Another characteristic of UConn - or so many here believe - is that they also improve more throughout the year than other teams. I take these first couple game results with a grain of salt, as everybody is trying to figure things out. But I also consider our 32-point win over Ohio State to be much more convincing than 32 points. We were ahead by 30 at halftime - after already playing some subs with the starters - before we started playing around with different looks (with & without the starting lineup).

I really think our starting lineup will be pretty much unbeatable. But they need rest if they’re gonna stay healthy. IMO playing KLS as the backup PG is not the answer. Just worried that we don’t seem to have one front court bench player and one back court bench player who can play major minutes without a huge dropoff.

 

[hoopsfan22]

A couple of quick fouls on any of the starters will make the unbeatable quite vulnerable. I'll bet that will be a big part of the game plan for opposing coaches, and I certainly would not want to get into a war of attrition with a team like ND.

 

[oldude]

A couple of quick fouls on any of the starters will make the unbeatable quite vulnerable. I'll bet that will be a big part of the game plan for opposing coaches, and I certainly would not want to get into a war of attrition with a team like ND.

Agree with your assessment. That’s one of the reasons we will be seeing a lot more zone defense this season from the Huskies. While Geno prefers man-to-man, there are typically more fouls playing man defense vs zone.

 

[CocoHusky]

After seeing underwhelming performances from Baylor, Oregon & ND does anyone else feel better about our chances? It’s early but I think some have forgotten we have 3 of the top players in the country.
Ionescu doesn’t have much help, Baylor’s bigs (Cox & Brown) have been average & Arike has shown she is willing and able to shoot ND out of a game. UConn certainly has their flaws but let’s not forget other teams have them as well.

Way too early. Personally I never feel better about UCONN based on how other teams are playing.
I like the way UCONN is playing offensively. Love the shot distribution from the tOSU game and ball movement.
Disliked the over reliance on the three ball 22 of 60 FGA.
Hated that we were out rebounded by the tOSU (+6) and the continuity and flow of the game once the starters were out of the game. Much of that rebounding margin by tOSU came when UCONN was in man defense. Once UCONN substituted Mikayla tOSU stopped guarding certain parts of the floor. Both of these things need to get fixed.

 

[Purduke]

A couple of quick fouls on any of the starters will make the unbeatable quite vulnerable. I'll bet that will be a big part of the game plan for opposing coaches, and I certainly would not want to get into a war of attrition with a team like ND.

One more reason KLS has to stop flopping so much this year. If she flops 4 times and ends up drawing 2 offensive and two personal fouls (as she did in OSU game), UCONN is the net loser.

 

[CL82]

I'm feeling better about this UConn team because of Megan and Christyn... and a little because of Mikayla. We've got a ways to go but Megan and Christyn were key unknowns. They still are really, just less unknown.

 

[CajunHusky]

I am enthused. I am glad WBB is back... it has been way too long.

For a critical review: MW looks really good. CW looks ready for prime time as well, I particularly liked her defense. Mikayla Coombs looked really good too. Quick, explosive excellent ball handler.
KLS, CD and Phee were their usual outstanding. Lou is obviously quicker after the surgery. Though she does look a tad rusty with the lengthy recuperation.

UConn played a lot more zone defense than I have ever seen them play. Are the newbies just not up to man defense yet?

 

[EricLA]

My $.02 on this team - as most have said, too early, but lots of room for the freshmen to improve for sure. Not because they aren't good, but because they are new.

Having said that, I expect games to be "closer" this year. That means less blowouts of 50+ and more victories in the 15-30 point range. Just like in the past, I expect for stretches, we will look like world beaters. But unlike the past, I think our stretches of looking "ordinary" will be longer this year. I think are margins are smaller. There's a decent chance we will lose to top 10 teams, or at least top 5 teams.

Fans who long for more competitive UCONN games will enjoy this season.

For me, I know what we will get from Crystal, Lou and Napheesa. All 3 will be terrific and among the best, if not the best, at their respective positions. I think we know that Meg is poised for a tremendous season. So happy for her thus far. Christyn is showing us that she's going to be a force. It will be fun to look back at her 4 years from now and see her progression to hopefully legendary.

The big questions marks were always the bench. I'm encouraged that Mikayla was the first off the bench and looked like she belonged out there. Good movement, quickness, and decent decision making. On the flip side, I was disappointed that Batouly seems (at this point) to be a reserve relegated to the last 4 minutes of blowout games instead of one of the core reserves off the bench. For a player as highly rated as she was coming out of HS, combined with the expectations most fans had of her, that's a big disappointment.

I hope ONO has a rapid growth progression because if Kyla is the 2nd reserve off the bench, and the first post player, we will be in trouble IMHO. I know Kyla will always give 100% and will do the best she can with the skills she has, but I have a feeling she will be a detriment against top 25-type teams. I hope she proves me wrong, but the ceiling for ONO is higher and I had hoped Batouly would improve enough to be solid off the bench (and ahead of Kyla on the depth chart).

Lexi and Molly - keep being great teammates and role players. Lots of great energy.

I believe it was the year Baylor lost to L'ville in the final 4 and UCONN won it all that Geno had said the only way we win the NC is if we have some luck and things break our way. I think this season is very similar to that.

 

[Ozimoto]

This team will have some great moments and will be fun to watch, but they are vulnerable. Not many fouls to give and rebounding will be a struggle throughout the season. That is why you will see so much zone defense this year. Teams that shoot well from distance will extend that zone opening up the middle where taller teams will have the ability exploit holes in the zone for both initial shots in the paint and offensive rebounds. This is why I feel Notre Dame especially will have a significant advantage over the Huskies this season.