Arizona Postgame Thread

[blackbird]

Paige could have used Stewies' supporting cast tonight.

seriously..just one of Dolson or Hartley probably gets the job done.

 

[nickp91]

Azzi Fudd and Paige Buckets are going demolish everyone next year

 

[VivaLsVgs]

Paige will never match Stewie. No one ever will really.

I will always remember Doris Burke’s quote after they won their 4th....”The dynasty (Stewie, MoJeff, Tuck) has fulfilled their destiny”

So true.......

 

[CTGirl15]

Paige will never match Stewie. No one ever will really.

Stewie had an incredibly strong supporting group around her, with 5 future All-Americans her freshman year, and a senior Kelly Faris. Stewie can’t be matched by titles, but we certainly can’t blame the no title this year on Paige, she’s one of the main reasons UConn was in this FF.

 

[Boreifs]

Paige will never match Stewie. No one ever will really.

There were seven WNBA players on Stewie’s team her Freshman year.

 

[hoophuskee]

The ironic thing is -- with all the fear of size this year UCONN winds up losing to small teams and not the bigger, more physical teams.

It's a funny game.

 

[jaydee602]

Yeah, true, but this game looked like an official’s payback for a non-call with Baylor. Can’t wait to see how long ESPN shows the 5th foul on Williams, and at least 2 more.

The phantom call is trending on Twitter. Dee Kantner went to the replay to find out who committed the foul. When she saw that nobody touched McDonald, she had to call it on someone. Boom... 5th foul on Chrysten. LOL...Nobody roots for UCONN, but EVERYONE admits the officiating is disgraceful.

 

[hoopsfan22]

I will always remember Doris Burke’s quote after they won their 4th....”The dynasty (Stewie, MoJeff, Tuck) has fulfilled their destiny”

So true.......

That was just an amazing team. Just absolutely incredible and you really appreciate it now looking back. I said it during that game. Soak it in because you'll never see it again and it was the pinnacle of UConn WCBB.

 

[Dove]

Go to bed, everyone. Easter comin' Shake it off. Think jelly beans, Peeps and solid chocolate bunnies.

 

[BostonCanuck]

I know I keep saying it and saying here on this board... but Geno simply has to start running dedicated layup practice drills for his team., and keep doing it and doing it until making that shot becomes an act of muscle memory for the posts and a core competency for everybody else. There is no other pathway. Ono is a junior for heaven's sake.

 

[UcMiami]

I also found it strange we were full court on the inbound plays and never once put a player like Griffin on the in-bounder - the strategy of using all five to defend four didn't even come close to working.

 

[chrissaran]

If the announcers were right, after another layup, we were 5 for 20. Fifteen more layups we could have had. We just didn't seem to have enough fight in us. Great season, Huskies. See you next year. Olivia had 1 point. Just don't get it. She has the ability, but it doesn't translate to the biggest moments. Against Baylor, she hasn't played her best. Same tonight.

 

[jaydee602]

I also found it strange we were full court on the inbound plays and never once put a player like Griffin on the in-bounder - the strategy of using all five to defend four didn't even come close to working.

Good call! We trapped Arizona once, forcing a croos court pass that sghould have been intercepted. But Edwards was too slow getting to the ball.

 

[Blacketh’D]

Arizona was tough on defense and scared Olivia so much she couldn’t make a layup

What layups has she been making?

 

[Geesworld]

And I just have to say, this stat line by ONO should and will go down as one of the most aggressive no shows in a big game in UConn history.

She was the tallest player by like 4-5 inches, the entire game plan from the outset was to feed the post, and instead she goes 0-7 from the field, 1-4 from the stripe, AND picks up two quick fouls to get the team entirely out of gameplan.

I feel bad for her but it's just the truth. Both qualitatively and quantitatively an epic bad performance. View attachment 66571

I understand your point in this post. However Geno is is not and will not ever be a post team. Everything the bigs do in this offense is an after thought. The very start of this game proved that. We should've forced the action inside from the opening tip. Instead we allowed our bigs to hover around high post to set pics and have the players guarding them trap our wings aggressively. It threw our offensive out sync immediately. Soon as we get a few missed attempts we fall right back to jump shot offense. O-7 is bad. But if Paige goes 0-7 we keep telling her to shoot. Post dominance should've been established from the word go. Miss or make, keep attacking and put the pressure on them inside.

 

[cbraarj]

Honestly, it's just an overall lack of efficient post moves and footwork for ONO. If you watch SC's Boston on offence, she is extremely wise and patient when feeling out the defence. She has so many moves in her bag at such a young age. Other than ONO's fadeaway (very inconsistent) and her scoop shot, I can't list anything that sets her above other post players. Her shot-blocking is amazing, but that's not enough considering the number of minutes she gets. She needs to be a dependable scorer, period.

On layups she shoots from her shoulders and that's why she can't score inside. I'm 6'1" and 57 and I will block that everytime. She hasn't improved in that area since she has been there.

 

[Blacketh’D]

This loss was a long time coming. Our flaws finally didn’t get covered up in a win.

 

[Geesworld]

Great coach but pretty bad look here

Remember that when you struggle next year.

 

[BBallF]

To me, Arizona was very well prepared for this game and we seemed as though we weren't which we know is can't be the case. We ran all the same sets. We had no real changes in anything we did that I saw on offense or defense. We also did not exert the necessary energy except sporadically to at least try to make McDonald work for her points. The turnovers, mental mistakes, and lack of focus was so uncharacteristic of UCONN basketball.

They doubled and tripled Paige and Evina should have been going to the basket all night long and also shooting threes. She was listless for most of the game and content to make the first pass of the offense and then stay out of it. We got no real offense from AE or Liv and with them bottling up Paige, our oldest player should have played like it. We needed a big night from her tonight to win. When the ball went under there was no one who could finish. I don't understand it and why they were so out of it from the opening tip both mentally and physically. CW played hard but that no foul- foul is emblematic of how terrible the officiating is in the women's game. It needs a brand new training program and monitoring system. In the end, they shut us down because we did not move on offense and it was not only disappointing but at times downright embarrassing.

Olivia should have dominated underneath and she had one of the worst games of her career. She seems to be a non factor whenever the stakes are highest. We seemed nervous, unsure, and took some of the worst shots we took all year. We forced shots and passes and played defense with our hands and played their half court game all game long. We never picked up the pace, we never used our team speed. We never got out in transition. We had no sense of urgency. We played like a very young team would play in this spotlight and I am in shock at how poor a performance it was, and how unprepared they seemed especially after Baylor, who would have killed Arizona tonight underneath. We couldn't even make wide open layups. That usually means fatigue or pressure or uncertainty or all three. Other than McDonald, they had no one that matches up with us on paper but you still have to go out and play the game hard. They flat out did not.

 

[DALTX]

Tonight was Williams' first game since Georgetown (1/23) where she had at least one rebound, block, steal, assist, and three-pointer.

 

[BBallF]

Great coach but pretty bad look here

Went down several notches in my book with that move. I hope Stanford blows them out.

 

[8893]

As competitors, in the Final Four, how is that even a possibility.

Because they’re human? Many of them freshmen? All used to winning?

It’s actually a great story for women’s basketball. Just not for UConn women’s basketball this season.

 

[Geesworld]

Went down several notches in my book with that move. I hope Stanford blows them out.

Can we get them in the schedule next season??

 

[hoopsfan22]

Went down several notches in my book with that move. I hope Stanford blows them out.

Oh come on. Like Geno has never used expletives? No one gave them a chance to win this game. I mean a 14 pt 'dog in a national semi-final? Yeah, I'd probably give a big F-U too.

 

[BrianUC]

Went down several notches in my book with that move. I hope Stanford blows them out.

Was she flipping the bird to the NCAA for omitting them in the promo? Or to the Huskies? I suspect the NCAA.