Arizona Postgame Thread

[ccwarrior]

Why can’t our defenders do to other scorers what other teams do to Paige? This isn’t a new issue?
Also, where are all the layup apologists now?

 

[BostonBay]

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.

Yup. Geno likes the passing game, the finesse game - but it can easily be disrupted by faster, more defensive minded teams like AZ tonight. No plan B. We ended up playing on the perimeter most of the game & then scrambling to get down low - which should have been our strength. No easy baskets as a result. Just a bad scheme & game plan by Geno tonight, even though the execution wasnt there either.

 

[Childhood]

Genno should recruit some bigs.
ONO may not be the answer in the champion team. She was super nervous against the smaller defensive players. Free throws 1-4 is not accepted.
The team's offense rythm was just ruined from inside to outside. AZ just trapped our perimeter easily.

 

[hoophuskee]

ONO is such an enigma to me. I don’t think the road to a championship runs through her in the post. I expect Bueckers to be incredible next year, and CW is a more than capable off guard. But until we get Edwards a legit counterpart, it’s hard to have an inside outside game. Fudd will address our outside shooting issue, but who is going to address our inside game. Edwards will be a great 4, but we need to find that great 5. From the film I’ve seen of Amari, I don’t know if that’s her. But it could be.

The chance of Amari being what you want to be imo is slim to none. They're going to have to win with perimeter offense being better than it was this year. It would be great ot have a counterpart but don't expect it. And if you don't expect it- you aren't going to give up, are you?

***A "2nd Paige Buckers" caliber player on the perimeter (Azzi) with all the experience returning might be enough. Think of the more successful your offense is-- the better your defense will probably be.

 

[VA Huskie]

I was amazed at how many of our fans had us winning by 15-25 points. I think we disrespected Arizona’s defense. And didn’t realize how young we are. I’m thrilled to see a hard working underdog beat us. The women’s game is going in the right direction. And we will be “bad for basketball” next year!

 

[Longtime fan]

Some thoughts on the Arizona game:

• Arizona is the most experienced team UConn has faced in the tournament, and their defense never allowed UConn to settle into its offensive comfort zone.
• Christyn was one of the few Huskies to show up on offense, and I actually believe she played pretty good defense, but it didn’t matter when McDonald hit shots from the cheap seats with a hand in in her face or threw more moves at UConn's defense than Elvis.
• The 5th foul on Christyn was an awful call, a complete phantom foul.
• Paige and Evina got going a little in the second half, but UConn needed more from everyone.
• There is certainly much to criticize about UConn’s play, but I will leave that to others. The Huskies fought to the very end tonight.
• It has been a great season for these young Huskies. The future is incredibly bright. Hoping we can make it back to the promised land next year and finally get that 12th banner for Gampel.

Arizona was superior from the outset. They were faster and more hungry. No one can stop McDonald. Arizona shut down Paige and made it impossible for anyone to get a reasonable shot. Olivia proved that she is a good rebounder but awful as an offensive player. She missed lay-ups, put backs and fade away jumpers. Just no use at all. Williams was well defensed and did what she could, but had one of those games where she was way off early, and it affects her mentally. I don't know why coach played Muhl, she looked slow and helped not at all. Aubrey couldn't find the basket, and mis-used her athleticism on drives. The idea is to miss running into the defenders on the way to the hoop. Edwards needs more to her game, too. She needs to light it up from distance.

I believe Arizona can beat Stanford, if they play like this. But the likelihood is; they burned all their juice on this game.

As others have said, the Lady Huskies gave us a great year. The win over Baylor will remain a classic. Many of us ( including me ) felt the elite 8 would be our ceiling this year, and we actually went one level over that . And the future is bright. We need more speed, better defense, and more fire power.

All on the way.

But give credit to Arizona....they played amazing defense, and had a player who could score at will from anywhere on the court. They deserved the win. No arguments.

 

[Gurleyman]

I think we ran one catch and shoot play for Paige, and it resulted in an 18 foot jumper on the baseline. Or two if you count the late 3. Maybe some of it was Paige not cutting aggressively looking to shoot, or our other players not setting good screens - or both. But it never really looked like we were trying to run stuff for her to score. Arizona did some switching on off the ball screens, but even when a big switched on her, she just swung the ball and cut, and allowed them to switch back.

it feels like we allowed our best weapon to be just an ordinary player. Maybe she has a brutal 5-20 night if we force fed her against that defense, but I feel like I’d have rather seen more of that than her just sort of drifting around and getting the ball in non-scoring positions, giving it up, and hiding on the weak side while other players initiated offense.

 

[nickp91]

Geno Auriemma: “It was incredibly difficult for us to get anything done. The intensity level that they played with and the aggressiveness on the defensive end; we just didn’t respond the way I hoped we would."

 

[hoophuskee]

Why can’t our defenders do to other scorers what other teams do to Paige? This isn’t a new issue?
Also, where are all the layup apologists now?

Umm UCONN got to the final four. You realize that, right? They lost TWO games. I think our defense did do well. UCONN was preseason ranked about 3rd and will end up about that.

Your post is typical - that you lose --and you want to lash out.

 

[jaydee602]

When UCONN lost the past semifinals, I couldn't sleep for days from the heartbreak of OT losses. But tonight's loss doesn't sting as much because we ran into a buzzsaw & we had a very successful season with a young, inexperienced team. The only major disappointment was that we were heavily favored to win which raised expectations.

 

[Twolf]

The outcome of this game is pretty simple to break down- Arizona’s defense was a whole lot tougher and more aggressive than UConn’s offense. Arizona was the more physical, and tougher team from start to finish, and you just have to tip your cap to them. Important lesson for the young players because when the other team is more aggressive and tougher no offensive sets or defensive adjustments are going to work. We had some players shell shocked from the get go by how confident and aggressive Arizona was & those players never recovered. Great year, and I’m convinced even better times are ahead.

 

[jaydee602]

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.

That team would sock the opponents in the mouth from the start & they could never recover. Tonight, Arizona came out hitting threes and UCONN gave them confidence that they can beat us.

 

[Vowelguy]

 

[newfrontier]

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

Why? Can you read lips? Maybe it was for the press that did not pick Arizona, or a huge majority of fans who did not pick Arizona, or winning despite the poor refereeing, or the betting line with had them +14, or some other reason?

 

[hoophuskee]

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.

Early in the 1st half she had a low post layup and the ball was shot so hard it clanked nothing but backboard. It was a layup. How can you coach that?

 

[Vowelguy]

 

[and one]

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
the band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
and somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
but there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.
Ernest Thayer

Uconn just never got anything going, with the exception of CW. Arizona was too quick on both ends of the floor and left Uconn reacting rather than asserting. This is a young team that has a very good group of freshmen coming in next season. Making the final four was a good accomplishment for this team and better days lie ahead.

 

[Geesworld]

I was amazed at how many of our fans had us winning by 15-25 points. I think we disrespected Arizona’s defense. And didn’t realize how young we are. I’m thrilled to see a hard working underdog beat us. The women’s game is going in the right direction. And we will be “bad for basketball” next year!

Started with our All time favorite Coach slighting Arizona. That Baylor should be final four talk was fuel for sure. ⛽

 

[BostonBay]

What was that dig by Geno on Paige - she needs to get better & not just on the court?!? Does he mean practice, prep...Very insulting, imo. Paige is the only Freshman NPOY. Geno needs to call out ONO for not showing up, instead of Paige. UConn is barely a Top 15 or 20 team this year without Paige.

 

[hoophuskee]

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.

Nooooooooooo. The UCONN posts just need to be able to hit layups. If they can't hit layups you aren't going to win.

There is a difference if Paige is going 0-7 vs Liv. If Curry goes 0-7 he is supposed to stop shooting?

You go down losing with your best. Your best is Paige. If she goes 0-15 so be it. And if you ever want a Paige type again as a recruit and if you want to play the exciting running style -- you better not let her be an afterthought in a big game.

 

[baylorprof]

Best wishes to the Boneyard in processing. The fact that you're young and loaded for the next several years probably doesn't help much .

As always, the press conference with your Coach Auriemma was pure class.

See you guys next year.

 

[jaydee602]

I was amazed at how many of our fans had us winning by 15-25 points. I think we disrespected Arizona’s defense. And didn’t realize how young we are. I’m thrilled to see a hard working underdog beat us. The women’s game is going in the right direction. And we will be “bad for basketball” next year!

Actually, Vegas also had us favored by 14 points. So, it wasn't just biased fans. Not sure if UCONN was overrated, but Arizona was DEFINTELY underrated!

 

[Vowelguy]

I was amazed at how many of our fans had us winning by 15-25 points.

The betting line was ~15 points.

 

[jaydee602]

Started with our All time favorite Coach slighting Arizona. That Baylor should be final four talk was fuel for sure. ⛽

LOL..Geno didn't slight Arizona by that remark. They were seeded third. He felt Baylor should have been seeded ahead of NC State as a #1 seed & Texas A&M as the 1st #2 seed.

 

[meyers7]

Shooting 35% usually isn't going to get it done. Very young team this year. Probably caught up to them. Fun season though. Looking forward to next year.