Ball St Postgame Thread

[oldude]

Geno rolls out his 6th different starting lineup in 8 games, inserting both KK and Ashlynn along with the 3 seniors. A couple thoughts.

• The small lineup that UConn went with today played with great energy to start the game. Clearly all 3 freshmen are under orders to be AGGRESSIVE on offense. I doubt Geno can go small against everybody. But against a good mid-major team, the small lineup worked well to start off the game.
• Aubrey has not been giving Geno the production he needs as a starter. The solution, have Aubrey come off the bench where she almost always provides instant energy. Aubrey was exceptionally productive tonight.
• OK, who had Hanna to outscore her big sister tonight?
• Geno used this game to do a lot of mixing and matching while giving all his young players PT. They are making plays, and they are making mistakes. But the most important thing is that they are gaining game experience that will hopefully pay big dividends down the road.

 

[maple]

A very good win.

I liked this starting 5 and I hope Geno sticks with it.

 

[jpp13]

Love the freshman, nice to see Paige and Aaliyah smiling at the end of the game. A real evaluation exists sunday

 

[CL82]

 

[Edward Sargent]

So where’s Nika?7

 

[hoopsfan22]

So where’s Nika?7

Probably in the locker room.

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[CL82]

So where’s Nika?7

 

[Urshurak]

@oldude I absolutely had Hanna outscoring Nika.

Love the play of these freshman. Great job. Hopefully have some confidence going up against NC.

 

[pk1234]

Shade was terrific again, she must be shooting 70% on middies, if she ups her 3% to closer to 35-40% she is a legitimate offensive threat. No rebounds but every possession she's either boxing out (often freeing up rebounds for teams) or running the court if she know's she's not in position to get an offensive rebound.

Paige has no idea what her role is on this team right now, which is still a problem, but likely to be fixed. Still playing with a lot of new players. And she was very efficient in her minutes tonight.

Edwards was excellent, don't really care, she should be excellent against a team like that. Do it against Gakdeng and Ustby Sunday.

Samuels has her great moments, and then her horrible moments. 5 TOs and a few bricks, but when she's making shots it's a weapon and it's pretty. Need to work through some of her growing pains.

Similar with KK, too many turnovers, but she played great on-ball D and is a force going to the lane.

Ice showed flashes, just need to find a way to get her confident.

 

[Tonyc]

Alot of good things happened tonite and alot to work on but were lookin better. Shade and Q arent afraid to shoot and thats what we need. Griff off the bench is the formula. Ice looking good as is KK. KK needs to take some mid range shots to be effective. It will help her dribble drive. I saw alot of improvement 5 players in double figures.

 

[Happydad745]

Fun game watching Shade do her thing and UConn looking more like a team in the hunt....I'm a little concerned about Paige: She took 7 shots and played well, but if you compare her Freshman season to this one, you will see two different players. Could be she is still on her way back, we'll see. I would like to see Amari get big minutes against not so good teams to find out if she is able to be a good post player, too much height not to give it a try.

 

[EricSD]

The good - came out gangbusters. The freshmen are not afraid and will continue to get better.

The bad - mediocre performance after the first quarter. Can't imagine this was the complete game Geno was hoping for with L'ville and UNC coming up next.

 

[HuskyNan]

Shade was terrific again, she must be shooting 70% on middies, if she ups her 3% to closer to 35-40% she is a legitimate offensive threat. No rebounds but every possession she's either boxing out (often freeing up rebounds for teams) or running the court if she know's she's not in position to get an offensive rebound.

Paige has no idea what her role is on this team right now, which is still a problem, but likely to be fixed. Still playing with a lot of new players. And she was very efficient in her minutes tonight.

Edwards was excellent, don't really care, she should be excellent against a team like that. Do it against Gakdeng and Ustby Sunday.

Samuels has her great moments, and then her horrible moments. 5 TOs and a few bricks, but when she's making shots it's a weapon and it's pretty. Need to work through some of her growing pains.

Similar with KK, too many turnovers, but she played great on-ball D and is a force going to the lane.

Ice showed flashes, just need to find a way to get her confident.

Ashlynn is shooting 6-22 from three (27.3%) and 14-18 inside the arc (77.8%) and 20-40 overall (50%)

 

[HuskyNan]

Fun game watching Shade do her thing and UConn looking more like a team in the hunt....I'm a little concerned about Paige: She took 7 shots and played well, but if you compare her Freshman season to this one, you will see two different players. Could be she is still on her way back, we'll see. I would like to see Amari get big minutes against not so good teams to find out if she is able to be a good post player, too much height not to give it a try.

Geno said she’s still working her way back

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[Redux]

Geno said [Paige is] still working her way back

Patience would be a wonderful characteristic mixed into the development of this hugely talented team. I have great confidence in Geno and I also think these players will keep it together during the struggle to come. My problem is me. Zero perspective, zero patience.

 

[huskeynut]

This team continues to be a work in progress. Geno continues to change things up to find that combination.

The freshmen can play. They will make their mistakes but let them play. Ash is something else. Seems her mid range jumper, a lost art in today's game, is really good.

Paige is working her way back.

They will get better. Tonight is proof of that.

 

[ThisJustIn]

All this reminds me of how frickin' amazing the 2003 championship was....

 

[augustaTC]

Ashlyn Shade, You Go Girl!

 

[Husky fanatic]

Shade fun to watch but needs to work on defense. Q needs a handle and plenty of work on defense. Overall everyone’s defense needs work. The eye test on North Carolina say they don’t scare me at all. But UConn does scare me.

 

[Bomber36]

Not for nothing, but I just watched Geno’s post game. He sounds a little nuts sometimes. I love him. But he sounds a little nuts. Talk me down. By the way, Kara’s response to some of his comments was priceless. I’d post it if I could find it. Look for it. It’s worth a watch. I‘ve always loved Kara, but the more I watch her the more I love her. She should be coaching, but I don’t blame her for choosing her path.

 

[cferraro04]

The substitution of Ashlynn Shade for Aubrey Griffin was unexpected. But, look at the results the freshman came up with 17 points...however, her freshman status showed up in the box score...uneventful with regards to assists, steals, and rebounds.

Meanwhile, Aubrey comes off the bench and has a very good game...14 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 steal.

Paige only played 21 minutes but, despite committing 2 fouls in the first 2 minutes of the game, she filled the stat sheet: 15 minutes; 2/3 from 3 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 block.

Aaliyah did not disappoint...she got a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Ice Brady...not bad: 4 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal.

KK...needs to take care of the basketball better...4 turnovers aren't horrific but if she is going to have the ball in her hands she needs to make good decisions.

I had this game at 96 to 52...I expected a better offensive output from UConn than what we have been seeing from them lately. 90 points is a good sign for the future...but, scoring 37 in the first quarter and only averaging 20 per quarter after that is an example that UConn has difficulty sustaining their energy and aggressiveness for the entire game. This is something we have to work on as we move towards March.

I did not expect Ball State to put up 63 an accomplishment that is even more impressive given their top scorer went down in the first half with a twisted ankle and did not return for the rest of the game.

Great story-line for the Muhl family to come to America to see their daughters play against each other...to have their niece join them for the game and to see all fans showing their support for Nika and Hana by waving Croatian Flags during the game.

 

[dtbtbtb]

Few Thoughts:
*Have to get used to the fact that this UConn team is different then past years. Shaky defense, streaky offense, shooting the ball too early in the shot clock without running the offense and looking for the best shot, a lot of mistakes (mostly by the Freshman).
*Good to see that the Freshman + Ice, get a lot of minutes. This season outcome will depend on how much they'll grow by March.
*A good game to have before 2 very difficult games that UConn needs to win at least 1 of them, if it is to stay in the top 25 ranking.
*Ashlynn: loved her game tonight. A quick release on the move. Hopefully she can be the outside shooter for UConn (beside Paige) in the big games.
*Paige: an ok game by her. It was good that Geno didn't give her too many minutes.
*AE: a good game. Her first double double of the season. Still making some mistakes that she should not (trying to go to the basket against 3 players, missing layups).
*Aubrey: coming off the bench as a change of pace player is probably the perfect role for her on this team. Real good game. Would love her to shoot when open from mid-range as the other teams will just leave her there and double team on the AE.
*H. Maul was pretty impressive.
*Nika played ok but i think her sister was better in this game.
*KK: every game she shows great potential. Some strange turnover and must develop an outside shot,
*Q: good shooter but makes a lot of freshman mistakes. Hopefully those become less and less as the season progresses.
*Ice: showed some flashes. Should not shoot the 3.
*Amari: Geno clearly gave up on her as a rotation player.
*After the amazing display of defense in the first quarter, what happened the rest of the game?

 

[HopJim]

Ashlynn is shooting 6-22 from three (27.3%) and 14-18 inside the arc (77.8%) and 20-40 overall (50%)

Paige capable of shooting the mid-range jumper as well as Shade but only if the UConn offense she runs starts inside the 40-foot line. Even when Paige was a Soph, the offense seems to stagnate when it started well outside the key. Not sure if this is a Geno or Paige thing but Paige is tall enough to take 99% of her defenders down low if she gets the ball there.

 

[Redux]

Not for nothing, but I just watched Geno’s post game. He sounds a little nuts sometimes. I love him. But he sounds a little nuts. Talk me down.

Geno has probably the most entertaining mix of egotism (required) and self-depreciating humor I have ever seen in a coach. He was right on here. Acknowledging his error in the Texas game, the turmoil of his coaching leadership of the staff (didn't like anything they proposed but had nothing of his own), was classic and relatable. He gave an accurate and useful picture of the complexity of this mix. Freshman & Seniors, brilliant play and crazy (he started to say "stupid" and backed off [for the moment]).

But he is in charge, he is on top of it: that was his underlying message in the post-game. If anybody can do it I will. If I were a player on his team I heard good stuff for moving forward.

 

[HopJim]

Geno has probably the most entertaining mix of egotism (required) and self-depreciating humor I have ever seen in a coach. He was right on here. Acknowledging his error in the Texas game, the turmoil of his coaching leadership of the staff (didn't like anything they proposed but had nothing of his own), was classic and relatable. He gave an accurate and useful picture of the complexity of this mix. Freshman & Seniors, brilliant play and crazy (he started to say "stupid" and backed off [for the moment]).

But he is in charge, he is on top of it: that was his underlying message in the post-game. If anybody can do it I will. If I were a player on his team I heard good stuff for moving forward.

Not a lineup that will go far in the NCAA's but very entertaining tonight. Kudos to Geno for playing the frosh for many minutes and not taking anyone out even when they made mistakes. When was the last time Geno gave 3-4 frosh significant minutes?

 

[Bomber36]

Geno has probably the most entertaining mix of egotism (required) and self-depreciating humor I have ever seen in a coach. He was right on here. Acknowledging his error in the Texas game, the turmoil of his coaching leadership of the staff (didn't like anything they proposed but had nothing of his own), was classic and relatable. He gave an accurate and useful picture of the complexity of this mix. Freshman & Seniors, brilliant play and crazy (he started to say "stupid" and backed off [for the moment]).

But he is in charge, he is on top of it: that was his underlying message in the post-game. If anybody can do it I will. If I were a player on his team I heard good stuff for moving forward.

See….there you go. You talked me down. Thank you.