Baylor vs ??? New Years Eve

[PAHuskeyFan]

Yawn...

Baylor putting a hurtin' on a pastry product today... only up by 48 after 3 quarters. Scoring 79 points in 3 quarters will surely make them tired for their game vs UCONN on 1/3.

Happy New Year

 

[Topsail]

I would prefer that we had a cupcake to feast on before the Baylor game instead of no game. Let s hope the long lay off does not create too much rust.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

So, in realty, how does beating a severely over matched team by a dump truck load of points "knock the rust off"... I realize it means they put on their game uniforms, played with refs, against another Team, with people in the stands...but is this kind of whopping doing them any good except padding stats?

 

[DallasBUFan]

They haven't played a game since the 16th. I don't think I would want to face UConn after not playing a game for about 20 days. Playing the game will help find rhythm and knock rust off.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

They haven't played a game since the 16th. I don't think I would want to face UConn after not playing a game for about 20 days. Playing the game will help find rhythm and knock rust off.

In reality, they get a chance to "stretch their legs" ..." finding rythm " while smacking a team by 61 points is kind of a stretch... but ok... let's go with that.

 

[Topsail]

Uconn has not played a game since 12/22. Last time we had a long lay off was before the Oklahoma game.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

Uconn has not played a game since 12/22. Last time we had a long lay off was before the Oklahoma game.

Completely agreed Topsail... but a couple things:
(1) I am confident UCONN practices this week have been more rigorous and effective at knocking the holiday rust off than beating a pastry product by 61 points,
(2) Geno and Staff have plenty of examples to motivate and focus our Huskies, including the "close call" at Oklahoma, and the number of unbeatens that have or will fall before today is over,
(3) We have more weapons than our opponent...and I'll take our quick moving sharp shooters over one air craft carrier any day.

GO HUSKIES

 

[JonathanXIV]

I don't see playing and beating a completely overmatched team as "knocking the rust off." I see it as a good way to develop bad habits, since you don't need to execute to be successful.

 

[DallasBUFan]

In reality, they get a chance to "stretch their legs" ..." finding rythm " while smacking a team by 61 points is kind of a stretch... but ok... let's go with that.

Also a great game when you have bench of 12 players to let other players have playing time before conference.

 

[MSGRET]

So they ended up getting 18 PF's vs 23 PF's for the "pastry product", with the centers getting 7 of those fouls with only playing 31 minutes. If Brown plays like she did against the "pastry product" she will foul out in in less than 20 minutes playing against UConn.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

Also a great game when you have bench of 12 players to let other players have playing time before conference.

I suspect this is a jab at the UCONN bench... "good one"... I also suspect UCONN's bench would have played just fine vs these guys. Just my opinion of course.

 

[TitleTown]

Completely agreed Topsail... but a couple things:
(1) I am confident UCONN practices this week have been more rigorous and effective at knocking the holiday rust off than beating a pastry product by 61 points,
(2) Geno and Staff have plenty of examples to motivate and focus our Huskies, including the "close call" at Oklahoma, and the number of unbeatens that have or will fall before today is over,
(3) We have more weapons than our opponent...and I'll take our quick moving sharp shooters over one air craft carrier any day.

GO HUSKIES

1. There is NO practice than can match the intensity of the game! The crowd, the nerves associated with a game, and the realization that there are no "do overs" make games a whole other animal.
2. Motivation and focus have hardly ever been a problem at UConn, and are not the issue here,
3. Baylor is far more than "one air craft carrier"! Brown, Cox, and Smith can all rebound and score in the paint. They are weaker on the perimeter, but Landrum, Ursin, and Bickle all shoot the 3 at over 42% and can hurt you if left open(like UConn did against Cal). UConn will also to deal with a sold out Ferrell Center crowd.

This game really scares me as a UConn fan.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

1. There is NO practice than can match the intensity of the game! The crowd, the nerves associated with a game, and the realization that there are no "do overs" make games a whole other animal.
2. Motivation and focus have hardly ever been a problem at UConn, and are not the issue here,
3. Baylor is far more than "one air craft carrier"! Brown, Cox, and Smith can all rebound and score in the paint. They are weaker on the perimeter, but Landrum, Ursin, and Bickle all shoot the 3 at over 42% and can hurt you if left open(like UConn did against Cal). UConn will also to deal with a sold out Ferrell Center crowd.

This game really scares me as a UConn fan.

Never said it would be easy... and my point about the intense practice... no one has more intense practice, than UCONN (Everyone says so), and I don't give kicking the crap out of a clearly over matched team much benefit toward "rust removal". It will be a battle...but in this match up, UCONN has tended to come out on top over the recent past when Baylor's size would appear to give them the advantage.

Go Huskies

 

[tomcat]

Intense practices or not, UConn has, on more than one occasion (one being recently, IIRC) come out after a long layoff absolutely flat. If this happens against Baylor, they may find themselves in a hole they cannot get out of (out of which they cannot get? What? Sorry. My syntax machine went haywire for a second.)

Meanwhile, it occurs to me that even if Baylor did not like cupcake games, they might schedule one right about now just to keep their players' heads in the game in preparation for what is undoubtedly the toughest game on their schedule.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

Intense practices or not, UConn has, on more than one occasion (one being recently, IIRC) come out after a long layoff absolutely flat. If this happens against Baylor, they may find themselves in a hole they cannot get out of (out of which they cannot get? What? Sorry. My syntax machine went haywire for a second.)

Meanwhile, it occurs to me that even if Baylor did not like cupcake games, they might schedule one right about now just to keep their players' heads in the game in preparation for what is undoubtedly the toughest game on their schedule.

You are right... delay before Oklahoma resulted in a closer than expected result...very true, but let's not forget, Oklahoma was expected to be an easy win...and on occasion. Teams are not as amped in games they are supposed to win. All UCONN players know Baylor is a formidable opponent, and our Team will be ready from the tip, as they were vs ND. My points earlier about UCONN's intense practices was that beating a far inferior team by 61 points is not much of a "warm up"... in fact it could serve to make people over confident.

 

[JonathanXIV]

Intense practices or not, UConn has, on more than one occasion (one being recently, IIRC) come out after a long layoff absolutely flat. If this happens against Baylor, they may find themselves in a hole they cannot get out of (out of which they cannot get? What? Sorry. My syntax machine went haywire for a second.)

Meanwhile, it occurs to me that even if Baylor did not like cupcake games, they might schedule one right about now just to keep their players' heads in the game in preparation for what is undoubtedly the toughest game on their schedule.

Even if coming out "absolutely flat" after a long layoff, UConn still doesn't lose these games. Look at their record over the past ten years and point out the losses after a long layoff.

 

[CocoHusky]

So, in realty, how does beating a severely over matched team by a dump truck load of points "knock the rust off"... I realize it means they put on their game uniforms, played with refs, against another Team, with people in the stands...but is this kind of whopping doing them any good except padding stats?

Just this once I tempted to give Kim a pass for this particular cupcake. Very weird time for this game from both teams perspective. You have the end of the holidays, start of conference play, and the start of the new semester. Not easy to find a good team to come in a do you a favor during this time of year. For this cupcake (UT Rio Grande Valley) this game might pay the budget for the team for an entire year.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Following up on @PAHuskeyFan: One other thing about playing a cupcake is that Baylor will have to deal with the shock of playing a team orders of magnitude quicker and more skilled than what they just experienced. They may say/think they are prepared for that, but it might take some time to adjust. This would be especially true for the younger BU players. They didn't see this kind of speed against Stanford (taking nothing away from Stanford).

Ideally, UConn would stun them right out of the gate.

 

[DallasBUFan]

I suspect this is a jab at the UCONN bench... "good one"... I also suspect UCONN's bench would have played just fine vs these guys. Just my opinion of course.

It's not about being just fine. One decent injury to a starter would hurt UConn. Where Baylor has the depth that could help them out if an injury happened. If I take a jab at UConn you will know it. This was not one. However, I have no jabs to throw. They are No.1 and undefeated.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

It's not about being just fine. One decent injury to a starter would hurt UConn. Where Baylor has the depth that could help them out if an injury happened. If I take a jab at UConn you will know it. This was not one. However, I have no jabs to throw. They are No.1 and undefeated.

Thanks Dallas... got it. And you are absolutely correct, unfortunate situations can happen to every team in WBB and dramatically change their path to the championship. This is true for ALL teams... and perhaps more pronounced with UCONN because Geno talks about it (a lot), and the number of posts that have been written here on the BY. Quote from Kara Lawson broadcasting UCONN vs ND... before the game she asked Muffet McGraw how deep she would go in the game... and Muffet's answer was "5.".. She then said, "I know I'll have to go deeper, but I'm comfortable at 5." (meaning the starting 5).

Reviewing BU's box scores this year... in the 3 close games, it appears the starting 5 and Smith get the majority of the minutes. But, I agree, Coach Mulkey is getting more minutes from her bench than Geno...but I would imagine she won't go real deep down the bench on Thursday night... we'll see.

 

[DallasBUFan]

Thanks Dallas... got it. And you are absolutely correct, unfortunate situations can happen to every team in WBB and dramatically change their path to the championship. This is true for ALL teams... and perhaps more pronounced with UCONN because Geno talks about it (a lot), and the number of posts that have been written here on the BY. Quote from Kara Lawson broadcasting UCONN vs ND... before the game she asked Muffet McGraw how deep she would go in the game... and Muffet's answer was "5.".. She then said, "I know I'll have to go deeper, but I'm comfortable at 5." (meaning the starting 5).

Reviewing BU's box scores this year... in the 3 close games, it appears the starting 5 and Smith get the majority of the minutes. But, I agree, Coach Mulkey is getting more minutes from her bench than Geno...but I would imagine she won't go real deep down the bench on Thursday night... we'll see.

She did vs Stanford to find the right mix. Typical Mulkey wouldn't have, but in that game she did. She has been a little different this year. I feel like she goes with the attitude of "Play like you are suppose to and know how to, or sit" She has probably the deepest bench in terms of talent than she had probably ever had. So getting them a lot of minutes could prove beneficial next year.

I'll be honest Brown has not played with the intensity and fire that she had last year. Lauren's health has been up and down and I think they the warm up game for y'all was good to help them find their groove. I have truly been let down with Brown's play this year.

BU by tournament time last year had 8 healthy players with 9 being Natalie Chou who played with her entire hand and wrist wrapped. So that's why I think it's beneficial for UConn to maybe not have played. Risked injury against a bad team to could be detrimental to y'alls season depending on the player.