Boston University Postgame Thread

[DefenseBB]

.... Jana is the best low post presence UConn has had in some time.

If you mean in some time since April 5th of this year when Aaliyah Edwards played her last game then sure....Or Olivia Nelson Ododa who happens to be in the WNBA when she last played April 3, 2022 or Pheesa Collier who last played April 5, 2019 but yeah, sure, it's been some time since UConn had a low post presence....Seriously, where do these people come up with these inane stances?

Frankly the game was much better (and the opponent much worse) than Sunday. I liked the ball movement in the first half, especially after KK came in and overall we had 28 assists against only 12 turnovers (and 25 steals) but imagine if we could make the 7 or was 8 layups we missed? The assists would have been higher. Yes, Jana had 17 points but she did not play great (albeit significantly better than Sunday) as she still had some bad fouls. Sarah was really good as was Ash. Paige did Paige things and her limited time in the second half is what slowed the half court down.

Onto USF on Sunday who while better than BU, is not a good team of our old rivalry brethren. I expect more of the same as this team gains confidence.

 

[Blacketh’D]

Well when 8 of the 10 players are first or second year players and the other two players were seniors who went 7-12 and only played 44 of a possible 200 minutes, what did you expect.

They just posted a stat? Why are you being defensive

 

[VA Huskie]

Finally we have some post players that can score. I know it’s just BU but excited to see what Jana and Sarah can do against tougher competition.

Wait, are we forgetting that AE scored pretty well for four years

 

[Skeets]

Q played the least minutes. I thought maybe Geno got frustrated with her.

But she also hit some timely buckets when the offense was sputtering. No one can really deny that.

One thing is becoming clear to me, I will never have to yell "shoot the damn ball" when either Q or Allie have an open shot. I did yell that, only once, when Paige had a decent shot and passed the ball. Paige should shoot the ball every time she has a decent shot and when UConn is in position to rebound. The "more aggressive" Paige needs to embrace the idea that often she is the best shot rather than looking for someone who may, or may not, have a better shot.

 

[ERWUC65]

It is always better to comment after listening to Geno postgame regarding team strategy and goals for the game. In this one it helped explain why the first half went the way it did as the objective was to press, defend and transition (needless to say very successful) with the full complement of players and why the second half was totally different as the objective was to experiment with a slower half court methodology without Paige and some experimentation with certain groupings of players (much more difficult).

 

[cohenzone]

Well when 8 of the 10 players are first or second year players and the other two players were seniors who went 7-12 and only played 44 of a possible 200 minutes, what did you expect.

They could spit the bit. They didn’t.

 

[The deacon]

Sarah may be the 3rd best player when Azzi comes back, but she is stellar and has a complete game.

I know you love Azzi, Milford, but by the time she comes back, Sarah will likely already have established herself as one of the nation's top players... Azzi's got a lot of work ahead of her to reach that realm, if she can even get to that level of play, and the assets she could contribute are now present on the team with several other players, which wasn't the case last time Azzi was able to play.

I sure hope the expectations you and others here on the BY have for Azzi can be realized. She's a great young woman.

 

[my2cents]

31-6 first qtr lead is a slow start?

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I was very impressed at the smoothness of the offense and defense in our 1st game!
Usually it is pretty rough early in the season as the players are learning how to work with each other!

 

[Cornell Lt]

In the first half when they were pushing the ball, making great passes and playing active D it was just like old times. Sure the competition was lacking but still. In the second half Geno slooooowed things down and ran some half court offensive with various line- ups. That still needs work.

It looks like 4 of 5 starters are set, at least until Azzi returns. Paige, Ash, Jana and Sarah are locks. KK and Chen will have to battle it out for starting PG. The rest will get decent minutes.

All in all I'm feeling really good about this team.

IMHO ..In the short term Ice will continue to start at center

 

[Kaizen]

One note,
All 10 players played double digit time. All 10 players scored.
Starters played between 20-30 mins,
Benches played between 10-21 mins

Very balance team and everyone is happy.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

They weren't going to lose in a game against an outmatched opponent, so what do I watch for? Chemistry and new possibilities.

Big to big passing is back. I don't even know how Jana caught some of those passes in traffic and some bounced to her below her knees. She has good hands. She can also dribble. I almost forgot. She looked very comfortable taking that 3 that went half way down and then rimmed out. Point is...she's versatile. Smart too. Vocal on defense. She's the qb in the half court defense. You can hear her.

Just because a player is close to the basket...doesn't mean the shot is a bunny. Some passes from the wing and on breaks placed the shooter almost even with the backboard or headed out of bounds. If you played...you know that sucks and changes the angle of your layup a lot. So some of the missed layups didn't bother me.

Morgan is interesting. Bigger than I thought. Maybe in a small lineup...post her up against small guards?

Other than Paige...I would love to see a player own the short corner baseline jumper. I call it one of the loneliest spaces on offense.

Fudd may not start initially, but eventually she will. I have 0 doubts about that. While this team has plenty of long range firepower...midrange offense, especially off the dribble, could use some shoring up.

 

[yhun89]

Some thoughts:

Whole lot better on defense. Some players rotated really well I thought, Morgan stood out to me. I think while she was defending, only one player she was on managed to make their shot, the rest bricked. She also seems fast on the switches, only getting lost 1-2 times, which is especially impressive given that she’s been a “day to day” practice player. To pick up on defense that easily is nice, and a testament to her IQ in the court.

Q is a solid role player now. Slashing and a nice 3 PT coming along.

If I see one more person online saying “Passive Paige is back”… they were up 30 most of the game, why risk the injury? Let the freshman settle in, and that’s exactly what happened.

Once Sarah gets her 3 PT going she’s going to be an absolute menace to CWBB. I massively underestimated her defensive impact, 6 STL is what Hidalgo does as a scrappy, pick pocket guard and Sarah was just stocking the ball all night as a powerful, less scrappy forward. Also a great passer, the scouting reports were on about that one. She makes things happen.

Jana looks great on the glass. She was fighting double teams for those boards and she got them. Massive props to her, she looked more comfortable. And not to be a downer, but she’s looking like she’s going to have a terrible whistle in college. Even if they’re up 30, BU was hacking her at the rim, it was so clear in the closeups.

Geno laughing with a ref is nice to see, instead of him losing his mind on the sideline. Ha.

 

[freshler40]

Q is still a work in progress but I think she has already shown impressive improvement year-to-year and if the trajectory continues then she’ll definitely be a contributor.

Love her game! Always a great effort, needs to click on her drives and like the best players, slow down a bit approaching the rim. She is very long, quick and plays bigger than her size. She has made second year leap.

With such great talent on this team, each player is growing faster than they would on their own. What a wonderful mix of opportunities. Geno can play combinations for any situation.

Me thinks the best is to start with a press to rattle the other team guards and create easy hoops. This will turbo charge our slow starts. Chin needs to step out of her slow Princeton offense with dribble penetrations for scores or passes to our bigs, especially our Egyptian find. When KK found the find with her second half passes it was lights out. This offensive combination is a dream.
KK doesn't let the defense set up while Chin does resulting in a 25 second offensive period and many passes and late shots. Chin has talent now, all can shoot, we don't need to spend as much time finding the right shooter with so many passes. Our offense stalled in the second half. Geno said that was by design??? Our offense seems much more fluid with a better pace. Go KK and Paige.

 

[freshler40]

They weren't going to lose in a game against an outmatched opponent, so what do I watch for? Chemistry and new possibilities.

Big to big passing is back. I don't even know how Jana caught some of those passes in traffic and some bounced to her below her knees. She has good hands. She can also dribble. I almost forgot. She looked very comfortable taking that 3 that went half way down and then rimmed out. Point is...she's versatile. Smart too. Vocal on defense. She's the qb in the half court defense. You can hear her.

Just because a player is close to the basket...doesn't mean the shot is a bunny. Some passes from the wing and on breaks placed the shooter almost even with the backboard or headed out of bounds. If you played...you know that sucks and changes the angle of your layup a lot. So some of the missed layups didn't bother me.

Morgan is interesting. Bigger than I thought. Maybe in a small lineup...post her up against small guards?

Other than Paige...I would love to see a player own the short corner baseline jumper. I call it one of the loneliest spaces on offense.

Fudd may not start initially, but eventually she will. I have 0 doubts about that. While this team has plenty of long range firepower...midrange offense, especially off the dribble, could use some shoring up.

Shade can do it as can Q who can also create her own shot like Beckers.

 

[JellyBean]

Pretty impressive start and win. Think about it. We all have seen the first week of games and some ranked teams came out the gate looking fire against less talented teams and some ranked teams came out the gate looking rough against less talented games. I was not expecting what I saw/heard last night. UConn shot the ball well! 31--6 in the first quarter!? I was not expecting that. Then when I was able to watch the game, I was very impressed.

Jana- Her footwork is impressive. Her ability to play angles, as a Big, is Akeem Olajuwon when he played at the University of Houston in his freshmen year! It is only going to get better depending on her drive and work ethic.

Sarah-Her quickness, hands, and ability to play in the post or out on the perimeter, it is going to be scary! She can play off the catch and bounce. She is going to be a problem.

Kaitlyn- I love her already! Her court vision, high basketball IQ, and her aggression. OMG!! When new players come to a team, they have really only two options. They can either shy away and let their teammates decide the actions. Or they can insert themselves into the team concept in a professional manner. KC has that rare skill of blending in and inserting herself in a professional manner. Like on some of her passes and shot selection. She was not forcing much. She was just smart with her reads which is awesome and you love to see that type of play from a player that is joining a team that has a pecking order of things.

Ice- I love me some Ice! She is like KC just plays within the system. She is smart about her play. She had some nice plays out there. I love that she is not trying to force anything. Just plays within the system. She had some nice reads out there. The guards need to feed her when she is open tough. When we Bigs post up or lift, give us the rock! LOL

Paige- She is just a DREAM! Everything about her is efficient! Her passing. Her shooting. Her leadership! I loved the way she went about her game last night. It was like a master surgeon in the operating room. Just a thing a of beauty! She knew when to attack and hunt her shots. She knew when to get a player who had the hot hand the ball. She just knows how to read a frigging room!

The rest of the team:
I will post on them later. They were impressive and they deserve all the love they are getting. I loved that we scheduled this game against Boston. Just a chance for the whole team to get out there and play and build a little confidence going forward into the weekend game. Well done players and coaches. Oh, I love Coach G's presser. He knows something about this team. Please, Basketball Higher Power, protect this team!! I am gotta like a light. Y'all be safe. Be kind. Happy Friday everyone!!

 

[Surly1]

If you mean in some time since April 5th of this year when Aaliyah Edwards played her last game then sure....Or Olivia Nelson Ododa who happens to be in the WNBA when she last played April 3, 2022 or Pheesa Collier who last played April 5, 2019 but yeah, sure, it's been some time since UConn had a low post presence....Seriously, where do these people come up with these inane stances?

Frankly the game was much better (and the opponent much worse) than Sunday. I liked the ball movement in the first half, especially after KK came in and overall we had 28 assists against only 12 turnovers (and 25 steals) but imagine if we could make the 7 or was 8 layups we missed? The assists would have been higher. Yes, Jana had 17 points but she did not play great (albeit significantly better than Sunday) as she still had some bad fouls. Sarah was really good as was Ash. Paige did Paige things and her limited time in the second half is what slowed the half court down.

Onto USF on Sunday who while better than BU, is not a good team of our old rivalry brethren. I expect more of the same as this team gains confidence.

An inane stance? I was a big fan of ONO, but the reality of her time at UConn was she was not consistent as a low post scorer, particularly her first 2 years. Remember the Arizona loss in the Final four of Paige's freshman season?

When I said low post presence, I implied a "traditional" center. AE was always a power forward forced to play the low post, but she did equally, if not more, score from the foul line or 15ft out. Yes, Collier could score inside, but at 6'1, I wouldn't call her a low post presence. Jana is a potential earth-mover, who can carve and make space for herself down low. This is what I mean by low-post presence.

AE was physical, but she took a beating in her 4 years, particularly last year. ONO was a "big" but physicality wasn't a big part of her game. I saw Collier as a skill player, capable of excelling all over the court.

There will be very few players/teams that will be able to outmuscle Jana down low. Low-post presence is Audi Crooks, Lauren Betts, the Ogwumike sisters from Stanford, a spot where these players do the majority of their scoring.

Now you know where I'm coming from.

 

[REB1094]

We are really going to like Sarah Strong.

 

[HuskyNan]

An inane stance? I was a big fan of ONO, but the reality of her time at UConn was she was not consistent as a low post scorer, particularly her first 2 years. Remember the Arizona loss in the Final four of Paige's freshman season?

When I said low post presence, I implied a "traditional" center. AE was always a power forward forced to play the low post, but she did equally, if not more, score from the foul line or 15ft out. Yes, Collier could score inside, but at 6'1, I wouldn't call her a low post presence. Jana is a potential earth-mover, who can carve and make space for herself down low. This is what I mean by low-post presence.

AE was physical, but she took a beating in her 4 years, particularly last year. ONO was a "big" but physicality wasn't a big part of her game. I saw Collier as a skill player, capable of excelling all over the court.

There will be very few players/teams that will be able to outmuscle Jana down low. Low-post presence is Audi Crooks, Lauren Betts, the Ogwumike sisters from Stanford, a spot where these players do the majority of their scoring.

Now you know where I'm coming from.

Dorka was a center

 

[Gusaford]

An inane stance? I was a big fan of ONO, but the reality of her time at UConn was she was not consistent as a low post scorer, particularly her first 2 years. Remember the Arizona loss in the Final four of Paige's freshman season?

When I said low post presence, I implied a "traditional" center. AE was always a power forward forced to play the low post, but she did equally, if not more, score from the foul line or 15ft out. Yes, Collier could score inside, but at 6'1, I wouldn't call her a low post presence. Jana is a potential earth-mover, who can carve and make space for herself down low. This is what I mean by low-post presence.

AE was physical, but she took a beating in her 4 years, particularly last year. ONO was a "big" but physicality wasn't a big part of her game. I saw Collier as a skill player, capable of excelling all over the court.

There will be very few players/teams that will be able to outmuscle Jana down low. Low-post presence is Audi Crooks, Lauren Betts, the Ogwumike sisters from Stanford, a spot where these players do the majority of their scoring.

Now you know where I'm coming from.

I get Cardosa vibes watching Jana rebound under the basket, especially on the offensive end. Goes straight up even when she's boxed out by a shorter player. Catches the ball with her hands at their highest possible point over her head (which of course is higher than everyone else's). Has sure and steady footwork under the basket. Makes her put backs without a lot of drama. ONO, Dorka, Collier, AE were all tremendous players. Jana's not better than any of them at this very early point in her career, but I agree she brings a different dimension to the low post, which the team had been missing in recent years.

 

[topogigio]

I was thinking after I game about the return of the wounded on the bench. Getting them all deserved playing time is going to be the biggest challenge! I also like Jana, a lot! She may prove to be this year’s “secret sauce “ !

 

[Charliebball]

It is hard to tell just how good the Huskies really are played because of the huge talent gap compared to BU but:

—I have nothing new to add to how great Paige is. I bet the first half block was her favorite play of the game.

—Sarah Strong can be effective anywhere on the floor. Two things stick out for me. She appears to be able to easily handle defending the perimeter. She MIGHT be one of the best high post passers that Geno has ever had at the position. I know. One game. She sees the floor so well.

—I think Geno is starting to tip his hand who is starters are even when everyone is healthy. Shade and Chen are just so steady. It will be interesting to see how Azzi fits in when she is healthy. They certainly don’t have to rush Azzi back.

-Could this be the year that Geno has enough healthy players that he trusts to show more full court pressure without fear of tiring? He seems to go away from it as the season progresses. At least in recent years but with the ball hawks he has out front, using full court pressure seems to be a no brainer.

—Geno has a lot of kids that are talented enough to play extensive minutes. It will be fun to watch how he spreads those minutes among ten to 12 players.

—The passing and unselfish play were on full display. More than once, all five players touched the ball without a dribble. I never tire of watching total buy in like the Huskies demand.

—A couple of concerns to close. KK Arnold’s patience will be tested. There are just so many guards. Chen appears to be getting the point guard minutes that KK got last year. This not a criticism of her play. It is a completely different year roster wise.

-Q looks better but still has still too many rough edges. I personally love how willing she is to shoot. I do not think she took one bad shot.

It's going to be KK's team next season........for this season she should be working on improving all aspects of her play in anticipation of the leadership role she will have to play in the future.........I'm sure she will fully embrace that.....

 

[Dugway]

Understand the competition level was not a Top 10 test but this team looked great, particularly in the first half.

Sarah Strong is ad advertised! All that hype is not just window dressing banter; the kid has skills!

Over the season, Jana could potentially lead the team in scoring! Not going to happen if she fouls out in the third quarter though; she will get better, I have faith in her. I think that for the time being, Ice should continue to start.

KK or KC either way, splitting their time seems okay as well. Shade is as consistent as we thought she would be. Simply solid players all around.

Will be exciting to see Azzi in the near future. When she becomes available I expect that much of the play time that Q and the Freshman shooters have received will be diminished, so really like that they are able to get opportunities now.

 

[yhun89]

Understand the competition level was not a Top 10 test but this team looked great, particularly in the first half.

Sarah Strong is ad advertised! All that hype is not just window dressing banter; the kid has skills!

Over the season, Jana could potentially lead the team in scoring! Not going to happen if she fouls out in the third quarter though; she will get better, I have faith in her. I think that for the time being, Ice should continue to start.

KK or KC either way, splitting their time seems okay as well. Shade is as consistent as we thought she would be. Simply solid players all around.

Will be exciting to see Azzi in the near future. When she becomes available I expect that much of the play time that Q and the Freshman shooters have received will be diminished, so really like that they are able to get opportunities now.

It's the first time in years the team has scored 60 in a half against any D1 team. That's quite the statement even if they aren't a great team. Testament to our offensive capability this season.