Buffalo post game thread (merged thread)

[Los24]

Ugly late but another test and battle for what they surely will have to endure in future games to win it all... they are not going to blow out their opponents on the way to the FF, nor win those games by a wide margin either. Hopefully it will give them a chance to recalibrate in practice that when they struggle to slow things down and reset the offense. No way they should struggle for that long a stretch with the fire power they have on team.

 

[southofnorth]

For what it's worth, this Buffalo team put up 82 points at Oregon and they gave Stanford a scare, before losing by 7. Last year, they also gave SC and Aja Wilson a scare in the Sweet 16. The Bulls are for real.

They were definitely better than their 10 seed suggests.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Buffalo is one tough team. Coach Geno was right in his praise for their coach.

This is not the average 10 seed. They are a fine team!

Indeed, both UConn and Buffalo were playing superb basketball the entire game.

They're not a 10-seed based on their performance tonight- and this is the 3rd place team in that conference!

 

[PacoBlaze]

I was surprised Uconn took so many long shots without ANYONE under that board.
Someone scouted Uconn accurately knows the limits and the faults of the help concept and exploited it wonderfully. Another 5 minutes (OT) Dilliard may have won this one. That kid can shoot and shoot from anywhere, how did Geno miss that one??
Kudo's to ONO and CW and Walker while not perfect these 3 did well. Collier, KLS and Danger are supposed to do well, they've been to the big dance before..
Survived--not a very big confirmation of this teams potential, remember a 10th team survived to get into this game. Can Uconn use Griffin in the next 4 games??

I must have missed that part of the game. Compared to the Megan of the past 10 or so games, this was a horrible game for her. IMO.

 

[BroadwayVa]

I think that Buffalo realized that Pheesa on the block was Option #1 and put 2 and 3 players near her and then if we found the open player, bunnies and open shots were missed.

Golly gee whiz. Dang, I'm not in favor of anyone shooting bunnies. I have a dozen eating in my garden, no one is allowed to shoot them. Dang!! But you are right about the scouting on Uconn it was excellent and near perfect executed. Keep that coach away from UT. If Geno EVER retires I'd vote for her at Uconn. And she is a cheer leader for that team, except if a player screws up--then it's frowns all around. Love that lady.

 

[tomcat]

Buffalo is quite a team, but honestly, UConn left so damn much on the table. If Dangerfield played the fourth quarter bliindfolded she could not have done much worse. Olivia did not impress. Team-wise, instead of building on the adrenaline that powered an amazing first quarter, they let it all go. It didn't seem as though the coaching staff had any answer for whatever it was that went wrong as the game went on. And the team's weakness, offensively, was that they are a two-trick pony: Pop a three, or in to Collier (who continues to play really really well).

If they play like this against Maryland, assuming Maryland's game against UCLA goes according to form. they will go home.

 

[BroadwayVa]

I must have missed that part of the game. Compared to the Megan of the past 10 or so games, this was a horrible game for her. IMO.

Who then would you say had a great game?? No one was near Uconn level of play tonight. A soph and 2 frosh in their 2n'd and tough NCAA game---did well.

 

[UConnNick]

Sometimes you occasionally throw up stinker in a single elimination tourney. It may turn out to be a positive that we got a game like that out of our system in the early rounds. Hopefully it's just an aberration.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Buffalo is quite a team, but honestly, UConn left so damn much on the table. If Dangerfield played the fourth quarter bliindfolded she could not have done much worse. Olivia did not impress. Team-wise, instead of building on the adrenaline that powered an amazing first quarter, they let it all go. It didn't seem as though the coaching staff had any answer for whatever it was that went wrong as the game went on. And the team's weakness, offensively, was that they are a two-trick pony: Pop a three, or in to Collier (who continues to play really really well).

If they play like this against Maryland, assuming Maryland's game against UCLA goes according to form. they will go home.

I hate to agree with a negative posting like this, but for the most part I must. While Buffalo must get credit for how badly Uconn played, that has the opposite for Uconn. At times with turnover and bad passes, lack of hitting the boards I wondered what was the game plan? Was the Staff looking past Buffalo??

 

[PacoBlaze]

Who then would you say had a great game?? No one was near Uconn level of play tonight. A soph and 2 frosh in their 2n'd and tough NCAA game---did well.

You are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine.
To answer your question - Pheesa.

 

[Zinethar]

OK so I admit I have not read all the previous posts so it may have been said already. After taken time to breathe after the game I realized what the difference from the early game to the rest was. In the beginning UConn was aggressive, trapped, pushed tempo which usually gets them psyched up and flying on offense too. What changed. The tons of fouls called. You can't play that way when the refs are calling the game that way. That change killed them. Hope we don't see those refs again.

BTW I'm not saying they called against UConn - they did it to both good teams for no apparent reason. Changed the game.

 

[MD#12Fan]

Gotta say it again. Been saying it all year.
Keep the tempo up! Why does Geno stop pressing? It’s the style we like best. What’s he afraid of? Fatigue? Foul trouble? Give up easy shots? All bad reasons.
Is Geno conservative in his old age? His lineage is Philly! Before he started getting the best players in the history of WCBB, he was Philly through and through. McKinney, Westhead, Lynam, etc. Uptempo! Aggressive!
We shoot well when we’re moving and moving the rock and shooting in rhythm.
BTW you’re allowed to double a perimeter player. Trap them, make them give it up. Besides rebounding, who else was going to hurt us. Double the ball, make them give it up and then recover to your man.
Damn, I love Geno, but I think he slows this team down.

 

[Papa33]

If ESPN box score is correct how did buffalo get 76 fog attempts to our 63 when rebounds were even?

The Buffalos grabbed 25(!) offensive rebounds!

 

[PacoBlaze]

I think the pressing was stopped due to CW's second foul and going to the bench.
Or maybe not...

 

[oldude]

I have to say that Lou had a fall early and looked like she was hurting from then on. She looked uncomfortable and in a certain amount of stress on her shots and on defense, though she'll probably never say a word about it.

And through all that, she had 9 rbs (5 on offense) and got to the line frequently hitting 8 for 10. Lou is just plain tough.

 

[ochoopsfan]

You are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine.
To answer your question - Pheesa.

Nobody had a good.great game, statistically wise at least.
If you think missing 4 FT's and 4 turnovers and 4 PF's equates to having a Great game, then our opinions are not in the same ballpark, or forum.

 

[uconnfan68]

For what it's worth, this Buffalo team put up 82 points at Oregon and they gave Stanford a scare, before losing by 7. Last year, they also gave SC and Aja Wilson a scare in the Sweet 16. The Bulls are for real.

I was only commenting on things we can correct. I expected Buffalo to keep fighting, and was a little surprised by our lack of poise at some points. We won’t be in the F4 with this play. Glad Geno sees the teaching parts for next game.

 

[Blueballer]

Gotta say it again. Been saying it all year.
Keep the tempo up! Why does Geno stop pressing? It’s the style we like best. What’s he afraid of? Fatigue? Foul trouble? Give up easy shots? All bad reasons.
Is Geno conservative in his old age? His lineage is Philly! Before he started getting the best players in the history of WCBB, he was Philly through and through. McKinney, Westhead, Lynam, etc. Uptempo! Aggressive!
We shoot well when we’re moving and moving the rock and shooting in rhythm.
BTW you’re allowed to double a perimeter player. Trap them, make them give it up. Besides rebounding, who else was going to hurt us. Double the ball, make them give it up and then recover to your man.
Damn, I love Geno, but I think he slows this team down.

Fouls - that's the main reason why. The way this game was called we would have had nobody left. Also his best pressing teams have had at least 2 regular contributors off the bench. Not really true this year.

 

[Urshurak]

Some people on here are saying Phessa did not have a good game? She travelled a couple of times. True. But she did just miss a triple double. Just sayin.

 

[wbball novice]

Wasn't this a little like the Notre Dame game? Accumulated field goal capital in Q1 and spending the other 3 quarters trying (sometimes desperately) to stay ahead of the resurgent opponent. Difference in Q4 Notre Dame ran out of gas; Buffalo didn't but Dillard's injury had somewhat the same effect. Some of the late UConn mistakes and missed FTs could be partially attributed to fatigue; we were a little like ND in Q4. Buffalo's conditioning program must be pretty good, or they had more depth. And they are a little bit better than Towson.

 

[uconnfan68]

Fouls - that's the main reason why. The way this game was called we would have had nobody left. Also his best pressing teams have had at least 2 regular contributors off the bench. Not really true this year.

I was very surprised Mikayla Coombs didn’t play. A fast defender was needed.

 

[oldude]

Wasn't this a little like the Notre Dame game? Accumulated field goal capital in Q1 and spending the other 3 quarters trying (sometimes desperately) to stay ahead of the resurgent opponent. Difference in Q4 Notre Dame ran out of gas; Buffalo didn't but Dillard's injury had somewhat the same effect. Some of the late UConn mistakes and missed FTs could be partially attributed to fatigue; we were a little like ND in Q4. Buffalo's conditioning program must be pretty good, or they had more depth. And they are a little bit better than Towson.

Buffalo played 10 players to UConn’s 6. Lou, Pheesa & Megan played all 40 minutes.

 

[jaydee602]

C. Dillard: 29 pts; 9-23 shooting; 7 rebounds; 7 assists; 3 turnovers; 4 fouls
N. Collier: 27 pts; 12-15 shooting; 16 rebounds; 8 assists; 4 turnovers; 4 fouls
If Dillard had a great game, then Pheesa did too!

 

[Blueballer]

I was very surprised Mikayla Coombs didn’t play. A fast defender was needed.

So was I but they must have had their reasons.

 

[Huskee11]

This was one strange game. Some random observations:

1. It is a testament to Napheesa’s ability that some, including Chris Daley in her postgame interview, thought she was off her game. 27 and 16, plus 8 assists. Some big hoops late when the arena was feeling very uncomfortable. Ok, she missed 4 free throws, that wasn’t good, thought that problem had been resolved. An added dimension of her game that never gets mentioned is her ability to bring the ball up the court and do it quickly.

2. The 1-3-1 defense took away our offensive flow but we were still able to get some decent shots, just weren’t making many. Megan 4-16, we are a different team when she isn’t contributing. ONO rushes those point blank shots,those should be automatic. It appeared that we were playing quick and loose early, slow and tight late.

3. Lou got whacked early on, clearly caused discomfort, but soldiered on and mixed it up a lot. Missed some wide open shots as well. She has become a creative rebounder offensively on free throw misses. Unfortunately she got a lot of practice at it tonight. I know she has had a lot of 4 point plays, this may have been her first 5 point play. I’m glad we played tonight and not Monday, gives her and everyone else an extra day of rest.

4. Was Lou wearing a cloaking device on offense in the second half? There were at least four times when she was wide open and her teammates didn’t get her the ball.

5. Being there in person I did not have the benefit of replay, but it seemed to me and many others there that there were a lot of phantom calls being made, some against Buffalo but more against us. Very poorly officiated. Kind of a perfect storm, with Dillard driving and trying to create contact and officials calling virtually any level of contact as a foul. The best thing to do was drive the ball to the basket since the refs would call a foul out of habit.

6. This was the first time the dance team got booed. It appeared that game action was set to go and they were still out there dancing their little hearts out. I don’t know if that was picked up on television.

7. Surprised Coombs got a dnp, especially with all the foul trouble we were in. Ended up 4 starters with 4, one with 3.

8. Their 5’3” point guard, Hall, got two fouls quickly and they took her out. That actually probably worked to Buffalo’s advantage.

9. We will need to rebound better on the defensive end and can’t give up second chance points like that - 28, I think they said, most of the season.