Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="JoePgh, post: 3097296, member: 1131"] Indeed, that point deserves emphasis. UConn undoubtedly had major problems clearing their defensive boards, but the offset to that was that they did very well on the offensive boards, including in the fourth quarter when shots were not falling. They got several rebounds off of UConn's own missed free throws, which really doesn't happen very often. I thought that Kara Lawson's analysis was very accurate -- she said they gave up a ton of offensive rebounds early when they were extending the defense to take Dillard out of her offensive game. The defense in the opening minutes succeeded in doing that, but it meant that the defensive boards were left untended. When the foul trouble set in, they had to get out of the extended defense, and that helped the defensive rebounding but allowed Dillard to do her offensive thing. They need to solve the problem at least before they play Louisville (hopefully), because Asia Durr presents the same or greater offensive problems as Dillard. UConn should be able to handle Louisville's bigs, as long as they can stay in a man defense and box out. That means that they have to avoid foul trouble in that game. [/QUOTE]