Butler Postgame Thread

[Calbysdad]

Paige played one of the best defensive games I seen from a UCONN player since Kelly Faris graduated. Hopefully you all know how I fell about defense. Kara is commenting on it now in the post game show.

Her lateral movement was insanely quick...i noticed her D as well.

 

[eebmg]

Geno yanked her for missing a defensive assignment, and then he gave her an earful on the sideline. She got upset. Geno talked to her some more and then he put her back in the game. She’ll be fine.

Glad Geno put her back in for meaningful minutes. Could have really festered if she stayed on the bench

 

[The CDR-Ret]

You know. Macerate, the player from Greece.

I thought that was the soccer player from Argentina - the big partier.....

 

[CocoHusky]

What happened with Nika? She looked upset

Nika just didn't miss an assignment her player blew by her with the ball (it happens to all of them) but then she gave up! Literally & noticeably gave up! Geno yanked her and lit into her because he does not coach effort and that lack of effort hurts him to his core. Nika recovered nicely once he put her back in the game. The remarkable part is he put her back in the game-he is getting soft

 

[Calbysdad]

Evina got my badass award. When her knee is right she's an AA. Not only that but she's UConn's offensive glue and go to basket. Paige gets the glory, but so far, Evina is this teams playa.

I agree. I love Evina's all around game...not to mention her edge. Oh that swat...

While Paige didn't get a ton of buckets, her defense was fantastic and deserves an honorable mention at least.

 

[Bama fan]

Macerate appears to be in serious danger of permanent relegation. Took no shots, scored no points. And again, she failed to score when the game was on the line.

Who the heck is Macerate, and who left her soaking in liquid for too long. And this game was never "on the line". Not for even one second.

 

[Bama fan]

Nika just didn't miss an assignment her player blew by her with the ball (it happens to all of them) but then she gave up! Literally & noticeably gave up! Geno yanked her and lit into her because he does not coach effort and that lack of effort hurts him to his core. Nika recovered nicely once he put her back in the game. The remarkable part is he put her back in the game-he is getting soft

I think he knows she is a high intensity player and made a point of telling her that is what gets her playing time. Brilliant to scold her, sit her, and then plug her back in the flow. She became a much more valuable team mate because of it. And you could see how Geno's disappointment with her cut her to the bone. Bet it never happens again.

 

[Centerstream]

You know. Macerate, the player from Greece.

Thanks, I thought she was dancer...

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Who?

spell checker Makurat

 

[pvdoggy]

Question for long time Uconn watchers. Has a player ever cried on the bench after getting lit by Geno before? I remember Lou looking down when Geno called her no-heart in the locker room, but I don't recall that Lou even comes close to crying that we saw.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Question for long time Uconn watchers. Has a player ever cried on the bench after getting lit by Geno before? I remember Lou looking down when Geno called her no-heart in the locker room, but I don't recall that Lou even comes close to crying that we saw.

I think Nika was closer to crying than Lou was, but Lou was very unhappy. As we know, Lou is actually quite tough. I believe there is a story about Sue crying at practice, and I think Dee was on the verge of tears when she shot so poorly against N.D. in her first Final Four game.

 

[JoePgh]

Question for long time Uconn watchers. Has a player ever cried on the bench after getting lit by Geno before? I remember Lou looking down when Geno called her no-heart in the locker room, but I don't recall that Lou even comes close to crying that we saw.

I have a distinct recollection of Kia Nurse being visibly in tears on the bench in one blowout game (more obviously than Nika tonight). The team was leading by about 40 points, and she had played well but shot horribly, and failed to score. Geno took her out and put her back in several times, but her shot never fell. Looking at her on the bench, she clearly felt that she had contributed nothing to the victory, which was wrong -- she contributed in many ways other than scoring.

Geno was not sympathetic -- he thought it did not reflect well on her that she was focused on herself and failed to appreciate or enjoy the team's overall good performance.

 

[CocoHusky]

Mir was especially good tonight and she was playing a new position-wing. She is really beginning to understand the UCONN offense. Playing the wing tonight she got two touches in the corner and made the right read each time. On the first touch she zipped a pass to a cutter for a lay up. On the second touch the defense did not come out to her there was no cutter so she correctly shot the ball & it rimmed out. When she doesn't get the ball she knows to crash the board from the corner if the ball is not on her side. When the ball is on her side but not in her hands she now knows her job is to screen up along the arc to enable a dribble hand off to reverse the ball. She made all the correct reads tonight which was pretty impressive for her playing a new position. These were the things Aubrey was struggling with at this same time last year so this bodes well for Mir getting more playing time.

 

[pvdoggy]

I think Nika was closer to crying than Lou was, but Lou was very unhappy. As we know, Lou is actually quite tough. I believe there is a story about Sue crying at practice, and I think Dee was on the verge of tears when she shot so poorly against N.D. in her first Final Four game.

Yeah, I remember that Lou looked emotionally hurt, but she did not come close to crying. Before today, that was the only time I saw a player visibly affected by Geno's tirade. I will have to watch the replay in slow motion to see exactly what happened on that play.

 

[mbr33ct]

A good high school team beat a mediocre middle school team. Of course UConn scored more than a 100. Butler was too short and too few. But you learn nothing from a game like this. We actually have no idea if UConn is actually any good. The last game I watched before this was Colorado-Stanford. Both would have likely taken UConn. It isn’t Geno’s fault. He scheduled the big boys. COVID took them away. Unless UConn can schedule real competition, I don’t like their chances for FF.

So, what you're saying, UConn would be better off not playing at all these games and just let the AP/Coaches/Boneyard poll voters go on past years performances.

 

[Bigboote]

The poor girl was trying to hold back tears. But a message was delivered and she responded. Call it tough love and/or good coaching

I agree, but it was still hard to watch. Especially the poking. OTOH, she's young and tough as nails.

 

[Golden Husky]

Well, having read all the post-game comments, I feel like I've seen the game...but I'll watch it anyway--hopefully tonight--as soon as it gets posted.

 

[eebmg]

Aubrey Presser

 

[eebmg]

CW presser

 

[eebmg]

Liv Presser

 

[eebmg]

Paige Presser

 

[BobbyJ]

'19 was diverticulitis, wasn't it? What was the suspension for? A recruiting thing?

1989 suspension was for a scheduling error.

 

[eebmg]

Geno Presser



Some real interesting stuff

1) His discussion of Autumn is great. No other walk on in history shoots as much as she does when open (from her very 1st practice at UConn). Now she is going to demand more time and shots.

2) At the end. When Geno was asked to respond to Kelly wanting the TN / UConn series to continue, he was very complementary of Kelly wanting to play tough opponents and he was very high on the probability that the series can be extended

 

[CocoHusky]

Question for long time Uconn watchers. Has a player ever cried on the bench after getting lit by Geno before? I remember Lou looking down when Geno called her no-heart in the locker room, but I don't recall that Lou even comes close to crying that we saw.

Charde Huston was screamed off the floor during a FF lost to Stanford. Courtney Ekmark was brought to the brink of tears during a practice on the UCONN all access show. CW was visibly upset during a game last year before CD intervened and translated Geno wrath for her. It happens.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I don't think tears flowed for Nika. They did for DT in the horrible semifinal. On to Nashville.