Butler Postgame Thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Butler Postgame Thread

Better to see how the zone works out now rather than later
I almost think that the zone is just Geno, the master psychologist. UConn has barely played any zone all season. Their man defense in the 1st half was excellent. The zone in the 2nd half looked soft, as if they had hardly practiced it, allowing Butler a bunch of open looks and makes from 3. It gave Geno the opportunity to get on his team about their effort.

Sly like a fox…. ;)
 
I was hoping our first quarter woes were over, but they are not. Butler made the first basket and took a 2-0 lead.
The coaches made no adjustments at half time and we were out scored in the 3rd qtr. 25-22. What terrible defense. They deserved to be yelled at. Good thing they turned it around in q4 and only gave up 5.
Even though Azzi was 5 for 6 shooting, she didn't make a three pointer. Let's hope this slump doesn't continue.
Really disappointed we didn't win this game by a 100 points.
 
I almost think that the zone is just Geno, the master psychologist. UConn has barely played any zone all season. Their man defense in the 1st half was excellent. The zone in the 2nd half looked soft, as if they had hardly practiced it, allowing Butler a bunch of open looks and makes from 3. It gave Geno the opportunity to get on his team about their effort.

Sly like a fox…. ;)
Sometimes it is the particular zone being played and not that it’s a zone per se- but, UConn’s man-to-man is really sharp right now.
 
Some thoughts on the Butler game:
  • UConn’s win on the road today puts the Huskies on a “glide path” into the postseason, with the probable scenario that their next 7 games will all be played in the state of CT, on familiar courts, in front of loud supportive fans, with little or no travel involved.
  • From the cheering of the crowd, it sounded as if both Ash & KK had a few hundred friends and family at the game.
  • The BE awards an annual Sixth Woman of the Year award. I am sure there are a lot of deserving candidates. But for my money, Ashlynn is as good a player off the bench as I have seen anywhere in the conference this season.
  • UConn’s offense is streaky at times, but they have really ramped up their defense since the TN game, and you got to believe that if the Huskies can earn #12 this season, relentless defensive pressure will be critical to their effort. The Huskies played great defense in the 1st half. A soft zone and a little lack of focus in the 3rd qtr allowed Butler to make it respectable. But the old adage that DEFENSE TRAVELS needs to carry UConn once they get to the Big Dance.
  • Great to see KK knock down a 3 today. It is so important for KK to make an occasional 3-pt shot as we get closer to the Big Dance.
  • I sure hope Geno yelled at Azzi at halftime after she scored 2 points on 1/1 shooting. :confused: She did manage to put up 5-2nd half shots, making 4 of them.
  • Congratulations to Paige on moving past a trio of legends (Kerry, KML & Nykesha) into 6th place on UConn’s all-time scoring list. She has a little work to do to make it into the top 5, but it’s certainly not out of the question.
  • CAROLINE!!!!!!! :):):):):):):):)
  • Next up, Marquette at XL. LET'S GO HUSKIES!!!
I thought I heard the announcer say the next game is Thursday against Creighton.
 
I was hoping our first quarter woes were over, but they are not. Butler made the first basket and took a 2-0 lead.
The coaches made no adjustments at half time and we were out scored in the 3rd qtr. 25-22. What terrible defense. They deserved to be yelled at. Good thing they turned it around in q4 and only gave up 5.
Even though Azzi was 5 for 6 shooting, she didn't make a three pointer. Let's hope this slump doesn't continue.
Really disappointed we didn't win this game by a 100 points.
Um...we won the 1st quarter 21-9. I wouldn't call that a woe but if you do...well.
 
I almost think that the zone is just Geno, the master psychologist. UConn has barely played any zone all season. Their man defense in the 1st half was excellent. The zone in the 2nd half looked soft, as if they had hardly practiced it, allowing Butler a bunch of open looks and makes from 3. It gave Geno the opportunity to get on his team about their effort.

Sly like a fox…. ;)
Or it allowed him to see how badly they play it against a poor team and what it might look like against a really good one. :eek:;)
 
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I was hoping our first quarter woes were over, but they are not. Butler made the first basket and took a 2-0 lead.
The coaches made no adjustments at half time and we were out scored in the 3rd qtr. 25-22. What terrible defense. They deserved to be yelled at. Good thing they turned it around in q4 and only gave up 5.
Even though Azzi was 5 for 6 shooting, she didn't make a three pointer. Let's hope this slump doesn't continue.
Really disappointed we didn't win this game by a 100 points.
Sarcasm, I believe?
 
Yeah, it was a head scratcher to me why he would switch to zone in the 3rd quarter and then get mad when Butler's threes started falling. IMO Butler would have not even scored 40 points if they stayed man-to-man in the 3rd.
He needs ammunition.
 
I loved how Sarah blocks shots so that she can grab them immediately after. No big swats. Just pokes it upwards and then gets after it.

Also a comical moment in the closing minutes after Geno had taken out Paige Azzi Sarah Kaitlyn KK and Ash, and Aubrey needed to inbound the ball to someone. Allie went back to the other end to get the inbounds pass as she was now the PG.
 
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Paige had a strong Big East showing, Sarah as well. Chen played a great floor game and Ashlynn is superb in this new role. She showed out in front of her home crowd.

The team has gone back to leaving Fudd to her own devices. She didn't get an offensive touch in the first half, that made her passive in the second. But when she created for herself, it went well with 5/6 shooting. there wasn't a concerted effort to screen or get her involved today and Butler defended her well all night.

Caroline Ducharme returning was a pleasant surprise, I almost didn't recognize her. If Geno can get her revved up for March, this UConn team will be in full flight.
 
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Yeah, it was a head scratcher to me why he would switch to zone in the 3rd quarter and then get mad when Butler's threes started falling. IMO Butler would have not even scored 40 points if they stayed man-to-man in the 3rd.
When you play teams that can't compete with you there is a tendency to prepare for other opponents during the game. I am sure that Geno thinks they will need an effective zone to get a win and my guess it today was practice for that time.
 
Paige came out and asserted herself showing teams she is ready for the postseason. Defense was good again holding Butler to less than 10 points in three of the four quarters. I was a little surprised to see Azzi with no shots in almost the whole first half.

I would add that it is great that Caroline played in the game.
 
Yeah, it was a head scratcher to me why he would switch to zone in the 3rd quarter and then get mad when Butler's threes started falling. IMO Butler would have not even scored 40 points if they stayed man-to-man in the 3rd.
Geno's not worried about beating Butler; he plays zone today because they may need it down the road. He'll probably continue to look at it for a few minutes here and there because it appears to need a little work.
Edit: posted this before Rowdy831's similar post.
 
I watched the game and was pleased as all of the UConn viewers. Except for the third quarter where they let their defense slack off and allow Butler to score 25 points, everything was ok. You can see in the fourth quarter after Geno brought this to their attention, they closed Butler down again to a small amount of points. I do hope that they are strong enough to venture fourth in tournament.
 
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I almost think that the zone is just Geno, the master psychologist. UConn has barely played any zone all season. Their man defense in the 1st half was excellent. The zone in the 2nd half looked soft, as if they had hardly practiced it, allowing Butler a bunch of open looks and makes from 3. It gave Geno the opportunity to get on his team about their effort.

Sly like a fox…. ;)
The zone may be the change of pace necessary against a quick guard line-up and fouls problems. Always good to have another option. This may also improve our defensive rebounding and provide a new look to change the game tempo. Go Geno.
 
Agree with all of the posters who understood the utility of playing zone in the third quarter with a 25 point lead. Going forward against the very good teams, it is important to be able to switch looks throughout the game: big line-ups, small line-ups, full-court pressing, half-court coverages, man-to-man and zone sets.

This team has the talent/experience - and coaching staff behind them - to hone all of these different defensive schemes. To be frank, being able to mix-up defensive looks during the game is one of the advantages of playing in the Big East. How many P4 teams are able to do the same in a league game without risking defeat?

And, yeah, if there are aspects of the zone that need work, I fully expect Geno to be getting vocal at that moment.
 
Yeah, it was a head scratcher to me why he would switch to zone in the 3rd quarter and then get mad when Butler's threes started falling. IMO Butler would have not even scored 40 points if they stayed man-to-man in the 3rd.
Perhaps he went zone to get some practice with it in a real-game situation and/or to evaluate the team's capability. It's not a bad idea in a game UConn was clearly going to win.
 
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I rewatched the third quarter.

1. The Huskies played zone for just over three minutes of the third quarter.
2. The wings, (Paige and Sarah), were slow to rotate and close out to the wings on ball reversal.
3. Butler could get the ball inside with little effort. Easy to do when the defenders hands are down.
4. A good zone should force a team out higher and make getting to perimeter shooters easier. Not against Butler.
5. They looked on their heels and not totally committed to playing zone.
6. UConn successfully played zone against SC and Seton Hall. I thought it was especially effective against Seton Hall.
7. The mistakes made yesterday are fixable.
8. Geno wants to play zone some the rest of the season because as stated before you want teams to have to prepare for a bunch of looks. I thought it was understandable that he was annoyed with the effort, even with the lead.
 
I hope everyone realizes that I was sarcastic,
You being sarcastic? :);)
Oh My God Omg GIF
 
Let another day go by before I said this. I know the spread was enormous and that is what came to pass. But I wasn't crazy about our energy in this game and Azzi better not do that in either tournament. Ash is our new energizer bunny and she is always giving a ton of effort. This is thee time of yeara for everyone to be giving that.
 
Love seeing the team fully hitting its stride as we close in on tourney time and embracing the grind that a long season can have.

One of the things I am most encouraged by watching post Tennessee game UConn is how their offense and individual production is coming within the general flow of the game and their core motion offense sets. Nothing seems forced. Everyone is eating or taking a bite when it’s their turn.

Azzi didn’t shoot much in the first half and normally I would be like ’get some shots up’, but in this case I didn’t because the offense was just so efficient (IMO) that the flow of it just didn’t work her way. Now in bigger games against tough type teams maybe you force it a bit, but in some games you just go with the flow.

Ash coming on is a huge plus as well. Her shot has been more consistent lately and if that stays what a weapon she will be with all the other things she does.

Best part of the game was seeing Ducharme come out on the court. Unbelievable moment for an unbelievably talented and dedicated athlete.
 
Another well-coached team. Really are some good coaches in the Big East. Unfortunately, except for UConn, these coaches can't get the best players; the best players want to play in the more competitive conferences. Probably be the same thing at UConn after Auriemma retires.
 
Let another day go by before I said this. I know the spread was enormous and that is what came to pass. But I wasn't crazy about our energy in this game and Azzi better not do that in either tournament. Ash is our new energizer bunny and she is always giving a ton of effort. This is thee time of yeara for everyone to be giving that.
The Butler defense was all over Azzi. That’s how Paige, and especially Sarah, were so open. I was shocked that Sarah was pretty much ignored by Butler but she did get their attention after making some shots :-)
 
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