Butler Postgame Thread

[veivoli]

-I missed it. Where was Ice?.

I believe she has a knee injury.

 

[veivoli]

Did she travel? I was trying to count steps and pivot foot and got lost- great presence of mind and awareness of teammates

I watched a couple of times on my phone, but don't have the luxury of slow motion. As I see it she had a foot on the floor when she first caught it, so that's her pivot fit. She then took two steps before passing.

So, under the FIBA rules I played and refereed under, that was progress. However these days, when such a good player as LeBron can take eight steps when making a lay-up, does anyone care any more? Just curmudgeons like me!

 

[oldude]

Why no mention of Kayleigh? I would include her as one of, if not the best on ball defender. Anyone else notice that when K9 and Bianca entered the game, UConn, down 10-8, reeled off 18 or so straight points without giving one up? I think defense may have had something to do with it. There just is no drop off when Bianca and K9 go in with the remaining starters.

You do realize that I drop this post immediately at the end of the game. Please feel free to take over that responsibility if you would like.

 

[msf22b]

A few concerns among the general exuberance.

-The trapping/full court defense looks great against (what was yesterday) a top high school team…I must admit it also worked well on top 20 teams...
But will it work on the superior athletes of a top-five team…perhaps not…as UTenn is finding out and Kentucky did, those years ago…Then what?

-When the team played zone in the 2nd half…admittedly with mostly 3rd echelon, the rebounding was poor(er) and Butler got more than a few extra chances (not that they did much with them). We didn’t see that scheme with the starters…so perhaps a needless concern…but the general consensus of that D’s downside is defensive rebounding and 3-point D in transition.

-I wonder if playing Azzi and Sarah for decidedly less minutes than last season actually diminishes their fittness rather than saving strength for when it counts. There is little to no evidence that either experienced any sort of burnout in the Tourney, rather the opposite.

All of the above may turn out to be trivial…but things have gone absolutely too well and we may have become complacent in our exuberance.

 

[HuskyNan]

A few concerns among the general exuberance.

-The trapping/full court defense looks great against (what was yesterday) a top high school team…I must admit it also worked well on top 20 teams...
But will it work on the superior athletes of a top-five team…perhaps not…as UTenn is finding out and Kentucky did, those years ago…Then what?

-When the team played zone in the 2nd half…admittedly with mostly 3rd echelon, the rebounding was poor(er) and Butler got more than a few extra chances (not that they did much with them). We didn’t see that scheme with the starters…so perhaps a needless concern…but the general consensus of that D’s downside is defensive rebounding and 3-point D in transition.

-I wonder if playing Azzi and Sarah for decidedly less minutes than last season actually diminishes their fittness rather than saving strength for when it counts. There is little to no evidence that either experienced any sort of burnout in the Tourney, rather the opposite.

All of the above may turn out to be trivial…but things have gone absolutely too well and we may have become complacent in our exuberance.

Fans can have the luxury of being complacent as long as the coaching staff and players aren’t. If you can see flaws in yesterday’s game, so can they. They have the rest of the regular season to fix any problems

 

[Golden Husky]

You do realize that I drop this post immediately at the end of the game. Please feel free to take over that responsibility if you would like.

No! You're getting paid to report on deadline. It's in your contract. Please continue.

 

[oldude]

No! You're getting paid to report on deadline. It's in your contract. Please continue.

Someone must be sending my checks to the wrong address. Are you the person I should count on to reimburse me for 4-5 years of back pay?

 

[HuskyNan]

Someone must be sending my checks to the wrong address. Are you the person I should count on to reimburse me for 4-5 years of back pay?

You get paid after I do

 

[msf22b]

Fans can have the luxury of being complacent as long as the coaching staff and players aren’t. If you can see flaws in yesterday’s game, so can they. They have the rest of the regular season to fix any problems

Good point

 

[BobbyJ]

A few concerns among the general exuberance.

-The trapping/full court defense looks great against (what was yesterday) a top high school team…I must admit it also worked well on top 20 teams...
But will it work on the superior athletes of a top-five team…perhaps not…as UTenn is finding out and Kentucky did, those years ago…Then what?

-When the team played zone in the 2nd half…admittedly with mostly 3rd echelon, the rebounding was poor(er) and Butler got more than a few extra chances (not that they did much with them). We didn’t see that scheme with the starters…so perhaps a needless concern…but the general consensus of that D’s downside is defensive rebounding and 3-point D in transition.

-I wonder if playing Azzi and Sarah for decidedly less minutes than last season actually diminishes their fittness rather than saving strength for when it counts. There is little to no evidence that either experienced any sort of burnout in the Tourney, rather the opposite.

All of the above may turn out to be trivial…but things have gone absolutely too well and we may have become complacent in our exuberance.

Auriemma played zone in the second half to slow the pace of the game and keep the score down. It’s called having some class and showing respect for a developing program in your conference.
And players don’t get their conditioning from playing 6 or 8 more minutes in a game once or twice in a week. They get it from practices with extended, repetitive drills.