Can we beat Baylor

[Tonyc]

Can we beat Baylor? I think the question is what can Baylor do to slow down UConn. We are both different teams this season and UConn has the guards that can make an impact and Baylor doesnt. We have better guards and more of them and because of that we wont loose. Liv will be fine if she stays out of foul trouble. Liv's presence underneath will keep Baylor from getting to close to the basket and Liv and UConn rebound well. Egbo is not at Liv's level. Egbo is foul prone and without her in the middle Gusters will have to guard Liv. Thats a mismatch imo. I am very confident about this game. We have somthing to show and we are going to show it on national tv.

Can Baylor handle UConns press? Who is going to guard Paige CW and Evina? We are a very quick team and our passing is just off the charts. If we get it going early it could be a long night for Baylor. Baylor lost to Arkansas, struggled against South Florida, struggled the first half against West Va and their last 2 games played cupcakes. Good guard play is lacking as is ball handlers.

I dont think there is a team in WCBB that can handle UConn. Geno is complaining about not being able to make an outside shot and not playing defense and that may be true, up to his standards but against Baylor right now if we stay out of foul trouble Baylor looses by double digets.

 

[MooseJaw]

Yes, UCONN can win versus Baylor! Particularly, since Edwards was not available last night, and should be full strength for the Baylor matchup. Griffen performed admirably as well last night.
Three point shooting will get better as the movement off the ball gets better,,,,

Of course we can beat anyone, the best we compete against think they can beat us as well. Having watched SC, L'ville, Baylor, Stanford and a few other pretenders if we have a very good game and our shots are on target the Huskies prevail. That said anyone of them if they have a great game as well it will be a dogfight. Baylor being the first big test and the right team at the right time I would pay to watch any of the games.

 

[Reypl21]

UConn is very capable of beating Baylor. I also think Baylor is capable of beating UConn. Edwards is going to have to play great, because UConn doesnt have any answers to Smith other than her.

 

[MSGRET]

So her 9 defensive rebounds, 3 assists, 3 pts, 1 steal, and 35 minutes on the floor was just nothing. Yes she didn't have a good shooting night, but she did other things to help the team. Oh and she didn't have a foul either.

 

[hart2hart]

300% agree with MSGRET. Every team member is important and to those who think not, think again.
Every single player needs to work on things.....why not praise the good in Anna? I just don’t get it.
LC and Phil need to compliment the good and not just criticize her lack of scoring! I bet when you both get a compliment it goes a long way. Please be more complimentary and not so negative. I hope Anna drives to the basket 3x for you Phil and LC against DePaul. Would that make you more complimentary?

 

[MD#12Fan]

My answer is: We don't have any idea whether we can beat Baylor.
We haven't played anybody yet. Newsflash: in any world, a 30 point win is a trouncing. UConn world- NO, 30 points is not a nail-biter! That's all we know so far. In some ways our schedule so far has been fine; get the freshmen's feet wet, Evina back into action, team chemistry. But under no metric have we played anybody yet. IMO it's a huge shame that those two early games were cancelled. We can see now the adeptness of Geno's scheduling. Of course, it is what it is and the UConn program obviously has made the absolute most of the situation.
Frankly. I'm surprised there's not more competition in WCBB. I asked in a previous post if people thought the comp in WCBB has improved since 1995, Geno's first NC. I don't see it. I feel for the players. If you're an athlete at this level, you want competition. You want to see how you stack up against the best.
I'll make one prediction: the players with experience in tough games will do the best against a team like Baylor. Paige and Aaliyah have international experience. Paige is a top player. She'll rise to the occasion. She'll relish the opportunity. Christyn, Anna, Evina, and Liv also have big-game experience.
There will naturally be the initial shock of playing against stronger athletes, then the adjustment, then hopefully whupping their butts. We have better players!

 

[ed4ourgirls]

Of course we CAN beat Baylor (or anyone else). The question is WILL we.

I think the issue will be mainly psychological. We have a young team. Will we
enter the game brimming with self confidence, or will we be fearful of losing?

Put another way, will we be playing to win or playing not to lose?

 

[jabstep]

UConn is very capable of beating Baylor. I also think Baylor is capable of beating UConn. Edwards is going to have to play great, because UConn doesnt have any answers to Smith other than her.

Arkansas double down with their guards on most entry passes to Smith and really slowed her down.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Yes, we can. One key in all competitive games will be having our best players--especially Liv--stay out of foul trouble.

 

[MSGRET]

Baylor had 30 PF in the Arkansas game, with Egbo fouling out with only 11 minutes playing and Andrews fouled out with only 9 minutes of playing time. Carrington fouled out with 28 minutes of playing time, while Smith and Ursin both had 4 fouls while playing 33 and 28 minutes respectively. There starting five had 16 of the 22 TO's. Add in Carrington, Gusters, and Andrews and they account for all 22 TO's, all 30 PF's, 76 points, and the 2 blocks, which were by their 6'2" forward Smith. So after seeing Arkansas lose against Maryland and then they beat Baylor I say yes UConn can beat Baylor especially after seeing how much Baylor's offense has had trouble against, USF, WVA, Cent Ark, and Southern.

 

[Blue Ghost]

I really like where this team is at. If everyone stays healthy and plays like they have been playing, then I'd take our chances against anyone.

 

[MSGRET]

No you stated it was like playing 4 on 5, which is incorrect, she did contribute in other ways. It's not like playing 4 on 5 if you contribute to the teams win and she did.

 

[EdSaid]

Seriously? "Can we"? Freakin' Arkansas beat Baylor. That's Arkansas, a team that can't defend a broken lawn chair and rebounds about as well as a set of Christmas lawn gnomes.

What do you think? The 2-3 zone? Man-to-man? Or the center Ice trap

 

[DefenseBB]

Seriously? "Can we"? Freakin' Arkansas beat Baylor. That's Arkansas, a team that can't defend a broken lawn chair and rebounds about as well as a set of Christmas lawn gnomes.

Hey @triaddukefan, see, Plebe IS IN the Christmas Spirit! I almost spit out my eggnog reading that...very funny...

 

[veryolddog]

In my opinion, the way to beat Baylor is exactly as Geno always says: a great defense, creating points off of defense/turnovers, and actually score. I believe that is what he said or harped on during the last game with his hands to the heavens above. Will they? I do not know. But, I believe in Geno and his philosophy of playing basketball.

 

[PoppaBear]

I still worry that this game will even happen. Christmas break could be devastating to all college activities

 

[Monte]

sounds like a lot of ifs to me

 

[Cuango]

I said the exact same thing until she becomes more complete in her approach it’ll always be 5 on 4 with her out there until she consistently hits her shots

Apparently, the big guy doesn’t seem to agree with all the naysayers regarding Anna’s contributions as a starter. Maybe he sees how everyone plays during practice and chooses the five players who will be most effective as starters.

 

[DEpup]

I have to think that one of the strategies is to make things really difficult for Didi Richards to initiate offense. I suspect the "trapping" exercise was a preparatory step. Didi is not a natural PG and our big guards should be a challenge for her that she hasn't seen yet. Attacking her ability to get things going has to be in the coach's game plan. If the pass into the bigs cant happen then the bigs cant hurt you.

The other has to be get Egbo some fouls and on the bench so they are left with the less mobile freshman Gusters. This game is where Aaliyah can really make the difference for us in handling Smith and Egbo with Liv. Edwards actually fits the Baylor mold for a big and Mulkey would kill for her so giving her a dose of her own medicine has got to also be in the coaches plan.

Finally, Evina and company have to recreate their Seigrist strategy and execute it better the second time around on Carrington and hold her to half her normal scoring and frustrate her...

I actually think the speed of the BE teams is a plus here because that is what UConn should do to Baylor. Amp the tempo and rush them and not allow them to play in the more deliberate manner they like.

Gotta get them into their bench because our bench is superior to theirs in my opinion and I have been waiting for a few years now to say this and it feels great.