Caroline

[HuskyNan]

I can’t believe people are throwing shade at Caroline for her shooting against Oregon. Yes, she was 1-8 from three but she was 9-13 from two with slashes to the basket, fast break points, jumpers, and that underhand scoop shot that I haven’t seen a Husky make consistently since Maya graduated. Caroline can create her own shot, something that Paige can do, maybe Azzi, but no one else.

The kid is a freshman who just played her 12th college game. She is also, suddenly, a focus of the opponent’s defense, like Liv. While Caroline’s scoring hasn’t suffered due to the double teams and added attention, her shooting percentage has. That’s youth. In a year or two, she’ll learn how to use the defender’s aggressiveness to draw some fouls and get to the line - where she’s 85% from the FT line.

One more thing about the missed threes. She HAS to shoot those or else there will be 4 defenders on Liv in the paint. Opposing coaches know she’s a threat from the perimeter and has to be guarded. That adds real value to the team. Keep shooting, Caroline!

 

[SLY63]

I thought she kept us in the game.

 

[Topdawg]

Caroline was working hard and delivered 22 points. That is more than the combined contribution of 4 other players. Not a shabby evening in the least.

 

[reelfan]

Having the defense gang up on her and still scores 22, a great night's work.

 

[Kaizen]

Caroline played solid 40 mins, and scored 22 pts at this low-willpower game. Cannot complain any more for this freshman. I always think she looks like Maya 2.

 

[f1f1ferrari]

Caroline was certainly NOT the problem. Nika and Aaliyah not scoring until the 4th quarter and Dorka disappearing in quarters 2 & 4 and most of the 1st certainly didn't help things.

 

[BostonBay]

She has high basketball IQ and can "slow" the game down. She undressed a player on the perimeter and drove to the basket for the score. She can score inside/outside, and no one outside of Paige can do that consistently for this team.

 

[topogigio]

I can’t believe people are throwing shade at Caroline for her shooting against Oregon. Yes, she was 1-8 from three but she was 9-13 from two with slashes to the basket, fast break points, jumpers, and that underhand flip shot that I haven’t seen a Husky make consistently since Maya graduated. Caroline can create her own shot, something that Paige can do, maybe Azzi, but no one else.

The kid is a freshman who just played her 12th college game. She is also, suddenly, a focus of the opponent’s defense, like Liv. While Caroline’s scoring hasn’t suffered due to the double teams and added attention, her shooting percentage has. That’s youth. In a year or two, she’ll learn how to use the defender’s aggressiveness to draw some fouls and get to the line - where she’s 85% from the FT line.

One more thing about the missed threes. She HAS to shoot those or else there will be 4 defenders on Liv in the paint. Opposing coaches know she’s a threat from the perimeter and has to be guarded. That adds real value to the team. Keep shooting, Caroline!

100% on target with that comment! This kid plays with more skill, fire, confidence, and guts than anyone UConn is putting on the floor right now !

 

[LoboDays]

I’ve never seen this team be in the situation they were in tonight. I’m sure Geno told CD to just keep shooting since there wouldn’t be much point production. She did what she needed to do.

 

[KY Card Fan]

She darn near beat Louisville I was mightily impressed that game and remain impressed. Sure, she took some bad shots today. She had to. She won't do that when the reinforcements arrive.

 

[HuskyNan]

This thread is about Caroline’s SHOOTING. What do turnovers have to do with it?

But, once more, she was a focus of the defense. She was handling the ball more than a small forward usually does because the guards were playing hot potato with it. She was put into that unfortunate position due to poor guard play.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

I can believe it. Most fans and awards give all the attention to the high scorer, the QB in football, etc., but glaze over all the components that attribute to the success of the individual. It makes for good marketing, but takes away from the reality that these are team sports. Chemistry matters. You would only see that starting five if you had no choice...for a reason. The parts are good, but together they don't produce the say outcome or horsepower. Ducharme played fine. But, without other offensive threats on the floor, naturally she would be better defended. Lots of adversity this year, but it also produced some needed gains. Look at Ono. Hard for a lot of fans to see it, but this adversity is the price to be paid for improvement. It's a scary version of trial by fire where you have almost no control over the intensity of the flames.

Coaches limit their rotations because they want each player to figure out their role, become familiar, comfortable and CONSISTENT. When you have so many different line ups...it's difficult to reach that goal. Your role keeps changing and you're asked to do things you aren't accustomed to doing. Even when Paige returns...it starts all over again. Good win for Oregon, but under the circumstances...in reality, they weren't the underdog.

 

[Kaizen]

So you are not happy with Caroline today's performance?

 

[PvP]

10 for 21 is 48% shooting even with all the defensive attention. Hate to think where we'd be without the Charmer!

 

[Rb335]

How easy it is to forget that she is only a freshman. After the shocking loss to Georgia Tech, she decided she was going to be somebody to step up, which I admire. She has been so consistent over the last 6 games, realistically how many freshman have strung together six stronger games back to back? Most of the freshman that would come to mind ended up being NPOY or All Americans. I for one am very happy she's on our squad.

19.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1 block, 1 steal, 2.6 T/O, 44% FG, 32% 3FG, 87% FT, 35mpg in those 6 games.

 

[LoboDays]

What happens if CD’s star continues to brighten and she becomes a true star? And Azzi turns out to be as great as we hope she is? Then when Paige returns, do we have CW and EW riding the pines? One can only wonder.

 

[TeamFirst!]

I couldn't agree more. If anything, the offense should be catered to her more. More picks and screens. It really bugged me when in the 4th quarter Nika was overtly NOT passing to Caroline. It was bad decision making. I get that Caroline was missing and it wasn't even that close so I get it to a degree but she was still our best shot at scoring and the overall scoring numbers for Caroline were good. We imploded at that point. When the decision was made to not pass to Caroline the whole team imploded. We were not going to win at that point but then we looked like a jr high team with no chance.

This team will be great again when Caroline doesn't have to carry it with near zero help. Paige and Azzi will knock down those 3 pointers as well as any guards in college basketball. That will open the lanes up for Caroline's slashing and open 3 pointers.

 

[JJTB]

i love the fact she doesn’t shy away from the moment! Pretty savvy for her “inexperience!”

 

[jchusky]

must be people that don't know the game, she and Olivia have been the 2 best consistent players past month.

 

[Conndog]

I love Caroline! But, her defense isn't great. Probably she is tired, but too often the person she's guarding just goes right past her. Sometimes Caroline can get a block, but she needs to position herself better to start and learn how to move her feet more quickly.

She is a bit turnover prone, but that and her outside shooting should improve. Love what she brings!

 

[The deacon]

No, HuskyNan didn't, as she explained in her follow up post. Neither did you note on the post-game thread that, while criticizing Caroline for her defensive failings, Nika was charged with 4 TOs (and I think it might have been more). I also saw Paopao drive right past Nika several times. Caroline wasn't the only one who got burned on defense.

To the point about TOs, to me Caroline's were generally committed when she tried to make things happen on offense. Nika's were simply bad passes. And then, there was that rather conspicuous reality that Caroline scored 22 points while Nika was scoreless until her nearly last-minute three.

Regarding Conndog's correct assertion above that Caroline is still turnover prone, I will note that she's averaging fewer TOs per minutes played than Nika through today's game.

 

[bballnut90]

She's a tough matchup--really good off the bounce and especially good at utilizing her height and maneuvering around smaller defenders inside. She will be even more lethal if she can improve her 3pt percentage and add more muscle. One of the better freshmen in the country this season.

 

[pvdoggy]

I would not worry too much about Caroline. It happens to the best of them.

 

[LoTrader]

Caroline is a star. Unbelievable player. Hard to believe she is a freshman.