Cincinnati Postgame Thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Cincinnati Postgame Thread

Plebe said:
I was going to say this. This year especially we saw lots of the so-called big dogs get beat by, or struggle to beat, non-NCAA tournament teams or bubble teams. Mississippi State lost to Alabama. Baylor just lost to a bubble team in Iowa State. Even the behemoth South Carolina struggled to beat Temple. The AAC had a winning record against the Big 12 this year, and that's despite UConn's loss to Baylor. I dare say there's not a team in the country that would've gone undefeated in 7 years in the AAC. Don't @ me :D

A couple more thoughts:
  • Great to see Jamelle giving hugs to her former players in the handshake line. The circumstances of her departure from there kinda sucked, but Michelle Clark-Heard is doing a good job and I'd like to think Jamelle is at least happy for her former players' success.

  • Loved the energy and commentary of Brooke Weisbrod and Christy Thomaskutty, two of my faves.
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The TX record way back is the longest somewhere around 148 pre-big12. Uconn under Maya had a 71 game streak in the BigE bookend by Rutgers and ND. Baylor just had their 58 game streak ended in the Big12, wonder what Stanford's longest streak was in the Pac - I think it was 77 from a loss in Jan 09 to Cal to a loss to Cal in Jan 13 - three undefeated regular seasons and 4 tournament championships. TN probably has the record for the SEC but it isn't going to be that long - they had three undefeated seasons in a row but they were 11 game seasons and they only won their tournament one of those years. Later they went 2 undefeated 14 game seasons but didn't win their tournament either year.
 
Dokey said:
Okay, I figured out in this game why Anna doesn’t take a lot of shots. Her hero was DT. (Remember when she had to be physically pushed by a teammate to talk to DT?) Anna has already out rebounded freshman DT 125-106; she has 414% 3 point average (even after 0 for America) to DT’s 386% BUT with her 8 assists tonight she is still 4 assists (105-109) behind DT. So....

Just kidding.

I think.
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That is some nice research by you to show us all this! :)
 
Best wishes to Kyla. That one was for you.

Team did a lot of running in transition; didn't seem tired.

Christyn came out of her slump on fire: 50% (2/4) from 3, 9/13 FG (69%), 2/2 FT: 22 pts total -- largely scoring as she does best, finishing in transition at top speed. Plus 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 stl, no TOs.

Megan scored even more: 26 pts. Meg's accumulating points and efficiency often surprise me, given that she misses a lot under the basket.

I was surprised Anna only scored 8 pts -- I guess many seeming 3s were scored as long 2s. But she led the team in assists, with 8, the team high (rest of the team total was 10) along with 2 steals. She had 3 TOs (handle problems again) but no more than Crystal, also with 3 TOs (my impression mostly by passing out of range in transition?), but with 14 pts and 8 rebounds (what??) to Anna's 3. Liv kept Cinci from scoring in the paint, for the most part --Bearcats ended up 1/10 from 3, and she scored under the basket in a variety of ways -- though always room for improvement. Eight rebounds, made her FT and stayed out of foul trouble. I'd like to see her dunk. Aubrey didn't score much, but she got a lot of rebounds (7), second only to Liv (8) and ... CD. Team had a total of 51 rebounds. Team's 3 pt percentage was lower than the USF game, at 30%. CD was 0/3 on 3 pt, continuing her slump from the previous game. I'm sure she'll work on it during the hiatus.

All of the remaining bench got to play (and in some cases score) in the final minutes.

Cinci scored 53 to UConn's 87. Rizor was really hot (8/15), with Thomas close (6/13). Rodgers did another backflip (I'm going to miss her acrobatics), and had 3 penalties to 0 points; team missed her leadership because of time on the bench. If there is some unwritten rule that the starters can't play in the final minutes if the other team is ahead, it doesn't bother me that it's ignored.

No fistbumps at the end of the game (high fives & hugs).
 
I just gotta say that I don't see other teams winning with such panache. We've got a lot of special players. You got Crystal and Anna dishing and high-scoring wings (both high school number ones) Chrystin and Megan and a pretty athletic and capable 6'5" in the middle Liv Ododa. Not to mention the young woman they were speaking of as possibly the "next" in Aubrey (the phenomenal athlete) Griffin. They will be trouble for any team out there.
 
Centerstream said:
And Kyla...just because :)
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It was sort of heartbreaking to watch and to know her season is over but when you think of it, she sustained the injury by doing what she has done her entire career - gone out and sacrificed her body trying to do anything she could to help her team. You can win a championship without a five star player. You can't without a Kyla Irwin.
 
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Steelerone said:
It was sort of heartbreaking to watch and to know her season is over but when you think of it, she sustained the injury by doing what she has done her entire career - gone out and sacrificed her body trying to do anything she could to help her team. You can win a championship without a five star player. You can't without a Kyla Irwin.
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I was thinking that it was unfortunate that there was not one more day between the injury and the final game. Can you imagine the ovation if she came walking out of the tunnel (arm in sling of course) to sit the bench during the game?
 
Biff said:
I was thinking that it was unfortunate that there was not one more day between the injury and the final game. Can you imagine the ovation if she came walking out of the tunnel (arm in sling of course) to sit the bench during the game?
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Kyla will surely be on the bench in Storrs for the first 2 rounds, cheering her teammates on, while receiving a whole lot of love from UConn fans.
 
Biff said:
I was thinking that it was unfortunate that there was not one more day between the injury and the final game. Can you imagine the ovation if she came walking out of the tunnel (arm in sling of course) to sit the bench during the game?
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I was soooooo hoping for a return to the bench at the 4th quarter media timeout, in uniform (except there is probably an NCAA or AAC rule about being in uniform)!!!!!!
 
Sluconn Husky said:
Olivia reached 100 blocks tonight. She needs 11 more assists to reach 100 and become the 3rd Husky to go 100/100 in those categories in a season.
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just imagine what her stats would be if she played 33 minutes plus a game like the other starters...............
 
Charliebball said:
just imagine what her stats would be if she played 33 minutes plus a game like the other starters...............
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Well, part of that is foul trouble. I also think Geno likes to rest her when possible since she has to work so hard down low. I don't think her minutes are going to increase in future seasons, but her productivity should.
 
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Aubrey is a fantastic talent with unbelievable upside but it is clear she is driving Geno nuts with some of the shots she passes up. Forget the 5 foot shots, she had a point blank layup and passed to Olivia who had to travel because no one on earth could expect anyone to pass in that situation. Head bang

When Aubrey figures out taking these shots will open up her drives, good night
 
Sluconn Husky said:
Well, part of that is foul trouble. I also think Geno likes to rest her when possible since she has to work so hard down low. I don't think her minutes are going to increase in future seasons, but her productivity should.
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you're right about the foul trouble..............how many games did she have two quick fouls and had to sit?............I think she's shown better judgement as the season has progressed.................hopefully she will continue to work on her strength over the summer............I expect another big jump in her play next season and 30 minutes per game shouldn't be an unrealistic target.........
 
donalddoowop said:
I don't care how they look either, but a slow could hinder their chances of winning by one point. I'm thinking the Baylor game.
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If we believe Charley (no real reason too...but for arguement's sake)

After the initial push-over...(seems like Robert Morris every year), we then start facing real opposition; Beginning right away with the 2nd game at Storrs...
Arkansas is far from a pushover...They scare the bejesus out of me.
They've beaten some good teams and gave others a big fright....

Followed by Gonzaga and Oregon.

I sure hope they do look good and not have a slow start.
I worry that we've played bupkis for more than a month.
 
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Biff said:
I was thinking that it was unfortunate that there was not one more day between the injury and the final game. Can you imagine the ovation if she came walking out of the tunnel (arm in sling of course) to sit the bench during the game?
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Its my impression that she had a foot and finger job done at the same time (or sequentially) ...
Might have been in a wheelchair :)
 
UcMiami said:
The TX record way back is the longest somewhere around 148 pre-big12. Uconn under Maya had a 71 game streak in the BigE bookend by Rutgers and ND. Baylor just had their 58 game streak ended in the Big12, wonder what Stanford's longest streak was in the Pac - I think it was 77 from a loss in Jan 09 to Cal to a loss to Cal in Jan 13 - three undefeated regular seasons and 4 tournament championships. TN probably has the record for the SEC but it isn't going to be that long - they had three undefeated seasons in a row but they were 11 game seasons and they only won their tournament one of those years. Later they went 2 undefeated 14 game seasons but didn't win their tournament either year.
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It was 143, but UConn is the first team to go undefeated in all of its conference games. Texas did lose while it was in its pre-big12 conference.
 
MSGRET said:
It was 143, but UConn is the first team to go undefeated in all of its conference games. Texas did lose while it was in its pre-big12 conference.
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I'm a child of the Southwest Conference, and I grew up during UT's glory days in the 1980s. Many people erroneously think it was Texas Tech that finally snapped UT's win streak in the SWC. It was actually Arkansas that beat UT in Austin in February 1990. That Arkansas team would go on a run to the Elite 8, where they lost to eventual champion Stanford. (Arkansas would depart the SWC one season later.)

But I digress. UConn can and should set a record for consecutive conference wins early in next year's Big East season. The fact that their in-conference win streak will span membership in two different conferences detracts not one bit from the feat.
 
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I was at the game and have a few random observations.

Took a little while to get going offensively, the shots were there but just not dropping.

Anna`s court vision and awareness is amazing. Like a good football quarterback she sees the play developing before it happens. She does not settle for the routine pass. Some of her passes in traffic are truly astounding. She seems to be looking for Megan a lot, and with good results. Although she is not a speed demon, she is very good at pushing the ball in transition. That is when UConn is at its best. Speaking of quarterbacks, there were many beautiful long passes for layups tonight.

Having said that, I think this UConn team can get pass happy at times, making them look sloppier than they should. eebmg notes the pass from Aubrey to ONO. There were many other examples. Anna almost always passes off the dribble, she needs to pull up and/or take it to the basket more if for no other reason than to keep defenses honest. An open 15 footer for all these players should be money in the bank; this team needs to recognize that and not trade it for something less. I would have all of the returning players shoot 200 key area jumpers a day in the off season. Get comfortable with that!

CW played as we would have her play. She was relentless going to the basket and rebounded aggressively, I was surprised how high she was getting off the ground. She was playing downhill, not fiddling and diddling (as Johnny Most would say) on the perimeter, as she is sometimes wont to do. Much has been said about all her playing over the last year, but she really had her legs under her tonight. I hope this layoff until the NCAAs is good for her in that regard and that her success tonight gives her something to build on going forward.

Megan was unstoppable, they had no one who could guard her. Her development from Freshman year is nothing short of astounding. She is deserving of a place on the Wall of Honor.

It is obvious in person that ONO is playing with more aggression and purpose.

Aubrey is terrific, athleticism off the charts, but she is very hesitant with the ball in a half court set. Not the first UConn Freshman who has struggled in that regard, of course.

Cincinnati is a strange team. They have no three point game, yet also no one over six feet tall. Thomas is pretty strong inside but she can`t do much against ONO. They kept milking the clock even though down by over 30. What else could they do, I guess. The point guard is very quick and a good player.

The formula for success is to defend, rebound, and get out in transition. UConn certainly did that tonight. They will need to do that when the competition gets tougher.
 
HuskyNan said:
It’s the postseason. They can win all of the games by one point. I don’t care who shoots what percentage or how they look or how they start the game as long as they win. Survive and advance, baybeeee!
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As a reminder to folks, the ND championship team of 2018 had a halftime record of 1-4-1 in the 6 NCAA tourney games. They started slowly and generally trailed at the half, but they had enough to win over 40 minutes. Or 45 minutes.
 
donalddoowop said:
If UConn had not had a slow start in the Baylor game, maybe they would have won by one point.
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They played even with them until the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter, then they couldn't hit the broadside of a barn.
 
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