Cinncinnati Postgame Thread | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Cinncinnati Postgame Thread

I gave them a pass on the first foul on Megan but on the second remembered that this is Cincinnati and they have a history of this type of behavior, both men and women's teams. I blame the refs for not controlling the game.
 
Steelerone said:
I gave them a pass on the first foul on Megan but on the second remembered that this is Cincinnati and they have a history of this type of behavior, both men and women's teams. I blame the refs for not controlling the game.
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In contrast to the last game in Gampel, the refs were terrible. The young guy consistently blew his whistle when it wasn’t his call and the woman hardly blew her whistle at all. The older guy made some egregious calls on ONO, sending her to the bench when she was having one of her best games.
 
Jordy said:
In contrast to the last game in Gampel, the refs were terrible. The young guy consistently blew his whistle when it wasn’t his call and the woman hardly blew her whistle at all. The older guy made some egregious calls on ONO, sending her to the bench when she was having one of her best games.
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I was at the game. All three of the foul calls on Olivia (all offensive fouls, which in itself is unusual) were totally correct -- they were stupid plays by Liv. She just banged into defenders, and in at least one case appeared not to know that the defender was even there. She seems to be getting more careful about defensive fouls, but last night she ruined that progress with silly offensive fouls.
 
pvdoggy said:
I don't get it either. This has been a recurring theme that quite a few people have brought up, but my guess is the coaching staff must not be seeing the same thing otherwise it would have been rectified by now.
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It is rather obvious. Has any reporter asked Geno about it? I rarely watch his pressers.
 
GRIFFBIFF20 said:
30 point win with just 3 points from Griffin and 0 points from Makurat. These 2 need to step it up against Oregon, for us to have a shot.
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Makurat took shots yesterday that were not open looks. She is not that good of a shooter whereby she makes everything, under any circumstances. She needs that timing where she is open, gets the ball, sets her feet, gets a good look at the basket and releases the shot. I think Cincinnati put a really good defense on her. Eventually, she tired of not contributing offensively, and put up some shots where she was not really in the best position to do so. Hence, she clanked them all. But she still contributed with defense, crisp passing and tough rebounding.

Aubrey is still like a baby gazelle out there. She had amazing success in HS by relying on pure athleticism. At this level, she needs to be more of a basketball player. Sometimes, she needs to fake " going up" for the shot, let the defender over-commit, and then elevate. She missed 5 lay-ups yesterday, because she just elevated. The defender did the same thing and threw off her shot. She needs to spend more time watching really good players use that technique. It can develop pretty naturally. And I will say this: against a top quality team, when the score is always close, her unwillingness ( or inability ) to shoot the ball will become a liability. She will still add some benefit through her defense and rebounding, but teams will leave her wide open with the ball and double down on everyone else. In the remaining AAC games, she has to "make like Olivia" and start shooting the damn ball. She won't be asked or encouraged to do this against Oregon, because she appears to have zero confidence as a shooter. And the Oregon game, if UCONN plays really well, will be close all the way.

The wild card for us remains Christen Williams. We know she can shoot the daylights out of the ball. We have seen her do it. But if she misses her first shot of the night, she goes wiggy and can't make anything. That has to change. She is far too good a player to not have the shooting arrow in her quiver. We will not win the biggest games depending only upon Megan and Dangerfield to score all our points. Ania, who we also are learning can shoot, is still a freshman and subject to volatile play. And Olivia is " experimenting" with her shot and, thankfully, having some success. But I don't expect to see her do that a lot against the Ducks.

There remains a nice timetable for growth and improvement. Don't expect " the world" against Oregon, but don't be surprised either. This is going to be a valid measuring stick.
 
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Jordy said:
I sit courtside, and Makurat was the most vocal player on the team. Her plus/minus stats must be off the charts! That is the best game I have ever seen anyone play who scored zero points. It is really unbelievable how many times she is wide open in the corner and the ball goes the other way. At one point, she shouted at a teammate for not even looking at her.
The best example of this was two back to back plays in the third or fourth quarter. The ball was rotated to the weak side elbow behind the three-point line to Anna, who immediately passed it to Williams for an open corner three, which she missed (of course). The very next play, the player's positions were reversed; Williams received the pass and, instead of rotating to a wide open Anna in the corner, chucked up a three over the hand of a defender that again missed (of course).
The rest of the team has to look for a player who has the best court vision on the team and is, when hot, the best three-point shooter they have. The fact that she only took four or five shots all game, a couple out of frustration, is just totally ridiculous.
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Your observation about how many times AM is ignored when she's open is right on the money. Both CD and CW repeatedly ignore AM when she's open and it isn't just this one game. My wife and I have been noting this for the last month or more and it's really obvious when you watch for it. It's almost as if they have some issue with her shooting, or maybe it's because she's a freshman getting a lot of playing time and they believe she hasn't earned it yet, or...............................who knows. Watch the huddles too and it seems she isn't fully welcome to the "core four".
AM is a very complete player and it seems she's gaining more confidence each game she plays. To get 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks in a game where she was 0 for 5 shooting indicates a mature attitude toward doing what she can to help her team. Her court awareness and passing ability is the best we've had in a while and superior already to anyone else on this team. Just watch how many times she gets the ball to a player in exactly the right spot, as the player breaks open, and there was one pass like that cross court last night that epitomizes it. CD is a good guard and shoots very well but AM's passing ability looks better to me.
 
JoePgh said:
I was at the game. All three of the foul calls on Olivia (all offensive fouls, which in itself is unusual) were totally correct -- they were stupid plays by Liv. She just banged into defenders, and in at least one case appeared not to know that the defender was even there. She seems to be getting more careful about defensive fouls, but last night she ruined that progress with silly offensive fouls.
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Beg to differ, but on the first foul the defender was still moving. I was 20 feet away.
 
I'm watching the Cinci game on an SNY repeat. Apologies, mostly free associating. Sam Rogers rather reminds me of Grayson Allen. Trips Christyn, draws dubious penalty on ONO, kicks a ball possibly trying for another trip, and does a job on Megan's eye in Q3. Sam seems very "accident" prone. I'm probably being a homer, but I thought Rogers deserved a flagrant. But not even a PF. Fouled Megan for real when she returned in Q4. Causing eye injuries should be automatic fouls even if unintentional, like headshots on the quarterback in pro football. Maybe an overall ban on long fingernails during the basketball season? Fingernails can do a lot more damage than rolled up shorts.

I've been reading Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, about the end of life & its indignities, including people my age wearing diapers. Perhaps this explains the revulsion some of the older fans have seeing young women reminding us of our common fate.

On another fashion note, I don't know what to think about the Cinci coach's blouse.

CD was having a lot of trouble with layups (including the memorable one at the end of Q2), but her 3 pt consistency from game to game balanced it out; beautiful arc on her shot. That she usually has to shoot over taller players might be the source of those rainbows? CW did 2 splendid cuts for layups but missed some as well. But she doesn't have a good outside shot to balance her offensive output, at least in this game. Cinci was hitting everything in Q2, so it's not all on the UConn defense. But probably incapable of keeping it up. UConn droughts usually don't last. Megan might well have been MVP if not for the injury. The setup for her 3 pt shot after she came back in Q4 was a delight.

Q3 ONO's 3rd foul on Sifa was retaliation says Megan, but I'm not sure for what, but Sifa headed for the bench with another foul shortly after. A couple of these Cinci players are, as they say, "physical." Please don't get injured Crystal. I hope she keeps a lid on the crazy layups against Oregon (couple of those in the US game as I recall). Interesting to see how ONO fares against Ruthie Hebard, but she was great last night, save for the PF hiatus. In Q4 Megan's comment on Megan's assist to CW was that it was the first time it happened in this game; did she temporarily forget Anna's neat feed to CW in Q1? Nice to see Adebayo getting acclimated.
 
If the non-passing the ball to Mak is obvious to a lot of us I wonder why it’s not addressed? AM played very well last night and she should be proud of that! Pass the ball please!
She also had many spot-on passes that were missed layups. A lot! Let’s get back to moving the ball on Monday!
 
Jordy said:
Beg to differ, but on the first foul the defender was still moving. I was 20 feet away.
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Highly debatable whether she was still moving, but it's a misconception that the defender has to be stationary. She only has to beat her to the spot, which she did. This is a charge every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 
On re-watching the game (which I hadn't done when I wrote my last post about Liv's fouls), I agree that her first foul was entirely correct, but her second foul (also a charge on Sam Rogers) was more dubious -- I thought that could have been a block on Rogers. Her third foul, which at the game I thought was just a matter of not looking where she was going as she ran up the court on offense, was apparently a retaliatory play against something that had been done to her on the previous play.

If so, it was a dumb foul -- Olivia can't get her 3rd foul early in the second half on a petty revenge thing. If that is really what it was, then the Cincinnati player won that round decisively, by getting Liv off the floor for the rest of the quarter.
 
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Carnac said:
Can Geno depend on Christyn down the stretch going forward? I hope so. Only 9 games left in the regular season. Plenty of time to address whatever needs to be fixed
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Squeaks is a person you can count on in a pinch...the whole team knows that. She just isn’t all about herself...
 
NEforceUConn said:
Up - Did you catch the USA exhibition game?
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Of course! I thought it was a fun UConn reunion, but Team USA went through long stretches of not playing serious basketball. In Q4 they buckled down a little bit and had no problem taking care of business. Overall a fun exhibition, but not a serious game.

I’m very optimistic about the Oregon game, though. We always always win the games we’re supposed to win, including this year. Not so for Oregon (for instance I can’t see us ever losing to ASU like they did). So they’re beatable. I see us playing much better defense than the Ducks are used to - if our shots are falling at all we win.
 
JoePgh said:
On re-watching the game (which I hadn't done when I wrote my last post about Liv's fouls), I agree that her first foul was entirely correct, but her second foul (also a charge on Sam Rogers) was more dubious -- I thought that could have been a block on Rogers. Her third foul, which at the game I thought was just a matter of not looking where she was going as she ran up the court on offense, was apparently a retaliatory play against something that had been done to her on the previous play.

If so, it was a dumb foul -- Olivia can't get her 3rd foul early in the second half on a petty revenge thing. If that is really what it was, then the Cincinnati player won that round decisively, by getting Liv off the floor for the rest of the quarter.
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Totally agree that a retaliatory foul is a bad thing but...

I do like the edge that Olivia seems to be developing. Some UCONN players are just too nice. I can't stand the strategy of "foul us on every play". I'd love to see more "nasty pieces of business" on UCONN's side - something sorely missing since Kia Nurse graduated.
 
Plebe said:
Highly debatable whether she was still moving, but it's a misconception that the defender has to be stationary. She only has to beat her to the spot, which she did. This is a charge every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

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You are correct. I may have confused it with the second foul.
 
OneTrickPony said:
Squeaks is a person you can count on in a pinch...the whole team knows that. She just isn’t all about herself...
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Her play this season doesn’t substantiate your opinion. In a pinch, I would much rather have the two Freshmen on the floor.
 
Jordy said:
Her play this season doesn’t substantiate your opinion. In a pinch, I would much rather have the two Freshmen on the floor.
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CW has a much higher ceiling. Thought she broke out of her shooting slump, but it came back against Cincy. I thought both she and Meg had a lot of bad passes. I see it as playing too fast. Fine line between playing aggressively and getting out of control. Kyla has the opposite problem. She passed up at least a half dozen shots, in some cases to force bad passes. Pretty sure Geno is ok with shooting from 10’ when you’re open.
 
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stamfordhusky said:
I think you should go back and look at it again. It was an obvious offensive foul.
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I have already stated that I was wrong about the first foul. I was confusing it with the second one.
 
uconnfan68 said:
CW has a much higher ceiling. Thought she broke out of her shooting slump, but it came back against Cincy. I thought both she and Meg had a lot of bad passes. I see it as playing too fast. Fine line between playing aggressively and getting out of control. Kyla has the opposite problem. She passed up at least a half dozen shots, in some cases to force bad passes. Pretty sure Geno is ok with shooting from 10’ when you’re open.
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I would totally disagree. Makurat has a much higher ceiling, in my opinion, and everyone I talked to at the game agreed. Ceiling, though, has nothing to do with a game in three days. Right now, both Makurat and Griffin are playing better and are both much better defensively. Against Oregon, we can’t hide a subpar defender.
Of course, my point is totally moot. Geno is not going to cut Williams’ minutes.
 
Jordy said:
I would totally disagree. Makurat has a much higher ceiling, in my opinion, and everyone I talked to at the game agreed. Ceiling, though, has nothing to do with a game in three days. Right now, both Makurat and Griffin are playing better and are both much better defensively. Against Oregon, we can’t hide a subpar defender.
Of course, my point is totally moot. Geno is not going to cut Williams’ minutes.
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I'm with uconnfan68 but don't agree or disagree regarding "ceiling" over next 3 years. DOn't really care bout it 3 years from now. But I totally disagree with everything you've said other than that. Everything. I love both Anna and Aubrey- they are among my top 3 favorite players. But what makes Geno different than Pat Summit, Viv Stringer, and in some ways Kim Mulkey? He loves a beautiful free-flowing offense. You are talking "defense" vs Oregon. That's wrong by mentioning Aubrey vs CWill. How often have you seen an offense of Aubrey and Liv work? It doesn't. UCONN can't score enough with that lineup and if you think that Aubrey and Liv' defense will be huge in shutting down an experienced Oregon offense- I think that philosophy is old school and not the UCONN way and it won't work. You have to score enough. And you are over-exaggerating CW's defense especially vs AM. Further, in regards to scoring, do you recall a few years ago when UCONN played South Carolina? The 1st time game they played with Dawn as the coach? During the game, Lobo declared that despite how physical SC was, she said they had no shot to beat UCONN because SC couldn't score enough. She was right. They had too many limited offensive players. Heck, we've seen Aubrey get too nervous to take 6-7 foot shots. AUbrey and Liv can't score enough vs a team like Oregon other than to play a few minutes here or there or unless the perimeter game is hot. .


As for AM -- I've read some posters complaining about AM only taking 5 shots? But she isn't a scorer. I think there are some misnomers here. Just because a player is tall and athletic or tall and a good shooter doesn't t make them a definite scorer. You need a mentality. On offense the only thing Aubrey is comfortable doing is offensive rebounding. But she has no shot outside of near the basket. She loses confidence easily in her shot. Similar with AM - in that you really think Geno is telling her not to shoot? She handles the ball quite a bit. She has a nice shot. So if she is handling the ball quite a bit, has a nice shot, and is tall for a wing, why doesn't she shoot more? Because as a freshman she is not comfortable as a scorer. Instead, we can see she has the mentality to be a terrific/confident aggressive passer. And she'll handle the ball well even with a defender tight on her. But she doesn't have the scorers mentality. It's not going to rise up in her frosh year vs the elite teams with more experience just because Geno says so. Instead, she is doing what a frosh should-- play to her comfort zone which is passing and ball-handling. She needs to feed scorers at this point in her career and play off of them.
 
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hoophuskee said:
I'm with uconnfan68 but don't agree or disagree regarding "ceiling" over next 3 years. DOn't really care bout it 3 years from now. But I totally disagree with everything you've said other than that. Everything. I love both Anna and Aubrey- they are among my top 3 favorite players. But what makes Geno different than Pat Summit, Viv Stringer, and in some ways Kim Mulkey? He loves a beautiful free-flowing offense. You are talking "defense" vs Oregon. That's wrong by mentioning Aubrey vs CWill. How often have you seen an offense of Aubrey and Liv work? It doesn't. UCONN can't score enough with that lineup and if you think that Aubrey and Liv' defense will be huge in shutting down an experienced Oregon offense- I think that philosophy is old school and not the UCONN way and it won't work. You have to score enough. And you are over-exaggerating CW's defense especially vs AM. Further, in regards to scoring, do you recall a few years ago when UCONN played South Carolina? The 1st time game they played with Dawn as the coach? During the game, Lobo declared that despite how physical SC was, she said they had no shot to beat UCONN because SC couldn't score enough. She was right. They had too many limited offensive players. Heck, we've seen Aubrey get too nervous to take 6-7 foot shots. AUbrey and Liv can't score enough vs a team like Oregon other than to play a few minutes here or there or unless the perimeter game is hot. .


As for AM -- I've read some posters complaining about AM only taking 5 shots? But she isn't a scorer. I think there are some misnomers here. Just because a player is tall and athletic or tall and a good shooter doesn't t make them a definite scorer. You need a mentality. On offense the only thing Aubrey is comfortable doing is offensive rebounding. But she has no shot outside of near the basket. She loses confidence easily in her shot. Similar with AM - in that you really think Geno is telling her not to shoot? She handles the ball quite a bit. She has a nice shot. So if she is handling the ball quite a bit, has a nice shot, and is tall for a wing, why doesn't she shoot more? Because as a freshman she is not comfortable as a scorer. Instead, we can see she has the mentality to be a terrific/confident aggressive passer. And she'll handle the ball well even with a defender tight on her. But she doesn't have the scorers mentality. It's not going to rise up in her frosh year vs the elite teams with more experience just because Geno says so. Instead, she is doing what a frosh should-- play to her comfort zone which is passing and ball-handling. She needs to feed scorers at this point in her career and play off of them.
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I would disagree that AM is not a scorer. Geno has said that she’s a scorer and shooter from her playing days in Poland. Whether she can consistently score for us is a question this year. I do like her defensive progress and other play making ability. Her scoring I believe will be more consistent as she gains more experience.
 
ABCDFE said:
I would disagree that AM is not a scorer. Geno has said that she’s a scorer and shooter from her playing days in Poland. Whether she can consistently score for us is a question this year. I do like her defensive progress and other play making ability. Her scoring I believe will be more consistent as she gains more experience.
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So she is a scorer but only taking 5 shots? And do you have the link that says she is a scorer or maybe he said "she can score?" But again -- why isn't she taking more shots then? She is tall for a wing, has a good handle, and is a good shooter.
 
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Jordy said:
Her play this season doesn’t substantiate your opinion. In a pinch, I would much rather have the two Freshmen on the floor.
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Her statistics may not be what we expected, but that isn't all on Squeeks.

The team is gaining the experience in the UConn system, but they don't have enough experience on the floor at any one time to really execute it in the fashion to which we've become accustomed. This has put enormous pressure on individual players that isn't easy with a short and inexperienced bench. It comes back to haunt us in big games where the pressure on us defensively robs players of their one-on-one energy.

We all knew this was going to be a learning year where a young squad was going to spend a lot of time on the steep part of the curve. Let's support them in the process...savor their growth over the next few years...and especially treasure the effort and resilience shown by everyone that steps on the floor.
 
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